Early life exposure to chronic intermittent hypoxia primes increased susceptibility to hypoxia-induced weakness in rat sternohyoid muscle during adulthood

Intermittent hypoxia is a feature of apnea of prematurity (AOP), chronic lung disease, and sleep apnea. Despite the clinical relevance, the long-term effects of hypoxic exposure in early life on respiratory control are not well defined. We recently reported that exposure to chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) during postnatal development (pCIH) causes upper airway muscle weakness in both sexes, which persists for several weeks. We sought to examine if there are persistent sex-dependent effects of pCIH on respiratory muscle function into adulthood and/or increased susceptibility to re-exposure to CIH in adulthood in animals previously exposed to CIH during postnatal development. We hypothesized that pCIH would cause long-lasting muscle impairment and increased susceptibility to subsequent hypoxia. Within 24 h of delivery, pups and their respective dams were exposed to CIH: 90 s of hypoxia reaching 5% O2 at nadir; once every 5 min, 8 h per day for 3 weeks. Sham groups were exposed to normoxia in parallel. Three groups were studied: sham; pCIH; and pCIH combined with adult CIH (p+aCIH), where a subset of the pCIH-exposed pups were re-exposed to the same CIH paradigm beginning at 13 weeks. Following gas exposures, sternohyoid and diaphragm muscle isometric contractile and endurance properties were examined ex vivo. There was no apparent lasting effect of pCIH on respiratory muscle function in adults. However, in both males and females, re-exposure to CIH in adulthood in pCIH-exposed animals caused sternohyoid (but not diaphragm) weakness. Exposure to this paradigm of CIH in adulthood alone had no effect on muscle function. Persistent susceptibility in pCIH-exposed airway dilator muscle to subsequent hypoxic insult may have implications for the control of airway patency in adult humans exposed to intermittent hypoxic stress during early life.

Multi-Scale Governance of Sustainable Natural Resource Use—Challenges and Opportunities for Monitoring and Institutional Development at the National and Global Level

In a globalized economy, the use of natural resources is determined by the demand of modern production and consumption systems, and by infrastructure development. Sustainable natural resource use will require good governance and management based on sound scientific information, data and indicators. There is a rich literature on natural resource management, yet the national and global scale and macro-economic policy making has been underrepresented. We provide an overview of the scholarly literature on multi-scale governance of natural resources, focusing on the information required by relevant actors from local to global scale. Global natural resource use is largely determined by national, regional, and local policies. We observe that in recent decades, the development of public policies of natural resource use has been fostered by an “inspiration cycle” between the research, policy and statistics community, fostering social learning. Effective natural resource policies require adequate monitoring tools, in particular indicators for the use of materials, energy, land, and water as well as waste and GHG emissions of national economies. We summarize the state-of-the-art of the application of accounting methods and data sources for national material flow accounts and indicators, including territorial and product-life-cycle based approaches. We show how accounts on natural resource use can inform the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and argue that information on natural resource use, and in particular footprint indicators, will be indispensable for a consistent implementation of the SDGs. We recognize that improving the knowledge base for global natural resource use will require further institutional development including at national and international levels, for which we outline options.

Profile of inmates in institutional count (including inmates on authorized absence) as of June 30, 2016

These statistics break down SC inmate population characteristics. It is broken down by male and female, current age, race, marital status, sentencing data, education, leading most serious offenses, top five committing counties, medical classification and mental health classification.

Determinants of Sustainability e-reporting in Portuguese municipalities: an institutional and legitimacy theoretical framewor

This study aims to analyse the extent of online social responsibility (SR) information disclosure by Portuguese municipalities and to identify related determinant factors, based on Institutional Theory and Legitimacy Theories. A content analysis was performed on webpages from 60 sampled municipalities, and an information disclosure index was created.Descriptive statistics obtained indicate the Total Disclosure Index (TDI) value was 0.46. The Economic Information sub-category exhibits the highest value (0.66), followed by the Social and Environmental Information categories (0.61 and 0.36, respectively). The multivariate analysis results indicate that LA21 implementation the existence of tax burdens, the characterisation of a municipality as urban and environmental/SR certification application positively influence SR information disclosure. TDI is negatively affected by the existence of an inactive population (i.e. by the percentage of individuals ≤19 and ≥65 years of age).

Tracing outsideness: young women's institutional journeys and the geographies of closed space

Understanding confinement and its complex workings between individuals and society has been the stated aim of carceral geography and wider studies on detention. This project contributes ethnographic insights from multiple sites of incarceration, working with an under-researched group within confined populations. Focussing on young female detainees in Scotland, this project seeks to understand their experiences of different types of ‘closed’ space. Secure care, prison and closed psychiatric facilities all impact on the complex geographies of these young women’s lives. The fluid but always situated relations of control and care provide the backdrop for their journeys in/out and beyond institutional spaces. Understanding institutional journeys with reference to age and gender allows an insight into the highly mobile, often precarious, and unfamiliar lives of these young women who live on the margins. This thesis employs a mixed-method qualitative approach and explores what Goffman calls the ‘tissue and fabric’ of detention as a complex multi-institutional practice. In order to be able to understand the young women’s gendered, emotional and often repetitive experiences of confinement, analysis of the constitution of ‘closed space’ represents a first step for inquiry. The underlying nature of inner regimes, rules and discipline in closed spaces, provide the background on which confinement is lived, perceived and processed. The second part of the analysis is the exploration of individual experiences ‘on the inside’, ranging from young women’s views on entering a closed institution, the ways in which they adapt or resist the regime, and how they cope with embodied aspects of detention. The third and final step considers the wider context of incarceration by recovering the young women’s journeys through different types of institutional spaces and beyond. The exploration of these journeys challenges and re-develops understandings of mobility and inertia by engaging the relative power of carceral archipelagos and the figure of femina sacra. This project sits comfortably within the field of carceral geography while also pushing at its boundaries. On a conceptual level, a re-engagement with Goffman’s micro-analysis challenges current carceral-geographic theory development. Perhaps more importantly, this project pushes for an engagement with different institutions under the umbrella of carceral geography, thus creating new dialogues on issues like ‘care’ and ‘control’. Finally, an engagement with young women addresses an under-represented population within carceral geography in ways that raise distinctly problematic concerns for academic research and penal policy. Overall, this project aims to show the value of fine grained micro-level research in institutional geographies for extending thinking and understanding about society’s responses to a group of people who live on the margins of social and legal norms.

Healing wounds institutional strength, peacebuilding, and productive entrepreneurship – exploratory analysis on 23 departments of Colombia

Este estudio presenta un análisis exploratorio sobre la correlación entre la fortaleza institucional, las condiciones de paz, y el emprendimiento en una muestra de 23 departamentos en Colombia usando datos de 2014. Para llevar a cabo este objetivo se propusieron y construyeron tres índices siguiendo definiciones conceptuales seminales o estándares de evaluación internacional, a saber: 1) El Índice de Fortaleza Institucional, 2) El Índice de Construcción de Paz (construido a partir del índice de paz negativa y el índice de paz positiva) y 3) El Índice de Emprendimiento Productivo. Los resultados no muestran una correlación significativa entre todos los tres índices. Por un lado, existe una correlación significativa (p<0.05) entre los índices de fortaleza institucional y emprendimiento productivo. Por otro lado, existen correlaciones negativas no significativas entre los índices de paz positiva y fortaleza institucional, emprendimiento productivo y paz positiva y emprendimiento productivo y construcción de paz. En un segundo acercamiento, la población de los departamentos fue la variable con mayor número de correlaciones significativas (p<0.01) entre variables relacionadas con emprendimiento productivo, empleo, producto interno bruto, sofisticación industrial, innovación (patentes) y crimen. Finalmente, se discuten las conclusiones y las futuras investigaciones.

Policy and Institutional Support for CA Development (Examples from Europe, Africa, Asia)

Policy and Institutional Support for CA Development (Examples from Europe, Africa, Asia)

Development of an institutional framework to guide transitions into enhanced blended learning in higher education

The rapidly changing digital landscape is having a significant influence on learning and teaching. Our study assesses the response of one higher education institution (HEI) to the changing digital landscape and its transition into enhanced blended learning, which seeks to go beyond the early implementation stage to make the most effective use of online learning technologies to enhance the student experience and student learning outcomes. Evidence from a qualitative study comprising 20 semi-structured interviews, informed by a literature review, has resulted in the development of a holistic framework to guide HEIs transitioning into enhanced blended learning. The proposed framework addresses questions relating to the why (change agents), what (institutional considerations), how (organisational preparedness) and who (stakeholders) of transitions into enhanced blended learning. The involvement of all stakeholder groups is essential to a successful institutional transition into enhanced blended learning.

A study of the role of a technology-enhanced learning implementation group in mediating an institutional VLE minimum standards policy

Recent years have seen a focus on responding to student expectations in higher education. As a result, a number of technology-enhanced learning (TEL) policies have stipulated a requirement for a minimum virtual learning environment (VLE) standard to provide a consistent student experience. This paper offers insight into an under-researched area of such a VLE standard policy development using a case study of one university. With reference to the implementation staircase model, this study takes cue from the view that an institutional VLE template can affect lower levels directly, sidestepping the chain in the implementation staircase. The Group's activity whose remit is to design and develop a VLE template, therefore, becomes significant. The study, drawing on activity theory, explores the mediating role of such a Group. Factors of success and sources of tension are analysed to understand the interaction between the individuals and the collective agency of Group members. The paper identifies implications to practice for similar TEL development projects. Success factors identified demonstrated the importance of good project management principles, establishing clear rules and division of labour for TEL development groups. One key finding is that Group members are needed to draw on both different and shared mediating artefacts, supporting the conclusion that the nature of the group's composition and the situated expertise of its members are crucial for project success. The paper's theoretical contribution is an enhanced representation of a TEL policy implementation staircase.

Developing the digital literacies of academic staff: an institutional approach

Institutional engagement with digital literacies at the University of Brighton has been promoted through the creation of a Digital Literacies Framework (DLF) aimed at academic staff. The DLF consists of 38 literacies divided into four categories that align to the following key areas of academic work: • Learning and teaching • Research • Communication and collaboration • Administration For each literacy, there is an explanation of what the literacy is, why it is important and how to gain it, with links to resources and training opportunities. After an initial pilot, the DLF website was launched in the summer of 2014. This paper discusses the strategic context and policy development of the DLF, its initial conception and subsequent development based on a pilot phase, feedback and evaluation. It critically analyses two of the ways that engagement with the DLF have been promoted: (1) formal professional development schemes and (2) the use of a ‘School-based’ approach. It examines the successes and challenges of the University of Brighton's scheme and makes some suggestions for subsequent steps including taking a course-level approach.

The United Nations 'quasi-prosecutorial' investigative mechanisms: assessing a new institutional model in the international criminal justice landscape

This work aims to provide a theoretical examination of three recently created bodies of the United Nations mandated to investigate the alleged international crimes committed in Syria (IIIM), Iraq (UNITAD) and Myanmar (IIMM). Established as a compromise solution in the paralysis of international criminal jurisdictions, these essentially overlapping entities have been depicted as a ‘new generation’ of UN investigative mechanisms. While non-judicial in nature, they depart indeed from traditional commissions of inquiry in several respects due to their increased criminal or ‘quasi-prosecutorial’ character. After clarifying their legal basis and different mandating authorities, a comparative institutional analysis is thus carried out in order to ascertain whether these ‘mechanisms’ can be said to effectively represent a new institutional model. Through an in-depth assessment of their mandates, the thesis is also intended to outline both the strengths and the criticalities of these organs. Given their aim to facilitate criminal proceedings by sharing information and case files, it is suggested that more attention shall be paid to the position of the person under investigation. To this end, some proposals are made in order to enhance the mechanisms’ frameworks, especially from the angle of procedural safeguards. As a third aspect, the cooperation with judicial authorities is explored, in order to shed light on the actors involved, the relevant legal instruments and the possible obstacles, in particular from a human rights perspective. Ultimately, drawing from the detected issues, the thesis seeks to identify some lessons learned which could be taken into account in case of creation of new ad hoc investigative mechanisms or of a permanent institution of this kind.

[almost An Autobiography: A Study Of Social Scientists In Health Based On The Lattes Curriculum].

Among the various ways of adopting the biographical approach, we used the curriculum vitaes (CVs) of Brazilian researchers who work as social scientists in health as our research material. These CVs are part of the Lattes Platform of CNPq - the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, which includes Research and Institutional Directories. We analyzed 238 CVs for this study. The CVs contain, among other things, the following information: professional qualifications, activities and projects, academic production, participation in panels for the evaluation of theses and dissertations, research centers and laboratories and a summarized autobiography. In this work there is a brief review of the importance of autobiography for the social sciences, emphasizing the CV as a form of autobiographical practice. We highlight some results, such as it being a group consisting predominantly of women, graduates in social sciences, anthropology, sociology or political science, with postgraduate degrees. The highest concentration of social scientists is located in Brazil's southern and southeastern regions. In some institutions the main activities of social scientists are as teachers and researchers with great thematic diversity in research.

Compartment Syndrome After South American Rattlesnake (crotalus Durissus Terrificus) Envenomation.

In order to report the outcome of a patient who developed compartment syndrome after South American rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus terrificus) envenomation, confirmed by subfascial pressure measurement and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A 63-year-old male was admitted 1 h after being bitten on the right elbow by a large snake, which was not brought for identification. Physical and laboratory features upon admission revealed two fang marks, local tense swelling, paresthesia, intense local pain, hypertension, coagulopathy, and CK = 1530 U/L (RV < 170 U/L). The case was initially treated with bothropic antivenom (80 mL, intravenously), with no improvement. Evolution within 13-14 h post-bite revealed generalized myalgia, muscle weakness, palpebral ptosis, and severe rhabdomyolysis (CK = 126,160 U/L) compatible with envenoming by C. d. terrificus. The patient was then treated with crotalic antivenom (200 mL, intravenously), fluid replacement, and urine alkalinization. Twenty-four-hour post-bite MRI showed marked muscular edema in the anterior compartment of the right forearm, with a high subfascial pressure (40 mmHg) being detected 1 h later. ELISA of a blood sample obtained upon admission, before antivenom infusion, revealed a high serum concentration of C. d. terrificus venom. No fasciotomy was performed and the patient was discharged seven days later without sequelae. Snakebite by C. d. terrificus with subfascial venom injection may lead to increased intracompartmental pressure.

Quantitative Proteomic Analysis Reveals Metabolic Alterations, Calcium Dysregulation, And Increased Expression Of Extracellular Matrix Proteins In Laminin α2 Chain-deficient Muscle.

Congenital muscular dystrophy with laminin α2 chain deficiency (MDC1A) is one of the most severe forms of muscular disease and is characterized by severe muscle weakness and delayed motor milestones. The genetic basis of MDC1A is well known, yet the secondary mechanisms ultimately leading to muscle degeneration and subsequent connective tissue infiltration are not fully understood. In order to obtain new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying MDC1A, we performed a comparative proteomic analysis of affected muscles (diaphragm and gastrocnemius) from laminin α2 chain-deficient dy(3K)/dy(3K) mice, using multidimensional protein identification technology combined with tandem mass tags. Out of the approximately 700 identified proteins, 113 and 101 proteins, respectively, were differentially expressed in the diseased gastrocnemius and diaphragm muscles compared with normal muscles. A large portion of these proteins are involved in different metabolic processes, bind calcium, or are expressed in the extracellular matrix. Our findings suggest that metabolic alterations and calcium dysregulation could be novel mechanisms that underlie MDC1A and might be targets that should be explored for therapy. Also, detailed knowledge of the composition of fibrotic tissue, rich in extracellular matrix proteins, in laminin α2 chain-deficient muscle might help in the design of future anti-fibrotic treatments. All MS data have been deposited in the ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD000978 (http://proteomecentral.proteomexchange.org/dataset/PXD000978).

Construction Of A Manual Of Work Processes And Techniques From Centro De Dispensação De Medicamentos De Alto Custo (cedmac), Hospital De Clínicas, Unicamp.

The Centers for High Cost Medication (Centros de Medicação de Alto Custo, CEDMAC), Health Department, São Paulo were instituted by project in partnership with the Clinical Hospital of the Faculty of Medicine, USP, sponsored by the Foundation for Research Support of the State of São Paulo (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, FAPESP) aimed at the formation of a statewide network for comprehensive care of patients referred for use of immunobiological agents in rheumatological diseases. The CEDMAC of Hospital de Clínicas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (HC-Unicamp), implemented by the Division of Rheumatology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, identified the need for standardization of the multidisciplinary team conducts, in face of the specificity of care conducts, verifying the importance of describing, in manual format, their operational and technical processes. The aim of this study is to present the methodology applied to the elaboration of the CEDMAC/HC-Unicamp Manual as an institutional tool, with the aim of offering the best assistance and administrative quality. In the methodology for preparing the manuals at HC-Unicamp since 2008, the premise was to obtain a document that is participatory, multidisciplinary, focused on work processes integrated with institutional rules, with objective and didactic descriptions, in a standardized format and with electronic dissemination. The CEDMAC/HC-Unicamp Manual was elaborated in 10 months, with involvement of the entire multidisciplinary team, with 19 chapters on work processes and techniques, in addition to those concerning the organizational structure and its annexes. Published in the electronic portal of HC Manuals in July 2012 as an e-Book (ISBN 978-85-63274-17-5), the manual has been a valuable instrument in guiding professionals in healthcare, teaching and research activities.