How the indigenous got seats at the UN table

Indigenous peoples are the only distinct segment of national populations having voting membership in UN bodies devoted to defining their rights and advancing their concerns. This unusual result was the result of the confluence of three factors familiar to students of transnational social movement politics: a) presence within UN offices and bodies of supporters opening forums and agendas to indigenous concerns, b) deference to the growing network of indigenous activists by anthropologists—the professional community best placed to serve as advocates speaking on behalf of indigenous communities, and c) indigenous activists' success in developing and projecting a globally-valid indigenous identity as “peoples” simultaneously uniting the various indigenous communities and providing a rationale for establishing voting rights that enough other actors could be persuaded to accept. Comparison with UN treatment of other groups indicates that indigenous voting rights are more likely to remain an isolated success rather than a harbinger of similar practices in other UN bodies.     

辛硫磷对大鼠肝细胞凋亡的影响

通过给大鼠肝细胞培养液中加入辛硫磷(染毒终浓度分别为3、10、30、100和300 μmol/L)染毒,于12、24 h后用流式细胞仪分别测定细胞凋亡率、细胞死亡率和细胞内活性氧(ROS)水平,并在扫描电镜和荧光显微镜下观察细胞凋亡情况,研究了辛硫磷对原代培养大鼠肝细胞凋亡的影响.结果显示,辛硫磷具有明显的细胞毒性,在3～100 μmol/L范围内随着染毒剂量的增大和染毒时间的延长,细胞死亡率、凋亡率和ROS水平显著升高,且发生了明显的细胞凋亡的形态学变化;但300 μmol/L辛硫磷培养24 h,肝细胞凋亡率和ROS水平下降,死亡率升高.表明辛硫磷对肝细胞有直接的毒性作用,并通过产生ROS诱导了肝细胞凋亡.     

The National Partnership for Environmental Priorities Program

The National Partnership for Environmental Priorities (NPEP) program was created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to reduce or eliminate the nation's production of hazardous wastes and products. The NPEP is a voluntary program that provides incentives to public, private, and federal organizations that minimize their use and generation of thirty-one priority chemicals. These chemicals are considered to be persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic in the environment and present health risks to human and ecological receptors. The USEPA estimates that 90 percent of priority chemicals are used or produced during manufacturing of various household and industrial products and, as a result, end up in municipal and industrial waste streams. Ultimately, these chemicals find their way back into the environment through wastewater discharges, incineration, or other disposal practices. The NPEP program supports the goals of the National Waste Minimalization Program by encouraging simple waste minimalization solutions such as recycling, replacement, or elimination of wastes or products that contain priority chemicals, and cradle-to-cradle management of waste. Although the USEPA does not limit waste minimalization practices to only the priority chemicals, the program has set specific goals to track the elimination of these thirty-one chemicals to the environment on an annual basis.     

Identification of wooden instrument by scanning electron microscopy from splinters left in victim

Case presentation concerns a twelve-year-old boy who was sexually assaulted, beaten, and murdered. A broken wooden broomstick was used in the attack to impale the victim through the rectum. Following the autopsy, splinters from the body were found by light microscopy. Macrodissected splinters were removed from the anus, rectum, and urinary bladder of the victim and examined by scanning electron microscopy. The splinters were identified as the same type of wood as the broomstick.     

Dr. Walter McCrone's contributions to microscopy workshops and the certification of criminalists

Walter McCrone was not only a remarkable forensic microscopist, but also a skilled grants man and devoted scientific professional. This article briefly recounts his activities in the 1970s and 80s where he played a major role in securing grant funds to sponsor microscopy training around the country, and in using his considerable professional influence to advance the cause of certification.