Genomics has helped to initiate the era of precision medicine, with some drugs now prescribed on the basis of molecular genetic tests that indicate which patients are likely to respond or should not ...receive a drug because of a high risk of adverse effects. However, for precision medicine to realize its potential, the patient's history, environment, and lifestyle must also be taken into account. Improving precision medicine requires a better understanding of the underlying reasons for the variability in drug response so as to better identify which drug or combination of drugs is likely to be most effective for an individual patient, along with consideration of the optimal dose or doses for that patient. Greater individualization of dose will be an important means to achieve more precise medicine and mitigate significant variability in drug response. Achieving this will require changes in how drugs are developed, approved, prescribed, monitored, and paid for. Each of these factors is discussed in this review.
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the trajectory of Kiyomi Morioka’s research from a contemporary perspective in relation to postwar Japanese family sociology and family change. Dividing his ...research trajectory into four stages, he determined the research topics to pursue in each stage by examining and reflecting on his achievements in the previous stage. After the preparatory first stage, he established the nuclear family theory and summarized the family cycle theory in the second stage. However, at this time, Morioka recognized the limitations of the family cycle theory and expected to overcome these limitations in the third stage by means of the life course theory. At the same time, he showed a strong desire to develop his own theory of family change, but he was unable to achieve satisfying results. In the midst of the increasing dissolution of families, such as “individualization,” and the trend toward diversification in family research, he entrusted the challenge of a paradigm shift to subsequent generations.
Most regulated proteolysis in eukaryotes is carried out by the 26S proteasome. This large, multisubunit complex comprises a catalytic core particle (20S proteasome) and a regulatory particle (19S ...regulator) capping each end. In Drosophila, about a third of the 32 proteasome subunits are found to have testis-specific isoforms, encoded by paralogous genes. Here,we characterize in detail the spermatogenic expression of the core particle subunit Prosα6 (Pros35) and its testis-specific isoform Prosα6T. Using GFP-tagged transgenes, it is shown that whereas the Prosα6 subunit is expressed in early stages of spermatogenesis, gradually fading away following meiosis, the testis-specific Prosα6T becomes prominent in spermatid nuclei and cytoplasm after meiosis, and persists in mature sperm. In addition, these subunits are found in numerous `speckles' near individualization complexes, similar to the previously described expression pattern of the caspase Dronc (Nedd2-like caspase), suggesting a link to the apoptosis pathway. We also studied the phenotypes of a loss-of-function mutant of Prosα6T generated by targeted homologous recombination. Homozygous males are sterile and show spermatogenic defects in sperm individualization and nuclear maturation, consistent with the expression pattern of Prosα6T. The results demonstrate a functional role of testis-specific proteasomes during Drosophila spermatogenesis.
Research context: This article takes on the point of view that places the focus on the individual, despite belonging within a family group, and explores the concept of home as a space that ...contributes to the formation of an “individualized individual,” but that also takes into account the possible limits of this function of home. Objectives: This overview aims to define the concept of home to uncover all of its dimensions. Whether the spatial, temporal and relational dimensions of the home can be distinguished for the purposes of analysis, on the one hand, the article centres on how these dimensions interrelate intimately among the experiences of individuals to help form their personal identity, autonomy, self-empowerment and relationship to location or place (Simard and Savoie, 2009). On the other hand, these dimensions help to build groups and family relationships. Methodology: This article is based on a literature review and on the contributions to this issue to present the concept of home and the theoretical perspective gleaned. Results: In familial, marital and intergenerational cohabitation, the construct of home is played out in interactions with other family members, who have their own constructs and concepts of home. These constructs and concepts produce differentiated and sometimes asymmetrical relationships, as well as three different experiences of home. The first refers to personal spaces, my “home”; the second, to the rules and laws that govern a cohabitation and the space in which home is located. In this case, it is defined by a statutory and hierarchical aspect, and the individual has a place assigned by their status. This is designated as “our home.” The third is epitomized by belonging and by a place within a group or community where the individual is considered equal. This is belonging to our home. If the first “home” is the main factor in the process of individualization, so are the other two: one explains the boundaries of “home,” and the other, the individual's belonging within the group, notably the family. Conclusions: The question of home entails two aspects: the relationship with home of the sole inhabitant and the relationship with home of the inhabitant together with others. In this second aspect, a tension develops between the sense of autonomy and that of belonging to a group. Being a member of the group, interpreted as being in our home, has two dimensions: being assigned within our home and belonging to our home. In this sense, our home acts as a constraint on the concept of home, and the family seems to be a paradoxical validation of the individual. Thus, the family has a double function: to make it possible to be oneself (preferring personal spaces and validating individual dimensions of identity) and to acknowledge that each member belongs to the group and has a place in it. The limits to individualizing home become apparent when there is an imbalance among these three aspects of “home”: having personal space, being assigned within our home, and belonging to our home. Contribution: Home constitutes a valuable perspective in this construct, which links the past, present and future: having been, being and becoming. The iterative movement between home and identity is central to the formation of the individual and the family group.
National policy states that Swedish adult education should be flexible and individualized, based on students’ needs. However, adult education in Sweden is a municipal responsibility with a high level ...of decentralization. Drawing on national policies, this study focuses on how the concepts of flexibility and individualization are enacted locally and what consequences this has for teaching and learning. Starting from a teacher perspective and based on qualitative interviews with 50 teachers, the article analyses how policy requirements for offering flexible and individualized adult education are being enacted, and what the consequences of this are for teaching and learning. The findings show how flexibility and individualization are put into practice through measures such as a fast study pace, continuous admission of students, and pressure on municipalities to maintain a broad course offer, often by turning to distance education. This enactment makes it easier for adult learners to fit education into their lives, but it also has consequences for the quality of teaching and learning. It is causing fragmentation, a learning environment where interactions mainly occur on an individual basis, an instrumental view of education, and teachers experiencing high workloads and low autonomy in making pedagogical decisions.
This article examines a trend in managerial practices that has had some success in recent times: the freedom-form company and its doubles. In a context where the question of discomfort at work is the ...focus, this trend appears to have all the characteristics of a somewhat exotic vogue, if it is not actually a sort of staging, detached from reality and masking it. The inquiry, conducted with a computer-related business fine-tunes this image, without however slipping into some form of enchantment. It shows that the freedom-form company and its doubles gain in being understood as ushering new accountability and responsibility assumption standards into the workplace. The areas studied try to play the game of “liberation” through organizational actions that are binding on employees who, for their part, more or less take them on board. In concrete terms, this “liberation” stands revealed in the form of a metamorphosis of individualization at work which, at one and the same time, tries to go further in terms of coupling accountability and empowerment processes, all in correcting some of the excesses of earlier trends. Given this, could it be the rise of this new managerial vogue is nothing short of irresistible? In reality, not at all. Employees turn out to be ambivalent, caught between a partial internalisation of managerial categories and their often lively – and in themselves paradoxical – challenges. Thus, finally, while the freedom-form company allows managers to recover a democratic demand – they, at the same time, in limiting themselves to that horizon – run the risk of arousing growing discontent.
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