Financialisation of official development assistance

Official Development Assistance is a significant global enterprise. Organsiations engaged in funding and implementing ODA (the bilateral donors, multilateral organsiations such as the World Bank and IMF) have unprecedented political and economic influence over a large number of sovereign developing countries. This paper analyses if, and how financialisation impacts on development aid, and implications for effective aid policy agendas, drawing on and linking critical debate on finacialisation, and ODA. Subsequent to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and the persistence of the European Monitory Crisis (EMC), specific needs of developing countries became increasingly sub-ordinated to political and ideological power relations between ‘real’ economics and financial economics otherwise known as financialisation. The paper finds ‘financialisation’ as the ideological, political and economic catalyst for economic growth potentially confusing long-term development to combat poverty, and a short term need to overcome the lack of financial capacity in developing recipient countries. Sustainable economic development requires developing countries to forsake the pursuit of financialisation and to re-delineate their national finance, trade and investment regimes, and re-state it in a balanced manner as to take into account their unique economic development needs rather that the donor agencies’ demands and to advance their own ‘real’ economies

Methods of sputum processing for cell counts, immunocytochemistry and in situ hybridisation.

Since the first attempts to use standardised methods for sampling induced airways sputum, two methods for processing the expectorate have evolved. The first involves selecting all viscid or denser portions from the expectorated sample with the aid of an inverted microscope. This method has been extensively evaluated and reported in detail. The second approach involves processing the entire expectorate, comprising sputum plus variable amounts of saliva. Recent modifications to this method include collecting saliva and sputum separately in order to reduce salivary contamination. Both methods have advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of using selected sputum are: squamous cell contamination is v5%, making cell counting easier and quicker to perform, the total cell count (TCC) can be expressed per gram of lower airway secretions, and concentrations of chemicals in the fluid phase are unaffected by the confounding influence of saliva, and can be accurately corrected for dilution. The disadvantage is that selection takes a few minutes longer to perform and requires an inverted microscope. The advantage of using the entire expectorate is that the technique is quicker to perform, but there are some disadvantages that require consideration. The expectorate contains a variable mixture of sputum plus saliva which maydilute the sputum and confound its analysis. The reproducibility of cell counts has been reported to be lower if squamous cell contamination represents w20% of all recovered cells. There is conflicting data as to whether or not differential cell counts (DCCs) differ between the two methods. One study reported a higher percentage of eosinophils in sputum processed by the selection method compared to the entire expectorate but this has not been confirmed in other studies. Although, both the selected sputum and the entire expectorate methods have the same ability to distinguish asthmatics or bronchitics from healthy subjects, they are not interchangeable, and, once a technique has been adopted for a given study, it should always be applied

Freezing and chemical preservatives alter the stable isotope values of carbon and nitrogen of the Asiatic clam (Corbicula fluminea)

We tested the impacts of most common sample preservation methods used for aquatic sample materials on the stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen in clams, a typical baseline indicator organism for many aquatic food web studies utilising stable isotope analysis (SIA). In addition to common chemical preservatives ethanol and formalin, we also assessed the potential impacts of freezing on δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values and compared the preserved samples against freshly dried and analysed samples. All preservation methods, including freezing, had significant impacts on δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values and the effects in general were greater on the carbon isotope values (1.3-2.2% difference) than on the nitrogen isotope values (0.9-1.0% difference). However, the impacts produced by the preservation were rather consistent within each method during the whole 1 year experiment allowing these to be accounted for, if clams are intended for use in retrospective stable isotope studies

Elevated hemostasis markers after pneumonia increases one-year risk of all-cause and cardiovascular deaths

Background: Acceleration of chronic diseases, particularly cardiovascular disease, may increase long-term mortality after community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), but underlying mechanisms are unknown. Persistence of the prothrombotic state that occurs during an acute infection may increase risk of subsequent atherothrombosis in patients with pre-existing cardiovascular disease and increase subsequent risk of death. We hypothesized that circulating hemostasis markers activated during CAP persist at hospital discharge, when patients appear to have recovered clinically, and are associated with higher mortality, particularly due to cardiovascular causes. Methods: In a cohort of survivors of CAP hospitalization from 28 US sites, we measured D-Dimer, thrombin-antithrombin complexes [TAT], Factor IX, antithrombin, and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 at hospital discharge, and determined 1-year all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Results: Of 893 subjects, most did not have severe pneumonia (70.6% never developed severe sepsis) and only 13.4% required intensive care unit admission. At discharge, 88.4% of subjects had normal vital signs and appeared to have clinically recovered. D-dimer and TAT levels were elevated at discharge in 78.8% and 30.1% of all subjects, and in 51.3% and 25.3% of those without severe sepsis. Higher D-dimer and TAT levels were associated with higher risk of all-cause mortality (range of hazard ratios were 1.66-1.17, p = 0.0001 and 1.46-1.04, p = 0.001 after adjusting for demographics and comorbid illnesses) and cardiovascular mortality (p = 0.009 and 0.003 in competing risk analyses). Conclusions: Elevations of TAT and D-dimer levels are common at hospital discharge in patients who appeared to have recovered clinically from pneumonia and are associated with higher risk of subsequent deaths, particularly due to cardiovascular disease. © 2011 Yende et al

Realization of a Tunable Artificial Atom at a Supercritically Charged Vacancy in Graphene

The remarkable electronic properties of graphene have fueled the vision of a graphene-based platform for lighter, faster and smarter electronics and computing applications. One of the challenges is to devise ways to tailor its electronic properties and to control its charge carriers. Here we show that a single atom vacancy in graphene can stably host a local charge and that this charge can be gradually built up by applying voltage pulses with the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). The response of the conduction electrons in graphene to the local charge is monitored with scanning tunneling and Landau level spectroscopy, and compared to numerical simulations. As the charge is increased, its interaction with the conduction electrons undergoes a transition into a supercritical regime 6-11 where itinerant electrons are trapped in a sequence of quasi-bound states which resemble an artificial atom. The quasi-bound electron states are detected by a strong enhancement of the density of states (DOS) within a disc centered on the vacancy site which is surrounded by halo of hole states. We further show that the quasi-bound states at the vacancy site are gate tunable and that the trapping mechanism can be turned on and off, providing a new mechanism to control and guide electrons in grapheneComment: 18 pages and 5 figures plus 14 pages and 15 figures of supplementary information. Nature Physics advance online publication, Feb 22 (2016

A whole genome screen for HIV restriction factors

RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are.Abstract Background Upon cellular entry retroviruses must avoid innate restriction factors produced by the host cell. For human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) human restriction factors, APOBEC3 (apolipoprotein-B-mRNA-editing-enzyme), p21 and tetherin are well characterised. Results To identify intrinsic resistance factors to HIV-1 replication we screened 19,121 human genes and identified 114 factors with significant inhibition of infection. Those with a known function are involved in a broad spectrum of cellular processes including receptor signalling, vesicle trafficking, transcription, apoptosis, cross-nuclear membrane transport, meiosis, DNA damage repair, ubiquitination and RNA processing. We focused on the PAF1 complex which has been previously implicated in gene transcription, cell cycle control and mRNA surveillance. Knockdown of all members of the PAF1 family of proteins enhanced HIV-1 reverse transcription and integration of provirus. Over-expression of PAF1 in host cells renders them refractory to HIV-1. Simian Immunodeficiency Viruses and HIV-2 are also restricted in PAF1 expressing cells. PAF1 is expressed in primary monocytes, macrophages and T-lymphocytes and we demonstrate strong activity in MonoMac1, a monocyte cell line. Conclusions We propose that the PAF1c establishes an anti-viral state to prevent infection by incoming retroviruses. This previously unrecognised mechanism of restriction could have implications for invasion of cells by any pathogen.Published versio

Lactate signalling regulates fungal β-glucan masking and immune evasion

AJPB: This work was supported by the European Research Council (STRIFE, ERC- 2009-AdG-249793), The UK Medical Research Council (MR/M026663/1), the UK Biotechnology and Biological Research Council (BB/K017365/1), the Wellcome Trust (080088; 097377). ERB: This work was supported by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Research Council (BB/M014525/1). GMA: Supported by the CNPq-Brazil (Science without Borders fellowship 202976/2014-9). GDB: Wellcome Trust (102705). CAM: This work was supported by the UK Medical Research Council (G0400284). DMM: This work was supported by UK National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC/K000306/1). NARG/JW: Wellcome Trust (086827, 075470,101873) and Wellcome Trust Strategic Award in Medical Mycology and Fungal Immunology (097377). ALL: This work was supported by the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology and the University of Aberdeen (MR/N006364/1).Peer reviewedPostprin

Proliferation and estrogen signaling can distinguish patients at risk for early versus late relapse among estrogen receptor positive breast cancers

Introduction: We examined if a combination of proliferation markers and estrogen receptor (ER) activity could predict early versus late relapses in ER-positive breast cancer and inform the choice and length of adjuvant endocrine therapy. Methods: Baseline affymetrix gene-expression profiles from ER-positive patients who received no systemic therapy (n = 559), adjuvant tamoxifen for 5 years (cohort-1: n = 683, cohort-2: n = 282) and from 58 patients treated with neoadjuvant letrozole for 3 months (gene-expression available at baseline, 14 and 90 days) were analyzed. A proliferation score based on the expression of mitotic kinases (MKS) and an ER-related score (ERS) adopted from Oncotype DX® were calculated. The same analysis was performed using the Genomic Grade Index as proliferation marker and the luminal gene score from the PAM50 classifier as measure of estrogen-related genes. Median values were used to define low and high marker groups and four combinations were created. Relapses were grouped into time cohorts of 0-2.5, 0-5, 5-10 years. Results: In the overall 10 years period, the proportional hazards assumption was violated for several biomarker groups indicating time-dependent effects. In tamoxifen-treated patients Low-MKS/Low-ERS cancers had continuously increasing risk of relapse that was higher after 5 years than Low-MKS/High-ERS cancers [0 to 10 year, HR 3.36; p = 0.013]. High-MKS/High-ERS cancers had low risk of early relapse [0-2.5 years HR 0.13; p = 0.0006], but high risk of late relapse which was higher than in the High-MKS/Low-ERS group [after 5 years HR 3.86; p = 0.007]. The High-MKS/Low-ERS subset had most of the early relapses [0 to 2.5 years, HR 6.53; p < 0.0001] especially in node negative tumors and showed minimal response to neoadjuvant letrozole. These findings were qualitatively confirmed in a smaller independent cohort of tamoxifen-treated patients. Using different biomarkers provided similar results. Conclusions: Early relapses are highest in highly proliferative/low-ERS cancers, in particular in node negative tumors. Relapses occurring after 5 years of adjuvant tamoxifen are highest among the highly-proliferative/high-ERS tumors although their risk of recurrence is modest in the first 5 years on tamoxifen. These tumors could be the best candidates for extended endocrine therapy

Decreasing intensity of open-ocean convection in the Greenland and Iceland seas

The air–sea transfer of heat and fresh water plays a critical role in the global climate system. This is particularly true for the Greenland and Iceland seas, where these fluxes drive ocean convection that contributes to Denmark Strait overflow water, the densest component of the lower limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Here we show that the wintertime retreat of sea ice in the region, combined with different rates of warming for the atmosphere and sea surface of the Greenland and Iceland seas, has resulted in statistically significant reductions of approximately 20% in the magnitude of the winter air–sea heat fluxes since 1979. We also show that modes of climate variability other than the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) are required to fully characterize the regional air–sea interaction. Mixed-layer model simulations imply that further decreases in atmospheric forcing will exceed a threshold for the Greenland Sea whereby convection will become depth limited, reducing the ventilation of mid-depth waters in the Nordic seas. In the Iceland Sea, further reductions have the potential to decrease the supply of the densest overflow waters to the AMOC