The Tumor Suppressor HHEX Inhibits Axon Growth when Prematurely Expressed in Developing Central Nervous System Neurons

Neurons in the embryonic and peripheral nervoussystem respond to injury by activating transcriptional programs supportive of axon growth, ultimately resulting in functional recovery. In contrast, neurons in the adult central nervous system (CNS) possess a limited capacity to regenerate axons after injury, fundamentally constraining repair. Activating pro-regenerative gene expression in CNS neurons is a promising therapeutic approach, but progress is hampered by incomplete knowledge of the relevant transcription factors. An emerging hypothesis is that factors implicated in cellular growth and motility outside the nervous system may also control axon growth in neurons. We therefore tested sixty-nine transcription factors, previously identified as possessing tumor suppressive or oncogenic properties in non-neuronal cells, in assays of neurite outgrowth. This screen identified YAP1 and E2F1 as enhancers of neurite outgrowth, and PITX1, RBM14, ZBTB16, and HHEX as inhibitors. Follow-up experiments are focused on the tumor suppressor HHEX, one of the strongest growth inhibitors. HHEX is widely expressed in adult CNS neurons, including corticospinal tract neurons after spinal injury, but is present only in trace amounts in immature cortical neurons and adult peripheral neurons. HHEX overexpression in early postnatal cortical neurons reduced both initial axonogenesis and the rate of axon elongation, and domain deletion analysis strongly implicated transcriptional repression as the underlying mechanism. These findings suggest a role for HHEX in restricting axon growth in the developing CNS, and substantiate the hypothesis that previously identified oncogenes and tumor suppressors can play conserved roles in axon extension

Writing settlement after Idle No More: non-indigenous responses in Anglo-Canadian poetry

This article examines the representation of settlement in Canada in the wake of Idle No More in recent Anglo-Canadian literature. It argues that Idle No More engendered a new vocabulary for settler-invader citizens to position themselves in relation to this Indigenous movement, with non-Indigenous Canadians self-identifying as “settlers” and “allies” as a means of both orienting themselves with respect to Indigenous resistance to the settler-invader nation-state and signalling an attempted solidarity with Idle No More that would not lapse into appropriation. Four very different poetic texts by non-Indigenous authors demonstrate this reconsideration of settlement in the wake of Idle No More: Arleen Paré’s Lake of Two Mountains (2014); Rachel Zolf’s Janey’s Arcadia (2014); Rita Wong’s undercurrent (2015); and Shane Rhodes’s X (2013). Although only the latter two of these collections make explicit reference to Idle No More, all four of these texts engage with historical and current colonialisms, relationships to land and water, and relationships between Indigenous peoples and settler-invaders, providing examples of new understandings and representations of (neo)colonial settlement in post-Idle No More Canada

Saamelaisten oikeuksien toteutuminen: kansainvälinen oikeusvertaileva tutkimus

Saamelaisten oikeuksien eteenpäin vieminen Suomessa on kohdannut haasteita. Tämä tutkimus pyrkii vastaamaan valtioneuvoston määrittelemään tietotarpeeseen, joka liittyy erityisesti saamelaisten maa- ja osallistumisoikeuksiin sekä saamelaismääritelmään. Kyseessä on kansainvälinen oikeusvertaileva tutkimus, joka pyrkii tarjoamaan uutta tietoa sekä kansainvälisen alkuperäiskansaoikeuden kehityksestä että siitä, miten muissa aiheen kannalta keskeisissä valtioissa on ratkaistu alkuperäiskansojen oikeuksiin liittyviä kysymyksiä. Tutkimusraportti koostuu neljästä pääosiosta. Ensimmäinen osio tarkastelee saamelaisten oikeusasemaa Suomessa sekä siihen liittyviä ehdotuksia, joita tarkastellaan kansainvälisen oikeuden luomien velvoitteiden näkökulmasta. Toinen kokonaisuus pitää sisällään saamelaismääritelmän problematiikan tarkastelua kansainvälisen oikeuden sekä korkeimman hallinto-oikeuden tapauskäytännön valossa, sisältäen myös kuvauksen saamelaisuuden määrittelyyn liittyvien kiistojen taustoista ja syistä. Kolmas pääosio keskittyy alkuperäiskansojen kansainvälisoikeudellisen aseman ja oikeuksien kehitykseen pääfokuksena ns. ennakkosuostumuksen periaate (FPIC). Tämä osio pitää sisällään myös ILO sopimus 169:n sisältämien maaoikeuksien analyysiin. Neljäs pääkokonaisuus on oikeusvertaileva osio, jossa on mukana Norjaa, Ruotsia, Uutta-Seelantia, Kanadaa ja Latinalaisen Amerikan maita koskevat maaraportit. Tämä kappalekokonaisuus sisältää myös yhteenvedon vertailun piirissä olleiden valtioiden oikeuskäytänteiden keskeisistä elementeistä, joista voidaan löytää parhaita käytänteitä Suomen saamelaisten oikeuksien toteuttamiseksi

\u27Struggling with Language\u27 : Indigenous movements for Linguistic Security and the Politics of Local Community

In this article, I explore the relationship between linguistic diversity and political power. Specifically, I outline some of the ways that linguistic diversity has served as a barrier to the centralization of power, thus constraining, for example, the political practice of empire-formation. A brief historical example of this dynamic is presented in the case of Spanish colonialism of the 16th-century. The article proceeds then to demonstrate how linguistic diversity remains tied to struggles against forms of domination. I argue that in contemporary indigenous movements for linguistic security, the languages themselves are not merely conceived of as the object of the political struggle, but also as the means to preserve a space for local action and deliberation – a ‘politics of local community’. I show that linguistic diversity and the devolution of political power to the local level are in a mutually reinforcing relationship. Finally, I consider the implications of this thesis for liberal theorizing on language rights, arguing that such theory cannot fully come to terms with this political-strategic dimension of language struggles

Subjects of Sovereignty: Indigeneity, The Revenue Rule, and Juridics of Failed Consent

Simpson examines the way in which indigeneity and sovereignty have been conflated with savagery, lawlessness, and smuggling in recent history. The national problem of indigenous smuggling is reconstructed here as it was portrayed in the public eye, largely via the media, and then through conflict-of-laws cases concerning the interpretation and application of the revenue rule. Simpson further discusses economic activities that express indigenous cultural and historical practice and that reflect a larger set of socio-economic conditions

Dr. Audra Simpson: Indigenous Women and Intellectual Traditions in Anthropology

Indigenous women are among the underrepresented voices in contemporary anthropology, and throughout its history. They were more likely to be the subjects of research into an ethnographic present, always portrayed in exotic terms and without agency. Perhaps in reaction to earlier studies Indigenous people are among the critics of the work that anthropologists produce. Despite this troubled relationship Audra Simpson has adopted a discipline that exists to explore the human condition. The current generation of anthropologists accept that research does not occur independent of the researcher’s perspective. Thus, indigeneity will inevitably direct the course of inquiry for anthropology conducted by Indigenous people. In this conversation, Dr. Simpson will reflect upon her career as an anthropologist. She will discuss the tropes, trends and themes that inform her research and how she contributes to the discourse of modern anthropology. Audra Simpson is in conversation here with Eldon Yellowhorn