Regimes of youth participation? Comparative analysis of youth policies and participation across European cities

This paper problematizes the assumption that national policies have a direct impact on youth participation at local level and analyses the relationships between local forms of youth participation and local and national policies. Relying on data from a EU project, the paper focuses on formally institutionalised settings of youth participation and elaborates local constellations of youth participation in six European cities. These constellations may be referred to as regimes of youth participation as they reflect wider structures of power and knowledge that influence the way in which young people’s practices in public spaces and their claims of being part of society are recognised. However, the analysis reveals that rather deducing it from the model of welfare regimes, such a typology needs to be developed starting from the local level and should consider the ways in which different relationships between local youth policies and national welfare states affect youth participation

Control of Cyclin C Levels during Development of Dictyostelium

Background: Cdk8 and its partner cyclin C form part of the mediator complex which links the basal transcription machinery to regulatory proteins. The pair are required for correct regulation of a subset of genes and have been implicated in control of development in a number of organisms including the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum. When feeding, Dictyostelium amoebae are unicellular but upon starvation they aggregate to form a multicellular structure which develops into a fruiting body containing spores. Cells in which the gene encoding Cdk8 has been deleted fail to enter aggregates due to a failure of early gene expression.Principal Findings: We have monitored the expression levels of cyclin C protein during development and find levels decrease after the multicellular mound is formed. This decrease is triggered by extracellular cAMP that, in turn, is working in part through an increase in intracellular cAMP. The loss of cyclin C is coincident with a reduction in the association of Cdk8 with a high molecular weight complex in the nucleus. Overexpression of cyclin C and Cdk8 lead to an increased rate of early development, consistent with the levels being rate limiting.Conclusions: Overall these results show that both cyclin C and Cdk8 are regulated during development in response to extracellular signals and the levels of these proteins are important in controlling the timing of developmental processes. These findings have important implications for the role of these proteins in controlling development, suggesting that they are targets for developmental signals to regulate gene expression.</p

CDK19 is disrupted in a female patient with bilateral congenital retinal folds, microcephaly and mild mental retardation

Microcephaly, mental retardation and congenital retinal folds along with other systemic features have previously been reported as a separate clinical entity. The sporadic nature of the syndrome and lack of clear inheritance patterns pointed to a genetic heterogeneity. Here, we report a genetic analysis of a female patient with microcephaly, congenital bilateral falciform retinal folds, nystagmus, and mental retardation. Karyotyping revealed a de novo pericentric inversion in chromosome 6 with breakpoints in 6p12.1 and 6q21. Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis narrowed down the region around the breakpoints, and the breakpoint at 6q21 was found to disrupt the CDK19 gene. CDK19 was found to be expressed in a diverse range of tissues including fetal eye and fetal brain. Quantitative PCR of the CDK19 transcript from Epstein–Barr virus-transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines of the patient revealed ~50% reduction in the transcript (p = 0.02), suggesting haploinsufficiency of the gene. cdk8, the closest orthologue of human CDK19 in Drosophila has been shown to play a major role in eye development. Conditional knock-down of Drosophila cdk8 in multiple dendrite (md) neurons resulted in 35% reduced dendritic branching and altered morphology of the dendritic arbour, which appeared to be due in part to a loss of small higher order branches. In addition, Cdk8 mutant md neurons showed diminished dendritic fields revealing an important role of the CDK19 orthologue in the developing nervous system of Drosophila. This is the first time the CDK19 gene, a component of the mediator co-activator complex, has been linked to a human disease

Rapport d'évaluation PRS «Santé des enfants et des jeunes»

Rapport à la DDASS du Nord Pas de Calais, 138 p

A lattice of participation: reflecting on examples of children's and young people's collective engagement in influencing social welfare policies and practices

The article introduces four case studies from Wales, France and Finland and explores the situated, intergenerational and dynamic nature of collective participation in child welfare settings. Collective participation is conceived of as a process of engagement in which children and young people have some influence over the initiation or direction of a project; and as seeking a product, or outcome. The case studies represent a range of forms of collective engagement and highlight some key resources which supported children's participation (communicative spaces, time, money, knowledge, social position, attitudes, social networks, institutional commitment, equipment, food and transport). Challenges encountered in achieving effective participation in different nations within Europe are also identified, related to generation barriers and the distribution of resources. These elements are used to construct a lattice of participation: a model for conceptualising children and young people's collective engagement in participatory projects. The model provides a tool for visualising how, at different stages of a project, actors (children, young facilitators, adults and institutions) exercise influence by directing the use of different resources, such as finance and time. It invites reflection on why influence is limited in some stages of a participatory project, and how it is supported in other stages.Artikkelissa tarkastellaan neljän tapaustutkimuksen avulla kollektiivista osallistumista lastensuojelupalveluissa sukupolvien välisiin suhteisiin ja paikallisiin käytäntöihin liittyvänä dynaamisena kysymyksenä. Artikkelin tapausesimerkit tulevat Walesista, Ranskasta ja Suomesta. Kollektiivinen osallistuminen ymmärretään prosessina jossa lapsilla ja nuorilla on vaikutusvaltaa tarkasteltavana olevan hankkeen syntyyn, tavoitteisiin ja myös lopputulokseen. Tapausesimerkit edustavat erilaisia kollektiivisen osallistumisen muotoja korostaen erityisesti osallistumista tukevien voimavarojen tärkeyttä (kommunikatiiviset tilat, aika, raha, tieto, sosiaalinen asema, asenteet, sosiaaliset verkostot, institutionaalinen sitoutuminen, tekniset ja tilalliset varusteet, ruoka ja liikkumismahdollisuudet). Kolmessa eurooppalaisessa maassa toteutettujen tapaustutkimusten avulla tuodaan esiin osallistumisen haasteita keskittymällä erityisesti voimavarojen jakaantumiseen ja sukupolvittaisiin asemiin. Näiden elementtien pohjalta rakennettu osallistumisen ristikko havainnollistaa lasten ja nuorten mahdollisuuksia toimia hankkeissa. Ristikkomalli tarjoaa työkalun jonka avulla voi visualisoida eri toimijoiden (lasten, nuorten fasilitaattoreiden, aikuisten ja instituutioiden) mahdollisuuksia vaikuttaa hankkeiden eri vaiheisiin ja erityisesti taloudellisiin ja ajankäytöllisiin kysymyksiin. Malli kutsuu esimerkiksi pohtimaan miksi vaikutusmahdollisuudet osallistumishankkeiden eri vaiheissa ovat erityisen rajoitettuja tai sallittuja.peerReviewe