Divided Memories About Building Peace in Chechnya (1995-2004)

The conflicts in and around Chechnya are intractable, with a perceived impossibility to find a negotiated solution. This paper focuses on the hostage crises of Budennovsk (1995) and Beslan (2004) which are episodes from the two Chechnya Wars and had an important impact on their further course. Based on the memories of key actors representing specific sides of the conflict, the paper identifies and contextualizes diverging approaches to negotiations and conflict settlement. Conceptual support for this analysis of open-source materials is provided by the theoretical literature on “ripeness” and “readiness” as conditions for the initiation and successful conduction of negotiations. The paper finds that it is not only the divisions between the different sides of the conflict that affected the chances of negotiated peace, but those within the Russian and Chechen constitutions themselves

Perspectives de valorisation des fonds d’archives sonores et audiovisuelles de la RTS pour le jeune public sur les réseaux sociaux

Ce travail de Bachelor a pour objet de proposer des solutions de mise en valeur des fonds d’archives audiovisuelles et sonores de la RTS sur les réseaux sociaux. L’objectif est d’atteindre un public cible âgé de 18 à 25 ans, soit des représentants des générations Y et Z. Le service Données et Archives (D+A) de la RTS met en valeur depuis quelques années ses fonds d’archives, mais peine encore à toucher ce public, même via les médias et réseaux sociaux. Ce projet s’articule en trois parties principales. La première présente un état des lieux des pratiques de mise en valeur des archives par le service D+A, et une comparaison avec les méthodes de valorisation d’autres institutions aux missions similaires. Il est ensuite question, dans la deuxième partie de ce travail, de l’utilisation des médias et réseaux sociaux par le public cible, soit les jeunes de 18 à 25 ans. Enfin, dans la dernière partie et à partir des informations récoltées précédemment, nous nous intéressons à la mise en valeur des archives audiovisuelles et sonores, et proposons des solutions de valorisation pertinentes pour chaque type d’archives. A la suite de nos recherches, nous avons déterminé que, pour mettre en valeur de manière optimale des archives, qu’elles soient audiovisuelles ou sonores, il est nécessaire de choisir correctement les contenus à publier et de connaître le public ciblé. En effet, si certaines archives réussissent à toucher plusieurs générations, d’autres sont clairement destinées à atteindre une certaine tranche d’âge. Dans le cas des 18-25 ans, nous avons identifié un certain nombre de thématiques qui puissent les toucher, ainsi qu’une période de temps, les années 1990 à 2000, durant laquelle les archives à mettre en valeur doivent avoir été produites. Cette période correspond à l’enfance de notre public cible. Enfin, nous nous sommes concentrés plus précisément sur les archives sonores d’une part et les archives audiovisuelles d’autre part, afin de proposer des solutions de mise en valeur adaptées à chacun de ces formats. Nous avons alors déterminé qu’il était nécessaire d’illustrer les archives sonores pour qu’elles s’inscrivent mieux dans la dynamique des réseaux sociaux. Les archives audiovisuelles quant à elles devront être présentées sous la forme de courtes capsules regroupant un ou plusieurs extraits d’archives datant d’après les années 1990

Amino-terminal cysteine residues of RGS16 are required for palmitoylation and modulation of G(i)- and G(q)-mediated signaling

RGS proteins (Regulators of G protein Signaling) are a recently discovered family of proteins that accelerate the GTPase activity of heterotrimeric G protein α subunits of the i, q, and 12 classes. The proteins share a homologous core domain but have divergent amino-terminal sequences that are the site of palmitoylation for RGS-GAIP and RGS4. We investigated the function of palmitoylation for RGS16, which shares conserved amino-terminal cysteines with RGS4 and RGS5. Mutation of cysteine residues at residues 2 and 12 blocked the incorporation of [3H]palmitate into RGS16 in metabolic labeling studies of transfected cells or into purified RGS proteins in a cell-free palmitoylation assay. The purified RGS16 proteins with the cysteine mutations were still able to act as GTPase-activating protein for Giα. Inhibition or a decrease in palmitoylation did not significantly change the amount of protein that was membrane-associated. However, palmitoylation-defective RGS16 mutants demonstrated impaired ability to inhibit both Gi- and Gq-linked signaling pathways when expressed in HEK293T cells. These findings suggest that the amino-terminal region of RGS16 may affect the affinity of these proteins for Gα subunits in vivo or that palmitoylation localizes the RGS protein in close proximity to Gα subunits on cellular membranes

Raised serum levels of syndecan-1 (CD138), in a case of acute idiopathic systemic capillary leak syndrome (SCLS) (Clarkson's disease)

BACKGROUND Systemic capillary leak syndrome (SCLS) (Clarkson's disease) is a rare disorder of unknown etiology, characterized by transient episodes of hypotension, and the microvascular leak of fluids into the peripheral tissues, resulting in edema. Between 80-90% of patients with SCLS have a concomitant monoclonal gammopathy. Although translational in vitro studies have implicated vascular endothelial barrier dysfunction in the etiology of SCLS, the etiology and disease associations in clinical cases remain unknown. CASE REPORT We report a case of SCLS in a 49-year-old woman who initially presented with an upper respiratory tract infection, which was complicated by edema and compartment syndromes in the extremities that required fasciotomies. Serum levels of the cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycan, syndecan-1 (CD138), a measure of endothelial surface glycocalyx (ESG) damage, were measured by enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA), peaked at up to 500 ng/mL (reference range, 50-100 ng/mL) and normalized on disease remission. CONCLUSIONS This case report supports the view that damage to the microvascular endothelium, has a role in the pathogenesis of acute SCLS. This case also indicated that monitoring serum levels of syndecan-1 (CD138) might be used to monitor the progression and resolution of episodes of SCLS.publishedVersio

Shifting Between Mental Sets: An Individual Differences Approach to Commonalities and Differences of Task Switching Components.

Switching between mental sets has been extensively investigated in both experimental and individual differences research using a wide range of task-switch paradigms. However, it is yet unclear whether these different tasks measure a unitary shifting ability or reflect different facets thereof. In this study, 20 task pairs were administered to 119 young adults to assess 5 proposed components of mental set shifting: switching between judgments, stimulus dimensions, stimulus–response mappings, response sets, and stimulus sets. Modeling latent factors for each of the components revealed that a model with 5 separate yet mostly correlated factors fit the data best. In this model, the components most strongly related to the other latent factors were stimulus–response mapping shifting and, to a lesser degree, response set shifting. In addition, both factors were statistically indistinguishable from a second-order general shifting factor. In contrast, shifting between judgments as well as stimulus dimensions consistently required separate factors and could, hence, not fully be accounted for by the general shifting factor. Finally, shifting between stimulus sets was unrelated to any other shifting component but mapping shifting. We conclude that tasks assessing shifting between mappings are most adequate to assess general shifting ability. In contrast, shifting between stimulus sets (e.g., as in the Trail Making Test) probably reflects shifts in visual attention rather than executive shifting ability

Structure-based design, synthesis, and pharmacologic evaluation tf peptide RGS4 inhibitors

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75124/1/j.1399-3011.2003.00114.x.pd

Inflammatory Markers of the Systemic Capillary Leak Syndrome (Clarkson Disease)

Objectives: The Systemic Capillary Leak Syndrome (SCLS) is a rare and potentially fatal disorder resembling systemic anaphylaxis that is characterized by transient episodes of hypotensive shock and peripheral edema. The pathogenesis of SCLS is unknown, and triggers for attacks are apparent only in a minority of patients. We introduce a clinical algorithm for the diagnosis of SCLS, and we investigated potential serum biomarkers of acute SCLS episodes. Methods: We analyzed serum cytokines in a cohort of 35 patients with an established diagnosis of SCLS and characterized the effects of SCLS sera on endothelial cell function. We investigated the cellular source(s) of CXCL10, a chemokine that was significantly elevated in both basal and acute SCLS sera, by flow cytometry. Results: Several cytokines were elevated in acute SCLS sera compared to baseline or sera from healthy controls, including CXCL10, CCL2, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-12 and TNFα. The majority of acute sera failed to activate endothelial cells as assessed by surface adhesion marker expression. Monocytes appear to be the major source of serum CXCL10, and the percentage of CXLC10+ monocytes in response to IFNγ stimulation was increased in SCLS subjects compared to controls. Conclusions: The presence of proinflammatory cytokines in acute SCLS sera suggests that inflammation or infection may have a role in triggering episodes. The enhanced capacity of monocytes from SCLS patients to produce CXCL10 suggests a new therapeutic avenue for SCLS