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El artículo trata las dificultades enfrentadas por los refugiados de Chechenia, Rusia ubicados en el Cáucaso Norte. Según el Observatorio de Desplazamiento Interno (IDMC por sus siglas en inglés), muchos de estos desplazados, a pesar de ser ciudadanos de la Federación Rusa, no consiguen los documentos necesarios para ganar acceso a la ayuda social a que tienen derecho. Afirma el IDMC que los refugiados son víctimas de la discriminación. more...

The article discusses the situation facing internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Chechnya living outside the North Caucasus region of Russia. The loss of passports and documentation by IDPs due to conflict in their home territory is mentioned, noting that the government of the Russian Federation requires documentation in order to register individuals as forced migrants. Problems with housing due to shortages in funding and difficulties related to certification as forced migrants are mentioned. Ethnic discrimination against Chechen IDPs is also reported. more...

The article acknowledges Henry Hardy, editor of writer Isaiah Berlin and one of his literary trustees, for his permission to publish Berlin's letters and for his assistance in deciphering the handwriting of Berlin. more...

The article presents a summary of the author's personal narrative of writer Isaiah Berlin. The author describes his first encounter and friendship with Berlin. He also comments on such issues as liberalism, Marxism, freedom and the Russian tradition. more...

The rapidly growing production and usage of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) dramatically raises the number of harmful wastes. Consequently, the LIBs waste management processes, taking into account reliability, efficiency, and sustainability criteria, became a hot issue in the context of environmental protection as well as the scarcity of metal resources. In this paper, we propose for the first time a functional material—a magnetorheological fluid (MRF) from the LIBs-based liquid waste containing heavy metal ions. At first, the spent battery waste powder was treated with acid-leaching, where the post-treatment acid-leaching solution (ALS) contained heavy metal ions including cobalt. Then, ALS was used during wet co-precipitation to obtain cobalt-doped superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) and as an effect, the harmful liquid waste was purified from cobalt. The obtained nanoparticles were characterized with SEM, TEM, XPS, and magnetometry. Subsequently, superparamagnetic nanoparticles sized 15 nm average in diameter and magnetization saturation of about 91 emu g−1 doped with Co were used to prepare the MRF that increases the viscosity by about 300% in the presence of the 100 mT magnetic fields. We propose a facile and cost-effective way to utilize harmful ALS waste and use them in the preparation of superparamagnetic particles to be used in the magnetorheological fluid. This work describes for the first time the second life of the battery waste in the MRF and a facile way to remove the harmful ingredients from the solutions obtained after the acid leaching of LIBs as an effective end-of-life option for hydrometallurgical waste utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The ability to generate appropriate defense responses is crucial for the survival of an organism exposed to pathogenesis-inducing insults. However, the mechanisms that allow tissues and organs to cope with such stresses are poorly understood. Here we show that caspase-3-knockout mice or caspase inhibitor-treated mice were defective in activating the antiapoptotic Akt kinase in response to various chemical and environmental stresses causing sunburns, cardiomyopathy, or colitis. Defective Akt activation in caspase-3-knockout mice was accompanied by increased cell death and impaired survival in some cases. Mice homozygous for a mutation in RasGAP that prevents its cleavage by caspase-3 exhibited a similar defect in Akt activation, leading to increased apoptosis in stressed organs, marked deterioration of their physiological functions, and stronger disease development. Our results provide evidence for the relevance of caspase-3 as a stress intensity sensor that controls cell fate by either initiating a RasGAP cleavage-dependent cell resistance program or a cell suicide response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Abstract: A kernel of a directed graph is a set of vertices without edges between them, such that every other vertex has a directed edge to a vertex in the kernel. A digraph possessing a kernel is called solvable. Solvability of digraphs is equivalent to satisfiability of theories of propositional logic. Based on a new normal form for such theories, this equivalence relates finitely branching digraphs to propositional logic, and arbitrary digraphs to infinitary propositional logic. While the computational complexity of solvability differs between finite dags (trivial, since always solvable) and finite digraphs (NP-complete), this difference disappears in the infinite case. The existence of a kernel for a digraph is equivalent to the existence of a kernel for its lifting to an infinitely-branching dag, and we prove that solvability for recursive dags and digraphs is -complete. This implies that satisfiability for recursive theories in infinitary propositional logic is also -complete. We place several variants of the kernel problem in the axiomatic hierarchy and, in particular, prove as the main result that over , solvability of finitely branching dags is equivalent to Weak König’s Lemma. We then show that  proves solvability of trees and that solvability of forests requires at most a weak form of . Finally, a new equivalent of the full  is formulated using solvability of complete digraphs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier] more...

Executioner caspases induce the biochemical and cellular changes characteristic of apoptosis. Activation of caspases is therefore regarded as “the kiss of death” resulting in the cell’s demise. Recent reports indicate however that in some situations, caspase activation may induce other responses than apoptosis. These findings raise the question of how cells manage to counteract the killing activities of executioner caspases. Experiments performed in our laboratory have unraveled a mechanism that allows cells to survive in the presence of activated executioner caspases. This mechanism is based on the partial cleavage of RasGAP into an N-terminal fragment that activates the Ras–PI3K–Akt survival pathway. This protective pathway may be activated to allow cells to use executioner caspases for other purposes than inducing apoptosis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier] more...

Negative affective states affect quality of life for patients suffering from pain. These maladaptive emotional states can lead to involuntary opioid overdose and many neuropsychiatric comorbidities. Uncovering the mechanisms responsible for pain-induced negative affect is critical in addressing these comorbid outcomes. The nucleus accumbens (NAc) shell, which integrates the aversive and rewarding valence of stimuli, exhibits plastic adaptations in the presence of pain. In discrete regions of the NAc, activation of the kappa opioid receptor (KOR) decreases the reinforcing properties of rewards and induces aversive behaviors. Using complementary techniques, we report that in vivo recruitment of NAc shell dynorphin neurons, acting through KOR, is necessary and sufficient to drive pain-induced negative affect. Taken together, our results provide evidence that pain-induced adaptations in the kappa opioid system within the NAc shell represent a functional target for therapeutic intervention that could circumvent pain-induced affective disorders. • Pain recruits the dynorphin-kappa opioid receptor system in the nucleus accumbens • Inhibitory inputs onto dynorphin cells are reduced during inflammatory pain • Increase in dynorphin tone mediates inflammatory pain-induced negative affect Massaly et al. identify a pain-induced enhancement in the kappa opioid system within nucleus accumbens, which drives pain-associated negative emotional states. These results provide a functional substrate for therapies that would circumvent pain-induced affective disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Summary In vivo optogenetics provides unique, powerful capabilities in the dissection of neural circuits implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders. Conventional hardware for such studies, however, physically tethers the experimental animal to an external light source, limiting the range of possible experiments. Emerging wireless options offer important capabilities that avoid some of these limitations, but the current size, bulk, weight, and wireless area of coverage is often disadvantageous. Here, we present a simple but powerful setup based on wireless, near-field power transfer and miniaturized, thin, flexible optoelectronic implants, for complete optical control in a variety of behavioral paradigms. The devices combine subdermal magnetic coil antennas connected to microscale, injectable light-emitting diodes (LEDs), with the ability to operate at wavelengths ranging from UV to blue, green-yellow, and red. An external loop antenna allows robust, straightforward application in a multitude of behavioral apparatuses. The result is a readily mass-producible, user-friendly technology with broad potential for optogenetics applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...