Gangs, displaced, and group-based aggression

Many urban areas experienced an alarming growth of gang activity and violence during the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries. Gang members, motivated by various factors, commit a variety of different types of violent acts towards rivals and other targets. Our focus involves instances of displaced aggression, which generally refers to situations in which aggression is targeted towards individuals who have either not themselves committed an offense against the aggressor (s), or who provide an offense that is too mild to justify the aggression levels that are expressed towards them. We discuss how social–psychological mechanisms and models of two types of displaced aggression might help explain some aspects of the retaliatory behavior that is expressed by members of street gangs. We also propose general techniques that have the potential to reduce such aggressive behavior

Production of human recombinant proapolipoprotein A-I in Escherichia coli: purification and biochemical characterization

A human liver cDNA library was used to isolate a clone coding for apolipoprotein A-I (Apo A-I). The clone carries the sequence for the prepeptide (18 amino acids), the propeptide (6 amino acids), and the mature protein (243 amino acids). A coding cassette for the proapo A-I molecule was reconstructed by fusing synthetic sequences, chosen to optimize expression and specifying the amino-terminal methionine and amino acids -6 to +14, to a large fragment of the cDNA coding for amino acids 15-243. The module was expressed in pOTS-Nco, an Escherichia coli expression vector carrying the regulatable X P^ promoter, leading to the production of proapolipoprotein A-I at up to 10% of total soluble proteins. The recombinant polypeptide was purified and characterized in terms of apparent molecular mass, isoelectric point, and by both chemical and enzymatic peptide mapping. In addition, it was assayed in vitro for the stimulation of the enzyme lecithin: cholesterol acyltransferase. The data show for the first time that proapo A-I can be produced efficiently in E. coli as a stable and undegraded protein having physical and functional properties indistinguishable from those of the natural product

Improving access to vaccination for newly arrived migrants in European countries

Background: Ensuring access to immunization for migrants, particularly newly arrived migrants (NAMs), is of utmost importance in the European Union and the Economic European Area (EU/EEA). Migrants may not be immunized or may be under immunized in their countries of origin and so may be vulnerable to acquire vaccine-preventable diseases. Immunization is a global health intervention that plays a crucial role in saving countless lives and preventing the transmission of infectious diseases. The AcToVax4NAM project aims to improve access to vaccinations for NAMs in European countries. The consortium behind AcToVx4NAM plans to enhance solutions in removing barriers to access vaccination and to improve vaccination literacy within the health system to ensure equal and guaranteed vaccination access for NAMs. Methods: The project utilizes scientific methods, including participatory approach involving collaboration between stakeholders, healthcare providers, and policymakers within European countries. It includes an updating of the current reception and vaccination systems for NAMs, identification of barriers to vaccination access, and development of strategies to address these barriers. Furthermore, it develops tools to foster stronger networking capacity among organizations and stakeholders to address vaccination literacy and promote migrant-sensitive approaches within healthcare systems. Lastly, the study conducted pilot tests and evaluations of these proposed solutions to enhance vaccination uptake among NAMs. Results: Preliminary findings provide an updated comprehension of reception and vaccination systems for NAMs in Italy, Spain, Greek, Romania, Germany, Poland, Cyprus and Malta. Moreover, these findings highlight substantial barriers to vaccination access for NAMs. These barriers include professionals' lack of knowledge about the entitlement to health and vaccination for migrants, as well as the lack of specific mention of NAMs as immunization beneficiaries in documents and plans at various levels. The project has successfully developed a General Conceptual Framework to understand how to improve vaccination uptake for NAMs in EU countries, provided country-specific insights into barriers and solutions and strengthened vaccination literacy and migrant-sensitive capacities among healthcare professionals. These outcomes involved in a pilot testing of approaches to enhance vaccination uptake of NAMs within countries in this study. Discussion: Ensuring that migrants have equal access to immunization services reduces the risk of outbreaks and the spread of diseases within communities. Furthermore, it promotes the well-being and integration of migrants, leading to healthier and more inclusive societies. A key objective of this study is to provide tangible and effective practices and recommendations to address the issues

Animace ve Flashi pomocí ConTeXt-mkiv

summary:Starting from release 9 AdobeReader, the reference PDF viewer from Adobe, has a Flash player embedded. The recent addition to CTAN of flashmovie package by Timo Hartmann prompted me to investigate the feasibility of an integration between ConTeXt-mkiv and swf figures. All tests were performed under Linux Ubuntu 8.04 with AdobeReader 9.3.3 installed, but I suppose they also work under Windows or Mac operating systems.summary:Článek představuje jednu z možností, jak vložit animace vytvořené ve Flashi do PDF. Používá na to ConTeXt-mkiv, který využívá programovacího jazyka Lua