Sending Granny to Chiang Mai: debating global outsourcing of care for the elderly

This article ties in with existing discussions on global care chains, family separation and the devaluation of social-reproductive work. We explore the new trend of outsourcing care for the elderly to countries with lower wages. We base our analysis on the debate in the German press and supplement it with insights from ethnographic field observations in two care homes in Thailand. We identify a discourse of abandonment, which shows how outsourcing the care of the elderly unsettles the privilege of sedentarism that is often taken for granted in the Global North. Furthermore, the newspaper articles tend to villainize people who seek care for their loved ones abroad. We argue that both discourses foster a neoliberal rationale of individualized responsibility and obfuscate the deep systemic roots of the care crisis in the Global North. However, by extending the discussion on outsourcing care for the elderly beyond the dominant media discourses, we envisage a rich potential for provoking political debate on the revaluation of care

Methotrexate used in combination with aminolaevulinic acid for photodynamic killing of prostate cancer cells

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) using 5-aminolaevulinic acid (ALA) to drive production of an intracellular photosensitiser, protoporphyrin IX (PpIX), is a promising cancer treatment. However, ALA-PDT is still suboptimal for thick or refractory tumours. Searching for new approaches, we tested a known inducer of cellular differentiation, methotrexate (MTX), in combination with ALA-PDT in LNCaP cells. Methotrexate alone promoted growth arrest, differentiation, and apoptosis. Methotrexate pretreatment (1 mg l−1, 72 h) followed by ALA (0.3 mM, 4 h) resulted in a three-fold increase in intracellular PpIX, by biochemical and confocal analyses. After exposure to 512 nm light, killing was significantly enhanced in MTX-preconditioned cells. The reverse order of treatments, ALA-PDT followed by MTX, yielded no enhancement. Methotrexate caused a similar relative increase in PpIX, whether cells were incubated with ALA, methyl-ALA, or hexyl-ALA, arguing against a major effect upon ALA transport. Searching for an effect among porphyrin synthetic enzymes, we found that coproporphyrinogen oxidase (CPO) was increased three-fold by MTX at the mRNA and protein levels. Transfection of LNCaP cells with a CPO-expressing vector stimulated the accumulation of PpIX. Our data suggest that MTX, when used to modulate intracellular production of endogenous PpIX, may provide a new combination PDT approach for certain cancers

PRODUCTION AND THERMAL ANNEALING OF LATTICE DEFECTS IN KCl

Recherches sur la production de défauts dans les halogénures alcalins par irradiation X. On effectue sur KCl des mesures associées du changement macroscopique de volume et de celui du paramètre du réseau. Des centres colorés sont formés dans KCl coloré par addition, de lacunes de défauts de Schottky, tandis que dans KCl irradié, ils sont formés de lacunes qui font partie de défauts de Frenkel. En outre la production de lacunes. c. à d. de centres α plus F par les rayons X dans KCl de différentes origines, avec différentes densités de dislocations et différentes impuretés divalentes, est étudiée à la température de l'hélium liquide. Le comportement pendant le réchauffement des centres α, F et H et celui d'une bande d'absorption à 195 nm montre que, pendant l'irradiation X à la température de l'hélium liquide, des lacunes et des défauts interstitiels se forment dans KCl, et qu'ils se recombinent à différents stades du recuit. L'analyse des courbes de recuit donne les énergies d'activation et les ordres des réactions. A la suite des expériences d'irradiation et de recuits combinés aux températures de He et de N2 liquides, on a conclu que le même processus primaire doit intervenir dans la formation des défauts à ces deux températures.Some investigations were performed to obtain more information about the production of defects in alkali halides during X-irradiation. Combined measurements of the macroscopic volume change and the change of the lattice parameter of KCl were performed. Color centers in additively colored KCl are formed from Schottky-defect vacancies, whereas in X-irradiated KCl they are formed from vacancies which are parts of Frenkel defects. Further, the production of vacancies, i. e. α plus F centers by X-rays in KCl of different origins, dislocation densities and of different divalent impurities is studied at liquid helium temperature. It is concluded that the generation of vacancies at liquid helium temperature is an intrinsic process. The annealing behaviour of α, F and H centers and the annealing of an absorption band at 195 nm shows, that during X-irradiation at liquid helium temperature vacancies and interstitials are formed in KCl which recombine in distinct annealing stages. An analysis of the annealing curves gives the activation energy and the order of reaction. It is concluded from combined irradiation and annealing experiments at liquid helium and at liquid nitrogen temperature that the same primary process should be valid for the defect formation at liquid helium and at liquid nitrogen temperature