Director's Breakfast Briefing

Event participants

James Bacchus, Chair, Global Agenda Council on Governance for Sustainability, World Economic Forum; Chair, Appellate Body, World Trade Organization (1995-2003); Chair, Global Practice, Greenberg Taurig LLP

Research Event

Event participants

Lord Tu'ivakano, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Tonga

11 July 2014

Rising HFC use poses a significant threat to intergovernmental efforts to combat climate change. At present, there is a glaring regulatory gap in this area. Although challenging, there is no reason why the international community cannot come together to address this new problem of coordination and ensure that legal regimes support each other.

Invitation Only Research Event

Event participants

Christophe McGlade, Research Associate, UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources
Chair: Shane Tomlinson, Senior Research Fellow, Energy, Environment and Resources, Chatham House

Research Event

Event participants

Dr Fatima Denton, Director, Special Initiatives Division, UN Economic Commission for Africa
Dr Chukwumerije Okereke, Associate Professor, University of Reading
Douglas Brew, Director External Affairs, Communications and Sustainable Living for Africa, Unilever
Chair: Bob Dewar, Associate Fellow, Africa Programme, Chatham House

Invitation Only Research Event

Lila Iké’s latest single, ‘ I Spy’, is flirty and playful with a sultry tone. It’s the kind of song record labels in decades past would compulsorily conflate with bubblegum pop princess images of lollipops, pigtails, ribbons, and skirts with...

Just the mention of the name Marvia Providence sends a tingle to the toes and, immediately, feet start tapping and bodies begin swaying. Before you know it, all the ‘warriors’ – prayer and otherwise – are in full flight. That’s the effect of the...

THE NOMENCLATURE ‘roots reggae artiste’ takes on a whole new classification when referencing singer Winston McAnuff. An elder statesman who has a fixation with an instrument which retains its genesis in the Church – the accordion – McAnuff, also...

IT IS said that every cloud has a silver lining, and that could still hold true, even in the midst of a terrifying global pandemic. Despite COVID-19, the cycle of life continues, and out of it has sprung forth an inspiring poetry competition,...

IN AN effort to alleviate misconceptions and misinterpretations of our current COVID-19 reality, and to create the idea that human beings deserve respect, especially when they are ill, ListenMi News has collaborated with the International...

Choreographer and designer Barry Moncrieffe; actress Lois Kelly Miller; New York-based broadcaster Gil Bailey; and actor and teacher Carl Samuels will all be remembered with a special tribute at Saturday’s staging of the annual Actor Boy Awards....

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It’s been over a decade since reggae king Buju Banton and R&B star John Legend collaborated on a song, and the Grammy winners have reunited for a new track. Banton and Legend released the easygoing love song...

It’s not news that the current fight against COVID-19 has overshadowed plans of artistes worldwide, having impacted some of their biggest stages and platforms with the cancellation of not only large-scale events but private ones as well. Birthday...

Despite its best efforts, COVID-19 will not be allowed to steal the joy of Mother’s Day this year. An array of the island’s top singers and musicians have pledged to infuse the accustomed specialness into the day dedicated to mothers with a concert...

PEPSI-COLA JAMAICA, whose success has been built on the unwavering support of Jamaicans, is raising the bar in humanitarian leadership by aiding in the local COVID-19 fight through a donation valued at over $15 million The donation, made to the...

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“The United States has launched a stunning attack on Cuba’s medical-aid missions, with the Trump administration pressing countries to reject them during the coronavirus pandemic,” Steve Sweeny reported in the Morning Star, March 26, 2020. Given...

In this article, I share my two final case studies, which examine changing our cultural attitudes to enhance productivity. Case study #5 – The role of punctuality An entrepreneur named Michael Fairbanks, who specialises in developing...

On Tuesday, April 14, the International Monetary Fund downgraded Jamaica’s growth prospects to -5.6 per cent. This is a severe contraction warranting substantial Government intervention. However, at times, the Government waits too late to respond...

The lessons of COVID-19 are yet to crystallise, but the evidence so far has yielded some early insights of developments that are likely to shape the national and global agenda for the immediate future. The speed and scale of the spread of the...

Everyone these days is so focused on the beauty behind hair and skincare lines that they neglect to really explore the science behind them. Creating revolutionary products that are not only innovative but eco-friendly is entrepreneur Antoinette...

A hysterectomy is a surgical procedure that’s done to cure serious problems of the uterus (womb), cervix or even the ovaries. Some women fear that having this procedure done will affect their sex life. Will it truly? Let’s find out. “There are...

Famous American poet and singer Maya Angelou shared this about matters pertaining to the heart: “Love recognises no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.” What started out as an...

“As the large wooden doors of the chapel opened and I saw my bride for the first time, our minds and hearts communicated in a way only love could evoke.” This sincere sentiment, echoed by the proud groom, only expresses a drop in the ocean of...

A sufficient β-cell mass is crucial for preventing diabetes, and perinatal β-cell proliferation is important in determining the adult β-cell mass. However, it is not yet known how perinatal β-cell proliferation is regulated. Here, we report that serotonin regulates β-cell proliferation through serotonin receptor 2B (HTR2B) in an autocrine/paracrine manner during the perinatal period. In β-cell–specific Tph1 knockout (Tph1 βKO) mice, perinatal β-cell proliferation was reduced along with the loss of serotonin production in β-cells. Adult Tph1 βKO mice exhibited glucose intolerance with decreased β-cell mass. Disruption of Htr2b in β-cells also resulted in decreased perinatal β-cell proliferation and glucose intolerance in adulthood. Growth hormone (GH) was found to induce serotonin production in β-cells through activation of STAT5 during the perinatal period. Thus, our results indicate that GH-GH receptor-STAT5-serotonin-HTR2B signaling plays a critical role in determining the β-cell mass by regulating perinatal β-cell proliferation, and defects in this pathway affect metabolic phenotypes in adults.

Active maintenance of β-cell identity through fine-tuned regulation of key transcription factors ensures β-cell function. Tacrolimus, a widely used immunosuppressant, accelerates onset of diabetes after organ transplantation, but underlying molecular mechanisms are unclear. Here we show that tacrolimus induces loss of human β-cell maturity and β-cell failure through activation of the BMP/SMAD signaling pathway when administered under mild metabolic stress conditions. Tacrolimus-induced phosphorylated SMAD1/5 acts in synergy with metabolic stress–activated FOXO1 through formation of a complex. This interaction is associated with reduced expression of the key β-cell transcription factor MAFA and abolished insulin secretion, both in vitro in primary human islets and in vivo in human islets transplanted into high-fat diet–fed mice. Pharmacological inhibition of BMP signaling protects human β-cells from tacrolimus-induced β-cell dysfunction in vitro. Furthermore, we confirm that BMP/SMAD signaling is activated in protocol pancreas allograft biopsies from recipients on tacrolimus. To conclude, we propose a novel mechanism underlying the diabetogenicity of tacrolimus in primary human β-cells. This insight could lead to new treatment strategies for new-onset diabetes and may have implications for other forms of diabetes.

Aging-dependent changes in tissue function are associated with the development of metabolic diseases. However, the molecular connections linking aging, obesity, and diabetes remain unclear. Lamin A, lamin C, and progerin, products of the Lmna gene, have antagonistic functions on energy metabolism and life span. Lamin C, albeit promoting obesity, increases life span, suggesting that this isoform is crucial for maintaining healthy conditions under metabolic stresses. Because β-cell loss during obesity or aging leads to diabetes, we investigated the contribution of lamin C to β-cell function in physiopathological conditions. We demonstrate that aged lamin C only–expressing mice (Lmna^LCS/LCS) become obese but remain glucose tolerant due to adaptive mechanisms including increased β-cell mass and insulin secretion. Triggering diabetes in young mice revealed that Lmna^LCS/LCS animals normalize their fasting glycemia by both increasing insulin secretion and regenerating β-cells. Genome-wide analyses combined to functional analyses revealed an increase of mitochondrial biogenesis and global translational rate in Lmna^LCS/LCS islets, two major processes involved in insulin secretion. Altogether, our results demonstrate for the first time that the sole expression of lamin C protects from glucose intolerance through a β-cell–adaptive transcriptional program during metabolic stresses, highlighting Lmna gene processing as a new therapeutic target for diabetes treatment.

The host environment is a crucial factor for considering the transplant of stem cell–derived immature pancreatic cells in patients with type 1 diabetes. Here, we investigated the effect of insulin (INS)-deficient diabetes on the fate of immature pancreatic endocrine cell grafts and the underlying mechanisms. Human induced pluripotent stem cell–derived pancreatic endocrine progenitor cells (EPCs), which contained a high proportion of chromogranin A⁺ NK6 homeobox 1⁺ cells and very few INS⁺ cells, were used. When the EPCs were implanted under the kidney capsule in immunodeficient mice, INS-deficient diabetes accelerated increase in plasma human C-peptide, a marker of graft-derived INS secretion. The acceleration was suppressed by INS infusion but not affected by partial attenuation of hyperglycemia by dapagliflozin, an INS-independent glucose-lowering agent. Immunohistochemical analyses indicated that the grafts from diabetic mice contained more endocrine cells including proliferative INS-producing cells compared with that from nondiabetic mice, despite no difference in whole graft mass between the two groups. These data suggest that INS-deficient diabetes upregulates the INS-secreting capacity of EPC grafts by increasing the number of endocrine cells including INS-producing cells without changing the graft mass. These findings provide useful insights into postoperative diabetic care for cell therapy using stem cell–derived pancreatic cells.

Approximately 10% of patients with type 2 diabetes suffer from latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA). This study provides a systematic assessment of the pathology of the endocrine pancreas of patients with LADA and for comparison in a first rat model mimicking the characteristics of patients with LADA. Islets in human and rat pancreases were analyzed by immunohistochemistry for immune cell infiltrate composition, by in situ RT-PCR and quantitative real-time PCR of laser microdissected islets for gene expression of proinflammatory cytokines, the proliferation marker proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL) 10, and the apoptosis markers caspase 3 and TUNEL as well as insulin. Human and rat LADA pancreases showed differences in areas of the pancreas with respect to immune cell infiltration and a changed ratio between the number of macrophages and CD8 T cells toward macrophages in the islet infiltrate. Gene expression analyses revealed a changed ratio due to an increase of IL-1β and a decrease of tumor necrosis factor-α. IL-10, PCNA, and insulin expression were increased in the LADA situation, whereas caspase 3 gene expression was reduced. The analyses into the underlying pathology in human as well as rat LADA pancreases provided identical results, allowing the conclusion that LADA is a milder form of autoimmune diabetes in patients of an advanced age.

Spring Training is imminent, Opening Day is within sight and the big league season isn't complete for fans without a subscription to MLB.TV. The most comprehensive streaming service in professional sports is now available for the 2019 season.

Here are answers to some of the primary questions you may have as the defending National League East champs prepare to begin Spring Training next week.

The Braves made it clear that, individually, each of their prospects was available in exchange for J.T. Realmuto. But they were not willing to provide the volume of prospects or the MLB-experienced asset sought by the Marlins, who ended an offseason-long saga by dealing the All-Star catcher to the Phillies on Thursday.

Reporter Mark Bowman addresses the Braves' offseason as a whole, as well as identifying a Minor League who has a chance at making the club out of Spring Training.

All 30 Major League teams will wear special "MLB 150" patches on their uniforms for the entire 2019 season in honor of the 150th anniversary of the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first openly all-salaried professional baseball team.

Here are the top players in each league who could get the opportunity to show what they can do at the highest level this year, perhaps even contending for Rookie of the Year honors

Those hoping to watch Ronald Acuna Jr. extend last season's incredible post-All-Star break production should remember that his pace would have equated to 45 homers and 33 stolen bases over 162 games.

It didn't come as a surprise to anyone when Dana Brown left the Blue Jays as a special assistant to general manager Ross Atkins to join the Braves as vice president of scouting.

Here is a look at 10 Braves players sure to draw attention during this year's Spring Training.

When the Braves re-signed Nick Markakis in January, they began leaning toward putting Ender Inciarte in the leadoff spot and moving Ronald Acuna Jr. to the cleanup role. But manager Brian Snitker said Acuna may still get his wish to stay at the top of the lineup.

Who do the Braves have in the pipeline? Get scouting reports, video, stats, projected ETAs and more for Atlanta's Top 30 Prospects on MLBPipeline.com's Prospect Watch.

As Braves manager Brian Snitker evaluates who might serve as his closer, A.J. Minter has made it clear he wants to be the guy who is consistently called upon to handle high-leverage threats that develop in late innings.

While playing close to his Alabama home and enjoying a chance to once again work with Atlanta general manager Alex Anthopoulos, the former American League MVP Award winner Josh Donaldson also understands the importance of rejuvenating his career with his deal.

The next five weeks will see lots of shuffling on Major League rosters. Here are the most intriguing positional battles on each of the 30 MLB clubs.

It could be argued that Ender Inciarte stands as the X-factor in regard to the Braves' bid to defend last year's National League East crown and experience a successful postseason.

In outlining their plans to rebuild the Orioles following the least successful season in franchise history, new club officials routinely point to experience: They just did the same thing elsewhere.

The Orioles' restocked farm system might inject some excitement into the club's retooled roster.

All 30 Major League teams will wear special "MLB 150" patches on their uniforms for the entire 2019 season in honor of the 150th anniversary of the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first openly all-salaried professional baseball team.

The Orioles' crowded outfield mix gained another member on Monday when the team signed veteran Eric Young Jr. to a Minor League contract with an invitation to Spring Training.