Political legitimacy and celebrity politicians:Tony Blair as Middle East envoy 2007-2015

After Tony Blair resigned as the United Kingdom’s prime minster in June 2007, he was appointed as the official envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East. His appointment was marred with controversy not the least with regard to his suitability for the role and his performance as peace envoy, with many observers questioning his ethical credentials. The EU along with the US, Russia and the UN make up the Quartet and funded Blair’s office until 2012. With the US and the EU as the key regional players in this conflict, Blair became an embodiment of these players in this specific role. This article employs critical discourse analysis to nuance whether Tony Blair’s role as Middle East envoy, and as an embodiment of the EU, was indeed a legitimate one in terms of achieving at least some of its stated aims, particularly those pertaining to the Palestinians who live under Israel’s colonization. It does so by engaging with the work of John Street and more broadly the literature on celebrity politicians and by counterbalancing this conceptual framework with a critical reflection on Blair’s time as Middle East envoy

Music, mining and colonisation: Sámi contestations of Sweden’s self-narrative

Sweden’s dominant self-narrative has tended to marginalise its historical colonisation of Sápmi. This aspect of Swedish history sits uncomfortably with prevalent understandings of that self-identity. Indeed, there has been little emphasis on the historical subordination of Sámi people in political science scholarship on Swedish exceptionalism and internationalism. This article problematises this absence by centring the analysis on Sámi musician Sofia Jannok’s efforts to decolonise Sápmi through her music. The first part examines Sweden’s colonisation of Sápmi and the tensions between Sámi reindeer herding communities, mining interests and the Swedish state. This is followed by an exploration of the constitutive relationship between music, politics and celebrity, as sites of political communication.  A two-step analysis follows, investigating the broad themes in Sofia Jannok’s personal narrative and the discursive markers defining her music and politics. The analysis shows how her narrative intersects with the discursive themes of her musical expression and other engagements

Are Treatment Satisfaction, Quality of Life, and Self-assessed Disease Severity Relevant Parameters for Patient Registries? Experiences from Finnish and Swedish Patients with Psoriasis

Peer reviewe

From representing views to representativeness of views: illustrating a new (Q2S) approach in the context of health care priority setting in nine European countries

Governments across Europe are required to make decisions about how best to allocate scarce health care resources. There are legitimate arguments for eliciting societal vales in relation to health care resource allocation given the roles of the general public as payers and potential patients. However, relatively little is known about the views of the general public on general principles which could guide these decisions. In this paper we present five societal viewpoints on principles for health care resources allocation and develop a new approach, Q2S, designed to investigate the extent to which these views are held across a range of European countries. An online survey was developed, based on a previously completed study Q methodology, and delivered between November 2009 and February 2010 across nine countries to 33,515 respondents. The largest proportion of our respondents (44%), were found to most associate themselves with an egalitarian perspective. Differences in views were more strongly associated with countries than with socio-demographic characteristics. These results provide information which could be useful for decision makers in understanding the pluralistic context in which they are making health care resource allocation decisions and how different groups in society may respond to such decisions

No germline mutations in supposed tumour suppressor genes SAFB1 and SAFB2 in familial breast cancer with linkage to 19p

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The scaffold attachment factor B1 and B2 genes, <it>SAFB1/SAFB2 </it>(both located on chromosome 19p13.3) have recently been suggested as tumour suppressor genes involved in breast cancer development. The assumption was based on functional properties of the two genes and loss of heterozygosity of intragenic markers in breast tumours further strengthened the postulated hypothesis. In addition, linkage studies in Swedish breast cancer families also indicate the presence of a susceptibility gene for breast cancer at the 19p locus. Somatic mutations in <it>SAFB1/SAFB2 </it>have been detected in breast tumours, but to our knowledge no studies on germline mutations have been reported. In this study we investigated the possible involvement of <it>SAFB1/SAFB2 </it>on familiar breast cancer by inherited mutations in either of the two genes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Mutation analysis in families showing linkage to the <it>SAFB1/2 </it>locus was performed by DNA sequencing. The complete coding sequence of the two genes <it>SAFB1 </it>and <it>SAFB2 </it>was analyzed in germline DNA from 31 affected women. No missense or frameshift mutations were detected. One polymorphism was found in <it>SAFB1 </it>and eight polymorphisms were detected in <it>SAFB2</it>. MLPA-anlysis showed that both alleles of the two genes were preserved which excludes gene inactivation by large deletions.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p><it>SAFB1 </it>and <it>SAFB2 </it>are not likely to be causative of the hereditary breast cancer syndrome in west Swedish breast cancer families.</p

Functional SARS-CoV-2 cross-reactive CD4+ T cells established in early childhood decline with age.

Pre-existing SARS-CoV-2-reactive T cells have been identified in SARS-CoV-2-unexposed individuals, potentially modulating COVID-19 and vaccination outcomes. Here, we provide evidence that functional cross-reactive memory CD4+ T cell immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is established in early childhood, mirroring early seroconversion with seasonal human coronavirus OC43. Humoral and cellular immune responses against OC43 and SARS-CoV-2 were assessed in SARS-CoV-2-unexposed children (paired samples at age two and six) and adults (age 26 to 83). Pre-existing SARS-CoV-2-reactive CD4+ T cell responses targeting spike, nucleocapsid, and membrane were closely linked to the frequency of OC43-specific memory CD4+ T cells in childhood. The functional quality of the cross-reactive memory CD4+ T cell responses targeting SARS-CoV-2 spike, but not nucleocapsid, paralleled OC43-specific T cell responses. OC43-specific antibodies were prevalent already at age two. However, they did not increase further with age, contrasting with the antibody magnitudes against HKU1 (β-coronavirus), 229E and NL63 (α-coronaviruses), rhinovirus, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), and influenza virus, which increased after age two. The quality of the memory CD4+ T cell responses peaked at age six and subsequently declined with age, with diminished expression of interferon (IFN)-γ, interleukin (IL)-2, tumor necrosis factor (TNF), and CD38 in late adulthood. Age-dependent qualitative differences in the pre-existing SARS-CoV-2-reactive T cell responses may reflect the ability of the host to control coronavirus infections and respond to vaccination

Ancestral SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells cross-recognize the Omicron variant

The emergence of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant of concern (VOC) has destabilized global efforts to control the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Recent data have suggested that B.1.1.529 can readily infect people with naturally acquired or vaccine-induced immunity, facilitated in some cases by viral escape from antibodies that neutralize ancestral SARS-CoV-2. However, severe disease appears to be relatively uncommon in such individuals, highlighting a potential role for other components of the adaptive immune system. We report here that SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells induced by prior infection or BNT162b2 vaccination provide extensive immune coverage against B.1.1.529. The median relative frequencies of SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific CD4+ T cells that cross-recognized B.1.1.529 in previously infected or BNT162b2-vaccinated individuals were 84% and 91%, respectively, and the corresponding median relative frequencies for SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific CD8+ T cells were 70% and 92%, respectively. Pairwise comparisons across groups further revealed that SARS-CoV-2 spike-reactive CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were functionally and phenotypically similar in response to the ancestral strain or B.1.1.529. Collectively, our data indicate that established SARS-CoV-2 spike-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses, especially after BNT162b2 vaccination, remain largely intact against B.1.1.529