Excuses, Excuses: The Application of Statutes of Repose to Environmentally-Related Injuries

Injuries resulting from environmental conditions created by improvements to real property have always been commonplace. Across jurisdictions, however, there is some evidence to suggest that defendants may be able to escape liability for certain environmentally-related injuries by invoking statutes of repose. Although statutes of repose may protect defendants from prejudice in court and relieve them of past obligations, they may also prevent injured plaintiffs from obtaining redress in court where their injuries were latent or undiscoverable. This Note explores the nature and purpose of statutes of repose, discusses whether they might be used by defendants during environmental litigation by addressing case law and public policy considerations, and offers suggestions for balancing the interests of plaintiffs and defendants to the extent that statutes of repose are applicable to environmental injuries

INFORM GLOBAL RISK INDEX RESULTS 2018

Welcome to the report of the INFORM Global Risk Index for 2018.The INFORM Risk Index is a way to understand and measure the risk of humanitarian crises and disasters, and how the conditions that lead to them affect sustainable development. INFORM partners and other organisations continue to use INFORM products to support their prioritisation and decision-making relating to crisis and disaster prevention, preparedness and response. This is the fourth annual report of INFORM and has a special focus on how composite indices, such as INFORM, might be used to support and monitor the implementation of new development frameworks like the Sustainable Development Goals.JRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

INFORM report 2020: Shared evidence for managing crisis and disaster

INFORM partners believe that the availability of shared analysis of crises and disasters can lead to better coordination of actors and better outcomes for at-risk and affected people. Specifically, INFORM creates a space and process for shared analysis that can support joint strategy development, planning and action to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from crises. This can bring together development, humanitarian and other actors to manage risk and respond better when crises do occur. This report sets out INFORM’s vision for a suite of products to support decision-making that are easy to use and open to everyone. This vision involves bringing scientific rigour to the process of analysing crises and pooling expertise to develop shared methodologies. By working together, we can reduce the investments required by individual organisations, assure the quality of our analysis and make it available for the common good.JRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

THE EFFECTS OF ULTRA-FILTERED MILK CONSUMPTION ON STRENGTH AND PERFORMANCE FOLLOWING RESISTANCE TRAINING IN FEMALE COLLEGIATE ATHLETES

Resistance training is beneficial in the improvement of skeletal muscle functionality. Improvements in performance, increased resistance to injury, and great force production are associated with resistance training. Hypertrophy of skeletal muscle mass is important for improving fitness, decreasing body fat percentage, improvements in whole-body metabolism, and enhancements in quality of life. The ability to recovery properly following subsequent training sessions is critical for maximizing training adaptations. Nutrient supplementation has been previously studied. The supplementation of carbohydrates has been shown to replenish muscle glycogen stores. The consumption of carbohydrates following resistance training benefits muscle protein balance by attenuating muscle protein breakdown. Another commonly consumed supplement is amino acids/protein. Supplementation of protein has demonstrated improvements in body composition (i.e. increased fat free mass), increases in hypertrophy, and muscular strength. Two type of proteins used by individuals that resistance train are whey protein and casein protein. Whey protein is a fast digesting protein that leads to quick stimulation of protein synthesis. Casein protein is a slower digesting protein that also attenuates the breakdown of muscle protein. Milk is a natural product that contains carbohydrates, whey protein, and casein protein. Whole milk, low fat milk (i.e., 1-2%), and fat free milk have shown positive results in the ability to improve muscle protein synthesis, lean body mass, strength gains. Therefore, the purpose of the following dissertation is to compare the effects of higher protein, less sugar content chocolate milk to traditional low fat chocolate milk on adaptations to (1) strength and performance measures and (2) body composition following resistance training

Dysbiosis in a canine model of human fistulizing Crohn\u27s disease

Crohn\u27s disease (CD) is a chronic immune-mediated inflammatory condition caused by the loss of mucosal tolerance toward the commensal microbiota. On average, 29.5% and 42.7% CD patients experience perianal complications at 10 and 20 y after diagnosis, respectively. Perianal CD (pCD) result in high disease burden, diminished quality of life, and elevated health-care costs. Overall pCD are predictors of poor long-term outcomes. Animal models of gut inflammation have failed to fully recapitulate the human manifestations of fistulizing CD. Here, we evaluated dogs with spontaneous canine anal furunculosis (CAF), a disease with clinical similarities to pCD, as a surrogate model for understanding the microbial contribution of human pCD pathophysiology. By comparing the gut microbiomes between dogs suffering from CAF (CAF dogs) and healthy dogs, we show CAF-dog microbiomes are either very dissimilar (dysbiotic) or similar (healthy-like), yet unique, to healthy dog\u27s microbiomes. Compared to healthy or healthy-like CAF microbiomes, dysbiotic CAF microbiomes showed an increased abundance of Bacteroides vulgatus and Escherichia coli and a decreased abundance of Megamonas species and Prevotella copri. Our results mirror what have been reported in previous microbiome studies of patients with CD; particularly, CAF dogs exhibited two distinct microbiome composition: dysbiotic and healthy-like, with determinant bacterial taxa such as E. coli and P. copri that overlap what it has been found on their human counterpart. Thus, our results support the use of CAF dogs as a surrogate model to advance our understanding of microbial dynamics in pCD

The Histone Deacetylase SIRT6 Restrains Transcription Elongation via Promoter-Proximal Pausing.

Transcriptional regulation in eukaryotes occurs at promoter-proximal regions wherein transcriptionally engaged RNA polymerase II (Pol II) pauses before proceeding toward productive elongation. The role of chromatin in pausing remains poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that the histone deacetylase SIRT6 binds to Pol II and prevents the release of the negative elongation factor (NELF), thus stabilizing Pol II promoter-proximal pausing. Genetic depletion of SIRT6 or its chromatin deficiency upon glucose deprivation causes intragenic enrichment of acetylated histone H3 at lysines 9 (H3K9ac) and 56 (H3K56ac), activation of cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (CDK9)-that phosphorylates NELF and the carboxyl terminal domain of Pol II-and enrichment of the positive transcription elongation factors MYC, BRD4, PAF1, and the super elongation factors AFF4 and ELL2. These events lead to increased expression of genes involved in metabolism, protein synthesis, and embryonic development. Our results identified SIRT6 as a Pol II promoter-proximal pausing-dedicated histone deacetylase

Direct in situ spectroscopic evidence of the crucial role played by surface oxygen vacancies in the O2-sensing mechanism of SnO2

NAP-XPS characterisation of SnO2 under operando conditions shows that resistance change, band bending and surface O-vacancy concentration are correlated with ambient O2 concentration, challenging current preconceptions of gas sensor function

Daily sitting time and its association with non-communicable diseases and multimorbidity in Catalonia

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) account for 71% of deaths worldwide and individual behaviours such as sedentariness play an important role on their development and management. However, the detrimental effect of daily sitting on multiple NCDs has rarely been studied. This study sought (i) to investigate the association between sitting time and main NCDs and multimorbidity in the population of Catalonia and (ii) to explore the effect of physical activity as a modifier of the associations between sitting time and health outcomes. Methods: Cross-sectional data from the 2016 National Health Survey of Catalonia were analyzed, and multivariable logistic regression, adjusting for socio-demographics and individual risk factors (tobacco and alcohol consumption, diet, hyperlipidaemia, hypertension, body mass index) was used to estimated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of the association between sitting time and NCDs. Results: A total of 3320 people 15 years old were included in the study. Sitting more than 5 h/day was associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease (OR 1.90, 95% CI: 1.21-2.97), respiratory disease (OR 1.61, 95% CI: 1.13-2.30) and multimorbidity (OR 2.80, 95% CI: 1.53-5.15). Sitting more than 3 h/day was also associated with a higher risk of multimorbidity (OR 2.26, 95% CI: 1.23-4.16). Physical activity did not modify the associations between sitting time and any of the outcomes. Conclusions: Daily sitting time might be an independent risk factor for some NCDs, such as cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease and multimorbidity, independently of the level risk of physical inactivity

Bone marrow CD169+ macrophages promote the retention of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in the mesenchymal stem cell niche

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) reside in specialized bone marrow (BM) niches regulated by the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Here, we have examined whether mononuclear phagocytes modulate the HSC niche. We defined three populations of BM mononuclear phagocytes that include Gr-1hi monocytes (MOs), Gr-1lo MOs, and macrophages (MΦ) based on differential expression of Gr-1, CD115, F4/80, and CD169. Using MO and MΦ conditional depletion models, we found that reductions in BM mononuclear phagocytes led to reduced BM CXCL12 levels, the selective down-regulation of HSC retention genes in Nestin+ niche cells, and egress of HSCs/progenitors to the bloodstream. Furthermore, specific depletion of CD169+ MΦ, which spares BM MOs, was sufficient to induce HSC/progenitor egress. MΦ depletion also enhanced mobilization induced by a CXCR4 antagonist or granulocyte colony-stimulating factor. These results highlight two antagonistic, tightly balanced pathways that regulate maintenance of HSCs/progenitors in the niche during homeostasis, in which MΦ cross talk with the Nestin+ niche cell promotes retention, and in contrast, SNS signals enhance egress. Thus, strategies that target BM MΦ hold the potential to augment stem cell yields in patients that mobilize HSCs/progenitors poorly