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Many snake venoms are known for their antithrombotic activity. They contain components that specifically target different platelet-activating receptors such as the collagen-binding integrin α2β1 and the von Willebrand factor receptor GPIb. In a search for an α2β1 integrin-blocking component from the venom of the habu snake (Trimeresurus flavoviridis), we employed two independent purification protocols. First, we used the integrin α2A domain, a major collagen-binding domain, as bait for affinity purification of an α2β1 integrin-binding toxin from the crude venom. Second, in parallel, we used classical protein separation protocols and tested for α2β1 integrin-inhibiting capabilities by ELISA. Using both approaches, we identified flavocetin-A as an inhibitor of α2β1 integrin. Hitherto, flavocetin-A has been reported as a GPIb inhibitor. However, flavocetin-A inhibited collagen-induced platelet aggregation even after GPIb was blocked with other inhibitors. Moreover, flavocetin-A antagonized α2β1 integrin-mediated adhesion and migration of HT1080 human fibrosarcoma cells, which lack any GPIb, on collagen. Protein chemical analyses proved that flavocetin-A binds to α2β1 integrin and its α2A domain with high affinity and in a cooperative manner, which most likely is due to its quaternary structure. Kinetic measurements confirmed the formation of a strong complex between integrin and flavocetin-A, which dissociates very slowly. This study proves that flavocetin-A, which has long been known as a GPIb inhibitor, efficiently targets α2β1 integrin and thus blocks collagen-induced platelet activation. Moreover, our findings suggest that the separation of GPIb- and α2β1 integrin-blocking members within the C-type lectin-related protein family is less strict than previously assumed.
This article focusses on the question of howfar thenew figure of the continuum can capture the categories gender, migration and spaceand how intra- and intercategorial shifts, variabilities, polypolarities can be specified. Also the article will be discussed to what extend the figure of the continuum can meet the challenges of pluralities existing in realities of the lived lifes of human beings as well as in literary texts dealing with gender, migration and/or space.
Este artigo tem o intuito de investigar conceitos atuais que designam a escrita de autores migrantes, sobretudo, os refugiados cuja escrita ultrapassa os limites biográficos e nacionais, ausente a possibilidade de alocação de suas escritas em qualquer classificatória. Apesar de esforços ao longo da história dos estudos literários de desagregar os escritos desses autores à sua origem, na tentativa de retirar um crivo nacional, vê-se em historiografias literárias recentes certo apego ao ideário constitutivo da nação na denominação das literaturas escritas por migrantes. Como exemplo dos escritores outrora refugiados na Alemanha e sua recente produção, este artigo propõe a ideia mundialização desses escritos, em uma espécie de nova 'Weltliteratur'.
Nach der Abschaffung der Sklaverei 1888 brauchte Brasilien neue billige Arbeitskräfte und zog viele mitteleuropäische Siedler, unter ihnen deutschsprachige Kolonisten, an, die sich in Übersee ein besseres Leben erhofften. Das Ziel des Artikels ist es, die Wahrnehmung des Anderen sowie das Selbstbild in einigen, mehrheitlich nicht publizierten Tagebüchern und Memoiren deutschsprachiger Immigranten in Brasilien im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert zu untersuchen. Einige der Fragen, die angesprochen werden, sind beispielsweise die nach der Zielgruppe der jeweiligen Memoiren, nach deren Aufbau, sowie nach den Auslassungen und disparaten Darstellungen von Themen und Geschehnissen.
Dieser Beitrag entstand im Rahmen meiner biographie- und interaktionsanalytischen Pilotstudie zur Darstellung narrativer Identitäten und zum biographischen Werdegang von in Deutschland sozialisierten türkischstämmigen Germanistik-StudentInnen in Istanbul, die als Jugendliche bzw. junge Erwachsene meist auf der Basis von Familienentscheidungen in die Türkei migriert sind. Im Fokus der folgenden Analyse des biographischen Interviews mit dem Informanten Ali steht der biographische Entwicklungsprozess und die sukzessive Herstellung seiner Selbstverortung jenseits ethnisch-nationaler Kategorien. Bei der Rekonstruktion des biografischen Werdegangs lassen sich direkte Bezüge zu den Pries'schen Modellen zum Verhältnis von Migration und Integration herstellen: Während sich Alis Eltern an dem Modell des "Gastarbeiters" orientieren, der nach einer begrenzten Zeit im Ausland in sein Heimatland "zurückkehrt", entwickelt Ali für sich das Lebensmodell als "Transmigrant". Bei der narrativen Herstellung von Identitätsaspekten gibt es außerdem deutliche Übereinstimmungen mit den von Sievers et. al. beschriebenen Eigenschaften eines Transmigranten. Die Ergebnisse der Untersuchung zeigen, dass in der Kindheit und Jugend des Gastarbeiterkindes einschneidende Erlebnisse im deutschen Bildungskontext fokussiert werden. Bei der Bewältigung der Probleme gelingt es dem Erzähler jedoch sich als agentivisch starker und durchsetzungsfähiger Akteur zu präsentieren. Nach der familiären "Rückkehr" in die Türkei spielt die Auseinandersetzung mit der türkischen Umwelt die zentrale Rolle, die zur sukzessiven Loslösung aus beiden Lebenswelten und hin zur Herausbildung eines neuen transmigrantischen Selbstbildes führt.
Defenders of current restrictions on EU immigrants’ access to welfare rights in host member states often invoke a principle of reciprocity among member states to justify these policies. The argument is that membership of a system of social cooperation triggers duties of reciprocity characteristic of welfare rights. Newly arriving EU immigrants who look for work do not meet the relevant criteria of membership, the argument goes, because they have not yet contributed enough to qualify as members on the grounds of reciprocity. Therefore, current restrictions on their access to welfare rights are justified. In this article, I challenge this argument by showing how restrictions on EU immigrants’ access to welfare rights are inconsistent with duties of international reciprocity. There are different variations of this challenge, but my focus here will be on one that uses a veil of ignorance device to support this claim. What matters from a perspective concerned with international reciprocity, I will argue, is what kind of welfare policy EU member states would choose were they not to know whether those receiving EU migrants were net contributors or net beneficiaries to the relevant scheme of international cooperation made possible by the four freedoms, and freedom of movement in particular. I argue that framing the requirement of reciprocity in this way provides a more comprehensive understanding of what should count as an ‘unreasonable burden’ on the welfare systems of host member states. The paper also examines alternative accounts of ‘unreasonable burdens’. It shows when and how the current institutional structure of the EU could take steps to deal with such burdens by preventing member states from gaming a comprehensive system of welfare rights protections across member states and by recognising the achievements of those member states that best serve them.
The present contribution deals with the three most recent novels of the Romanian-born Swiss Author Catalin Dorian Florescu: Zaira [Zaira] (2008), Jacob beschließt zu lieben [Jacob Decides to Love] (2011) and Der Mann, der das Glück bringt [The Man who Brings Happiness] (2016). The author unfolds in these novels family sagas spanning centuries which make the destiny of migrants between the poles of east and west a subject of discussion. In contrast to Florescu’s three former novels the reader can detect in these family novels the tendency towards a folkloristic presentation of a multicultural ambience at the expense of an intercultural involvement in the narrative depiction.
Moral refugee markets
(2018)
States are increasingly paying other states to host refugees. For example, in 2010 the EU paid Libya €50 million to continue hosting the refugees within its borders, and five years later Australia offered Cambodia $31.16 million to accept asylum seekers living in Naru. These exchanges, which I call ‘refugees markets,’ have faced criticism by philosophers. Some philosophers claim the markets fail to ensure true protection, and are demeaning, expressing just how much refugees are unwanted. In response, some have defended refugee markets, claiming they can ensure refugees have protection and are not demeaned. I argue that many markets do demean refugees, and therefore have moral costs, but can still be all-things-considered preferable to alternative schemes if they protect refugees more than these alternative schemes.
Ota Filip was a German writer with Czech roots. He was born in Ostrava in 1930, and he died in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 2018. He grew up in Czechoslovakia but was forcibly expatriated in 1974 after repeated problems with the communist regime, and he settled in the Federal Republic of Germany. There he worked as a freelance writer and political journalist. With his novel 'Café Slavia' (1985) he made his debut in world literature. Drawing on the theoretical approaches associated with the "spatial turn" (Soja 1991, Bachmann-Medick 2009) and other spatial-theoretical approaches, this paper seeks to examine how Filip's novel 'Café Slavia' (1985) is constructed, which literary spaces are constituted, how they change and which functions they perform.
Background: The year 2016 has marked the highest number of displaced people worldwide on record. A large number of these refugees are women, yet little is known about their specific situation and the hurdles they have to face during their journey. Herein, we investigated whether sociodemographic characteristics and traumatic experiences in the home country and during the flight affected the quality of life of refugee women arriving in Germany in 2015–2016.
Methods: Six hundred sixty-three women from six countries (Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, and Eritrea) living in shared reception facilities in five distinct German regions were interviewed by native speakers using a structured questionnaire. Sociodemographic data and information about reasons for fleeing, traumatic experiences, symptoms, quality of life, and expectations towards their future were elicited. All information was stored in a central database in Berlin. Descriptive analyses, correlations, and multivariate analyses were performed.
Results: The most frequent reasons cited for fleeing were war, terror, and threat to one’s life or the life of a family member. Eighty-seven percent of women resorted to smugglers to make the journey to Europe, and this significantly correlated to residence in a war zone (odds ratio (OR) = 2.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.4–4.6, p = 0.003) and homelessness prior to fleeing (OR = 2.1, 95% CI = 1–4.3, p = 0.04). Overall the described quality of life by the women was moderate (overall mean = 3.23, range of 1–5) and slightly worse than that of European populations (overall mean = 3.68, p < 0.0001). The main reasons correlating with lower quality of life were older age, having had a near-death experience, having been attacked by a family member, and absence of health care in case of illness.
Conclusions: Refugee women experience multiple traumatic experiences before and/or during their journey, some of which are gender-specific. These experiences affect the quality of life in their current country of residence and might impact their integration. We encourage the early investigation of these traumatic experiences to rapidly identify women at higher risk and to improve health care for somatic and mental illness.