Search

HIGHLIGHTSHow countries’ nationally determined contributions (NDCs) are implemented and improved upon over time will determine whether the long-term temperature goal of the Paris Agreement is achieved.Each country will prepare for and implement its NDC in different ways, based on the nature of its NDC, how the NDC was first developed, and its national circumstances.Nevertheless, this report identifies some common features of the NDC implementation process:• Preparing for NDC implementation—which may result in the preparation of an NDC implementation plan—includes several key steps, such as aligning NDC implementation and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG); taking stock of the NDC; reviewing the analysis underpinning the NDC; prioritizing policies and measures; assessing capacities, institutions, and regulatory frameworks required for NDC implementation; and engaging stakeholders.• Preparing for NDC implementation will also require costing of implementation options, formulating strategies to finance NDCs, and scaling up climate finance in a more integrated and sustainable way.• Central to NDC implementation is monitoring and reporting of NDC progress and achievement, which can inform any adjustments to implementation plans. Lastly, and of critical importance, successful NDC implementation can help countries prepare for their next NDC submission and increase ambition to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goals.

A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education, University of Regina. xi, 238 p. My dissertation engages the familiar trope that when the full development of the human personality is directed toward the autonomous individual, a form of neo-colonialism emerges that pathologizes students who come from families or cultures that do not practice the autonomous individual as full development of the person. I show 1) that obligatory education and autonomous individualism are strongly coupled, and related 2) that despite stated intentions otherwise, many of the practices of obligatory education tend to exacerbate rather than ameliorate for problems like compulsive consumerism and neo-colonialism. My overall concern is to show that there are ways for educators to take up “the full development of the human personality” (UDHR, 1948, 26.2a) without entailing autonomous individualism. I do this by elaborating a practice approach to organization and development of the person and persons in light of the twenty-first century re-turn to practice. The practice perspective regards practices as the keystone to the formation of social structures and persons. In working with practice, I both commend a practice approach to development of the student and take a practice approach to reading existing theoretical research projects. My dissertation is a conceptual and descriptive piece that works with three peripheral research projects in organizational studies, sociology, and psychology. While the primary concern is to re-frame what it is for educators to contribute to the development of the person, my dissertation illuminates research and shows connections that are not commonly found in North American educational discourse. This involves ii taking up Gherardi’s ecologies of practices approach in order to explore the developing person in two different environments: the primal attachment relationship and as student in obligatory education. For the latter, I draw on Meyer’s neo-institutional research. In so doing, I rehearse a history of obligatory education and its association with the autonomous individual. To explore the primal attachment relationship, I review Sroufe’s organizational perspective on the development of the person, showing that such a perspective should be considered as a theory of practice. As such, it could fill a gap in social theories of practice that under-theorize the person. Combining psychosocial and sociomaterial approaches to organization and development, I argue that educating for the full development of the person includes identifying and training students in skills that give people the capacity to enact agency. Such skills are predicated on practices associated with secure attachment and not on repudiation of family and culture of origin. Taking such an approach means that teachers and educational experts learn to practice a poetic science that is always situated, accountable, and responsible. Educators who follow such a science will help students to perform and persist as they learn to navigate and negotiate between multiple levels of responsibility: to oneself, to one’s family and community of origin, to one’s fellow learners, to the environment, and to general human flourishing. Student yes

Objective Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a heterogeneous autoimmune disease with significant immune system aberrations resulting from complex heritable genetics as well as environmental factors. We undertook to study the role of TRAF6 as a candidate gene for SLE, since it plays a major role in several signaling pathways that are important for immunity and organ development. Methods Fifteen single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across TRAF6 were evaluated in 7,490 SLE patients and 6,780 control subjects from different ancestries. Population-based case-control association analyses and meta-analyses were performed. P values, false discovery rate q values, and odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated. Results Evidence of associations was detected in multiple SNPs. The best overall P values were obtained for SNPs rs5030437 and rs4755453 (P = 7.85 × 10 -5 and P = 4.73 × 10 -5, respectively) without significant heterogeneity among populations (P = 0.67 and P = 0.50, respectively, in Q statistic). In addition, SNP rs540386, which was previously reported to be associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), was found to be in linkage disequilibrium with these 2 SNPs (r 2 = 0.95) and demonstrated evidence of association with SLE in the same direction (meta-analysis P = 9.15 × 10 -4, OR 0.89 [95% CI 0.83-0.95]). The presence of thrombocytopenia improved the overall results in different populations (meta-analysis P = 1.99 × 10 -6, OR 0.57 [95% CI 0.45-0.72], for rs5030470). Finally, evidence of family-based association in 34 African American pedigrees with the presence of thrombocytopenia was detected in 1 available SNP (rs5030437) with a Z score magnitude of 2.28 (P = 0.02) under a dominant model. Conclusion Our data indicate the presence of association of TRAF6 with SLE, consistent with the previous report of association with RA. These data provide further support for the involvement of TRAF6 in the pathogenesis of autoimmunity. Copyright © 2012 by the American College of Rheumatology.

Aim In this paper, we explore the relationship between pollen concentration in surface soil and extant perennial vegetation across a rapidly urbanizing arid ecosystem along with its surrounding agricultural and native Sonoran Desert land. We also investigate whether taxa behave as expected from known pollination characteristics (e.g. anemophilous vs. zoophilous) and whether the pollen–plant relationship differs between the undeveloped desert and agro-urban regions. Location We used a probability-based sampling scheme at 200, 900-m2 sites across the Central Arizona–Phoenix region, a 6400-km2 area of the south-western USA. Methods Pollen–plant abundances were mapped across the study area using interpolation techniques, summary bar charts and scatterplots, then two statistical approaches were applied to examine the data quantitatively. Firstly, we used regression analysis of paired pollen concentration and plant cover data; secondly, pc-ord was used on a cross-matrix (contingency table) containing the presence/absence scores of both pollen and plants for each taxon at each site. Results Mapping and quantitative analysis revealed that pollen–plant relationships do vary both between anemophilous and zoophilous groupings and by individual taxon. They also revealed that distribution patterns of both pollen and plant abundance vary consistently across the three main landscape types (desert, urban, agricultural) and that pollen taxa groupings are consistent with pollination method and source plant distribution regardless of landscape type. Main conclusions These findings provide a broad range of comparative data to facilitate palynological reconstruction of past vegetation and aid in assessing types of prehistoric impacts on this vegetation. They also document that significant variation can occur in pollen rain across a city, even for taxa with widely distributed pollen, leading to the conclusion that forecasting pollen distribution patterns for allergy-related pollen types using only one or a few pollen traps is likely to entail substantial error.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease characterized by autoantibody production and altered type I interferon expression. Genetic surveys and genome-wide association studies have identified30 SLE susceptibility genes. One of these genes, TNIP1, encodes the ABIN1 protein. ABIN1 functions in the immune system by restricting NF-κB signaling. The present study was undertaken to investigate the genetic factors that influence association with SLE in genes that regulate the NF-κB pathway.We analyzed a dense set of genetic markers spanning TNIP1 and TAX1BP1, as well as the TNIP1 homolog TNIP2, in case-control populations of diverse ethnic origins. TNIP1, TNIP2, and TAX1BP1 were fine-mapped in a total of 8,372 SLE cases and 7,492 healthy controls from European-ancestry, African American, Hispanic, East Asian, and African American Gullah populations. Levels of TNIP1 messenger RNA (mRNA) and ABIN1 protein in Epstein-Barr virus-transformed human B cell lines were analyzed by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting, respectively.We found significant associations between SLE and genetic variants within TNIP1, but not in TNIP2 or TAX1BP1. After resequencing and imputation, we identified 2 independent risk haplotypes within TNIP1 in individuals of European ancestry that were also present in African American and Hispanic populations. Levels of TNIP1 mRNA and ABIN1 protein were reduced among subjects with these haplotypes, suggesting that they harbor hypomorphic functional variants that influence susceptibility to SLE by restricting ABIN1 expression.Our results confirm the association signals between SLE and TNIP1 variants in multiple populations and provide new insight into the mechanism by which TNIP1 variants may contribute to SLE pathogenesis.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic heterogeneous autoimmune disorder characterized by the loss of tolerance to self-antigens and dysregulated interferon responses. The etiology of SLE is complex, involving both heritable and environmental factors. Candidate-gene studies and genome-wide association (GWA) scans have been successful in identifying new loci that contribute to disease susceptibility; however, much of the heritable risk has yet to be identified. In this study, we sought to replicate 1,580 variants showing suggestive association with SLE in a previously published GWA scan of European Americans; we tested a multiethnic population consisting of 7,998 SLE cases and 7,492 controls of European, African American, Asian, Hispanic, Gullah, and Amerindian ancestry to find association with the disease. Several genes relevant to immunological pathways showed association with SLE. Three loci exceeded the genome-wide significance threshold: interferon regulatory factor 8 (IRF8; rs11644034; p meta-Euro = 2.08 × 10 -10), transmembrane protein 39A (TMEM39A; rs1132200; p meta-all = 8.62 × 10 -9), and 17q21 (rs1453560; p meta-all = 3.48 × 10 -10) between IKAROS family of zinc finger 3 (AIOLOS; IKZF3) and zona pellucida binding protein 2 (ZPBP2). Fine mapping, resequencing, imputation, and haplotype analysis of IRF8 indicated that three independent effects tagged by rs8046526, rs450443, and rs4843869, respectively, were required for risk in individuals of European ancestry. Eleven additional replicated effects (5 × 10 -8 < p meta-Euro < 9.99 × 10 -5) were observed with CFHR1, CADM2, LOC730109/IL12A, LPP, LOC63920, SLU7, ADAMTSL1, C10orf64, OR8D4, FAM19A2, and STXBP6. The results of this study increase the number of confirmed SLE risk loci and identify others warranting further investigation. © 2012 The American Society of Human Genetics.

This report assesses capacity building activities of multilateral organisations as well as individual Annex I countries in selected Least Developed Countries (LDC) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In the context of the ongoing research project “Integrating Africa’s Least Developed Countries into the Global Carbon Market”, commissioned by the German Environment Ministry (BMU), it represents an interim step: it paints the picture of an overall donor activities map of the region, while an in-depth evaluation of the specific situation as regards local capacities and concrete capacity building needs is part of the subsequent work packages. These are going to focus on two different countries, thus making it possible to assess and to evaluate the local climate policy and the state of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) infrastructure in detail and on the ground. Therefore, the following provides for a broad overview of support activities funded by developed countries in the study region. This comprises both country-specific programmes as well as activities addressing regional aspects. This is followed by a short glance at the overall capacity building needs of sub-Saharan LDCs, complemented by an analysis of the capacity situation and the support needs in selected countries based on expert judgment. Conclusions on lessons learnt for future support activities of Annex I donors complete this report. In an annex, a summary of all donor activities is presented, which is complemented by an even more detailed Excel-sheet with the underlying raw data.

Contact lens comfort has been the focus of many clinical studies and review articles.1–6 This is not surprising as it is estimated that, while there are 3.5 million new contact lens wearers each year, approximately two to three million established lens wearers drop out of contact lens wear. Dryness and discomfort are cited as key reasons.7,8 For those who remain in contact lenses, ocular dryness continues to be a significant complaint, with up to four out of five lens wearers affected,3 and one in four contact lens wearers finding that it adversely affects their wearing time.9 Comfort in successful contact lens wearers should not be taken for granted.9 A patient who wears their lenses on a full-time basis over a certain wearing period is commonly considered to be a successful lens wearer. Comfort is a dependent variable and therefore subject to fluctuations during contact lens wear. Patient-specific factors as well as external factors can influence subjective comfort to varying degrees, even in successful full-time contact lens wearers.9 Most commonly, successful contact lens wearers experience a decrease in comfort towards the end of the day.2,10 While it may or may not be enough to reduce wearing time, this decrease in comfort is undesirable nonetheless. Maintaining and optimizing lens-wearing comfort for successful contact lens wearers is crucial to minimize contact lens dropout, and is the focus of the current study.5 Contact lens practitioners have an important role in supporting and maintaining the success of their contact lens wearers. This can be particularly difficult when patients do not voice complaints during their annual exams. Effective questioning at contact lens visits can elucidate otherwise unrecognized issues and generate possible opportunities for improvement in patient comfort. Similarly, a solid understanding of a patient’s medical history, environment and lifestyle are valuable tools for predicting and managing a patient’s ongoing success. In addition, thoughtful choice of a contact lens and its partner solution contribute to contact lens-wearing success. Advances in contact lens material technology, providing greater flexibility in lens wear schedules and improved health benefits, allow practitioners to choose lenses ideally suited to a patient’s individual requirements. These new materials have demonstrated tangible improvements in patient comfort, as well as in a patient’s overall satisfaction.11–16 While the optimal choice of contact lens is directly related to a patient’s satisfaction, it is very important to consider the synergistic relationship between contact lens and lens care solution. Multipurpose solutions comprise different formulations that may provide additional benefits, extending contact lens-wearing success.17 In this investigation into lens-wearing comfort, two polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB) (0.0001%)-preserved lens care solutions, Complete® Multi-Purpose Solution (MPS) Easy Rub® (AMO, Santa Ana, CA, USA) and ReNu MultiPlus® MPS (Bausch & Lomb, Rochester, NY, USA), were compared with a third solution, OPTI-FREE® RepleniSH® Multi-Purpose Disinfecting Solution (MPDS; Alcon Laboratories Inc, Fort Worth, TX, USA), preserved with Polyquaternium-1 (POLYQUAD®) and myristamidopropyl dimethylamine (ALDOX®) 0.0005%. PHMB is a broadspectrum cationic antimicrobial agent. It electrostatically binds to (and in turn destroys) the cytoplasmic membranes of microbes, disrupting metabolic activity and resulting in irreversible loss of intracellular components.18 POLYQUAD® is a quaternary ammonium compound. An antimicrobial agent with attenuated toxicity, it reduces the surface tension at interfaces and denatures microbial cell wall proteins, causing microbial cell death.18 ALDOX®, a cationic amidoamine, is an antifungal/anti-amoebic that works in synergy with POLYQUAD® in OPTI-FREE® RepleniSH® MPDS to meet the highest standard of ISO and FDA criteria for the disinfection of bacteria and fungi.19 Additionally, OPTI-FREE® RepleniSH® MPDS contains a TearGlyde® reconditioning system, incorporating Tetronic 1304 and C9-ED3A (nonanoyl ethylenediaminetriacetic acid). The components are attracted to the surface and matrix of silicone hydrogel and traditional hydrogel lenses and form a network to maintain a thin layer of moisture on the lens surface throughout the day. OPTI-FREE® RepleniSH® MPDS has been shown to increase contact lens comfort in the most common hydrogel material among those who experience discomfort20 and maintain a low wetting angle after 14 hours of lens wear as demonstrated in ex vivo clinical studies.21 OPTI-FREE® RepleniSH® MPDS is a new generation contact lens solution formulated to provide benefits in the key areas of lens wettability,22–25 lens cleaning,19,26 and biocompatible disinfection.27 In addition, it has demonstrated clinical biocompatibility with both traditional hydrogel and silicone hydrogel lens materials.25,26 The current study investigates the patient benefit of transitioning successful full-time, daily wear, soft contact lens wearers currently using competitive older-generation multipurpose solutions to OPTI-FREE® RepleniSH® MPDS.