Gorana Ognjenovic and Jasna Jozelic, eds., Nationalism and the Politicization of History in the Former Yugoslavia

The book presents a collection of case studies under the umbrella notion of “politicization of history”. The volume offers inspiring, although qualitatively very different material for reflecting on the relations between historical memory and politics, on the ways in which collective memories are shaped, on the manifold actors, private and public, that are involved in these processes. The contributions unwrap different historical, historiographical, and social issues, which allow us to look at this extremely relevant issue, not only for Yugoslav history, from many points of view

Dinámica de osciladores móviles acoplados con retardos: un enfoque teórico de la formación de segmentos embrionarios

En los sistemas biológicos, las células forman tejidos capaces de realizar tareas complejas, tanto durante el desarrollo embrionario como en organismos multicelulares adultos. Durante el desarrollo, en particular, la formación de estructuras es el resultado de la coordinación de las actividades de muchas células. Un ejemplo paradigmático es el caso de la formación de los segmentos embrionarios precursores de las vertebras, costillas y músculos esqueléticos de la columna en los vertebrados. Estos segmentos se originan en forma secuencial -uno a uno- y periódica, con un ritmo muy preciso. Dicho ritmo est´a controlado por un reloj biológico,el reloj de segmentación, que depende de manera crucial de la coordinación de oscilaciones genéticas entre muchas células. Se cree que cada una de las células involucradas actúa como un oscilador genético autónomo. La coordinación de las oscilaciones genéticas entre las células se logra por un mecanismo de comunicación local por la vía de señalización Delta-Notch. La complejidad del mecanismo de comunicación, que involucra la síntesis y el transporte de macromoléculas desde y hacia el núcleo y la membrana celular, es muchas veces capturada en los modelosmediante la incorporación de retardos temporales explícitos en los términos de acoplamiento. Por otro lado, a pesar de que el mecanismo de comunicación es local, existe movilidad celular en el tejido que ocasiona que las células intercambien sus vecinos en el tiempo. Los efectos de los retardos temporales y de la mobilidad han sido alternativamente considerados por separado en modelos del reloj de segmentación, mostrando que tienen importantes efectos sobre la dinámica de la sincronización y la formación de los segmentos. Sin embargo, de qué manera la combinación de estos factores afecta a la organización de las células y al funcionamiento del reloj, es una pregunta que aún espera a ser contestada.En esta Tesis nos enfocamos en el estudio de la interrelación entre la movilidad celular y los retardos temporales que introduce el mecanismo de comunicación, mediante un enfoque teórico basado en el estudio de sistemas de osciladores acoplados que incorporan estos dos elementos del sistema biológico. En una primera parte nos centramos en el análisis del tiempo que requiere el sistema para alcanzar un estado de sincronización global, en el que todos lososciladores evolucionan con la misma fase y frecuencia. Encontramos que la movilidad es capaz de acelerar la sincronización, aún cuando el acoplamiento es retardado. Mostramos que la movilidad junto con los retardos temporales determinan distintos regímenes dinámicos que gobiernan la evolución del sistema en su camino hacia la sincronización. En una segunda parte, estudiamos patrones espaciotemporales intrigantes que aparecen espontáneamente en el sistema estudiado. Dichos patrones, conocidos como Estados Chimera, consisten en uno omás grupos de osciladores sincronizados que coexisten en el mismo estado con otros que evolucionan asincrónicamente. Al ocurrir en sistemas de osciladores idénticos, representan un ejemplo paradigmático de ruptura de simetría. A pesar de la diversidad de sistemas en los que aparecen, comprender los mecanismos por los cuales se forman los estados Chimera resulta uno de los grandes desafíos actuales en el campo de los sistemas dinámicos. En este trabajo encontramos un mecanismo novedoso de formación de estados Chimera, como consecuencia de la interacción entre la movilidad de los osciladores y los retardos temporales en el acoplamiento. Desarrollamos un método capaz de distinguir estos estados frente a una variedad de otros estados dinámicos del sistema y lo utilizamos para caracterizar los estados observados. El método desarrollado permite identificar otros tipos de estados chimera que no habían sido reportados hasta el momento.Nuestros hallazgos sugieren que los estados chimera podrían ser observados en sistemas naturales donde la movilidad de los osciladores y los retardos temporales en la comunicación ocurren conjuntamente como por ejemplo el reloj de segmentación.Fil: Petrungaro, Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigación en Biomedicina de Buenos Aires - Instituto Partner de la Sociedad Max Planck; Argentin

Sex-related differences in death control of somatic cells

In 2001, The United States Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on Understanding the Biology of Sex and Gender Differences concluded that ‘Sex…should be considered when designing and analysing studies in all areas and at all levels of biomedical and health-related research…’ and stated an apparent paradox i.e.: ‘every cell has a sex’ 1. Sex is defined as ‘the classification of living things, generally as male or female according to their reproductive organs and functions assigned by chromosomal complement’ whereas gender is defined as ‘a person's self representation as male or female, or how that person is responded to by social institutions based on the individual's gender presentation. Gender is rooted in biology and shaped by environment and experience’ 1. It is unchallenged that there are health differences between males and females and that social and cultural factors could contribute to the observed differences. Anyway, the sex-dependent differences also have a biological base which sometimes has not been deeply investigated. Scientists studying health differences between male and female aim to both considering social/cultural environment and investigating biological/molecular mechanisms different between sexes. Some experimental studies have elucidated important differences in cell death control 2. A sex disparity, in fact, has been shown both in the propensity to apoptosis and in the activation of the autophagic pathway. In the context of cell fate control, hormones represent important regulators of both apoptosis and autophagy. In the cardiovascular system, for example, oestrogens inhibit cardiomyocyte apoptosis by decreasing reactive oxygen species production and increasing intracellular antioxidants 3. Oestrogens may also indirectly control autophagy as they up-regulate urocortin 4, a neuropeptide hormone able to inhibiting autophagy in cardiomyocytes. Conversely, increasing evidence suggests possible adverse effects of androgens on the vasculature showing that androgens, as opposed to oestrogens, may worsen vascular dysfunction in men, thus contributing to sex-based differences in cardiovascular diseases 5. However, it is currently emerging that some cell death programs are differentially controlled by sex-related hormone-independent cellular genetics. Differences in cell death sensitivity in male and female may then occur in the absence of an hormonal context. This is not an immediately obvious finding; Penaloza C et al., 6 have shown that the apoptosis amount differs between the sexes in isolated embryonic cells exposed to similar conditions and this happens at embryonal stages where there are no hormonal influences. Previous studies had reported a sexual dimorphism in embryonic neuronal signal transduction pathways and consequently differences in cell survival 7. Death pathways in XX and XY cells have been poorly investigated as most studies have been performed on established cells lines often irrespective of their male or female origin. Recently, using freshly isolated cells from male and female individuals gave important information on sex disparity in cell fate control. Such sex specificity has been in part clarified thanks to cell culture models where sex steroids can be removed from the media. Even sex-related differences in caspase activation have been found to be independent on hormone exposure. More in detail, cell death occurring in cortical neurons after ischaemia proceeds predominantly via an apoptosis-inducing factor-dependent pathway (a caspase-independent pathway) in male neurons while proceeds via a cytochrome C-dependent pathway (a process mediated by caspase activation) in female neurons 8. In this context, a sex-specific microRNA expression after ischaemia has been described in in vivo studies. In particular, it has been demonstrated that microRNA-23a, by binding the mRNA of the caspase inhibitor named XIAP, induces its translational repression in females, leading to enhanced caspase signalling in the ischaemic female brain. This effect has been shown to be independent of circulating oestrogen levels 9. Sex differences in ischaemic brain injury and cerebrovascular regulation have been observed in clinical and experimental studies and an important determinant of such differences is also represented by the integrity of endothelial cells. In fact, endothelial function is improved in women compared with men, contributing to female cellular higher resistance after ischaemic brain injury. Gupta NC et al. 10 showed that female cerebrovascular endothelial cells express lower level of soluble epoxide hydrolase and consequently have higher levels of vasoprotective epoxyeicosatrienoic acids as compared with male endothelial cells. This study therefore presents a novel additional mechanism underlying differences between male and female cells in apoptotic response after oxygen-glucose deprivation, contributing to explain higher resistance observed in females as compared with males. This study remarks again that differences between male and female cells do not necessarily depend on the hormonal context but may be inherent the cells. We believe that this apparently paradoxical concept has not been sufficiently highlighted in the scientific literature. The present ‘Letter to the Editor’ therefore aims at underlining such an important issue which deserves more attention and discussion in the researchers' community. A practical consequence of sex-dependent discrepancies in cell death control is that cellular response to any stimulus or treatment, in any physiological or pathological context, may well depend on the sex of the cell line used; journals guidelines should therefore require authors to state in any case the sex of the cell lines used in any in vitro study. In addition, at least to some extent, sex-matched or sex-unmatched cell controls may be necessary in many experimental settings. In conclusion, sex-related differences in cell death mechanism may have strong implications for experimental studies and sexual dimorphism dependent on chromosomal rather than hormonal differences have important implications for planning preclinical studies and clinical interventions

L' IMPIEGO DEI FOCUS GROUP NEI DISEGNI DI RICERCA IBRIDI: IL "CASO INTIMISSIMI"

L'impiego dei focus group nei disegni di ricerca ibridi: il "caso Intimissimi

Rights of Sex Workers in Germany: Shifting Focus from the Locals to the Migrants from Eastern and Southeastern Europe?

The main goal of the German Prostitution Act of 2002 to improve the human and labor rights of sex workers has not been achieved. The gradual substitution of German sex workers with migrants, most of whom stem from Central and Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union countries, is overlooked, since multiple sex workers from these countries are, in reality, not covered by the Act; victims of human trafficking are also not adequately protected by current legislation. The issue is complex and regulation requires policy makers in Germany and the EU to address it together with human trafficking and migration issues

c-Flip KO fibroblasts display lipid accumulation associated with endoplasmic reticulum stress

c-Flip proteins are well-known apoptosis modulators. They generally contribute to tissue homeostasis maintenance by inhibiting death-receptor-mediated cell death. In the present manuscript, we showthat c-Flip knock-out (KO) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) kept in culture under starvation conditions gradually modify their phenotype and accumulate vacuoles, becoming progressively larger according to the duration of starvation. Large vacuoles are present in KO MEFs though not in WT MEFs, and are Oil Red-O positive, which indicates that they represent lipid droplets. Western blot experiments reveal that, unlikeWTMEFs, KOMEFs express high levels of the lipogenic transcription factor PPAR-γ. Lipid droplet accumulation was found to be associated with endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress activation and autophagic modulation valuated by means of BIP increase, LC3 lipidation and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) phosphorylation, and p62 accumulation. Interestingly, XBP-1, an ER stress-induced lipogenic transcription factor, was found to preferentially localize in the nucleus rather than in the cytoplasm of KO MEFs. These data demonstrate that, upon starvation, c-Flip affects lipid accumulation, ER stress and autophagy, thereby pointing to an important role of c-Flip in the adaptive response and ER stress response programs under both normal and pathological conditions

Cancer microenvironment and endoplasmic reticulum stress response

Different stressful conditions such as hypoxia, nutrient deprivation, pH changes, or reduced vascularization, potentially able to act as growth-limiting factors for tumor cells, activate the unfolded protein response (UPR). UPR is therefore involved in tumor growth and adaptation to severe environments and is generally cytoprotective in cancer. The present review describes the molecular mechanisms underlying UPR and able to promote survival and proliferation in cancer. The critical role of UPR activation in tumor growth promotion is discussed in detail for a few paradigmatic tumors such as prostate cancer and melanoma

Rights of Sex Workers in Germany: Shifting Focus from the Locals to the Migrants from Eastern and Southeastern Europe?

The main goal of the German Prostitution Act of 2002 to improve the human and labor rights of sex workers has not been achieved. The gradual substitution of German sex workers with migrants, most of whom stem from Central and Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union countries, is overlooked, since multiple sex workers from these countries are, in reality, not covered by the Act; victims of human trafficking are also not adequately protected by current legislation. The issue is complex and regulation requires policy makers in Germany and the EU to address it together with human trafficking and migration issues