Cell-cell adhesion proteins in melanocytic pilomatrix carcinoma

Tumors of the matrix of rigid structures include matrical tumors of the hairs, nails, and teeth. These tumors share similar phenotypical and signaling features. Although benign matrical hair tumors are among the most common of these tumors, hair matrix tumors containing pigmented melanocytes are very rare. The malignant variant called melanocytic pilomatrix carcinoma contains benign colonizing dendritic melanocytes admixed with the carcinomatous follicular matrical cells

Valproic Acid Induces Hair Regeneration in Murine Model and Activates Alkaline Phosphatase Activity in Human Dermal Papilla Cells

Alopecia is the common hair loss problem that can affect many people. However, current therapies for treatment of alopecia are limited by low efficacy and potentially undesirable side effects. We have identified a new function for valproic acid (VPA), a GSK3β inhibitor that activates the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, to promote hair re-growth in vitro and in vivo.Topical application of VPA to male C3H mice critically stimulated hair re-growth and induced terminally differentiated epidermal markers such as filaggrin and loricrin, and the dermal papilla marker alkaline phosphatase (ALP). VPA induced ALP in human dermal papilla cells by up-regulating the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, whereas minoxidil (MNX), a drug commonly used to treat alopecia, did not significantly affect the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. VPA analogs and other GSK3β inhibitors that activate the Wnt/β-catenin pathway such as 4-phenyl butyric acid, LiCl, and BeCl(2) also exhibited hair growth-promoting activities in vivo. Importantly, VPA, but not MNX, successfully stimulate hair growth in the wounds of C3H mice.Our findings indicate that small molecules that activate the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, such as VPA, can potentially be developed as drugs to stimulate hair re-growth

Heterodimerization of the human RNase P/MRP subunits Rpp20 and Rpp25 is a prerequisite for interaction with the P3 arm of RNase MRP RNA

Rpp20 and Rpp25 are two key subunits of the human endoribonucleases RNase P and MRP. Formation of an Rpp20–Rpp25 complex is critical for enzyme function and sub-cellular localization. We present the first detailed in vitro analysis of their conformational properties, and a biochemical and biophysical characterization of their mutual interaction and RNA recognition. This study specifically examines the role of the Rpp20/Rpp25 association in the formation of the ribonucleoprotein complex. The interaction of the individual subunits with the P3 arm of the RNase MRP RNA is revealed to be negligible whereas the 1:1 Rpp20:Rpp25 complex binds to the same target with an affinity of the order of nM. These results unambiguously demonstrate that Rpp20 and Rpp25 interact with the P3 RNA as a heterodimer, which is formed prior to RNA binding. This creates a platform for the design of future experiments aimed at a better understanding of the function and organization of RNase P and MRP. Finally, analyses of interactions with deletion mutant proteins constructed with successively shorter N- and C-terminal sequences indicate that the Alba-type core domain of both Rpp20 and Rpp25 contains most of the determinants for mutual association and P3 RNA recognition

Viperin mRNA is a novel target for the human RNase MRP/RNase P endoribonuclease

RNase MRP is a conserved endoribonuclease, in humans consisting of a 267-nucleotide RNA associated with 7–10 proteins. Mutations in its RNA component lead to several autosomal recessive skeletal dysplasias, including cartilage-hair hypoplasia (CHH). Because the known substrates of mammalian RNase MRP, pre-ribosomal RNA, and RNA involved in mitochondrial DNA replication are not likely involved in CHH, we analyzed the effects of RNase MRP (and the structurally related RNase P) depletion on mRNAs using DNA microarrays. We confirmed the upregulation of the interferon-inducible viperin mRNA by RNAi experiments and this appeared to be independent of the interferon response. We detected two cleavage sites for RNase MRP/RNase P in the coding sequence of viperin mRNA. This is the first study providing direct evidence for the cleavage of a mRNA by RNase MRP/RNase P in human cells. Implications for the involvement in the pathophysiology of CHH are discussed

Narrativizing (and laughing) spatial identities together in Meänkieli-speaking minorities

Abstract This paper scrutinizes how the Meänkieli-speaking minority in The Torne Valley, northern Sweden, use humor in the process of narrativizing their shifting spatial identities, as well as in maintaining and contesting prevailing power relations. A great deal of the research focusing on the social and political nature of humor, and its geographical dimensions, has concerned the humor directed at ethnic and national minorities, with minority groups typically being approached as targets of laughter. However, less interest has been paid to how minorities use and experience humor in their everyday lives and environments. Humor is approached here as an integral part of how people make sense of culture and society in a creative manner and cope with and challenge subordinating power-relations and social inequality. In terms of methodology, laughing together operates as a (research) approach through which spatial identities of linguistic minorities can be renegotiated. The study is based on group discussions held with local culture workers and activists between September 2015 and February 2016 in Swedish Torne Valley. The paper produces new theoretical and empirical knowledge concerning how humor is used in a creative manner to make sense of, produce and contest socio-spatial relations

Why save a minority language?:Meänkieli and rationales of language revitalization

Abstract This article examines the rationales for language revitalization and their materialization on a local scale. The starting premise is that, due to specific social, cultural, as well as spatial circumstances, there exists a wide variety of rationalizations for why saving endangered languages is important. The complexity of the matter is discussed with regard to Meänkieli, a minority language spoken in northern Sweden, which has a long and unique history of marginalization. The article bases on group discussions conducted with Meänkieli speaking cultural activists in northern Sweden during the fall of 2015 and the spring of 2016. The present examination of the group discussions reveals how the rationales of saving the language are inherently interrelated with questions concerning identity formation, educational principles and the sovereignty of minority groups. The analysis also reveals how, due to the complex nature of local history, there is no consensus on whether the recent progress in language revitalization is unanimously a positive change or not

Saaret kirjallisena tilana

Kirja-arvostelu Maria Laakso, Toni Lahtinen ja Merja Sagulin (toim.), Lintukodon rannoilta. Saarikertomukset suomalaisessa kirjallisuudessa. Helsinki, SKS 2016, 385 s

Culturological analysis of filmic border crossings:popular geopolitics of accessing the Soviet Union from Finland

Abstract Recent studies in popular geopolitics have emphasized how films and the film industry play a significant role in the process of constructing politically charged worldviews, stereotypes of the “other,” as well as in the cultural reproduction of world politics. The production and screening of films takes place within certain social and geopolitical circumstances, which set the limits and the scope of perspective as far as what is a permissible, advisable or correct manner for film makers to approach certain politically charged topics. This paper discusses the geopolitical circumstances through which the national border of Finland and the Soviet Union has become an elementary part of the content of films, and how films focusing on the problematics of border crossing have a certain operational function within the context of their own creating. The specific focus is on how world geopolitics, in this case the Second World War, sets the limits for a film industry concerning what topics are suitable for audiences, how the act of crossing a border becomes a filmic event through which national identity is constructed and maintained, and how films play an operative role in the game in which foreign relations are performed, in this case in the politics of Finlandization. The material discussed consists of three films: Yli Rajan [Over the Border] (Ilmari 1942), Tuntematon Sotilas [The Unknown Soldier] (Laine 1955) and Born American (Harlin 1986)

Dark humor, irony, and the collaborative narrativizations of regional belonging

Abstract In literary geography there is a relatively long history of studying regional narratives, but less focus has been placed on how senses of spatial belonging and identity become actualized through the reception and reinterpretations of regional literatures. This article discusses how Meänkieli-speaking minorities in northern Sweden narrativize their shifting spatial identities through regional literature, specifically Mikael Niemi’s successful humorous novel Populärmusik från Vittula (2000). The article approaches the literary work simultaneously through the critical analysis of the book’s content, readers’ interpretations, and the interconnections between the author, the reader, and wider social circumstances. The analysis is based on group discussions conducted in northern Sweden between September 2015 and February 2016. As an outcome of these discussions, it emerged how different manners of approaching the irony and dark humor of Niemi’s book divide people’s senses of regional belonging and launch the alternative, confronting conceptions of “who we are.