How Thioredoxin Dissociates Its Mixed Disulfide

The dissociation mechanism of the thioredoxin (Trx) mixed disulfide complexes is unknown and has been debated for more than twenty years. Specifically, opposing arguments for the activation of the nucleophilic cysteine as a thiolate during the dissociation of the complex have been put forward. As a key model, the complex between Trx and its endogenous substrate, arsenate reductase (ArsC), was used. In this structure, a Cys29Trx-Cys89ArsC intermediate disulfide is formed by the nucleophilic attack of Cys29Trx on the exposed Cys82ArsC-Cys89ArsC in oxidized ArsC. With theoretical reactivity analysis, molecular dynamics simulations, and biochemical complex formation experiments with Cys-mutants, Trx mixed disulfide dissociation was studied. We observed that the conformational changes around the intermediate disulfide bring Cys32Trx in contact with Cys29Trx. Cys32Trx is activated for its nucleophilic attack by hydrogen bonds, and Cys32Trx is found to be more reactive than Cys82ArsC. Additionally, Cys32Trx directs its nucleophilic attack on the more susceptible Cys29Trx and not on Cys89ArsC. This multidisciplinary approach provides fresh insights into a universal thiol/disulfide exchange reaction mechanism that results in reduced substrate and oxidized Trx

Workplace struggles of ethnic minority professionals: Essays on subtle discrimination, resistance, and hybridity..

Ethnic minorities; workplace;

Lives beyond boundaries: Exploring hybrid identity constructions of second-generation minority professionals

Based on 26 interviews with second-generation minority professionals working in Flemish organizations, this paper explores the hybrid identity struggles of individuals trying to transcend boundaries between categories and reconcile identity positions that are considered mutually exclusive. To do so, we draw on both the literature on hybridity, describing the mixture of cultural elements held to be different, and the broader identity literature, stressing the link between identity processes and insecurity. We first show how hybrid identities are constructed in the midst of identity insecurities. Second, we illustrate how these hybrid identifications might be a new source of insecurities and identity struggles, as individuals risk falling in-between the categories they try to combine. Third, we show how such individuals try to deal with this situation by constructing narratives of richness, by trying to escape the current binary context or by accepting it as a given. In this way, we provide insight in the identity struggles of both minority individuals and boundary-crossers in general.status: publishe

Burnout from an extended social model perspective:Lived experiences of burnout, lasting burnout effects and returning to work

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, workplaces were already creating a pandemic leading to the burnout of its workers. Depending on the severity, burnout can result in extended periods of inability to work, after which individuals potentially return to work. However, the effects of burnout are often not over when individuals return to their workplace, not only as it can impact their future careers, but also as individuals can experience lasting burnout effects. Despite recognizing the role of organizational causes, research on burnout and interventions adopts a largely individualized, medical and psychological lens. Adopting a disability studies lens, this chapter aims to go beyond this individualized view of burnout and draws on 13 interviews with individuals who had a burnout to explore their experiences with burnout, lasting burnout effects and their return to work. We show how the predominant ways of thinking about burnout result in it being largely approached as an individual failure rather than an organizational problem. This leads to organizational sources of burnout being unaddressed and forces individuals returning to work to conform again to the norms of the economic system that led to their burnout in the first place

Ethnic minority professionals' experiences with subtle discrimination in the workplace

This qualitative study aims to explore the processes underlying subtle discrimination in the workplace. Based on 26 in-depth interviews with minority professionals of Turkish or Maghrebi descent in Flanders, we argue that subtle discrimination in the workplace is characterized by three important elements. First, subtle discrimination is ambiguous, and often involves disempowerment through apparent empowering behavior. Second, subtle discrimination is based on processes of power — normalization, legitimization of only the individual, legitimization as the Other and naturalization — which subtly, through everyday incidents, disempower minority individuals. Third, subtle discrimination in the workplace is linked to societal structures and discourses, which permeate the workplace through, and are reproduced by, workplace encounters.status: publishe

Ongelijke kansen in werk: kansengroepen in loopbaanbegeleiding

status: publishe