Message from the State: Uncovering Effects of Public Policy on Women\u27s Movements in Chile and the Czech Republic

This study relies on the cases of the Czech Republic and Chile to examine the ways in which state policies affect women\u27s movements\u27 emergence under both authoritarian and democratic political regimes. As such, this dissertation provides some important clues into how citizens\u27 experience with certain policies enhances or delimits their future political action, and how it affects their beliefs and attitudes. Gaining a better understanding about the relationship between policies and civic participation is particularly important in the case of young democracies, which are trying to overcome their authoritarian past, and whose new democratic political regimes are in some instances yet to be fully consolidated. This dissertation suggests that the policy context within which social movements operate is an important factor in shaping what social movements can do. The research presented here reveals that when grievances are present, such as accusations of gender inequality, women are more likely to mobilize in protest in situations when the state uses public policy to define women\u27s role narrowly in terms of traditional division of labor. In contrast, if public policies are enabling women to reconcile their maternal and public roles, women are less like to organize on the basis of their gender identity to protest the state. This occurs on both the individual and group level. In-depth interviews with Czech women reveal that if the state provides policy support to women to reconcile their traditional and public roles, women become less conscious of the state\u27s role in their lives. They tend to view the state as a diffuse set of actors and ideas that do not create a coherent whole. In contrast, if state policies provide little support for women\u27s participation in the public sphere, individuals find it much easier to articulate who the state is and how it affects their lives. Furthermore, public policy also affect movements on the group level - complex policies supporting both women\u27s traditional and public roles are likely to create multiple camps within a formerly unified movement and lead to movement fragmentation and demise. In contrast, policies emphasizing women\u27s traditional roles only make it easy for movement leaders and actors to identify key issues and subsequently organize for collective action

Molecular characterization of commensal Escherichia coli adapted to different compartments of the porcine gastrointestinal tract

The role of Escherichia coli as a pathogen has been the focus of considerable study, while much less is known about it as a commensal and how it adapts to and colonizes different environmental niches within the mammalian gut. In this study, we characterize Escherichia coli organisms (n=146) isolated from different regions of the intestinal tracts of eight pigs (dueodenum, ileum, colon, and feces). The isolates were typed using the method of random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and screened for the presence of bacteriocin genes and plasmid replicon types. Molecular analysis of variance using the RAPD data showed that E. coli isolates are nonrandomly distributed among different gut regions, and that gut region accounted for 25% (

Complete Genome Sequence and Comparative Analysis of the Wild-type Commensal Escherichia coli Strain SE11 Isolated from a Healthy Adult

We sequenced and analyzed the genome of a commensal Escherichia coli (E. coli) strain SE11 (O152:H28) recently isolated from feces of a healthy adult and classified into E. coli phylogenetic group B1. SE11 harbored a 4.8 Mb chromosome encoding 4679 protein-coding genes and six plasmids encoding 323 protein-coding genes. None of the SE11 genes had sequence similarity to known genes encoding phage- and plasmid-borne virulence factors found in pathogenic E. coli strains. The comparative genome analysis with the laboratory strain K-12 MG1655 identified 62 poorly conserved genes between these two non-pathogenic strains and 1186 genes absent in MG1655. These genes in SE11 were mostly encoded in large insertion regions on the chromosome or in the plasmids, and were notably abundant in genes of fimbriae and autotransporters, which are cell surface appendages that largely contribute to the adherence ability of bacteria to host cells and bacterial conjugation. These data suggest that SE11 may have evolved to acquire and accumulate the functions advantageous for stable colonization of intestinal cells, and that the adhesion-associated functions are important for the commensality of E. coli in human gut habitat

The GimA Locus of Extraintestinal Pathogenic E. coli: Does Reductive Evolution Correlate with Habitat and Pathotype?

IbeA (invasion of brain endothelium), which is located on a genomic island termed GimA, is involved in the pathogenesis of several extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) pathotypes, including newborn meningitic E. coli (NMEC) and avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC). To unravel the phylogeny of GimA and to investigate its island character, the putative insertion locus of GimA was determined via Long Range PCR and DNA-DNA hybridization in 410 E. coli isolates, including APEC, NMEC, uropathogenic (UPEC), septicemia-associated E. coli (SEPEC), and human and animal fecal isolates as well as in 72 strains of the E. coli reference (ECOR) collection. In addition to a complete GimA (∼20.3 kb) and a locus lacking GimA we found a third pattern containing a 342 bp remnant of GimA in this strain collection. The presence of GimA was almost exclusively detected in strains belonging to phylogenetic group B2. In addition, the complete GimA was significantly more frequent in APEC and NMEC strains while the GimA remnant showed a higher association with UPEC strains. A detailed analysis of the ibeA sequences revealed the phylogeny of this gene to be consistent with that obtained by Multi Locus Sequence Typing of the strains. Although common criteria for genomic islands are partially fulfilled, GimA rather seems to be an ancestral part of phylogenetic group B2, and it would therefore be more appropriate to term this genomic region GimA locus instead of genomic island. The existence of two other patterns reflects a genomic rearrangement in a reductive evolution-like manner

Genomic characterization of the commensal Escherichia coli strain A0 34/86 (O83:K24:H31)

Escherichia coli A0 34/86 (O83:K24:H31) est une bactérie commensale, utilisée pour la colonisation de nouveaux-nés. Pour identifier les caractères distinguant cette souche d'autres E. coli, nous avons caractérisé son génome. L hybridation de réseaux d'ADN "coli K12" et pathoarrays , la PCR multiplex, le séquençage des inserts de chromosomes artificiels bactériens (BAC) et le séquençage shotgun ont permis d identifier des gènes codant pour des facteurs de virulence et de fitness. Cette souche appartient à la classe phylogénétique B2. Le séquençage d un BAC de 55 kb a révélé la présence d un îlot génomique de 20 kb (GimA) identifié chez E. coli K1 responsable de méningites. La comparaison génomique entre E. coli A0 34/86 et E. coli K12, CFT073, O157:H7 et Nissle 1917 basée sur les BACs a permis la sélection de deux BACs portant les gènes nécessaires à la synthèse de la vitamine B12 (cob), à la dégradation du propanediol (pdu), des gènes de fimbriae (pix), et des gènes codant pour le système de transport de phosphoglycerate (pgt) de l îlot pathogénique V de la souche uropathogène 536. L'analyse de l opéron hémolysine d'E. coli A0 34/86 a montré que le mutant inactivé dans le locus hly ( hlyA) a une capacité de colonisation des porcelets identique à la souche sauvage. Par contre, dans le modèle du porcelet sans microbe, la survie était plus grande lors d'une colonisation par la souche mutant ( hlyA) comparée à la souche sauvage.PARIS-BIUSJ-Thèses (751052125) / SudocPARIS-BIUSJ-Physique recherche (751052113) / SudocSudocFranceF

Advances in Mechanisms Design : Proceedings of TMM 2012

The International Conference on the Theory of Machines and Mechanisms is organized every four years, under the auspices of the International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science (IFToMM) and the Czech Society for Mechanics. This eleventh edition of the conference took place at the Technical University of Liberec, Czech Republic, 4-6 September 2012. This volume offers an international selection of the most important new results and developments, in 73 papers, grouped in seven different parts, representing a well-balanced overview, and spanning the general theory of machines and mechanisms, through analysis and synthesis of planar and spatial mechanisms, dynamics of machines and mechanisms, linkages and cams, computational mechanics, rotor dynamics, biomechanics, mechatronics, vibration and noise in machines, optimization of mechanisms and machines, control and monitoring systems of machines, accuracy and reliability of machines and mechanisms, robots and manipulators to the mechanisms of textile machines

Proteomic Analysis Unveils Expressional Changes in Cytoskeleton- and Synaptic Plasticity-Associated Proteins in Rat Brain Six Months after Withdrawal from Morphine

Drug withdrawal is associated with abstinence symptoms including deficits in cognitive functions that may persist even after prolonged discontinuation of drug intake. Cognitive deficits are, at least partially, caused by alterations in synaptic plasticity but the precise molecular mechanisms have not yet been fully identified. In the present study, changes in proteomic and phosphoproteomic profiles of selected brain regions (cortex, hippocampus, striatum, and cerebellum) from rats abstaining for six months after cessation of chronic treatment with morphine were determined by label-free quantitative (LFQ) proteomic analysis. Interestingly, prolonged morphine withdrawal was found to be associated especially with alterations in protein phosphorylation and to a lesser extent in protein expression. Gene ontology (GO) term analysis revealed enrichment in biological processes related to synaptic plasticity, cytoskeleton organization, and GTPase activity. More specifically, significant changes were observed in proteins localized in synaptic vesicles (e.g., synapsin-1, SV2a, Rab3a), in the active zone of the presynaptic nerve terminal (e.g., Bassoon, Piccolo, Rims1), and in the postsynaptic density (e.g., cadherin 13, catenins, Arhgap35, Shank3, Arhgef7). Other differentially phosphorylated proteins were associated with microtubule dynamics (microtubule-associated proteins, Tppp, collapsin response mediator proteins) and the actin–spectrin network (e.g., spectrins, adducins, band 4.1-like protein 1). Taken together, a six-month morphine withdrawal was manifested by significant alterations in the phosphorylation of synaptic proteins. The altered phosphorylation patterns modulating the function of synaptic proteins may contribute to long-term neuroadaptations induced by drug use and withdrawal

Advances in Mechanisms DesignProceedings of TMM 2012 /

XXIV, 560 p.online resource