The glucocorticoid methylprednisolone has clinically important anti;inflammatory effects at high concentrations through unknown mechanisms. Methylprednisolone at 0.2 mg/107 cells inhibits respiration in Concanavalin-A(ConA)-stimulated thymocytes from rats by about 20%. We have used topdown elasticity analysis to identify the blocks of reactions within oxidative phosphorylation in thymocytes whose kinetics are significantly affected by treatment with methylprednisolone. At this concentration methylprednisolone greatly inhibited the reactions of substrate oxidation and increased mitochondrial proton leak but did not significantly affect the synthesis and turnover of ATP by the phosphorylating system. Metabolic control analysis showed that oxygen consumption by ConAtreated thymocytes was controlled largely (0.51) by the phosphorylating system but also by proton leak (0.32) and substrate oxidation (0.17); this is similar to the distribution of control in hepatocytes, suggesting that this pattern may be general in cells. Methylprednisolone lowered control by the phosphorylating system to 0.26 and raised control by substrate oxidation to 0.37. From these results we conclude that the inhibition of respiration in ConA-stimulated thymocytes by methylprednisolone at this concentration results from an inhibition of substrate oxidation and a smaller stimulation of mitochondrial proton leak, with only a minor contribution of any effects within the phosphorylating system.The therapeutic effects of glucocorticoids are mostly receptor-mediated. However, clinical observations and experimental findings suggest that there are also rapid direct effects that are not mediated by induction or repression of specific genes. It is well known that the application of methylprednisolone in megadoses is an effective treatment in acute situations of autoimmune diseases (see e.g. Barile and La- Abbreviations. ConA, concanavalin A ; C, overall flux control coefficient; E , overall elasticity coefficient, J,,, or J,, total rate of oxygen consumption; J , rate of oxygen consumption required to pump protons out at a rate equal to their rate of return through the phosphorylating system ; JL, rate of oxygen consumption required to pump protons out at a rate equal to their rate of return through the proton leak; A tym, mitochondrial membrane potential; FCCP, carbonyl cyanide p-trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone; Ph,MeP+, triphenylmethylphosphonium cation ; Ph,MePBr, triphenylmethylphosphonium bromide ; P/O ratio, ATP molecules synthesized0 atom consumed; ADP/O ratio, ADP molecules consumed/O atom consumed. The superscripts and subscripts S, L and P refer to the three blocks of reactions that produce or consume dtyy,: substrate oxidation (cytosolic catabolic reactions, citric acid cycle, electron transport chain), proton leak (leak of protons and any proton-transporting cation cycles across the mitochondrial inner membrane) and the phosphorylation system (ATP synthesis and transport, all cellular ATP-consuming reactions) respectively. valle, 1992; de Gla...

A current model of family-centered practice emphasizes empowerment of parents, an approach that brings together a strengths perspective, a constructivist emphasis on consumer voices, and knowledge derived from neuroscience of the last two decades. This study explored the extent to which a national random sample of National Association of Social Workers members hold beliefs and attitudes congruent with the parent empowerment perspective. Two profiles emerged from the data. Respondents who disagree with statements attributing blame to parents agree with sharing information openly with parents; believe that parents are doing their best, are credible reporters, and are experts about their own children; agree that workers need research knowledge; and disagree that the child is usually the identified patient in a a dysfunctional family. By contrast, respondents who believe parents cause their children's emotional and behavioral problems disagree with open information sharing; disagree that parents are doing their best or are experts about their own children; agree that the child is an identified patient in a dysfunctional family; and agree that parents' ideas are important mostly to give the worker clues about family dynamics. The majority of the sample reported parent-friendly views, but a substantial minority of respondents reported beliefs antithetical to parent empowerment.

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This article considers the reconstruction of Rwanda's post-genocide music industry through the national music competition, Primus Guma Guma Super Star. It explores local ideas about ‘playback’ and ‘live’ music, and argues that these two performative categories can be understood as wider metaphors for the relationship between the Rwandan state and its citizens, particularly Rwandan youth. On the one hand, Guma Guma aims to create the ideal post-genocide celebrity subject who will ‘play back’ a unified, de-ethnicized Rwandan identity with body and words. On the other, during the first two seasons of the competition, audiences demanded ‘live’ performance and Guma Guma prompted heated debate about ‘taboo’ topics, revealing enduring differences along socio-economic, ethnic and regional lines. Rather than affirm an inclusive Rwandan identity, Guma Guma hinted at its fragility and underscored the multiple and conflicting ways in which young people identify themselves and evaluate ‘truth’ in the post-genocide era. The article contributes not only to literature on popular culture in Africa, but also to studies that focus on mediation and changes in recording technology. Although scholars have quite rightly attempted to dissolve the boundary between the live and the mediated, I suggest that the boundary continues to do cultural and political work, particularly in developmental states.

This article explores conflicts around noise and silence in Rwanda’s postgenocide religious soundscape. After the genocide, new Pentecostal (or abarokore) churches grew rapidly in the country and offered up noise and a specific understanding of praise and worship music (guhimbaza Imana) as important ways to enact healing. However, Catholics emphasised silence and viewed the new Pentecostal churches as distracting interlopers. Far from being trivial differences, I argue that these conflicts around sound hint at wider divides in Rwandan society and a worrying new convergence between religious and ethnic identity. Focusing on aural conflicts between Christian denominations can therefore help us gain a better sense of the limits of Pentecostal conversion. Instead of assuming that Pentecostals are necessarily ‘noisy’, I suggest we pay closer attention to the ways in which they may also cultivate silence, and how this relates to wider power structures.