Gender evaluation final report : Pan Asia Networking program, International Development Research Centre

The evaluation confirmed that the best place to influence, negotiate and convince partners to address gender considerations is at the proposal stage. This final report presents a summary of the findings and recommendations of a formative gender evaluation of the PAN Asia Networking (PAN) program. Project-level gender integration was examined within a selection of PAN projects, as well as the level of gender capacity and integration among the PAN team on a program-wide level. At the project level, nine of the ten projects reviewed showed a high degree of positive commitments towards examining gender concerns at the proposal stage

Binary and Millisecond Pulsars at the New Millennium

We review the properties and applications of binary and millisecond pulsars. Our knowledge of these exciting objects has greatly increased in recent years, mainly due to successful surveys which have brought the known pulsar population to over 1300. There are now 56 binary and millisecond pulsars in the Galactic disk and a further 47 in globular clusters. This review is concerned primarily with the results and spin-offs from these surveys which are of particular interest to the relativity community.Comment: 59 pages, 26 figures, 5 tables. Accepted for publication in Living Reviews in Relativity (http://www.livingreviews.org

Binary and Millisecond Pulsars

We review the main properties, demographics and applications of binary and millisecond radio pulsars. Our knowledge of these exciting objects has greatly increased in recent years, mainly due to successful surveys which have brought the known pulsar population to over 1700. There are now 80 binary and millisecond pulsars associated with the disk of our Galaxy, and a further 103 pulsars in 24 of the Galactic globular clusters. Recent highlights have been the discovery of the first ever double pulsar system and a recent flurry of discoveries in globular clusters, in particular Terzan 5.Comment: 77 pages, 30 figures, available on-line at http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2005-

Gender evaluation of Governance Equity and Health Program : final report; summary and way forward / next steps

The evaluation analyzed strengths and gaps in IDRC institutional and programmatic areas that support gender considerations. It assessed the Governance Equity and Health Program (GEH) team capacity for gender analysis and integration into projects. The framework is adapted from the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR), which stresses that Sex and Gender Based Analysis is essential to health equity, as it recognizes the need to address sex/gender disparities that arise in health from the diverse and multiple realities of men, women, girls and boys. Gender training facilitators recommended that GEH develop a series of thematic social-gender analysis briefing guidelines

Gender evaluation of Governance Equity and Health Program : final report on phase I; institutional assessment

The first part of this evaluation focuses on an institutional assessment of IDRC and the GEH program, examining commitments to gender issues and identifying institutional constraints to gender integration. The second part looks at project reviews within three research clusters: strengthening health systems; financing health systems; and human resources for health. Evaluative interviews with GEH team identified a strong need for staff gender training which is technically relevant, context specific and culturally-sensitive, and that would include short guidelines for both Project Officers and partners on how to conduct a gender analysis from concept stage to monitoring and evaluation

Survey of the Fragile X Syndrome CGG Repeat and the Short-Tandem-Repeat and Single-Nucleotide-Polymorphism Haplotypes in an African American Population

Previous studies have shown that specific short-tandem-repeat (STR) and single-nucleotide-polymorphism (SNP)–based haplotypes within and among unaffected and fragile X white populations are found to be associated with specific CGG-repeat patterns. It has been hypothesized that these associations result from different mutational mechanisms, possibly influenced by the CGG structure and/or cis-acting factors. Alternatively, haplotype associations may result from the long mutational history of increasing instability. To understand the basis of the mutational process, we examined the CGG-repeat size, three flanking STR markers (DXS548-FRAXAC1-FRAXAC2), and one SNP (ATL1) spanning 150 kb around the CGG repeat in unaffected (n=637) and fragile X (n=63) African American populations and compared them with unaffected (n=721) and fragile X (n=102) white populations. Several important differences were found between the two ethnic groups. First, in contrast to that seen in the white population, no associations were observed among the African American intermediate or “predisposed” alleles (41–60 repeats). Second, two previously undescribed haplotypes accounted for the majority of the African American fragile X population. Third, a putative “protective” haplotype was not found among African Americans, whereas it was found among whites. Fourth, in contrast to that seen in whites, the SNP ATL1 was in linkage equilibrium among African Americans, and it did not add new information to the STR haplotypes. These data indicate that the STR- and SNP-based haplotype associations identified in whites probably reflect the mutational history of the expansion, rather than a mutational mechanism or pathway