Hybrid neighborhoods: From sandlots to social media

The rapid development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) along with the mass urbanization phenomenon have led to dramatic changes in the ways people create social bonds, form and understand communities and act collectively towards common goals. One important change is that locality and distance is no longer perceived as a key prerequisite for the development of social bonds. Local communities, traditionally based on social grouping by physical proximity, have been seriously affected by technological media (social media and applications). Socio-psychological research shows that the major impact of technology-based communication is the transformation of social bonds between members of local communities and the social capital they accumulate. Within this framework, the research project “GEITONIA” has a dual scope. On a theoretical level, to shed more light on the different ways and degrees local communities use social media and applications in everyday life. On an empirical level, to examine if and in what ways a local social medium mobile application, developed for neighborhoods, can help the understanding of the sense of community and re-strengthen the social cohesion among its members. The article is an attempt to provide a quick glance on the key concepts and theoretical background on which the research project is based

From social media and grassroots movements to Mark Zuckerberg’s vision for building global community: Entropy and organization on the Internet

Με αφετηρία τα διαδικτυακά κινήματα πολιτών και την Αραβική Άνοιξη θα προσεγγίσουμε την ουτοπική θεώρηση των social media της πρώτης δεκαετίας του 21ου αιώνα. Στη συνέχεια, θα εξετάσουμε τη δυστοπική οπτική του «στρατού των ηλιθίων» κατά τον Ουμπέρτο Έκο, και θα διερευνήσουμε τα σύγχρονα προβληματικά φαινόμενα του «τραμπισμού», του Brexit και της παγκόσμιας ανόδου των εξτρεμιστικών φωνών στα social media που παρατηρείται εντονότερα στη δεύτερη δεκαετία του 21ου αιώνα. Πώς αυτά τα φαινόμενα μπορεί να συνδέονται μεταξύ τους και με την σύγχρονη τεχνο-κοινωνική δυναμική του διαδικτύου; Μήπως η εκλογική επιτυχία του Donald Trump οφείλεται εν μέρει στα social media και σε ένα συνακόλουθο «στρατό ηλιθίων» που σε μία άλλη εποχή δεν θα είχε τρόπο να συγκροτηθεί; Τέλος, με αφορμή το πρόσφατο μανιφέστο του Mark Zuckerberg Building Global Community, θα διερευνήσουμε αν και με ποιο τρόπο οι νοηματοδοτημένες ανθρώπινες δυνητικές κοινότητες μπορούν να αποτελέσουν τροχοπέδη στην εντροπία των διαδικτυακών κοινωνικών μέσων και μία ελπιδοφόρα προοπτική για το μέλλον του διαδικτύου συνολικά.Starting from the grassroots movements and the Arabic spring we examine the utopic views of social media as they emerged at the dawn of the 21st century. Inspired by Umberto Eco’s dystopic notion of an army of idiots we analyze the techno-social dynamics of trumpism, Brexit and the global raise of extremist voices on social media over the past decade. How these phenomena relate to the techno-social complexity of the modern world? Is Trump’s successful presidential campaign related to social media dynamics, and to an army of idiots that emerged due to this dynamics? How specific social media affordances, like spreadability, searchability, anonymity, pseudonymity and echo chambers contribute to the emergence of a brand new, complex and unpredictable, social landscape? To address these questions, we take into consideration the last Mark Zuckerberg’s manifest Building Global Community (published on February, 2017) and we argue on how Logos-driven, virtual communities can play a critical role in an era of liquid reality, destabilization and unpredictability

Protein-Folding Chaperones Predict Structure-Function Relationships and Cancer Risk in BRCA1 Mutation Carriers

Predicting the risk of cancer mutations is critical for early detection and prevention, but differences in allelic severity of human carriers confound risk predictions. Here, we elucidate protein folding as a cellular mechanism driving differences in mutation severity of tumor suppressor BRCA1. Using a high-throughput protein-protein interaction assay, we show that protein-folding chaperone binding patterns predict the pathogenicity of variants in the BRCA1 C-terminal (BRCT) domain. HSP70 selectively binds 94% of pathogenic BRCA1-BRCT variants, most of which engage HSP70 more than HSP90. Remarkably, the magnitude of HSP70 binding linearly correlates with loss of folding and function. We identify a prevalent class of human hypomorphic BRCA1 variants that bind moderately to chaperones and retain partial folding and function. Furthermore, chaperone binding signifies greater mutation penetrance and earlier cancer onset in the clinic. Our findings demonstrate the utility of chaperones as quantitative cellular biosensors of variant folding, phenotypic severity, and cancer risk

Successful optimization of reconstruction parameters in structured illumination microscopy

The impact of the different reconstruction parameters in super-resolution structured illumination microscopy (SIM) on image artifacts is carefully analyzed. These parameters comprise the Wiener filter parameter, an apodization function, zero-frequency suppression and modifications of the optical transfer function. A detailed investigation of the reconstructed image spectrum is concluded to be suitable for identifying artifacts. For this purpose, two samples, an artificial test slide and a more realistic biological system, were used to characterize the artifact classes and their correlation with the image spectra as well as the reconstruction parameters. In addition, a guideline for efficient parameter optimization is suggested and the implementation of the parameters in selected up-to-date processing packages (proprietary and open-source) is depicted. © 2018 The Author

Azathioprine versus mycophenolate mofetil for long-term immunosuppression in lupus nephritis: results from the MAINTAIN Nephritis Trial

Background: Long-term immunosuppressive treatment does not efficiently prevent relapses of lupus nephritis (LN). This investigator-initiated randomised trial tested whether mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) was superior to azathioprine (AZA) as maintenance treatment. Methods: A total of 105 patients with lupus with proliferative LN were included. All received three daily intravenous pulses of 750 mg methylprednisolone, followed by oral glucocorticoids and six fortnightly cyclophosphamide intravenous pulses of 500 mg. Based on randomisation performed at baseline, AZA (target dose: 2 mg/kg/day) or MMF (target dose: 2 g/day) was given at week 12. Analyses were by intent to treat. Time to renal flare was the primary end point. Mean (SD) follow-up of the intent-to-treat population was 48 (14) months. Results: The baseline clinical, biological and pathological characteristics of patients allocated to AZA or MMF did not differ. Renal flares were observed in 13 (25%) AZA-treated and 10 (19%) MMF-treated patients. Time to renal flare, to severe systemic flare, to benign flare and to renal remission did not statistically differ. Over a 3-year period, 24 h proteinuria, serum creatinine, serum albumin, serum C3, haemoglobin and global disease activity scores improved similarly in both groups. Doubling of serum creatinine occurred in four AZA-treated and three MMF-treated patients. Adverse events did not differ between the groups except for haematological cytopenias, which were statistically more frequent in the AZA group (p=0.03) but led only one patient to drop out. Conclusions: Fewer renal flares were observed in patients receiving MMF but the difference did not reach statistical significance.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe