The article analyses the political communication strategy adopted by Sinn Féin in order to legitimize the Provisional Irish Republican Army's (PIRA) terrorist campaign during their transition from ...violence into mainstream politics. Their endeavours to portray a triumphant republican movement in spite of the huge gap between strategic aims and achievements are examined. The political and social rehabilitation of violent Republicanism, and how their leaders have evolved from pariahs to celebrities, is also assessed. The role of the media and political elites, as well as the political discourse of the PIRA and Sinn Féin, is analysed in order to examine how the republican movement has tried to rewrite its past in an attempt to gain political and social legitimacy. Consequently, the myths reproduced by republicans to disguise their failures as historical compromises, reproducing a more benign interpretation of history which distorts the causes and consequences of terrorism, are critically assessed. The article will focus on the struggle for the legitimacy of the terrorist campaign and the propaganda system which, in the words of Garret FitzGerald (Irish Prime Minister between 1981 and 1987), has managed to turn the republican movement into the "peace party" despite murdering thousands of human beings.
Background: The WASP/SCAR family of adaptor proteins coordinates actin reorganization by coupling different signaling molecules, including Rho-family GTPases, to the activation of the Arp2/3 complex. ...WASP binds directly to Cdc42 through its GTPase binding domain (GBD), but SCAR does not contain a GBD, and no direct binding has been found. However, SCAR has recently been found to copurify with four other proteins in a complex. One of these, PIR121, binds directly to Rac.
Results: We have identified four of the members of this complex in Dictyostelium and disrupted the pirA gene, which encodes PIR121. The resulting mutant cells are unusually large, maintain an excessive proportion of their actin in a polymerized state and display severe defects in movement and chemotaxis. They also continually extend new pseudopods by widening and splitting existing leading edges rather than by initiating new pseudopods. Comparing these cells to scar null mutants shows behavior that is broadly consistent with overactivation of SCAR. Deletion of the pirA gene in a scar− mutant resulted in cells resembling their scar− parents with no obvious changes, confirming that PIR121 mainly acts through SCAR in vivo. Surprisingly given their hyperactive phenotype, we find that pirA− mutants contain very little intact SCAR protein despite normal levels of mRNA, suggesting a posttranscriptional downregulation of activated SCAR.
Conclusions: Our results demonstrate a genetic connection between the pirA and scar genes. PIR121 appears to inhibit the activity of SCAR in the absence of activating signals. The location of the newly formed protrusions indicates that unregulated SCAR is acting at the edges of existing pseudopods, not elsewhere in the cell. We suggest that active SCAR protein released from the inhibitory complex is rapidly removed and that this is an important and novel mechanism for controlling actin dynamics.
In this study, we assessed pirAB toxin transcription in
(strain TT01) (Enterobacteriaceae) by comparing mRNA abundance under in vivo and in vitro conditions. In vivo assays considered both natural ...and forced infections with two lepidopteran hosts:
and
. Three portals of entry were utilized for the forced infection assays: (a) integument; (b) the digestive route (via mouth and anus); and (c) the tracheal route (via spiracles). We also assessed
transcription during the course of a natural infection; this is when the bacteria are delivered by
nematodes. Transcript abundance in
was higher than in
at two of the observed time points: 15 and 18 h. Expression of
reached above endogenous control levels at 22 h in
but not in
. Overall,
transcripts were not as highly expressed in
as in
from 15 to 22 h. This is the first study to directly compare
toxin transcript production considering different portals of entry.
Noah and the Serpent Nicolaus, Peter
Iran & the Caucasus,
01/2018, Letnik:
22, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The Prophet Noah is not a predominant figure within the Yezidi mythology, and so it should come as no particular surprise that he is often absent from the Yezidi sacred hymns. This peculiarity seems ...easily explained by the Yezidi cosmogonic myth, which places the emergence of Yezidis as a separate and wholly distinct occurrence from the genesis of the rest of humanity. Hence, a mythical catastrophe reducing mankind to merely one family would certainly contradict said cosmogony. And yet, the tale of “Noah and the Serpent” somehow finds itself recounted within every Yezidi community. The present paper will demonstrate that this veneration of Noah is a remnant of an essential Gnostic myth and has the makings of a Wandersage—containing elements of Central Asian beliefs and Mesopotamian mythology,—which is not only widely attested among the Muslim and Christian neighbours of the Yezidis in Northern Iraq but narrated throughout Asia Minor, Central Asia, as well as South-eastern and Eastern Europe.
Bovine peptidoglycan recognition protein 1 (PGLYRP-1), an important pattern recognition molecule (PRM) of the innate immune system, is an effector molecule in killing different microorganisms ...directly. To investigate whether the PGLYRP-1 gene was associated with mastitis and milk production traits in dairy cattle, the polymorphism of this gene was analyzed by PCR-RFLP in a population of 524 Chinese Holstein. A total of ten single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci were identified. The association analysis of single SNP locus showed that T−35A, T−12G and G+102C were significantly associated (P<0.05) with somatic cell score (SCS), while G+102C and G+649C were significantly associated (P<0.05) with 305-day milk yield. Association analysis between combined haplotypes and SCS, milk production traits indicated that H3H3 was associated with the lower SCS (P<0.01), and H2H2 was associated with the lower 305-day milk yield (P<0.01). These findings demonstrated that polymorphisms in PGLYRP-1 gene associated with mastitis resistance and 305-day milk yield, and the H3H3 would provide a useful genetic marker of combined haplotypes for mastitis resistance selection and breeding in Chinese Holstein.
Background
B cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2) gene is a well-known regulator of apoptosis and a key element in cancer development and progression. A regulatory (−938C>A, rs2279115) single-nucleotide ...polymorphism in the inhibitory P2 BCL-2 gene promoter generates significantly different BCL-2 promoter activities and has been associated with different clinical outcomes in various malignancies. The aim of the present study was to analyze the possible influence of the (−938C>A) SNP on the risk and survival of Indian patients suffering from NSCLC.
Materials and methods
A hospital-based case–control study of 155 age- and sex-matched patients diagnosed with NSCLC and 155 cancer-free controls was conducted and genotyped by performing PIRA–PCR to elucidate the putative association between clinical outcome and genotypes of BCL-2 (−938C>A, rs2279115). The association of the polymorphism with the survival of NSCLC patients was analyzed by Kaplan–Meier curves.
Results
In Indian NSCLC, patients increased risk of developing NSCLC was found to be associated with BCL-2 (−938) CC genotype, OR 3.68 (1.92−6.79), RR 1.87 (1.35−2.57) and RD 31.03 (16.79−45.27)
p
0.00006 for CC and OR 2.08 (1.18−3.66), RR 1.36 (1.08−1.71) and RD 17.74 (4.68−30.81)
p
0.01 for AC genotype. Patients homozygous for C allele exhibited a significant poor overall survival compared with patients displaying AC + CC or AC or AA genotype median survival (months) 8 vs. 11 vs. 14 vs. 35.5 (
p
< 0.0001). In addition, significant associations were observed between TNM stage, histological type, distant metastases status, family history of any cancer, gender and age group of NSCLC patients with BCL-2 (−938C>A) polymorphism.
Conclusion
Genetic polymorphism in the inhibitory P2 promoter region of anti-apoptotic BCL-2 genes contributes to the risk of developing non-small-cell lung cancer in Indian population. BCL-2 (−938CC) genotype was an independent adverse prognostic factor for patients with NSCLC.
Abstract
We have developed a new method for non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) of paternally inherited fetal mutants for β-thalassemia (β-thal). Specially designed primer-introduced restriction ...analysis-polymerase chain reaction (PIRA-PCR) were used to detect four major mutations IVS-II-654, HBB: c.316-197C > T; codon 17 (A > T), HBB: c.52A > T; −28 (A > G), HBB: c.-78A > G and codons 41/42 (-TTCT), HBB: c.126_129delCTTT causing β-thal in China. The PIRA-PCR assay was first tested in a series of mixed DNA with different concentrations and mixed proportions. Subsequently, this assay was further tested in 10 plasma DNA samples collected from pregnant women. In the DNA mixture simulation test, the PIRA-PCR assay was able to detect 3.0% target genomic DNA (gDNA) mixed in 97.0% wild-type gDNA isolated from whole blood. For plasma DNA testing, the results detected by PIRA-PCR assay achieved 100.0% consistency with those obtained from the amniocentesis analysis. This new method could potentially be used for NIPT of paternally inherited fetal mutants for β-thal.
El género Amaranthus L. pertenece a la familia Amaranthaceae y posee unas 70 especies distribuidas en las zonas tropicales y subtropicales del planeta; en el continente americano existen cerca de 40 ...especies agrupadas en los subgéneros Acnida, Albersia y Amaranthus. Con el objetivo de iniciar el estudio sistemático del género Amaranthus en Venezuela se hace la sinopsis del subgénero Amaranthus, sobre la base de material de herbarios nacionales, revisión bibliográfica y colecciones propias. Se confirma la presencia de seis especies del subgénero: A. congestus, A. cruentus, A. dubius, A. hybridus subsp. quitensis, A. retroflexus y A. spinosus; adicionalmente, se reduce de 22 a 10 el número de especies del género. Se presentan claves para diferenciar los subgéneros y las especies del subgénero Amaranthus, así como descripciones morfológicas de las especies, ilustraciones y mapas de distribución en Venezuela.
In the major malaria vector Anopheles gambiae Giles, two point mutations at the voltage-gated sodium channel have been associated with knockdown resistance (kdr) to DDT and pyrethroid insecticides. ...Simple allele-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays to detect these single-nucleotide polymorphisms are prone to lack of specificity and therefore alternative techniques have been proposed. However, these may not be easily implemented in many laboratories from malaria endemic regions. Here, we describe a primer-introduced restriction analysis (PIRA)-PCR method to detect kdr mutations in An. gambiae. This method unambiguously identified all six genotypes for the kdr locus in a sample of 113 field-collected mosquitoes for which kdr genotypes had been confirmed by DNA sequencing. Co-occurrence of both kdr alleles was found in sites from Equatorial Guinea and Gabon and the L1014F mutation was detected in M-form individuals from Angola. The PIRA-PCR proved to be a reliable, robust, and simpler alternative for the detection of kdr mutations in this malaria vector.
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