Quantification of mitochondrial DNA in human blood cells using an automated detection system

The 4977 bp deletion of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) accumulates in postmitotic tissues with advancing age. The purpose of our study was to detect and quantify these deletion even in blood cells with a high turnover activity. Whole venous blood, isolated human platelets and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were collected from 10 unrelated donors aged 20-71 years and total DNA was extracted. PCR was performed for total and mutated mtDNA using two different primer pairs and two fluorogenic probes labeled with the fluorescent dyes FAM and VIC. Specific PCR products were generated, detected and quantified in a real-time PCR. The amplification products of total and deleted mtDNA could be detected in each sample and did not exhibit any differences in the amount of the deleted mtDNA in whole blood, human platelets or PBMCs. Our data did not show any accumulation of the 4977 bp deletion with increasing age as it was observed for several other tissues.     

The changing character of national borders

At the end of the twentieth century, the pace of change in the international system is increasing. New actors and even new categories of actors are emerging. Some have a strong impact on international relations, thus competing with the traditional type of international actor, the sovereign nation‐state. One salient feature of the nation‐state is its power to control its borders. In the process of globalization, this power is being disintegrated.

In some respects, national borders have completely lost their relevance, owing to certain adverse ecological developments like the degradation of the ozone layer and other virtually global threats. They are equally of limited use in influencing the speed and content of some trade operations concerning goods or currencies or the free flow of media information.

They however continue to function in a rather efficient way for people. Immigration laws and certain other procedures of the ‘rich’ countries tend to distinguish between wanted and unwanted immigrants. Due to various catastrophies and disasters, wide‐spread violence and the anticipation of a bleak economic future, the number of migrants continues to grow rapidly, as does the pressure from migrants from the ‘poor’ and densely populated countries of the world on the borders of the ‘rich’ countries. This is a multi‐dimensional development with political, economic, but also moral aspects.     

Misappropriation of Institutions: Some Lessons from the Environmental Dimension of the NAFTA Investor-State Dispute Settlement Process

Trade regimes at all levels have confronted the dual challenge of rapidly expanding foreign direct investment, and the vigorous growth of international environmental regimes. Attempts to develop a global investment regime have encountered resistance, not least from environmental interests. At the same time, regional trade regimes have sought to address both the environmental and the investment agenda but in a very different manner. This article looks at problems encountered with the investor-state dispute settlement process established by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The institutional dimension of this process is largely drawn from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and existing international institutions for commercial arbitration. The article traces some of the difficulties encountered in attempting to use institutions designed for a specific purpose and implemented in one organizational context, to achieve a different purpose in another organizational context. It discusses the problems that arise when institutions appropriate for settling commercial disputes between private actors are used as the basis for balancing private interests and public goods, the environment in particular. It highlights the importance of a more developed understanding of the interplay between institutions and organizations at the international level so as to avoid undesired outcomes.     

The relevance of legitimation – a new framework for analysis

ABSTRACT

The legitimacy of political orders is an important reference point in political analysis, but the concept is difficult to operationalize and measure – particularly in those countries where legitimacy is critical, i.e. cases of political transformation, non-democratic rule and high state fragility. To be successful, legitimation (the process by which legitimacy is procured) has to fulfil two functions: relate demands for legitimation to government performance (the ‘demand cycle’), and relate legitimacy claims issued by the rulers to behavioural patterns of the ruled (the ‘supply cycle’). Looking at the recent academic debate, the article finds that empirical research has largely ignored the demand cycle, while attempts to explore the relationships underlying the supply cycle tend to suffer from misconceptions of basic terms. The article proposes a framework for empirical enquiry that addresses both shortcomings.     

No future? Narrating the past in Bosnian history museums

Recent unrest and the 2014 elections have corroborated the impression of Bosnia as a failing state, one that is constantly being undermined by the three-way impasse between constituent ethnic groups of Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs. Major history museums in Bosnia, however, provide a more complex picture. This paper analyzes museums and exhibitions on twentieth-century history in Sarajevo, Banja Luka, and Jajce, with regard to their narrative strategies, their aesthetic appearance, and the commemorative practices in their respective locations. From this perspective, the use of history in building group identity in Bosnia is far from coherent. Although museums are one means to assert firmly entrenched national identities both old and new, they compete at the same time with nostalgic commemorations of socialist Yugoslavia and with equally nostalgic references to the Austrian occupation. Various civic groups struggle to assert their visions of belonging, mostly with rather modest financial means. Based on these findings, this paper will explore not only the underlying assumptions of what history and, in particular, museums are all about, but also how visions of the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina are inscribed in these uses of history – if indeed they are.