Inside Lobbying on the Regulation of New Plant Breeding Techniques in the European Union: Determinants of Venue Choices

In July 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union decided that new plant breeding techniques (NPBTs) fall within the scope of the restrictive provisions on genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Previously, various actors had lobbied in order to influence the European Union’s (EU’s) regulatory decision on NPBTs. This study examines the venue choices taken by Cibus, a biotech company that promoted NPBT deregulation. It shows that the firm bypassed the EU level and that it lobbied competent authorities (CAs) in certain member states to gain support for the deregulation of NPBTs. Cibus chose the CAs because their institutional “closedness” reduced the risk of the debate over the deregulation of NPBTs becoming public. However, the CA’s specific competences and their influence on EU decision making were of likewise importance. The firm lobbied CAs based in Finland, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Two factors appear to have influenced Cibus’ choices for these countries: high‐level political support for agribiotech and the high relevance of biotech sectors. In contrast, public support for GMOs turned out to have hardly any influence, and virtually no association could be observed for the agricultural application of biotechnology in the past nor for the weakness of domestic anti‐GMO lobby groups. Finally, the in‐depth study on Germany affirms that “closedness” was important for Cibus’ choices and reveals that technical information served as a venue‐internal factor that influenced the firm’s choices.     

The Political Viability of Carbon Pricing: Policy Design and Framing in British Columbia and California

The adoption of climate policies with visible, substantial costs for households is uncommon because of expected political backlash, but British Columbia's carbon tax and California's cap‐and‐trade program imposed such costs and still survived vigorous opposition. To explain these outcomes, this article tests hypotheses concerning policy design, framing, energy prices, and elections. It conducts universalizing and variation‐finding comparisons across three subcases in the two jurisdictions and uses primary sources to carry out process tracing involving mechanisms of public opinion and elite position‐taking. The article finds strong support for the timing of independent energy price changes, exogenous causes of election results, reducing the visibility of carbon pricing, and using public‐benefit justifications, as well as some support for making concessions to voters. By contrast, the effects of the use of revenue, industry exemptions/compensations, and making polluters pay are not uniform, because the effects of revenue use depend on how it is embedded in coalition building efforts and a middle path between exempting or compensating industry and burdening it appears to be more effective than pursuing just one or the other approach.     

用VB.Net开发一个简单的三层架构应用程序

一般来说系统大多分为三层:表示层/用户层、业务层/逻辑层、数据层。本文主要介绍如何创建一个三层应用程序,如何创建一个Web Service服务。     

East Asian financial regionalism: why economic enhancements undermine political sustainability

East Asian financial regionalism was born in response to the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997–1998. The centrepiece of financial regionalism was the Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI), an emergency liquidity mechanism created by the ASEAN+3. It embodied both a clear interpretation of what had gone wrong in 1997–1998 and an understanding of the need for institutions that would be politically viable despite Sino-Japanese rivalry. Enforcement under CMI relied on the ‘IMF link’ – release of funds would be predicated on crisis countries' initiating negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as a means of reducing moral hazard, enforcing conditionality and diverting blame from the leading creditors, Japan and China. The global financial crisis of 2008–2010 and the eurozone crisis that followed have inspired important changes meant to address CMI's economic gaps, including accelerated adoption of ‘CMI Multilateralization’ (CMIM), the creation of a new surveillance unit (ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Organization, or AMRO), and the establishment of a new precautionary line. Many observers have remarked that these developments weaken the IMF link, which had effectively subordinated CMI to the IMF. While the moves appear to demonstrate a more confident, autonomous regionalism and a relative devaluation of the US-dominated global financial institutions, this paper argues that in fact, the ASEAN+3 states have again unearthed the underlying politics of divided leadership and mutual suspicion. CMIM is now threatened by the renewed potential for internal divisions. Further complicating the picture, both China and Japan have recently established large bilateral swap lines outside of the CMIM framework with several of their ASEAN+3 partners, raising the question of whether CMIM is moving towards political irrelevance even as it has arrived at a high water mark in its institutional development.     

口蹄疫病毒3A蛋白和FLAG标签的融合表达与血清学分析

通过对比各短肽标签,选择由8个氨基酸组成的FLAG标签弥补口蹄疫疫苗毒株OZK 3A蛋白的93～102位10个氨基酸缺失,原核表达FLAG与3A的嵌合蛋白,并命名为3AF。同时也表达了OZK毒株原始3A蛋白。分别以3A和3AF蛋白作为免疫原免疫6～8周龄雌性BALB/c小鼠,采用ELISA和Western-blot分析融合蛋白的血清学反应活性。结果表明,3A蛋白和3AF蛋白均能在大肠杆菌中有效表达,且主要以可溶性形式表达。纯化的3AF蛋白能与FLAG单抗特异性反应而未能诱导免疫小鼠产生针对该标签的抗体,体现了体外和体内的生物反应性差异。FLAG标签对3A蛋白的表达水平、表达形式等未产生显著影响。本研究为下一步FLAG标记病毒的拯救及其应用奠定了基础。     

Age Estimation by Amino Acid Racemization in Human Teeth

Abstract: When an unidentified body is found, it is essential to establish the personal identity of the body in addition to investigating the cause of death. Identification is one of the most important functions of forensic dentistry. Fingerprint, dental, and DNA analysis can be used to accurately identify a body. However, if no information is available for identification, age estimation can contribute to the resolution of a case. The authors have been using aspartic acid racemization rates in dentin (D‐aspartic acid/L ‐ aspartic acid : D/L Asp) as an index for age estimation and have obtained satisfactory results. We report five cases of age estimation using the racemization method. In all five cases, estimated ages were accurate within a range ±3 years. We conclude that the racemization method is a reliable and practical method for estimating age.     

大鼠脑震荡后大脑多巴胺D_1受体的动态表达观察

目的探讨大鼠脑震荡后不同时间大脑多巴胺D1受体在不同部位的表达变化。方法用金属单摆打击装置复制大鼠脑震荡模型,将56只大鼠随机分为脑震荡后1、2、4、8、16和24d 6个损伤组和1个正常对照组,每组8只。于大鼠脑震荡后不同时间取内侧隔核(MSN)、左右Broca斜角带垂直支(VDB)、丘脑网状带(RT)脑组织,用免疫组化染色(SP法)观察脑组织不同区域多巴胺受体(D1)表达情况,用图像分析系统进行定量分析。结果各组大鼠脑组织D1受体免疫组化阳性表达变化情况:在MNS区,脑震荡后1d细胞阳性表达开始减弱,到16d细胞阳性表达最弱,16～24d细胞阳性表达开始增强,但在24d仍比对照组的表达弱。在VDB区,脑震荡后1d细胞阳性表达开始减弱,2d细胞阳性表达最弱,脑震荡后2～24d细胞阳性表达开始增强,但在24d仍比对照组的表达弱。在RT区,脑震荡后1d细胞阳性表达开始减弱,4d细胞阳性表达最弱,4～24d细胞阳性表达开始增强,到24d与对照组表达接近。结论大鼠脑震荡后不同时间,脑组织多巴胺D1受体在MSN、VDB、RT不同区域的表达轻微下调,但下调差异无显著性意义。     

Heteroplasmy in Hair: Study of Mitochondrial DNA Third Hypervariable Region in Hair and Blood Samples*†

Abstract: Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis has proved useful for forensic identification especially in cases where nuclear DNA is not available, such as with hair evidence. Heteroplasmy, the presence of more than one type of mtDNA in one individual, is a common situation often reported in the first and second mtDNA hypervariable regions (HV1/HV2), particularly in hair samples. However, there is no data about heteroplasmy frequency in the third mtDNA hypervariable region (HV3). To investigate possible heteroplasmy hotspots, HV3 from hair and blood samples of 100 individuals were sequenced and compared. No point heteroplasmy was observed, but length heteroplasmy was, both in C‐stretch and CA repeat. To observe which CA “alleles” were present in each tissue, PCR products were cloned and re‐sequenced. However, no variation among CA alleles was observed. Regarding forensic practice, we conclude that point heteroplasmy in HV3 is not as frequent as in the HV1/HV2.     

3个miniSTR基因座荧光标记复合扩增体系的建立及应用

目的建立扩增片段小于115 bp,包括D1S1676、D6S1274和D17S1299 3个非CODIS系统的miniSTR基因座复合扩增系统,用于高度降解DNA样本的基因分型。方法采用不同荧光染料标记引物,通过PCR扩增,利用310遗传分析仪对100份成都汉族健康无关个体血样以及2份高度降解检材进行检测。结果荧光标记复合扩增D1S1676、D6S1274和D17S1299 3个miniSTR基因座,每个基因座均获得了清晰的基因型分型结果。100份样本,3个miniSTR基因座分别检出个9、9、7个等位基因和27、23、18种基因型,基因型分布均符合Hardy-Weinberg平衡。3个基因座在成都汉族人群的累积非父排除率、累积个体识别能力分别为0.9991和0.9160。结论本系统可以应用于个体识别和亲权鉴定,为DNA高度降解样本分型提供了新的方法。     

新疆维吾尔族群体D6S1043、D12S391基因座遗传多态性

本研究调查了居住在新疆境内的677个维吾尔族无关个体D6S1043、D12S391基因座的遗传多态性,现报道如下。 1材料与方法 677份无关个体血样全部来自于日常检案,采耳垂静脉血制成血痕样本保存。血样采取Chelex-100法提取。