Employment Shocks and anti-EU Sentiment

Euroscepticism and the rise of populist parties have often been linked to economic insecurity. This paper identifies regional employment changes as causal factors for forming attitudes towards the European Union and voting for eurosceptic parties in European Parliament elections. To do so, I combine industry-specific employment data for roughly 260 European NUTS II regions with individual-level Eurobarometer survey data for the past 20 years and regional voting results. I apply panel data and instrumental variable methods; for the latter I construct a Bartik-style instrument, which predicts employment changes on the basis of regional industry specialization and Europe-wide sector specific employment growth rates. The effect of employment changes on attitudes towards the EU is particularly strong for unemployed and low-skilled workers in regions with a high share of migrants from other European member states, which supports the narrative that ‘losers of globalization’ tend to be more skeptical towards economic and political integration

Identifying modifiers of age‐dependent protein aggregation in C. elegans

The misfolding of specific proteins and their accumulation in insoluble aggregates has long been recognized as a pathological hallmark of several neurodegenerative diseases. In recent years, widespread protein aggregation occurring during healthy aging has become a hot topic of research. However, to this date little is known about the regulation of this aggregation, the tissue‐specificity and the consequences in a disease context. This thesis answers several questions about different aspects of protein aggregation with aging and in disease. Notably, we analysed the solubility of RNA‐binding proteins that are important for the formation of stress granules (sgRBPs) in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). We showed the impact of sgRBP insolubility on organismal health and the importance of maintaining their solubility in long‐lived animals. We identified regulators of sgRBP aggregation. In addition, we showed that aggregation‐prone sgRBPs are highly prone to interact with other proteins and that this co‐localization can influence aggregation patterns or protein localization. Furthermore, we analysed the tissue‐specificity of the regulation of age‐related protein aggregation. Disruption of the protein‐quality control network has contrasting effects on protein aggregation in different tissues, surprisingly reducing age‐related protein aggregation in the pharyngeal muscle of C. elegans. Specifically, we showed that impaired proteinquality control prevented the accumulation of newly synthesized aggregation‐prone proteins. Additionally we demonstrated how screening approaches identifying mutations that influence disease‐associated phenotypes, like protein aggregation in C. elegans, can help prioritise variants found by whole exome sequencing in large cohorts of patients with Parkinson’s disease. To validate promising candidates found to be influencing protein aggregation in C. elegans, we have established a cell culture model of age‐related protein aggregation. In conclusion, these findings give important insights into mechanism and regulation of age‐related protein insolubility and highlight the importance of age‐related protein aggregation for neurodegenerative diseases

Indirect Colonial Rule Undermines Support for Democracy: Evidence From a Natural Experiment in Namibia

This article identifies indirect and direct colonial rule as causal factors in shaping support for democracy by exploiting a within-country natural experiment in Namibia. Throughout the colonial era, northern Namibia was indirectly ruled through a system of appointed indigenous traditional elites whereas colonial authorities directly ruled southern Namibia. This variation originally stems from where the progressive extension of direct German control was stopped after a rinderpest epidemic in the 1890s, and, thus, constitutes plausibly exogenous within-country variation in the form of colonial rule. Using this spatial discontinuity, we find that individuals in indirectly ruled areas are less likely to support democracy and turnout at elections. We explore potential mechanisms and find suggestive evidence that the greater influence of traditional leaders in indirectly ruled areas has socialized individuals to accept nonelectoral bases of political authority

Regulation of asymmetric cell division in the epidermis

For proper tissue morphogenesis, cell divisions and cell fate decisions must be tightly and coordinately regulated. One elegant way to accomplish this is to couple them with asymmetric cell divisions. Progenitor cells in the developing epidermis undergo both symmetric and asymmetric cell divisions to balance surface area growth with the generation of differentiated cell layers. Here we review the molecular machinery implicated in controlling asymmetric cell division. In addition, we discuss the ability of epidermal progenitors to choose between symmetric and asymmetric divisions and the key regulatory points that control this decision

Decentralized Despotism? Indirect Colonial Rule Undermines Contemporary Democratic Attitudes

This paper identifies indirect and direct colonial rule as causal factors in shaping support for democracy by exploiting a within-country natural experiment in Namibia. Throughout the colonial era, northern Namibia was indirectly ruled through a system of appointed indigenous traditional elites whereas colonial authorities directly ruled southern Namibia. This variation originally stems from where the progressive extension of direct German control was stopped after a rinderpest epidemic in the 1890s, and thus constitutes plausibly exogenous within-country variation in the form of colonial rule. Using this spatial discontinuity, we find that individuals in indirectly ruled areas are less likely to support democracy and turnout at elections. We explore potential mechanisms and find suggestive evidence that the greater influence of traditional leaders in indirectly ruled areas has socialized individuals to accept non-electoral bases of political authority

Decentralized Despotism? Indirect Colonial Rule Undermines Contemporary Democratic Attitudes

This paper identifies indirect and direct colonial rule as causal factors in shaping support for democracy by exploiting a within-country natural experiment in Namibia. Throughout the colonial era, northern Namibia was indirectly ruled through a system of appointed indigenous traditional elites whereas colonial authorities directly ruled southern Namibia. This variation originally stems from where the progressive extension of direct German control was stopped after a rinderpest epidemic in the 1890s, and thus constitutes plausibly exogenous within-country variation in the form of colonial rule. Using this spatial discontinuity, we find that individuals in indirectly ruled areas are less likely to support democracy and turnout at elections. We explore potential mechanisms and find suggestive evidence that the greater influence of traditional leaders in indirectly ruled areas has socialized individuals to accept non-electoral bases of political authority

Pathways of major histocompatibility complex allorecognition

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Here, we review the pathways of allorecognition and their potential relevance to the balance between regulatory and effector responses following transplantation. RECENT FINDINGS: Transplantation between nonidentical members of the same species elicits an immune response that manifests as graft rejection or persistence. Presentation of foreign antigen to recipient T cells can occur via three nonmutually exclusive routes, the direct, indirect and semi-direct pathways. Allospecific T cells can have effector or regulatory functions, and the relative proportions of the two populations activated following alloantigen presentation are two of the factors that determine the clinical outcome. Regulatory T cells have been the subject of significant research, and there is now greater understanding of their recruitment and function in the context of allorecognition. SUMMARY: A greater understanding of the mechanisms underlying allorecognition may be fundamental to appreciating how these different populations are recruited and could in turn inform novel strategies for immunomodulation