Minimum Wage Regulation under Devolution in Northern Ireland

This paper assesses the development and functioning of regional minimum wage regulation in Northern Ireland in the interwar period under a federal form of devolution. Unlike current devolution arrangements in Scotland and Wales, this gave the Stormont Parliament powers over employment and minimum wage regulation. Northern Ireland Trade Boards were set up by the Ulster Unionist Government under the Trade Boards (Northern Ireland) Act 1923 and functioned along the same lines as those in Great Britain. Uniquely in the UK in this period, employer opposition resulted in the main Trade Board in the Irish Linen Industry being replaced by voluntary collective bargaining machinery. About one-quarter of employees were covered by minimum wage regulation, including two-thirds of females in Belfast, keeping a protective floor under low pay.

Fruit and vegetable consumption in older individuals in Northern Ireland: levels and patterns

Low intakes of fruit and vegetables have previously been reported in the older population of Great Britain, particularly among certain socio-demographic groups. Levels and patterns of consumption in the older population of Northern Ireland, however, remain unknown. A representative sample of 1000 members of the older population of Northern Ireland were contacted by telephone to assess average intake of all fruits and vegetables and various demographic details. Data from 426 individuals (representative of the whole population) reported a mean consumption of 4.0 (SD 1-3) and 4.1 (SD 1-3) portions of fruit and vegetables per weekday and per weekend day respectively. Regression analyses revealed greater consumption on weekdays by females (B 0.53; P

Applying the Paradigm: Shakespeare and World Cinema

The essay discusses films that have been made of the plays written by dramatist William Shakespeare, particularly films that were made outside of Great Britain and the U.S. The Chinese film "The Banquet," directed by Xiaogang Feng, is a retelling of Shakespeare's play "Hamlet." The film demonstrates how Shakespeare's play could be successfully repositioned to demonstrate problems in 21st century Asia.

Genetic differentiation across the social transition in a socially polymorphic sweat bee, Halictus rubicundus

Eusociality is widely considered a major evolutionary transition. The socially polymorphic sweat bee Halictus rubicundus, solitary in cooler regions of its holarctic range and eusocial in warmer parts, is an excellent model organism to address this transition, and specifically the question of whether sociality is associated with a strong barrier to gene flow between phenotypically divergent populations. Mitochondrial DNA (COI) from specimens collected across the British Isles, where both solitary and social phenotypes are represented, displayed limited variation, but placed all specimens in the same European lineage; haplotype network analysis failed to differentiate solitary and social lineages. Microsatellite genetic variability was high and enabled us to quantify genetic differentiation among populations and social phenotypes across Great Britain and Ireland. Results from conceptually different analyses consistently showed greater genetic differentiation between geographically distant populations, independently of their social phenotype, suggesting that the two social forms are not reproductively isolated. A landscape genetic approach revealed significant isolation by distance (Mantel test r = 0.622, p

Use of FibreCement in House in Northern Ireland

This journal has an editorial board from Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, France, Great Britain and Ireland. The journal is distributed to architectural practices throughout Europe.

Polyomavirus enhancer activator 3 protein promotes breast cancer metastatic progression through Snail-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

Polyomavirus enhancer activator 3 protein (Pea3), also known as ETV4, is a member of the Ets-transcription factor family, which promotes metastatic progression in various types of solid cancer. Pea3-driven epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) has been described in lung and ovarian cancers. The mechanisms of Pea3-induced EMT, however, are largely unknown. Here we show that Pea3 overexpression promotes EMT in human breast epithelial cells through transactivation of Snail (SNAI1), an activator of EMT. Pea3 binds to the human Snail promoter through the two proximal Pea3 binding sites and enhances Snail expression. In addition, knockdown of Pea3 in invasive breast cancer cells results in down-regulation of Snail, partial reversal of EMT, and reduced invasiveness in vitro. Moreover, knockdown of Snail partially rescues the phenotype induced by Pea3 overexpression, suggesting that Snail is one of the mediators bridging Pea3 and EMT, and thereby metastatic progression of the cancer cells. In four breast cancer patient cohorts whose microarray and survival data were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus database, Pea3 and Snail expression are significantly correlated with each other and with overall survival of breast cancer patients. We further demonstrate that nuclear localization of Pea3 is associated with Snail expression in breast cancer cell lines and is an independent predictor of overall survival in a Chinese breast cancer patient cohort. In conclusion, our results suggest that Pea3 may be an important prognostic marker and a therapeutic target for metastatic progression of human breast cancer. © 2011 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Activated oncogenic pathways and therapeutic targets in extranodal nasal-type NK/T cell lymphoma revealed by gene expression profiling

We performed comprehensive genome-wide gene expression profiling (GEP) of extranodal nasal-type natural killer/T-cell lymphoma (NKTL) using formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue (n = 9) and NK cell lines (n = 5) in comparison with normal NK cells, with the objective of understanding the oncogenic pathways involved in the pathogenesis of NKTL and to identify potential therapeutic targets. Pathway and network analysis of genes differentially expressed between NKTL and normal NK cells revealed significant enrichment for cell cycle-related genes and pathways, such as PLK1, CDK1, and Aurora-A. Furthermore, our results demonstrated a pro-proliferative and anti-apoptotic phenotype in NKTL characterized by activation of Myc and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappa B), and deregulation of p53. In corroboration with GEP findings, a significant percentage of NKTLs (n = 33) overexpressed c-Myc (45.4%), p53 (87.9%), and NF-kappa B p50 (67.7%) on immunohistochemistry using a tissue microarray containing 33 NKTL samples. Notably, overexpression of survivin was observed in 97% of cases. Based on our findings, we propose a model of NKTL pathogenesis where deregulation of p53 together with activation of Myc and NF-kappa B, possibly driven by EBV LMP-1, results in the cumulative up-regulation of survivin. Down-regulation of survivin with Terameprocol (EM-1421, a survivin inhibitor) results in reduced cell viability and increased apoptosis in tumour cells, suggesting that targeting survivin may be a potential novel therapeutic strategy in NKTL. Copyright (C) 2011 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.