The Abduction of Europa

The refugee crisis and the ascent of right-wing populism remind Europe of its hybrid origin and the search for a solution must start from there. Europe – you might know it – is a woman. According to Greek mythology, she was the beautiful daughter of a Phoenician king who was abducted by the mighty God Zeus. The story goes like this: Godfather Zeus falls in love with Europa. In order to deceive his jealous wife Hera, Zeus takes on the form of a white bull to approach Europa as she plays at a beach in Sidon, a city in what is today known as Lebanon. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.337211

Nye fortællinger om digitale seksuelle overgreb

Omtale af Signe Uldbjerg: Rewriting Victimhood: Stories of digital sexual assaul

Prevention of DNA Replication Stress by CHK1 Leads to Chemoresistance Despite a DNA Repair Defect in Homologous Recombination in Breast Cancer

Chromosomal instability not only has a negative effect on survival in triple-negative breast cancer, but also on the well treatable subgroup of luminal A tumors. This suggests a general mechanism independent of subtypes. Increased chromosomal instability (CIN) in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is attributed to a defect in the DNA repair pathway homologous recombination. Homologous recombination (HR) prevents genomic instability by repair and protection of replication. It is unclear whether genetic alterations actually lead to a repair defect or whether superior signaling pathways are of greater importance. Previous studies focused exclusively on the repair function of HR. Here, we show that the regulation of HR by the intra-S-phase damage response at the replication is of overriding importance. A damage response activated by Ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3 related-checkpoint kinase 1 (ATR-CHK1) can prevent replication stress and leads to resistance formation. CHK1 thus has a preferred role over HR in preventing replication stress in TNBC. The signaling cascade ATR-CHK1 can compensate for a double-strand break repair error and lead to resistance of HR-deficient tumors. Established methods for the identification of HR-deficient tumors for Poly(ADP-Ribose)-Polymerase 1 (PARP1) inhibitor therapies should be extended to include analysis of candidates for intra-S phase damage response

Decatransin, a novel natural product inhibiting protein translocation at the Sec61/SecY translocon

A new cyclic decadepsipeptide was isolated from Chaetosphaeria tulasneorum with potent bioactivity on mammalian and yeast cells. Chemogenomic profiling in S. cerevisiae indicated that the Sec61 translocon, the machinery for protein translocation and membrane insertion at the endoplasmic reticulum, is the target. The profiles were similar to those of cyclic heptadepsipeptides of a distinct chemotype (HUN-7293/cotransin) that had previously been shown to inhibit cotranslational translocation at the mammalian Sec61 translocon. Unbiased, genome-wide mutagenesis followed by full-genome sequencing in both fungal and mammalian cells identified dominant mutations in Sec61p/Sec61α1 to confer resistance. Most, but not all, of these mutations affected inhibition by both chemotypes, despite an absence of structural similarity. Biochemical analysis confirmed inhibition of protein translocation into the endoplasmic reticulum of both co- and posttranslationally translocated substrates by both chemotypes, demonstrating a mechanism independent of a translating ribosome. Most interestingly, both chemotypes were found to also inhibit SecYEG, the bacterial Sec61 homolog. We suggest "decatransin" as the name for this novel decadepsipeptide translocation inhibitor

Indirect exclusion of four candidate genes for generalized progressive retinal atrophy in several breeds of dogs

BACKGROUND: Generalized progressive retinal atrophy (gPRA) is a hereditary ocular disorder with progressive photoreceptor degeneration in dogs. Four retina-specific genes, ATP binding cassette transporter retina (ABCA4), connexin 36 (CX36), c-mer tyrosin kinase receptor (MERTK) and photoreceptor cell retinol dehydrogenase (RDH12) were investigated in order to identify mutations leading to autosomal recessive (ar) gPRA in 29 breeds of dogs. RESULTS: Mutation screening was performed initially by PCR and single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis, representing a simple method with comparatively high reliability for identification of sequence variations in many samples. Conspicuous banding patterns were analyzed via sequence analyses in order to detect the underlying nucleotide variations. No pathogenetically relevant mutations were detected in the genes ABCA4, CX36, MERTK and RDH12 in 71 affected dogs of 29 breeds. Yet 30 new sequence variations were identified, both, in the coding regions and intronic sequences. Many of the sequence variations were in heterozygous state in affected dogs. CONCLUSION: Based on the ar transmittance of gPRA in the breeds investigated, informative sequence variations provide evidence allowing indirect exclusion of pathogenetic mutations in the genes ABCA4 (for 9 breeds), CX36 (for 12 breeds), MERTK (for all 29 breeds) and RDH12 (for 9 breeds)

Basics of collaborative research data management: Requirements for a Schleswig-Holstein state initiative on research data management

Das Papier "Grundlagen eines partnerschaftlichen Forschungsdatenmanagements - Anforderungen an eine schleswig-holsteinische Landesinitiative zum Forschungsdatenmanagement" umreißt die Anforderungen für eine schleswig-holsteinische Landesinitiative zum Forschungsdatenmanagement (FDM-SH). Hierfür wird zunächst das Umfeld, in dem eine solche Initiative entstehen und agieren soll, beschrieben. So beeinflussen sowohl die Eigenheiten der regionalen Forschungslandschaft wie auch die Entwicklungen im Bereich der Nationalen Forschungsdateninfrastruktur (NFDI) die Ausprägungen von Landesinitiativen. Die speziellen Anforderungen werden durch den Vergleich mit anderen Landesinitiativen, die Analyse von spezifischen Umfrageergebnissen aus Schleswig-Holstein sowie die Berücksichtigung der Anforderungen der NFDI gesammelt. Der Ansatz des partnerschaftlichen Forschungsdatenmanagements (FDM) spiegelt das Anliegen Schleswig-Holsteins wider, die Herausforderungen für ein zeitgemäßes FDM vor Ort gemeinsam zu bewältigen und dabei sowohl Know-how zu teilen als auch Ressourcen zu schonen

Design and synthesis of soluble and cell-permeable PI3Kδ inhibitors for long-acting inhaled administration

PI3Kδ is a lipid kinase that is believed to be important in the migration and activation of cells of the immune system. Inhibition is hypothesised to provide a powerful yet selective immunomodulatory effect that may be beneficial for the treatment of conditions such as asthma or rheumatoid arthritis. In this work we describe the identification of inhibitors based on a thiazolopyridone core structure and their subsequent optimisation for inhalation. The initially identified compound (13) had good potency and isoform selectivity but was not suitable for inhalation. Addition of basic substituents to a region of the molecule pointing to solvent was tolerated (enzyme inhibition pIC50 >9) and by careful manipulation of the pKa and lipophilicity we were able to discover compounds (20b, 20f) with good lung retention and cell potency that could be taken forward to in-vivo studies where significant target engagement could be demonstrated

Reduced hippocampal activation during episodic encoding in middle-aged individuals at genetic risk of Alzheimer's Disease: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: The presence of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele is a major risk factor for the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and has been associated with metabolic brain changes several years before the onset of typical AD symptoms. Functional MRI (fMRI) is a brain imaging technique that has been used to demonstrate hippocampal activation during measurement of episodic encoding, but the effect of the ε4 allele on hippocampal activation has not been firmly established. METHODS: The present study examined the effects of APOE genotype on brain activation patterns in the medial temporal lobe (MTL) during an episodic encoding task using a well-characterized novel item versus familiar item contrast in cognitively normal, middle-aged (mean = 54 years) individuals who had at least one parent with AD. RESULTS: We found that ε3/4 heterozygotes displayed reduced activation in the hippocampus and MTL compared to ε3/3 homozygotes. There were no significant differences between the groups in age, education or neuropsychological functioning, suggesting that the altered brain activation seen in ε3/4 heterozygotes was not associated with impaired cognitive function. We also found that participants' ability to encode information on a neuropsychological measure of learning was associated with greater activation in the anterior MTL in the ε3/3 homozygotes, but not in the ε3/4 heterozygotes. CONCLUSION: Together with previous studies reporting reduced glucose metabolism and AD-related neuropathology, this study provides convergent validity for the idea that the MTL exhibits functional decline associated with the APOE ε4 allele. Importantly, these changes were detected in the absence of meaningful neuropsychological differences between the groups. A focus of ongoing work in this laboratory is to determine if these findings are predictive of subsequent cognitive decline