The purpose of United Nations Security Council practice: Contesting competence claims in the normative context created by the Responsibility to Protect.

Practice theory provides important insight into the workings of the Security Council. The contribution is currently limited however by the conjecture that practice theory operates on ‘a different analytical plane’ to norm / normative theory (Adler-Nissen and Pouliot 2014). Building on existing critiques (Duval and Chowdhury 2011; Schindler and Wille 2015) we argue that analyzing practices separately from normative positions risks misappropriating competence and reifying practice that is not fit for purpose. This risk is realized in Adler-Nissen and Pouliot’s (2014) practice based account Libya crisis. By returning the normative context created by the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) to the analytical foreground, and by drawing on a pragmatic conception of 'ethical competence' (Frost 2009), we find that pre-reflexive practices uncritically accepted as markers of competence – e.g. ‘penholding’ – can contribute to the Council’s failure to act collectively in the face of mass atrocity. Drawing on extensive interview material we offer an alternative account of the Libya intervention, finding that the practices of the permanent three (France, UK and US) did not cultivate the kind of collective consciousness that is required to implement R2P. This is further illustrated by an account of the Security Council’s failure in Syria, where the P3’s insistence on regime change instrumentalized the Council at the expense of R2P-appropriate practice. This changed when elected members became ‘penholders’. Practice theory can facilitate learning processes that help the Council meet its responsibilities, but only through an approach that combines its insights with those of norm / normative theory

How do microbial communities in top- and subsoil respond to root litter addition under field conditions?

© 2016 Elsevier LtdContrasting microbial community composition and activity at different soil depths may affect root litter decomposition. These effects have up to now been investigated mainly in laboratory studies, which may not be able to take into account complex in situ conditions. Our study aimed to analyze the composition and activity of microbial communities after addition of 13C labeled wheat root litter to a loamy soil under grassland at 30, 60 and 90 cm depths, during a three-year field experiment. We investigated the dynamics of bacterial and fungal abundances and community structures by DNA genotyping and pyrosequencing of 16S and 18S rDNAs. The genetic structures of bacterial and fungal communities were evaluated by automated ribosomal intergenetic spacer analysis. The functions of these communities were analysed by determination of extracellular enzyme activities and viable microbial communities involved in 13C labeled organic matter decomposition studied by 13C PLFAs. The abundance of fungal and bacterial communities (16S and 18S rDNAs and PLFA) and the potential activities of enzymes involved in the C- and N-cycles were significantly higher at the top 30 cm compared with deeper soil throughout the experiment. Both were stimulated by fresh litter input. A trend to decreasing bacterial and fungal richness was noted after root litter addition at 30 cm, while richness of bacteria at 90 cm and those of fungi at 60 and 90 cm increased. Moreover, root litter addition caused a reduction of the Shannon Weaver Diversity index and a shift in microbial community structure at all three depths, which was more pronounced for bacteria at 30 and 60 cm and for fungi at 90 cm. The changes during litter degradation resulted in similar dynamics of most enzyme activities at all depths. Chitinase activity was enhanced after 29 months compared to initial conditions indicating the availability of high amounts of microbial detritus. The degrading microbial community as assessed by 13C PLFA showed similar temporal dynamics at all three depths. Fungal contribution to this community decreased during later stages of litter degradation, while the contribution of Gram+ bacteria increased. We conclude that litter addition led to convergence of microbial communities of top- and subsoil through stimulation of copiotrophic populations. Soil microbial community structures are thus connected with the amount of fresh litter input. Enzyme activities and 13C PLFA reflect to some extent the changes occurring during degradation, i.e. exhaustion of fresh plant material and accumulation of detritus

Viscous and filamentous bulking in activated sludge: Rheological and hydrodynamic modelling based on experimental data

Although achieving good activated sludge settleability is a key requirement for meeting effluent quality criteria, wastewater treatment plants often face undesired floc structure changes. Filamentous bulking has widely been studied, however, viscous sludge formation much less investigated so far. Our main goal was to find relationship between sludge floc structure and related rheological properties, moreover, to estimate pressure loss in pipe networks through hydrodynamic modelling of the non-Newtonian flows in case of well settling (ideal-like), viscous and filamentous sludge. Severe viscous and filamentous kinds of bulking were generated separately in continuous-flow lab-scale systems initially seeded with the same reference (ideal-like) biomass and the entire evolution of viscous and filamentous bulking was monitored. The results suggested correlation between the rheological properties and the floc structure transformations, and showed the most appropriate fit for the Herschel-Bulkley model (vs. Power-law and Bingham). Validated computational fluid dynamics studies estimated the pipe pressure loss in a wide Reynolds number range for the initial well settling (reference) and the final viscous and filamentous sludge as well. A practical standard modelling protocol was developed for improving energy efficiency of sludge pumping in different floc structure scenarios

Estimating background rates of Guillain-Barré Syndrome in Ontario in order to respond to safety concerns during pandemic H1N1/09 immunization campaign

Abstract Background The province of Ontario, Canada initiated mass immunization clinics with adjuvanted pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine in October 2009. Due to the scale of the campaign, temporal associations with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and vaccination were expected. The objectives of this analysis were to estimate the number of background GBS cases expected to occur in the projected vaccinated population and to estimate the number of additional GBS cases which would be expected if an association with vaccination existed. The number of influenza-associated GBS cases was also determined. Methods Baseline incidence rates of GBS were determined from published Canadian studies and applied to projected vaccine coverage data to estimate the expected number of GBS cases in the vaccinated population. Assuming an association with vaccine existed, the number of additional cases of GBS expected was determined by applying the rates observed during the 1976 Swine Flu and 1992/1994 seasonal influenza campaigns in the United States. The number of influenza-associated GBS cases expected to occur during the vaccination campaign was determined based on risk estimates of GBS after influenza infection and provincial influenza infection rates using a combination of laboratory-confirmed cases and data from a seroprevalence study. Results The overall provincial vaccine coverage was estimated to be between 32% and 38%. Assuming 38% coverage, between 6 and 13 background cases of GBS were expected within this projected vaccinated cohort (assuming 32% coverage yielded between 5-11 background cases). An additional 6 or 42 cases would be expected if an association between GBS and influenza vaccine was observed (assuming 32% coverage yielded 5 or 35 additional cases); while up to 31 influenza-associated GBS cases could be expected to occur. In comparison, during the same period, only 7 cases of GBS were reported among vaccinated persons. Conclusions Our analyses do not suggest an increased number of GBS cases due to the vaccine. Awareness of expected rates of GBS is crucial when assessing adverse events following influenza immunization. Furthermore, since individuals with influenza infection are also at risk of developing GBS, they must be considered in such analyses, particularly if the vaccine campaign and disease are occurring concurrently

Hydraulic retention time affects bacterial community structure in an As-rich acid mine drainage (AMD) biotreatment process.

Arsenic removal consecutive to biological iron oxidation and precipitation is an effective process for treating As-rich acid mine drainage (AMD). We studied the effect of hydraulic retention time (HRT)-from 74 to 456 min-in a bench-scale bioreactor exploiting such process. The treatment efficiency was monitored during 19 days, and the final mineralogy and bacterial communities of the biogenic precipitates were characterized by X-ray absorption spectroscopy and high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The percentage of Fe(II) oxidation (10-47%) and As removal (19-37%) increased with increasing HRT. Arsenic was trapped in the biogenic precipitates as As(III)-bearing schwertmannite and amorphous ferric arsenate, with a decrease of As/Fe ratio with increasing HRT. The bacterial community in the biogenic precipitate was dominated by Fe-oxidizing bacteria whatever the HRT. The proportion of Gallionella and Ferrovum genera shifted from respectively 65 and 12% at low HRT to 23 and 51% at high HRT, in relation with physicochemical changes in the treated water. aioA genes and Thiomonas genus were detected at all HRT although As(III) oxidation was not evidenced. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of the role of HRT as a driver of bacterial community structure in bioreactors exploiting microbial Fe(II) oxidation for AMD treatment

Generation of recombinant single-chain antibodies neutralizing the cytolytic activity of vaginolysin, the main virulence factor of Gardnerella vaginalis

Generated scFvs is the first example of recombinant single-chain antibodies with VLY-neutralizing activity produced in prokaryote expression system. G. vaginalis caused infections continue to be a world-wide problem, therefore neutralizing recombinant antibodies may provide novel therapeutic agents useful in the treatment of bacterial vaginosis and other diseases caused by G. vaginalis

The partial oxidation of methane over Pd/Al2O3 catalyst nanoparticles studied in-situ by near ambient-pressure x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Near ambient-pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (NAP-XPS) is used to study the chemical state of methane oxidation catalysts in-situ. Al2O3{supported Pd catalysts are prepared with different particle sizes ranging from 4 nm to 10 nm. These catalysts were exposed to conditions similar to those used in the partial oxidation of methane (POM) to syn-gas and simultaneously monitored by NAP-XPS and mass spectrometry. NAP-XPS data show changes in the oxidation state of the palladium as the temperature in- creases, from metallic Pd0 to PdO, and back to Pd0. Mass spectrometry shows an increase in CO production whilst the Pd is in the oxide phase, and the metal is reduced back under presence of newly formed H2. A particle size effect is observed, such that CH4 conversion starts at lower temperatures with larger sized particles from 6 nm to 10 nm. We find that all nanoparticles begin CH4 conversion at lower temperatures than polycrystalline Pd foil

Structure-Based Analysis of Five Novel Disease-Causing Mutations in 21-Hydroxylase-Deficient Patients

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency is the most frequent inborn error of metabolism, and accounts for 90–95% of CAH cases. The affected enzyme, P450C21, is encoded by the CYP21A2 gene, located together with a 98% nucleotide sequence identity CYP21A1P pseudogene, on chromosome 6p21.3. Even though most patients carry CYP21A1P-derived mutations, an increasing number of novel and rare mutations in disease causing alleles were found in the last years. In the present work, we describe five CYP21A2 novel mutations, p.R132C, p.149C, p.M283V, p.E431K and a frameshift g.2511_2512delGG, in four non-classical and one salt wasting patients from Argentina. All novel point mutations are located in CYP21 protein residues that are conserved throughout mammalian species, and none of them were found in control individuals. The putative pathogenic mechanisms of the novel variants were analyzed in silico. A three-dimensional CYP21 structure was generated by homology modeling and the protein design algorithm FoldX was used to calculate changes in stability of CYP21A2 protein. Our analysis revealed changes in protein stability or in the surface charge of the mutant enzymes, which could be related to the clinical manifestation found in patients

Biological attenuation of arsenic and iron in a continuous flow bioreactor treating acid mine drainage (AMD)

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Association between siesta (daytime sleep), dietary patterns and the presence of metabolic syndrome in elderly living in Mediterranean area (MEDIS study):The moderating effect of gender

Objectives: Several lifestyle parameters including diet, physical activity and sleep were associated in isolation with the presence of Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) in adults, to date there is a paucity of studies which evaluated their combined role aging populations and especially with respect to gender. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to provide a global consideration of the lifestyle factors associated with MetS among elderly individuals. Design: Cross-sectional observational study. Setting: 21 Mediterranean islands and the rural Mani region (Peloponnesus) of Greece. Participants: during 2005-2015, 2749 older (aged 65-100 years) from were voluntarily enrolled in the study. Measurements: Dietary habits, energy intake, physical activity status, sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle parameters (sleeping and smoking habits) and clinical profile aspects were derived through standard procedures. The presence of MetS was defined using the definition provided by NCEP ATP III (revised) and cluster analysis was used to identify overall dietary habit patterns. Results: The overall prevalence of MetS in the study sample was 36.2%, but occurred more frequently in females (40.0% vs. 31.8%, respectively, p=0.03). Individuals with MetS were more likely to sleep during the day (89.4% vs. 76.8% respectively, p=0.039) and frequent ‘siesta’ was positively linked to the odds of MetS presence in females (Odds Ratio (OR) =3.43, 95% Confidence Intervals (CI): 1.08-10.9), but not for men (p=0.999). The lower carbohydrate (i.e., 45.2% of total daily energy, 120±16gr/day) dietary cluster was inversely associated with the odds for MetS presence, but only for men (OR=0.094, 95%CI: 0.010-0.883). Conclusions: Lifestyle parameters including sleep and diet quality are strongly associated with the presence of MetS in elderly cohort, but different their level of influence appears to be different, depending on gender. Further research is needed to better consider the role of lifestyle characteristics in the management of MetS in clinical practice