The structuration of a sporting social system? Northern Ireland fans, Football for All and the creation of the Green and White Army

In terms of the extant literature to date on sport and fandom in the divided society of Northern Ireland, academic attention has focused almost exclusively upon its apparently contentious nature. However, to date there has been a dearth of actual empirical data to inform such analyses. This paper is designed to help to rectify this deficit, by drawing upon interviews with Northern Ireland football supporters and Irish Football Association staff to explore their co-creation of the ‘Football for All’ campaign which aimed to challenge sectarian fan behaviour within the national stadium. This resulted in the previously variegated Northern Ireland fan base becoming the ‘Green and White Army’ (GAWA), an informal collective identity for supporters. In continually (re)producing the GAWA as a ‘social system,’ it is argued that fans are knowledgeable actors who continually draw upon what Giddens (1984) refers to as practical and discursive consciousness. Informed by Giddens’ structuration theory, the paper argues that pace the current policies of UEFA and FIFA to close stadia in the event of ‘discriminatory’ fan behaviour, priority should instead be given to supporting fan activism to effectively challenge such behaviour at matches; particularly given the potential for social control over supporters in a situated geographical space

EDR2 negatively regulates salicylic acid-based defenses and cell death during powdery mildew infections of Arabidopsis thaliana

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The hypersensitive necrosis response (HR) of resistant plants to avirulent pathogens is a form of programmed cell death in which the plant sacrifices a few cells under attack, restricting pathogen growth into adjacent healthy tissues. In spite of the importance of this defense response, relatively little is known about the plant components that execute the cell death program or about its regulation in response to pathogen attack.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We isolated the <it>edr2-6 </it>mutant, an allele of the previously described <it>edr2 </it>mutants. We found that <it>edr2-6 </it>exhibited an exaggerated chlorosis and necrosis response to attack by three pathogens, two powdery mildew and one downy mildew species, but not in response to abiotic stresses or attack by the bacterial leaf speck pathogen. The chlorosis and necrosis did not spread beyond inoculated sites suggesting that EDR2 limits the initiation of cell death rather than its spread. The pathogen-induced chlorosis and necrosis of <it>edr2-6 </it>was correlated with a stimulation of the salicylic acid defense pathway and was suppressed in mutants deficient in salicylic acid signaling. <it>EDR2 </it>encodes a novel protein with a pleckstrin homology and a StAR transfer (START) domain as well as a plant-specific domain of unknown function, DUF1336. The pleckstrin homology domain binds to phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate <it>in vitro </it>and an EDR2:HA:GFP protein localizes to endoplasmic reticulum, plasma membrane and endosomes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p><it>EDR2 </it>acts as a negative regulator of cell death, specifically the cell death elicited by pathogen attack and mediated by the salicylic acid defense pathway. Phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate may have a role in limiting cell death via its effect on EDR2. This role in cell death may be indirect, by helping to target EDR2 to the appropriate membrane, or it may play a more direct role.</p

Letter from John F. Somerville, D.W. Osborn, S.E. Hustlin & G.B. Read to James B. Finley

The Committee of Arrangements for the Troy Division #20, Sons of Temperance, invites Finley to speak at their celebration on June 30th. They apologize for the lateness of the request. Abstract Number - 1173https://digitalcommons.owu.edu/finley-letters/2155/thumbnail.jp

Hubble Space Telescope Imaging of the Ultracompact Blue Dwarf Galaxy HS 0822+3542: An Assembling Galaxy in a Local Void?

We present deep U, narrow-V, and I-band images of the ultracompact blue dwarf galaxy HS 0822+3542, obtained with the Advanced Camera for Surveys / High Resolution Channel of the Hubble Space Telescope. This object is extremely metal-poor (12 + log(O/H) = 7.45) and resides in a nearby void. The images resolve it into two physically separate components that were previously described as star clusters in a single galaxy. The primary component is only \~100 pc in maximum extent, and consists of starburst region surrounded by a ring-like structure of relatively redder stars. The secondary component is ~50 pc in size and lies at a projected distance of ~80 pc away from the primary, and is also actively star-forming. We estimate masses ~10^7 M(sol) and ~10^6 M(sol) for the two components, based on their luminosities, with an associated dynamical timescale for the system of a few Myr. This timescale and the structure of the components suggests that a collision between them triggered their starbursts. The spectral energy distributions of both components can be fitted by the combination of recent (few Myr old) starburst and an evolved (several Gyr old) underlying stellar population, similar to larger blue compact dwarf galaxies. This indicates that despite its metal deficiency the object is not forming its first generation of stars. However, the small sizes and masses of the two components suggests that HS 0822+3542 represents a dwarf galaxy in the process of assembling from clumps of stars intermediate in size between globular clusters and objects previously classified as galaxies. Its relatively high ratio of neutral gas mass to stellar mass (~1) and high specific star formation rate, log(SFR/M(sol) = -9.2, suggests that it is still converting much of its gas to stars.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letter

Anaphylaxis Triggered by Benzyl Benzoate in a Preparation of Depot Testosterone Undecanoate

We report the first case of an anaphylactic reaction to Reandron 1000 (depot testosterone undecanoate with a castor oil and benzyl benzoate vehicle). While considered to have a favourable safety profile, serious complications such as oil embolism and anaphylaxis can occur. In our patient, skin testing identified benzyl benzoate to be the trigger, with no reaction to castor oil or testosterone undecanoate components. As benzyl benzoate exists in multiple pharmaceuticals, foods, and cosmetics, individual components of pharmaceuticals should be tested when investigating drug allergies. Doctors should be alert to the potential for serious reactions to any of the components of Reandron 1000

Identification and characterization of a galacturonic acid transporter from Neurospora crassa and its application for Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation processes

BACKGROUND: Pectin-rich agricultural wastes potentially represent favorable feedstocks for the sustainable production of alternative energy and bio-products. Their efficient utilization requires the conversion of all major constituent sugars. The current inability of the popular fermentation host Saccharomyces cerevisiae to metabolize the major pectic monosaccharide D-galacturonic acid (D-GalA) significantly hampers these efforts. While it has been reasoned that the optimization of cellular D-GalA uptake will be critical for the engineering of D-GalA utilization in yeast, no dedicated eukaryotic transport protein has been biochemically described. Here we report for the first time such a eukaryotic D-GalA transporter and characterize its functionality in S. cerevisiae. RESULTS: We identified and characterized the D-GalA transporter GAT-1 out of a group of candidate genes obtained from co-expression analysis in N. crassa. The N. crassa Δgat-1 deletion strain is substantially affected in growth on pectic substrates, unable to take up D-GalA, and impaired in D-GalA-mediated signaling events. Moreover, expression of a gat-1 construct in yeast conferred the ability for strong high-affinity D-GalA accumulation rates, providing evidence for GAT-1 being a bona fide D-GalA transport protein. By recombinantly co-expressing D-galacturonate reductase or uronate dehydrogenase in yeast we furthermore demonstrated a transporter-dependent conversion of D-GalA towards more reduced (L-galactonate) or oxidized (meso-galactaric acid) downstream products, respectively, over a broad concentration range. CONCLUSIONS: By utilizing the novel D-GalA transporter GAT-1 in S. cerevisiae we successfully generated a transporter-dependent uptake and catalysis system for D-GalA into two products with high potential for utilization as platform chemicals. Our data thereby provide a considerable first step towards a more complete utilization of biomass for biofuel and value-added chemicals production

Defining a consistent strategy to model ground-motion parameters for the GEM-PEER Global GMPEs project

International audienceThe project entitled Global Ground Motion Prediction Equations is funded by the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Foundation and has the objective of recommending a harmonized suite of ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) that can be used at the global and regional scales for seismic hazard analysis and loss estimation studies. As part of this project, Task 1a experts were commissioned to make recommendations on the critical aspects of seismological predictor parameters that are used by predictive model developers to estimate ground motions for different earthquake scenarios. It is hoped that these recommendations would lead to the optimum description of ground-motion models that can be used efficiently for reliable seismic hazard assessment studies