Journalistic Independence: How social media are reshaping power structures in news broadcasting

Content provided via social media from various conflict hotspots raises the question as to how social media are changing news broadcasting. Social media are and still continue playing a major role in the on-going Arab Spring, Occupy, and Wall Street movements.[i] Developments such as this highlight the important role of social media regarding the opinion forming process in the public domain during times of war and social unrest.The conflict in Ukraine serves as an example: news broadcasters have been reproached of one sided reporting, i.e. the role of neo-fascists in the new Ukrainian government has been understated and Russia stands accused to have sent troops into Ukraine. Social media are increasingly used by news organisations and citizens alike to report from the frontlines. Can social media deliver on its promises of more democracy and transparency in news broadcasting?At the same time it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between real user-generated content and content provided by questionable sources delivering social media propaganda. An example is the portrayal of Arseni Jakzenjuk, former and unelected president of Ukraine: manipulated pictures of him have been circulating online creating the impression that he was greeting visitors to a rally with a Nazi salute[ii].The civil conflict in Ukraine demonstrates how social media challenge the domination of traditional mass broadcast media. User generated content and the unique characteristics of social media are challenging the traditional relations between media and political authorities. Responding to these new developments, political authorities are changing their audience outreach strategies.This paper examines how users are reading mainstream news and are participating in the production of information on social media.  Are social media providing a real alternative to mainstream news? Can citizens make better choices based on social media information? How much misinformation is saturating social media to confuse the public domain? 

Molecular Signatures of Prostate Stem Cells Reveal Novel Signaling Pathways and Provide Insights into Prostate Cancer

BACKGROUND:The global gene expression profiles of adult and fetal murine prostate stem cells were determined to define common and unique regulators whose misexpression might play a role in the development of prostate cancer. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:A distinctive core of transcriptional regulators common to both fetal and adult primitive prostate cells was identified as well as molecules that are exclusive to each population. Elements common to fetal and adult prostate stem cells include expression profiles of Wnt, Shh and other pathways identified in stem cells of other organs, signatures of the aryl-hydrocarbon receptor, and up-regulation of components of the aldehyde dehydrogenase/retinoic acid receptor axis. There is also a significant lipid metabolism signature, marked by overexpression of lipid metabolizing enzymes and the presence of the binding motif for Srebp1. The fetal stem cell population, characterized by more rapid proliferation and self-renewal, expresses regulators of the cell cycle, such as E2f, Nfy, Tead2 and Ap2, at elevated levels, while adult stem cells show a signature in which TGF-beta has a prominent role. Finally, comparison of the signatures of primitive prostate cells with previously described profiles of human prostate tumors identified stem cell molecules and pathways with deregulated expression in prostate tumors including chromatin modifiers and the oncogene, Erg. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:Our data indicate that adult prostate stem or progenitor cells may acquire characteristics of self-renewing primitive fetal prostate cells during oncogenesis and suggest that aberrant activation of components of prostate stem cell pathways may contribute to the development of prostate tumors

Xenobiotic Metabolism, Disposition, and Regulation by Receptors: From Biochemical Phenomenon to Predictors of Major Toxicities

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Society of Toxicology, this special edition article reviews the history and current scope of xenobiotic metabolism and transport, with special emphasis on the discoveries and impact of selected “xenobiotic receptors.” This overall research realm has witnessed dynamic development in the past 50 years, and several of the key milestone events that mark the impressive progress in these areas of toxicological sciences are highlighted. From the initial observations regarding aspects of drug metabolism dating from the mid- to late 1800’s, the area of biotransformation research witnessed seminal discoveries in the mid-1900’s and onward that are remarkable in retrospect, including the discovery and characterization of the phase I monooxygenases, the cytochrome P450s. Further research uncovered many aspects of the biochemistry of xenobiotic metabolism, expanding to phase II conjugation and phase III xenobiotic transport. This led to hallmark developments involving integration of genomic technologies to elucidate the basis for interindividual differences in response to xenobiotic exposures and discovery of nuclear and soluble receptor families that selectively “sense” the chemical milieu of the mammalian cell and orchestrate compensatory changes in gene expression programming to accommodate complex xenobiotic exposures. This review will briefly summarize these developments and investigate the expanding roles of xenobiotic receptor biology in the underlying basis of toxicological response to chemical agents