The Role of Information in Contemporary Migration. More Sources but Less Informed

La migració internacional contemporània és integrada en un procés d'interconnexió global definit per les revolucions del transport i de les tecnologies de la informació i la comunicació. Una de les conseqüències d'aquesta interconnexió global és que les persones migrants tenen més capacitat per a processar informació tant abans com després de marxar. Aquests canvis podrien tenir implicacions inesperades per a la migració contemporània pel que fa a la capacitat de les persones migrants per a prendre decisions més informades, la reducció de la incertesa en contextos migratoris, el desdibuixament del concepte de distància o la decisió d'emigrar cap a llocs més llunyans. Aquesta recerca és important, ja que la manca de coneixement sobre aquesta qüestió podria contribuir a fer augmentar la distància entre els objectius de les polítiques de migració i els seus resultats. El paper que tenen els agents de la informació en els contextos migratoris també podria canviar. En aquest escenari, perquè les polítiques de migració siguin més efectives, s'haurà de tenir en compte la major capacitat de la població migrant de processar la informació i les fonts d'informació en què es confia. Aquest article demostra que l'equació més informació equival a més ben informat no es compleix sempre. Fins i tot en l'era de la informació, les fonts no fiables, les expectatives falses, la sobreinformació i els rumors encara són presents en els contextos migratoris. Tanmateix, defensem l'argument que aquests efectes no volguts es podrien reduir complint quatre requisits de la informació fiable: que sigui exhaustiva, que sigui rellevant, que s'hi confiï i que sigui actualitzada.

Bodyweight and migration-related differences in motor abilities in preschool children "Ballabeina"

Introduction: Motor abilities in schoolchildren have been decreasing in the last two decades (Bös, 2003, Tomkinson et al., 2003). This may be related to the dramatic increase in overweight and adiposity during the same time period. Children of migrant background are especially affected (Lasserre et al., 2007). But little is known about the relationship between BMI and migration background and motor abilities in preschool children. Methods/Design We carried out a cross-sectional analysis with 665 children (age 5.1 ± 0.6 years; 49.8 % female) of 40 randomly selected kindergarten classes from German and French speaking regions in Switzerland with a high migrant background. We investigated BMI, cardiorespiratory fitness (20 m shuttle run), static (displacement of center of pressure (COP)) and dynamic (balancing forward on a beam) postural control and overall fitness (obstacle course). Results: Of the children, 9.6 % were overweight, 10.5 % were obese (Swiss national percentiles) and 72.8 % were of migrant background (at least one parent born outside of Switzerland). Mean BMI from children of non-migrant background was 15.5 ± 1.1 kg/m2, while migrant children had a mean BMI of 15.8 ± 1.7 kg/m2 (p=0.08). Normal-weight children performed better in cardiorespiratory fitness (3.1 ± 1.4 vs. 2.6 ± 1.1 stages, p<0.001), overall fitness (18.9 ± 4.4 vs. 20.8 ± 4.6 sec, p<0.001) and in dynamic balance (4.9 ± 3.5 vs. 3.8 ± 2.5 steps, p<0.001) compared to overweight and obese children, while the latter had less postural sway (COP: 956 ± 302 vs. 1021 ± 212 mm, p=0.008). There was a clear inverse dose-response relationship between weight status and dynamic motor abilities. There were no significant differences in most tested motor abilities between non-migrant and migrant. The latter performed less well in only one motor test (overall fitness: 20.2 ± 5.2 vs. 18.3 ± 3.5 sec, p<0.001). These findings persisted after adjustment for BMI. Conclusion In preschool children, differences in motor abilities are already present between normal weight and overweight/obese children. However, migrant children demonstrate similar motor abilities compared to non-migrant children for almost all tests, despite their slightly higher BMI.

Predictive value of anti-neutrophil cygtoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) in small vessel vasculitis

Résumé Valeur prédictive des anticorps dirigés contre le cytoplasme des neutrophiles (ANCA) dans les vasculites des vaisseaux de petit calibre But du travail : Les vasculites sont des pathologies le plus souvent sévères et parfois létales ; elles nécessitent une reconnaissance et un traitement précoces. Il est donc utile de pouvoir disposer de marqueurs diagnostiques, et éventuellement de marqueurs qui puissent prédire l'activité de la maladie. Les « antineutrophil cytoplasm antibodies » (ANCA) constituent une famille d'autoanticorps dirigés contre des antigènes du cytoplasme des neutrophiles, cellules clés du processus inflammatoire au cours des vasculites. De nombreuses études ont tenté de préciser l'utilité des ANCA dans le diagnostic et le suivi des vasculites avec des résultats contradictoires. Le but de ce travail a été de passer en revue l'évolution clinique des patients suivis dans notre service pour une vasculite à ANCA et évaluer la valeur prédictive des ANCA comme marqueur de récidive. Méthode: Les dossiers médicaux de 36 patients, suivis à notre consultation ambulatoire d'immunologie et allergie du CHUV pour une vasculite à ANCA entre janvier 1990 et décembre 2001, ont été analysés de manière rétrospective afin d'établir une base de données. Les données démographiques, le type de vasculite (granulomatose de Wegener ou polyangéite microscopique) et ses caractéristiques (organes touchés), les traitements reçus, les dosages des ANCA (par immunofluorescence et par ELISA avec détermination des anti-PR3 et/ou anti-MPO), et l'évolution clinique (récidive/rémission) ont été considérés. La valeur pronostique des ANCA dans notre population a été calculée utilisant les valeurs prédictives positive et négative, la likelihood et les odds ratios. La valeur statistique a été examinée par les tests Chi-square test ou Fisher's exact test (valeur significative définie comme p <0.05) à l'aide du programme GraphPad Instat software version 3, San Diego, CA. Résultats : Vingt-trois patients atteints d'une maladie de Wegener et treize d'une polyangéite microscopique ont été suivis pour une durée médiane de cinq ans (entre 1 mois et 16 ans). La plupart des patients ont été traités avec des corticostéroïdes associés à du cyclophosphamide. Une rémission a été obtenue chez 21 patients (91 %) atteints d'une maladie de Wegener, mais 74% ont présenté par la suite une récidive. Tous les patients atteints d'une polyangéite microscopique sont entrés en rémission et 33% ont par la suite récidivé. Une élévation persistante (définie comme supérieure à 6 mois) des ANCA ne s'est pas révélée associée à un risque statistiquement significatif de récidive (p=0.14). En revanche, une élévation soudaine du taux des ANCA s'est démontrée prédictive d'une récidive (table 3). Conclusion : Durant le suivi de certaines vasculites, comme la granulomatose de Wegener et la polyangéite microscopique une élévation des ANCA doit faire redouter une exacerbation de la maladie et, par conséquent, justifie une surveillance accrue.

Neutrophil defensins: their possible role in allergic asthma.

BACKGROUND Neutrophil defensins, originally identified as broad-spectrum antimicrobial peptides, have been implicated in the regulation of inflammatory and immunological processes. OBJECTIVES To investigate whether the in vitro challenge of neutrophils from patients with bronchial asthma with allergens stimulated the release of alpha-defensins and whether levels released were dependent on lung infections. METHOD The neutrophils were cultivated with different agonists and the concentration of alpha-defensin in cell-free supernatant was measured with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS Neutrophils from allergic patients released alpha-defensins via an allergen-dependent mechanism. Our results indicate that the in vitro activation of neutrophils is highly allergen-specific. In this context, allergens other than those which produced clinical symptoms did not elicit alpha-defensin release, and allergens had no effect on neutrophils from healthy donors. However, neutrophils from both allergic patients and healthy controls were able to release alpha-defensins upon treatment with PMA. In the allergen-stimulated neutrophils, cells from asthmatic patients stimulated with a sensitizing allergen showed a significantly higher production of alpha-defensin under respiratory tract infection than cells from the same patients without such an infection. CONCLUSION Neutrophils from allergic patients release alpha-defensins via an allergen-dependent mechanism.

Activity and migration of Cory's shearwater

I describe some of the features that characterize the activity and migration of Cory’s shearwater during approximately one year. I also explore the influence of Moon, photoperiod, geographic position and life-history stage on the resulting patterns and the periodicity of the latter. I have principally used time series and regression analysis. Its use here is one of the first applications to the analysis of logger data in seabirds. An intriguing finding of this work is the lunar periodicity that pervades the annual cycle of this species.

Release of macrophage migration inhibitory factor by neuroendocrine-differentiated LNCaP cells sustains the proliferation and survival of prostate cancer cells.

The acquisition of neuroendocrine (NE) characteristics by prostate cancer (PCa) cells is closely related to tumour progression and hormone resistance. The mechanisms by which NE cells influence PCa growth and progression are not fully understood. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine involved in oncogenic processes, and MIF serum levels correlate with aggressiveness of PCa. Here, we investigated the regulation and the functional consequences of MIF expression during NE transdifferentiation of PCa cells. NE differentiation (NED) of LNCaP cells, initiated either by increasing intracellular levels of cAMP or by culturing cells in an androgen-depleted medium, was associated with markedly increased MIF release. Yet, intracellular MIF protein and mRNA levels and MIF gene promoter activity decreased during NED of LNCaP cells, suggesting that NED favours MIF release despite decreasing MIF synthesis. Adenoviral-mediated forced MIF expression in NE-differentiated LNCaP cells increased cell proliferation without affecting the expression of NE markers. Addition of exogenous recombinant MIF to LNCaP and PC-3 cells stimulated the AKT and ERK1/2 signalling pathways, the expression of genes involved in PCa, as well as proliferation and resistance to paclitaxel and thapsigargin-induced apoptosis. Altogether, these data provide evidence that increased MIF release during NED in PCa may facilitate cancer progression or recurrence, especially following androgen deprivation. Thus, MIF could represent an attractive target for PCa therapy.

Thy-1-mediated cell-cell contact induces astrocyte migration through the engagement of αVβ3 integrin and syndecan-4.

Cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix proteins occurs through interactions with integrins that bind to Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) tripeptides, and syndecan-4, which recognizes the heparin-binding domain of other proteins. Both receptors trigger signaling pathways, including those that activate RhoGTPases such as RhoA and Rac1. This sequence of events modulates cell adhesion to the ECM and cell migration. Using a neuron-astrocyte model, we have reported that the neuronal protein Thy-1 engages αVβ3 integrin and syndecan-4 to induce RhoA activation and strong astrocyte adhesion to their underlying substrate. Thus, because cell-cell interactions and strong cell attachment to the matrix are considered antagonistic to cell migration, we hypothesized that Thy-1 stimulation of astrocytes should preclude cell migration. Here, we studied the effect of Thy-1 expressing neurons on astrocyte polarization and migration using a wound-healing assay and immunofluorescence analysis. Signaling molecules involved were studied by affinity precipitation, western blotting and the usage of specific antibodies. Intriguingly, Thy-1 interaction with its two receptors was found to increase astrocyte polarization and migration. The latter events required interactions of these receptors with both the RGD-like sequence and the heparin-binding domain of Thy-1. Additionally, prolonged Thy-1-receptor interactions inhibited RhoA activation while activating FAK, PI3K and Rac1. Therefore, sustained engagement of integrin and syndecan-4 with the neuronal surface protein Thy-1 induces astrocyte migration. Interestingly we identify here, a cell-cell interaction that despite initially inducing strong cell attachment, favors cell migration upon persistent stimulation by engaging the same signaling receptors and molecules as those utilized by the extracellular matrix proteins to stimulate cell movement.

The selective migration of young graduates : which of them return to their rural home region and which do not?

This paper addresses the migration behaviours of young university graduates from a rural region in Switzerland. Based on a questionnaire survey, it compares graduates' current place of residence (i.e. whether or not they returned to their home region) with characteristics related to their socio-familial, migration and professional trajectories. The propensity to return varies not only according to labour market variables (employment opportunities), but also to other factors, some of which have even more influence than job opportunities. The graduates' life course position (kind of household), their partners' characteristics (level of education and home region) and their family background (socio-economic status and history of migration) all play a central role. On the whole, results show that migration appears as a selective and complex process embedded in the life course of graduates.