Applying the Fit-for-Purpose Land Administration Concept to South Africa

What potential will the fit-for-purpose land administration concept have of working in the Republic of South Africa? This question is asked against the existence of a high-quality cadastre covering most of the South African landmass. However, a large proportion of the people living in South Africa live outside of this secure land tenure system. Many citizens and immigrants reside on communal land, in informal settlements, in resettled communities, in off-register housing schemes, and as farm dwellers, labour tenants and other occupants of commercial farms. Reasonable estimates suggest that there are more than 5 million land occupations that exist outside the formal land tenure system and hence outside the formal land administration system. This paper looks at the current bifurcated system and considers how the application of the fit-for-purpose land administration system can expand the existing cadastral system and provide security of tenure that is beneficial and acceptable to all. It demonstrates that, not only could it work, but it is also considered to be necessary. This paper uses South Africa as a case study to demonstrate how adjustments to institutional, legal and spatial frameworks will develop a fully inclusive, sufficiently accurate land administration system that fits the purpose for which it is envisioned. These country-specific proposals may well be of international interest to assist with the formulation of fit-for-purpose land administration systems being developed in other countries

Interleukin-6 signaling drives fibrosis in unresolved inflammation

Fibrosis in response to tissue damage or persistent inflammation is a pathological hallmark of many chronic degenerative diseases. By using a model of acute peritoneal inflammation, we have examined how repeated inflammatory activation promotes fibrotic tissue injury. In this context, fibrosis was strictly dependent on interleukin-6 (IL-6). Repeat inflammation induced IL-6-mediated T helper 1 (Th1) cell effector commitment and the emergence of STAT1 (signal transducer and activator of transcription-1) activity within the peritoneal membrane. Fibrosis was not observed in mice lacking interferon-γ (IFN-γ), STAT1, or RAG-1. Here, IFN-γ and STAT1 signaling disrupted the turnover of extracellular matrix by metalloproteases. Whereas IL-6-deficient mice resisted fibrosis, transfer of polarized Th1 cells or inhibition of MMP activity reversed this outcome. Thus, IL-6 causes compromised tissue repair by shifting acute inflammation into a more chronic profibrotic state through induction of Th1 cell responses as a consequence of recurrent inflammation

CD19/CD22 targeting with co-transduced CAR T-cells to prevent antigen negative relapse after CAR T-cell therapy of B-ALL

CD19-negative relapse is a leading cause of treatment failure after Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for ALL. We investigated a CAR T-cell product targeting CD19 and CD22 generated by lentiviral co-transduction with vectors encoding our previously-described fast-off rate CD19CAR (AUTO1) combined with a novel CD22CAR capable of effective signalling at low antigen density. Twelve patients with advanced B-ALL were treated (CARPALL study, NCT02443831), a third of whom had failed prior licensed CAR therapy. Toxicity was similar to that of AUTO1 alone, with no cases of severe cytokine release syndrome. Ten of 12 patients (83%) achieved a Measurable Residual Disease (MRD) negative complete remission at 2 months post infusion. Of 10 responding patients, 5 had emergence of MRD (2) or relapse (3) with CD19 and CD22 expressing disease associated with loss of CAR T-cell persistence. With a median follow-up of 8.7 months there were no cases of relapse due to antigen-negative escape. Overall survival was 75% (95%CI: 41-91%) at 6 and 12 months. Six and 12-month event free survival (EFS) were 75% (95%CI: 41-91%) and 60% (95%CI: 23-84%). These data suggest dual targeting with co-transduction may prevent antigen negative relapse after CAR T-cell therapy

Images of Earth and Space II

This videotape tours the Solar System and outer space using scientific visualizations from Goddard Space Flight Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the HPCC Earth and Space Sciences Project. At the Sun, simulations investigate processes that create magnetic field and release energetic particles. Earth science begins with the Pacific Ocean, studying the 1997-98 El Nino and Cyclone Susan. Crossing the globe, visualizations trace North Americas East Coast and ocean currents in the North Atlantic Ocean. The lights of the worlds cities then show human impact. Next, two models probe nearby-space phenomena, fluid behavior in microgravity conditions and an asteroid collision. A jaunt to Mars explores the mountains and trenches of its dry, rocky exterior. The video concludes at a binary neutron star system, where two city-sized objects with the Suns mass merge in a titanic explosion. Educational levels: Undergraduate lower division, Undergraduate upper division, Graduate or professional

Bacterial succession in a glacier foreland of the high arctic

Succession is defined as changes in biological communities over time. It has been extensively studied in plant communities, but little is known about bacterial succession, in particular in environments such as High Arctic glacier forelands. Bacteria carry out key processes in the development of soil, biogeochemical cycling and facilitating plant colonization. In this study we sampled two roughly parallel chronosequences in the foreland of Midre Love´n glacier on Svalbard, Norway and tested whether any of several factors were associated with changes in the structure of bacterial communities, including time after glacier retreat, horizontal variation caused by the distance between chronosequences and vertical variation at two soil depths. The structures of soil bacterial communities at different locations were compared using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphisms of 16S rRNA genes, and the data were analyzed by sequential analysis of loglinear statistical models. Although no significant differences in community structure were detected between the two chronosequences, statistically significant differences between sampling locations in the surface and mineral soils could be demonstrated even though glacier forelands are patchy and dynamic environments. These findings suggest that bacterial succession occurs in High Arctic glacier forelands but may differ in different soil depths.Ursel M E Schütte, Zaid Abdo, Stephen J Bent, Christopher J Williams, G Maria Schneider, Bjørn Solheim and Larry J Forne