A critical note on ‘exclusive recognition’

Cenk Saracoglu conceptualizes the antipathy towards Kurdish migrants manifesting in certain cities of Turkey since the early 2000s as ‘exclusive recognition’ in his article ‘“Exclusive recognition”: the new dimensions of the question of ethnicity and nationalism in Turkey’ published in Ethnic and Racial Studies 32(4). According to the author, these recent developments represent ‘a historically specific ethnicization process’ and its sources cannot be found directly and only in historical discourses and policy of mainstream Turkish nationalism. In this note, I contradict the author's claims by asserting that the recent manifestations of anti-Kurdish sentiments are an extension of the ongoing policies of Turkish national identity based on Turkish nationalism.     

‘Our fellow Africans make our lives hell’: the lives of Congolese and Nigerians living in Johannesburg

Xenophobia in post-apartheid South Africa has become a major issue. Much of the hostility is directed at Africans from countries north of Southern Africa who are often easily distinguishable due to their physical features, distinctive dress and inability to speak the indigenous languages. This article focuses on immigrants and asylum seekers from two countries, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Both groupings have experienced significant antagonism and prejudice from the local population, more especially from black South Africans. The article describes and analyses the interaction of the two groupings in question with the local populace and authorities. What is argued is that during the apartheid era the restrictions on black immigration meant that the number of black foreigners was limited. Since 1990, however, there has been a substantial increase in illegal and legal migration from Southern African countries and countries further north. This increase, in a context of growing unemployment and crime, limited infrastructural growth and fiscal resources, has intensified xenophobia against foreign Africans. The article is mainly based on in-depth interviews with Nigerian and Congolese informants living in Johannesburg's inner city.     

The ‘other side’ of embedded ness: A case‐study of the interplay of economy and ethnicity

As interest in ethnics and their entrepreneurial activities has grown in recent years, sociologists have come to emphasize the importance of ethnic social structures as the source of actions propelling business growth. In a sign of convergence with the ‘new economic sociology’, recent literature suggests that embeddedness in ethnic networks and communities leads to cooperative, if not conformist, behaviour among ethnic economic actors. This article looks at the ‘other side’ of embeddedness, through a case‐study of African‐American, Caribbean, Korean and white construction contractors in New York City. I argue that, in construction, the embeddedness of economic behaviour in ongoing social relations among a myriad of social actors impedes access to outsiders. Embeddedness contributes to the liabilities of newness that all neophytes encounter, breeding a preference for established players with track records. However, the convergence of economic and ethnic ties has a further baneful effect, since outsiders also fall outside those networks that define the industrial community. While African‐American, Caribbean and Korean outsiders all experience these barriers in similar ways, they differ in the adaptive strategies that they have pursued. African Americans appear to be most disadvantaged, in part because they have been the most exposed to the social closure that results from the mobilization of white ethnics’ social capital. By contrast, Caribbeans and Koreans entered the labour market in societies where racial domination played little or no role in labour market outcomes ‐ a considerable asset since construction skills are transferable from one society to another. The Koreans appear to be the most embedded in ethnic networks, through which they secure jobs and skilled labour, though class factors play a role here as well and even the Koreans must reach out beyond the ethnic community for a clientele. By contrast, ethnic solidarity operates less powerfully among the black contractors, who are tied to a community where intra‐ethnic diversity and internal competition have grown as a result of immigration. In the absence of an ethnic market, black'entrepreneurs turn to the state, whose requirements and dependence on union labour expose black builders to risks from which their Korean counterparts are sheltered.     

Production and Characterization of a Pressure-induced Gel from Freeze-concentrated Milk

A process was developed to produce a characteristic milk gel. Raw and market milk samples were freeze-concentrated using bacterial ice nuclei. The concentrates were kept at 5°C and compressed at 300–600 MPa for 5 min. The combination of the freeze concentration and the pressurization gave a milk gel without adding any gelling agents. The addition of sugar at 10% to the concentrated milk improved its gel strength and viscoelasticity. The gel was characterized by a phase transition at about 62–75°C.     

Conformational restriction approach to BACE1 inhibitors II: SAR study of the isocytosine derivatives fixed with a cis-cyclopropane ring

To improve the efficacy of the conformationally restricted BACE1 inhibitors, structural modifications were investigated using two strategies: (a) modification of the terminal aromatic ring and (b) insertion of a spacer between the aromatic rings. In the latter approach, another type of inhibitor 17 bearing an ethylene spacer between two aromatic rings was found to exhibit good BACE1 inhibitory activity, while the corresponding conformationally unrestricted compound 25 showed no activity. This result revealed an interesting effect of a conformational restriction with a cyclopropane ring.     

Novel racemic tetrahydrocurcuminoid dihydropyrimidinone analogues as potent acetylcholinesterase inhibitors

The synthesis of racemic tetrahydrocurcumin- (THC-), tetrahydrodemethoxycurcumin- (THDC-) and tetrahydrobisdemethoxycurcumin- (THBDC-) dihydropyrimidinone (DHPM) analogues was achieved by utilizing the multi-component Biginelli reaction in the presence of copper sulphate as a catalyst. The evaluation of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors for Alzheimer’s disease of these compounds showed that they exhibited higher inhibitory activity than their parent analogues. THBDC–DHPM demonstrated the most potent inhibitory activity with an IC₅₀ value of 1.34 ± 0.03 μM which was more active than the approved drug galanthamine (IC₅₀ = 1.45 ± 0.04 μM).     

Therapeutic and pharmacokinetic characterizations of an anti-amyloidogenic bis-styrylbenzene derivative for Alzheimer’s disease treatment

Alzheimer’s disease drug discovery regarding exploration into the molecules and processes has focused on the intrinsic causes of the brain disorder correlated with the accumulation of amyloid-β. An anti-amyloidogenic bis-styrylbenzene derivative, KMS80013, showed excellent oral bioavailability (F = 46.2%), facilitated brain penetration (26%, iv) in mouse and target specific in vivo efficacy in acute AD mouse model attenuating the cognitive deficiency in Y-maze test. Acute toxicity (LD₅₀ >2000 mg/kg) and hERG channel inhibition (14% at 10 μM) results indicated safety of KMS80013.     

Discovery of novel indolinone-based,potent, selective and brain penetrant inhibitors of LRRK2

Mutations in leucine-rich repeat kinase-2 (LRRK2) are the most common genetic cause of Parkinson’s disease (PD). The most frequent kinase-enhancing mutation is the G2019S residing in the kinase activation domain. This opens up a promising therapeutic avenue for drug discovery targeting the kinase activity of LRRK2 in PD. Several LRRK2 inhibitors have been reported to date. Here, we report a selective, brain penetrant LRRK2 inhibitor and demonstrate by a competition pulldown assay in vivo target engagement in mice.     

Clock gene PERIOD3 polymorphism is associated with susceptibility to Graves’ disease but not to Hashimoto’s thyroiditis

ABSTRACT

Circadian disruption has been linked with immune-related morbidities including autoimmune diseases. PERIOD3 (PER3) clock gene is a key player in the mammalian circadian system. This study evaluated the possible association of PER3 rs2797685 (G/A) polymorphism and susceptibility of autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD) and assessed if this SNP contributes to disease characteristics and serum levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). The PER3 rs2797685 (G/A) polymorphism was assessed in 125 patients with AITD [Graves’ disease (GD), 69; Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT), 56] and 115 unrelated healthy controls. Subjects carrying at least one variant allele of PER3 rs2797685 (GA+AA) had increased risk for GD (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1–3.61, p= .05). There were no differences in the frequencies of genotypes and alleles of the PER3 rs2797685 polymorphism between HT patients and control subjects. No association was observed between genotypes of the studied SNP and any of the disease characteristics in GD and HT patients. The GA+AA genotype of PER3 rs2797685 was associated with lower levels of IL-6 in patients with Graves’ disease. There were no differences between genotypes of the studied SNP regarding TNF-α levels in GD, HT or control groups. In conclusion, this study provides the first evidence for a genetic association between GD and the PER3 gene, highlighting the possible relevance of polymorphisms in clock genes in the etiopathogenesis of AITD. However, functional studies to identify the underlying molecular mechanisms of this association are needed to translate these findings to clinical applications.     

Sleep/wake patterns and circadian typology in preschool children based on standardized parental self-reports

We studied the sleep/wake patterns and circadian typology of Japanese preschool children living in the Tokyo metropolitan area (193 boys and 190 girls, 4–6 years of age) from June to July 2012 based on a standardized parental self-reporting questionnaire. Our major findings are as follows: (1) sleep/wake timing was delayed, and the duration of nocturnal sleep (sleep period as well as time in bed) increased from that on scheduled days (weekdays) to that on free days (weekends) for all ages. (2) The duration of daily sleep (24?h), including daytime nap, was longer for 4-year-old children compared with that in 5- to 6-year-old children, but not significantly different between scheduled and free days within each age group. (3) The distribution of chronotypes was 36.3% for morning (M)-type, 48.8% for neither (N)-type and 11.2% for evening (E)-type, and this distribution was independent of sex or age. (4) Sleep/wake timing delays were observed from M-type and N-type to E-type during scheduled and free days. (5) The duration of nocturnal sleep decreased but increased for 24-h sleep time from M-type and N-type to E-type on scheduled days. (6) Sleep durations did not differ among chronotypes on free days. (7) Chronotypes were associated with parents’ diurnal preferences, mealtimes and attendance at kindergartens or childcare centers but not with sex, age, season of birth, exposure to multimedia or exposure to morning sunlight in their bedrooms. When these results were compared with those for older children and adolescents, similar sleep/wake patterns and circadian typology were observed, although to a lesser degree, in children as young as 4–6 years of age. Napping may compensate, in part, for an accumulated weekday sleep deficit. The distribution of chronotypes was associated with differences in sleep/wake timing and duration and was influenced by the parents’ diurnal preferences and lifestyles. Further research on preschool children is required to investigate whether circadian typology affects their behavioral, emotional and cognitive development.