The Challenge of the Irish Catholic Community in Nineteenth-Century Montreal

As a receiving point for the Irish diaspora, Montreal offered the exceptional context of a Catholic majority, a bilingual labour market, and, in the 1840s, a polity undergoing reconstruction. The high quality of records in Montreal allows us to trace the destinies of Irish Catholics who settled in the city in the 1840s and to weigh some of the factors that contributed to their upward mobility. One such factor was the existence of an Irish Catholic population that, from as early as the 1820s, constituted a third community, distinctive in its demographic behaviour and institutional allegiances, alongside French Canadians and Anglo-Protestants. An examination of sample families shows that the “famine immigrants” of the 1840s advanced into new economic niches, their infants thrived, they achieved in the second and third generations substantial improvement in housing and residential integration, and they exercised, in each generation, an active and articulate political voice. These findings contradict earlier assumptions of persistent poverty and powerlessness among Irish Catholics in North American cities and raise new questions about urban opportunities and social pathways.Carrefour d’accueil de la diaspora irlandaise, Montréal offrait le contexte exceptionnel d’une majorité catholique, d’un marché du travail bilingue et, dans les années 1840, d’un régime en reconstruction. La grande qualité des archives à Montréal nous permet de retracer la destinée des catholiques irlandais qui s’y sont établis dans les années 1840 et de soupeser certains des facteurs qui ont favorisé leur mobilité ascendante. L’un de ces facteurs était l’existence d’une population catholique irlandaise qui, dès les années 1820, représentait une tierce communauté, distincte par son comportement démographique et ses allégeances institutionnelles, aux côtés des Canadiens français et des anglo-protestants. On se rend compte à l’examen d’un échantillon de familles que les « immigrants de la famine » des années 1840 se sont taillés de nouveaux créneaux économiques, que leurs enfants ont prospéré, qu’elles ont nettement amélioré leur intégration en matière d’habitation et de logement à la deuxième et à la troisième génération et qu’elles ont exercé à chaque génération une influence politique active et articulée. Ces constats contredisent les hypothèses antérieures d’une pauvreté et d’une impuissance persistantes chez les catholiques irlandais des villes nord-américaines et soulèvent de nouvelles questions sur les débouchés en milieu urbain et les parcours sociaux

The Harsh Welcome of an Industrial City: Immigrant Women in Montreal, 1880–1900

Over the span 1880 to 1900, Montreal was a city of newcomers, a majority of them women, and most of them arrived before age 30 from Britain, Europe, the United States, or rural counties of Quebec and Ontario. Young people aged 15 to 29 accounted for a third of the population and half of the recorded labour force. The authors’ analyses of 1881 census data and a 5 per cent sample for 1901 uncover a wide range of factors affecting life transitions. A substantial increase in participation of young unmarried women in the waged labour force was made possible by shifts in the timing of life transitions: the ages at which girls left school, left home, entered the work force, and married. The schedule was affected by migration, and it differed among the three principal cultural communities — French-speaking Catholic, English-speaking Catholic, and Anglo-Protestant. All three groups of women increased their rates of participation in the labour force, but the distinctions based on cultural affiliation persisted in both the scheduling of life transitions and the kinds of work in which they engaged. De nombreux immigrants arrivèrent à Montréal durant les dernières décennies du XIXe siècle. Plus de la moitié d'entre eux étaient des femmes et la plupart arrivaient à un âge plutôt jeune, en provenance de la Grande-Bretagne, d’Europe, des États-Unis, ou encore des régions rurales du Québec et de l’Ontario. Les jeunes de 15 à 30 ans représentaient alors le tiers de la population totale et occupaient la moitié de tous les emplois déclarés. Tirant parti des données du recensement de 1881 et d’un échantillon de 5 p. 100 de celui de 1901, ce texte examine les facteurs susceptibles d'influencer le parcours de vie des jeunes Montréalaises à cette époque : âge auquel elles cessent d’aller à l’école, quittent le domicile familial, commencent à travailler et se marient. L'expérience migratoire affecte ces trajectoires, qui varient aussi selon la communauté culturelle d'appartenance. Les femmes des trois principaux groupes – franco-catholique, irlandais catholique et anglo-protestant - connaissent toutes une augmentation de leur taux de participation au marché du travail, mais les trajectoires empruntées et le type de travail effectué ne sont pas les mêmes dans tous les groupes

Neutrophils From Children With Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Exhibit Persistent Proinflammatory Activation Despite Long-Standing Clinically Inactive Disease

Background: Systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SJIA) is a chronic childhood arthropathy with features of autoinflammation. Early inflammatory SJIA is associated with expansion and activation of neutrophils with a sepsis-like phenotype, but neutrophil phenotypes present in longstanding and clinically inactive disease (CID) are unknown. The objective of this study was to examine activated neutrophil subsets, S100 alarmin release, and gene expression signatures in children with a spectrum of SJIA disease activity.Methods: Highly-purified neutrophils were isolated using a two-step procedure of density-gradient centrifugation followed by magnetic-bead based negative selection prior to flow cytometry or cell culture to quantify S100 protein release. Whole transcriptome gene expression profiles were compared in neutrophils from children with both active SJIA and CID.Results: Patients with SJIA and active systemic features demonstrated a higher proportion of CD16+CD62Llo neutrophil population compared to controls. This neutrophil subset was not seen in patients with CID or patients with active arthritis not exhibiting systemic features. Using imaging flow cytometry, CD16+CD62Llo neutrophils from patients with active SJIA and features of macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) had increased nuclear hypersegmentation compared to CD16+CD62L+ neutrophils. Serum levels of S100A8/A9 and S100A12 were strongly correlated with peripheral blood neutrophil counts. Neutrophils from active SJIA patients did not show enhanced resting S100 protein release; however, regardless of disease activity, neutrophils from SJIA patients did show enhanced S100A8/A9 release upon PMA stimulation compared to control neutrophils. Furthermore, whole transcriptome analysis of highly purified neutrophils from children with active SJIA identified 214 differentially expressed genes (DEG) compared to neutrophils from healthy controls. The most significantly upregulated gene pathway was Immune System Process, including AIM2, IL18RAP, and NLRC4. Interestingly, this gene set showed intermediate levels of expression in neutrophils from patients with long-standing CID yet persistent serum IL-18 elevation. Indeed, all patient samples regardless of disease activity demonstrated elevated inflammatory gene expression, including inflammasome components and S100A8.Conclusion: We identify features of neutrophil activation in SJIA patients with both active disease and CID, including a proinflammatory gene expression signature, reflecting persistent innate immune activation. Taken together, these studies expand understanding of neutrophil function in chronic autoinflammatory disorders such as SJIA

Thrombin promotes diet-induced obesity through fibrin-driven inflammation

Obesity promotes a chronic inflammatory and hypercoagulable state that drives cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, and several cancers. Elevated thrombin activity underlies obesity-linked thromboembolic events, but the mechanistic links between the thrombin/fibrin(ogen) axis and obesity-associated pathologies are incompletely understood. In this work, immunohistochemical studies identified extravascular fibrin deposits within white adipose tissue and liver as distinct features of mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD) as well as obese patients. Fibγ390–396A mice carrying a mutant form of fibrinogen incapable of binding leukocyte αMβ2-integrin were protected from HFD-induced weight gain and elevated adiposity. Fibγ390–396A mice had markedly diminished systemic, adipose, and hepatic inflammation with reduced macrophage counts within white adipose tissue, as well as near-complete protection from development of fatty liver disease and glucose dysmetabolism. Homozygous thrombomodulin-mutant ThbdPro mice, which have elevated thrombin procoagulant function, gained more weight and developed exacerbated fatty liver disease when fed a HFD compared with WT mice. In contrast, treatment with dabigatran, a direct thrombin inhibitor, limited HFD-induced obesity development and suppressed progression of sequelae in mice with established obesity. Collectively, these data provide proof of concept that targeting thrombin or fibrin(ogen) may limit pathologies in obese patients

Protocol for the Foot in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis trial (FiJIA): a randomised controlled trial of an integrated foot care programme for foot problems in JIA

<b>Background</b>: Foot and ankle problems are a common but relatively neglected manifestation of juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Studies of medical and non-medical interventions have shown that clinical outcome measures can be improved. However existing data has been drawn from small non-randomised clinical studies of single interventions that appear to under-represent the adult population suffering from juvenile idiopathic arthritis. To date, no evidence of combined therapies or integrated care for juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients with foot and ankle problems exists. <b>Methods/design</b>: An exploratory phase II non-pharmacological randomised controlled trial where patients including young children, adolescents and adults with juvenile idiopathic arthritis and associated foot/ankle problems will be randomised to receive integrated podiatric care via a new foot care programme, or to receive standard podiatry care. Sixty patients (30 in each arm) including children, adolescents and adults diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis who satisfy the inclusion and exclusion criteria will be recruited from 2 outpatient centres of paediatric and adult rheumatology respectively. Participants will be randomised by process of minimisation using the Minim software package. The primary outcome measure is the foot related impairment measured by the Juvenile Arthritis Disability Index questionnaire's impairment domain at 6 and 12 months, with secondary outcomes including disease activity score, foot deformity score, active/limited foot joint counts, spatio-temporal and plantar-pressure gait parameters, health related quality of life and semi-quantitative ultrasonography score for inflammatory foot lesions. The new foot care programme will comprise rapid assessment and investigation, targeted treatment, with detailed outcome assessment and follow-up at minimum intervals of 3 months. Data will be collected at baseline, 6 months and 12 months from baseline. Intention to treat data analysis will be conducted. A full health economic evaluation will be conducted alongside the trial and will evaluate the cost effectiveness of the intervention. This will consider the cost per improvement in Juvenile Arthritis Disability Index, and cost per quality adjusted life year gained. In addition, a discrete choice experiment will elicit willingness to pay values and a cost benefit analysis will also be undertaken

Rule based classifier for the analysis of gene-gene and gene-environment interactions in genetic association studies

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Several methods have been presented for the analysis of complex interactions between genetic polymorphisms and/or environmental factors. Despite the available methods, there is still a need for alternative methods, because no single method will perform well in all scenarios. The aim of this work was to evaluate the performance of three selected rule based classifier algorithms, RIPPER, RIDOR and PART, for the analysis of genetic association studies.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Overall, 42 datasets were simulated with three different case-control models, a varying number of subjects (300, 600), SNPs (500, 1500, 3000) and noise (5%, 10%, 20%). The algorithms were applied to each of the datasets with a set of algorithm-specific settings. Results were further investigated with respect to a) the Model, b) the Rules, and c) the Attribute level. Data analysis was performed using WEKA, SAS and PERL.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The RIPPER algorithm discovered the true case-control model at least once in >33% of the datasets. The RIDOR and PART algorithm performed poorly for model detection. The RIPPER, RIDOR and PART algorithm discovered the true case-control rules in more than 83%, 83% and 44% of the datasets, respectively. All three algorithms were able to detect the attributes utilized in the respective case-control models in most datasets.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The current analyses substantiate the utility of rule based classifiers such as RIPPER, RIDOR and PART for the detection of gene-gene/gene-environment interactions in genetic association studies. These classifiers could provide a valuable new method, complementing existing approaches, in the analysis of genetic association studies. The methods provide an advantage in being able to handle both categorical and continuous variable types. Further, because the outputs of the analyses are easy to interpret, the rule based classifier approach could quickly generate testable hypotheses for additional evaluation. Since the algorithms are computationally inexpensive, they may serve as valuable tools for preselection of attributes to be used in more complex, computationally intensive approaches. Whether used in isolation or in conjunction with other tools, rule based classifiers are an important addition to the armamentarium of tools available for analyses of complex genetic association studies.</p

An Evolutionary Hypothesis of Binary Opposition in Functional Incompatibility about Habenular Asymmetry in Vertebrates

Many vertebrates have asymmetrical circuits in the nervous system. There are two types of circuit asymmetry. Asymmetrical circuits in sensory and/or motor systems are usually related to lateralized behaviors. It has been hypothesized that spatial asymmetry in the environment and/or social interactions has led to the evolution of asymmetrical circuits by natural selection. There are also asymmetrical circuits that are not related to lateralized behaviors. These circuits lie outside of the sensory and motor systems. A typical example is found in the habenula (Hb), which has long been known to be asymmetrical in many vertebrates, but has no remarkable relationship to lateralized behaviors. Instead, the Hb is a hub wherein information conveyed to the unilateral Hb is relayed to diverging bilateral nuclei, which is unlikely to lead to lateralized behavior. Until now, there has been no hypothesis regarding the evolution of Hb asymmetry. Here, we propose a new hypothesis that binary opposition in functional incompatibility applies selection pressure on the habenular circuit and leads to asymmetry. Segregation of the incompatible functions on either side of the habenula is likely to enhance information processing ability via creating shorter circuits and reducing the cost of circuit duplication, resulting in benefits for survival. In zebrafish and mice, different evolutionary strategies are thought to be involved in Hb asymmetry. In zebrafish, which use a strategy of structurally fixed asymmetry, the asymmetrical dorsal Hb leads to constant behavioral choices in binary opposition. In contrast, in mice, which use a strategy of functionally flexible lateralization, the symmetrical lateral Hb is functionally lateralized. This makes it possible to process complicated information and to come to variable behavioral choices, depending on the specific situation. These strategies are thought to be selected for and preserved by evolution under selection pressures of rigidity and flexibility of sociability in zebrafish and mice, respectively, as they are beneficial for survival. This hypothesis is highly valuable because it explains how the Hb evolved differently in terms of asymmetry and lateralization among different species. In addition, one can propose possible experiments for the verification of this hypothesis in future research

The science of decadence

In the nineteenth century, the concept of decadence was not solely of aesthetic interest but had a number of scientific applications. Decadence itself is an organic metaphor, extending the natural processes of decline and decay to societies and the arts. Rather than rejecting nature outright, decadent authors readily embraced new scientific theories that changed the way people thought about the natural world. The pessimism of nineteenth-century science stemmed from the brutal world of industrial capitalism in which it was developed. Decadent writers then incorporated both scientific ideas and language into a literary style obsessed with decay and decline. Finally, science returned to decadent literature to pathologize certain modes of artistic expression as yet another sign that certain types of individuals were ‘degenerate’. Three key scientific theories of the nineteenth century underpin the decadent fixation on decline, decay, and degeneration: uniformitarianism, evolution, and the conservation of energy. All three theories identify impermanence in natural structures previously believed to be permanent and stable