The Power of Mediationas Dialogue: Resolution of Conflicts in the Environment of Special Needs People and/or People Under Functional Dependence

The needs risen by special needs people and or people under situation of functional dependence after the strong cuts of budget produced by the current financial situation claim for the inquiry to be executed by conflict management professionals who resolve about the welfare of the affected population and their families The welfare of the families who take charge of their relatives under a situation of dependence can be assessed as the energy that may respond to the needs which people under a situation of dependence bring up in their closest environment This starting point let us explain the chances that mediation offers unlike other alternatives available for conflict resolution Mediation is laid out through its basic structure formed by its principles and typical characteristics which help the parties in conflict to reach a long-lasting and accepted by everybody agreement An achievement which is accomplished through the process of mediation which itself has got specific peculiarities that shall be considered by mediation professionals This way we end up with the explanation of some of the experiences which currently are being executed in a national as well as in an international leve

The presentation of self in résumés: an intercultural approach

In this paper, résumés in two languages and two cultures, Peninsular Spanish and American English, are analysed. For this qualitative analysis, we have relied on the dual perspective proposed by Flowerdew (2005) which postulates a complementary usage of linguistic and ethnographic approaches to the study of genre. The analysis of discourse is based on tenets of genre analysis (Swales 1990; Unger 2007) which have traditionally constituted a substantial part of the theoretical basis of the LSP field. However, it also introduces tenets from sociolinguistics and pragmatics (Brown & Levinson 1987; Scollon & Scollon 2001) as résumés crucially involve the presentation of self – namely the construction of professional identity of candidates (de Fina et al. 2006; Dyer & Keller-Cohen 2000). The ethnographic approach consists of interviews of recruiters from both cultures to find out what their expectations are relative to applicants’ presentation of selves. The results, although tentative, indicate that cultural expectations in terms of what constitutes an adequate résumé vary between the two cultures, especially with respect to the type of personal information provided and the lexico-syntactic structures that candidates use to distance themselves from their achievement

Calcium-independent, cGMP-mediated light adaptation in invertebrate ciliary photoreceptors

Author Posting. © Society for Neuroscience, 2005. This article is posted here by permission of Society for Neuroscience for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Neuroscience 25 (2005): 2042-2049, doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5129-04.2005.Calcium is thought to be essential for adaptation of sensory receptor cells. However, the transduction cascade of hyperpolarizing, ciliary photoreceptors of the scallop does not use IP3-mediated Ca release, and the light-sensitive conductance is not measurably permeable to Ca2+. Therefore, two typical mechanisms that couple the light response to [Ca]i changes seem to be lacking in these photoreceptors. Using fluorescent indicators, we determined that, unlike in their microvillar counterparts, photostimulation of ciliary cells under voltage clamp indeed evokes no detectable change in cytosolic Ca. Notwithstanding, these cells exhibit all of the hallmarks of light adaptation, including response range compression, sensitivity shift, and photoresponse acceleration. A possible mediator of Ca-independent sensory adaptation is cGMP, the second messenger that regulates the light-sensitive conductance; cGMP and 8-bromo cGMP not only activate light-dependent K channels but also reduce the amplitude of the light response to an extent greatly in excess of that expected from simple occlusion between light and chemical stimulation. In addition, these substances accelerate the time course of the photocurrent. Tests with pharmacological antagonists suggest that protein kinase G may be a downstream effector that controls, in part, the cGMP-triggered changes in photoresponse properties during light adaptation. However, additional messengers are likely to be implicated, especially in the regulation of response kinetics. These observations suggest a novel feedback inhibition pathway for signaling sensory adaptation.This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant RO1-EY07559

On the Gating Mechanisms of the Light-dependent Conductance in Pecten Hyperpolarizing Photoreceptors: Does Light Remove Inactivation in Voltage-dependent K Channels?

The hyperpolarizing receptor potential of ciliary photoreceptors of scallop and other mollusks is mediated by a cGMP-activated K conductance; these cells also express a transient potassium current triggered by depolarization. During steady illumination, the outward currents elicited by voltage steps lose their decay kinetics. One interesting conjecture that has been proposed is that the currents triggered by light and by depolarization are mediated by the same population of channels, and that illumination evokes the receptor potential by removing their steady-state inactivation. Exploiting the information that has become available on the phototransduction cascade of ciliary photoreceptors, we demonstrated that the same downstream signaling elements are implicated in the modulation of voltage-elicited currents: direct chemical stimulation both at the level of the G protein and of the final messenger that controls the light-dependent channels (cGMP) also attenuate the falling phase of the voltage-activated current. Application of a protein kinase G antagonist was ineffective, suggesting that a cGMP-initiated phosphorylation step is not implicated. To ascertain the commonality of ionic pathways we used pharmacological blockers. Although millimolar 4-aminopyridine (4-AP) suppressed both currents, at micromolar concentrations only the photocurrent was blocked. Conversely, barium completely and reversibly antagonized the transient voltage-activated current with no detectable effect on the light-evoked current. These results rule out that the same ionic pores mediate both currents; the mechanism of light modulation of the depolarization-evoked K current was elucidated as a time-dependent increase in the light-sensitive conductance that is superimposed on the inactivating K current

Arabidopsis thaliana DOF6 negatively affects germination in non-after ripened seeds and interacts with TCP14

Seed dormancy prevents seeds from germinating under environmental conditions unfavourable for plant growth and development and constitutes an evolutionary advantage. Dry storage, also known as after-ripening, gradually decreases seed dormancy by mechanisms not well understood. An Arabidopsis thaliana DOF transcription factor gene (DOF6) affecting seed germination has been characterized. The transcript levels of this gene accumulate in dry seeds and decay gradually during after-ripening and also upon seed imbibition. While constitutive over-expression of DOF6 produced aberrant growth and sterility in the plant, its over-expression induced upon seed imbibition triggered delayed germination, abscisic acid (ABA)-hypersensitive phenotypes and increased expression of the ABA biosynthetic gene ABA1 and ABA-related stress genes. Wild-type germination and gene expression were gradually restored during seed after-ripening, despite of DOF6-induced over-expression. DOF6 was found to interact in a yeast two-hybrid system andin planta with TCP14, a previously described positive regulator of seed germination. The expression of ABA1 and ABA-related stress genes was also enhanced in tcp14 knock-out mutants. Taken together, these results indicate that DOF6 negatively affects seed germination and opposes TCP14 function in the regulation of a specific set of ABA-related gene

Netrin-1 in Glioblastoma Neovascularization: The New Partner in Crime?

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive and common primary tumor of the central nervous system. It is characterized by having an infiltrating growth and by the presence of an excessive and aberrant vasculature. Some of the mechanisms that promote this neovascularization are angiogenesis and the transdifferentiation of tumor cells into endothelial cells or pericytes. In all these processes, the release of extracellular microvesicles by tumor cells plays an important role. Tumor cell-derived extracellular microvesicles contain pro-angiogenic molecules such as VEGF, which promote the formation of blood vessels and the recruitment of pericytes that reinforce these structures. The present study summarizes and discusses recent data from different investigations suggesting that Netrin-1, a highly versatile protein recently postulated as a non-canonical angiogenic ligand, could participate in the promotion of neovascularization processes in GBM. The relevance of determining the angiogenic signaling pathways associated with the interaction of Netrin-1 with its receptors is posed. Furthermore, we speculate that this molecule could form part of the microvesicles that favor abnormal tumor vasculature. Based on the studies presented, this review proposes Netrin-1 as a novel biomarker for GBM progression and vascularization.This work was supported by: FONDECYT # 1140697 (VP) and Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades and FEDER funds (RTI2018-093596) (PSG).S

Novel Functions of the Neurodegenerative-Related Gene Tau in Cancer

The analysis of global and comparative genomics between different diseases allows us to understand the key biological processes that explain the etiology of these pathologies. We have used this type of approach to evaluate the expression of several neurodegeneration-related genes on the development of tumors, particularly brain tumors of glial origin (gliomas), which are an aggressive and incurable type of cancer. We have observed that genes involved in Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), as well as in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, correlate with better prognosis of gliomas. Within these genes, high Tau/MAPT expression shows the strongest correlation with several indicators of prolonged survival on glioma patients. Tau protein regulates microtubule stability and dynamics in neurons, although there have been reports of its expression in glial cells and also in gliomas. However, little is known about the regulation of Tau/MAPT transcription in tumors. Moreover, our in silico analysis indicates that this gene is also expressed in a variety of tumors, showing a general correlation with survival, although its function in cancer has not yet been addressed. Another remarkable aspect of Tau is its involvement in resistance to taxanes in various tumors types such as breast, ovarian and gastric carcinomas. This is due to the fact that taxanes have the same tubulin-binding site as Tau. In the present work we review the main knowledge about Tau function and expression in tumors, with a special focus on brain cancer. We will also speculate with the therapeutic implications of these findings.RG has been funded by the AECC Scientific Foundation. Research has been funded by grants from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO-RETOS)/FEDER: SAF2015-65175-R to PS-G.S