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Institut d'Astronomie et d'Astrophysique
Nuclear Astrophysics
Binary stars
Hermes spectrograph
STARLAB Project
STARLAB
Nuclear Databases
BRUSLIB
NETGEN
NACRE II
Henize S stars
Radial velocities of Ba and S stars
Stellar Models
Molecular linelists
IAA in the media
Public outreach - Observations at the dome
Public astronomy lectures
PHYS-F-103
GEOL-F-503
Charges pédagogiques du département de physique
Astronomical weather forecast
Masses nucléaires
Niveaux de densités nucléaires
Fonctions de Partition
Taux nucléaires
Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics (IAA)
Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
In memory of Dimitri Pourbaix
We are very saddned to announce that our colleague and friend Dimitri Pourbaix passed away on November 14. This is a great loss and for those of you who would like to express their sympathy, they can write a few words on this page : remember
In recognition of Dimitri Pourbaix's astronomical achievements, an asteroid has been named after him : (374715) Dimpourbaix = 2006 SH20
Dimitri Pourbaix, who was the newly elected Vice-President of IAU Commission G1 on Binary and Multiple Star Systems, passed away on 14 November 2021 after complications from cardiac surgery last April.
He was born in Charleroi, Belgium on 22 May 1969 and was working as Senior Research associate of the National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS) at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium).
Since his Ph.D. in astronomy from the Université de Liège in 1998 he was a specialist in the determination of the orbital parameters of binaries. He was the manager of the 9th catalogue of orbits of spectroscopic binaries for the former IAU Commission 26. With the advent of the Hipparcos Catalogue, he also made a speciality of reprocessing the data to improve our knowledge of some specific types of star (binaries, C stars, Oxygen-rich Mira Variables, substellar companions, …). All these works were the subject of the agrégation thesis he defended in 2007. Beside this, he was also fond of scientific computing and optimisation problems.
Since 2006, he led the Belgian participation in the Gaia data processing consortium and was mostly dedicated to the management of the Coordination Unit devoted to object processing. He will never see the publication of the long-awaited catalogue of binary stars, to which he has contributed so much, due for GAIA DR3 next year.
Alongside his scientific activities, he also enjoyed public outreach, sharing his passion with lectures ('Cours Public d'Astronomie') and observing nights.
Dimitri had a rich personality and was a connoisseur of the good things in life. His colleagues remember how their conversations with him could be energetic and tough while he actually was generous, benevolent and kind. He was a dedicated husband and father of a young son.
Past affiliations within the IAU:
- Vice-President of IAU Commission G1 on Binary Stars (2021)
- Past Steering Committee Member of Division A Fundamental Astronomy (2012-2015)
- Past President of the former IAU Commission 30 (Radial Velocities) (2012-2015).
- Past Chair of Commission 26 WG Catalog of Orbital Elements of Spectroscopic Binary Systems (until 2015)
- Past Organizing Committee Member of Commission 26 Double & Multiple Stars (2006-2012)
November 2021: We are opening a postdoc position on Gaia data processing of resolved binaries. All details can be found on this job announcement
October 2021: We are opening a long-term post-doctoral position in stellar spectroscopy of multiple systems. All details can be found on this job announcement
Our research interests cover various fields, among which nucleosynthesis, nuclear astrophysics, stellar evolution and chemical composition, binary stars, neutron stars...
More details on our activities can be found here
On the benefits of astronomical research (at the European Southern Observatory) on society
For ULB students
BA3 , MA1 and MA2 work/theses topics
[08/06/2021] Ana Escorza receives the Spanish Society of Astronomy Thesis Award 2021
The Spanish Society of Astronomy (SEA) has just announced the winners of the Thesis Awards 2021, which recognize the doctoral theses with the greatest present and future impact, both in astronomy research and in the area of instrumentation, computing and technological development in astronomy. The SEA Thesis 2021 Prize in Astronomy and Astrophysics has been awarded to Ana Escorza, for the thesis "Barium stars as tracers of binary evolution in the Gaia era", carried out at the KU Leuven and the Université Libre de Brussels (ULB) and supervised by Prof. Hans Van Winckel and Dr. Lionel Siess. The awards ceremony will be held at the opening ceremony of the next Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Society of Astronomy, in La Laguna in September 2022. Ana Escorza graduated in Physics from the University of Zaragoza, studying for a year at the University of Southampton. She completed the Master in Astronomy and Astrophysics at the KU Leuven and from 2016 to 2020 she has been a PhD student of the Research Foundations Flanders (FWO). Her doctoral thesis studies a family of stars with chemical peculiarities called "barium stars". Using broadband photometry, high-resolution spectroscopy, results from the Gaia mission and state-of -the-art evolution models, she has been able to determine the properties of these stars with unprecedented accuracy. She also has built the largest catalog of barium dwarf systems published to date. She currently has a postdoctoral position as a Fellow of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Santiago de Chile, where she is an instrument fellow for the UVES and ESPRESSO spectrographs, mounted on the Very Large Telescope at ESO's Cerro Paranal Observatory.
[06/05/2021] Dim and dimmer Betelgeuse
A report in Nature Astronomy by Chiao May of our A&A Letter (Kravchenko et al.) on the possible cause of the dimming of Betelgeuse: preprint here
[25/04/2018] Gaia Data Release 2
ULB astronomers contribute to ESA's Gaia astrometric mission, which released data for 1.4 billion stars today.
[12/04/2018] Sophie Van Eck, the Belgian star huntress
Astrophysicist working at ULB, formerly research associate of the Fund for Scientific Research (FRS-FNRS), Sophie Van Eck contributed to the imaging of pi Gruis, a giant star located 530 pc away in the southern constellation Gruis, using European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope Interferometer.
[22/12/2017] Giant Bubbles on Red Giant Star's Surface
Astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope have for the first time directly observed granulation patterns on the surface of a star outside the Solar System — the ageing red giant π1 Gruis. This remarkable new image from the PIONIER instrument reveals the convective cells that make up the surface of this huge star, which has 350 times the diameter of the Sun. Each cell covers more than a quarter of the star's diameter and measures about 120 million kilometres across. These new results are being published this week in the journal Nature.
Located 530 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Grus (The Crane), π1 Gruis is a cool red giant. It has about the same mass as our Sun, but is 350 times larger and several thousand times as bright. Our Sun will swell to become a similar red giant star in about five billion years.
An international team of astronomers led by Claudia Paladini (ESO) used the PIONIER instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope to observe π1 Gruis in greater detail than ever before. They found that the surface of this red giant has just a few convective cells, or granules, that are each about 120 million kilometres across — about a quarter of the star's diameter. Just one of these granules would extend from the Sun to beyond Venus. The surfaces — known as photospheres — of many giant stars are obscured by dust, which hinders observations. However, in the case of π1 Gruis, although dust is present far from the star, it does not have a significant effect on the new infrared observations.
When π1 Gruis ran out of hydrogen to burn long ago, this ancient star ceased the first stage of its nuclear fusion programme. It shrank as it ran out of energy, causing it to heat up to over 100 million degrees. These extreme temperatures fueled the star's next phase as it began to fuse helium into heavier atoms such as carbon and oxygen. This intensely hot core then expelled the star's outer layers, causing it to balloon to hundreds of times larger than its original size. The star we see today is a variable red giant. Until now, the surface of one of these stars has never before been imaged in detail.
By comparison, the Sun's photosphere contains about two million convective cells, with typical diameters of just 1500 kilometres. The vast size differences in the convective cells of these two stars can be explained in part by their varying surface gravities. π1 Gruis is just 1.5 times the mass of the Sun but much larger, resulting in a much lower surface gravity and just a few, extremely large, granules.
While stars more massive than eight solar masses end their lives in dramatic supernovae explosions, less massive stars like this one gradually expel their outer layers, resulting in beautiful planetary nebulae. Previous studies of π1 Gruis found a shell of material 0.9 light-years away from the central star, thought to have been ejected around 20 000 years ago. This relatively short period in a star's life lasts just a few tens of thousands of years – compared to the overall lifetime of several billion – and these observations reveal a new method for probing this fleeting red giant phase.
Sci-news
[20/10/2017] Cosmic Crashes Forging Gold: ULB and Max Planck Institute astrophysicists did predict it back in 2011!
The observation, made public on October 16 2017, that neutron-star mergers emit gravitational waves and visible light with signatures of heavy elements validates a prediction made by scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA) and of the Free University of Brussels (ULB) back in 2011. They had identified that ejected matter from neutron stars merging in a violent collision provides ideal conditions to produce the heaviest chemical elements such as lead or gold.
[20/09/2017] Ageing Star Blows Off Smoky Bubble
Astronomers have used the ALMA radio telescope array to capture a strikingly beautiful view of a delicate bubble of expelled material around the exotic red star U Antliae. These observations will help astronomers to better understand how stars evolve during the later stages of their life-cycles.
In the faint southern constellation of Antlia (The Air Pump) the careful observer with binoculars will spot a very red star, which varies slightly in brightness from week to week. This very unusual star is called U Antliae and new observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) are revealing a remarkably thin spherical shell around it.
This research was presented in a paper entitled "Rings and filaments. The remarkable detached CO shell of U Antliae", by F. Kerschbaum et al., to appear in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. The team includes C. Paladini (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium).
ESO press release
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Q: Laravel: best way to repeatly format a date in my language (italian) I am new to Laravel and OOP in general, trying to switch from old procedural code. I'd like to show some dates coming from my Models in my language (italian) for readability reasons: so far, that's what I did:

*

*change 'locale' => 'it' in config/app.php file

*put setlocale(LC_TIME, config('app.locale')); in routes.php file, see also my previous question

*put protected $dates = ['published_at', 'expires_at']; in my Model(s) to leverage Carbon

*put {{ utf8_encode($record->published_at->formatLocalized('%A %d %B %Y')) }} in my Blade view(s)

(NOTE: I MUST use utf8_encode(), otherwise dates with accented letters (lunedì, martedì, etc.) don't show up: don't know why and can't find the answer googling... is there a reason for this? Is it a Laravel or Carbon bug?)
My question is about the last point: writing that long
{{ utf8_encode($record->published_at->formatLocalized('%A %d %B %Y')) }}

piece of code every time is tedious and it would be faster (and reusable) to write
{{ formatItalian($record->published_at) }}

(Note that I need it on multiple Models, so I guess I have to avoid Accessors for a more general approach)
What's the best way to accomplish this? I read about the custom helpers functions, would this be a good approach? As I said, I'm new to Laravel switching from procedural code, and trying to use the best practices, so sorry for the dumb question...
Thanks

A: While you should (and I strongly encourage you to do) open up a bug to fix this in carbon you can easily extend the class and use that
As an example
use Carbon\Carbon;
class MyCarbon extends Carbon
{
    public function formatItalian($format)
    {
        return utf8_encode($this->formatLocalized($format))
    }
}

Keep in mind that this is not tested and was written just to give you a hint.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Straten
Achterstraat (Alkmaar), een straat in de Nederlandse stad Alkmaar
Achterstraat (Culemborg), een straat in de Nederlandse stad Culemborg
Achterstraat (Groningen), een straat in de Nederlandse stad Groningen
 Achterstraat (Haarlem), een oude benaming van de Spaarnwouderstraat en Antoniestraat
Achterstraat (Heteren), een straat in het Nederlandse dorp Heteren
Achterstraat (Hoorn), een straat in het Nederlandse stad Hoorn
Achterstraat (Lekkerkerk), een straat in het Nederlandse dorp Lekkerkerk
Achterstraat (Moerdijk), een straat in het Nederlandse dorp Moerdijk
Achterstraat (Montfoort), een straat in het Nederlandse dorp Montfoort

Personen
Jan Achterstraat, een Nederlands politicus

Zie ook
 Achterweg

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Rossiter, Clinton. The Supreme Court and the Commander in Chief. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1976.
How to Cite This Page: "The Supreme Court and the Commander in Chief," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, http://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/15478.


A prefabricated modular data center for a next-generation ICT infrastructure facility.
FusionModule1000B is an advanced, prefabricated modular data center solution. It houses, powers, and manages modern IT and CT equipment with a simple, green, and reliable power-plus environment system.
Huawei's FusionModule1000B Prefabricated Modular Data Center includes an integrated power system for both AC and DC, an energy-saving water-cooled or air-cooled in-row cooling system, an automatic fire detection and suppression system, and an intelligent management system for infrastructure facilities. The FusionModule1000B is a superior alternative to traditional data center structures.
Huawei's Prefabricated Data Center Solution was ranked as the world's best in shipment for three consecutive years, and several Huawei data centers have been awarded Uptime Tier Certification and DCD awards.
Huawei core components, 8-week lead time for standard solutions, prefabricated designs shorten deployment time by 50%, and ISO shipping container dimensions reduce transportation costs by 50%.
Standard density up to 15 kW/rack, customizable density up to 30 kW/rack, free cooling technology supported with PUE ≤ 1.5 (tested in Shenzhen), and supports co-existence for IT, CT, and IT-CT scenarios.
25-year service life, IP55 waterproof and dustproof rating, unique NEBS GR63 Zone 3 anti-seismic rating (equivalent to 9 degree anti-seismic intensity) and 120-minute fire rating, and complies with Uptime Tier and TIA942 topology.
Dubai International Airport's new data center was designed for 100 service cabinets, with up to 10 kilowatts per rack in each. The adoption of Huawei's FusionModule1000B prefabricated modular data-center solution saves half the time and construction costs of erecting traditional facilities.
FusionModule1000A All-in-One Prefabricated Data Center is a green and reliable outdoor data center solution. FusionModule1000A provides 40 feet, 2N and N+X redundancy configurations. This solution can apply to wide range of industries, like enterprise, smart city, safe city, education, mining, oil exploration, finance, transportation, and telecom carrier.
The iManager NetEco6000 is a data center infrastructure management solution that increases O&M reliability and optimizes operational experiences. Managing medium-sized and hyperscale data centers or distributed data centers collectively ensures SOP compliance, assistance on decision making to increase revenue, and optimal energy efficiency to reduce the data center OPEX.
An ultra-efficient modular UPS designed for medium to large-sized data centers. With the industry's highest module efficiency of 97.1 percent, it offers the lowest TCO for a data center power solution.
Provides reliable and efficient power supply for medium and large-scale data centers, modular design, and flexible capacity expansion. The UPS5000-E can reduce power consumption by 50 percent, thereby decreasing electricity costs.
a collection of smart data center cooling products. usually deployed between racks, and meets the requirements of small to mid-sized data centers .
A collection of smart data center cooling products, usually deployed between racks, meeting requirements of mid to large-sized and high-power-density data centers.


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Recent storms help Utah's snow pack, but hydrologists say we're still far behind where it should be
By Paul Nelson | February 18, 2021 at 7:25 am
UPDATED: February 18, 2021 at 8:59 am
A mix of a shallow snowpack and dry hillsides can be seen in Emigration Canyon on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021. With a shallow snowpack, water runoff is expected to be less than normal this year. (PHOTO: Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE COUNTY – After a record amount of snowfall on Wednesday, did yesterday's storms really bring Utah anywhere closer to a normal snowpack level? Some hydrologists say the storms did make somewhat of a dent in our drought situation, but we're way lower than where we should be.
Hydrologists estimate the state is seeing roughly 80 percent of normal snowpack, and that's the statewide average.
Utah Snow Survey Supervisor Jordan Clayton says, "There are other portions of the state that have not fared as well, like the eastern Uintahs and the southwest corner of the state."
So, how much more snow do we need? Clayton says ten inches of powder roughly equates to one inch of water. That means we would need to get roughly five more feet of snow.
"We have around six inches [of water] to go with where we are on the statewide snow water equivalent from where we would like to be to call it an average winter," Clayton says.
To put things in perspective, Clayton said Wednesday's storm dropped two inches of water across northern Utah.
"We would need to see the equivalent of these to get to average by the beginning of April, which is kind of a long shot," Clayton said. "Were not looking at a drought-buster situation, yet. We still have below-average snowpack and we're anticipating ending the snow year remaining in that below-average snowpack conditions."
Dave & Dujanovic: Should parents OK their child's driver's license?
Tooele County School District

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All commercial and non-comercial civil flight operations of which the primary goal is not the transportation of persons or goods from one point to another, including all flight operations for the benefit of third parties (public benefits) are aerial works operations. Such activities may include, but are not limited to fire fighting, agicultural flights, traffic surveillance, or weather research and environment surveillance.
Freight forwarders and express carriers involved in air transportation.
Air traffic control (ATC), ATC suppliers, ATC industry members and associations.
Commercial airlines, charter airlines, cargo airlines, corporate charter operators, air taxis, air tour operators.
Operators of international airports, regional airports, and aerodromes.
Industry associations, passenger associations, unions, working groups.
Regulating and standard setting organisations, state aviation, government aviation service agencies.
In order to be a member of the sponsored community, registrants must proove their eligibility and must complete the validation process.
A valid .aero ID is needed to register any .AERO domain name. This ID confirms the membership of the application to the sponsored community. According to the group, some documents must be provided. Contact us for more information.
The transfer of a .AERO domain to or from NETIM follows the "Inter registrar transfer policy" established by ICANN. It applies to every generic domain names and every registrars.


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Visiting All Those Worlds…
December 1, 2018 Ken Newquist All These Worlds, Game Columns, Games, Projects, RPG Blog Carnival
November is done and with it, Nuketown's first-ever turn at hosting the RPG Blog Carnival. Inspired by the "All These Worlds" line from 2010: A Space Odyssey Two, the carnival explored all manners of world-building, from new planets to undersea realms to stellar frontiers.
In total eight blogs contributed 15 entries to the carnival. The Expanding Frontier kicked things off "Expanded Frontier Map" for Star Frontiers. It offered a nicely rendered expanded view of the Star Frontiers stellar map. As a Star Frontiers fan who loved the game but never got to play it, it brought back lots of memories of building out my own stellar empire of Starrior and the corporation who dominated it, Astro Mining and Freighting. The map was rendered using Inkscape, a free and open source vector graphics editor for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. The map looks great, and Inkscape is definitely something I want to check out.
The Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica (Amazon) is the latest Dungeons & Dragons campaign book and the first time the game crossed over with Magic: The Gathering in a print book. Codex Anathema contributed two entries related to the guild world: "Glittering Guilds" and "Ten Guilds, One City". I'm only vaguely familiar with Ravnica from my time playing Magic and these were great for getting caught up on the plane and the city that dominates it. Both posts were part of the blog's "10 Weeks of Ravnica" ramp up to the release of the official campaign book. Check out its "Ravinca" tag for more posts in the series.
Brian Rubinfeld at Daemons & Deathrays submitted two entries offering different approaches to the topic. "Bizarre Bazaar: Legend of Zelda" is part of the blog's Zelda month and offers Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition write-ups of four Legend of Zelda items: the "Mystic Boomerang", "Hover Boots", "Savage Lynel Crusher", and "Magic Cape". The post "All of these Worlds" details Brian's world-building efforts with Arothe, a gonzo homegrown world that mashes together fantasy and science fiction. Brian started building it as a kid and continues to work on it to this day.
The Other Side's "At the Planets of Madness OR Boldly Going Where No One Can Hear You Scream" adapts the Cthulhu Mythos for science fiction adventures. Inspired in part by Battlefield Press' Eldritch Skies, the post imagines several different scenarios including "At the Planets of Madness", "The Color out of Hyperspace", and "Starcrash on Hyperborea".
I've run a few underwater adventures for Dungeons & Dragons in my day, though none for 5th Edition. The adventures can be fun, but there's also a hell of a challenge because it literally adds another dimension to play. Combats become three dimensional, causing challenges for tabletop mapping, while simultaneously adding a hostile element that not all characters are proficient fighting in. Rising Phoenix Games explored 5e's take on underwater adventuring by looking at the aquatic options presented in Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual. They are good reads and got me thinking about how I might layout an underwater adventure for my own campaign.
Roll4Network wrote about "The Process of Worldbuilding" for its Mitica campaign setting. It discusses different approaches to world building, such as the bottom-up approach of starting with the adventurers' hometown and the god-like architect approach of designing the metaverse first. The post includes links to a bunch of other world-building resources, so be sure to check it out.
For a more random take on world-building, check out Space·Time Will Tell's "The Plotonomicon: Creating Worlds". It uses the Space-Time Deck (a Tarot-inspired set of plot-generating cards) to jumpstart your creative brain.
Here at Nuketown, I contributed five posts. "All These Worlds…" kicked things off. "Random Planet Generators" looked at nine different tools for creating planets, complete with examples. The "Ghost Walk Star Cluster" captured a stellar neighborhood on the fringes of known space. "The Refuge of Durak" provided a planar hiding place for your fantasy campaign while "Walkabout" introduced an ever-moving town to serve as your group's base of operations in Numenera.
I'd like to thank everyone who participated in this month's RPG Blog Carnival. I had a blast reading your entries and I look forward to hosting another carnival in 2019.
Featured Image Meta
Jupiter's bands of clouds. Credit: Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
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Franco Americans memorialized in monument
Education & Our HeritageBy Denise Scammon January 15, 2023
The marble memorial next to the front steps to our building pays tribute to Franco Americans: Ce Monument Est Dédié Aux Franco-Americains de Lewiston-Auburn Between 1860 and 1930 thousands of French Canadians…
Dance Card from 1933
Education & Our Heritage, NewsBy Denise Scammon December 30, 2022
This dance card, which is more like a booklet, from 1933 was donated to our Franco American Heritage Museum Collection. Dance cards sometimes had a fancy cover or a logo…
FRANCO CENTER: Our Significance, part 7
Education & Our Heritage, NewsBy Denise Scammon November 7, 2022
When the former St. Mary's Church was in danger of being demolished, the Franco Center convinced the Roman Catholic Diocese in Portland to transfer ownership to the Center. We are…
With your participation, the Franco Center will continue as it has for 22 years to reverse situations of cultural loss and missed opportunity in our multi-purpose facility where history, culture,…
Another reason the Franco Center is important to our community: There is a need to continue redevelopment of Lewiston-Auburn's mills and historic structures in order to keep the local economy…
Another reason the Franco Center is historically significant for our community, state, and worldwide: Franco-American traditions are dying out. In Lewiston-Auburn, the generation of people who lived the immigration experience…
This is one reason why the Franco Center is important: Franco-Americans represent the second largest ethnic group in New England, numbering approximately two million people. They are the largest ethnic…
The Franco Center's early board members and staff created an impressive 428-seat Performance Hall in the Upper Hall of the former St. Mary's Catholic Church with a yearly Performance Series…
Our original commitment upon forming as a nonprofit was to document and showcase the contributions of Franco-Americans, who represent approximately two million people in New England, including 300,000 in Maine.…
Continental Mill pre-1900
Education & Our Heritage, NewsBy Denise Scammon October 14, 2022
Photo taken pre-1900 of the Continental Mill, one of many Lewiston-Auburn mills which attracted immigrant labor to the area. This mill is located across the street from Little Canada and…


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Retro Slave: Watch legendary Post-Apocalyptic Short DRAG
Christopher Webster [Celluloid 11.16.16] post apocalyptic horror thriller
Drag is a something of a legendary post-apocalyptic film. Directed by Mark Pavia way back in the pre-internet land of 1993, the 16 mm zombie short was championed by the master of horror himself, Stephen King, after Pavia sent him a copy in the mail.
When King saw it he was so impressed that he brought Pavia to write and direct an adaptation of The Night Flier, now something of vampire cult classic that premiered on HBO.
Shot in and around Pavia's home town of Lockport, Illinois, Drag was also an early effort by Academy Award winning DP Mauro Fiore (AVATAR)
The world is dead. A lone woman, Victoria, struggles valiantly to stay alive on this desolate planet once known as Earth. But Victoria is not alone here. She shares her horrifying new world with beings of a different kind... the living dead, ferocious beasts hungrily searching for human flesh. With a sawed-off shotgun strapped to her back, Victoria drags a dead body through this horrifying new world in a desperate attempt to hold onto her humanity... to hold on to her past.
Most recently, Pavia directed Fender Bender which is notable as being Scream Factory's first foray into film production.
Check it out, plus an introduction from Pavia below.
Recommended Release: Fender Bender
Follow Christopher Webster on Twitter.


Now, I'll introduce the concept of developer feedback loops and several handy practices to add to the foundation of your Agile Scrum practice.
In order to shorten developer feedback loops on a Scrum project, tools and practices must be in place. For clarity, a feedback loop in this context is a heightened awareness of the positive or negative effect of change to a system. There are many ways to improve these loops, so let's take a look at them.
A modern version control system is necessary for collaboration. It provides a central repository for Scrum teams to work and frequently merge code. There are many systems available and some are even free. It's unacceptable to not have a unified source control system available to your Development team.
On the topic of version control, branching is evil. The more branches you have, the more complex your merging problems will be. If you're unable to avoid branching be hyper-aware of the integration consequences you may suffer.
CI is the act of integrating code into a shared environment several times a day; preferably on code check-in. As a developer into source control, an automated build verifies that no new integration issues have been introduced. This practice helps Development teams understand integration issues early in the process, so individuals that "break the build" can address problems immediately.
CI should be executed at near light speed to keep the feedback loop as quick as possible. Don't make the mistake of using thousands of tests to execute - the feedback needs to be almost instantaneous.
CD is taking a build and deploying it immediately to an environment. This deployment doesn't have to go to production; that's considered continuous delivery.
Once a CI build is successful, a great practice is to deploy it immediately to a lower level environment. This has many benefits and can be your first step towards continuous delivery. Unforeseen problems that a CI build didn't find can then be found through additional test automation that may take longer to run, or through manual exploratory testing.
The aim should be to build, test, and release software as frequently as possible. Implementing CD is the next step in a developer understanding whether or not they're releasing something with a negative effect into the environment.
Code coverage tells us what percentage of the system under test has been exercised by tests. This metric helps Scrum teams to understand where they have gaps in unit test coverage. It's a great tool to identify areas of the application that may benefit from additional coverage.
As with any metric, it must be treated delicately and not weaponized. Even if a system has 100% coverage, there's no guarantee that the system has been properly exercised by good testing. Code coverage should not be part of a DoD. It can turn into a vanity metric that causes developers to simply write tests without focusing on which tests matter – and which ones don't.
TDD is the practice of first writing a failing unit test, writing code that satisfies that unit test, and then refactoring the code. This loop can happen over and over until a good solution has been developed. Its origins are in XP and it has many benefits including higher quality software, faster development, improved system design, and built-in system documentation.
Building an emergent architecture requires the ability to safely refactor code. Using TDD, refactoring is exponentially safer since you can run negative and positive tests immediately in your Integrated Development Environment (IDE) to better understand implications. In the same vein, your test suite can be attached to CI builds and deployments.
Pair programming is the act of two developers working simultaneously on one machine to produce code. There are two roles: the pilot and the navigator.
*The pilot and navigator will frequently switch roles.
Increased quality is an undeniable outcome to this practice as four eyes are better than two. Additional benefits include knowledge transfer, skill development growth, and cohesiveness of code practices across the Scrum team.
Some organizations frown at this practice because they feel they're not getting the "bang for their buck" but practice to increase quality and throughput.
There's a lot of information available about how to write clean code, whether that be through using design patterns or a set of principles for object-oriented design like SOLID. Regardless of the approach, emphasis should be placed on writing code for readability and maintainability. Remember to always follow industry standards for naming conventions and practices.
No matter how hard you try to write clean code, refactoring is a reality. Safely refactoring is not something that should be placed in your product backlog. It should be a practice that consistently takes place as developers modify existing parts of the application. Refactor is not a bad word. Developers should always leave code they are touching in better condition than how they found it.
Be conscience of technical debt (the eventual consequence of poor architectural decisions) and tackle issues head-on without delay. Lastly, don't get yourself into a situation where you're managing bugs. You want to instead confront them and view them as unacceptable.
Scrum methodology is an incredible evolution in product development, both culturally and from a productivity angle. Whether you're observing the benefits of a cross-functional Scrum team, the power of DoD, the need for swift feedback loops, or the capacity to which you can improve or add to your practices, one thing is certain: quality sits at the core of impressive projects.
Building the notion of technical excellence into your Agile culture is the only path to becoming a hyper-performing team. Teams without a sense of urgency and focus may develop more quickly in the beginning, but they'll ultimately drown in technical debt and diminished productivity.
Is there a Scrum component to quality that you think should be on this list? Share your thoughts below!


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HomeSpeakersKeynote SpeakersJeffrey Cohen
Jeffrey Cohen
Azure Network Partner Program Manager, Microsoft
Jeffrey Cohen, Azure Network Partner Program Manager, Microsoft since 1990, oversees the company's portfolio of Subsea, Terrestrial, Metro networks and technologies and the Azure Software Defined Networking (SDN) features to enable virtual networking in the cloud. For the last three years, Azure Networking has been integrating our SDN investments in central control plane, commodity hardware with the big iron that manages our global WAN – to develop a fungible, scalable Software WAN. Today this WAN (SWAN) carries over 1.5T of DC to DC traffic, and is growing rapidly to carry other types of traffic. Jeffrey previously led the Edge Computing Organization, where he was a driving force in the development of Microsoft's content delivery and distributed computing network. Prior to Microsoft, he studied aeronautical engineering at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in 1985 and then mechanical engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology and California State University Northridge 1990. Jeffrey worked at Lockheed Georgia and Lockheed Rye Canyon as a Flight Test/Wind Tunnel Engineer.


This dish is inspired by a post from another blog, the one that belongs to the fabulous Jillian Harris. I have seen her beet rolls recipe quite awhile ago and was reminded of it recently when browsing the stalls of the local farmers' market.
I used the actual beets for borscht and was left with all those gorgeous leaves that I could not make myself throw away. Some of them got shredded and added to borscht and the rest became beet rolls. This recipe seems a bit odd at first as you are wrapping yeast dough into beet leaves and baking it, but the result is simply delicious! Creamy mushroom sauce adds another level of flavour to this tasty dish and it is great as leftovers as well. I will definitely be adding it to my regular meal rotation.
This is another post dedicated to my love of potatoes. These are stuffed with seasoned meat and baked in the oven.
I have been into cheese boards lately: they look awesome, cheese is delicious and my guests are happy. If you serve a nice variety everyone can find something they like.
On this board: Aged Cheddar, Camembert, Saint-Paulin, Oka. Don't figs look so pretty?!!
I love to entertain and usually serve at least 3 courses: appetizer, main, dessert. Mains and desserts happen to be the dishes that I have been inspired to cook for that particular dinner party, but appetizers can stress me out sometimes. Cheeses can also be brought out for dessert to supplement whatever is on the menu. Later I eat the leftovers for lunch. Cheese is the all around winner! Oh, and don't forget the wine (recently, I have been favouring Rosé).


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Aspirin-Mediated COX-2 Transcript Stabilization via Sustained p38 Activation in Human Intestinal Myofibroblasts
Randy C. Mifflin, Jamal I. Saada, John F. Di Mari, John D. Valentich, Patrick A. Adegboyega and Don W. Powell
Molecular Pharmacology February 2004, 65 (2) 470-478; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1124/mol.65.2.470
Randy C. Mifflin
Jamal I. Saada
John F. Di Mari
John D. Valentich
Patrick A. Adegboyega
Don W. Powell
Acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) is a cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitor, yet some of its therapeutic effects are thought to derive from mechanisms unrelated to prostaglandin synthesis inhibition. In human intestinal myofibroblasts, aspirin, at therapeutic doses, had the unexpected effect of inducing prolonged COX-2 expression. This induction was especially pronounced when cells were treated with interleukin-1α (IL-1) plus aspirin for 24 h. Sodium salicylate, a poor COX inhibitor, likewise enhanced IL-1–mediated COX-2 gene expression whereas 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) or indomethacin had no effect. The COX-2 transcriptional rate, measured by nuclear runoff analysis and heterogeneous nuclear RNA reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, was only modestly elevated by aspirin treatment. In contrast, aspirin treatment dramatically stabilized the COX-2 message. The COX-2 mRNA half-life in IL-1 treated cells was 1 h and was increased in excess of 5 h in IL-1 + aspirintreated cells. Phosphorylation of p38 MAPK was enhanced in aspirin-treated cells (but not in cells treated with 5-ASA or indomethacin) for up to 24 h after treatment. Inhibition of p38 activity negated aspirin-mediated COX-2 mRNA stabilization and the resultant increase in COX-2 mRNA and protein levels. The modest transcriptional response seen in aspirin treated cells was also abolished by p38 inhibition. We conclude that aspirin enhances COX-2 expression via sustained activation of p38, which results in prolonged stabilization of the COX-2 message and a slightly elevated transcription rate. Aspirin also enhanced steady-state mRNA levels of other IL-1 modulated genes (IL-1β, IL-6, groα, and TNFα) that are likewise regulated at the level of message stability via p38 activation.
Acetylsalicylic acid, commonly called aspirin, is the most widely used nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) in the world. Aspirin is effective in the treatment of pain, fever, and inflammation and also for prophylaxis against coronary artery disease and cancer (Vane et al., 1998). Aspirin's therapeutic benefit in many cases derives from its ability to inhibit cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymatic activity, resulting in decreased production of prostaglandins. In vivo, however, aspirin is rapidly deacetylated to form salicylate and, although salicylate is a poor inhibitor of COX activity, both salicylic acid and aspirin are potent anti-inflammatory agents. Furthermore, the optimal therapeutic dose for aspirin in the treatment of chronic inflammation is much higher than that required to inhibit cyclooxygenase activity (Rainsford, 1984; Brooks et al., 1986; Furst et al., 1987). Several non–prostaglandin-related effects of aspirin and salicylate have been described. These effects include inhibition of NF-κB mobilization (Kopp and Ghosh, 1994; Yin et al., 1998), activation or inhibition of MAPK/SAPK signaling (Schwenger et al., 1997, 1998, 1999), and others (Pillinger et al., 1998; Cronstein et al., 1999; Marnett and DuBois, 2002).
One major effect of the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1 is activation of the local synthesis and release of eicosanoids through the cyclooxygenase (COX) pathway (Dinarello, 1996; Vane et al., 1998). At least two isoforms of COX exist in humans, each encoded by separate unlinked loci. They share similar catalytic properties (e.g., Km, Vmax, catalytic products), but each has a distinct biological function (Turini and DuBois, 2002). COX-1 is constitutively expressed in many cell types, whereas COX-2 expression is more restricted and frequently only observed after stimulation of cells with mitogens or proinflammatory cytokines (Vane et al., 1998; Turini and DuBois, 2002).
We have previously characterized signaling pathways responsible for IL-1–mediated induction of COX-2 gene expression in human intestinal myofibroblasts (Mifflin et al., 2002; Di Mari et al., 2003). Intestinal myofibroblasts (IMFs) modulate responses of epithelial cells and immune and nonimmune cells of the lamina propria through elaboration of growth factors, cytokines, and lipid mediators such as prostaglandins (PGs) (Powell et al., 1999). IMFs are also likely to be important in the progression of colorectal cancer because they express COX-2 early in the process (Shattuck-Brandt et al., 2000; Adegboyega et al., 2001; Sonoshita et al., 2002), and IMF activation is observed in premalignant colorectal polyps (Adegboyega et al., 2002).
Herein we report that aspirin and sodium salicylate have the unexpected effect of inducing COX-2 gene expression in human IMFs. The induction is especially pronounced in cells treated with the combination of NSAID plus IL-1. The main mechanism whereby this occurs is aspirin-mediated enhancement of p38 MAPK activity, which leads to a dramatic stabilization of the COX-2 message. Aspirin likewise enhanced expression of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines (IL-1β, IL-6, groα, and TNFα) that are likewise regulated at the level of message stability via p38 activation. Another salicylate derivative, 5-aminosalicylate (5-ASA), did not affect this pathway, which may be one reason why 5-ASA is therapeutic for the treatment of chronic intestinal inflammation and other salicylates are not.
Materials. Recombinant human IL-1α was purchased from R&D Systems (Minneapolis, MN). The following were purchased from Sigma (St. Louis, MO): acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin), 5-aminosalicylic acid, sodium salicylate, and indomethacin. The compound SB-203580 was purchased from BIOMOL (Plymouth Meeting, PA). The COX-2 polyclonal antibody was purchased from Cayman Chemical (Ann Arbor, MI). Antibodies recognizing phosphorylated (phospho-Thr180/Tyr182) and total p38 were purchased from Cell Signaling Technologies (Beverly MA). The transcriptional inhibitor 5,6-dichloro-1-β-d-ribofuranosylbenzimidazole (DRB) was purchased from Calbiochem (San Diego, CA). The monoclonal antibody to α-smooth muscle actin (clone 1A4) was purchased from Sigma.
Cell Culture. The human intestinal myofibroblast isolate 18Co was obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (Manassas, VA) and maintained as described previously (Valentich et al., 1997; Mifflin et al., 2002). Cells were cultured in Eagle's minimum essential medium supplemented with 10% NuSerum (BD Biosciences, Bedford, MA) at 37°C in a humidified incubator containing 5% CO2 in air. For experiments, cells between passage 10 and 15 were used at confluence.
RNA Isolation and Northern Blot Analysis. Total RNA was isolated using the Ultraspec RNA Isolation Reagent (Biotecx Laboratories, Inc., Houston, TX). Northern blotting and hybridizations were performed as described previously (Hinterleitner et al., 1996). Gene-specific mRNA levels were detected and quantified using filmless autoradiographic analysis (PerkinElmer Life and Analytical Sciences, Boston, MA). Slight variations in signal strength resulting from differences in the amount of total RNA loaded in each well were corrected by normalization to 28S or 18S rRNA levels using digitized images of the membranes after transfer. The COX-2-specific probe was a 1.8-kilobase fragment of the human COX-2 cDNA provided by Dr. Timothy Hla (University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT). The IL-1β, IL-6, and groα-specific probes were gel-purified PCR fragments spanning nucleotides 631 to 1290 of the human IL-1β cDNA (GenBank accession number X02532) , nucleotides 306 to 904 of the human IL-6 cDNA (GenBank accession number M14584) , and nucleotides 105 to 690 of the human groα cDNA (GenBank accession number J03561).
Western Blot Analysis. Western blot analyses were performed as described previously (Mifflin et al., 2002). Chemiluminescent detection was performed using a chemiluminescence detection kit (Amersham Biosciences, Piscataway, NJ) according to the supplier's recommendations.
Nuclear Runoff Analysis. Nuclear runoff analyses were performed as described previously (Mifflin et al., 2002). Relative transcription levels were determined using filmless autoradiographic analysis (PerkinElmer Life and Analytical Sciences).
COX-2 Transcription Rate Using hnRNA RT-PCR. We developed an alternate method of assessing the COX-2 transcription rate based on the assay described by Elferink and Reiners (1996). Based on the fact that nascent, unspliced nuclear RNA [heterogeneous nuclear RNA (hnRNA)] is rapidly spliced to generate mature mRNA, quantitation of unspliced COX-2 transcripts is used as an indicator of the COX-2 transcriptional rate. Total RNA samples, extracted as above, were treated with DNase (Promega, Madison, WI) and reverse-transcribed using oligonucleotide primers specific for introns within the human COX-2 gene to generate hncDNA. These samples were then subjected to amplification by PCR using intron-specific primer pairs to generate products traversing COX-2 exons. For each reverse transcription reaction, a mock reaction was carried out in which the reverse transcriptase was left out to control for potential contamination by genomic DNA. The reverse transcription and PCR primers used were as follows (numbering based upon GenBank accession number D28235). Amplification across exon #6: COX2GEN L6020, 5′-AGTTTTCATTTACCACA-3′ (RT primer); COX2GENU5468, 5′-TTTCATCATTTTCTAGGTGGACTTAA-3′ (sense PCR); and COX2 GENL5597, 5′-TAAAATATGGGTATAAGCGGTAATAA-3′ (antisense PCR). Amplification across exon #9: COX2GENL7472, 5′-GCTCACGCCTGTAATCC-3′ (RT primer); COX2GENU6942, 5′-AGCTGAATACAAACAGTAAATATGCCTAA-3′ (sense PCR); and COX2GENL7218, 5′-AGGGCGGCTCCATCTCGAAAA-3′ (antisense PCR).
PCR reactions were performed in the presence of [32P]dCTP (1.0 μCi/20-μl reaction, to facilitate quantitation by filmless autoradiographic analysis) and fractionated in 6% acrylamide gels in Trisborate buffer. It was empirically determined that 25 cycles of amplification were within the linear quantitative range for this assay and this number was used throughout.
RT-PCR Analysis of TNFα mRNA. TNFα mRNA was detected using commercially supplied primers for human TNFα (R&D Systems) to amplify cDNA prepared from treated cells as directed by the supplier. Included in each reaction were primers for the constitutively expressed heme oxygenase 2 (spanning nucleotides 273 to 764 of the human HO-2 cDNA, GenBank accession number S34389) as an internal control.
ELISA Assay for TNFα Secretion. TNFα secretion was monitored using a commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA; limit of detection, ∼15 pg/ml; R&D Systems). Confluent monolayers were treated for 24 h as indicated in the legend to Fig. 7. Culture medium was removed, cleared by centrifugation, and assayed for TNFα levels.
Synergistic induction of other proinflammatory cytokine and chemokine mRNA and protein levels by IL-1 plus aspirin. A, IL-1β, IL-6, and groα mRNA levels. Confluent 18Co monolayers were incubated 24 h in the presence of either IL-1 (500 pg/ml), aspirin (5.0 mM), or both, and total RNA was analyzed by Northern blotting using specific probes for either IL-1β, IL-6, or groα. In the experiments shown, the same blot was used for both the IL-1 and -6 determinations. Below each is an inverse image of the 18S rRNA on the membranes before hybridization, demonstrating equivalent loading and transfer. B, TNFα mRNA detection. RNA samples isolated from cells treated as in A, with additional 5-ASA (5.0 mM) treatments were analyzed for the presence of TNFα mRNA using RT-PCR analysis. Also included in each reaction were primers for the constitutively expressed heme oxygenase 2 (HO2). Shown is an inverse image of a representative ethidium bromide-stained agarose gel demonstrating the presence of the constitutive 512 nucleotides of HO2 product in all lanes and the 414 nucleotide TNFα product only in the IL-1 plus ASA lane. C, TNFα secretion. Medium from confluent 18Co monolayers cultured 24 h in the presence of either IL-1 (500 pg/ml), ASA (5.0 mM), 5-ASA (5.0 mM), or combinations thereof were analyzed for TNFα levels by ELISA (limit of detection, ∼15 pg/ml). The results from three separate experiments, each done in triplicate, are shown. Significant TNFα release was observed only in cells treated with the combination of IL-1 + ASA (735 ± 86 pg/ml).
Data Analysis. All experiments were repeated a minimum of three times with similar results. Where appropriate, data were expressed as the mean ± S.E. Statistical analysis was performed using Student's t test using a P value of 0.05 as statistically significant. In all cases in which comparative data are presented, the autoradiographic images originated from the same exposure of the same gel; in some cases, for clarity of presentation, lanes containing samples not germane to this study were removed.
Synergistic Induction of COX-2 Expression by IL-1 + Aspirin. Therapeutic doses of salicylates for the treatment of chronic inflammation, such as rheumatoid arthritis, are realized when serum levels are in the 1 to 5 mM range (Rainsford, 1984; Brooks et al., 1986; Furst et al., 1987). Figure 1A demonstrates COX-2 mRNA levels in cells cultured 4 and 24 h in the absence or presence of IL-1 (500 pg/ml), aspirin (5.0 mM), indomethacin (20 μM), or IL-1 plus aspirin or indomethacin. At the earlier time point, aspirin moderately enhanced (1.5-fold) COX-2 mRNA levels above those seen in control or IL-1–treated cells, but this trend was not statistically significant (P > 0.2; n = 4). However, COX-2 mRNA levels were significantly higher in aspirin-treated cells after 24 h. Aspirin treatment resulted in 6.4-fold higher (P < 0.001; n = 7) COX-2 mRNA levels over untreated cells and aspirin augmented IL-1–induced COX-2 mRNA levels by 4.8-fold (P < 0.001; n = 9). Indomethacin, at a dose that inhibits PGE2 synthesis by >97% in these cells (20 μM), had no effect upon basal or IL-1–induced COX-2 mRNA levels (Fig. 1A). The inability of indomethacin to affect COX-2 mRNA levels argues against the possibility that PGE2 or other COX-derived eicosanoids act in a negative feedback loop to down-regulate IL-1–mediated COX-2 induction. Figure 1B demonstrates COX-2 mRNA levels in IMFs after 24 h in the presence of IL-1 plus increasing concentrations (10 μM to 5.0 mM) of aspirin. The inclusion of IL-1 results in a more sensitive assay because slight increases over the IL-1 baseline are easier to detect. Dose response analyses, such as the one presented in Fig. 1B, indicate that aspirin enhances IL-1–mediated COX-2 induction over the 1.0 to 5.0 mM range. Higher aspirin concentrations were not included in this study because of signs of toxicity in cells treated 24 to 48 h with aspirin at levels ≥10 mM. The effect of other salicylates upon IL-1–mediated COX-2 induction is shown in Fig. 1C. Sodium salicylate (Na-Sal) likewise enhanced COX-2 mRNA levels when included at 5.0 mM, yet it had little or no effect at the 0.5 mM dose. 5-ASA (5.0 mM) did not enhance COX-2 expression. The observed aspirin-mediated COX-2 mRNA induction was also reflected at the protein level as judged by Western blotting of extracts prepared 24 h after treatment (Fig. 1D). In experiments not shown, sodium salicylate (5.0 mM) like-wise increased COX-2 protein levels.
Synergistic induction of COX-2 mRNA and protein levels by IL-1 plus aspirin. Confluent 18Co monolayers were incubated for the indicated time in the presence of either IL-1 (500 pg/ml), ASA (5.0 mM), or, as indicated in B, indomethacin (Indo; 20 μM), sodium salicylate (Na-Sal; 0.5 or 5.0 mM), 5-ASA (5.0 mM) or combinations thereof. Control cells received 1.0% ethanol as a solvent control. Cells were then harvested for isolation of either total RNA or protein. A, COX-2 mRNA levels. Total RNA was subjected to Northern analysis using a COX-2–specific cDNA probe. Below is an inverse image of the 28S rRNA bands on the membrane before hybridization, demonstrating equivalent loading and transfer. B, dose-response for aspirin-mediated COX-2 induction. Cells were incubated for 24 h in the presence of IL-1 (500 pg/ml) plus the indicated concentration of aspirin. Total RNA was subjected to Northern analysis using a COX-2–specific cDNA probe. Below is an inverse image of the 28S rRNA bands on the membrane before hybridization, demonstrating equivalent loading and transfer. C, effect of other salicylates. Total RNA was subjected to Northern analysis using a COX-2–specific cDNA probe. Below is an inverse image of the 18S rRNA bands on the membrane before hybridization, demonstrating equivalent loading and transfer. D, COX-2 protein levels after 24 h of IL-1 and aspirin treatment. Total protein (25 μg) was subjected to Western analysis using an antibody specific for COX-2 as described under Materials and Methods. The resultant blot was then stripped and reanalyzed for total p38 protein levels to ensure equivalent loading.
Effect of Aspirin upon COX-2 Transcription. Experiments were conducted to determine whether aspirin regulates COX-2 expression at the transcriptional level. A nuclear runoff analysis of the COX-2 transcriptional rate 4 h after IL-1 (500 pg/ml), aspirin (5.0 mM), or IL-1 plus aspirin treatment is shown in Fig. 2A. The results of several such experiments, summarized graphically in Fig. 2A, indicate a slight increment in the COX-2 transcriptional rate in aspirin-treated cells (2.2 ± 1.2-fold; n = 3). This trend was not statistically significant (P > 0.05), perhaps because of the inherent insensitivity of the runoff assay. The IL-1–mediated COX-2 transcriptional rate was not significantly enhanced by aspirin inclusion (18.9 ± 2.84-fold versus 18.4 ± 9.01-fold; n = 5) as measured by nuclear runoff analysis (Fig. 2A).
COX-2 Transcription rate after IL-1, aspirin, and IL-1 + aspirin treatment. A, nuclear runoff analysis. Confluent 18Co monolayers were incubated in the presence of IL-1 (500 pg/ml), aspirin (5.0 mM), or IL-1 plus aspirin. After 4 h, nuclei were isolated and nuclear runoff analysis was performed as described under Materials and Methods. MCP-1, macrophage chemotactic protein 1; actin, β actin; vector-plasmid Bluescript SK– without insert, used to calculate background hybridization. The graph summarizes the results obtained from analysis of at least three independent determinations for each treatment. B, hncDNA amplification. Confluent 18Co monolayers were incubated in the presence of IL-1 (500 pg/ml), aspirin (5.0 mM), or IL-1 plus aspirin. After 4 h, total RNA was extracted, and relative COX-2 hnRNA levels were determined as described under Materials and Methods. A representative experiment is shown using the primers spanning exon 6 (COX2GENU5468/COX2GENL5597) and exon 9 (COX2GENU6942/COX2GENL7218) along with mock reactions that included RNA but no reverse transcriptase (RT). The graph summarizes the results obtained from analysis of five independent determinations for each treatment. C, linearity of the hncDNA assay with respect to input hcDNA. Two-fold serial dilutions of total hncDNA, synthesized from IMFs treated for 4 h with IL-1, were subjected to PCR analysis as described under Materials and Methods using the primers spanning exon 6. The signal strength was quantitated and results are shown in the graph below.
We developed a more sensitive assay to measure the transcription rate of the endogenous COX-2 gene to determine whether aspirin has any significant transcriptional effect on its own. To this end, we adopted the assay of Elferink and Reiner (1996), which measures the level of nascent, unspliced transcripts (hnRNA) from a particular gene using an RT-PCR approach that employs intron-specific reverse transcription and PCR primers. Figure 2B shows the results of one such assay in which COX-2 hnRNA levels were determined in IMFs cultured 4 h in the presence or absence of IL-1, aspirin, or both. Using this assay, IL-1 increased the COX-2 transcriptional rate 16 ± 6.3-fold (n = 5, P > 0.002) over the level observed in untreated cells. This result agrees well with the runoff data presented in Fig. 2A and published by us previously (Mifflin et al., 2002). Aspirin treatment increased the COX-2 transcription rate 2.6 ± 0.33-fold (n = 5, P > 0.005) relative to untreated cells. The augmentation of IL-1–induced COX-2 transcription by aspirin using this assay was only 1.2-fold (n = 5, P = 0.04), similar to that observed in the runoff analyses. To demonstrate that the hnRNA amplification assay is linear with respect to input hncDNA, 2-fold serial dilutions of hncDNA prepared from IL-1 treated IMFs were analyzed, and the resultant data are plotted in Fig. 2C. The data plotted in Fig. 2C had an R2 value of 0.87.
Effect of Aspirin upon COX-2 Message Stability. Given the modest effect of aspirin upon COX-2 transcription compared with its effect upon steady-state mRNA levels, we examined whether aspirin influenced COX-2 mRNA stability. Cultures were pretreated 4 h with IL-I or IL-1 plus aspirin and then placed in serum-free medium containing the RNA polymerase II transcriptional inhibitor DRB (50 μM) with or without aspirin. Cultures were then harvested 2, 4, and 6 h later for determination of COX-2 mRNA levels by Northern blotting. In these experiments, the COX-2 message half-life in IL-1 treated cells, as judged by decay in the presence of DRB, was approximately 1 h (Fig. 3) (Mifflin et al., 2002). This half-life was dramatically extended to a period exceeding 5 h in the presence of aspirin. The COX-2 message is stabilized by p38 MAPK activation in human IMFs (Mifflin et al., 2002) and other cell types (Ridley et al., 1998; Lasa et al., 2000, 2001). We have previously demonstrated that p38 inhibition reduces the COX-2 message half-life in IL-1–treated cells to only 20 min (Mifflin et al., 2002). To determine whether p38 plays a role in the observed aspirin-mediated COX-2 message stabilization, COX-2 mRNA decay was measured in the presence of aspirin plus the p38 inhibitor SB-203580 (20 μM). As shown in Fig. 3, the p38 inhibitor negated aspirin-mediated COX-2 message stabilization.
Effect of aspirin upon COX-2 message stability. Confluent 18Co cultures were incubated for 4 h in the presence of IL-1 (500 pg/ml) or IL-1 plus aspirin (5.0 mM). Cells were then placed in serum-free medium containing the RNA polymerase II transcriptional inhibitor DRB (50 μM), DRB plus aspirin (5.0 mM), or DRB plus aspirin plus the p38 inhibitor SB-203580 (20 μM). Cultures were then frozen at the indicated times (in hours) for determination of COX-2 mRNA levels by Northern blotting. Note the shorter time scale for COX-2 message decay in the presence of the p38 inhibitor. Shown above are images from a representative experiment. Also shown are digitized photographs of the membranes showing equivalent levels of 28S ribosomal RNA before hybridization. Bottom, relative COX-2 mRNA levels (normalized to 28S rRNA) as a function of the time spent in the presence of each inhibitor.
Effect of Aspirin upon p38 Activation. We determined whether aspirin treatment activates p38 by monitoring phosphorylated p38 (P-p38) levels in cells treated with IL-1 or IL-1 plus aspirin by Western blotting. Within the first hour of treatment, aspirin had little effect upon basal and IL-1–induced P-p38 levels (Fig. 4A). However, a gradual time-dependent increase in P-p38 levels was observed at later time points (2–24 h) in aspirin-treated cells. In cells treated with IL-1, aspirin seemed to retard the decay of IL-1–induced P-p38 levels, which remained elevated after 24 h (Fig. 4, A and D), analogous to what was observed with COX-2 mRNA levels (Fig. 1A).
Effect of IL-1 and aspirin upon p38 phosphorylation. Confluent 18Co monolayers were incubated for the indicated time periods in the presence of IL-1 (500 pg/ml), aspirin (5.0 mM), or both (A), IL-1 (500 pg/ml), indomethacin (Indo; 20 μM), or 5-ASA (5.0 mM) (B), or IL-1 in combination with either indomethacin or 5-ASA (C). Agents were delivered in serum-free medium. Cells were harvested and Western analysis was performed to determine levels of phosphorylated p38 (phospho-p38) and total p38 as described under Materials and Methods. D, densitometric data graphically depicting the p-p38/p38 ratio after each treatment as a function of time. *, p < 0.05 relative to samples not containing ASA.
If aspirin-mediated p38 activation is responsible for the observed induction of COX-2 expression, then NSAIDs that did not induce COX-2 expression should not induce p38 phosphorylation. As shown in Fig. 4, indomethacin (20 μM) and 5-ASA (5.0 mM), alone (Fig. 4B) or in combination with IL-1 (Fig. 4C), had no significant effect upon p38 phosphorylation compared with aspirin-treated cells (presented graphically in Fig. 5D).
Effect of p38 inhibition upon IL-1 and aspirin-mediated COX-2 induction. Confluent 18Co monolayers were incubated 24 h in the presence of either IL-1 (500 pg/ml), aspirin (5.0 mM), or both, with or without the p38 inhibitor SB-203580 (20 μM). Cells were then harvested and COX-2 mRNA (A) and protein (B) levels were determined by Northern and Western blotting, respectively, as described under Materials and Methods. Also shown in A is an inverse image of the 18S rRNA on the membrane before hybridization, demonstrating equivalent loading and transfer. B, the blot was stripped and reprobed with an antibody specific for α-smooth muscle actin (SMA) demonstrating equivalent loading and transfer. Below each panel is shown the percentage inhibition of COX-2 message or protein levels, with S.D. in parentheses, as quantitated by phosphorimager or densitometric analysis, respectively.
Effect of p38 Inhibition upon Aspirin-Mediated COX-2 Induction. If aspirin induces COX-2 expression via p38 activation, then p38 inhibition should retard this process. As shown in Fig. 5, aspirin-mediated induction of COX-2 expression was potently suppressed in the presence of the specific p38 inhibitor SB-203580 (20 μM) at the mRNA (Fig. 5A) and protein (Fig. 5B) levels. The degree of repression at each stage was similar (81–97% inhibition), indicating an inhibition at the level of steady-state mRNA. As shown in Fig. 5, and by others (Guan et al., 1997; Dean et al., 1999; Mifflin et al., 2002), SB-203580 also inhibits IL-1–mediated induction of COX-2 expression. In these experiments, aspirin consistently elevated IL-1–induced COX-2 message and protein levels approximately 2- to 5-fold in the presence of SB-203580. This observed increment is possibly caused by incomplete inhibition of p38 activity or to decay of the inhibitor over the 24-h course of incubation.
Effect of p38 Inhibition upon COX-2 Transcription. To determine the consequence of aspirin-mediated p38 activation upon COX-2 transcription, hnRNA amplification was performed to determine the relative transcription rate in cells treated with SB-203580. As shown in Fig. 6, SB-203580 (20 μM) inhibited the IL-1 or aspirin-induced transcription rate by 51 ± 18.3% (n = 4; P < 0.05) and 93 ± 1.2% (n = 4; P < 0.01), respectively when assayed 4 h after treatment. The COX-2 transcriptional rate in cells treated with both IL-1 and aspirin was inhibited by 82 ± 7.0% (n = 4; P < 0.02) in the presence of the p38 inhibitor. Thus, the transcriptional as well as post-transcriptional effects of aspirin upon COX-2 expression are attributable to p38 activation.
Effect of p38 inhibition upon COX-2 transcription. Confluent 18Co monolayers were incubated in the presence of IL-1 (500 pg/ml), aspirin (5.0 mM), or IL-1 plus aspirin with or without the p38 inhibitor SB-203580 (20 μM). After 4 h, total RNA was extracted and relative COX-2 hnRNA levels were determined as described under Materials and Methods along with mock reactions, which included RNA but no reverse transcriptase (RT) using the primers spanning exon 9. The graph summarizes the results obtained from analysis of four independent determinations for each treatment. Below each panel is shown the percentage inhibition of COX-2 transcription rate, with S.D. in parentheses.
Synergistic Induction of Proinflammatory Cytokines and Chemokines by Aspirin in Combination with IL-1. Given that p38 activation leads to mRNA stabilization for a number of genes in addition to COX-2 (Frevel et al., 2003), we hypothesized that aspirin would also enhance IL-1–mediated induction of mRNAs containing AU-rich stability control elements. Preliminary microarray studies indicated that this is indeed the case and the results from a selected panel of genes are presented in Fig. 7. Northern analyses of mRNA levels for IL-1β, IL-6, and the chemokine groα after 24 h in the presence of IL-1, aspirin, or both are shown in Fig. 7A. For each gene shown, aspirin dramatically enhanced the IL-1–mediated increase in steady-state mRNA levels. Figure 7B is an RT-PCR analysis of TNFα mRNA levels after 24 h in the presence of IL-1, with and without aspirin or 5-ASA. At this time point, TNFα mRNA was only detected in cells treated with the combination of IL-1 plus aspirin. TNFα accumulation in the culture medium of cells treated as in Fig. 7B was analyzed by ELISA (Fig. 7C). Appreciable TNFα accumulation was only seen in cells treated with both IL-1 and aspirin. In experiments not shown, TNFα message was transiently detected in IL-1-treated cells 4 to 8 h after treatment, yet significant TNFα secretion into the culture supernatant was not observed (Fig. 7C). Thus, aspirin synergizes with IL-1 to induce steady-state mRNA levels for a number of genes important in inflammation.
We have demonstrated the ability of aspirin and sodium salicylate to induce COX-2 expression in a cultured human IMF isolate, 18Co. The observed effect is especially pronounced when combined with IL-1 resulting in a synergistic induction of COX-2 mRNA and protein. Our results demonstrate that aspirin induces COX-2 expression via prolonged activation of p38, which results in a dramatic stabilization of the COX-2 message. Nuclear runoff and hnRNA RT-PCR analyses demonstrated a minor transcriptional component, but the kinetics of COX-2 mRNA and protein accumulation, combined with mRNA degradation experiments, strongly suggest that the primary mechanism underlying the observed synergistic induction is at the level of COX-2 mRNA stability. We also found that aspirin synergizes with IL-1 to enhance steady-state mRNA levels for other proinflammatory mediators that also contain AU-rich stability control elements within their mRNAs.
The mechanism by which aspirin prolongs COX-2 expression is apparently unrelated to COX inhibition because sodium salicylate, a poor COX inhibitor, also enhanced expression (Fig. 1C), and indomethacin, a potent COX inhibitor, had no effect upon steady-state COX-2 mRNA levels (Fig. 1A). Davies et al. (1997) have reported aspirin-mediated COX-2 induction in vivo. In that study, aspirin (250 mg/kg) administration to rats resulted in marked expression of COX-2 mRNA and protein in the gastric lamina propria, precisely where gastric myofibroblasts are located. Indomethacin (20 mg/kg) had only a minor affect on COX-2 expression. The latter result further supports our hypothesis that salicylate-mediated COX-2 induction is not simply the consequence of COX inhibition because indomethacin is an effective COX inhibitor.
In contrast to our results, Wu and colleagues have demonstrated inhibition of COX-2 gene expression by aspirin and sodium salicylate, at doses ranging from 10 μM to 1.0 mM, in human endothelial cells, macrophages, and fibroblasts (Xu et al., 1999; Cieslik et al., 2002). In their studies, COX-2 transcription was depressed 4 h after aspirin treatment and the mechanism of salicylate-mediated inhibition was via inhibition of C/EBPβ binding to the COX-2 promoter. We saw no such effect of salicylates upon COX-2 transcription in IL-1–treated human IMFs, perhaps because in these cells, C/EBPβ binding activity is very low and does not increase upon stimulation with IL-1 (Mifflin et al., 2002).
Our results also differ from those of Faour et al. (2001), who demonstrated that in human synovial fibroblasts, IL-1β drives COX-2 expression primarily via COX-2–derived PGE2 and that NSAIDs abrogate IL-1–mediated COX-2 induction. They demonstrate that PGE2, acting via EP4 receptors, activates p38, resulting in COX-2 message stabilization. They further demonstrate that in their cells, IL-1β–mediated COX-2 induction occurs primarily at the post-transcriptional level, with only a minor (2-fold) transcriptional component (Faour et al., 2001). These results highlight the striking heterogeneity in mechanisms of COX-2 regulation in different cell types. In our studies, inhibition of PGE2 synthesis by indomethacin had little effect upon COX-2 expression (Fig. 1A) and p38 phosphorylation (Fig. 5B). Furthermore, IL-1 treatment leads to dramatic COX-2 transcriptional activation in IMFs when transcription of the endogenous gene is assayed (Fig. 2) (Mifflin et al., 2002).
We should also note that salicylates can affect gene transcription by inhibiting NF-κB activation (Kopp and Ghosh, 1994; Yin et al., 1998), which would lead to decreased transcription of the COX-2 gene. We did not see such an effect because the dose of aspirin used in our studies is below the 10 to 20 mM range of salicylate necessary to inhibit IκB degradation; in experiments not shown, 5.0 mM aspirin did not inhibit IL-1–mediated induction of NF-κB binding activity.
Schwenger and colleagues have carefully studied the effect of salicylates on MAPK/SAPK activation. Their studies have demonstrated that 2.0 to 20 mM salicylate causes increased p38 phosphorylation and activity within 5 min in human foreskin fibroblasts and macrophages (Schwenger et al., 1997, 1998). While aspirin slightly enhanced p38 phosphorylation after 30 min in our studies, aspirin-induced p38 phosphorylation was more evident at later time points and continued for at least 24 h after treatment. Perhaps this is attributable to the lower dose of aspirin used in our studies, a higher level of basal p38 phosphorylation in our cells, or to slight differences in signal transduction pathways among different cell types. Schwenger et al. (1997, 1998) did point out, however, that increased p38 phosphorylation was observed as long as 8 h after salicylate treatment.
The time course of phospho-p38 accumulation in our studies suggests that aspirin might inhibit the phosphatase activity or activities that restore p38 activity to resting levels. For example, aspirin did not significantly enhance IL-1–mediated p38 phosphorylation (Fig. 4), yet the decay of the phosphorylated state was retarded in the presence of aspirin. Phosphatase inhibition has been shown to induce COX-2 expression in other cell types with kinetics similar to those seen with aspirin (Mahboubi et al., 1997; Miller et al., 1998). Alternatively, the rapid p38 phosphorylation observed by Schwenger and colleagues suggests that salicylates affect kinase activities responsible for p38 phosphorylation. Although the possibilities are not mutually exclusive, future studies will be needed to determine how salicylates modulate p38 activity.
Presently, we can only speculate about the in vivo biological significance of the data presented. In the context of inflammation, it is interesting that although high-dose aspirin inhibits PG synthesis, it also leads to elevated COX-2 protein levels. Cessation of therapy could potentially lead to a burst of COX activity, resulting in a transient increase in PGs, thromboxanes, and prostacyclin. In the case of aspirin, increased levels of acetylated COX-2 throughout the treatment regimen would result in synthesis of bioactive 15-epilipoxins (Serhan, 1997; Vane et al., 1998). It is also very likely that salicylates would affect the expression of other genes subject to p38 regulation (Fig. 7) (Frevel et al., 2003). Of the salicylates surveyed, the only drug that did not affect COX expression is 5-ASA, a mainstay in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. 5-ASA inhibits COX activity, and serum and mucosal PG levels decline after 5-ASA treatment (Stenson and MacDermott, 1991). Patients with inflammatory bowel disease treated with other COX inhibitors like-wise experience reduction in serum and mucosal PG levels, yet their clinical condition does not improve (Stenson and MacDermott, 1991) and can even be exacerbated (Evans et al., 1997). One explanation for this is that in addition to inhibition of PG synthesis, lipoxygenase inhibition by 5-ASA is the major benefit of this drug, distinguishing it from other NSAIDs (Sharon and Stenson, 1985). An alternate explanation suggested by this study is that nontherapeutic salicylates, via their ability to activate MAPK/SAPK pathways, may affect expression of other genes that exacerbate inflammation.
We are grateful to Drs. Timothy Hla and Stephen Prescott for providing plasmids used in this study. We thank Terri Kirschner for assistance in the preparation of this manuscript.
This work was supported by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases grant DK55783, the Gulf Coast Digestive Disease Center (DK56338), and a grant from the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America, Inc.
ABBREVIATIONS: NSAID, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug; COX, cyclooxygenase; NF-κB, nuclear factor κB; MAPK, mitogen-activated protein kinase; SAPK, stress-activated protein kinase; IL-1, interleukin-1α; IMF, intestinal myofibroblast; PG, prostaglandin; TNFα, tumor necrosis factor α; 5-ASA, 5-aminosalicylic acid; SB-203580, 4-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-(4-methylsulfinyl phenyl)-5-(4-pyridyl)-1H-imidazole; DRB, 5,6-dichloro-1-β-d-ribofuranosylbenzimidazole; hnRNA, heterogeneous nuclear RNA; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; p-p38, phosphorylated p38; ASA, acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin).
Accepted November 3, 2003.
The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
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Molecular Pharmacology February 1, 2004, 65 (2) 470-478; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1124/mol.65.2.470
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Tag Archives: private prisons
Prison torture
The Guardian reports on allegations of forced drug injection and electroshocking at a South African jail run by British security firm G4S:
"Prisoners, warders and health care workers said that involuntary medication was regularly practised at the Mangaung Correctional Centre near Bloemfontein. G4S denies any acts of assault or torture.
[A former G4S employee] admitted using an electric shield on inmates to make them talk. 'Yeah, we stripped them naked and we throw with water so the electricity can work nicely … Again and again. Up until he tell you what you want to hear, even if he will lie, but if he can tells you what I want to hear. He can tell the truth but if that's not the truth that I want, I will shock him until he tells the truth that I want even if it's a lie.' "
Money to go
Haaretz reports that the Israeli government plans to "more than triple" the money if offers African migrants to leave the country and promise never to return:
"Over the past few months, hundreds of migrants, mainly from Eritrea and Sudan, have accepted the previous offer [of $1,5000], which also included a free plane ticket.
Ever since mid-September, when the High Court of Justice overturned a law that allowed illegal migrants to be jailed for up to three years, the state has been scrambling to find a new solution to the migrant problem.
Aside from the grants, the interior and justice ministries are also discussing other measures to deal with the migrant problem. [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has given approval in principle to establishing an open detention center for illegal migrants and enacting new legislation that would allow them to be jailed for 18 months instead of three years."
Held without charge
Agence France-Presse reports that the International Criminal Court has ruled that ex-Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo must remain in detention even though he still has not been formally charged with crimes against humanity:
"The ICC has yet to confirm the charges against Gbagbo for his role in the bloody election standoff nearly three years ago.
Judges said in June that they needed more evidence before charging the former Ivory Coast strongman, who has been held by the ICC for almost two years."
Sustainable listings
The Guardian's Jo Confino wants the world's stock exchanges to demand companies divulge "basic data" about the social and environmental impacts of their business:
"A new study benchmarking sustainability disclosures on the world's stock exchanges points to a worrying levelling off in the number of companies that are reporting on six basic 'first generation' metrics; employee turnover, energy, greenhouse gases (GHGs), lost-time injury rate, payroll, waste and water.
It also does not take a great deal of intelligence to see that regulators need to get their acts together if we are to significantly change the current situation in which only 3% of the 3,972 world's largest listed companies and 0.04% of the world's small listed companies (20 out of 56,710) offer their stakeholders complete first generation sustainability reporting."
Domestic rights
Inter Press Service reports that domestic workers from around the world have gathered in Uruguay to "speak for ourselves":
" 'For many years only non-governmental organisations spoke for us, through studies and research…but we domestic employees and our unions have done the day-to-day hard slogging,' said [Ernestina] Ochoa, vice president of the International Domestic Workers Network (IDWN), which changed its name to Federation at the congress.
'Now we have said "enough's enough", let's found a large federation that unites us, let's work together to organise ourselves, defend our rights, create unions, improve the laws and help countries where there are no laws, empower domestic workers, train leaders and have a voice vis-à-vis governments and employers,' she said in an interview with IPS.
The basic rights established by the [International Labour Organisation Convention No.189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers (C189)] include weekly days off, limits to hours of work, a minimum wage, overtime compensation, and social security.
So far, C189 has been ratified by Bolivia, Germany, Guyana, Italy, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Philippines, South Africa and Uruguay."
Treating symptoms
The Sydney Morning Herald's Matt Wade writes that current efforts to control migration tend to ignore "the global economic forces that drive the mass movement of people":
"The global income gap has become common knowledge among the world's 7 billion people and that has fuelled the motivation for migration. Surveys have found that more than 40 per cent of adults in the poorest quarter of the world's countries would like to move permanently to another country if they had the opportunity. Hundreds of millions of people see migration as their only hope of improving their economic standing.
Economists call this a 'disequilibrium phase' – a huge mismatch between supply and demand. Because migration is one of the only mechanisms to fix this disequilibrium, migration pressures will exist until the income gap between countries becomes much smaller."
Avoidance mechanisms
The World Bank's Otaviano Canuto writes that Switzerland's financial industry may bear substantial responsibility for depriving poor countries of the "means to finance development":
"Switzerland, whose financial sector manages $2.2 trillion of offshore assets according to Boston Consulting Group, happens to be one of the main global transaction hubs for the oil, gas and mining sector, which in many developing countries dominates production and exports. Companies in this sector, it has been claimed, frequently dodge billions of dollars in taxes payable to developing countries by shifting profits to low-tax jurisdictions.
In many developing countries, these practices take place in a tax environment that is already heavily tilted towards the private sector, particularly in the form of large tax incentives for oil and mining multinationals."
US inequality
CNN's John Sutter writes on the correlation between income inequality and a range of social and health problems:
"When the researchers plotted income inequality against an index of social problems that included infant mortality, mental health and others, they got the chart below, which shows that more unequal places tend to have more of these issues. The United States, the most unequal of the developed countries, for example, also has the world's highest incarceration rate and a higher infant mortality rate than comparable nations. Sweden, meanwhile, has a low level of income inequality and fares much better on these social measures.
When the researchers plotted the same data according to average income, the correlation dissolved — the poorer societies were not more likely to suffer the social ills."
Posted in Latest Developments | Tagged corporate accountability, Domestic Workers Convention, extractive industry, ICC, immigration debate, income inequality, indefinite detention, private prisons, stock exchange, tax avoidance | Leave a reply
Migrant deaths
Reuters reports that 54 people have died of thirst while trying to cross illegally from Libya to Italy by boat, leaving only one survivor:
"The incident is the latest in a long series of disasters which have killed thousands of migrants attempting to reach southern Europe from North Africa in small, unstable and frequently overcrowded boats.
According to the UNHCR, around 170 people have died this year trying to reach Europe from Libya. Around 1,300 have reached Italy by sea since the beginning of 2012 and another 1,000 people have reached Malta."
Account closures
The CBC reports that TD Bank has decided to close the accounts of a number of Iranian-Canadians, citing the need to comply with sanctions against Iran:
" 'It's…given no explanation as to why this has happened and made some cryptic reference to the sanctions. But anytime they've sought some further explanation, they've been stonewalled and treated very, very badly,' [according to the Iranian Canadian Congress's Kaveh Shahrooz.]
He couldn't say exactly how many people have been affected. He said at this time it appears TD is the only bank sending out these letters."
Democratic deficit
The US is "not seen as promoting democracy in the Middle East," according to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan and Pakistan:
"The U.S. receives mixed reviews in Tunisia. Overall, 45% have a favorable and 45% an unfavorable view of the U.S. However, President Barack Obama gets mostly poor marks – 57% say they have little or no confidence that Obama will do the right thing in world affairs. And there is no consensus among Tunisians about how the U.S. has handled the political changes taking place in their country – 31% believe the American response has had a positive effect, 27% say it has been negative, and 25% volunteer that the U.S. has had no impact."
Criminalizing bank fraud
Michel Barnier, the EU commissioner in charge of financial reform, plans to table new rules that would make it a criminal offense to manipulate benchmarks such as Libor:
" 'We need to draw lessons from the Libor case,' a spokesman for Barnier said. 'We intend to close the regulatory gap in our proposed market-abuse legislation by including the direct manipulation of market indexes such as Libor.'
As it stands, the market-abuse proposal, which is now being negotiated with the European Parliament and EU member governments, defines insider dealing and market manipulation as criminal offences and lays down minimum penalties."
No to EO 79
ABS-CBN News reports that environmental groups in the Philippines have three major objections to the country's new mining rules:
"First, they say it promotes the unconstitutional overriding of local environmental codes that prohibit destructive mining operations in their area.
Second, it allegedly disenfranchises legitimate small-scale miners in favor of multinational companies, validating some 1.1 million hectares of existing mining applications and operations.
Third, it contents itself with a so-called piecemeal increase in mining administrative fees instead of collecting a "rightful" share from taxes and revenues."
Subsitence threatened
Sherpa reports that it and four other NGOs have lodged a complaint with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development over the activities of tire giant Michelin in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu:
"The development of this land, from a rural to an industrial zone, caused, in total, the destruction of 450 hectares of communal forest that surrounded the village and supported agricultural and pastoral activities, thereby depriving the people of their primary means of subsistence. Moreover, the land leased to Michelin is located in a watershed that feeds three natural lakes that irrigate Thervoy village and are the principal source of water for agriculture in the area.
And yet, since the start of the project, local residents have been mobilized, have demonstrated peacefully and have taken the state of Tamil Nadu to court on several occasions. Indeed, this project is violating the rights of 1,500 families living in Thervoy and threatens their subsistence. 18 other villages are also impacted directly by the construction of infrastructure necessary for the site."
[Translated from the French.]
Bloomberg reports that the Canadian government is considering using the services of private companies to run certain aspects of the country's prisons, prompting an opposition politician to accuse the ruling Conservatives of "opening the door to privatization":
"If Canada turned to the private sector, it would follow countries such as the U.S., U.K. and Australia that have relatively larger prison populations.
There are 209 prison facilities managed by private companies worldwide, with 181 in the U.S., according to data from the Association of Private Correctional and Treatment Organizations. There were 44 privately-run facilities in the U.S. in the late 1980s, according to research by Management and Training Corporation, a closely held company that manages prisons."
EU-Africa trade
Ten year-old trade negotiations between Africa and the EU are unlikely to bear fruit unless they are guided by a fundamental shift in thinking, according to the European Centre for Development Policy Management's Sanoussi Bilal:
"Africa does not need a trade deal with Europe to grow, though it might help. What Europe and Africa both need, however, are stronger relations based on a more equal footing, where legitimate economic and political interests are openly acknowledged, not couched in benevolent, somewhat paternalistic, rhetoric on 'development'."
Posted in Latest Developments | Tagged Arab Spring, extractive industry, immigration policy, land grabs, Libor, private prisons, sanctions, trade agreements | Leave a reply