Snail2 directly represses cadherin6B during epithelial-to-mesenchymal transitions of the neural crest

The neural crest, a transient population of migratory cells, forms the craniofacial skeleton and peripheral nervous system, among other derivatives in vertebrate embryos. The transcriptional repressor Snail2 is thought to be crucial for the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) that promotes neural crest delamination from the neural tube; however, little is known about its downstream targets. To this end, we depleted avian Snail2 in the premigratory neural crest using morpholino antisense oligonucleotides and examined effects on potential targets by quantitative PCR. Several dorsal neural tube genes were upregulated by alleviating Snail2 repression; moreover, the cell adhesion molecule cadherin6B was derepressed within 30 minutes of blocking Snail2 translation. Examination of the chick cadherin6B genomic sequence reveals that the regulatory region contains three pairs of clustered E boxes, representing putative Snail2 binding sites. Furthermore, in vivo and in vitro biochemical analyses demonstrate that Snail2 directly binds to these sites and regulates cadherin6B transcription. These results are the first to describe a direct target of Snail2 repression in vivo and in the context of the EMT that characterizes neural crest developmen

City as lens: (re)imagining youth in Glasgow and Hong Kong

In recent years, a paradox has emerged in the study of youth. On the one hand, in the context of the processes of globalization, neoliberalism and precarity, the patterning of leisure and work for young people is becoming increasingly convergent across time and space. On the other hand, it is clear that young people’s habits and dispositions remain deeply tied to local places, with global processes filtered and refracted through specific cultural contexts. Against this backdrop, drawing on an Economic and Social Research Council/Research Grants Council (ESRC/RGC)-funded study of contemporary youth in Glasgow and Hong Kong, this article seeks to explore the role of the city as a mediating lens between global forces and local impacts. Utilizing both historical and contemporary data, the article argues that despite parallels in the impact of global forces on the structure of everyday life and work, young people’s leisure habits remain rooted in the fates and fortunes of their respective cities

The accountant's social background and stereotype in popular culture: The novels of Alexander Clark Smith

Purpose – The paper aims to explore the social origins of Scottish chartered accountants and the accounting stereotype as portrayed in popular fiction. Design/methodology/approach – The detective novels of the Scottish chartered accountant Alexander Clark Smith are used as a lens through which to explore the social origins of accountants and the changing popular representations of the accountant. Findings – The novels contribute to our understanding of the construction of accounting stereotypes and of the social origins of Scottish accountants. They suggest that, while working class access to the profession was a reality, so was class division within it. In addition, Smith was ahead of contemporary professional discourse in creating a protagonist who combines the positive aspects of the traditional stereotype with qualities of a private-eye action-hero, and who uses accounting skills to uncover corruption and address (social) wrongs. However, this unconventional portrayal may have been incongruent with the image the profession wished to portray. The public image (or stereotype) portrayed by its members would have been as important in signalling and maintaining the profession's collective status as the recruitment of its leadership from social elites. Originality/value – Smith's portrayal of accountants in personal and societal settings at a time of profound social change, as well as his background in the Scottish profession, provide a rich source for the study of social origins of Scottish chartered accountancy during the first half of the twentieth century. Further, Smith's novels are of a popular genre, and innovative in the construction of their hero and of accounting itself; as such they merit attention because of their potential to influence the construction of the accounting stereotype(s) within the popular imagination

A Knowledge Management Approach: Business Intelligence in an Intranet Data Warehouse

For contemporary businesses to stay viable, businessintelligence is mission critical. Although the importance ofbusiness intelligence is recognised, there is limited research onwhat information contributes to business intelligence and howbusiness intelligence is sought for use in an organisationalintranet. This research discusses how business intelligence issought, captured and used having tapped into an intranet datawarehouse as a knowledge management approach. It adoptsqualitative case study method using interviews and observationtechniques. A case study was conducted to examine how anIntranet system was designed, how business intelligence wascaptured, and how it aided strategic planning and decisionmaking in business operation. The respondents explained howstructured business intelligence data was categorised anddisseminated to users and how the used information empoweredstaff in their work performance. The intranet design successfullyretains staff knowledge within the organisation. It was alsosuccessful in drawing all internal resources together, capturingresources from external sources, and forming a commonrepository of organisational assets for use through organisationalwork procedures within the intranet

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Results of a survey on the value of PNLA membership

Recycling signals in the neural crest

Vertebrate neural crest cells are multipotent and differentiate into structures that include cartilage and the bones of the face, as well as much of the peripheral nervous system. Understanding how different model vertebrates utilize signaling pathways reiteratively during various stages of neural crest formation and differentiation lends insight into human disorders associated with the neural crest

Self-control as a predictor of drug use: A study with university students in Botswana

The study examined the relatonship between self-control and drug use among university students in Botswana. Bandura’s social cognitve theory of self-regulaton provided the theoretcal framework for the study. Among the 269 partcipants with a mean age of 20.9 years (SD = 1.8), 72.9% were female and 27.1% were male. Instruments employed were the Brief Self-control Scale and the Drug Abuse Screening Test. Drug users had signifcantly lower self-control scores than non-drug users (t = 4.57, p = 0.000). Levels of drug use were negatvely associated with self-control (r = -0.33, p = 0.006). Partcipants who had stopped using drugs had signifcantly higher self-control scores (t = 2.38, p = 0.020). Low self-control, male gender and higher level of studies explained between 16.9% (Cox & Snell) and 29.9% (Nagelkerke) of the variaton in whether or not students had used drugs, with self-control having the strongest predictve ability (p = 0.001). The results of this study imply that self-control does play a pertnent role in whether or not young people engage in drug use. The results are discussed with regard to drug use preventon and treatment strategies that should equip young people with skills and techniques in self-control to protect them against drug use and abuse.Keywords: Botswana, drug use, gender, self-control, self-regulaton, university student

Precarious leisure: (re)imagining youth, transitions and temporality

The precarity of young people’s transitions to work has been a longstanding focus in youth studies. As Furlong and others have demonstrated, processes of social, political and economic restructuring have led to a pronounced instability for young people entering the labour market. While the notion of labour market precarity has gained attention, the ‘contamination’ of precarity into other spheres of life such as leisure has been less developed. This article seeks to extend these debates through interrogation of the concept of ‘leisure precarity’. Drawing on a qualitative study of youth leisure in Glasgow, it argues that temporal anxieties have reframed young people’s experiences and understandings of leisure such that young people have come to fear ‘empty’ or unproductive time. The pressures of juggling work and study, or looking for work, meant that most participants in our research had limited time free for leisure, and temporal rhythms became fragmented between past, present and future. The paper argues that these multiple and contradictory leisure dispositions reveal new forms of individualisation and uncertainty, as well as traditional patterns of inequality, thereby bringing youth transitions into dialogue with the study of precarity in the twenty-first century