Children's Views on Children's Right to Work:Reflections from Belfast

The purpose of this article is to examine children’s attitudes regarding the right to work. The article is based on comments made by 245 15-year-old children on child employment and is supported by focus group interviews with 56 boys and 38 girls and tape-recorded interviews with 15 working pupils. One of most dominant themes to emerge from the data is children’s perception that they have a right to work. The article examines the legislation regarding child employment in Northern Ireland and the role of the state in determining the legislation. The author suggests that within this legislation, children are seen as vulnerable and in need of protection. Traditionally the protection of children in the workforce has been achieved by limiting the hours they can work and the occupations they can enter. Yet when children’s own views are taken into account, they move beyond the limits of protecting them through exclusion to suggesting frameworks whereby their protection may be achieved by empowering them within the labour market.

Linnaeus was right all along: Ulva and Enteromorpha are not distinct genera.

Ulva, one of the first Linnaean genera, was later circumscribed to consist of green seaweeds with distromatic blades, and Enteromorpha Link was established for tubular forms. Although several lines of evidence suggest that these generic constructs are artificial, Ulva and Enteromorpha have been maintained as separate genera. Our aims were to determine phylogenetic relationships among taxa currently attributed to Ulva, Enteromorpha, Umbraulva Bae et I.K. Lee and the monotypic genus Chloropelta C.E. Tanner, and to make any nomenclatural changes justified by our findings. Analyses of nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer DNA (ITS nrDNA) (29 ingroup taxa including the type species of Ulva and Enteromorpha), the chloroplast-encoded rbcL gene (for a subset of taxa) and a combined data set were carried out. All trees had a strongly supported clade consisting of all Ulva, Enteromorpha and Chloropelta species, but Ulva and Enteromorpha were not monophyletic. The recent removal of Umbraulva olivascens (P.J.L. Dangeard) Bae et I.K. Lee from Ulva is supported, although the relationship of the segregate genus Umbraulva to Ulvaria requires further investigation. These results, combined with earlier molecular and culture data, provide strong evidence that Ulva, Enteromorpha and Chloropelta are not distinct evolutionary entities and should not be recognized as separate genera. A comparison of traits for surveyed species revealed few synapomorphies. Because Ulva is the oldest name, Enteromorpha and Chloropelta are here reduced to synonymy with Ulva, and new combinations are made where necessary.

Evidence for altered ETB receptor characterisitics during development and progression of ventricular cardiomyocyte hypertrophy.

The hypothesis that endothelin (ET) receptor mechanisms are altered during development and progression of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in vivo was tested using spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). Ventricular cardiomyocytes were isolated from SHRs before onset (8 and 12 wk) and during progression (16, 20, and 24 wk) of LVH and compared with age-matched normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats. PreproET-1 mRNA expression was elevated in SHR (P

Effects of roziglitazone and interactions with growth-regulating factors in ventricular cell hypertrophy

Chronic administration of thiazolidinediones might predispose to cardiac hypertrophy. The aim was to investigate direct effects of rosiglitazone in rat ventricular cardiomyocytes maintained in vitro (24 h). Rosiglitazone (=10-5 M) did not increase protein synthesis and produced small inconsistent increases in cellular protein. In the presence of serum (10% v/v), but not insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1, 10-8 M) or insulin (1 U/ml), an interaction with rosiglitazone to stimulate protein synthesis was observed. The hypertrophic responses to noradrenaline (5×10-6 M), PMA (10-7 M) and ET-1 (10-7 M) were not attenuated by rosiglitazone. Rosiglitazone (10-7 M) did not influence protein synthesis in response to insulin (1 U/ml) and elevated glucose (2.5×10-2 M) alone or in combination, but attenuated the increase in protein mass observed in response to elevated glucose alone. In re-differentiated cardiomyocytes, a model of established hypertrophy, rosiglitazone (10-8 M–10-6 M) increased protein synthesis. Together, these data indicate that rosiglitazone does not initiate cardiomyocyte hypertrophy directly in vitro. However, during chronic administration, the interaction of rosiglitazone with locally-derived growth-regulating factors may make a modest contribution to cardiac remodelling and influence the extent of compensatory hypertrophy of the compromised rat heart.

Positive and negative contractile effects of somatostatin-14 on rat ventricular cardiomyocytes.

Somatostatin-14 elicits negative inotropic and chronotropic actions in atrial myocardium. Less is known about the effects of somatostatin-14 in ventricular myocardium. The direct contractile effects of somatostatin-14 were assessed using ventricular cardiomyocytes isolated from the hearts of adult rats. Cells were stimulated at 0.5 Hz with CaCl2 (2 mM) under basal conditions and in the presence of the -adrenoceptor agonist, isoprenaline (1 nM), or the selective inhibitor of the transient outward current (Ito), 4-aminopyridine (500 M). Somatostatin-14 did not alter basal contractile response but it did inhibit (IC50 13 nM) the response to isoprenaline (1 nM). In the presence of 4-aminopyridine (500 M), somatostatin-14 stimulated a positive contractile response (EC50 118 fM) that was attenuated markedly by diltiazem (100 nM). These data indicate that somatostatin-14 exerts dual effects directly in rat ventricular cardiomyocytes: (1) a negative contractile effect, observed in the presence of isoprenaline (1 nM), coupled to activation of Ito; and (2) a previously unreported and very potent positive contractile effect, unmasked by 4-aminopyridine (500 M), coupled to the influx of calcium ions via L-type calcium channels. The greater potency of somatostatin-14 for producing the positive contractile effect indicates that the peptide may exert a predominantly stimulatory influence on the resting contractility of ventricular myocardium in vivo, whereas the negative contractile effect, observed at much higher concentrations, could indicate that localized elevations in the concentration of the peptide may serve as a negative regulatory influence to limit the detrimental effects of excessive stimulation of cardiomyocyte contractility.

Tenant Right and Agrarian Society in Ulster 1600-1870

The book has been described by various Irish historians as "the definitive treatment of that most peculiar institution--the Ulster Custom--and its tangled relationship with irish land and politics" (Liam Kennedy), "a brilliantly reconceptualised sketch of the Irish land question" (David Miller). "All previous discussion," according to another reviewer, "must take second place to Dowling's exhaustive survey, which draws on the whole range of surviving estate records to examine the theory and practice of tenant right across three centuries" (Sean Connolly).