161 research outputs found
Diasporas and secessionist conflicts : the mobilization of the Armenian, Albanian and Chechen diasporas
No full textThis article examines the impact of diasporas on secessionist conflicts, focusing on the Albanian, Armenian and Chechen diasporas and the conflicts in Kosovo, Karabakh and Chechnya during the 1990s. How do diasporas radicalize these conflicts? I argue that despite differences in diaspora communal characteristics and the types of the secessionist conflicts, a common pattern of mobilization develops. Large-scale diasporic support for secessionism emerges only after independence is proclaimed by the local elites. From that point onwards diasporas become engaged in a conflict spiral, and transnational coalitions are formed between local secessionist and diaspora groups. Depending on the organizational strength of the local strategic centre and the diasporic institutions, these coalitions endure or dissipate. Diasporas exert radicalization influences on the conflict spiral on two specific junctures – when grave violations of human rights occur in the homeland and when local moderate elites start losing credibility that they can achieve the secessionist goal
Alternative splicing and extensive RNA editing of human TPH2 transcripts.
No full textBrain serotonin (5-HT) neurotransmission plays a key role in the regulation of mood and has been implicated in a variety of neuropsychiatric conditions. Tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH) is the rate-limiting enzyme in the biosynthesis of 5-HT. Recently, we discovered a second TPH isoform (TPH2) in vertebrates, including man, which is predominantly expressed in brain, while the previously known TPH isoform (TPH1) is primarly a non-neuronal enzyme. Overwhelming evidence now points to TPH2 as a candidate gene for 5-HT-related psychiatric disorders. To assess the role of TPH2 gene variability in the etiology of psychiatric diseases we performed cDNA sequence analysis of TPH2 transcripts from human post mortem amygdala samples obtained from individuals with psychiatric disorders (drug abuse, schizophrenia, suicide) and controls. Here we show that TPH2 exists in two alternatively spliced variants in the coding region, denoted TPH2a and TPH2b. Moreover, we found evidence that the pre-mRNAs of both splice variants are dynamically RNA-edited in a mutually exclusive manner. Kinetic studies with cell lines expressing recombinant TPH2 variants revealed a higher activity of the novel TPH2B protein compared with the previously known TPH2A, whereas RNA editing was shown to inhibit the enzymatic activity of both TPH2 splice variants. Therefore, our results strongly suggest a complex fine-tuning of central nervous system 5-HT biosynthesis by TPH2 alternative splicing and RNA editing. Finally, we present molecular and large-scale linkage data evidencing that deregulated alternative splicing and RNA editing is involved in the etiology of psychiatric diseases, such as suicidal behaviour
Authors publication strategies in scholarly publishing
No full textIn this exploratory study, we analyze publishing patterns of authors from different disciplines, as part of a broader analysis of the transformation of the scholarly publishing industry. Although a growing body of literature analyses the author’s role within the process of research production,
validation, certification and dissemination, there is little systematic empirical research on publishing patterns; little therefore can be said on relevant issues within the current debate on the future of scholarly publishing such as
authors’ responses to (or even awareness of) the growing array of publication possibilities or the speed of adaptation to the increasing series of incentives by
funding agencies or academic institutions. On the basis of the analysis of three years of publications gathered in the institutional repository of Università degli Studi di Milano, we highlight trends of publication strategies and
different responses to incentive systems. Preliminary results indicate that publication outcomes and intensity differ across disciplines, while similarities occur mainly in terms of choice of preferred outcomes by seniority. Open
access is still uncommon among the authors in our sample and it is more utilized by relatively senior authors and active authors
Systemic Disease Associations of Oral Lichenoid Disease: A Retrospective Case-Control Study
No full textAbstract
Objective:
To analyze the association between oral lichen planus (OLP), oral lichenoid lesions (OLL), and other comorbidities.
Material and Methods:
A case–control study of 205 OLP, 96 OLL patients, and 301 age- and sex-matched controls from Kuopio University Hospital was performed. Medical history, regular medications, allergies, lichen planus in the body, and clinical features of OLP/OLL were recorded.
Results:
The prevalence of autoimmune hypothyroidism (HT) was 12.2% in OLP, 18.8% in OLL, and 9% in the control group; the estimated odds ratio (OR) was 1.425 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.793 to 2.562) (p = 0.237) for OLP and 2.292 [95% CI 1.175–4.47] (p = 0.015) for OLL. Allergies were found in 36.1% of OLP patients and in 22.9% of controls; the estimated OR was 1.872 [95% CI 1.245–2.815] (p = 0.003) for OLP. Patients with HT had more often erosive lesions than patients without HT.
Conclusion:
The present study suggests that OLL is associated with HT. The association between OLP and HT was not statistically significant. Allergies are associated with OLP.Abstract
Objective:
To analyze the association between oral lichen planus (OLP), oral lichenoid lesions (OLL), and other comorbidities.
Material and Methods:
A case–control study of 205 OLP, 96 OLL patients, and 301 age- and sex-matched controls from Kuopio University Hospital was performed. Medical history, regular medications, allergies, lichen planus in the body, and clinical features of OLP/OLL were recorded.
Results:
The prevalence of autoimmune hypothyroidism (HT) was 12.2% in OLP, 18.8% in OLL, and 9% in the control group; the estimated odds ratio (OR) was 1.425 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.793 to 2.562) (p = 0.237) for OLP and 2.292 [95% CI 1.175–4.47] (p = 0.015) for OLL. Allergies were found in 36.1% of OLP patients and in 22.9% of controls; the estimated OR was 1.872 [95% CI 1.245–2.815] (p = 0.003) for OLP. Patients with HT had more often erosive lesions than patients without HT.
Conclusion:
The present study suggests that OLL is associated with HT. The association between OLP and HT was not statistically significant. Allergies are associated with OLP
In situ TEM observations of the growth of bainitic ferrite in an Fe-0.3C-3Mn-1.5Si-0.15Mo steel
No full textThe current study reports in situ TEM observations of the growth of bainitic ferrite in an Fe-0.3C-3Mn-1.5Si-0.15Mo steel held isothermally at 300 °C with a higher spatio-temporal resolution than in previous studies. Significant variations were found in the lengthening rate, with the highest being in excess of 30,000 nm.s−1 while more common lengthening rates of 10–1000 nm.s−1 provided the highest quality observations. Both sheaves with visible sub units and individual laths were observed during growth with the lengthening behaviour of sheaves found to be discontinuous - in the most favourably oriented sheave this could be linked to sub unit behaviour. The transformation behaviour was comparable to that of HT-LSCM observations of bainitic ferrite growth for the most comparable steel compositions and to ‘textbook’ descriptions of the formation of bainite sheaves. In addition, other relevant phenomena were recorded, including the generation and movement of dislocations in the austenite during transformation, the interaction of laths with twin boundaries and the initially slow growth of bainitic ferrite laths.Team Maria Santofimia NavarroNovel Aerospace Material
Clinicopathological and molecular markers for the identification of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis as a possible predisposing and prognostic factor of papillary thyroid carcinoma
No full textBackground: The papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common type of thyroid cancer, while Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) is the most common inflam-matory thyroid disease. The coincidental coexistence or the possible predisposing, protective or aggravating role of HT in the development of PTC have been repeatedly examined. Aim: The aim of the present study was to eval-uate histopathological and clinical data obtained from patients with HT, PTC, and PTC+HT so as to investigate the possible association of HT with PTC. Methodology: The study’s cohort consisted of 114 patients (67 PTC, 29 PTC+HT, and 18 HT patients). A full record of their clini-copathological and clinical laboratory data was followed by extensive statistical analysis in order to reveal possible correlations between the existence of each disease and various clinicopathological parameters. The study was conducted from 2019 to 2023 at the Hippokration General Hospital of Athens (Greece). Results: A signifi-cant increase in the levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH; p=0.031), anti-thyroglobulin antibodies (Anti-Tg; p<0.001), and anti-thyroid peroxidase antibodies (Anti-TPO; p<0.001) was observed in the PTC+HT group. These patients also have smaller tumors (p=0.015) and a younger age of disease onset (p<0.001), while the majority of PTC+HT patients were women (p=0.023) and had infiltrated lymph nodes (p=0.002). Furthermore, the majority of patients with infiltration of the capsule be-longed to the PTC+HT group (57.1%; p=0.032). Conclu-sion: PTC+HT represents a less aggressive clinical state, as good prognostic markers of PTC correlate with the presence of HT. In PTC+HT patients, the PTC tends to have early onset age and the primary tumor is often small, while the majority of PTC+HT patients are women. © 2024 The author(s)
A chimeric nuclease substitutes a phage CRISPR-Cas system to provide sequence-specific immunity against subviral parasites
No full textMobile genetic elements, elements that can move horizontally between genomes, have profound effects on their host's fitness. The phage-inducible chromosomal island-like element (PLE) is a mobile element that integrates into the chromosome of Vibrio cholerae and parasitizes the bacteriophage ICP1 to move between cells. This parasitism by PLE is such that it abolishes the production of ICP1 progeny and provides a defensive boon to the host cell population. In response to the severe parasitism imposed by PLE, ICP1 has acquired an adaptive CRISPR-Cas system that targets the PLE genome during infection. However, ICP1 isolates that naturally lack CRISPR-Cas are still able to overcome certain PLE variants, and the mechanism of this immunity against PLE has thus far remained unknown. Here, we show that ICP1 isolates that lack CRISPR-Cas encode an endonuclease in the same locus, and that the endonuclease provides ICP1 with immunity to a subset of PLEs. Further analysis shows that this endonuclease is of chimeric origin, incorporating a DNA-binding domain that is highly similar to some PLE replication origin-binding proteins. This similarity allows the endonuclease to bind and cleave PLE origins of replication. The endonuclease appears to exert considerable selective pressure on PLEs and may drive PLE replication module swapping and origin restructuring as mechanisms of escape. This work demonstrates that new genome defense systems can arise through domain shuffling and provides a greater understanding of the evolutionary forces driving genome modularity and temporal succession in mobile elements
Die altkirchenslavische Übersetzung der Homilie 1 des Gregor von Nazianz: Textüberlieferung und kritische Ausgabe
No full textThe present paper investigates the textual transmission of the Old Church Slavonic version of Gregory of Nazianzus' Homily 1 (Oratio 1: „Λόγος εἰς τὸ ἅγιον Πάσχα καὶ εἰς τὴν βραδύτητα“ CPG 3010.1) and offers its first critical edition. This homiletical work, originally composed in Greek ca. 362 A.D., was translated in Bulgaria between the late 9th and the early 10th century. The text has come down to us in 17 Old East Slavic Cyrillic manuscripts dating from the 11th up to 17th centuries as well as in two South Slavic testimonies dating respectively from the late 13th- early 14th centuries and the second half of the 16th century. The author aims at determining the textual relationship among the surviving manuscript evidence, and at creating the first stemma codicum of this tradition. The conclusion put forward is that the entire East and South Slavonic tradition derives from a single archetype (α) and that it splits into three major branches of transmission. The first corresponds to manuscript P, the second to hyparchetype β, an understanding of which may be reconstructed on the basis of the textual agreement of the Old Serbian witnesses HT, while the third to hyparchetype γ. Τhe latter can be reconstructed from the readings preserved in the various Old East Slavic testimonies of the liturgical collection. As a result, the examination of the tradition produced a tripartite stemma, thereby logically implying that a critical edition is to be based on the three variant carriers P, β, and γ. Therefore, almost 150 years after the diplomatic edition of codex P by A. Budilovič, restricting attention to the earlier manuscripts can be safely assumed to exclude any possibility of reaching well-founded conclusions on textual criticism. Rather, while studying Old Church Slavonic texts, composed in the 9th-10th centuries, scholars would be well-advised to pay equal attention to later copies dating from the 14th-17th centuries
A chimeric nuclease substitutes a phage CRISPR-Cas system to provide sequence-specific immunity against subviral parasites
No full textA phage weaponizes a satellite recombinase to subvert viral restriction
No full textBacteria can acquire mobile genetic elements (MGEs) to combat infection by viruses (phages). Satellite viruses, including the PLEs (phage-inducible chromosomal island-like elements) in epidemic Vibrio cholerae, are MGEs that restrict phage replication to the benefit of their host bacterium. PLEs parasitize the lytic phage ICP1, unleashing multiple mechanisms to restrict phage replication and promote their own spread. In the arms race against PLE, ICP1 uses nucleases, including CRISPR-Cas, to destroy PLE’s genome during infection. However, through an unknown CRISPR-independent mechanism, specific ICP1 isolates subvert restriction by PLE. Here, we discover ICP1-encoded Adi that counteracts PLE by exploiting the PLE’s large serine recombinase (LSR), which normally mobilizes PLE in response to ICP1 infection. Unlike previously characterized ICP1-encoded anti-PLE mechanisms, Adi is not a nuclease itself but instead appears to modulate the activity of the LSR to promote destructive nuclease activity at the LSR’s specific attachment site, attP. The PLE LSR, its catalytic activity, and attP are additionally sufficient to sensitize a PLE encoding a resistant variant of the recombination module to Adi activity. This work highlights a unique type of adaptation arising from inter-genome conflicts, in which the intended activity of a protein can be weaponized to overcome the antagonizing genome
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