Expert

A. I. Aptekarev and M. L. Yattselev
Trans. Moscow Math. Soc. 83 (), 251-268.
Abstract, references and article information

Prioritizing equity and justice in climate action 30 June 2021 — 11:00AM TO 12:00PM Anonymous (not verified) 10 June 2021 Online

London Climate Action Week event: Why understanding equity and justice is essential to the ability to meaningfully inform climate politics.

Citizen-led climate activism is demonstrating the need to think about climate change ‘not just as a problem for science to solve’ but also as a problem of equity, human rights and justice.

The disproportionate impacts of climate change on the poor and the marginalized across the world means that understanding equity and justice is essential for the ability to meaningfully inform climate politics.

Excluding these issues risks ignoring, or intentionally omitting, the consequences of policies, tools and frameworks on those who are most likely to face the severe costs of any climate action or inaction.

In a pivotal year for climate decision-making, this event explores the necessity of equity and justice in climate action and how the world can move the political conversation to one that is more inclusive.

The speakers explore how communities themselves articulate the justice dimensions of climate change and how fairness can create a greener future for current and future generations.

This event is being hosted as a part of Strengthening Climate Diplomacy, a series of events from Chatham House during London Climate Action Week 2021.

Pierre Lairez, Eric Pichon-Pharabod and Pierre Vanhove
Math. Comp. 93 (), 2985-3025.
Abstract, references and article information

Otto Overkamp
Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 377 (), 5863-5903.
Abstract, references and article information

Jong In Han and Sijong Kwak
Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 377 (), 5561-5581.
Abstract, references and article information

Anne-Miek Bibbe posted a photo:

JOEPIE: I'm almost there! I wish Uncle Jeroen was here, I'm a little, really just a little bit afraid of the dark.
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JOEPIE: Ik ben bijna bij Peter! Ik wou dat oom Jeroen hier was, ik ben een beetje, echt maar een héél klein beetje bang in het donker.

Jörg Brendle and Wolfgang Wohofsky
Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 152 (), 5395-5410.
Abstract, references and article information

Yongqiang Liu, Laurentiu Maxim and Botong Wang
Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 152 (), 5279-5288.
Abstract, references and article information

Switzerland-based reggae and dancehall recording artiste Cali P has expressed gratitude to the public for supporting his music, following the release of his latest single ' Secret Hater'. The song, which was produced jointly by himself and Suku...

In 2020, when Anthony Parker, known to his fans as DJ Specs, decided to trade his textbooks for turntables, he didn't just pivot his career -- he pivoted his entire life. At just 25 years old, this Kingston-born DJ has already carved out a space...

Reggae artiste Jah Kettle says he was pleased with his recently concluded Canada tour and is now excited to release a new single, titled Nothing Gonna Take Your Love Away, done with fellow reggae act Ras Penco. "The fans were riveting and showed...

For many Jamaicans, the deceased are more than just loved ones who have passed on; they are cherished family members who deserve to look as presentable as they did in life. In a culture where the appearance of the deceased is paramount, morticians...

A growing number of motor vehicle crashes across Jamaica has been attributed to drivers operating the vehicles under the influence of marijuana, according to Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton. "The data is clear, we are seeing more people...

Twenty-eight-year-old labourer Michael Ennis, of Manning's Hill district in Manchester, has been charged with smoking ganja in a public place following an incident in May Pen, Clarendon on Monday.

Animals can sense the presence of microbes in their tissues and mobilize their own defenses by recognizing and responding to conserved microbial structures (often called microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs)). Successful host defenses may kill the invaders, yet the host animal may fail to restore homeostasis if the stimulatory microbial structures are not silenced. Although mice have many mechanisms for limiting their responses to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a major Gram-negative bacterial MAMP, a highly conserved host lipase is required to extinguish LPS sensing in tissues and restore homeostasis. We review recent progress in understanding how this enzyme, acyloxyacyl hydrolase (AOAH), transforms LPS from stimulus to inhibitor, reduces tissue injury and death from infection, prevents prolonged post-infection immunosuppression, and keeps stimulatory LPS from entering the bloodstream. We also discuss how AOAH may increase sensitivity to pulmonary allergens. Better appreciation of how host enzymes modify LPS and other MAMPs may help prevent tissue injury and hasten recovery from infection.

RNase J enzymes are metallohydrolases that are involved in RNA maturation and RNA recycling, govern gene expression in bacteria, and catalyze both exonuclease and endonuclease activity. The catalytic activity of RNase J is regulated by multiple mechanisms which include oligomerization, conformational changes to aid substrate recognition, and the metal cofactor at the active site. However, little is known of how RNase J paralogs differ in expression and activity. Here we describe structural and biochemical features of two Staphylococcus epidermidis RNase J paralogs, RNase J1 and RNase J2. RNase J1 is a homodimer with exonuclease activity aided by two metal cofactors at the active site. RNase J2, on the other hand, has endonuclease activity and one metal ion at the active site and is predominantly a monomer. We note that the expression levels of these enzymes vary across Staphylococcal strains. Together, these observations suggest that multiple interacting RNase J paralogs could provide a strategy for functional improvisation utilizing differences in intracellular concentration, quaternary structure, and distinct active site architecture despite overall structural similarity.

13 July 2020

16 July 2020

22 July 2020

14 September 2020

Peptidoglycan (PG) is an essential constituent of the bacterial cell wall. During cell division, the machinery responsible for PG synthesis localizes mid-cell, at the septum, under the control of a multiprotein complex called the divisome. In Escherichia coli, septal PG synthesis and cell constriction rely on the accumulation of FtsN at the division site. Interestingly, a short sequence of FtsN (Leu75–Gln93, known as EFtsN) was shown to be essential and sufficient for its functioning in vivo, but what exactly this sequence is doing remained unknown. Here, we show that EFtsN binds specifically to the major PG synthase PBP1b and is sufficient to stimulate its biosynthetic glycosyltransferase (GTase) activity. We also report the crystal structure of PBP1b in complex with EFtsN, which demonstrates that EFtsN binds at the junction between the GTase and UB2H domains of PBP1b. Interestingly, mutations to two residues (R141A/R397A) within the EFtsN-binding pocket reduced the activation of PBP1b by FtsN but not by the lipoprotein LpoB. This mutant was unable to rescue the ΔponB-ponAts strain, which lacks PBP1b and has a thermosensitive PBP1a, at nonpermissive temperature and induced a mild cell-chaining phenotype and cell lysis. Altogether, the results show that EFtsN interacts with PBP1b and that this interaction plays a role in the activation of its GTase activity by FtsN, which may contribute to the overall septal PG synthesis and regulation during cell division.

Towards just transition in Africa: Green financing for urban energy solutions and job creation 9 June 2022 — 7:30AM TO 11:00AM Anonymous (not verified) 18 May 2022 Nairobi and online

This event explores the major openings and potential impediments to the development of a just transition policy in Africa.

Global climate policies towards a ‘just transition’ under the Paris Agreement should also align with and support African states’ national sustainable development priorities. In particular, the need for decent and fair job creation and the establishment of sufficient, resilient and sustainable power supply, accessible to all, and efficient energy use.

Achieving green growth requires innovative and more accessible financing models, especially as wealthy nations’ financial pledges have fallen short. Ahead of the ‘African COP27’ set to take place in Egypt in November 2022, there is a need for transformational strategic thinking and context-specific action from African governments, civil society, businesses and financiers in their green financing demands and national implementation plans.

Sustainable urban energy solutions represent a critical zone of opportunity for the development of new and more reliable green finance pathways. Africa’s rapidly expanding cities present a significant economic opportunity and source of growth. However, urban centres are also where income and energy inequalities are at their starkest. The acceleration of sustainable energy generation and use could have a transformative impact on SMEs and livelihoods across value chains.

At this event, participants will discuss the major openings and potential impediments to the development of a credible ‘just transition’ policy in Africa towards net zero goals, with a particular focus on establishing and enhancing links between green financing innovation, employment creation, sustainable power supply and generation, and sustainable energy usage and consumption in an urban environment.

This event is held in partnership with the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA). It is part of a series on Towards Just Transition: Connecting Green Financing and Sustainable Job Creation in Africa, supported by the Chatham House Sustainability Accelerator.

This event will be held in English and French with simultaneous interpretation.

Towards just transition in Africa: Green financing for nature-based solutions and rural resilience 21 July 2022 — 9:30AM TO 1:00PM Anonymous (not verified) 30 June 2022 Libreville and online

This hybrid event in Libreville explores just transition policy and green financing for nature-based solutions, with a particular focus on the integration of job creation priorities in conservation and rural resilience.

Global climate policies towards a ‘just transition’ under the Paris Agreement should align with and support African states’ national sustainable development priorities – in particular, the need for decent and fair job creation, as well as resilient and sustainable land, environment, and ecosystem management policies.

Achieving green growth requires innovative and more accessible financing models, especially as wealthy nations’ financial pledges have fallen short. Ahead of the ‘African COP27’ set to take place in Egypt in November 2022, there is a need for transformational strategic thinking and context-specific action from African governments, civil society, businesses and financiers, in their green financing demands and national implementation plans.

Preservation of biodiversity and nature is not only critical in the global fight against climate change but is also vital for conservation-based economic development. Natural capital stocks, such as terrestrial and marine ecosystems and biodiversity, produce benefits that support societal and individual well-being and economic prosperity, such as clean air, fresh water, regulation of water flows and pollination of crops – while also acting as important carbon sinks. Financing environmental protection must go beyond compensation and contribute to creating fair social and economic conditions for incentivizing conservation.

At this hybrid event in Libreville, participants will discuss green financing for nature-based solutions, particularly the integration of plans for job creation in conservation and rural resilience within just transition planning.

This event is part of a series on Towards Just Transition: Connecting Green Financing and Sustainable Job Creation in Africa, supported by the Chatham House Sustainability Accelerator.

This event will be held in French and English with simultaneous interpretation.

This event will also be broadcast live on the Chatham House Africa Programme’s Facebook page.

Towards just transition in Africa: Continental coordination on green financing and job creation 6 October 2022 — 7:00AM TO 3:30PM Anonymous (not verified) 8 September 2022 Addis Ababa and online

At this hybrid conference in Addis Ababa, speakers take stock of preparations ahead of the ‘African COP27’ in November and discuss the key priorities for streamlining continental cooperation on policy approaches to just transition.

At this hybrid conference in Addis Ababa, speakers will take stock of policy efforts and preparations ahead of the ‘African COP27’ in November and discuss the key priorities for streamlining continental cooperation on policy approaches to just transition.

Global climate policies towards a ‘just transition’ under the Paris Agreement should align with and support African states’ national sustainable development priorities – in particular, the need for decent and fair job creation, as well as resilient and sustainable land, environment and ecosystem management policies.

They must also be cognizant of African nations’ urgent requirements for sustainable and accessible energy to underpin economic development. Achieving green growth requires innovative and more accessible financing models, especially as wealthy nations’ financial pledges have fallen short. It also requires clarity and cooperation to unlock investment in both renewable and transitional energy.

African countries face collective climate and employment-related challenges. However, policymaking often remains regionally siloed according to differing political, energy sector and ecological realities. There is a need for transformational strategic thinking and context-specific action from African governments, civil society, businesses and financiers, in their green financing demands and national implementation plans.

At this hybrid conference in Addis Ababa, speakers will take stock of policy efforts and preparations ahead of the ‘African COP27’ in November and discuss the key priorities for streamlining continental cooperation on policy approaches to just transition, job creation and green financing.

This event is the third in a series on Towards just transition: Connecting green financing and sustainable job creation in Africa, supported by the Chatham House Sustainability Accelerator.

Africa-Japan relations and evolving multilateralism 23 November 2022 — 9:00AM TO 10:30AM Anonymous (not verified) 17 November 2022 Online

This panel discussion reflects on the outcomes of TICAD 8 in 2022 and looks forward to TICAD 9 in 2025.

The eighth edition of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), held in Tunisia from 27–28 August 2022, marked the second time that Japan’s now-triennial summit was hosted in an African country, after TICAD 6 was held in Kenya in 2016.

The summit was attended by 48 representatives of African countries and at least 20 heads of state and government and included a pledge by the Japanese government to commit $30 billion in public and private finance to Africa over the next three years.

In reaffirming the three pillars of TICAD 8 – revolving around the economy, societal resilience, and peace and stability – the newly adopted Tunis Declaration (28 August 2022) also outlined some of the key projects underpinning Japan’s pledge, including a $4 billion fund for a Green Growth Initiative with Africa (GGA).

2023 will mark 30 years since the inception of TICAD in 1993 and ten years since the African Union (AU)’s adoption of its flagship Agenda 2063, on which the Tunis Declaration placed distinct emphasis.

This panel discussion reflects on the outcomes of TICAD 8 in 2022 and looks forward to TICAD 9 in 2025, exploring wider developments in summitry, Africa-Asia relations, and modes of multilateralism.

Questions explored include:

• How has international summitry evolved over the past three decades since the inception of TICAD in 1993, which represented the first periodic high-level summit engagement with Africa by a ‘non-traditional’ partner?
• Looking ahead to TICAD 9 in 2025, what are the priorities for enforcing the stated tenets of TICAD – ‘African ownership, international partnership, inclusivity and openness’ – in cooperation efforts?
• What lessons can be drawn from TICAD’s co-partnership approach (with the African Union Commission and others) – particularly given increasing calls for AU membership of the G20 and Prime Minister Kishida’s pledge at TICAD 8 to support a permanent African UNSC seat during its non-permanent membership in 2023–24? Beyond membership, what are the priorities for furthering agency?
• How are Africa-Asia relations evolving and diverging? How are Japan and other Asian countries perceived by different African countries?

This event is the third in the Chatham House – Japan House London webinar series (2022-2023). The series is held in partnership with Japan House London. You can watch previous webinars from the series here.

Towards just transition in Africa Interview Video NCapeling 23 December 2022

Highlighting key interventions from African policymakers, business leaders, researchers, and civil society voices on green financing and implementation plans.

African countries face collective climate and employment-related challenges. However, policymaking often remains regionally siloed according to differing political, energy sector, and ecological realities.

There is a need for transformational strategic thinking and context-specific action from African governments, civil society, businesses, and financiers, in their green financing demands and national implementation plans.

This video highlights key interventions from policymakers, business leaders, researchers, and civil society voices at a series of events hosted by the Chatham House Africa programme in Nairobi, Libreville, and Addis Ababa in the lead-up to COP27.

The events series, Towards just transition: Connecting green financing and sustainable job creation in Africa, was supported by the Chatham House Sustainability Accelerator and the United Nations Development Programme.

Africa Aware: Towards just transition in Africa Audio NCapeling 1 March 2023

African countries face collective climate and job creation-related challenges, yet policymaking often remains regionally siloed.

This podcast reflects on the key policy messages from the Africa programme’s series on Towards just transition: Connecting green financing and sustainable job creation in Africa.

African countries face collective climate and job creation-related challenges. Yet policymaking often remains regionally siloed according to differing political, energy sector and ecological realities.

This output is part of a stream of work supported by the Chatham House Sustainability Accelerator and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 

A critical juncture for Sudan’s democratic transition Expert comment LJefferson 28 March 2023

International pressure is essential to reach an agreement that establishes a credible civilian government.

The signing of the Framework Agreement (FA) on 5 December 2022 between Sudan’s military leaders and its leading pro-democracy parties is a major step to reversing the damage done by the disastrous military coup in October 2021.

The FA removes any formal role for the military in Sudan’s politics. A civilian head of state and prime minister will select the cabinet and chair the Defence and Security Council. The armed forces will be prohibited from non-military business activities and security sector reform will lead to a unified, professional and non-partisan national army. Elections are due to take place at the end of a two-year transitional period. 

Signatories included General Abdel Fatah Al Burhan, chair of the Sovereign Council and head of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti), his deputy and Commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and more than 40 civilian entities, including the Forces of Freedom and Change- Central Council (FFC-CC), a few other political parties, former armed movements, civil society organizations and professional associations. However, the agreement has faced criticism from the street for not being sufficiently radical, has been overshadowed at times by heightened tension between the two military leaders, and has seen sabotage attempts by supporters of the Bashir regime.

Building consensus on the Framework Agreement

The agreement meets most of the demands of the anti-coup camp, at least on paper. Yet doubts persist as to whether the military are genuine about handing over power, particularly among the neighbourhood-based resistance committees – the heart of the youth-led mobilization that forced the military to recognize the failure of their power grab. Peaceful protests against the coup have seen 125 killed and over 8,000 injured by government security forces. Many want to see Burhan and Hemedti held accountable.

Recognizing the need to expand popular support, FFC-CC leaders have been reaching out to other pro-democracy forces to build a united civilian front. They report increased buy-in from some resistance committees in the last few months, recognizing that street protests alone were not sufficient to overthrow the coup, and that engagement with the military is necessary to find a way out of the impasse.

The FA offers the only currently available path to embedding civilian politics in Sudan and has received active diplomatic support from UNITAMS, AU and IGAD (who form the Tripartite Mechanism), the Troika of the US, UK and Norway, alongside the EU, as well as Saudi Arabia and the UAE (who are members of ‘the Quad’ with the US and UK).

Broader public participation has also been developed through a series of conferences, facilitated by the Tripartite Mechanism, on five contentious issues – dismantling the old regime, the Juba Peace Agreement, Eastern Sudan, Transitional Justice and Security Sector Reform. Recommendations will be incorporated in a final political agreement. 

The political process has been overshadowed by increasingly visible tension between Burhan and Hemedti, seen in parallel foreign visits, conflicting public statements, and a heavy military presence in Khartoum. But concerns that SAF and the RSF were heading towards confrontation appear to have been assuaged thanks to international pressure and preliminary agreements reached between military and civilian signatories of the FA on security sector reform and integration. In a significant breakthrough, both sides have now agreed to draft the final agreement and transitional constitution, with the aim of forming a civilian government by 11 April.  

Potential spoilers and interests from Sudan’s regions

Progress has been made, but significant challenges remain, notably from supporters of the former Bashir regime in ‘the deep state’ and from Sudan’s historically marginalized peripheries. Old regime elements have been intensifying social media campaigns to derail the agreement and drive a wedge between the SAF and RSF, and have been accused of deliberately inciting instability in the peripheries to undermine the democratic transition. 

The Popular Defence Forces, established by the National Islamic Front in the 1990s, have been reactivated under different names in several parts of the country and there are reports of mobilization and recruitment of armed militias in Darfur. The recent public appearance of Ali Karti, the Secretary-General of the Islamic Movement, who has close relations with Islamists in SAF, has also caused renewed concern.

Two Darfuri armed movement leaders who signed the October 2020 Juba Peace Agreement (JPA) and are members of the current military-led government, have not signed the FA, allegedly due to concerns about their representation in the next government.

Despite intensive efforts to bring them on board, there is continuing disagreement over the inclusion of other members of ‘the Democratic Bloc’, a political alliance backed by Sudan’s influential neighbour Egypt, which is reportedly angry at being excluded from the Quad. The FFC-CC say that the door is open for the two Darfuri leaders and some other political parties, but they will not allow the agreement to be ‘diluted’ with political forces who intend to torpedo the transition, including by imposing a weak prime minister.

Both Burhan and Hemedti have courted support from the regions. Burhan used the 2020 SAF takeover of Al Fashaga in the contested eastern border region with Ethiopia to boost his national standing and secure backing from local tribal leaders; while Hemedti has sought to position himself as a champion of the peripheries, particularly in his Darfur heartlands, while simultaneously advancing his business interests.

Competition between them in building domestic powerbases, as well as alliances with neighbouring states, risks reigniting tensions, particularly given deep grievances and contrasting ambitions between and among Sudan’s diverse regional leaders and communities.

Yi-Han Lin
Dec 1, 2020; 19:2030-2046
Research

Ji Eun Kim
Dec 20, 2020; 0:RA120.002159v1-mcp.RA120.002159
Research

Qin Zhang
Nov 17, 2020; 0:RA120.002325v1-mcp.RA120.002325
Research

The heterotrimeric G proteins are known to have a variety of downstream effectors, but Gs was long thought to be specifically coupled to adenylyl cyclases. A new study indicates that activated Gs can also directly interact with a guanine nucleotide exchange factor for Rho family small GTPases, PDZ-RhoGEF. This novel interaction mediates activation of the small G protein Cdc42 by Gs-coupled GPCRs, inducing cytoskeletal rearrangements and formation of filopodia-like structures. Furthermore, overexpression of a minimal PDZ-RhoGEF fragment can down-regulate cAMP signaling, suggesting that this effector competes with canonical signaling. This first demonstration that the Gαs subfamily regulates activity of Rho GTPases extends our understanding of Gαs activity and establishes RhoGEF coupling as a universal Gα function.

Postoperative recurrence from microscopic residual disease must be prevented to cure intractable cancers, including pancreatic cancer. Key to this goal is the elimination of cancer stem cells (CSCs) endowed with tumor-initiating capacity and drug resistance. However, current therapeutic strategies capable of accomplishing this are insufficient. Using in vitro models of CSCs and in vivo models of tumor initiation in which CSCs give rise to xenograft tumors, we show that dexamethasone induces expression of MKP-1, a MAPK phosphatase, via glucocorticoid receptor activation, thereby inactivating JNK, which is required for self-renewal and tumor initiation by pancreatic CSCs as well as for their expression of survivin, an anti-apoptotic protein implicated in multidrug resistance. We also demonstrate that systemic administration of clinically relevant doses of dexamethasone together with gemcitabine prevents tumor formation by CSCs in a pancreatic cancer xenograft model. Our study thus provides preclinical evidence for the efficacy of dexamethasone as an adjuvant therapy to prevent postoperative recurrence in patients with pancreatic cancer.

In SAS Infrastructure for Risk Management, the message "ERROR: Could not move and link one or more files to..." occurs while running a job-flow instance if an orphaned folder exists in the persistent area.

Sepsis-induced acute kidney injury (S-AKI) is the most common complication in hospitalized and critically ill patients, highlighted by a rapid decline of kidney function occurring a few hours or days after sepsis onset. Systemic inflammation elicited by microbial infections is believed to lead to kidney damage under immunocompromised conditions. However, although AKI has been recognized as a disease with long-term sequelae, partly because of the associated higher risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD), the understanding of kidney pathophysiology at the molecular level and the global view of dynamic regulations in situ after S-AKI, including the transition to CKD, remains limited. Existing studies of S-AKI mainly focus on deriving sepsis biomarkers from body fluids. In the present study, we constructed a mid-severity septic murine model using cecal ligation and puncture (CLP), and examined the temporal changes to the kidney proteome and phosphoproteome at day 2 and day 7 after CLP surgery, corresponding to S-AKI and the transition to CKD, respectively, by employing an ultrafast and economical filter-based sample processing method combined with the label-free quantitation approach. Collectively, we identified 2,119 proteins and 2950 phosphosites through multi-proteomics analyses. Among them, we identified an array of highly promising candidate marker proteins indicative of disease onset and progression accompanied by immunoblot validations, and further denoted the pathways that are specifically responsive to S-AKI and its transition to CKD, which include regulation of cell metabolism regulation, oxidative stress, and energy consumption in the diseased kidneys. Our data can serve as an enriched resource for the identification of mechanisms and biomarkers for sepsis-induced kidney diseases.