37 research outputs found
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Lymph heart in chick - somitic origin, development and embryonic oedema
No full textThe lymph heart is a sac-like structure on either side of avian tail. In some adult birds, it empties the lymph from the copulatory organ; however, during embryonic development, it is thought to circulate extra-embryonic lymph. Very little is known about the origin, innervation and the cellular changes it undergoes during development. Using immunohistochemistry and gene expression profiling we show that the musculature of the lymph heart is initially composed solely of striated skeletal muscle but later develops an additional layer composed of smooth myofibroblasts. Chick-quail fate-mapping demonstrates that the lymph heart originates from the hypaxial compartments of somites 34-41. The embryonic lymph heart is transiently innervated by somatic motoneurons with no autonomic input. In comparison to body muscles, the lymph heart has different sensitivity to neuromuscular junction blockers (sensitive only to decamethonium). Furthermore, its abundant bungarotoxin-positive acetylcholinesterase receptors are unique as they completely lack specific acetylcholinesterase activity. Several lines of evidence suggest that the lymph heart may possess an intrinsic pacing mechanism. Finally, we assessed the function of the lymph heart during embryogenesis and demonstrate that it is responsible for preventing embryonic oedema in birds, a role previously thought to be played by body skeletal muscle contractions
Burkina Faso women empowerment and welfare project
No full textIt has been proven that the poor have the desire and motivation to do something to change their situation. They may be short of ideas of how to wiggle themselves out of an uncomfortable situation but they surely have the inner resource when they are gently nodded in the right direction. This was proven in a project that was carried out in Burkina Faso among poor urban women.
The project further revealed that sustainable development cannot be attained without integration. To address the root causes of poverty; gender inequities, HIV/AIDS and the environment should be addressed together. Activities that provide and permit access to basic necessities like education and health should be integrated in the project too.
To assure sustainability of the project CED practitioner should avoid introducing complex technology or financially unattainable practices but should, to the extent possible, use local resources and build on the local knowledge. In this project local resource persons, locally available material - mostly recycled - were utilized. The project drew largely from local knowledge and values will ensure continuity of the activities even after external support has ceased.
Finally, following the principle of subsidiarity the management of the project activities should to the extent feasible be left to the beneficiaries. The targeted women in this project managed the savings and loan project, using the self help group model, to improve their personal businesses. (Author abstract)Macharia, D. G. (2007). Burkina Faso women empowerment and welfare project. Retrieved from http://academicarchive.snhu.eduMaster of Science (M.S.)School of Community Economic Developmen
National and sub-national variation in patterns of febrile case management in sub-Saharan Africa
No full textGiven national healthcare coverage gaps, understanding treatment-seeking behaviour for fever is crucial for the management of childhood illness and to reduce deaths. Here, we conduct a modelling study triangulating household survey data for fever in children under the age of five years with georeferenced public health facility databases (n = 86,442 facilities) in 29 countries across sub-Saharan Africa, to estimate the probability of seeking treatment for fever at public facilities. A Bayesian item response theory framework is used to estimate this probability based on reported fever episodes, treatment choice, residence, and estimated travel-time to the nearest public-sector health facility. Findings show inter- and intra-country variation, with the likelihood of seeking treatment for fever less than 50% in 16 countries. Results highlight the need to invest in public healthcare and related databases. The variation in public sector use illustrates the need to include such modelling in future infectious disease burden estimation. © 2018, The Author(s)
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Symmorphosis through Dietary Regulation: A Combinatorial Role for Proteolysis, Autophagy and Protein Synthesis in Normalising Muscle Metabolism and Function of Hypertrophic Mice after Acute Starvation
No full textAnimals are imbued with adaptive mechanisms spanning from the tissue/organ to the cellular scale which insure that processes of homeostasis are preserved in the landscape of size change. However we and others have postulated that the degree of adaptation is limited and that once outside the normal levels of size fluctuations, cells and tissues function in an aberant manner. In this study we examine the function of muscle in the myostatin null mouse which is an excellent model for hypertrophy beyond levels of normal growth and consequeces of acute starvation to restore mass. We show that muscle growth is sustained through protein synthesis driven by Serum/Glucocorticoid Kinase 1 (SGK1) rather than Akt1. Furthermore our metabonomic profiling of hypertrophic muscle shows that carbon from nutrient sources is being channelled for the production of biomass rather than ATP production. However the muscle displays elevated levels of autophagy and decreased levels of muscle tension. We demonstrate the myostatin null muscle is acutely sensitive to changes in diet and activates both the proteolytic and autophagy programmes and shutting down protein synthesis more extensively than is the case for wild-types. Poignantly we show that acute starvation which is detrimental to wild-type animals is beneficial in terms of metabolism and muscle function in the myostatin null mice by normalising tension production
The politics of transition in Kenya, 1995-1998
No full textTo write a current history of Kenya from 1995 to 1998 requires judgement
and maturity. In modern Kenya, writing especially current history, can be
more than the pleasantly "subversive activity" advocated by post-modernists.
The author has the necessary academic qualities and he has produced
the kind of history which urgently needs writing - and reading - in
Kenya. The author is a professor of history at the United States International
University, Nairobi, Kenya.
Those familiar with contemporary Kenya will not find much here that is
new. However, this little book is probably not intended to be pathbreaking.
Instead the author has produced an authoritative and persuasive political
history which underpins the challenge to build a strong and lasting democracy
in Kenya. This was entirely a phenomenon of the events that occurred
in Kenya between 1995 and 1998. These events culminated in the political
crisis that virtually threatened to shake the edifice of genuine multipartism
that had been ushered in 1991. This is solidly liberal historiography aimed
at the middle ground, the kind of responsible opinion to which Jomo
Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya, once appealed: but it is neither bland
nor unengaged. It takes issues first with the circumstances that made the
public to lose faith in the political class, whether within government or the
opposition. These, the author traces to the first decade of the independence
era, maintaining that the seeds of the present presidency wielding highly
centralised powers were sown in 1964 when the minority opposition party
(the Kenya African Democratic Union - KADU), voluntarily dissolved itself
and joined the Kenya African National Union - KANU. The result was that
Kenya became a defacto one-party state, thereby providing the occasion for
the presidency to start amassing enormous powers and also creating a personality
cult comparable only to that of a feudal monarch. This is the central
thesis of the book.
Thus when in 1978 President Daniel arap Moi took over the reigns of
power following the death of President Kenyatta, the former inherited a
highly constructed authoritarian one-party state. The author contends tha
The Undelivered Promise : Constitutional Environmental Rights and Judicial Redress in Kenya and South Africa
No full textThe project of constitutionalising environmental rights is nearly complete with over two-thirds of the United Nations member states having enshrined these rights in their constitutions. Despite the widespread adoption, recent studies on environmental protection indicate that the project has not improved in commensurate terms. Environmental law scholars are now engaged in bridging the ‘implementation gap’. In an attempt to locate the implementation gap problem, this paper analyses the achievements made under the environmental rights constitutionalisation project. Using Kenya and South Africa as case studies, the author finds that while substantial progress has been made, the conceptualisation of the right to a clean and healthy environment has yet to receive a harmonised meaning. The impact, this paper notes, is the differentiated interpretation and application that greatly undermine environmental protection. As a remedy, the author argues that the adoption of a country’s ‘fundamental value[s]’ as the basis of understanding environmental rights not only provides the widest protection but also allows a harmonised application
Transition in Kenya, 1995-1998.
No full textTo write a current history of Kenya from 1995 to 1998 requires judgement
and maturity. In modern Kenya, writing especially current history, can be
more than the pleasantly "subversive activity" advocated by post-modernists.
The author has the necessary academic qualities and he has produced
the kind of history which urgently needs writing - and reading - in
Kenya. The author is a professor of history at the United States International
University, Nairobi, Kenya.
Those familiar with contemporary Kenya will not find much here that is
new. However, this little book is probably not intended to be pathbreaking.
Instead the author has produced an authoritative and persuasive political
history which underpins the challenge to build a strong and lasting democracy
in Kenya. This was entirely a phenomenon of the events that occurred
in Kenya between 1995 and 1998. These events culminated in the political
crisis that virtually threatened to shake the edifice of genuine multipartism
that had been ushered in 1991. This is solidly liberal historiography aimed
at the middle ground, the kind of responsible opinion to which Jomo
Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya, once appealed: but it is neither bland
nor unengaged. It takes issues first with the circumstances that made the
public to lose faith in the political class, whether within government or the
opposition. These, the author traces to the first decade of the independence
era, maintaining that the seeds of the present presidency wielding highly
centralised powers were sown in 1964 when the minority opposition party
(the Kenya African Democratic Union - KADU), voluntarily dissolved itself
and joined the Kenya African National Union - KANU. The result was that
Kenya became a defacto one-party state, thereby providing the occasion for
the presidency to start amassing enormous powers and also creating a personality
cult comparable only to that of a feudal monarch. This is the central
thesis of the book.
Thus when in 1978 President Daniel arap Moi took over the reigns of
power following the death of President Kenyatta, the former inherited a
highly constructed authoritarian one-party state
Exercise training attenuates the hypermuscular phenotype and restores skeletal muscle function in the myostatin null mouse
No full textMyostatin regulates both muscle mass and muscle metabolism. The myostatin null (MSTN-/-) mouse has a hypermuscular phenotype owing to both hypertrophy and hyperplasia of the myofibres. The enlarged muscles display a reliance on glycolysis for energy production; however, enlarged muscles that develop in the absence of myostatin have compromised force-generating capacity. Recent evidence has suggested that endurance exercise training increases the oxidative properties of muscle. Here, we aimed to identify key changes in the muscle phenotype of MSTN-/- mice that can be induced by training. To this end, we subjected MSTN-/- mice to two different forms of training, namely voluntary wheel running and swimming, and compared the response at the morphological, myocellular and molecular levels. We found that both regimes normalized changes of myostatin deficiency and restored muscle function. We showed that both exercise training regimes increased muscle capillary density and the expression of Ucp3, Cpt1a, Pdk4 and Err?, key markers for oxidative metabolism. Cross-sectional area of hypertrophic myofibres from MSTN-/- mice decreased towards wild-type values in response to exercise and, in this context, Bnip3, a key autophagy-related gene, was upregulated. This reduction in myofibre size caused an increase of the nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratio towards wild-type values. Importantly, both training regimes increased muscle force in MSTN-/- mice. We conclude that impaired skeletal muscle function in myostatin-deficient mice can be improved through endurance exercise-mediated remodelling of muscle fibre size and metabolic profil
Divorce Law in Kenya: In Support of a Uniform No-Fault Regime
No full textIn 2014, Kenya enacted the Marriage Act to amend and consolidate various laws on marriage and divorce. Among the amendments introduced was the irretrievable breakdown ground of divorce alongside more traditional fault-based grounds. The court in CWL v HN noted that the introduction of this ground had effectively done away with the need for petitioners to provide evidence of matrimonial fault in divorce proceedings. Despite this, the Act still maintains traditional fault grounds for divorce not only as independent grounds but also as factors to be considered when determining whether a marriage has irretrievably broken down. The author contends that this retention of fault-based requirements reflects an outdated position and contradicts the thinking behind the introduction of irretrievable breakdown as a divorce ground. This study, therefore, proposes adopting a uniform no-fault divorce system premised on irretrievable breakdown. To better align this system with the dual objective of protecting individual dignity while also safeguarding the dignity and sanctity of marriage, the study proposes a model that includes a mandatory requirement to attempt reconciliation before petitioning for divorce
Decentralizing without accountability : the Kenya Constituency Development Fund and separation of powers
No full text96 leaves : ill., map ; 29 cm.Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-92).This study examines fiscal decentralization and accountability and suggests that there is a gap in the body of knowledge pertaining to accountability in fiscal decentralization. It appears that there is no current literature on Separation of Powers and maintenance of government checks and balances in the process of decentralization. Fiscal decentralization in Kenya through the Constituency Development Fund is our case study. A scheme established through an Act of Parliament in 2003 with the Members of Parliament as its implementers- in contravention to the Kenyan Constitution. This breach of Separation of Powers in decentralizing has resulted in a porous scheme with a weak accountability regime therefore leading to large scale abuse and mismanagement in the Fund. The author concludes that fiscal decentralization through CDFs provides promise for Kenya and other countries; however, special attention must be given to implementation issues, especially methods of dealing with Separation of Powers and constitutionalism
