Government and self-government in in the information society

Research on the information society and the policies and strategies for its creation has tended to discuss them rationally as the national, and occasionally international or regional, responses to changes in the competitive environment. The predominant notion of the information society in various levels of governance has only rarely been critically examined. The paper provides a Foucauldian analysis of the constitution of the information society as a political and policy imperative at the level of the European Union and the multiple effects it had for its member states. Drawing on ideas on governmentality and regimes of truth, I argue that the European Commission continually shaped the rationality and identity of the information society it heralded, by managing to set itself as the legitimate locus of policy for the information society. In revealing the dominant discursive truths about the European information society, the research discusses how the truth claims about the construction of a particular version of the information society and the legitimate loci of its government shaped the degrees of freedom of the Greek policy makers through a range of disciplining and selfdisciplining practices

Clinical and kidney structural characteristics of living kidney donors with nephrolithiasis and their long-term outcomes

Background: Nephrolithiasis in living kidney donors is concerning due to the potential impact on long-term postdonation kidney function. Methods: We performed a cohort study of living kidney donors from 2 centers with a baseline computed tomography scan and implantation renal biopsy. Donors (\u3e5 y since donation) completed a follow-up survey or underwent chart review to assess eGFR and incident hypertension. Stone formers were classified as symptomatic if they had a past symptomatic episode or asymptomatic if only incidental radiographic kidney stones were identified during donor evaluation. We compared baseline clinical, imaging, and biopsy characteristics by stone former status including review of metabolic evaluations in stone formers. Long-term risks of renal complications (low eGFR and hypertension) by stone former status were evaluated. Results: There were 12 symptomatic and 76 asymptomatic stone formers among 866 donors. Overall, baseline clinical characteristics and implantation biopsy findings were similar between stone formers and non-stone formers. After a median follow-up of 10 y, stone former status was not associated with eGFR \u3c60 mL/min/1.73 m2, eGFR \u3c45 mL/min/1.73 m Conclusions: Both asymptomatic and symptomatic SF have favorable histology findings at baseline. Long-term kidney outcomes were favorable in select stone formers with no evident increased long-term risk for decreased kidney function or hypertension after donation

LABOR IMPORTATION AS THE STEROID FOR NATIONS’ ICT SUCCESS: A DEBATE

Research on the information society and the policies and strategies for its creation has tended to discuss them rationally as the national, and occasionally international or regional, responses to changes in the competitive environment. The predominant notion of the information society in various levels of governance has only rarely been critically examined. The paper provides a Foucauldian analysis of the constitution of the information society as a political and policy imperative at the level of the European Union and the multiple effects it had for its member states. Drawing on ideas on governmentality and regimes of truth, I argue that the European Commission continually shaped the rationality and identity of the information society it heralded, by managing to set itself as the legitimate locus of policy for the information society. In revealing the dominant discursive truths about the European information society, the research discusses how the truth claims about the construction of a particular version of the information society and the legitimate loci of its government shaped the degrees of freedom of the Greek policy makers through a range of disciplining and selfdisciplining practices

A decrease in glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity and mRNA is an early event in phorbol ester-induced differentiation of THP-1 promonocytic leukemia cells

Redox modification of regulatory proteins implicates the glutathione redox system (GRS) in the control of gene expression. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) provides reducing equivalents for the GRS, and it has been suggested that high levels of G6PD in preneoplastic lesions are directly related to neoplastic transformation. We have used THP-1 human promonocytic leukemia cells, an established model of induced macrophage differentiation, to test an important corollary of this hypothesis, viz., that a decrease in G6PD activity should accompany the loss of the transformed phenotype. Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) arrests the constitutive cycling of THP-1 and induces a phenotype that approaches normalcy. We measured the specific activities of the GRS enzymes, G6PD, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione reductase during the early stages of phorbol ester-induced differentiation of THP-1 cells. We observed an 80% decrease in G6PD activity and an increase in the apparent K(M) for glucose 6-phosphate. In contrast, glutathione peroxidase (GPX) activity increased, while glutathione reductase (GR) activity remained essentially constant. The reduction in G6PD activity, preceding the loss of the transformed phenotype, is accompanied by a fourfold decrease in steady-state levels of G6PD mRNA. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that high levels of G6PD are causally related to neoplastic transformation