A political biography of Hungary's first post-Communist President, Árpád Göncz

Hungary's political transformation of 1989 has been generally regarded as a peaceful revolution negotiated between the ruling Communists and the opposition. During the National Roundtable Negotiations, the fundamental framework of governance - including the amendment of the Constitution - was decided by members of Hungary's political elite. Hungary's mode of transition to democracy was an elite-led transformation and this was distinct from Czechoslovakia and Poland where the interests of society had been represented - to a large degree - by the likes of Vaclav Havel and Lech Walesa. In view of this, some critics argued that compared to Poland and Czechoslovakia, Hungary had no equivalent high-profile figure who could break with the Communist past and claim the ideas of a new democracy. Hungary, however, had its own figure with democratic credentials. Árpád Göncz, who came to prominence during the inter-war period has been one time or another, a student resistance leader during Nazi occupation in Hungary, a steelworker, an agriculturalist, a literary translator and, he subsequently became the first post-Communist President of Hungary. He experienced the major events of Hungarian history first hand, including the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. During this pivotal time, Göncz undertook a significant role in the resistance that followed the suppression of the Revolution; he was sentenced to life imprisonment as a result. His democratic activities were widely acknowledged by political elites and the general public alike. This, in turn, contributed to his election to the Presidency. Significantly, however, much of the existing literature on Hungary's post-Soviet political development has not attached a high degree of importance to Göncz's role in Hungarian history or his political achievements. At present, there are no biographies of Göncz either in English or Hungarian. Thus this thesis, as the first English language scholarly biography, addresses a gap in the literature through the narration of the story of Göncz's life; an expansive account of Göncz's life is situated within a framework of the wider historical, political and social concerns of his generation. Specifically, the following questions are addressed: how were Göncz's political beliefs developed and how did these beliefs later inform his term as the first post-Communist President of Hungary? Narrative analysis and elite interviewing are employed as the main research methods in order to explore the development of Göncz's political beliefs and their significance for the understanding of Hungarian politics. It is argued that as a whole, Göncz made important contributions to the development of Hungarian democracy. Though not born into a political family and constrained by external forces beyond his control, Göncz attempted to address some of the key social and political problems of the age. It is also argued that the decade of Göncz's Presidency was crucial for the shaping of the basic institutional tenets of governance in post-Soviet Hungary. Despite his lack of experience of governance, Göncz created a template for the role of President and significantly affected the demarcation of powers between president and government in the ever-evolving context of the process of political transformation. While his interpretation of the presidential powers and responsibility was not, and could not be regarded as positive in all respects, Göncz's Presidency was imbuded by his liberal and democratic values

Notified Incidence of Tuberculosis in Foreign-born Individuals in Jeju Province, Republic of Korea

Objectives In the Republic of Korea (ROK), the notified incidence of tuberculosis in foreign-born individuals (NITFBI) has increased recently, as has the rate of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and rifampicin-resistant (RR) tuberculosis in foreigners staying in the ROK. As Jeju Province in ROK has a no-visa entry policy, control programs for NITFBI should be consolidated. The aim was to evaluate the status of NITFBI, with a focus on the distribution of MDR/RR tuberculosis by nationality. Methods Data on tuberculosis incidence in individuals born in Jeju Province and in foreign-born individuals were extracted from the Korean Statistical Information Service of Statistics Korea, and the Infectious Disease Surveillance Web Statistics of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, respectively. Results Among all notified incident cases of tuberculosis, the proportion of NITFBI increased from 1.46% in 2011 to 6.84% in 2017. China- and Vietnam-born individuals accounted for the greatest proportion of the 95 cases of NITFBI. Seven cases of MDR/RR tuberculosis were found, all involving patients born in China. Conclusions In Jeju Province, ROK, NITFBI might become more common in the near future. Countermeasures for controlling active tuberculosis in immigrants born in high-risk nations for tuberculosis should be prepared in Jeju Province, since it is a popular tourist destination

Cellular energy stress induces AMPK-mediated regulation of YAP and the Hippo pathway.

YAP (Yes-associated protein) is a transcription co-activator in the Hippo tumour suppressor pathway and controls cell growth, tissue homeostasis and organ size. YAP is inhibited by the kinase Lats, which phosphorylates YAP to induce its cytoplasmic localization and proteasomal degradation. YAP induces gene expression by binding to the TEAD family transcription factors. Dysregulation of the Hippo-YAP pathway is frequently observed in human cancers. Here we show that cellular energy stress induces YAP phosphorylation, in part due to AMPK-dependent Lats activation, thereby inhibiting YAP activity. Moreover, AMPK directly phosphorylates YAP Ser 94, a residue essential for the interaction with TEAD, thus disrupting the YAP-TEAD interaction. AMPK-induced YAP inhibition can suppress oncogenic transformation of Lats-null cells with high YAP activity. Our study establishes a molecular mechanism and functional significance of AMPK in linking cellular energy status to the Hippo-YAP pathway

Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases as Potential Regulators of STAT3 Signaling

The signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) protein is a major transcription factor involved in many cellular processes, such as cell growth and proliferation, differentiation, migration, and cell death or cell apoptosis. It is activated in response to a variety of extracellular stimuli including cytokines and growth factors. The aberrant activation of STAT3 contributes to several human diseases, particularly cancer. Consequently, STAT3-mediated signaling continues to be extensively studied in order to identify potential targets for the development of new and more effective clinical therapeutics. STAT3 activation can be regulated, either positively or negatively, by different posttranslational mechanisms including serine or tyrosine phosphorylation/dephosphorylation, acetylation, or demethylation. One of the major mechanisms that negatively regulates STAT3 activation is dephosphorylation of the tyrosine residue essential for its activation by protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs). There are seven PTPs that have been shown to dephosphorylate STAT3 and, thereby, regulate STAT3 signaling: PTP receptor-type D (PTPRD), PTP receptor-type T (PTPRT), PTP receptor-type K (PTPRK), Src homology region 2 (SH-2) domain-containing phosphatase 1(SHP1), SH-2 domain-containing phosphatase 2 (SHP2), MEG2/PTP non-receptor type 9 (PTPN9), and T-cell PTP (TC-PTP)/PTP non-receptor type 2 (PTPN2). These regulators have great potential as targets for the development of more effective therapies against human disease, including cancer

Prediction of a time-to-event trait using genome wide SNP data

BACKGROUND: A popular objective of many high-throughput genome projects is to discover various genomic markers associated with traits and develop statistical models to predict traits of future patients based on marker values. RESULTS: In this paper, we present a prediction method for time-to-event traits using genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We also propose a MaxTest associating between a time-to-event trait and a SNP accounting for its possible genetic models. The proposed MaxTest can help screen out nonprognostic SNPs and identify genetic models of prognostic SNPs. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated through simulations. CONCLUSIONS: In conjunction with the MaxTest, the proposed method provides more parsimonious prediction models but includes more prognostic SNPs than some naive prediction methods. The proposed method is demonstrated with real GWAS data

Primary Polydipsia in Children: Two Case Reports

Primary polydipsia (PP) is marked by an increase in thirst, and most often presents in patients with psychiatric illnesses. Although uncommon in children, we experienced cases of PP in a 15-month-old boy and a 5-year-old girl. Both were admitted to the hospital with symptoms of polydipsia and polyuria that appeared 1–3 months before admission. Brain magnetic resonance imaging in both patients was normal. A water restriction test was performed after hospitalization and showed normal results. The symptoms improved after the parents were instructed to implement water-intake restriction for 2 weeks. Our report provides useful information for the treatment of PP in children