Narratives of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in the Hungarian Context of Vulnerability : In-depth analysis of the experiences of service delivery practitioners

This thesis explores how the Hungarian service delivery practitioners construct the vulnerability narratives of their asylum seeker and refugee clients and how they reflect on the implications of their intervention. For the method of inquiry, the study employs qualitative thematic analysis in order to identify reoccurring themes and patterns within the material written by professionals, paraprofessionals, and volunteers. When applying the concept of vulnerability and reflexivity in service delivery practice, the analysis suggests that the consequences of war, conflict, fear of persecution, and the hostile environment in Hungary further perpetuate clients' vulnerability. Furthermore, mental health issues, the lack of access to education, the unemployment problems resulting in financial hardship, and housing difficulties are all impacting the vulnerability experiences and coping mechanisms. Also, the material suggests that besides the objective categorizations of vulnerability, there are also its subjective perceptions that emerge in the narratives through the reflections of service delivery practitioners, expanding the concept of vulnerability.

Synthesis of a heparan sulfate mimetic library targeting FGF and VEGF via click chemistry on a monosaccharide template

A disulfated methyl 6-azido-6-deoxy-a-D-mannopyranoside template was used as a core structure for binding to the angiogenic growth factors FGF-1, FGF-2, and VEGF. The core structure was diversified in a rapid, parallel manner by employing the CuI-catalyzed Huisgen azidealkyne cycloaddition (click) reaction. The diversity was further extended by incorporating a Swern oxidationWittig reaction sequence on a click adduct of propargyl alcohol. Thus, the sulfated core was linked by various spacers to selected hydrophobic or polar motifs, which were designed to probe the protein surface surrounding the cationic heparan sulfate binding sites of the growth factors in order to improve affinity and selectivity. The affinities of the compounds for the growth factors were measured by surface plasmon resonance solution affinity assays. A lead compound was identified with micromolar binding affinity toward both FGF-1 and VEGF (Kd=84 and 49 mu M, respectively) and good selectivity over FGF-2 (29- and 51-fold, respectively)