How normal is travelling abroad? Differences in transnational mobility between groups of young Swedes

Travel across national borders is growing rapidly as a consequence of greater ease, and access to fast means, of transport, but also due to the reorganization of society and the stretching of social relations over large distances. Much recent writing on transnational mobility has argued that long-distance travel is increasingly a normal and sometimes a necessary part of ordinary life for many people in richer countries. This paper investigates differences in the extent of transnational mobility between groups of Swedish youth with different socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. The study includes eight groups (162 individuals) of students in the last year of senior secondary school (16 – 19 years old). Comparisons are based on the respondents’ mobility biographies—information about all trips abroad taken during childhood and adolescence. One important finding of the study is the very large difference in transnational mobility—in particular, aeromobility—between the most mobile group and the other groups. Those in the most mobile group attend a privately run school in a central urban location; the majority of students in this group have at least one parent in a managerial position. The study also finds that there is a substantial difference in transnational mobility between youth living in an urban versus a rural environment. Taken together, the results confirm the idea of transnational mobility as a critical differentiating factor. Furthermore, the results presented here do not assign transnational social relations a prominent role in shaping the distribution of mobility between youth belonging to different social groups in Swedish society. Of overwhelming importance in this respect is the extent to which holiday leisure travel is available and prioritized.

Personal mobility: a corporeal dimension of transnationalisation. The case of long-distance travel from Sweden

Mobility is a key concept within recent social theorising on globalisation, transnationalisation of social relations, and new divisions of society. Mobility growth is also central to issues of global warming and the need for sustainable development. The aim of this paper is to elucidate empirically some properties of recent developments in international mobility. A theoretically informed understanding of changing patterns of long-distance travel is briefly outlined. This understanding is confronted with empirical findings concerning the actual development of international travel from Sweden during the 1990s. The findings confirm expected trends of further increasing intensity, extensity, and velocity in long-distance mobility. A tendency towards globalisation is observed, though an intraregional transnationalisation is the dominant process at work. It is concluded that an increasing short-term flexibilisation in people's use of time and space is a more important driving force behind the transnationalisation of mobility, than is the geographical extension of more enduring social relations. Influencing factors behind the social division of mobility are addressed by identifying the hypermobile segment of the population. Implications for the wider issues of globalisation and environmental sustainability are discussed.

The active metabolite of Clopidogrel disrupts P2Y12 receptor oligomers and partitions them out of lipid rafts

P2Y12, a G protein-coupled receptor that plays a central role in platelet activation has been recently identified as the receptor targeted by the antithrombotic drug, clopidogrel. In this study, we further deciphered the mechanism of action of clopidogrel and of its active metabolite (Act-Met) on P2Y12 receptors. Using biochemical approaches, we demonstrated the existence of homooligomeric complexes of P2Y12 receptors at the surface of mammalian cells and in freshly isolated platelets. In vitro treatment with Act-Met or in vivo oral administration to rats with clopidogrel induced the breakdown of these oligomers into dimeric and monomeric entities in P2Y12 expressing HEK293 and platelets respectively. In addition, we showed the predominant association of P2Y12 oligomers to cell membrane lipid rafts and the partitioning of P2Y12 out of rafts in response to clopidogrel and Act-Met. The raft-associated P2Y12 oligomers represented the functional form of the receptor, as demonstrated by binding and signal transduction studies. Finally, using a series of receptors individually mutated at each cysteine residue and a chimeric P2Y12/P2Y13 receptor, we pointed out the involvement of cysteine 97 within the first extracellular loop of P2Y12 in the mechanism of action of Act-Met

A High-Coverage Genome Sequence from an Archaic Denisovan Individual

We present a DNA library preparation method that has allowed us to reconstruct a high-coverage (30×) genome sequence of a Denisovan, an extinct relative of Neandertals. The quality of this genome allows a direct estimation of Denisovan heterozygosity indicating that genetic diversity in these archaic hominins was extremely low. It also allows tentative dating of the specimen on the basis of “missing evolution” in its genome, detailed measurements of Denisovan and Neandertal admixture into present-day human populations, and the generation of a near-complete catalog of genetic changes that swept to high frequency in modern humans since their divergence from Denisovans