Citizen Social Science: New and Established Approaches to Participation in Social Research

Podeu consultar el llibre complet a: http://hdl.handle.net/2445/173349This chapter explores the ways in which the roles of citizens and researchers play out in the social sciences. This is expressed by numerous overlapping and related terms, such as co-production and participatory action research, to name but two, and by the different social topics that citizen social science draws attention to. The key question this chapter seeks to explore is what does naming citizen social science as such bring to the fields of citizen science and the social sciences? The chapter explores the different epistemic foundations of citizen social science and outlines the development and provenance of citizen social science in its broadest sense, reflecting on how it is currently practised. It draws on different examples from the experiences and work of the authors and notes the boundaries and overlaps with citizen science. The chapter also highlights some of the key issues that citizen social science gives rise to, emphasising that while citizen social science is a relatively new term, its underlying approaches and epistemic foundations are at least partially established in the social sciences

A nyúl neonatális FC receptor klónozása, jellemzése = Cloning and characterisation of the rabbit neonatal FC receptor

Az emlősök szervezetében található immunglobulinok közül legjelentősebb az IgG, mely a fertőzésekkel szemben biztosít védelmet. A neonatális Fc receptor (FcRn) dimer molekula, nehéz lánca az MHC-I osztályú fehérjékhez tartozik. A molekula részt vesz az anyai IgG utódoknak történő átadásában, a szérum IgG szintjének fenntartásában, és az immunválaszban –fagocitózisban és antigén prezentációban. A főemlősökhöz hasonlóan nyúlban az anyai immun transzport folyamatok a magzati korban történnek a szikzacskón keresztül. Bár a nyúlban a transzport folyamatát már vizsgálták, a receptor molekulát még nem klónozták és jellemezték. Hogy pontosan megértsük a nyúlban, mint modellállatban az FcRn működését RACE PCR-el klónoztuk a nyúl FcRn nehéz láncát és jellemeztük. Megállapítottuk, hogy nagy hasonlóságot mutat az ismert emlős ortológokhoz. Részletesen vizsgáltuk a gén expresszióját a placentában, az amnionban és a szikzacskóban. A receptor megjelenik a placenta kapilláris endotél sejtjeiben és a szikzacskó endoderm sejtek apikális régiójában. RNS szinten kimutattuk jelenlétét monocitákban és makrofágokban is. Megállapítottuk, hogy a nyúl FcRn pH függő módon működik. A fenti vizsgálatok igazolják, hogy az általunk klónozott és jellemzett receptor a nyúl FcRn. | IgG is the most important immunoglobulin in mammals. IgG protects against infections. The neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) is a dimer its heavy chain is similar in structure to MHC class I proteins. Multiple functions have been shown for neonatal Fc receptor, as it mediates maternal transfer of IgG to offsprings, responsible for the maintenance of serum IgG level and plays an important role in immune respons-phagocytosis and antigen presentation. Like primates, rabbit maternal IgG transport occurs during the fetal life and mediated by the FcRn through the yolk sac. Although, there were several studies in analyzing IgG transport in rabbit yolk sac, the rabbit FcRn has not been cloned and analyzed so far. In order to have a better understanding in this valuable model, first we cloned the rabbit FcRn using RACE PCR and found that the coding region of the rabbit FcRn alpha-chain shows high similarity to the other mammalian orthologues. We also characterized the rabbit FcRn by detecting its expression in monocytes, macrophages, fetal placenta, yolk sac and amnion, though this last one presented less FcRn expression, by RT-PCR. We detected this receptor in the endothelial cells of the placental capillaries as well as in the apical region of endoderm cells in the yolk sac. We found that the rabbit FcRn, binds IgG in a pH dependent manner, like its other mammalian FcRns. These results confirm that the rabbit Fc receptor in the rabbit yolk sac is a bona fide FcRn receptor

A szarvasmarha neonatalis Fc receptor (bFcRn) által mediált IgG katabolizmus és epithelialis transzport molekuláris szintű elemzése = Studies on the bovine FcRn mediated IgG catabolism and epithelial transport at molecular level

A pályázat révén jelentősen bővítettük a szarvasmarha FcRn (bFcRn) szerepéről alkotott ismereteinket arról hogyan szabályozza ez a receptor az IgG homeosztázisát. Egyik legfontosabb eredményünknek tartjuk, hogy tisztáztuk a bFcRn szerepét tőgy IgG transzport folyamatában. Felületi plazmon rezonancia elemzéseinkkel kimutattuk, hogy a receptor lényegesen nagyobb affinitással kötődik a bovin IgG2, mint az IgG1 izotípushoz. A tejmirigyben kifejeződő bFcRn transzgenikus egerek elemzésével pedig megállapítottuk, hogy a nagyobb mértékű receptor kifejeződés jelentősen növeli az állatok szérum IgG szintjét, és csak kismértékben a tej IgG koncentrációját. E két megfigyelés alapján kijelenthető, hogy a bFcRn a tőgyben nem az IgG1-et szekretálja, hanem az IgG2-t juttatja vissza a keringésbe, megakadályozza ennek az izotípusnak a tejbe történő kiürülését. Szarvasmarhában végzett IgG kiürülési vizsgálatainkkal megállapítottuk, hogy a bFcRn aktívan közreműködik az IgG lebomlásának szabályozásában. A bFcRn-t faj-specifikus, test szerte kifejeződő transzgenikus egerekben végzett elemzéseink kimutatták, hogy az FcRn kifejeződésének fokozása csökkenti az IgG lebomlását és immunizálást követően fokozza az antigén specifikus B limfociták termelődését. Ennek köszönhetően ezeknek az állatoknak az antigén specifikus ellenanyag termelése lényegesen meghaladja a hagyományos állatokét. Ez utóbbi felismerés gazdasági hasznosítására a kutatók létrehozták az ImmunoGenes Kft-et (www.immunogenes.com). | In the frame of this grant, we significantly extended our knowledge about the role of the bovine FcRn (bFcRn) in the IgG homeostasis. One of our most important results was to clarify the role of this receptor in the IgG transport during colostrum formation. By using surface plasmon resonance assay, we could show that the FcRn binds to bovine IgG2 at a much higher affinity as compared to the IgG1 isotype. Transgenic mice that express bFcRn exclusively in their mammary gland during lactation showed significantly higher serum IgG level, while the IgG concentration in the milk was only slightly increased. Based on these two observations, we concluded that the bFcRn recycles IgG2 to the blood from the mammary gland, instead of secreting IgG1 into colostrums/milk. Results on IgG clearance studies in cattle showed that the bFcRn plays an important role in IgG protection regulating its catabolism. Our other transgenic mice that express the bFcRn in species specific mode throughout the body showed reduced IgG catabolism and enhanced antigen specific B cell production upon immunization. Due to these two effects the antigen specific antibody production is significantly improved in these animals. Based on this latter observation researchers founded ImmunoGenes Kft (www.immunogenes.com) to execute a plan towards creating a profitable company

Tumorőssejtek szerepe a melanoma progressziójában és heterogenitásában

Over the past decade a rare cell population called cancer stem cells has been identified in both solid tumors and hematologic cancers. These cells are reminiscent of somatic and embryonic stem cells and play a critical role in the initiation and progression of malignancies. As all stem cells, they are able to undergo asymmetric cell division and hence renew themselves and create various other progenies with heterogenous phenotypes. A growing body of literature suggested that stem cell subpopulations contribute significantly to the growth and metastatic properties of melanoma. This review gives a comprehensive overview of the current literature on melanoma stem cells, with a special emphasis on the signaling pathways responsible for the homeostatic growth of melanocytes and the uncontrolled proliferation of melanoma cells. The importance of the local microenvironment are demonstrated through summarizing the role of various cell types, soluble factors and cell adhesion molecules in the progression of melanoma and the creation of treatment resistant cancer cell clones. Last but not least, the models of melanoma progression will be introduced and a variety of cellular markers will be presented that may be used to identify and therapeutically target melanoma. Orv. Hetil., 2016, 157(34), 1339-1348

Comparing global and regional downscaled NWP models for irradiance and photovoltaic power forecasting: ECMWF versus AROME

Inspecting the literature, much effort has been placed on the verification of irradiance forecasts from numerical weather prediction (NWP) models, as such forecasts are thought to have profound implications on the photovoltaic (PV) power forecasts, which in turn affects grid operators' confidence in integrating such power into the electricity grid. However, perhaps due to the proprietary nature of PV plants and lack of access to state-of-the-art NWP model output, only few have had the chance to conduct head-to-head comparisons of global mesoscale and regional downscaled NWP models, in terms of how their irradiance forecast inaccuracies propagate to PV power forecasts. In this regard, this work presents such a study, in which irradiance and PV power forecasts from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts' High-Resolution (HRES) and Météo-France's Application of Research to Operations at Mesoscale (AROME) models are thoroughly verified against the ground-based measurements from 32 research-grade radiometry stations and 94 actual PV plants in Hungary. A wide range of techniques and case studies concerning verification is herein considered, including variance ratio analysis, Murphy–Winkler decomposition, point-versus-areal verification, and seasonal verification. Despite that the results are too numerous to be summarized in a few sentences, the overarching observation from the verification exercise is that the performance of irradiance forecasts can only be used to infer that of PV power forecasts to a certain extent, which contrasts the conventional wisdom

Effects of lower screening activity during the COVID-19 pandemic on breast cancer patient pathways

We examined the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the screening, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer in Hungary based on administrative data until June 2021, covering three pandemic waves. After correcting for trend and seasonality, the number of mammography examinations decreased by 68% in 2020q2, was around its usual level in 2020q3 and was reduced by 20–35% throughout 2020q4-2021q2. The reduction was caused by a combination of supply-side (temporary suspensions of screening) and demand-side (lower screening participation during the pandemic waves) factors. The number of new breast cancer diagnoses and mastectomy surgeries responded with a lag, and were below their usual level by 15-30% in all quarters between 2020q2 and 2021q2, apart from 2020q4, when there was no significant difference. Using a regression discontinuity framework, we found that the partial mastectomy rate (indicative of early diagnosis) dropped more substantially in 2020q2 in the 61–65 years old age group that was just below the age cut-off of organized screening than in the 66–70 years old age group, and this difference was partially offset in 2021q1. We suggest that policymakers need to motivate the target population (by providing both information and incentives) to catch up on missed screenings