I «volti del dissenso». Il contributo di Kenneth Keniston all’analisi delle culture giovanili

The paper explores and analyzes Kenneth Keniston’s researches on the forms of dissent that engaged the US youth between the late 1950s and early 1970s. The resulting review allows to outline, through the continuum between alienation and commitment, the complex interweaving among the processes of social and political change, the biographical dimension and the psychosocial development on which Keniston develops his analysis of the «faces of dissent». The manifold suggestions, until the proposal of identifying the typical features of a «postmodern youth», and the innovative contribution that the analysis developed by Keniston offered, and continues to offer, to the psychological, anthropological and sociological debate on youth and youth cultures are thus highlighted

Introduction to the Special Section: Youth Work, Non-Formal Education and Youth Participation

This special issue of the Italian Journal of Sociology of Education deals with “Youth Work, Non-Formal Education and Youth Participation”. These three dimensions have become, over recent years, among the main drivers in youth policies (Bendit & Hahn-Bleibtreu, 2008; Chisholm, Kovacheva & Merico, 2011; Belton, 2014). This is largely evident at a European level. Specifically, the development of youth work is nowadays a priority for the European Commission and the Council of Europe, within a broader framework directed towards the recognition and validation of non-formal education, the promotion of youth participation, and the wider rethinking of youth policies (Milmeister & Williamson, 2006; Williamson, 2007; 2008; Denstad, 2009; Devlin, 2010

Individual and Social Temporalities in American Sociology (1940–2000)

This article is based on the analysis of 259 titles of articles selected from four American sociological journals (the American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, the American Sociological Review and Social Problems), over a period of 60 years (1940–2000). These titles contain key words such as age(s), generation(s), life cycle and life course, as well as a group of words that identify the purpose of each specific article. The lexical analysis of the data gathered in this way allows us to observe how various orientations, themes and objects of research are encoded in the titles. Comparing how each of these terms is used shows the way in which sociological reasoning has integrated different perspectives on individual and social temporalities. We have established that each of the four different perspectives considered refers to an exclusive lexical repertoire, to themes of differentiated research that belong to a specific historical period

Age, generation, life cycle et life course dans les titres d’articles sociologiques américains : 1940-2000

Le matériau présenté dans cet article est formé d'un corpus de 259 titres d'articles de revues où apparaissent les mots clefs age(s), generation(s), lift cycle et lift course. Par l'analyse lexicale de ce corpus, on entend moins cerner l'intentionnalité des auteurs qu'objectiver la façon dont sont affichés dans les titres certaines orientations, thématiques et objets d'études. Cette étude sur la communication des savoirs scientifiques permet d'approcher autrement la façon dont le raisonnement sociologique a intégré des perspectives d'analyse portant sur les temporalités humaines et sociales. Pour dégager leur historicité, ont été systématiquement dépouillées quatre revues sociologiques généralistes américaines (American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, American Sociological Review and Social Problems), sur une période de soixante années (1940-2000).This paper rewiews the occurrence of the ftllowing key words: age(s), generation(s), life cycle and life course, in the titles of 259 articles published in scientific journals. Rather than indentifying the authors' intentions, the lexical analysis of the corpus objectifies the way certain orientations, topics and objects were highlighted. This study of the communication of scientific knowledge offers an alternative perception of how sociological reasoning has integrated the analysis of human and social temporalities. In order to demonstrate their historicity, four American general sociological journals (the American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, the American Sociological Review and Social Problems) appearing between 1940 and 2000 have heen systematically analyzed

Maternal Oct-4 is a potential key regulator of the developmental competence of mouse oocytes

Background The maternal contribution of transcripts and proteins supplied to the zygote is crucial for the progression from a gametic to an embryonic control of preimplantation development. Here we compared the transcriptional profiles of two types of mouse MII oocytes, one which is developmentally competent (MIISN oocyte), the other that ceases development at the 2-cell stage (MIINSN oocyte), with the aim of identifying genes and gene expression networks whose misregulated expression would contribute to a reduced developmental competence. Results We report that: 1) the transcription factor Oct-4 is absent in MIINSN oocytes, accounting for 2) the down-regulation of Stella, a maternal-effect factor required for the oocyte-to-embryo transition and of which Oct-4 is a positive regulator; 3) eighteen Oct-4-regulated genes are up-regulated in MIINSN oocytes and are part of gene expression networks implicated in the activation of adverse biochemical pathways such as oxidative phosphorylation, mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis. Conclusion The down-regulation of Oct-4 plays a crucial function in a sequence of molecular processes that leads to the developmental arrest of MIINSN oocytes. The use of a model study in which the MII oocyte ceases development consistently at the 2-cell stage has allowed to attribute a role to the maternal Oct-4 that has never been described before. Oct-4 emerges as a key regulator of the molecular events that govern the establishment of the developmental competence of mouse oocytes

OCT4 and the acquisition of oocyte developmental competence during folliculogenesis

The role that the transcription factor OCT4 plays during oocyte growth is yet unknown. In this review, we summarise the data on its potential role in the acquisition of oocyte developmental competence in the mouse. These studies describe the presence in MII oocytes and 2-cell embryos of an OCT4 transcriptional network that might be part of the molecular signature of maternal origin on which the inner cell mass and the embryonic stem cell-associated pluripotency is assembled and shaped. The Oct4-gene regulatory network thus provides a connection between eggs, early preimplantation embryos and embryonic stem cells

Transcriptome based identification of mouse cumulus cell markers that predict the developmental competence of their enclosed antral oocytes

BACKGROUND: The cumulus cells (CCs) enveloping antral and ovulated oocytes have been regarded as putative source of non-invasive markers of the oocyte developmental competence. A number of studies have indeed observed a correlation between CCs gene expression, embryo quality, and final pregnancy outcome. Here, we isolated CCs from antral mouse oocytes of known developmental incompetence (NSN-CCs) or competence (SN-CCs) and compared their transcriptomes with the aim of identifying distinct marker transcripts. RESULTS: Global gene expression analysis highlighted that both types of CCs share similar transcriptomes, with the exception of 422 genes, 97.6% of which were down-regulated in NSN-CCs vs. SN-CCs. This transcriptional down-regulation in NSN-CCs was confirmed by qRT-PCR analysis of CC-related genes (Has2, Ptx3, Tnfaip6 and Ptgs2). Only ten of the 422 genes were up-regulated with Amh being the most up-regulated in NSN-CCs, with an average 4-fold higher expression when analysed by qRT-PCR. CONCLUSIONS: The developmental incompetence (NSN) or competence (SN) of antral oocytes can be predicted using transcript markers expressed by their surrounding CCs (i.e., Has2, Ptx3, Tnfaip6, Ptgs2 and Amh). Overall, the regulated nature of the group of genes brought out by whole transcriptome analysis constitutes the molecular signature of CCs associated either with developmentally incompetent or competent oocytes and may represent a valuable resource for developing new molecular tools for the assessment of oocyte quality and to further investigate the complex bi-directional interaction occurring between CCs and oocyte

A High Incidence of Meiotic Silencing of Unsynapsed Chromatin Is Not Associated with Substantial Pachytene Loss in Heterozygous Male Mice Carrying Multiple Simple Robertsonian Translocations

Meiosis is a complex type of cell division that involves homologous chromosome pairing, synapsis, recombination, and segregation. When any of these processes is altered, cellular checkpoints arrest meiosis progression and induce cell elimination. Meiotic impairment is particularly frequent in organisms bearing chromosomal translocations. When chromosomal translocations appear in heterozygosis, the chromosomes involved may not correctly complete synapsis, recombination, and/or segregation, thus promoting the activation of checkpoints that lead to the death of the meiocytes. In mammals and other organisms, the unsynapsed chromosomal regions are subject to a process called meiotic silencing of unsynapsed chromatin (MSUC). Different degrees of asynapsis could contribute to disturb the normal loading of MSUC proteins, interfering with autosome and sex chromosome gene expression and triggering a massive pachytene cell death. We report that in mice that are heterozygous for eight multiple simple Robertsonian translocations, most pachytene spermatocytes bear trivalents with unsynapsed regions that incorporate, in a stage-dependent manner, proteins involved in MSUC (e.g., γH2AX, ATR, ubiquitinated-H2A, SUMO-1, and XMR). These spermatocytes have a correct MSUC response and are not eliminated during pachytene and most of them proceed into diplotene. However, we found a high incidence of apoptotic spermatocytes at the metaphase stage. These results suggest that in Robertsonian heterozygous mice synapsis defects on most pachytene cells do not trigger a prophase-I checkpoint. Instead, meiotic impairment seems to mainly rely on the action of a checkpoint acting at the metaphase stage. We propose that a low stringency of the pachytene checkpoint could help to increase the chances that spermatocytes with synaptic defects will complete meiotic divisions and differentiate into viable gametes. This scenario, despite a reduction of fertility, allows the spreading of Robertsonian translocations, explaining the multitude of natural Robertsonian populations described in the mouse