The AKP’s working class support base explains why the Turkish government has managed to retain its popularity during the country’s protests

A number of anti-government protests have taken place in Turkey over the past year. Erik R. Tillman assesses the dynamics underpinning support for the ruling AKP government and its main opposition, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), during the unrest. He notes that although AKP has parallels with mainstream centre-right parties in Europe, its support base is built on working-class voters. He argues that as the protests largely articulated concerns associated with middle class voters, this ‘ideological reversal’ has so far helped to protect the AKP electorally. Nevertheless, the dynamics of the most recent protests over the mining disaster in Soma could pose a threat to the governing party as they are closely associated with its core working class support base

Euroscepticism is rooted in a broader authoritarian worldview that also includes higher levels of nationalism and hostility to ‘outsiders’.

What factors are likely to lead to citizens opposing European integration? Erik R. Tillman notes that a number of recent studies have attempted to explain opposition to the EU in terms of social identity. Drawing on these studies, he argues that those who oppose the EU are likely to subscribe to a particular ‘authoritarian’ worldview which includes a predisposition towards order and conformity. He finds evidence for this hypothesis in an analysis of survey data, suggesting that simply improving economic growth or enacting democratic reforms will not be enough to reverse negative public opinion about the integration process

Pre-electoral coalitions increase voter turnout by making elections more decisive

The UK continues to use the First Past the Post electoral system, which is more likely to result in majority governments, but less representative of voter preferences as expressed through the ballot box. It has been argued that not only are proportional systems fairer than majoritarian ones, but that they can increase turnout through making votes more consequential. Here Erik R. Tillman argues that pre-electoral coalitions can also increase turnout by providing voters with a decisive outcome

De-Differentiation Confers Multidrug Resistance Via Noncanonical PERK-Nrf2 Signaling

Malignant carcinomas that recur following therapy are typically de-differentiated and multidrug resistant (MDR). De-differentiated cancer cells acquire MDR by up-regulating reactive oxygen species (ROS)–scavenging enzymes and drug efflux pumps, but how these genes are up-regulated in response to de-differentiation is not known. Here, we examine this question by using global transcriptional profiling to identify ROS-induced genes that are already up-regulated in de-differentiated cells, even in the absence of oxidative damage. Using this approach, we found that the Nrf2 transcription factor, which is the master regulator of cellular responses to oxidative stress, is preactivated in de-differentiated cells. In de-differentiated cells, Nrf2 is not activated by oxidation but rather through a noncanonical mechanism involving its phosphorylation by the ER membrane kinase PERK. In contrast, differentiated cells require oxidative damage to activate Nrf2. Constitutive PERK-Nrf2 signaling protects de-differentiated cells from chemotherapy by reducing ROS levels and increasing drug efflux. These findings are validated in therapy-resistant basal breast cancer cell lines and animal models, where inhibition of the PERK-Nrf2 signaling axis reversed the MDR of de-differentiated cancer cells. Additionally, analysis of patient tumor datasets showed that a PERK pathway signature correlates strongly with chemotherapy resistance, tumor grade, and overall survival. Collectively, these results indicate that de-differentiated cells up-regulate MDR genes via PERK-Nrf2 signaling and suggest that targeting this pathway could sensitize drug-resistant cells to chemotherapy.Breast Cancer Research Program (U.S.) (Award No. W81XWH-12-BCRP-POSTDOC2)Breast Cancer Alliance (Young Investigator Grant)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Graduate Research Fellowship Grant No. 1122374)Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation (Excellence in Biomedical Research award

Controversies concerning the diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder in children

This commentary grows out of an interdisciplinary workshop focused on controversies surrounding the diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder (BP) in children. Although debate about the occurrence and frequency of BP in children is more than 50 years old, it increased in the mid 1990s when researchers adapted the DSM account of bipolar symptoms to diagnose children. We offer a brief history of the debate from the mid 90s through the present, ending with current efforts to distinguish between a small number of children whose behaviors closely fit DSM criteria for BP, and a significantly larger number of children who have been receiving a BP diagnosis but whose behaviors do not closely fit those criteria. We agree with one emerging approach, which gives part or all of that larger number of children a new diagnosis called Severe Mood Dysregulation or Temper Dysregulation Disorder with Dysphoria

European Integration, Economics, and Voting Behavior in the 2001 British General Election

This paper develops and tests three hypotheses about the effects of European integration on voting behavior in the 2001 British General Election. First, preferences over joining the common currency (Euro) influence voting behavior, as predicted by the EU issue voting hypothesis. Second, economic voting is weaker among those who believe the national economy to be influenced more by the EU than by the national government. Third, voter abstention is higher among those who believe that the economy is influenced more by the EU than by the national government. Analyses of data from the 2001 British Election Study find support for the first and third hypotheses, suggesting multiple ways in which European integration influences national elections and highlighting several avenues for further research

Genetic analysis of endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis during stress and infection of Caenorhabditis elegans

Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Biology, 2018.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references.Animals experience intrinsic and extrinsic stressors throughout development and adulthood. To maintain cellular and organismal homeostasis, eukaryota and metazoa rely on conserved, integrated stress response pathways. Throughout its life cycle, the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans encounters diverse microbial taxa, including both nutritional and pathogenic species. Intestinal infection with the pathogenic bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa induces a transcriptional innate immune response leading to the secretion of immune effector molecules into the intestinal lumen. Previous work has demonstrated a critical role for the endoplasmic reticulum unfolded protein response in surviving immune activation during larval development. Specifically, the most ancient IRE-1/XBP-1 branch of the UPR is required for larval development during immune activation, whether or not pathogen is present. To understand additional mechanisms regulating ER homeostasis in C. elegans, we conducted a forward genetic screen and identified suppressors of xbp-1 mutant larval lethality on P. aeruginosa. In this work, I outline the characterization of several identified mutations that each affect a gene encoding a broadly conserved transcriptional regulator. A mutation in the gene encoding the forkhead DNA binding domain-containing transcription factor FKH-9 enhances ER homeostasis outside the context of infection and immune activation, but paradoxically sensitizes animals to perturbations in cytosolic proteostasis. My results suggest that loss of fkh-9 enhances translocation of misfolded proteins out of the ER, thereby disrupting cytosolic proteostasis and decreasing proteasomal function. These findings implicate a critical need for balancing proteostasis across cellular compartments during organismal stress, and further investigation of the additional characterized mutants will elucidate the breadth of this phenomenon.by Erik J. Tillman.Ph. D