Diaspora, cyberspace og etnicitet: Brugen af Internettet blandt yezidier

Hvori består et diaspora-fællesskab? Hvilken rolle spiller Internettet i artikuleringen af fællesskaber, det være sig sociale og/eller virtuelle? Hvori består overhovedet yezidiernes fællesskab? Dette er nogle af de spørgsmål, den tyske kultur- og medieforsker Andreas Ackermann tager op i denne artikel. Ackermanns ærinde er flerfold. Han er først og fremmest interesseret i at undersøge, i hvilket omfang yezidierne, som er en lille etnisk-religiøs gruppe af ca. 300.000 kurdisk talende menne- sker, anvender Internettet som en »diasporiserings-teknologi«, dvs. til at styrke en fælles gruppebevidsthed omkring et fælles hjemland. I den sammenhæng trækker Ackermann på nogle af de nyfortolkninger af dia- sporabegrebet, som er udviklet de senere år, men er samtidig hermed også ude i et kritisk teoretisk ærinde, nemlig at vurdere disse nyfortolk- ninger af diasporabegrebet. Den væsentligste »finding« i den her frem- lagte case er, at Internettet ikke forårsager en diasporisk bevidsthed, men fremskynder sociale forandringsprocesser, der allerede er i udvik- ling i det virkelige liv. Artiklen er oversat af Pernille Tuft

Microbial life cycles link global modularity in regulation to mosaic evolution

Microbes are exposed to changing environments, to which they can respond by adopting various lifestyles such as swimming, colony formation or dormancy. These lifestyles are often studied in isolation, thereby giving a fragmented view of the life cycle as a whole. Here, we study lifestyles in the context of this whole. We first use machine learning to reconstruct the expression changes underlying life cycle progression in the bacterium Bacillus subtilis, based on hundreds of previously acquired expression profiles. This yields a timeline that reveals the modular organization of the life cycle. By analysing over 380 Bacillales genomes, we then show that life cycle modularity gives rise to mosaic evolution in which life stages such as motility and sporulation are conserved and lost as discrete units. We postulate that this mosaic conservation pattern results from habitat changes that make these life stages obsolete or detrimental. Indeed, when evolving eight distinct Bacillales strains and species under laboratory conditions that favour colony growth, we observe rapid and parallel losses of the sporulation life stage across species, induced by mutations that affect the same global regulator. We conclude that a life cycle perspective is pivotal to understanding the causes and consequences of modularity in both regulation and evolution

Patellofemoral Cartilage Repair

Purpose of Review This review provides an overview of well-established and newly developed cartilage repair techniques for cartilage defects in the patellofemoral joint (PFJ). An algorithm will be presented for approaching cartilage defects considering the distinct anatomy of both the patellar and trochlear articular surfaces. Recent Findings Recent studies on cartilage repair in the PFJ have demonstrated improved outcomes in an attempt to delay or obviate the need for arthroplasty, and improve symptoms in young patients. While autologous chondrocyte implantation shows good and excellent outcomes for chondral lesions, osteochondral defects are adequately addressed with osteochondral allograft transplantation. In case of patellar malalignment, concomitant tibial tubercle osteotomy can significantly improve outcomes. Particulated cartilage and bone marrow aspirate concentrate are potential new alternative treatments for cartilage repair, currently in early clinical studies. Summary Due to the frequency of concomitant anatomic abnormalities in the PFJ, a thorough clinical examination combined with careful indication for each procedure in each individual patient combined with meticulous surgical technique is central to achieve satisfying outcomes. Additional comparative studies of cartilage repair procedures, as well as investigation of newer techniques, are needed.Brigham & Womens Hosp, Harvard Med Sch, Dept Orthopaed Surg, Cartilage Repair Ctr, 850 Boylston St,Suite 120, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 USAUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Paulista Sch Med, Sao Paulo, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Paulista Sch Med, Sao Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Lønnsomhet og eierstyring : en studie av norske familiebedrifter

Masteroppgave i økonomi og administrasjon - Universitetet i Agder 2010Målet med denne studien var å undersøke om det eksisterer forskjeller i lønnsomhet og eierstyring mellom norske familiebedrifter og bedrifter uten slik innflytelse. Masteroppgaven benytter seg av registrerte familiebedrifter fra NHOs databaser og analyserer økonomiske nøkkeltall mot et kontrollutvalg bestående av bedrifter uten familieinnflytelse. Jeg tar for meg daglig leders påvirkning på lønnsomheten ved å skille mellom daglig ledere som henholdsvis er grunnlegger, etterkommer (familie til grunnlegger) eller ekstern rekruttert leder. Det blir tilslutt i oppgaven undersøkt om styrets involvering og styrets kontrollaktiviteter påvirker bedriftens resultater. Undersøkelsen viser at familiebedrifter i liten grad har verken høyere eller lavere lønnsomhet enn andre bedrifter. En inndeling i alder viser at yngre (50 år) familiebedrifter. Analysen påviser imidlertid at yngre familiebedrifter har en svakere og eldre familiebedrifter sterkere lønnsomhet sammenlignet med tilsvarene ikke-familie bedrifter. Interessant nok påvises det en negativ korrelasjon mellom familiebedriftens alder og lønnsomheten. Ettersom bedriften blir eldre oppnår bedriften lavere lønnsomhet. Det blir testet om familiebedriften har en høyere lønnsomhet om grunnlegger, etterkommer eller en profesjonell aktør fungerer som daglig leder. Undersøkelsen påviser at familiebedrifter bytter daglig leder oftere enn ikke-familie bedrifter, noe som viser at familiebedrifter har et aktivt forhold til valg av daglig leder. På et generelt grunnlag er styrets involvering og kontroll viktige faktorer for god eierstyring i en bedrift. Undersøkelsen bekrefter antakelsen om at styret i en bedrift, uavhengig om det er en familie – eller annen bedrift, bruker tiden og ressursene de har tilgjengelig for å utvikle bedriftens verdiskapning. Oppgaven er organisert som følger: Første del av oppgaven utdyper teori omkring eierstyring i familiebedrifter, hvor familien, eiere og styret, samt deres roller blir presentert. Jeg tar også for meg de ulike typene av daglig leder en familiebedrift typisk har i løpet av sin levetid, i tillegg til en oversikt over de forskjellige utviklingsfaser en typisk familiebedrift går igjennom. I løpet av studien blir det trukket inn resultater fra tidligere nasjonal og internasjonal forskning. Den andre delen av oppgaven er basert på hypoteser, hvor det er gjennomført analyser og tester av disse. Siste del av oppgaven gir en anbefaling til norske familiebedrifter, forslag til videre forskning og drøfter begrensinger

HSF1-Controlled and Age-Associated Chaperone Capacity in Neurons and Muscle Cells of C. elegans

Protein stability under changing conditions is of vital importance for the cell and under the control of a fine-tuned network of molecular chaperones. Aging and age-related neurodegenerative diseases are directly associated with enhanced protein instability. Employing C. elegans expressing GFP-tagged luciferase as a reporter for evaluation of protein stability we show that the chaperoning strategy of body wall muscle cells and neurons is significantly different and that both are differently affected by aging. Muscle cells of young worms are largely resistant to heat stress, which is directly mediated by the stress response controlled through Heat Shock Transcription Factor 1. During recovery following heat stress the ability to refold misfolded proteins is missing. Young neurons are highly susceptible to chronic heat stress, but show a high potency to refold or disaggregate proteins during subsequent recovery. The particular proteome instability in neurons results from a delayed induction of the heat shock response. In aged neurons protein stability is increased during heat stress, whereas muscle cells show enhanced protein instability due to a deteriorated heat shock response. An efficient refolding activity is absent in both aged tissues. These results provide molecular insights into the differential protein stabilization capacity in different tissues and during aging

Avian Bornaviruses Escape Recognition by the Innate Immune System

Like other pathogens that readily persist in animal hosts, members of the Bornaviridae family have evolved effective mechanisms to evade the innate immune response. The prototype of this virus family, Borna disease virus employs an unusual replication strategy that removes the triphosphates from the 5′ termini of the viral RNA genome. This strategy allows the virus to avoid activation of RIG-I and other innate immune response receptors in infected cells. Here we determined whether the newly discovered avian bornaviruses (ABV) might use a similar strategy to evade the interferon response. We found that de novo infection of QM7 and CEC32 quail cells with two different ABV strains was efficiently inhibited by exogenous chicken IFN-α. IFN-α also reduced the viral load in QM7 and CEC32 cells persistently infected with both ABV strains, suggesting that ABV is highly sensitive to type I IFN. Although quail cells persistently infected with ABV contained high levels of viral RNA, the supernatants of infected cultures did not contain detectable levels of biologically active type I IFN. RNA from cells infected with ABV failed to induce IFN-β synthesis if transfected into human cells. Furthermore, genomic RNA of ABV was susceptible to 5′-monophosphate-specific RNase, suggesting that it lacks 5′-triphospates like BDV. These results indicate that bornaviruses of mammals and birds use similar strategies to evade the host immune response

Specific targeting of human caspases using designed ankyrin repeat proteins

Caspases play important roles in cell death, differentiation, and proliferation. Due to their high homology, especially of the active site, specific targeting of a particular caspase using substrate analogues is very difficult. Although commercially available small molecules based on peptides are lacking high specificity due to overlapping cleavage motives between different caspases, they are often used as specific tools. We have selected designed ankyrin repeat proteins (DARPins) against human caspases 1-9 and identified high-affinity binders for the targeted caspases, except for caspase 4. Besides previously reported caspase-specific DARPins, we generated novel DARPins (D1.73, D5.15, D6.11, D8.1, D8.4, and D9.2) and confirmed specificity for caspases 1, 5, 6, and 8 using a subset of caspase family members. In addition, we solved the crystal structure of caspase 8 in complex with DARPin D8.4. This binder interacts with non-conserved residues on the large subunit, thereby explaining its specificity. Structural analysis of this and other previously published crystal structures of caspase/DARPin complexes depicts two general binding areas either involving active site forming loops or a surface area laterally at the large subunit of the enzyme. Both surface areas involve non-conserved surface residues of caspase

Betreuungskosten: empirische Studie über die Kostenentwicklung in Betreuungssachen und die Möglichkeiten ihrer Reduzierung; im Auftrag des Niedersächsischen Justizministeriums

Ausgangspunkt für die von April 2002 bis Januar 2003 durchgeführte rechtstatsächliche Untersuchung war die geradezu dramatische Kostenexplosion im Bereich der Betreuungen im Land Niedersachsen: Betrugen dafür die Aufwendungen aus der Landeskasse 1992 noch etwa 1 Mio. DM, so stiegen sie am Ende des Jahres 2001 bis auf ca. 80 Mio. DM an. Dabei ist die Ausgabensteigerung nur zum geringen Teil auf die wachsende Zahl der Betreuungen zurückzuführen. Augenfällig ist vielmehr, dass sich die Zahlungen aus der Landeskasse nicht etwa linear entsprechend der Zunahme der Betreuungen entwickelt, sondern überproportional steigend sich seit 1992 annähernd verachtzigfacht haben. Gleichzeitig sind die Kosten pro Betreuungsverfahren um um mehr als das achtfache gestiegen. Bislang gibt es keinen fundierten empirischen Nachweis über die Ursachen für dieses Kostenphänomen. Die bestehenden statistischen Daten sind lückenhaft und angesichts der Komplexität des Betreuungsverfahrens auch nur schwer interpretierbar. Im Mittelpunkt der Analyse stand daher eine mündliche Expertenbefragung der am Betreuungsverfahren beteiligten Akteure über die hohen Absolutzahlen von Betreuungskosten und die auffallend hohe Kostensteigerung in Betreuungssachen. Deren Resultate wurden mit der Auswertung neuerer quantitativer Daten aus dem niedersächsischen Justizministerium kombiniert

Betreuungskosten: empirische Studie über die Kostenentwicklung in Betreuungssachen und die Möglichkeiten ihrer Reduzierung; im Auftrag des Niedersächsischen Justizministeriums - Anhang Bezirksanalysen

Ausgangspunkt für die von April 2002 bis Januar 2003 durchgeführte rechtstatsächliche Untersuchung war die geradezu dramatische Kostenexplosion im Bereich der Betreuungen im Land Niedersachsen: Betrugen dafür die Aufwendungen aus der Landeskasse 1992 noch etwa 1 Mio. DM, so stiegen sie am Ende des Jahres 2001 bis auf ca. 80 Mio. DM an. Dabei ist die Ausgabensteigerung nur zum geringen Teil auf die wachsende Zahl der Betreuungen zurückzuführen. Augenfällig ist vielmehr, dass sich die Zahlungen aus der Landeskasse nicht etwa linear entsprechend der Zunahme der Betreuungen entwickelt, sondern überproportional steigend sich seit 1992 annähernd verachtzigfacht haben. Gleichzeitig sind die Kosten pro Betreuungsverfahren um um mehr als das achtfache gestiegen. Bislang gibt es keinen fundierten empirischen Nachweis über die Ursachen für dieses Kostenphänomen. Die bestehenden statistischen Daten sind lückenhaft und angesichts der Komplexität des Betreuungsverfahrens auch nur schwer interpretierbar. Im Mittelpunkt der Analyse stand daher eine mündliche Expertenbefragung der am Betreuungsverfahren beteiligten Akteure über die hohen Absolutzahlen von Betreuungskosten und die auffallend hohe Kostensteigerung in Betreuungssachen. Deren Resultate wurden mit der Auswertung neuerer quantitativer Daten aus dem niedersächsischen Justizministerium kombiniert