International organizations (IOs) increasingly pool resources and expertise. Under what conditions do they pool rather than compete when their activities overlap? Drawing on elite interviews, I argue ...that even though many cooperation decisions are made by staff possessing high degrees of autonomy from member state principals, IOs are more likely to pool resources when their leading stakeholders are geopolitically aligned. Regardless of whether member states directly oversee the negotiation of these arrangements, staff design policies that are amenable to major stakeholders. I test this argument with regression analysis of an original data set that documents patterns of co-financing and information sharing among IOs in the development issue area. I further supplement these tests with an elite survey experiment deployed via LinkedIn to bureaucrats from various development IOs. Across the board, I find evidence consistent with my theory.
When do overlapping international organizations (IOs) become credible outside options for states seeking forum shopping opportunities? Utilizing an original data set on cooperation among emergency ...lending IOs, I find that exit options boost states’ bargaining leverage only when IOs compete as opposed to cooperate with one another. While the literature frames the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a monopoly organization, I show that it increasingly competes with regional financing arrangements (RFAs). When RFAs compete with the IMF, they become credible exit options that member states can leverage in negotiations over conditional lending at the Fund. I first offer original descriptive analysis of patterns of cooperation among these IOs. I then hypothesize that members of IOs that compete with the IMF, but not members of cooperative institutions, ought to receive less intrusive conditionality from the Fund. A series of regressions lend support for my theory, as do supplemental interviews and text analysis.
How do policies in international organizations reflect the preferences of powerful institutional stakeholders? Using an underutilized data set on the conditions associated with World Bank loans, we ...find that borrower countries that vote with the United States at the United Nations are required to enact fewer domestic policy reforms, and on fewer and softer issue areas. Though U.S. preferences permeate World Bank decision making, we do not find evidence that borrower countries trade favors in exchange for active U.S. intervention on their behalf. Instead, we propose that U.S. influence operates indirectly when World Bank staff—consciously or unconsciously—design programs that are compatible with U.S. preferences. Our study provides novel evidence of World Bank conditionality and shows that politicized policies can result even from autonomous bureaucracies.
Intensive research has demonstrated that extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules and growth factors (GF) collaborate at many different levels. The ability of ECM to modulate GF signals has important ...implications in tissue formation and homeostasis as well as novel therapies for acute and chronic wounds. Recently, a number of GF-binding sites was identified in fibronectin (FN) and was shown to provide another layer of regulation on GF signaling. Here, we review these new findings on FN interaction with GF in the context of general ways ECM molecules regulate GF signaling.
The oxidative dissolution of citrate‐capped silver nanoparticles (AgNPs, ∼50 nm diameter) is investigated herein by two electrochemical techniques: nano‐impacts and anodic stripping voltammetry. ...Nano‐impacts or single nanoparticle‐electrode collisions allow the detection of individual nanoparticles. The technique offers an advantage over surface‐immobilized methods such as anodic stripping voltammetry as it eliminates the effects of particle agglomeration/aggregation. The electrochemical studies are performed in different electrolytes (KNO3, KCl, KBr and KI) at varied concentrations (≤20 mm). In nano‐impact measurements, the AgNP undergoes complete oxidation upon impact at a suitably potentiostated electrode. The frequency of the nanoparticle‐electrode collisions observed as current‐transient spikes depends on the electrolyte identity, its concentration and the potential applied at the working electrode. The frequencies of the spikes are significantly higher in the presence of halide ions and increase with increasing potentials. From the frequency, the rate of AgNP oxidation as compared with the timescale the AgNP is in electrical contact with the electrode can be inferred, and hence is indicative of the relative kinetics of the oxidation process. Primarily based on these results, we propose the initial formation of the silver (I) nucleus (Ag+, AgCl, AgBr or AgI) as the rate‐determining process of silver oxidation on the nanoparticle.
Single silver nanoparticle (AgNP) detection: Nano‐impacts or single nanoparticle‐electrode collisions allow the detection of individual nanoparticles. Upon the impact, AgNP undergoes complete oxidation. The technique further allows the rate‐determining process of silver oxidation at the electrode interface to be determined.
A large literature analyzes the determinants of change in international institutions, focusing on the role of systemic political and economic shocks. However, this article considers this question ...also in more business-as-usual periods, asking when institutions of global governance reform and which states benefit from these changes. The authors argue that allies of international organizations (io)s' leading stakeholders benefit more than nonaligned countries; however, the authors also document that reforms sometimes contain concessions to nonallied members. This article theorizes that while io officials reward major stakeholders' allies in normal times, they provide concessions to nonallies during periods of poor io performance to prevent these states from disengaging. Analyzing an original data set of reforms at the World Bank between 1944 and 2018, paired with qualitative evidence, the article finds significant support for its hypotheses. The findings help to make sense of otherwise puzzling instances of power shifts within ios.
The extent to which epigenetic variation affects complex traits in natural populations is not known. We addressed this question using transcriptome and DNA methylation data from a sample of 135 ...sequenced A. thaliana accessions. Across individuals, expression was significantly associated with cis-methylation for hundreds of genes, and many of these associations remained significant after taking SNP effects into account. The pattern of correlations differed markedly between gene body methylation and transposable element methylation. The former was usually positively correlated with expression, and the latter usually negatively correlated, although exceptions were found in both cases. Finally, we developed graphical models of causality that adapt to a sample with heavy population structure, and used them to show that while methylation appears to affect gene expression more often than expression affects methylation, there is also strong support for both being independently controlled. In conclusion, although we find clear evidence for epigenetic regulation, both the number of loci affected and the magnitude of the effects appear to be small compared to the effect of SNPs.
Tissue Engineering for Cutaneous Wounds Clark, Richard A.F.; Ghosh, Kaustabh; Tonnesen, Marcia G.
Journal of investigative dermatology,
05/2007, Letnik:
127, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Skin, the largest organ in the body, protects against toxins and microorganisms in the environment and serves to prevent dehydration of all non-aquatic animals. Immune surveillance, sensory ...detection, and self-healing are other critical functions of the skin. Loss of skin integrity because of injury or illness may result acutely in substantial physiologic imbalance and ultimately in significant disability or even death. It is estimated that, in 1992, there were 35.2 million cases of significant skin loss (US data) that required major therapeutic intervention. Of these, approximately 7 million wounds become chronic. Regardless of the specific advanced wound care product, the ideal goal would be to regenerate tissues such that both the structural and functional properties of the wounded tissue are restored to the levels before injury. The advent of tissue-engineered skin replacements revolutionized the therapeutic potential for recalcitrant wounds and for wounds that are not amenable to primary closure. This article will introduce the reader to the field of tissue engineering, briefly review tissue-engineered skin replacement from a historical perspective and then review current state-of-the-art concepts from our vantage point.
Skeletal muscle fat infiltration (known as myosteatosis) is an ectopic fat depot that increases with aging and is recognized to negatively correlate with muscle mass, strength, and mobility and ...disrupt metabolism (insulin resistance, diabetes). An interdisciplinary workshop convened by the National Institute on Aging Division of Geriatrics and Clinical Gerontology on September 2018, discussed myosteatosis in the context of skeletal muscle function deficit (SMFD). Its purpose was to gain a better understanding of the roles of myosteatosis in aging muscles and metabolic disease, particularly its potential determinants and clinical consequences, and ways of properly assessing it. Special attention was given to functional status and standardization of measures of body composition (including the value of D
-creatine dilution method) and imaging approaches including ways to better use dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) through the shape and appearance modeling to assess lean mass, sarcopenia, and myosteatosis. The workshop convened innovative new areas of scientific relevance to light such as the effect of circadian rhythms and clock disruption in skeletal muscle structure, function, metabolism, and potential contribution to increased myosteatosis. A muscle-bone interaction perspective compared mechanisms associated with myosteatosis and bone marrow adiposity. Potential preventive and therapeutic approaches highlighted ongoing work on physical activity, myostatin treatment, and calorie restriction. Myosteatosis' impact on cancer survivors raised new possibilities to identify its role and to engage in cross-disciplinary collaboration. A wide range of research opportunities and challenges in planning for the most appropriate study design, interpretation, and translation of findings into clinical practice were discussed and are presented here.
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