The Drosophila functional Smad suppressing element fuss, a homologue of the human Skor genes, retains pro-oncogenic properties of the Ski/Sno family

Over the years Ski and Sno have been found to be involved in cancer progression e.g. in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma, melanoma, oestrogen receptor-positive breast carcinoma, colorectal carcinoma, and leukaemia. Often, their prooncogenic features have been linked to their ability of inhibiting the anti-proliferative action of TGF-ß signalling. Recently, not only pro-oncogenic but also anti-oncogenic functions of Ski/Sno proteins have been revealed. Besides Ski and Sno, which are ubiquitously expressed other members of Ski/Sno proteins exist which show highly specific neuronal expression, the SKI Family Transcriptional Corepressors (Skor). Among others Skor1 and Skor2 are involved in the development of Purkinje neurons and a mutation of Skor1 has been found to be associated with restless legs syndrome. But neither Skor1 nor Skor2 have been reported to be involved in cancer progression. Using overexpression studies in the Drosophila eye imaginal disc, we analysed if the Drosophila Skor homologue Fuss has retained the potential to inhibit differentiation and induce increased proliferation. Fuss expressed in cells posterior to the morphogenetic furrow, impairs photoreceptor axon pathfinding and inhibits differentiation of accessory cells. However, if its expression is induced prior to eye differentiation, Fuss might inhibit the differentiating function of Dpp signalling and might maintain proliferative action of Wg signalling, which is reminiscent of the Ski/Sno protein function in cancer

Is (poly-) substance use associated with impaired inhibitory control? A mega-analysis controlling for confounders.

Many studies have reported that heavy substance use is associated with impaired response inhibition. Studies typically focused on associations with a single substance, while polysubstance use is common. Further, most studies compared heavy users with light/non-users, though substance use occurs along a continuum. The current mega-analysis accounted for these issues by aggregating individual data from 43 studies (3610 adult participants) that used the Go/No-Go (GNG) or Stop-signal task (SST) to assess inhibition among mostly "recreational" substance users (i.e., the rate of substance use disorders was low). Main and interaction effects of substance use, demographics, and task-characteristics were entered in a linear mixed model. Contrary to many studies and reviews in the field, we found that only lifetime cannabis use was associated with impaired response inhibition in the SST. An interaction effect was also observed: the relationship between tobacco use and response inhibition (in the SST) differed between cannabis users and non-users, with a negative association between tobacco use and inhibition in the cannabis non-users. In addition, participants' age, education level, and some task characteristics influenced inhibition outcomes. Overall, we found limited support for impaired inhibition among substance users when controlling for demographics and task-characteristics

TOWARDS OPEN INNOVATION IN HEALTH CARE

Many countries face severe challenges in health care, especially soaring costs. Innovative products and services are needed to help increase the quality of care and to reduce costs. In the field of rare diseases, which often is not attractive economically, the situation is even more serious. Building on extant research on open innovation, we use a design science approach to study an open innovation platform for rare diseases. Like many other open innovation practices, e.g. innovation communities and innovation contests, the platform is based on modern information and communication technolo-gies, and is designed to be accessible from anywhere and anytime, thus supporting asynchronous in-teraction between the locally dispersed participants. Analysis of participation details, submitted inno-vative concepts, and content of communication shows acceptance by patients and other relevant stakeholders, e.g. family members, caregivers, and health care professionals. Activity on the platform, i.e. almost 200 innovative submissions, 800 comments, and more than 1,800 personal messages, is found to be helpful for collaborative innovation and emotionally supportive for participants. General-izing from the special field of rare diseases, implications concerning the suitability of open innovation approaches in health care from a theoretical, methodological, and management perspective close the paper

La RDA et la société postsocialiste dans le cinéma allemand après 1989

Près de trente ans après sa disparition, la RDA est toujours présente au cinéma et à la télévision, notamment grâce à Good Bye, Lenin! et La vie des autres qui ont profondément marqué l'image que l’on se fait de la chute du mur de Berlin et de l’Allemagne communiste. Et pourtant ces succès internationaux n’ont jamais fait l’unanimité auprès de la population de l’ex-RDA. Comment alors expliquer qu’ils aient cristallisé la mémoire filmique et conduit à occulter une production tout aussi importante que variée ? Que nous disent aujourd’hui ces fictions, documentaires ou séries à propos des débats identitaires et mémoriels qui animent l’Allemagne depuis l’unification ? Comment certains films échappent-ils aux images figées et quasi iconiques de la RDA et de la société postsocialiste ? Cet ouvrage, qui propose une approche franco-allemande et donne la parole à des chercheurs et des professionnels, dresse le premier bilan en langue française sur la nature et l’évolution de cette production.After almost three decades since the collapse of the GDR, the image of East Germany is still present in television and film, mainly thanks to productions such as Good Bye, Lenin! and The Lives of Others that have deeply influenced our perception of the fall of the Berlin Wall and of life under communism. The primary scope of this book is to not only question this image butto also critically address other issues of concern in the audiovisual productions dealing with aspects of post-socialist society. How did these fictions, documentaries and TV-series with historical subject matter become media of the collective memory in present-day Germany post unification

Sodium hypochlorite with reduced surface tension does not improve in situ pulp tissue dissolution

INTRODUCTION: Sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) solutions with added wetting agents are advertised to dissolve necrotic tissue in root canals faster than their counterparts without a lowered surface tension. This was tested in the current study, and the null hypothesis formulated was that there was no difference between a commercially available NaOCl solution with a lowered surface tension (Chlor-XTRA; Vista Dental Products, Racine, WI) and a counterpart containing the same amount of available chlorine without added wetting agents regarding the soft tissue that remains in oval-shaped canals after mechanical preparation and irrigation. METHODS: Formerly vital extracted teeth (N = 44, 22 pairs) with similar anatomy were radiographically paired and chemomechanically prepared. In 1 tooth from each pair, a 5.25% NaOCl solution with reduced surface tension was used; in the other, a pure, technical-grade NaOCl solution of 5.25% was used. The percentage of remaining pulp tissue (PRPT) was histologically assessed in root cross-sections. The non-Gaussian raw data were subjected to Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests to verify the respective effect of the cross-section level and solution on the PRPT. The relationship between the cross-section level and the PRPT was estimated by the Spearman correlation test. The alpha-type error was set at 5%. RESULTS: The cross-section level significantly influenced the PRPT (P .05). A significant inverse correlation was found between the cross-section level and the PRPT (P < .05, r = -0.330). The lower the distance to the apex, the higher the PRPT regardless of the solution used. CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to the advertised statement, the dental solution with a reduced surface tension did not dissolve vital pulp tissue in oval root canals any better than a conventional NaOCl solution of similar strength. Closer to the apex, pulp tissue dissolution is less efficient irrespective of the solution