‘Risk, Politics and the ‘Scientification’ of Political Judgement: Prisoner Release and Conflict Transformation in Northern Ireland’

Drawing on research in Northern Ireland into the process of release under the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, this article explores the identification and classification of risk in relation to prisoners released early under the Sentences (NI) Act. The main argument is that conflict, post-conflict and transitional conditions expose more starkly the political underpinnings of risk-management strategy and the article demonstrates the particular variant of Politicized Risk Assessment (PRA) recently used in the release of prisoners in Northern Ireland

SUBLINGUAL CAPTOPRIL - A PHARMACOKINETIC AND PHARMACODYNAMIC EVALUATION

In this study we compared the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of captopril after sublingual and peroral administration. Single 25 mg doses of captopril were administered sublingually and perorally on two different occasions in a randomised cross-over fashion to eight healthy volunteers aged 22-35 years. The kinetics of unchanged captopril, plasma renin activity (PRA), BP and heart rate were studied over three hours after both peroral and sublingual administration of captopril.

Renal and cardiovascular effects of caffeine:a dose-response study

The effects of increasing oral doses of caffeine (45, 90, 180 and 360 mg) on effective renal plasma flow (ERPF), plasma renin activity (PRA), serum electrolytes, plasma noradrenaline, blood pressure and heart rate were studied in eight healthy male volunteers. Urine volume was increased by 360 mg of caffeine only. At caffeine doses greater than 90 mg urinary sodium excretion was significantly increased. There were no changes in ERPF. Serum potassium was significantly reduced by 360 mg of caffeine. Caffeine increased systolic pressure in a dose related manner. Diastolic pressure was also increased, but not in relation to dose. A 360 mg dose of caffeine produced a late increase in heart rate. These changes were not associated with any alterations in PRA or in plasma noradrenaline.

More nonlocality with less entanglement in a tripartite atom-optomechanical system

Quantum effects in hybrid atomic optomechanics in a system comprising a cloud of atoms and a mobile mirror mediated by a single-mode cavity are studied. Tripartite non-locality is observed in the atom-light-mirror system, as demonstrated by the violation of the Mermin-Klyshko (MK) inequality. It has been shown [C. Genes, et al., PRA 77, 050307 (R) (2008)] that tripartite entanglement is optimized when the cavity is resonant with the anti-Stokes sideband of the driving laser and the atomic frequency matches the Stokes one. However, we show that this is not the case for the nonlocality. The MK function achieves minima when the atoms are resonant with both the Stokes and anti-Stokes sidebands, and unexpectedly, we find violation of the MK inequality only in a parameter region where entanglement is far from being maximum. A negative relation exists between nonlocality and entanglement with consideration of the possibility of bipartite nonlocality in the violation of the MK inequality. We also study the non-classicality of the mirror by post-selected measurements, e.g. Geiger-like detection, on the cavity and/or the atoms. We show that with feasible parameters Geiger-like detection on the atoms can effectively induce mechanical non-classicality.

Kaempferol Exhibits Progestogenic Effects in Ovariectomized Rats

OBJECTIVE: Progesterone (P4) plays a central role in women's health. Synthetic progestins are used clinically in hormone replacement therapy (HRT), oral contraceptives, and for the treatment of endometriosis and infertility. Unfortunately, synthetic progestins are associated with side effects, including cardiovascular disease and breast cancer. Botanical dietary supplements are widely consumed for the alleviation of a variety of gynecological issues, but very few studies have characterized natural compounds in terms of their ability to bind to and activate progesterone receptors (PR). Kaempferol is a flavonoid that functions as a non-steroidal selective progesterone receptor modulator (SPRM) in vitro. This study investigated the molecular and physiological effects of kaempferol in the ovariectomized rat uteri.

METHODS: Since genistein is a phytoestrogen that was previously demonstrated to increase uterine weight and proliferation, the ability of kaempferol to block genistein action in the uterus was investigated. Analyses of proliferation, steroid receptor expression, and induction of well-established PR-regulated targets Areg and Hand2 were completed using histological analysis and qPCR gene induction experiments. In addition, kaempferol in silico binding analysis was completed for PR. The activation of estrogen and androgen receptor signalling was determined in vitro.

RESULTS: Molecular docking analysis confirmed that kaempferol adopts poses that are consistent with occupying the ligand-binding pocket of PRA. Kaempferol induced expression of PR regulated transcriptional targets in the ovariectomized rat uteri, including Hand2 and Areg. Consistent with progesterone-l ke activity, kaempferol attenuated genistein-induced uterine luminal epithelial proliferation without increasing uterine weight. Kaempferol signalled without down regulating PR expression in vitro and in vivo and without activating estrogen and androgen receptors.

CONCLUSION: Taken together, these data suggest that kaempferol is a unique natural PR modulator that activates PR signaling in vitro and in vivo without triggering PR degradation.