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The current study utilized the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) data to investigate the relationship between sexual orientation and cognitive health of the aging population. Cognitive flexibility and verbal fluency were examined as outcome variables in the study. A total of 45,993 respondents were included in the analyses. Each model had social support or social participation as a mediator. A series of mediation analysis, stratified by gender, revealed that aging gay men performed better in cognitive tasks related to cognitive flexibility when compared to their heterosexual counterparts. The results also indicated that social support is a protective factor for cognitive health in aging lesbian women. This study provides an opportunity to consider how clinical and social services can strategize to build inclusive environments for the aging sexual minority population.

Cognitive Reserve (CR) refers to the preservation of cognitive function in the face of age- or disease-related neuroanatomical decline. While bilingualism has been shown to contribute to CR, the extent to which, and what particular aspect of, second language experience contributes to CR are debated, and the underlying neural mechanism(s) unknown. Intrinsic functional connectivity reflects experience-dependent neuroplasticity that occurs across timescales ranging from minutes to decades, and may be a neural mechanism underlying CR. To test this hypothesis, we used voxel-based morphometry and resting-state functional connectivity analyses of MRI data to compare structural and functional brain integrity between monolingual and bilingual older adults, matched on cognitive performance, and across levels of second language proficiency measured as a continuous variable. Bilingualism, and degree of second language proficiency specifically, were associated with lower gray matter integrity in a hub of the default mode network – a region that is particularly vulnerable to decline in aging and dementia – but preserved intrinsic functional network organization. Bilingualism moderated the association between neuroanatomical differences and cognitive decline, such that lower gray matter integrity was associated with lower executive function in monolinguals, but not bilinguals. Intrinsic functional network integrity predicted executive function when controlling for group differences in gray matter integrity and language status. Our findings confirm that lifelong bilingualism is a CR factor, as bilingual older adults performed just as well as their monolingual peers on tasks of executive function, despite showing signs of more advanced neuroanatomical aging, and that this is a consequence of preserved intrinsic functional network organization.

We have generated an induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) line KCLi002-A (iOP107) from a female donor, heterozygous for the loss-of-function mutation p.R2447X in the filaggrin gene (FLG). Epidermal keratinocytes were reprogrammed using non-integrating Sendai virus vectors. The entire process of derivation and expansion of iPSCs were performed under xeno-free culture conditions. Characterization of KCLi002-A line included molecular karyotyping, mutation screening using restriction enzyme digestion Sanger sequencing and next generation sequencing (NGS), whereas pluripotency and differentiation potential were confirmed by expression of associated markers in vitro and in vivo teratoma assay.

Citizens and companies globalize: they are increasingly making use of their rights to free movement, to free settlement, to offer services and goods, to realize financial transactions, etc. Enforcement systems, including the criminal justice system, have to follow suit. They are obliged to go abroad to gather evidence, for the detention and extradition or surrender of suspects, to confiscate assets, to deal with conflicts of jurisdiction and the choice of allocating a criminal investigation and adjudication. Globalizing criminal justice systems increases the risk of double prosecution and/or double punishment. Do (legal) persons have the (fundamental) right not to be prosecuted or punished twice for the same facts in a globalizing and integrating world. Are they protected against these forms of double jeopardy in settings of transnational criminal justice, such as for instance in the EU area of freedom, security and justice? Does the ne bis in idem principle have a transnational reach? If so, what does this mean and what are the obstacles and exceptions thereto? In posing these questions, this article asks whether a (legal) person can derive a right to transnational protection in the area of freedom, security and justice from the different sources of ne bis in idem obligations in domestic law, in public international law (human rights law and mutual legal assistance) and in EU law. By analysing these sources and the case law thereon, I come to the conclusion that (legal) persons are unprotected against transnational double jeopardy, with the exception of the transnational ne bis in idem in the EU area of freedom, security and justice. However, even in the case of the latter exceptions, derogations, reservations and draw back interpretations based on national sovereignty undermine the rationale and scope of a real transnational ne bis in idem principle in a common space of transnational criminal justice.

Le but du rapport général est de mener une analyse comparative des rapports nationaux en vue de présenter les processus de transformation des systèmes de justice pénale internes, en particulier du procès pénal, étant donné que des mesures procédurales spéciales sont introduites pour appréhender le terrorisme et la criminalité organisée, et de voir si cela a conduit les pays à se départir de leur propres règles fondamentales, procédures, principes et standards des droits de l’homme applicables. Partant de la prémisse qu’un système intégré de droit pénal a trois dimensions – la protection des individus (la dimension de bouclier), la mise à disposition d’instruments d’application de la loi (la dimension d’épée) et les contrôles et équilibres c’est-à-dire la séparation des pouvoirs (la dimension constitutionnelle) – le rapport fournit un aperçu d’ensemble des transformations corrélées, surtout dans la procédure d’enquête préliminaire, qui les ont affectées toutes les trois dans trois vagues de « guerre » (contre la drogue, le crime organisé et le terrorisme). Dans beaucoup de pays, les garanties procédurales et les principes qui protègent contre la violation du droit à un procès équitable sont considérés comme un fardeau du point de vue de l’efficacité de l’application de la loi à la criminalité grave. Ces réformes se sont traduites par une claire extension de l’état répressif et un estompement des distinctions classiques, et ne favorisent pas la primauté du droit. La focalisation sur la sécurité publique et les investigations contraignantes préventives sapent le système de justice pénale. Avec l’usage croissant du système de justice criminelle comme instrument de régulation du présent et/ou de l’avenir plutôt que de sanction d’un comportement passé, et un procès pénal dans lequel l’enquête préliminaire ne concerne pas la recherche de la vérité relative au crime commis mais concerne la construction et la déconstruction de la dangerosité sociale, on peut dire que les intérêts de la sécurité nationale prévalent sur la justice et menacent le procès équitable et la protection des droits de l’homme – malgré que les principes généraux de procédure pénale semblent être devenus plus importants dans les pays pour lesquels on dispose d’un rapport, même quand il s’agit de criminalité organisée et de terrorisme, et sont considérés comme conformes aux standards constitutionnels et des droits de l’homme.

El objetivo del informe general es realizar un análisis comparativo de los informes nacionales para evidenciar los procesos de transformación de los sistemas nacionales de justicia penal, en particular del proceso penal, en el que se han introducido medidas procesales especiales para hacer frente al terrorismo y al crimen organizado, y determinar si esto ha llevado a los países a apartarse de sus propias normas fundamentales, procedimientos, principios y estándares de derechos humanos aplicables. Partiendo de la premisa de que el sistema integrado de derecho penal tiene tres dimensiones – la protección de las personas (la dimensión de escudo), la disposición de instrumentos de aplicación de la ley (la dimensión de la espada) y de pesos y contrapesos / trias politica (la dimensión constitucional) – el informe ofrece un panorama general de las transformaciones relacionadas entre sí, principalmente en la fase previa al juicio, que han afectado a tales dimensiones como consecuencia de tres oleadas de ‘guerras’ (contra las drogas, el crimen organizado y el terrorismo). En muchos países, las garantías procesales y los principios que protegen frente a violaciones del derecho a un juicio justo son considerados una carga para la eficacia de la persecución de los delitos graves. Estas reformas han dado lugar a una clara expansión del estado punitivo y a que queden difuminadas las distinciones clásicas, y no favorecen al estado de derecho. El actuar centrado en la seguridad pública y en la investigación coactiva preventiva socava el sistema de justicia penal. Con un sistema de justicia penal utilizado crecientemente como instrumento para regular el presente y/o el futuro en lugar de para castigar el comportamiento pasado, y un proceso penal en el que la investigación previa al juicio no se dirige a conocer la verdad en relación con el delito cometido, sino a la construcción y de-construcción de la peligrosidad social, los intereses de la seguridad nacional puede decirse que prevalecen sobre la justicia y pueden constituir una amenaza para el debido proceso y la protección de los derechos humanos – a pesar de que los principios generales del procedimiento penal parecen haber adquirido mayor importancia en los países que presentaron informes, también cuando se trata del crimen organizado y el terrorismo, y están diseñados para ajustarse a la Constitución y las normas de derechos humanos.

The aim of the general report is to conduct a comparative analysis of the national reports in order to trace transformation processes in domestic criminal justice systems, in particular criminal process, as special procedural measures are introduced to deal with terrorism and organised crime, and to map whether this has led countries to depart from their own fundamental rules, procedures, principles and applicable human rights standards. Starting from the premise that the integrated system of criminal law has three dimensions – the protection of individuals (the shield dimension), the provision of instruments of law enforcement (the sword dimension), and of checks and balances/trias politica (the constitutional dimension) – the report provides a comprehensive overview of interrelated transformations, mostly in the pre-trial setting, that have affected all three in three waves of ‘war’ (on drugs, organised crime and terrorism). In many countries, procedural guarantees and principles that protect against the infringement of fair trial rights are considered a burden to the efficiency of serious crime enforcement. These reforms have resulted in a clear expansion of the punitive state and a blurring of classic distinctions, and do not favour the rule of law. The focus on public security and preventive coercive investigation undermines the criminal justice system. With the criminal justice system increasingly used as an instrument to regulate the present and/or the future rather than to punish past behaviour, and a criminal process in which pre-trial investigation is not about truth-finding related to committed crime, but about the construction and de-construction of social dangerousness, the interests of national security may be said to be prevailing over justice and to be threatening due process and the protection of human rights – notwithstanding that general principles of criminal procedure seem to have become more important in the reporting countries, also where organized crime and terrorism are concerned, and are designed to conform with constitutional and human rights standards.

The preservation of tardigrade eggs and exuviae in Antarctic lake sediments provided an opportunity to assess post-glacial colonisation and Holocene tardigrade dynamics on the southern continent. Tardigrade eggs were recovered from five lakes, two from the maritime Antarctic and three from continental Antarctica. Eggs were identified from the following species: Dactylobiotus cf. ambiguus, Macrobiotus furciger, Macrobiotus blocki, Minibiotus weinerorum and Acutuncus antarcticus. Other, unornamented eggs were also observed. The preservation of some of these eggs in exuviae allowed identification to at least genus. Significant variations were observed in egg abundance within the sediment of each lake, and in one lake a species (Dactylobiotus cf. ambiguus) became locally extinct, probably as the result of penguin-associated eutrophication. Tardigrades generally did not become abundant for a considerable period after the lakes’ formation. The presence of an in-part endemic fauna is consistent with slow colonisation from Antarctic sources rather than wind transport from extra-continental sites. Tardigrade eggs appear to be abundant in high-latitude lake sediments, and greater use could be made of these records when evaluating tardigrade dynamics during the Holocene.

The deepening and widening of European integration has led to an increase in transborder crime. Concurrent prosecution and sanctioning by several Member States is not only a problem in inter-state relations and an obstacle in the European integration process, but also a violation of the ne bis in idem principle, defined as a transnational human right in a common judicial area. This article analyzes whether and to what extent the ECHR has contributed and may continue to contribute to the development of such a common ne bis in idem standard in Europe. It is also examined whether the application of the ne bis in idem principle in classic inter-state judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the framework of the Council of Europe may make such a contribution as well. The transnational function of the ne bis in idem principle is discussed in the light of the Court of Justice’s case law on ne bis in idem in the framework of the area of Freedom, Security and Justice. Finally the inherent tension between mutual recognition and the protection of human rights in transnational justice is analyzed by looking at the insertion of the ne bis in idem principle in the Framework Decision on the European arrest warrant.

TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTERNATIONAL BANKRUPTCY THEORY II. LOCAL INTERESTS: DEFINING THE PROBLEM A. Introduction B. The Interests of Local Creditors 1. Content-Neutral Interests: Asset Coverage Ratio ("ACR") 2. Content-Based [...]

Abstract: We profiled five ice-covered lakes and two ice-covered fiords of Ellesmere Island at the northern limit of High Arctic Canada to examine their environmental characteristics, and to evaluate the [...]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2005.08.001 Byline: Charles F. Phleger (a)(b), Matthew M. Nelson (c), Ami K. Groce (d), S. Craig Cary (e), Kathryn Coyne (e), John A.E. Gibson (f), Peter D. Nichols (f) Keywords: Alvinella; Fatty acid; Hydrothermal vent; Lipid; Polychaete; Sterol Abstract: The lipid composition was determined for 5 species of polychaete annelids collected by the Deep Submergence Vehicle ALVIN from high temperature chimneys at the 2500m depth hydrothermal vent field of the East Pacific Rise. These are the first lipid biomarker analyses reported for these hydrothermal vent polychaetes. Lipid content was low in all samples (1.6-35.9mgg.sup.-1 wet mass) and was dominated by polar lipid (78-90% of total lipid) with 8-19% sterol (ST), and very low storage lipid (triacylglycerol and wax ester). Total polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) were moderately high (22-31% of total fatty acids (FA)) with extremely low or no docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6(n-3)). Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5(n-3)) levels were 5-6% in Alvinella pompejana and A. caudata and 10.3-13.7% in an errantiate polychaete (likely Hesionidae) and Hesiolyra bergii. There were greater PUFA and a greater EPA/AA (AA is arachidonic acid, 20:4(n-6)) ratio in the anterior versus the posterior half of A. pompejana, which may correlate to the strong temperature gradient reported in its tube. Total nonmethylene interrupted diunsaturated fatty acids (NMID) were 4-9% of total FA for most polychaete species and included several 20:2 and 22:2 components. The principal monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) included 18:1(n-7)c (14-19%), 16:1(n-7)c (2.6-10%) and 20:1(n-11)c (3-7% of total FA). These polychaete species may desaturate and elongate the bacterial-derived 18:1(n-7)c to obtain the essential FA EPA and AA. The major ST in the polychaetes is cholesterol (89-98% of total ST) with less cholesterol in the gut contents of A. pompejana. Other ST included 24-ethylcholesterol (1.5-5% of total ST) with lesser amounts of 24-methylenecholesterol, desmosterol, lathosterol, 24-methylcholesterol, 24-ethylcholesterol, and the stanols dehydrocholestanol and cholestanol. The high ST levels could play a role in thermal adaptation of membranes at the hydrothermal vent environment. Differences in the FA profiles separated the closely related species A. pompejana and A. caudata from Paralvinella grasslei, H. bergii, and the errantiate polychaete (likely Hesionidae). Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182, USA (b) Antarctic and Climate Ecosystems CRC, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia (c) Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies & Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0371, USA (d) City of San Diego, Metropolitan Wastewater Department, Environmental and Technical Services Division, San Diego, CA 92101, USA (e) Center for Marine Genomics, University of Delaware Graduate College of Marine Studies, Lewes, DE 19958, USA (f) CSIRO Marine Research, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia Article History: Received 16 August 2004; Revised 16 May 2005; Accepted 5 August 2005

Thick ice cover is a feature of cold-temperate, polar, and alpine lakes and rivers throughout much of the year. Our observations from Canadian lakes and rivers across the latitudinal gradient 46-80[degrees]N show that their overlying ice contains low concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) relative to the underlying waters. The CDOM exclusion factor (water/ice) ranged from 1.4 to 114 and was typically greater than twice the exclusion factor for inorganic solutes. Application of synchronous fluorescence analysis to lake ice samples and experimentally frozen lakewater indicated that only less complex, lower molecular weight molecules were retained within the ice. Consistent with this analysis, DOC-specific absorption showed that the DOC in the ice was generally less colored than that in the underlying waters. The reduced CDOM absorption within the ice allowed relatively high ultraviolet (UV) transmission despite the elevated scattering within the ice and resulted in UV diffuse attenuation coefficients up to eight times lower in the ice than in the underlying waters. This relatively low attenuation by the ice would cause organisms trapped near the surface by inverse stratification to experience high UV exposure prior to ice breakup. The ice exclusion effect gives rise to a concentrated zone of CDOM and DOC that is likely to favor heterotrophic and mixotrophic processes and influence biogeochemical interactions.

(Received 20 November 1998; accepted in revised form 7 July 1999) ABSTRACT. Reports of severe stratospheric ozone depletion over the Arctic have heightened concern about the potential impact of rising [...]

Organic matter collected in sediment traps at a nearshore marine site in Prydz Bay, East Antarctica, displayed a pronounced seasonal variation in carbon isotopes (expressed as [Delta](13)[C.sub.OM]). Winter values were fairly constant near-20[per thousand] before increasing to above -15[per thousand] in response to inputs from sea-ice algae in early spring. Particulate organic matter obtained directly from sea-ice cores exhibited very high [Delta](13)[C.sub.OM] values, typically -15[per thousand] but as much as -8[per thousand], much above the values of organic matter suspended in the water column below the sea ice. The sea-ice algae contributed [approximately]20% of the annual flux of organic matter, and the [Delta](13)[C.sub.OM] measurements from a sediment core at the site suggest that this value is representative of the recent past. All of these carbon isotopic compositions are considerably above the extremely [Delta](13)C-depleted compositions (generally -25[per thousand] to -30[per thousand]) that have been found in many other Antarctic and Southern Ocean studies. The elevated [Delta](13)[C.sub.OM] values derive from considerable depletion of dissolved carbon dioxide and nutrients within the sea ice and to a lesser extent within stratified surface waters induced by melting sea ice. Thus, elevated [Delta](13)[C.sub.OM] values in Southern Ocean sediment cores may indicate the presence of sea-ice-hosted algae, rather than temperature or surface C[O.sub.2] pressure (pC[O.sub.2]) variations.

Objective: Structural neuroimaging findings in younger and older adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) are highly heterogeneous, possibly as a result of methodological limitations, lack of distinction between MDD and late-life depression (LLD), or clinical moderators. Using a novel meta-analytic network mapping approach, the authors sought to identify the circuits affected in different clinical subtypes of MDD.Methods: The authors identified all voxel-based and surface-based morphometry studies published through October 2020 that compared younger adults with MDD or older adults with LLD to nonpsychiatric control participants. An activation likelihood estimation (ALE) analysis and a novel coordinate-based network mapping approach were used to identify brain circuits affected in MDD and LLD. Meta-regressions examined the impact of age at onset in older patients with LLD and treatment with antidepressants in younger patients with MDD.Results: The authors analyzed 145 comparisons from 143 articles, including a total of 14,318 participants (MDD: N=6,362; LLD: N=535; control subjects: N=7,421). Significant ALE results confirmed previous findings implicating the left and right parahippocampus and anterior cingulate in MDD and the anterior cingulate in LLD. In contrast, coordinate-based network mapping showed differences in the frontoparietal, dorsal attention, and visual networks both in MDD and LLD. Meta-regressions showed that late onset was significantly associated with widespread structural abnormalities in LLD, and treatment with antidepressants showed a significant association with abnormalities in the anterior cingulate (Brodmann's area 32) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann's area 9) in MDD.Conclusions: These findings help to clarify the shared circuitry of depression across the adult lifespan and highlight some unique circuitry relevant to late-onset depression, which may explain some of the risk for cognitive decline and dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]