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This paper examines institutional change in father-specific leave - a centre-piece of the EU's work-life balance directive (WLBD) - from the perspective of gradual institutional change. The WLBD, a highly contentious directive, represents a litmus test for the possible impact of the European pillar of social rights (EPSR), on welfare state institutions, which are responsible for the organisation, financing and delivery of social rights in member states. The analysis comprises in-depth case studies in Denmark, Germany, France and Poland, with different combinations of family and parental leave policies prior to the WLBD. The findings reveal that the EU's directive is leading to convergence in paternity leave, but to divergence in parental leave. Our study is important because it shows that even if EU directives in social policy in principle can lead to upwards social convergence across the EU, when they are relatively weak in terms of precise constraint, for instance, for the level of remuneration for leave, this leads to differentiated integration. This could undermine the very purpose of the EPSR, which seeks to improve social rights for all citizens across the EU. Similar dynamics are likely to be present in other areas at the welfare state-labor market nexus, such as minimum wages or platform work, where the EU is also developing regulation under the auspices of the EPSR.

Nordic countries are known for having extensive welfare services, a highly compressed wage structure owing to strong social partners, as well as effective regulation and governance in public administration. Various typologies capture aspects of the institutional features of families of nations across various policy areas, showing that there is a specific Nordic variant of political economy. While there is an extensive literature focusing on socio-economic outcomes in the Nordic countries, there is less scholarly focus on the linkages between the regulatory processes, and their policy output, in response to various challenges. This volume examines how exogenous challenges (market liberalization promoted by EU integration and the gig economy, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic) and endogenous challenges in the welfare state (regulation of child-care quality and retirement ages) are tackled in a selection of Nordic countries. After a bibliometric analysis on the state of the literature, features of the Nordic model are presented. Then, the contributions of the articles to the special issue are summarized, after which lessons for other models of political economy are pinpointed. We find that although there is high variation within the Nordics in the studies of the special issue, there is a trend whereby, over time, a broader range of actors involved in the policy and regulatory process. Although not perfect, challenges are solved incrementally and often at an early stage. In other words, the Nordic regulatory model is highly adaptable to different challenges. Thus, the Nordic model does present crucial lessons for other types of political economy.

This paper investigates the regulation of publicly organized early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Denmark and Sweden, through the regulatory welfare state (RWS) framework. The analysis focuses on how alterations in funding and quality of care are shaped by governmental and nongovernmental actors at national and local levels of government. Through focused structured analysis, we examine how various actors have shaped the funding and quality of childcare in Denmark and Sweden, from the early 2000s to 2020, with special attention to the period during and after the 2008 financial crisis. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, concerns about quality in care were raised on the political agenda by various actors in both countries, leading to decisions to improve the quality of care. Yet, the regulatory dynamics differ: In Denmark, the debate led to a decision in 2019, to implement a minimum statutory requirement of regulatory quality standards. From an RWS perspective, this outcome can be qualified as “double expansion,” because regulatory quality standards, and public funding for childcare increased. In Sweden, the debates about quality of ECEC led, in 2016, to political guidelines about quality standard, but with no additional national funds, and no mandatory regulatory quality requirements. Analytically, this can be qualified as “regulatory-led expansion,” that is requirements for quality standards, although the lack of additional national funds suggests that it will be difficult to improve ECEC quality substantially. The RWS perspective, which focuses on national and municipal levels of governance, also gives insights into hidden inequalities between municipalities regarding funding and quality of ECEC, which are more pronounced in Sweden than in Denmark.

This article presents an analysis of why it was possible to reach an agreement on the Next Generation EU (NGEU), the EU's fiscal and policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic, since the deal breaks with the norms of no common debt issuance and will result in significant redistribution across Member States through grants Based on an in-depth case study analysis, we identify three main dimensions of conflict underlying the political negotiations: the fiscal dimension, the rule-of-law dimension and the policy dimension, especially the climate and digitalization agendas Various coalitions of actors were able to negotiate on these aspects, keeping a balance between their main priorities, but also making concessions, to enable an agreement Our analysis reveals that the Franco-German alliance has been revived, enabling the grant instrument in the NGEU to be adopted;a new alliance of small rich northern states named the Frugals' has emerged as a surprisingly strong coalition, insisting on conditionality for accessing the grant;a clear Polish-Hungarian front has appeared to be challenging the EU's commitment to the rule-of-law;and a weakly coordinated Spanish-Italian front was successful in terms of securing grants as an instrument The article also assesses that despite the agreement on the deal, there will continue to be battles in the NGEU, especially on the fiscal and rule-of-law dimensions Yet, it could represent a ‘Hamiltonian moment,’ if the NGEU becomes a permanent fiscal instrument, which would advance European integration further © 2021 The Authors Social Policy & Administration published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

International audience; Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by early onset of behavioral and cognitive alterations. Low plasma levels of oxytocin (OT) have also been found in ASD patients; recently, a critical role for the enzyme CD38 in the regulation of OT release was demonstrated. CD38 is important in regulating several Ca 2+-dependent pathways, but beyond its role in regulating OT secretion, it is not known whether a deficit in CD38 expression leads to functional modifications of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), a structure involved in social behavior. Here, we report that CD38 2/2 male mice show an abnormal cortex development, an excitation-inhibition balance shifted toward a higher excitation, and impaired synaptic plasticity in the PFC such as those observed in various mouse models of ASD. We also show that a lack of CD38 alters social behavior and emotional responses. Finally, examining neu-romodulators known to control behavioral flexibility, we found elevated monoamine levels in the PFC of CD38 2/2 adult mice. Overall, our study unveiled major changes in PFC physiologic mechanisms and provides new evidence that the CD38 2/2 mouse could be a relevant model to study pathophysiological brain mechanisms of mental disorders such as ASD.-Martucci, L. A multiscale analysis in CD38-/-mice unveils major prefrontal cortex dysfunctions. FASEB J. 33, 000-000 (2019). www.fasebj.org KEY WORDS: behavior • oxytocin • autism • monoamines • excitation Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) covers a group of neu-rodevelopmental disorders characterized by behavior-al and cognitive disturbances with early-onset deficits in language acquisition and social interaction. ASD is highly inherited but the genetic determinants are poorly understood. The genetic basis of ASD has been associated with copy-number variations or single-nucleotide poly-morphism (SNP) in genes involved in brain development, synapse formation, or cell signaling (1). ASD is frequently associated with excessive cortical growth (2), and a current hypothesis is that the behavioral defects observed in ASD are due to impairments in synaptic functioning and plasticity (1, 3-5). For example, some mutations affect gluta-matergic synaptic transmission such as for the SH3 and multiple ankyrin repeat domain (SHANK) proteins (4-6) or the neuroligins (3, 7). One important consequence of these mutations is that the mechanisms of synaptic plasticity are altered and affect ionotropic NMDA receptors or metabotropic glutamate receptors regulating learning processes and cognitive functions (8, 9). Recently, the hypothesis of an increase in the excitation-inhibition (E-I) ratio in neuronal circuits emerged as a common patho-physiological principle that could explain the genesis of cognitive and social behavior deficits in ASD (10).

While ToF-SIMS is typically used to localize elemental ions in inorganic materials, it is also successfully utilized since several years to get images of a large variety of organic compounds, such as lipids (up to m/z 1500) at the surface of biological tissue sections. This technique can be associated with histology for medical diagnosis in order to correlate structural features with ion images. The possibility to use the same tissue section for both histology and mass spectrometry imaging would be a major advantage in terms of sample preparation and precision on the histological structure localization. In this study, on the one hand, rat brain sections were stained with Hematoxylin-Eosin (HE) after a ToF-SIMS surface analysis, and on the other hand, the lipid mapping with ToF-SIMS was performed after the HE staining procedure. In the first case, we evidenced that the high vacuum conditions applied in ToF-SIMS imaging did not disturb the staining neither the recognition of the brain structures. In the second case, a cholesterol fragment ion, chosen for imaging, was still detected in the brain structure after HE staining. However, it has not been possible to totally overlay the optical image before the staining with the ionic images after the staining, likely because of a distention of the tissue. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This article addresses the question of the relevance of the most recent soft policy instrument of the EU, the open method of coordination (OMC), for organising actions at European level in politically sensitive areas. In addition to describing its origins and operational principles, we will compare its application to the areas of employment and social inclusion. Two hypotheses make up the structure of the text. The first is that the discourses produced in the framework of OMC in the areas of employment and social inclusion are broad enough to cater to the different welfare models, but that the changes to be made by the Member States to be in line with the European discourses differ considerably, depending on their welfare state family and their initial situation. The second is that the form of OMC is variable, depending on policy area. Our conclusions confirm both of these hypotheses.

Using a monoclonal antibody (6.17) directed against a Schwann antigen, we have shown that Schwann cells synthesize a molecule implicated in a change of expression of synaptic cholinesterases, AChE and BChE, during muscle differentiation. In vitro, during synaptogenesis, the two enzymes are first present at developing synapses, and addition of Schwann cells to muscle-neuron co-cultures induces a disappearance of BChE, leaving only AChE activity as in the adult neuromuscular junction. This effect is inhibited by the 6.17 antibody. Thus, a molecule produced by Schwann cells is involved in the maturation of the neuromuscular synapse, in addition to the neuronal factors (CGRP, ARIA/heregulin, agrin), which are known to control the synthesis, maturation and accumulation of acetylcholine receptors and other synaptic components. In addition, in vivo, in the newborn rat, butyrylcholinesterase and acetylcholinesterase activities are initially present in equal amounts in the neural zone, but butyrylcholinesterase levels diminish sharply between 7 and 15 days after birth, the stage at which the synaptic Schwann cell membrane becomes juxtaposed with the muscle membrane.

Immunolocalization studies indicated that, in contrast to other enzyme markers of human pancreatic secretion, bile-salt-dependent lipase (BSDL) was partly but specifically associated with endoplasmic reticulum membranes. In microsomes, temperature-induced phase separation using Triton X-114 elucidated the partition of BSDL between the aqueous phase and the detergent-rich phase containing hydrophilic and membrane proteins, respectively. The size of the membrane-associated BSDL (approx. 100 kDa) is compatible with that of the fully processed enzyme. Fucosylated O- and N-linked oligosaccharide structures were detected by means of specific lectins. The membrane-associated BSDL might therefore be released from membranes between the trans-Golgi compartment (where terminal fucose residues were added) and the zymogen granules where BSDL was mainly found in the soluble fraction. Even though BSDL associated with membranes was enzymically active, it appeared less efficient than the soluble form. The association of BSDL with membranes was pH-dependent and optimal association occurred between pH 5-6. The membrane-associated BSDL was released by KBr which suggests that the association of BSDL with microsomal membranes involves ionic interactions. Lipid-protein interactions are probably not involved in this association as BSDL did not associate with liver microsome membranes. We attempted to characterize the putative ligand and showed that BSDL and a 94-kDa protein, immunologically related to a glucose-regulated protein of 94 kDa (Grp94), were co-immunoprecipitated by specific antibodies directed against each individual species. It is suggested that the biogenesis of the human pancreatic BSDL involves an association with intracellular membranes and that its folding may be assisted by molecular chaperones.

Primary muscle cell cultures were prepared from rat embryos and maintained in normal (unconditioned) and spinal cord (conditioned) media. In order to relate translational regulation to the morphological changes associated with each culture condition, mRNA was isolated from both culture variants and subjected to in ovo translation. Xenopus oocytes were injected with mRNA and their incubation media checked for the presence of newly formed proteins coded by the mRNAs and secreted into the medium. Electrophoretograms indicated mRNA-dependent synthesis of several proteins in the molecular mass range of 30-260 kD. To further characterize these proteins, antisera directed against several extracellular matrix proteins were used for immunoprecipitation: antigens recognized by anti-heparan-sulfate-proteoglycan and anti-fibronectin were enhanced in conditioned cells, whereas laminin was found to be reduced.