Role of JAK-STAT Signalling on Motor Function Recovery after Spinal Cord Injury

JAK-STAT signalling is a main transduction pathway of cytokines and growth factors, which is involved in several biological processes including cell proliferation, cell differentiation, axon regeneration, apoptosis and inflammation. After spinal cord injury several cytokines activate the JAK-STAT pathway, thereby modulating several cell responses. In this chapter we discuss how regulation of this signalling pathway could improve motor recovery after injury by modulation of axon regeneration, neuroprotection, glial scar formation, demyelination and inflammatory response. Studies with gene over-expression, gene deletion and in vitro approaches will be discussed for understanding the cell-specific response to JAK-STAT signalling, with a focus on preclinical treatment with IL6-family cytokines, hematopoietic cytokines and IL10

Thinking political sociology: beyond the limits of post-Marxism

This article is concerned with post-Marxism and materialism in the work of Judith Butler, Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. As ‘post-Marxists’ these writers use ‘material’ in a variety of ways, all of which indicate limits and constraints. The article focuses on one version of ‘materialism’ in this work, a version that is more implied than elaborated, in which ‘material’ is equivalent to institutionalized performativity or sedimented discourse: to ‘objective’ social structures and institutions. Post-Marxists often use ‘the social’ as equivalent to ‘material’ in this sense, to gesture towards the context in which politics succeeds or fails. I argue that the specificities of ‘the social’ cannot be theorized from within the terms of post-Marxism itself and that Butler and Laclau acknowledge this limitation in their most recent work. I therefore conclude that post-Marxism needs a supplement that I call political sociology. This is a dangerous supplement in the Derridean sense: a necessary addition that destabilizes the value post-Marxism gives to the distinction between ‘social’ and ‘political’ in which the latter is the privileged term

Linking learning with governance in networks and clusters: key issues for analysis and policy

In this paper we analyse the relationship between governance and learning in clusters and networks. In particular, we see these two key elements as interdependent, suggesting that, under particular circumstances, such interdependence may drive clusters and networks towards a dynamic development trajectory. A pure ‘governance perspective’ makes the development of any locality dependent on the system of powers which exists within the locality or across the global value chain. In parallel, a pure ‘competence-based approach’ focuses mainly on the capabilities of actors to learn and undertake activities. In contrast, we open the prospects for an interdependent relation that may change the actual competences of actors as well as the governance settings and dynamics in networks and clusters. When supported by public policies, the learning process may have the potential to modify the governance environment. Simultaneously, the learning process is intrinsically influenced by economic power, which may seriously affect the development prospects of clusters and networks. This is why an intertwined consideration of both aspects is necessary to promote specific approaches to learning and to design appropriate policies. In this paper we offer two preliminary case studies to clarify some of these dynamics: the first taken from the computers cluster in Costa Rica and the second from an Italian bio-pharmaceutical firm and its production network. The first case study refers to the software cluster that was created from scratch in Costa Rica thanks to an enlightened government policy in coordination with new local enterprises and an important foreign direct investor; while the second reflects on the ability of an individual company to create a network of relationships with large transnational companies in order to acquire new competences without falling into a subordinate position with respect to its larger partners

Binding between Crossveinless-2 and Chordin Von Willebrand Factor Type C Domains Promotes BMP Signaling by Blocking Chordin Activity

BACKGROUND: Crossveinless-2 (CV2) is an extracellular BMP modulator protein of the Chordin family, which can either enhance or inhibit BMP activity. CV2 binds to BMP2 via subdomain 1 of the first of its five N-terminal von Willebrand factor type C domains (VWC1). Previous studies showed that this BMP binding is required for the anti-, but not for the pro-BMP effect of CV2. More recently, it was shown that CV2 can also bind to the BMP inhibitor Chordin. However, it remained unclear which domains mediate this binding, and whether it accounts for an anti- or pro-BMP effect. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we report that a composite interface of CV2 consisting of subdomain 2 of VWC1 and of VWC2-4, which are dispensable for BMP binding, binds to the VWC2 domain of Chordin. Functional data obtained in zebrafish embryos indicate that this binding of Chordin is required for CV2's pro-BMP effect, which actually is an anti-Chordin effect and, at least to a large extent, independent of Tolloid-mediated Chordin degradation. We further demonstrate that CV2 mutant versions that per se are incapable of BMP binding can attenuate the Chordin/BMP interaction. CONCLUSIONS: We have physically dissected the anti- and pro-BMP effects of CV2. Its anti-BMP effect is obtained by binding to BMP via subdomain1 of the VWC1 domain, a binding that occurs in competition with Chordin. In contrast, its pro-BMP effect is achieved by direct binding to Chordin via subdomain 2 of VWC1 and VWC2-4. This binding seems to induce conformational changes within the Chordin protein that weaken Chordin's affinity to BMP. We propose that in ternary Chordin-CV2-BMP complexes, both BMP and Chordin are directly associated with CV2, whereas Chordin is pushed away from BMP, ensuring that BMPs can be more easily delivered to their receptors

Relevamiento parasitario y estado nutricional en escolares de La Plata

En países en vía de desarrollo aún persisten problemas de malnutrición, anemia e infecciones parasitarias que afectan el desarrollo físico e intelectual de los niños. En este trabajo evaluamos la presencia de infección parasitaria intestinal y el estado nutricional en niños asistentes a un establecimiento escolar del barrio suburbano Malvinas de La Plata, provincia de Buenos Aires.Facultad de Ciencias Veterinaria

Relevamiento parasitario y estado nutricional en escolares de La Plata

En países en vía de desarrollo aún persisten problemas de malnutrición, anemia e infecciones parasitarias que afectan el desarrollo físico e intelectual de los niños. En este trabajo evaluamos la presencia de infección parasitaria intestinal y el estado nutricional en niños asistentes a un establecimiento escolar del barrio suburbano Malvinas de La Plata, provincia de Buenos Aires.Facultad de Ciencias Veterinaria

Relevamiento parasitario y estado nutricional en escolares de La Plata

En países en vía de desarrollo aún persisten problemas de malnutrición, anemia e infecciones parasitarias que afectan el desarrollo físico e intelectual de los niños. En este trabajo evaluamos la presencia de infección parasitaria intestinal y el estado nutricional en niños asistentes a un establecimiento escolar del barrio suburbano Malvinas de La Plata, provincia de Buenos Aires.Facultad de Ciencias Veterinaria