Political attention has increasingly focused on limiting warming to 2êC. However, to date the only mitigation commitments accompanying this target are the so-called Copenhagen pledges, and these pledges appear to be inconsistent with the 2êC objective. Diverging opinions on whether this inconsistency can or should be resolved have been expressed. This paper clarifies the alternative assumptions underlying these diverging view points and explicits their implications. It first gives simple visualizations of the challenge posed by the 2êC target. It then proposes a decision tree, linking different beliefs on climate change, the achievability of different policies, and current international policy dynamics to various options to move forward on climate change.
The author, writer and filmmaker Neil Hollander has been having a successful career for more than three decades. He's been author of several books for kids and more books that serve as a manuals for surviving on open sea. With his latest books Hollander has been advocating for world peace and bringing closer to the public the horrific life of people living under military regime in Burma. He is also active as a public speaker covering these and similar subjects. As a filmmaker Hollander started his career back in 70's when together with Harald Mertes went on a voyage around the Ocean on a sailing boat, Spending three years on this trip he visited many places and learned many things about life on sea. Later he documented these finding in his book, which he also used as a screenplay for his awarded documentary film The Last Sailors: The Final Days of Working Sail. The film is hosted by Orson Welles who in this classic documentary film tells the story of the men who, with their ancient craft, still harness the wind and the sea for their livelihood. The film includes stories from people living all over the world, including countries like Egypt, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Brazil, Costa Rica and other places. Hollander is artist that is best known for his exhibitions hosted in collaboration with some world-recognized museums and art schools. In his career he has worked with the Smithsonian, the Deutsches Museum and the Jim Thompson House in Bangkok. Lately his project are publicly visible at his portfolio at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Projects worth mentioning as one of the best in his portfolio include Hollander's Nobel Voices, Neil Hollander Burma A Human Tragedy, Birds of Passage, H for Hunger, to name a few.
Semaphorin 3A (Sema3A) is a cell-secreted protein that participates in the axonal guidance pathways. Sema3A acts as a canonical repulsive axon guidance molecule, inhibiting CNS regenerative axonal growth and propagation. Therefore, interfering with Sema3A signaling is proposed as a therapeutic target for achieving functional recovery after CNS injuries. It has been shown that Sema3A adheres to the proteoglycan component of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and selectively binds to heparin and chondroitin sulfate-E (CS-E) glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). We hypothesize that the biologically relevant interaction between Sema3A and GAGs takes place at Sema3A C-terminal polybasic region (SCT). The aims of this study were to characterize the interaction of the whole Sema3A C-terminal polybasic region (Sema3A 725–771) with GAGs and to investigate the disruption of this interaction by small molecules. Recombinant Sema3A basic domain was produced and we used a combination of biophysical techniques (NMR, SPR, and heparin affinity chromatography) to gain insight into the interaction of the Sema3A C-terminal domain with GAGs. The results demonstrate that SCT is an intrinsically disordered region, which confirms that SCT binds to GAGs and helps to identify the specific residues involved in the interaction. NMR studies, supported by molecular dynamics simulations, show that a new peptoid molecule (CSIC02) may disrupt the interaction between SCT and heparin. Our structural study paves the way toward the design of new molecules targeting these protein–GAG interactions with potential therapeutic applications. ; This work was funded by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under Project VISION, grant No. 304884, the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation/Spanish Research Agency (MCI/AEI/FEDER, RTI2018–096182-B-I00) and AGAUR (2017 SGR 208). ; Peer reviewed
This thesis critically analyzes the H-2C temporary worker program (TWP) that was part of the 2006, Senate-approved Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act. Employer opinions and lessons from past U.S. TWPs are presented, resulting in recommendations for changing H-2C's design in order to maximize its potential as a core component of future immigration reform in the United States. The paper finds that small businesses, which comprise the majority of the businesses in the United States, and are among the heaviest users of foreign labor, consider the 2006 H-2C program to be unaffordable. Policy makers must redesign H- 2C to be affordable for small businesses while still offering an effective system for protecting domestic worker interests. The paper concludes that the best means to achieve both program affordability for small businesses and effectual domestic worker protections is likely a user -friendly, electronic program process
10 páginas.- 4 figuras.- referencias.-Data Availability Statement: All data underlying this article are available in the main publication and in its Supplementary Materials online. ; Unspecific peroxygenases (UPOs), the extracellular enzymes capable of oxygenating a potpourri of aliphatic and aromatic substrates with a peroxide as co-substrate, come out with a new reaction: carbon-chain shortening during the conversion of fatty acids with the well-known UPOs from Coprinopsis cinerea (rCciUPO) and Cyclocybe (Agrocybe) aegerita (AaeUPO). Although a pathway (Cα-oxidation) for shortening the hydrocarbon chain of saturated fatty acids has already been reported for the UPO from Marasmius rotula (MroUPO), it turned out that rCciUPO and AaeUPO shorten the chain length of both saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in a different way. Thus, the reaction sequence does not necessarily start at the Cα-carbon (adjacent to the carboxyl group), as in the case of MroUPO, but proceeds through the subterminal (ω-1 and ω-2) carbons of the chain via several oxygenations. This new type of shortening leads to the formation of a dicarboxylic fatty acid reduced in size by two carbon atoms in the first step, which can subsequently be further shortened, carbon by carbon, by the UPO Cα-oxidation mechanism. View Full-Text ; This research was funded by BioBased Industries Joint Undertaking under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, grant number 792063 (SusBind project; https://susbind.eu; to A.G., Á.T.M. and M.H.), the PID2020-118968RB-100 project by the Spanish MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 to A.G., and the CSIC projects PIE-202040E185 (to A.G.) and PIE-202120E019 (to Á.T.M.). ; Peer reviewed
At the end of the 1870s, the oppressive policies of the Argentine State were intensified towards the indigenous people linked to the Southern Border, visible in the punitive expeditions of 1878-1879. In the case of theranqueles, located in the centralPampa, these actions were part of previous strategies of attrition, carried out by the military commanders ofSan LuisandCórdobathrough the diplomatic channel, softening campaigns and co-optation of contingents who, both forced and voluntarily, migrated to the fortsVilla MercedesandSarmiento. From a line of investigation that seeks to reconstruct the itineraries of theranquelessubmitted in the aforementioned context, the article characterizes the imprisonment of the indigenous people taken by the 3rd Expeditionary Division (April-August 1879) under the leadership of Colonel Eduardo Racedo. Its purpose is to describe their living conditions while they were in thePitral Lauquencamp (nearPoitagué), understanding that it simultaneously acted as a place of concentration and distribution of prisoners. ; Al terminar la década de 1870 se intensificaron las políticas opresivas del Estado argentino para con los indígenas ligados a la Frontera Sur, visibles en las expediciones punitivas de 1878-1879. En el caso de los ranqueles, situados en la pampa central, estas acciones se enmarcan en estrategias previas de desgaste ejecutadas por los mandos militares de San Luis y Córdoba a través de la vía diplomática, las campañas de ablandamiento y cooptación de contingentes que migrabande manera forzaday por presentación a los fuertes Villa Mercedes y Sarmiento. Desde una línea de investigación que busca reconstruir los itinerarios de los ranqueles sometidos en ese contexto, el artículo caracteriza elaprisionamiento de los indígenas tomados por la 3aDivisión Expedicionaria (abril-agosto de 1879) bajo el liderazgo del coronel Eduardo Racedo. Su finalidad es describir sus condiciones de vida mientras estuvieron depositados en el campamento Pitral Lauquen (cercano a Poitagué), lugar de concentración y distribución de prisioneros.
33 p.-4 fig.-2 fig. supl. ; Complement is an essential component of innate immunity. Its activation results in the assembly of unstable protease complexes, denominated C3/C5 convertases, leading to inflammation and lysis. Regulatory proteins inactivate C3/C5 convertases on host surfaces to avoid collateral tissue damage. On pathogen surfaces, properdin stabilizes C3/C5 convertases to efficiently fight infection. How properdin performs this function is, however, unclear. Using electron microscopy we show that the N-and C-terminal ends of adjacent monomers in properdin oligomers conform a curly vertex that holds together the AP convertase, interacting with both the C345C and vWA domains of C3b and Bb, respectively. Properdin also promotes a large displacement of the TED (thioestercontaining domain) and CUB (complement protein subcomponents C1r/C1s, urchin embryonic growth factor and bone morphogenetic protein 1) domains of C3b, which likely impairs C3-convertase inactivation by regulatory proteins. The combined effect of molecular cross-linking and structural reorganization increases stability of the C3 convertase and facilitates recruitment of fluid-phase C3 convertase to the cell surfaces. Our model explains how properdin mediates the assembly of stabilized C3/C5-convertase clusters, which helps to localize complement amplification to pathogen surfaces. ; This work was funded by the Autonomous Region of Madrid (S2010/BMD-2316 to S.R.d.C. and O.L.), the Ramón Areces Foundation (O.L.), and the Spanish government (SAF2011-22988 to O.L. and SAF2011-26583 to S.R.d.C.). O.L. is additionally supported by Red Temática de Investigación Cooperativa en Cáncer (RD06/0020/1001), and S.R.d.C. is also supported by the Fundación Renal Iñigo Alvarez de Toledo and the Seventh Framework Programme European Union Project EURenOmics (European Consortium for High-Throughput Research in Rare Kidney Diseases-305608). ; Peer Reviewed
International audience ; Although nuclear energy forms an important and controversial part of polar history, its uses and misuses have so far received little attention from professional historians. Especially mobile nuclear reactors, as deployed for instance on the Antarctic continent, played an important role in the conquest of the polar regions. The Antarctic case presented here allows to illustrate the large diversity of issues involved in the American mobile nuclear reactor programme, ranging from economic considerations, over military strategy, to environmental and health concerns. During several decades, mobile nuclear power reactors were considered a cheap and clean solution, yet as this essay shows, history proved otherwise. None of the economic targets were met and in the case of the Antarctic reactor, repeated failures and even radioactive leakages lead finally to the shutdown of the whole programme. ; Même si l'énergie nucléaire joue un rôle important et controversé dans l'histoire polaire, son usage et son mésusage ont reçu très peu d'attention de la part des historiens. Les réacteurs nucléaires mobiles en particulier, tels qu'ils ont été mis en oeuvre sur le continent antarctique, ont occupé une fonction cruciale dans la conquête des régions polaires. Le cas antarctique présenté ici permet d'illustrer la grande diversité des éléments invoqués dans le programme étatsunien de réacteurs nucléaires mobiles, allant de considérations économiques, en passant par la stratégie militaire, à des inquiétudes environnementales et de santé publique. Pendant plusieurs décennies, les réacteurs nucléaires mobiles ont été considérés une solution peu couteuse et propre, mais comme nous allons arguer ci-dessous, l'histoire en a voulu autrement. Aucun des objectifs économiques ne fut atteint et dans le cas du réacteur en Antarctique, de nombreuses coupures et même des fuites radioactives ont amené enfin à l'abandon du programme.
Purpose Dysregulation of the complement cascade contributes to a variety of retinal dystrophies, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The central component of complement, C3, is expressed in abundance by macrophages in the outer retina, and its ablation suppresses photoreceptor death in experimental photo-oxidative damage. Whether this also influences macrophage reactivity in this model system, however, is unknown. We investigate the effect of C3 ablation on macrophage activity and phagocytosis by outer retinal macrophages during photo-oxidative damage. Methods Age-matched C3 knockout (KO) mice and wild-type (WT) C57/Bl6 mice were subjected to photo-oxidative damage. Measurements of the outer nuclear layer (ONL) thickness and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining were used to assess pathology and photoreceptor apoptosis, respectively. Macrophage abundance and phagocytosis were assessed with immunolabeling for pan-macrophage and phagocytic markers, in conjunction with TUNEL staining in cohorts of C3 KO and WT mice. Results The C3 KO mice exhibited protection against photoreceptor cell death following photo-oxidative damage, which was associated with a reduction in immunoreactivity for the stress-related factor GFAP. In conjunction, there was a reduction in IBA1-positive macrophages in the outer retina compared to the WT mice and a decrease in the number of CD68-positive cells in the outer nuclear layer and the subretinal space. In addition, the engulfment of TUNEL-positive and -negative photoreceptors by macrophages was significantly lower in the C3 KO mice cohort following photo-oxidative damage compared to the WT cohort. Conclusions The results show that the absence of C3 mitigates the phagocytosis of photoreceptors by macrophages in the outer retina, and the net impact of C3 depletion is neuroprotective in the context of photo-oxidative damage. These data improve our understanding of the impact of C3 inhibition in subretinal inflammation and inform the development of treatments for targeting complement activation in diseases such as AMD. ; This study was supported by project grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council (APP1165599; APP1127705), Australian National University Translational Fellowship and Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship.
5 p.-2 fig. ; [Background] Glomerulonephritis is one of the most severe complications of lupus, a systemic disease with multi-organ involvement, with tissue damage produced mainly by complement activation. As a result of this activation, patients with active lupus present hypocomplementemia during disease flares, but C3 and C4 levels are recovered between episodes. ; [Case presentation] We present a patient who suffered two lupus nephritis episodes in 5 years, achieving complete remission with treatment after both of them, but with C3 levels persistently below normal range. Genetic study revealed that the patient carried a mutation in heterozygosis in the C3 gene. Serial sera samples were analyzed, and autoantibodies to complement alternative pathway proteins (Factor I, Factor B, C3 and Properdin) were found. Functional assays showed that these autoantibodies cause alternative pathway activation. ; [Conclusion] This case is the first reported of a heterozygous C3 mutation associated with lupus nephritis and autoantibodies against complement alternative pathway proteins (Factor I, Factor B, C3 and Properdin).These autoantibodies cause activation of this pathway and this fact could explain that the tissue damage is restricted to the kidney. ; This work was funded by Spanish government, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (grant SAF2012-38636), Autonomous region of Madrid (S2010/BMD-2316 to SRdeC y MLT) and Sociedad Española de Nefrología Fundación Senefro to MLT. ; Peer reviewed
Le problème principal de l'économie de l'environnement peut donc être défini à la fois comme la recherche d'un nouveau mode de croissance et la transformation d'un consensus moral sur les fins en moyens d'action politique. L'Union européenne est aujourd'hui le lieu où le consensus moral est le mieux partagé et où les moyens politiques de l'action collective sont les plus puissants. L'Union européenne, à travers la Communauté européenne de l'environnement, de l'énergie et de la recherche, est donc l'échelle pertinente qui peut rendre opératoire une nouvelle croissance " écogène ", à condition d'en préciser le cadre d'analyse et le contexte institutionnel.
Le problème principal de l'économie de l'environnement peut donc être défini à la fois comme la recherche d'un nouveau mode de croissance et la transformation d'un consensus moral sur les fins en moyens d'action politique. L'Union européenne est aujourd'hui le lieu où le consensus moral est le mieux partagé et où les moyens politiques de l'action collective sont les plus puissants. L'Union européenne, à travers la Communauté européenne de l'environnement, de l'énergie et de la recherche, est donc l'échelle pertinente qui peut rendre opératoire une nouvelle croissance " écogène ", à condition d'en préciser le cadre d'analyse et le contexte institutionnel.
The Confederate Graves Survey Archive of the Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans consists of surveys of cemeteries throughout Texas, and portions of Oklahoma and New Mexico. The surveys document the interment of Confederate States of America military veterans. United States of America (Union) veterans, as well as able-bodied men at the time of the Civil War, are also documented. 13 boxes entitled "Grave Surveys" contain grave surveys listed county-by-county, 3 boxes of "Unit Files" list surveyed individuals by their military unit. Finally, 17 boxes contain "Veteran Files" that document each veteran by name in "last name, first name, middle initial" format. An index that cross-references each of the collection series (Grave Surveys, Unit Files, and Veteran Files) is included, as are institutions to surveyors on how and what to document while conducting surveys. ; Pendleton Cemetery #678, Pendleton, Bell County, Texas | Veterans Interred: Brown, E. A. ; Abilene Cemetery #138, Abilene, Taylor County, Texas | Veterans Interred: Thomas, J. W. ; Abilene Cemetery #138, Abilene, Taylor County, Texas | Veterans Interred: Thomas, J. H. ; Weiland Cemetery #578, Weiland, Hunt County, Texas | Veterans Interred: Phillips, Robt Jackson. ; King Cemetery #685, Coryell County, Texas | Veterans Interred: Moseley, Elisha Alfred. ; Norton Cemetery #915, Runnels County, Texas | Veterans Interred: McDaniel, James M. ; Dickens Cemetery #340, Dickens, Dickens County, Texas | Veterans Interred: Sheilds, Thos. Jefferson. ; Shady Grove Cemetery #634, Wood County, Texas | Veterans Interred: Crone, Franklin M. ; Shady Grove Cemetery #634, Wood County, Texas | Veterans Interred: Jarred, James. ; Shady Grove Cemetery #634, Wood County, Texas | Veterans Interred: Brawning, Thomas. ; Moody Cemetery #28, Moody, McLennon County, Texas | Veterans Interred: Phillips, A. J. ; Weiland Cemetery #578, Weiland, Hunt County, Texas | Veterans Interred: Cummings, Henry. ; Weiland Cemetery #578, Weiland, Hunt County, Texas | Veterans Interred: Elledge, W. W. ; Forrest Park Cemetery #582, Hunt County, Texas | Veterans Interred: McMillan, Lee G. ; Abilene Cemetery #138, Abilene, Taylor County, Texas | Veterans Interred: Thomas, J. W. ; East Mt. Cemetery #572, Hunt County, Texas | Veterans Interred: Fountain E. P.