In this article, the author explores whether the growing presence of Chinese financial assistance is decreasing the bargaining power of traditional donors vis-àvis African governments. The article ...relies on data from an original survey of high-ranking donor officials working in multiple African countries, as well as case-studies of Chinese engagement in three diverse African country contexts: Ghana, Uganda and Tanzania. It finds that claims of a ‘silent revolution’ in development cooperation due to China’s increased involvement in the region are overstated. Among donor officials, there is far from consensus that China is decreasing the bargaining power of their agency. On the contrary, evidence from Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda suggests that traditional development aid continues to play an important role and that, in practice, China rarely directly competes with traditional donors. There are, however, two important caveats to this claim. First, when China and traditional donors do directly compete—for example, on infrastructure projects—many recipient governments prefer assistance from China. Second, given China’s interest in expanding markets and acquiring natural resources, countries receiving higher amounts of Chinese official finance are likely to have lower rates of aid dependence. As a result, financing from China is likely to be correlated with a decline in the bargaining power of traditional donors, even if it is not causing such a decline.
Under what conditions are foreign aid donors willing to suspend foreign aid to punish political transgressions, such as election fraud, corruption scandals or political repression? Prior scholarship ...has emphasized that political sanctions, including foreign aid suspensions, are constrained by the geostrategic considerations of donor countries. However, foreign aid suspensions often occur in strategically important countries, and donors respond differently to different types of political transgressions within the same county. To shed light on this puzzle, in this article, I present evidence from an original survey of top-level donor representatives in 20 African countries, including a list experiment designed to elicit truthful responses about the conditions under which donors are willing to suspend foreign aid. I argue that the likelihood of a foreign aid suspension depends not only on the strategic considerations of the donor government, but also on the institutional incentives of the donor agency. A donor agency's institutional incentives are shaped by the agency's organizational design, as well as by its foreign aid portfolio in the recipient country.
Species differences in the structure and function of the immune system of laboratory animals are known to exist and have been reviewed extensively. However, the number and diversity of wild and ...exotic species, along with their associated viruses, that come into contact with humans has increased worldwide sometimes with lethal consequences. Far less is known about the immunobiology of these exotic and wild species. Data suggest that species differences of the mechanisms of inflammation, innate immunity and adaptive immunity are all involved in the establishment and maintenance of viral infections across reservoir hosts. The current review attempts to collect relevant data concerning the basics of innate and adaptive immune functions of exotic and wild species followed by identification of those differences that may play a role in the maintenance of viral infections in reservoir hosts.
•Microglia are innate immune cells in the brain.•Microglial priming is a phenomenon linked to heightened inflammatory responses during disease.•The concept of trained immunity could explain ...microglial priming.
In this review we discuss the possibility that the phenomenon of microglial priming can be explained by the mechanisms that underlie trained immunity. The latter involves the enhancement of inflammatory responses by epigenetic mechanisms that are mobilized after first exposure to an inflammatory stimulus. These mechanisms include long-lasting histone modifications, including H3K4me1 deposition at latent enhancer regions. Although such changes may be beneficial in peripheral infectious disease, in the context of microglial priming they may drive increased microglia reactivity that is damaging in diseases of brain aging.
For decades, many International Relations (IR) scholars did not engage in elite experiments, because they viewed it as too risky, too costly, or too difficult to implement. However, as part of a ...behavioral turn in IR, a growing number of scholars have begun to adopt the method in their own research. This shift raises important questions. Under what conditions do elite experiments add value to IR scholarship? How can scholars overcome the logistical and ethical challenges of sampling such an elusive group? This article makes an original conceptual contribution to methodological debates on the role of behavioral approaches by analyzing experiments on foreign policy elites. We analyze the method’s strengths and weaknesses, evaluate ethical considerations, and present what is—to the best of our knowledge—the most comprehensive set of implementation guidelines. Our article draws on recently published IR research and argues that the payoffs from elite experiments are well worth the effort.
This article provides a comprehensive review of currently available treatment options for infections due to carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (CRE).
This article provides a comprehensive review ...of currently available treatment options for infections due to carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE). Antimicrobial resistance in Gram-negative bacteria is an emerging and serious global public health threat. Carbapenems have been used as the “last-line” treatment for infections caused by resistant Enterobacteriaceae, including those producing extended spectrum ß-lactamases. However, Enterobacteriaceae that produce carbapenemases, which are enzymes that deactivate carbapenems and most other ß-lactam antibiotics, have emerged and are increasingly being reported worldwide. Despite this increasing burden, the most optimal treatment for CRE infections is largely unknown. For the few remaining available treatment options, there are limited efficacy data to support their role in therapy. Nevertheless, current treatment options include the use of older agents, such as polymyxins, fosfomycin, and aminoglycosides, which have been rarely used due to efficacy and/or toxicity concerns. Optimization of dosing regimens and combination therapy are additional treatment strategies being explored. Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae infections are associated with poor outcomes and high mortality. Continued research is critically needed to determine the most appropriate treatment.
While an understanding of the structure and function of a generically described immune system is essential in contemporary biomedicine, it is clear that a one-size-fits-all approach applied across ...multiple species is fraught with contradictions and inconsistencies. Nevertheless, the breakthroughs achieved in immunology following the application of observations in murine systems to that of man have been pivotal in the advancement of biology and human medicine. However, as additional species have been used to further address biologic and safety assessment questions relative to the structure and function of the immune system, it has become clear that there are differences across species, gender, age and strain that must be considered. The meaningfulness of these differences must be determined on a case-by-case basis. This review article attempts to collect, consolidate and discuss some of these species differences thereby aiding in the accurate placement of new observations in a proper immunobiological and immunopathological perspective.
Background
Drawing from the extended UNICEF model of children's eating and weight problems and growing empirical evidence, exposure to adversity may place mothers at increased risk for child feeding ...difficulties.
Aim
The aim of the present study of a community sample of mothers was to examine whether maternal psychological distress, exposure to stressful events, and poor self‐rated health in their child's first year of life were associated with breastfeeding duration, as well as concurrent and prospective feeding problems.
Materials & Methods
Participants were 5107 Australian mother‐child dyads from the infant cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). Data for the present study was drawn from questionnaires completed by the mother at Wave 1 and Wave 2 (conducted 2 years apart). On average, at Wave 1, mothers and children (51% male) were aged 31 years and 9 months, respectively; while at Wave 2 their ages were 33 years and 34 months, respectively.
Results
Maternal psychological distress and poorer self‐rated health were uniquely predictive of concurrent and prospective child feeding difficulties, while poorer self‐rated health was also concurrently associated with a shorter duration of breastfeeding.
Discussion
These findings suggest that poorer maternal functioning poses a significant risk for early child feeding difficulties, and highlights the potential benefit of screening and early intervention for mothers experiencing emotional and physical health problems.
Conclusion
Further research is needed that takes a broad view of maternal functioning, and examines reciprocal interactions between maternal and child characteristics in understanding the development of child feeding problems.
CWD is an emergent prion disease that now affects cervid species on three continents. CWD is efficiently spread in wild and captive populations, likely through both direct animal contact and ...environmental contamination. Here, by longitudinally assaying in feces of CWD-exposed white-tailed deer by RT-QuIC, we demonstrate fecal shedding of prion seeding activity months before onset of clinical symptoms and continuing throughout the disease course. We also examine the impact of simulated environmental conditions such as repeated freeze-thaw cycles and desiccation on fecal prion seeding activity. We found that while multiple (n = 7) freeze-thaw cycles substantially decreased fecal seeding activity, desiccation had little to no effect on seeding activity. Finally, we examined whether RT-QuIC testing of landscape fecal deposits could distinguish two premises with substantial known CWD prevalence from one in which no CWD-infected animals had been detected. In the above pilot study, this distinction was possible. We conclude that fecal shedding of CWD prions occurs over much of the disease course, that environmental factors influence prion seeding activity, and that it is feasible to detect fecal prion contamination using RT-QuIC.
Obesity is a risk factor for stroke and is consequently one of the most common co-morbidities found in patients. There is therefore an identified need to model co-morbidities preclinically to allow ...better translation from bench to bedside. In preclinical studies, both diet-induced and genetically obese rodents have worse stroke outcome, characterised by increased ischaemic damage and an altered inflammatory response. However, clinical studies have reported an ‘obesity paradox’ in stroke, characterised by reduced mortality and morbidity in obese patients. We discuss the potential reasons why the preclinical and clinical studies may not agree, and review the mechanisms identified in preclinical studies through which obesity may affects stroke outcome. We suggest inflammation plays a central role in this relationship, as obesity features increases in inflammatory mediators such as C-reactive protein and interleukin-6, and chronic inflammation has been linked to worse stroke risk and outcome.
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