Pacific Islands in the face of sea level rise: some reflections from an international law perspective

Because they are at the frontline of climate change, Pacific islands’ governments and populations have early alerted on effects of sea level rise, a phenomenon that raises an urgent and existential threat in this part of the world. Among the legal questions emerging from that emergency, consequences on territorial integrity and sovereignty, State continuity, permanence of maritime limits and boundaries, as well as protection of human rights, are of crucial importance. Pacific islands’ representatives pushed for more awareness on those issues, and they are also actively participating to the construction of legal responses, particularly in the framework of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). This article proposes an analysis of consequences of sea level rise from an international law perspective, focusing on Pacific States and territories. Effects of sea level rise being more present and documented in Oceania than in any other area in the world, a regional approach deserves specific attention and can usefully serve a general reflection on these challenges. The text thus aims to study impacts of sea level rise on territorial integrity and human rights at a regional scale, and to address more general prospects on development of international law.Por estar en primera línea del cambio climático, los gobiernos y las poblaciones de las islas del Pacífico han contribuido tempranamente a alertar sobre los efectos de la subida del nivel del mar, un fenómeno que plantea una amenaza urgente y existencial en esta parte del mundo. Entre las cuestiones jurídicas que se derivan de esa emergencia, son de crucial importancia las consecuencias sobre la integridad territorial y la soberanía, la continuidad de los Estados, la permanencia de los límites y las fronteras marítimas, así como la protección de los derechos humanos. Los representantes de las islas del Pacífico no sólo han puesto de relieve estas cuestiones, sino que también participan activamente en la elaboración de respuestas jurídicas, en particular en el marco del Foro de las Islas del Pacífico. Este artículo propone un análisis de las consecuencias de la subida del nivel del mar desde la perspectiva del derecho internacional, centrándose en los Estados y territorios del Pacífico. Dado que los efectos de la subida del nivel del mar están más presentes y documentados en Oceanía que en cualquier otra zona del mundo, un enfoque regional merece una atención específica y puede servir para una reflexión general sobre estas cuestiones. El texto pretende, pues, analizar los impactos de la subida del nivel del mar sobre la integridad territorial y los derechos humanos a escala regional, y abordar perspectivas más generales sobre el desarrollo del derecho internacional.

La Santa Sede y el Consejo de Europa

Sumario: 1. Introducción. 2. El Consejo de Europa, una Organización adaptada al despliegue de a personalidad jurídica internacional de la Santa Sede. 2.1. La condición de Observador de la Santa Sede: el reconocimiento formal de una participación empírica. 2.1.1. El arraigo de la diplomacia apostólica. 2.1.2. Las primeras participaciones de a Santa Sede en los trabajos del Consejo de Europa. 2.2. El estatuto singular de la Santa Sede en el Consejo de Europa. 2.2.1. La inaplicabilidad de la condición de Observador general. 2.2.2. Los efectos de la condición de Observador de la Santa Sede. 3. El Consejo de Europa, un foro privilegiado para el ejercicio de la diplomacia apostólica. 3.1. La transmisión del mensaje de la Iglesia. 3.1.1. El poder de influencia de la Santa Sede. 3.1.2. La naturaleza polimórfica de la cooperación entre la Santa Sede y el Consejo de Europa. 3.2. La recepción del mensaje de la Iglesia. 3.2.1. La promoción de la paz y la protección de los derechos humanos como puntos de convergencia entre la actividad del Consejo de Europa y la diplomacia apostólica.3.2.2. Previsibles puntos de tensión alrededor de los temas relacionado con el derecho a la vida. 4. Reflexión final

The importance of decision intent within descriptions of pragmatic trials

ACKNOWLEGEMENTS This work is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research through the Project Grant competition (competitive, peer-reviewed), award number PJT-153045. CRediT authorship contribution statement Stuart G. Nicholls: Writing - review & editing. Merrick Zwarenstein: Writing - review & editing. Spencer Phillips Hey: Writing - review & editing. Bruno Giraudeau: Writing - review & editing. Marion K. Campbell: Writing - review & editing. Monica Taljaard: Writing - review & editing.Peer reviewedPostprin

An experimental test in Mallards ( Anas platyrhynchos ) of the effect of incubation and maternal preen oil on eggshell microbial load

Microbial infection is one of the main factors reducing survival in the first stages of life in oviparous species, and recent studies have shown that the avian eggshell harbors an important variety of microorganisms that can rapidly multiply and penetrate the shell, leading to a decrease in hatchability. Here, we report the results of an experiment in which we examined how incubation and maternal preen oil affect the growth of avian eggshell microbes, using the Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) as a model species. We compared the bacterial and fungal loads on the shell of non-incubated eggs and eggs incubated by females having free or blocked access to their preen gland. An increase of eggshell bacterial loads was observed in all conditions, but bacterial growth was higher on the shell of incubated eggs than on non-incubated eggs. We did not find any significant difference in eggshell bacterial growth for eggs incubated by females with free or blocked access to their preen gland. In addition, fungal growth during our experiment was not affected by incubation or the mother's preen oil. Our findings are in contrast with those of previous studies which showed that incubation limited or had no effect on eggshell bacterial growth. Differences in environmental conditions and/or species ecology may explain the difference between the results of our experiment and those of previous studies. Our study provides the first data on the effect of maternal preen oil on eggshell microorganisms, showing that preen oil does not limit eggshell microbial growth

Deglacial to postglacial history of Nares Strait, Northwest Greenland: a marine perspective from Kane Basin

A radiocarbon-dated marine sediment core retrieved in Kane Basin, central Nares Strait, was analysed to constrain the timing of the postglacial opening of this Arctic gateway and its Holocene evolution. This study is based on a set of sedimentological and geochemical proxies of changing sedimentary processes and sources that provide new insight into the evolution of ice sheet configuration in Nares Strait. Proglacial marine sedimentation at the core site initiated ca. 9.0&thinsp;cal&thinsp;ka&thinsp;BP following the retreat of grounded ice. Varying contributions of sand and clasts suggest unstable sea ice conditions and glacial activity, which subsisted until ca. 7.5&thinsp;cal&thinsp;ka&thinsp;BP under the combined influence of warm atmospheric temperatures and proglacial cooling induced by the nearby Innuitian (IIS) and Greenland (GIS) ice sheets. An interval rich in ice-rafted debris (IRD) is interpreted as the collapse of the ice saddle in Kennedy Channel ca. 8.3&thinsp;cal&thinsp;ka&thinsp;BP that marks the complete opening of Nares Strait and the initial connection between the Lincoln Sea and northernmost Baffin Bay. Delivery of sediment by icebergs was strengthened between ca. 8.3 and ca. 7.5&thinsp;cal&thinsp;ka&thinsp;BP following the collapse of the buttress of glacial ice in Kennedy Channel that triggered the acceleration of GIS and IIS fluxes toward Nares Strait. The destabilisation in glacial ice eventually led to the rapid retreat of the GIS in eastern Kane Basin at about 8.1&thinsp;cal&thinsp;ka&thinsp;BP as evidenced by a noticeable change in sediment geochemistry in our core. The gradual decrease in carbonate inputs to Kane Basin between ∼8.1 and ∼4.1&thinsp;cal&thinsp;ka&thinsp;BP reflects the late deglaciation of Washington Land. The shoaling of Kane Basin can be observed in our record by the increased winnowing of lighter particles as the glacio-isostatic rebound brought the seabed closer to subsurface currents. Reduced iceberg delivery from 7.5 to 1.9&thinsp;cal&thinsp;ka&thinsp;BP inferred by our dataset may be linked to the retreat of the bordering ice sheets on land that decreased their number of marine termini.</p

The Gift of Future Time: Islamic Welfare and Entrepreneurship in 21st century Indonesia

The attainment of religiously informed and socially responsible wealth is a desire widespread in the metropolises of Java, Indonesia, especially amongst the pious middle classes. This article aims at an understanding of the emergence and effects of an early 21st century desire for pious entrepreneurial success, by focusing on the practices people consistently and regularly undertake in order to actualise this. It claims that the religiously informed desire for entrepreneurial success is permeated by a mode of temporality that privileges the future at the expense of the past and the present. This temporal orientation has important consequences for subject-making, as it forces the subjectivities created to take a distinctively asymptotic form, resulting in the production of self-differing subjects; that is, subjects in which past, present and future actualisations lack coincidence and complete convergence

Ecological and evolutionary consequences of anticancer adaptations

Cellular cheating leading to cancers exists in all branches of multicellular life, favoring the evolution of adaptations to avoid or suppress malignant progression, and/or to alleviate its fitness consequences. Ecologists have until recently largely neglected the importance of cancer cells for animal ecology, presumably because they did not consider either the potential ecological or evolutionary consequences of anticancer adaptations. Here, we review the diverse ways in which the evolution of anticancer adaptations has significantly constrained several aspects of the evolutionary ecology of multicellular organisms at the cell, individual, population, species, and ecosystem levels and suggest some avenues for future research

Novel Methodologies for Providing In Situ Data to HAB Early Warning Systems in the European Atlantic Area: The PRIMROSE Experience

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) cause harm to human health or hinder sustainable use of the marine environment in Blue Economy sectors. HABs are temporally and spatially variable and hence their mitigation is closely linked to effective early warning. The European Union (EU) Interreg Atlantic Area project “PRIMROSE”, Predicting Risk and Impact of Harmful Events on the Aquaculture Sector, was focused on the joint development of HAB early warning systems in different regions along the European Atlantic Area. Advancement of the existing HAB forecasting systems requires development of forecasting tools, improvements in data flow and processing, but also additional data inputs to assess the distribution of HAB species, especially in areas away from national monitoring stations, usually located near aquaculture sites. In this contribution, we review different novel technologies for acquiring HAB data and report on the experience gained in several novel local data collection exercises performed during the project. Demonstrations include the deployment of autonomous imaging flow cytometry (IFC) sensors near two aquaculture areas: a mooring in the Daoulas estuary in the Bay of Brest and pumping from a bay in the Shetland Islands to an inland IFC; and several drone deployments, both of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and of Autonomous Surface vehicles (ASVs). Additionally, we have reviewed sampling approaches potentially relevant for HAB early warning including protocols for opportunistic water sampling by coastguard agencies. Experiences in the determination of marine biotoxins in non-traditional vectors and how they could complement standard routine HAB monitoring are also considered.En prens

A step towards stereotactic navigation during pelvic surgery: 3D nerve topography

Background: Long-term morbidity after multimodal treatment for rectal cancer is suggested to be mainly made up by nerve-injury-related dysfunctions. Stereotactic navigation for rectal surgery was shown to be feasible and will be facilitated by highlighting structures at risk of iatrogenic damage. The aim of this study was to investigate the ability to make a 3D map of the pelvic nerves with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods: A systematic review was performed to identify a main positional reference for each pelvic nerve and plexus. The nerves were manually delineated in 20 volunteers who were scanned with a 3-T MRI. The nerve identifiability rate and the likelihood of nerve identification correctness were determined. Results: The analysis included 61 studies on pelvic nerve anatomy. A main positional reference was defined for each nerve. On MRI, the sacral nerves, the lumbosacral plexus, and the obturator nerve could be identified bilaterally in all volunteers. The sympathetic trunk could be identified in 19 of 20 volunteers bilaterally (95%). The superior hypogastric plexus, the hypogastric nerve, and the inferior hypogastric plexus could be identified bilaterally in 14 (70%), 16 (80%), and 14 (70%) of the 20 volunteers, respectively. The pudendal nerve could be identified in 17 (85%) volunteers on the right side and in 13 (65%) volunteers on the left side. The levator ani nerve could be identified in only a few volunteers. Except for the levator ani nerve, the radiologist and the anatomist agreed that the delineated nerve depicted the correct nerve in 100% of the cases. Conclusion: Pelvic nerves at risk of injury are usually visible on high-resolution MRI w

Evaluation of 16S rRNA gene PCR sensitivity and specificity for diagnosis of prosthetic joint infection: a prospective multicenter cross-sectional study

There is no standard method for the diagnosis of prosthetic joint infection (PJI). The contribution of 16S rRNA gene PCR sequencing on a routine basis remains to be defined. We performed a prospective multicenter study to assess the contributions of 16S rRNA gene assays in PJI diagnosis. Over a 2-year period, all patients suspected to have PJIs and a few uninfected patients undergoing primary arthroplasty (control group) were included. Five perioperative samples per patient were collected for culture and 16S rRNA gene PCR sequencing and one for histological examination. Three multicenter quality control assays were performed with both DNA extracts and crushed samples. The diagnosis of PJI was based on clinical, bacteriological, and histological criteria, according to Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines. A molecular diagnosis was modeled on the bacteriological criterion (≥ 1 positive sample for strict pathogens and ≥ 2 for commensal skin flora). Molecular data were analyzed according to the diagnosis of PJI. Between December 2010 and March 2012, 264 suspected cases of PJI and 35 control cases were included. PJI was confirmed in 215/264 suspected cases, 192 (89%) with a bacteriological criterion. The PJIs were monomicrobial (163 cases [85%]; staphylococci, n = 108; streptococci, n = 22; Gram-negative bacilli, n = 16; anaerobes, n = 13; others, n = 4) or polymicrobial (29 cases [15%]). The molecular diagnosis was positive in 151/215 confirmed cases of PJI (143 cases with bacteriological PJI documentation and 8 treated cases without bacteriological documentation) and in 2/49 cases without confirmed PJI (sensitivity, 73.3%; specificity, 95.5%). The 16S rRNA gene PCR assay showed a lack of sensitivity in the diagnosis of PJI on a multicenter routine basis