Competitive Identity Management - die Bewerbung und Anreicherung symbolischen Kapitals im Rahmen von auf Public-Policy basierendem Mental Mapping

Die vorliegende Dissertation zeigt auf, wie nationale auf Nation Branding und Public Diplomacy basierende Public Policy über die Implementierung von Technologie und IT-Lösungen in die diskursive Produktion eines auf national kanonisiertem Lebensstil basierenden Kultur-Raum-Konzepts resultieren kann. Über die Anwendung interdisziplinärer kulturwissenschaftlicher Ansätze wird ein analytischer Rahmen entwickelt, welcher die Erforschung der Produktion und massenmedialen Kommunikation von institutionalisierten, auf kanonisierten nationalen Lebensstil-Konzepten basierenden, kulturraumbezogenen Identitätssemantiken und Kulturbildern ermöglicht. Der erarbeitete Ansatz ermöglicht es die Ideen der Competitive Identity (nationalen wettbewerbsfähigen Identität) und des Mental Mapping (kognitivem Kartieren) im Zusammenhang mit den Konzepten Nation Branding und Public Diplomacy theoretisch und analytisch zu erfassen. Der analytische Rahmen introduziert die Theoretisierung und Konzeptualisierung sowie die methodologische Einbettung von integrativen Konzepten von Nation Branding und Public Diplomacy in das Konzept der Promotion und Akkumulierung symbolischen Kapitals im Rahmen von Prozessen institutioneller Kulturalisierung und Ästhetisierung. Das übergreifende Forschungsziel ist es, die diskursive Produktivität nationaler Interpretation von Nation Branding und Public Diplomacy, sowie die zu dieser Produktivität gehörende diskursive Formation von auf institutionell entwickelten Distinktionsschemata basierenden Mental Maps im Rahmen der Implementierung einer nationalen Competitive Identity Agenda aufzuzeigen. Der Fokus liegt auf der spezifischen Anwendung von WorldWideWeb- bzw. Cyberspace-Technologie für multimediale Kommunikation, im Rahmen welcher die Entwicklung von lokaler und räumlicher Identifikation zwischen diskursiv transmittierten Symbolsystemen und Public-Policy-Praktiken stattfindet. Die vorliegende Dissertation zeigt auf, das Mental Maps im Rahmen der Produktion eines auf einem national kanonisiertem Lebensstil basierenden Kultur-Raum-Konzepts eine Überlappung von virtuellem und analogem Raum ermöglichen. Des Weiteren wird gezeigt, dass Mental Maps im Hinblick auf Forschungsergebnisse räumlicher Wissensordnungsstrukturen und Memorisierung als so genannte `textnologies’ analysiert werden können. Der theoretisch-methodologische Rahmen wird in Form einer Fallstudie über die systematische Image und Identitätspflege am Beispiel Schwedens empirisch vervollständigt. Änderungen nationaler Imagepflege im Rahmen von Nation Branding und Public Diplomacy induzierter sowie aus der so genannten Internet-Revolution resultierender Imaginationstechniken können in ihrer nationalen Implementierung als diskursive Leistung institutioneller Akteure verstanden werden. Diese diskursiven Leistungen basieren auf spezifischen Interpretationen paradigmatischer Wenden und der spezifischen Anwendung von Technologie. Diskurs-, Distinktions- und Frame-Analyse adaptierend zeigt diese Dissertation Strategien der Produktion eines distinktiven, aus Lebensstilschemata konstituierten Kulturraumes auf, dessen Produktion als dem spezifischen Zweck der Bewerbung und Anreicherung symbolischen Kapitals folgend konzeptualisiert wird. Dies bezieht sich sowohl auf die interne als auch externe Ebene im Kontext der Implementierung von CIM und dessen Mental Mapping-Technologien. Der erarbeite analytische Rahmen ermöglicht die Erforschung von (Re-)Produktion, Veränderung und Neuformulierung (räumlicher) Wissensordnungen im Rahmen von Interpretations- und Aktionsschemata, die über Public-Policy-basierte Anwendung von Web-Instrumenten, wie beispielsweise Portalen (Cyberspace), erzeugt werden. Die Dissertation fokussiert auf die Produktion von Mental Maps, die über die Anwendung eines integrativen Konzepts von Nation Branding and Public Diplomacy generiert werden. Ein solches Konzept resultiert in der Neuverhandlung der Vermittlungsexpertise (Instrumente und Formen institutioneller Kommunikation) institutioneller Akteure sowie in der Neuordnung ihrer professionellen Organisationsidentität. Es wird argumentiert, dass Praktiken von Nation Branding und Public Diplomacy Praktiken der Distinktion, Ästhetisierung und Kulturalisierung, die zum Zwecke der Bewerbung und Anreicherung symbolischen Kapitals in einem fragmentierten, in spezifische Zielgruppen du Zielkategorien gegliederten globalen Feld darstellen. Diese Praktiken zielen darauf ab sowohl Machtbereiche sowie symbolisches Kapital kultureller Produktion und sozialer (im Besonderen politischer und ökonomischer) Aktionsradien zu erweitern. Es wird des Weiteren argumentiert, dass CIM-basierte, über elektronisches Mental Mapping erstellte Identifikations- and Memorisierungs-Pakete nicht ausschließlich repräsentativen und außeralltäglichen Zwecken und Praktiken nationaler Positionierung und Selbst-Stilisierung dienen, sondern auch materielle und symbolische Ressourcen darstellen, die im alltäglichen nationalen Zusammenhang von Identitätsbildung zur Anwendung kommen (z.B. kulturelles Gedächtnis und Kohärenz-Bildung). Auf Technologie basierende Mental Maps dienen als Werkzeuge um identifikatorische Ankerpunkte darzustellen und jene als Attribute im Rahmen der Bewerbung symbolischen Kapitals zu kommunizieren, die Reputation einer Nation (eins Ortes) zu erhöhen und nationales Image sowie nationale Identität neu zu verhandeln. Diese Dissertation konstituiert einen innovativen Beitrag zu der Forschung über interkulturelle Kommunikation, Prozesse nationaler Identitätsbildung, -verhandlung und -thematisierung im Kontext nationaler Imagepflege, der Anwendung von Technologie im Kontext von Öffentlichkeitsarbeit und kultureller Werbung, Place Branding, Nation Branding, und Public Diplomacy. Diese Dissertation stellt auch einen Beitrag zu gegenwärtiger interdisziplinärer Forschung über Phänomene und Fragen der nationalen Positionierung in einer fragmentierten globalen Arena, über die Bewerbung und Anreicherung national kanonisierten symbolischen Kapitals, über Lebensstil und Kulturraum-basierte Konzepte im Kontext von Globalisierung und symbolischer Politik, sowie Prozessen von Kulturalisierung und Ästhetisierung - kurz, über Macht und Management in der ‘postmodernen Welt der Images und der Beeinflussung’ (van Ham, 2001) dar.This dissertation argues that national public-policy through employing the concepts of nation branding and public diplomacy can result in the discursive outcome of a lifestyle-based culture-space, delivered through the use of technological platforms and IT-solutions. Through employing interdisciplinary cultural-scientific methods, a research approach is developed that allows for the study of the production and mass-media-delivery of discursively accomplished lifestyle-based culture-space-related identity-semantics and culture-space-images. The elaborated approach makes it possible to analytically comprise the notion of national competitive identity and mental mapping as well as the concepts of nation branding and public diplomacy. The analytical framework introduces the theoreticization and conceptualization as well as the methodological embedment of integrative concepts of nation branding and public diplomacy into the concept of promotion and accumulation of symbolic capital and processes of aestheticization and culturalization. The main research aim is to theoreticize and to analyze the discursive formations and outcomes of mental maps within processes of distinction based on the implementation of a national competitive identity agenda. The focal point lies on the employment of technology, where the development of local and spatial identification is taking place between discursively transmitted symbol-systems and public-policy-practices. The dissertation moreover shows that mental maps can be analyzed as `textnologies’ in combination with insights on spatial knowledge structures and memorizing. The theoretical-methodological framework is empirically complemented by a country case study on the systematic image- and identity-profile-cultivation in Sweden. Changes in national image cultivation induced by the concepts of nation branding and public diplomacy, as well as new imaging technologies resulting from the internet-revolution, can in their national implementation be understood as discursive accomplishments by institutional actors. These discursive accomplishments are based on the embracement of outcomes of paradigmatic shifts (e.g. cultural turn) and technology. Drawing on discourse-, distinction- and frame-analysis, the dissertation outlines strategies and determinants for the production of a distinctive lifestyle-based culture-space. The production of a distinctive lifestyle-based culture-space in turn is outlined to have the specific purpose of accumulating symbolic capital (on the inward and outward level) in the context of the implementation of CIM and its imaging technologies (mental mapping). The established analytical framework makes it possible to study the (re-)production, change and introduction of knowledge-orders in the form of interpretation- and action-schemata, engendered by public-policy-based implementation of web-based tools such as portals (cyberspace). It examines the mental mapping production generated from the implementation of a specific integrative approach of nation branding and public diplomacy. It is outlined that such approach results in the re-negotiation of the mediation expertise (tools and ways of delivery of institutional communication) by institutional actors as well as in the reconstitution of their professional organizational identity. This dissertation argues that nation branding and public diplomacy-practices are practices of distinction, aestheticization and culturalization, aimed at promoting and accumulating symbolic capital within a fragmented global field, clustered into specific target groups and target categories. These practices are thus meant to both improve the power-scopes and symbolic capital of cultural production and social (in particular political and economic) action. The dissertation further argues that CIM-based identification- and memorization-packages delivered via electronic mental mapping are not exclusively used for representative purposes and practices of national positioning and self-stylization but are also material and symbolic resources that can be deployed in everyday practices of national identity formation (e.g. cultural memory- and coherence-building). Technology-based mental maps serve as tools to display and communicate identificational anchors as attributes within symbolic capital promotion, to increase nations (places) reputation, and to re-negotiate image and identity. This thesis constitutes an innovative contribution to the research on intercultural communication, processes of national identity negotiation in the context of national image cultivation, the employment of technology in the context of public-relation building, cultural promotion, place branding, nation branding, and public diplomacy. This thesis also contributes to contemporary interdisciplinary research on phenomena and questions of national positioning within a fragmented global arena, symbolic capital promotion and accumulation, lifestyle-based culture-space concepts in the context of globalization and symbolic politics, and processes of culturalization and aestheticization, - in sum, on power and national identity and image management in the `postmodern world of images and influence’ (van Ham, 2001)

A network analysis to identify mediators of germline-driven differences in breast cancer prognosis.

Identifying the underlying genetic drivers of the heritability of breast cancer prognosis remains elusive. We adapt a network-based approach to handle underpowered complex datasets to provide new insights into the potential function of germline variants in breast cancer prognosis. This network-based analysis studies ~7.3 million variants in 84,457 breast cancer patients in relation to breast cancer survival and confirms the results on 12,381 independent patients. Aggregating the prognostic effects of genetic variants across multiple genes, we identify four gene modules associated with survival in estrogen receptor (ER)-negative and one in ER-positive disease. The modules show biological enrichment for cancer-related processes such as G-alpha signaling, circadian clock, angiogenesis, and Rho-GTPases in apoptosis

BRCA2 polymorphic stop codon K3326X and the risk of breast, prostate, and ovarian cancers

Background: The K3326X variant in BRCA2 (BRCA2*c.9976A>T; p.Lys3326*; rs11571833) has been found to be associated with small increased risks of breast cancer. However, it is not clear to what extent linkage disequilibrium with fully pathogenic mutations might account for this association. There is scant information about the effect of K3326X in other hormone-related cancers. Methods: Using weighted logistic regression, we analyzed data from the large iCOGS study including 76 637 cancer case patients and 83 796 control patients to estimate odds ratios (ORw) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for K3326X variant carriers in relation to breast, ovarian, and prostate cancer risks, with weights defined as probability of not having a pathogenic BRCA2 variant. Using Cox proportional hazards modeling, we also examined the associations of K3326X with breast and ovarian cancer risks among 7183 BRCA1 variant carriers. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results: The K3326X variant was associated with breast (ORw = 1.28, 95% CI = 1.17 to 1.40, P = 5.9x10- 6) and invasive ovarian cancer (ORw = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.10 to 1.43, P = 3.8x10-3). These associations were stronger for serous ovarian cancer and for estrogen receptor–negative breast cancer (ORw = 1.46, 95% CI = 1.2 to 1.70, P = 3.4x10-5 and ORw = 1.50, 95% CI = 1.28 to 1.76, P = 4.1x10-5, respectively). For BRCA1 mutation carriers, there was a statistically significant inverse association of the K3326X variant with risk of ovarian cancer (HR = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.22 to 0.84, P = .013) but no association with breast cancer. No association with prostate cancer was observed. Conclusions: Our study provides evidence that the K3326X variant is associated with risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers independent of other pathogenic variants in BRCA2. Further studies are needed to determine the biological mechanism of action responsible for these associations

Genetic predisposition to ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast.

BACKGROUND: Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a non-invasive form of breast cancer. It is often associated with invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), and is considered to be a non-obligate precursor of IDC. It is not clear to what extent these two forms of cancer share low-risk susceptibility loci, or whether there are differences in the strength of association for shared loci. METHODS: To identify genetic polymorphisms that predispose to DCIS, we pooled data from 38 studies comprising 5,067 cases of DCIS, 24,584 cases of IDC and 37,467 controls, all genotyped using the iCOGS chip. RESULTS: Most (67 %) of the 76 known breast cancer predisposition loci showed an association with DCIS in the same direction as previously reported for invasive breast cancer. Case-only analysis showed no evidence for differences between associations for IDC and DCIS after considering multiple testing. Analysis by estrogen receptor (ER) status confirmed that loci associated with ER positive IDC were also associated with ER positive DCIS. Analysis of DCIS by grade suggested that two independent SNPs at 11q13.3 near CCND1 were specific to low/intermediate grade DCIS (rs75915166, rs554219). These associations with grade remained after adjusting for ER status and were also found in IDC. We found no novel DCIS-specific loci at a genome wide significance level of P < 5.0x10(-8). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, this study provides the strongest evidence to date of a shared genetic susceptibility for IDC and DCIS. Studies with larger numbers of DCIS are needed to determine if IDC or DCIS specific loci exist

Genetic predisposition to ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast

Background: Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is a non-invasive form of breast cancer. It is often associated with invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC), and is considered to be a non-obligate precursor of IDC. It is not clear to what extent these two forms of cancer share low-risk susceptibility loci, or whether there are differences in the strength of association for shared loci. Methods: To identify genetic polymorphisms that predispose to DCIS, we pooled data from 38 studies comprising 5,067 cases of DCIS, 24,584 cases of IDC and 37,467 controls, all genotyped using the iCOGS chip. Results: Most (67 %) of the 76 known breast cancer predisposition loci showed an association with DCIS in the same direction as previously reported for invasive breast cancer. Case-only analysis showed no evidence for differences between associations for IDC and DCIS after considering multiple testing. Analysis by estrogen receptor (ER) status confirmed that loci associated with ER positive IDC were also associated with ER positive DCIS. Analysis of DCIS by grade suggested that two independent SNPs at 11q13.3 near CCND1 were specific to low/intermediate grade DCIS (rs75915166, rs554219). These associations with grade remained after adjusting for ER status and were also found in IDC. We found no novel DCIS-specific loci at a genome wide significance level of P < 5.0x10-8. Conclusion: In conclusion, this study provides the strongest evidence to date of a shared genetic susceptibility for IDC and DCIS. Studies with larger numbers of DCIS are needed to determine if IDC or DCIS specific loci exist

Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Kinanthropology

Proceedings of the 12th Conference of Sport and Quality of Life 2019 gatheres submissions of participants of the conference. Every submission is the result of positive evaluation by reviewers from the corresponding field. Conference is divided into sections – Analysis of human movement; Sport training, nutrition and regeneration; Sport and social sciences; Active ageing and sarcopenia; Strength and conditioning training; section for PhD students

Genetic predisposition to in situ and invasive lobular carcinoma of the breast.

Invasive lobular breast cancer (ILC) accounts for 10-15% of all invasive breast carcinomas. It is generally ER positive (ER+) and often associated with lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS). Genome-wide association studies have identified more than 70 common polymorphisms that predispose to breast cancer, but these studies included predominantly ductal (IDC) carcinomas. To identify novel common polymorphisms that predispose to ILC and LCIS, we pooled data from 6,023 cases (5,622 ILC, 401 pure LCIS) and 34,271 controls from 36 studies genotyped using the iCOGS chip. Six novel SNPs most strongly associated with ILC/LCIS in the pooled analysis were genotyped in a further 516 lobular cases (482 ILC, 36 LCIS) and 1,467 controls. These analyses identified a lobular-specific SNP at 7q34 (rs11977670, OR (95%CI) for ILC = 1.13 (1.09-1.18), P = 6.0 × 10(-10); P-het for ILC vs IDC ER+ tumors = 1.8 × 10(-4)). Of the 75 known breast cancer polymorphisms that were genotyped, 56 were associated with ILC and 15 with LCIS at P<0.05. Two SNPs showed significantly stronger associations for ILC than LCIS (rs2981579/10q26/FGFR2, P-het = 0.04 and rs889312/5q11/MAP3K1, P-het = 0.03); and two showed stronger associations for LCIS than ILC (rs6678914/1q32/LGR6, P-het = 0.001 and rs1752911/6q14, P-het = 0.04). In addition, seven of the 75 known loci showed significant differences between ER+ tumors with IDC and ILC histology, three of these showing stronger associations for ILC (rs11249433/1p11, rs2981579/10q26/FGFR2 and rs10995190/10q21/ZNF365) and four associated only with IDC (5p12/rs10941679; rs2588809/14q24/RAD51L1, rs6472903/8q21 and rs1550623/2q31/CDCA7). In conclusion, we have identified one novel lobular breast cancer specific predisposition polymorphism at 7q34, and shown for the first time that common breast cancer polymorphisms predispose to LCIS. We have shown that many of the ER+ breast cancer predisposition loci also predispose to ILC, although there is some heterogeneity between ER+ lobular and ER+ IDC tumors. These data provide evidence for overlapping, but distinct etiological pathways within ER+ breast cancer between morphological subtypes

Refined histopathological predictors of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation status: A large-scale analysis of breast cancer characteristics from the BCAC, CIMBA, and ENIGMA consortia

Introduction: The distribution of histopathological features of invasive breast tumors in BRCA1 or BRCA2 germline mutation carriers differs from that of individuals with no known mutation. Histopathological features thus have utility for mutation prediction, including statistical modeling to assess pathogenicity of BRCA1 or BRCA2 variants of uncertain clinical significance. We analyzed large pathology datasets accrued by the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2 (CIMBA) and the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC) to reassess histopathological predictors of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation status, and provide robust likelihood ratio (LR) estimates for statistical modeling. Methods: Selection criteria for study/center inclusion were estrogen receptor (ER) status or grade data available for invasive breast cancer diagnosed younger than 70 years. The dataset included 4,477 BRCA1 mutation carriers, 2,565 BRCA2 mutation carriers, and 47,565 BCAC breast cancer cases. Country-stratified estimates of the

Genome-wide association analysis of more than 120,000 individuals identifies 15 new susceptibility loci for breast cancer.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and large-scale replication studies have identified common variants in 79 loci associated with breast cancer, explaining ∼14% of the familial risk of the disease. To identify new susceptibility loci, we performed a meta-analysis of 11 GWAS, comprising 15,748 breast cancer cases and 18,084 controls together with 46,785 cases and 42,892 controls from 41 studies genotyped on a 211,155-marker custom array (iCOGS). Analyses were restricted to women of European ancestry. We generated genotypes for more than 11 million SNPs by imputation using the 1000 Genomes Project reference panel, and we identified 15 new loci associated with breast cancer at P < 5 × 10(-8). Combining association analysis with ChIP-seq chromatin binding data in mammary cell lines and ChIA-PET chromatin interaction data from ENCODE, we identified likely target genes in two regions: SETBP1 at 18q12.3 and RNF115 and PDZK1 at 1q21.1. One association appears to be driven by an amino acid substitution encoded in EXO1.BCAC is funded by Cancer Research UK (C1287/A10118, C1287/A12014) and by the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement 223175 (HEALTH-F2-2009-223175) (COGS). Meetings of the BCAC have been funded by the European Union COST programme (BM0606). Genotyping on the iCOGS array was funded by the European Union (HEALTH-F2-2009-223175), Cancer Research UK (C1287/A10710, C8197/A16565), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) for the CIHR Team in Familial Risks of Breast Cancer program and the Ministry of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade of Quebec, grant PSR-SIIRI-701. Combination of the GWAS data was supported in part by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) Cancer Post-Cancer GWAS initiative, grant 1 U19 CA148065-01 (DRIVE, part of the GAME-ON initiative). For a full description of funding and acknowledgments, see the Supplementary Note.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from NPG via http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng.324

Breast cancer risk variants at 6q25 display different phenotype associations and regulate ESR1, RMND1 and CCDC170.

We analyzed 3,872 common genetic variants across the ESR1 locus (encoding estrogen receptor α) in 118,816 subjects from three international consortia. We found evidence for at least five independent causal variants, each associated with different phenotype sets, including estrogen receptor (ER(+) or ER(-)) and human ERBB2 (HER2(+) or HER2(-)) tumor subtypes, mammographic density and tumor grade. The best candidate causal variants for ER(-) tumors lie in four separate enhancer elements, and their risk alleles reduce expression of ESR1, RMND1 and CCDC170, whereas the risk alleles of the strongest candidates for the remaining independent causal variant disrupt a silencer element and putatively increase ESR1 and RMND1 expression.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Nature Publishing Group via http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng.352