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Key message: Historical malting quality data was collated from UK national and recommended list trial data and used in a GWAS. 25 QTL were identified, with the majority from spring barley cultivar sets. In Europe, the most economically significant use of barley is the production of malt for use in the brewing and distilling industries. As such, selection for traits related to malting quality is of great commercial interest. In order to study the genetic basis of variation for malting quality traits in UK cultivars, a historical set of trial data was collated from national and recommended list trials from the period 1988 to 2016. This data was used to estimate variety means for 20 quality related traits in 451 spring barley cultivars, and 407 winter cultivars. Genotypes for these cultivars were generated using iSelect 9k and 50k genotyping platforms, and a genome wide association scan performed to identify malting quality quantitative trait loci (QTL). 24 QTL were identified in spring barley cultivars, and 2 from the winter set. A number of these correspond to known malting quality related genes but the remainder represents novel genetic variation that is accessible to breeders for the genetic improvement of new cultivars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: Diagnostic markers for Rrs1Rh4 have been identified by testing for associations between SNPs within the Rrs1 interval in 150 barley genotypes and their resistance to Rhynchosporium commune isolates recognised by lines containing Rrs1. Rhynchosporium or barley scald, caused by the destructive fungal pathogen Rhynchosporium commune, is one of the most economically important diseases of barley in the world. Barley landraces from Syria and Jordan demonstrated high resistance to rhynchosporium in the field. Genotyping of a wide range of barley cultivars and landraces, including known sources of different Rrs1 genes/alleles, across the Rrs1 interval, followed by association analysis of this genotypic data with resistance phenotypes to R. commune isolates recognised by Rrs1, allowed the identification of diagnostic markers for Rrs1Rh4. These markers are specific to Rrs1Rh4 and do not detect other Rrs1 genes/alleles. The Rrs1Rh4 diagnostic markers represent a resource that can be exploited by breeders for the sustainable deployment of varietal resistance in new cultivars. Thirteen out of the 55 most resistant Syrian and Jordanian landraces were shown to contain markers specific to Rrs1Rh4. One of these lines came from Jordan, with the remaining 12 lines from different locations in Syria. One of the Syrian landraces containing Rrs1Rh4 was also shown to have Rrs2. The remaining landraces that performed well against rhynchosporium in the field are likely to contain other resistance genes and represent an important novel resource yet to be exploited by European breeders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anaesthetists experience unique stressors, and recent evidence suggests a high prevalence of stress and burnout in trainee anaesthetists. There has been no in-depth qualitative analysis to explore this further. We conducted semi-structured interviews to explore contributory and potentially protective factors in the development of perceived stress, burnout, depression and low work satisfaction. We sampled purposively among participants in the Satisfaction and Wellbeing in Anaesthetic Training study, reaching data saturation at 12 interviews. Thematic analysis identified three overarching themes: factors enabling work satisfaction; stressors of being an anaesthetic trainee; and suggestions for improving working conditions. Factors enabling work satisfaction were patient contact; the privilege of enabling good patient outcomes; and strong support at home and work. Stressors were demanding non-clinical work-loads; exhaustion from multiple commitments; a 'love/hate' relationship, as trainees value clinical work but find the training burden immense; feeling 'on edge', even unsafe at work; and the changing way society sees doctors. Nearly all trainees discussed feeling some levels of burnout (which were high and distressing for some) and also high levels of perceived stress. However, trainees also experienced distinct elements of work satisfaction and support. Suggested recommendations for improvement included: allowing contracted hours for non-clinical work; individuals taking responsibility for self-care in and out of work; cultural acceptance that doctors can struggle; and embedding wellbeing support more deeply in organisations and the specialty. Our study provides a foundation for further work to inform organisational and cultural changes, to help translate anaesthetic trainees' passion for their work into a manageable and satisfactory career. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing evidence that anaesthetic trainees experience, and may be particularly susceptible to, high levels of work stress, burnout and depression. This is concern for the safety and wellbeing of these doctors and for the patients they treat. To date, there has been no in-depth evaluation of these issues among UK anaesthetic trainees to examine which groups may be most affected, and to identify the professional and personal factors with which they are associated. We conducted an anonymous electronic survey to determine the prevalence of perceived stress, risk of burnout/depression and work satisfaction among anaesthetic trainees within South-West England and Wales, and explored in detail the influence of key baseline characteristics, lifestyle and anaesthetic training variables. We identified a denominator of 619 eligible participants and received 397 responses, a response rate of 64%. We observed a high prevalence of perceived stress; 37% (95%CI 32-42%), burnout risk 25% (21-29%) and depression risk 18% (15-23%), and found that these issues frequently co-exist. Having no children, > 3 days sickness absence in the previous year, ≤ 1 h.week-1 of exercise and > 7.5 h.week-1 of additional non-clinical work were independant predictors of negative psychological outcomes. Although female respondents reported higher stress, burnout risk was more likely in male respondents. This information could help in the identification of at-risk groups as well as informing ways to support these groups and to influence resource and intervention design. Targeted interventions, such as modification of exercise behaviour and methods of reducing stressors relating to non-clinical workloads, warrant further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: Association analyses of resistance to Rhynchosporium commune in a collection of European spring barley germplasm detected 17 significant resistance quantitative trait loci. The most significant association was confirmed as Rrs1.Abstract: Rhynchosporium commune is a fungal pathogen of barley which causes a highly destructive and economically important disease known as rhynchosporium. Genome-wide association mapping was used to investigate the genetic control of host resistance to R. commune in a collection of predominantly European spring barley accessions. Multi-year disease nursery field trials revealed 8 significant resistance quantitative trait loci (QTL), whilst a separate association mapping analysis using historical data from UK national and recommended list trials identified 9 significant associations. The most significant association identified in both current and historical data sources, collocated with the known position of the major resistance gene Rrs1. Seedling assays with R. commune single-spore isolates expressing the corresponding avirulence protein NIP1 confirmed that this locus is Rrs1. These results highlight the significant and continuing contribution of Rrs1 to host resistance in current elite spring barley germplasm. Varietal height was shown to be negatively correlated with disease severity, and a resistance QTL was identified that co-localised with the semi-dwarfing gene sdw1, previously shown to contribute to disease escape. The remaining QTL represent novel resistances that are present within European spring barley accessions. Associated markers to Rrs1 and other resistance loci, identified in this study, represent a set of tools that can be exploited by breeders for the sustainable deployment of varietal resistance in new cultivars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the responses to the death of singer Johnny Hallyday in December 2017, developing the analysis undertaken in my earlier article (Looseley, 2005). Hallyday’s passing and the astonishing expressions of grief and loss it generated brought to the fore the monumental importance he had assumed in French public life and public discourse at the close of his 60-year career. Despite his having initially been condemned or lampooned as a Trojan horse of Americanisation, by the end he was applauded for having enriched French cultural identity with American popular-cultural influences and yet maintained an essential, canny Frenchness. In this context, his public status and meanings are underpinned throughout by the problematic issue of authenticity, both musical and national. They also shed new light on the perennial cultural debate in France between particularism and universalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genetic basis of resistance to Rhynchosporium commune was investigated in a winter barley mapping population derived from a cross between cultivars Saffron (moderately susceptible) and Retriever (moderately resistant). Resistance was assessed in field trials through total infection (measured using qPCR), and visible disease symptoms. Phenotypic correlations between both methods of assessing disease severity were high. QTL mapping from three years of field trials identified five significant QTL effects. One QTL effect on chromosome 2H confirms a previously reported resistance from a population derived from the spring cultivar Cocktail and a winter parent derived from the cultivars Pearl and Cocktail. Another QTL effect on 3H corresponds to the reported position of major resistance gene Rrs1. An effect was detected at the mapped position of the semi-dwarfing gene sdw- 1 despite the fact that neither parent has the semi-dwarf phenotype. Of the remaining two QTL effects, one on 6H may represent a previously reported rhynchosporium resistance (QTLRrs6H), whilst the final QTL, represents a novel resistance. In addition, interactions during early infection stages in the parental lines were studied by confocal microscopy of detached leaves inoculated with a GFP-expressing R. commune isolate. This approach identified a number of major differences in fungal growth morphology between the resistant and susceptible parent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article represents the second phase of a comparative project on French and British cultural policy. The project's guiding hypothesis is that conceptualisations of the popular have been a crucial driver of policy change in France and Britain, raising complex issues about the nature of cultural democracy. The second phase, including this article, takes pop music as a case study for that hypothesis. The article explores three major issues. It asks how and why, in their attempts to rethink cultural democracy for the twenty-first century, French and British policy agencies have recognised pop music as a ‘democratic' form worthy of state support. It critically examines some of the theoretical issues this has raised, comparing and contrasting the ways in which the two national policy sets have variously represented pop as having symbolic, economic and social meanings. And it argues that what has been less adequately addressed is its aesthetic meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers news briefs related to the French Ministry of Culture from 2011-2012. Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy's budget plans, political actions related to the arts, and establishment of the Conseil de la création artistique in 2009 are discussed. A bibliography of books related to French politics is provided, which includes "France and the Spanish Civil War" by M. Hurcombe, "Historien public" by P. Nora, and "La Culture: à quel prix?" by S. Pflieger. A call for papers is also presented.

The genetic basis of several different components of resistance to Rhynchosporium secalis in barley was investigated in a mapping population derived from a cross between winter and spring barley types. Both the severity of visual disease symptoms and amount of R. secalis DNA in leaf tissues were assessed in field trials in Scotland in the 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 growing seasons. Relative expression of symptoms was defined as the residual values from a linear regression of amount of R. secalis DNA against visual plot disease score at GS 50. Amount of R. secalis DNA and visual disease score were highly correlated traits and identified nearly identical QTL. The genetic control of relative expression of symptoms was less clear. However, a QTL on chromosome 7H was identified as having a significant effect on the expression of visual disease symptoms relative to overall amount of R. secalis colonisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various topics related to French cultural studies, including news related to France's Ministry of Culture and a bibliography of books about French culture. Also discussed are cultural studies conferences to be held in March, July, and June 2012 in the U.S. and England about African multilingualism, 19th century spirituality and religion, and French history. Also mentioned are art exhibitions in Paris, France, in 2011 and 2012 and a selection of cultural websites.

The article presents various information concerning French cultural studies from the French Ministry of Culture in 2011. The first Festival de l'histoire de l'art was held on May 27-29 at the Château de Fontainebleaul. Information on various conferences for 2012 are also offered including topics on the twentieth- and twenty-first-century French literature studies, a conference on the senses, and on the issue of identity about Algeria.

The Devlin and Hoyle report, Committing to culture: arts funding in France and Britain, argues that the cultural policies of these two European neighbours have been steadily converging since the mid-1990s but that their social and economic contexts are now quite different (e.g. youth unemployment, GDP, disposable income). The paper addresses this convergence-within-divergence by comparing how policy discourses have conceptualised popular culture in the two countries. It investigates the hypothesis that, in both, an engagement with popular culture has in fact been an important driver of change, albeit at different times and with different taxonomies. And it asks what light this comparison might shed on cultural policy thinking in the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section provides updates related to French cultural studies. One of the recent events related to France's Ministry of Culture is its decision to embrace technological revolution. A list of new books related to French cultural studies is presented which includes "Interior Portraiture and Masculine Identity in France (1789-1914)" by T. Balducci and others. Information on several conferences, which include "Continuities and Discontinuities? France Across the Generations," are included.

The article presents an update on the French Ministry of Culture as of May 2011. The Ministry has launched the Carte musique card which allows users to download music or access streamed files. Guy Darmet will resign as Maison de la danse director and he will be replaced by Dominique Hervieu. The Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies is calling for papers for the conference entitled "Vampires: Myths of the Past and the Future" to be held at the University of London in England in November.

The article presents updates on matters related to the French Ministry of Culture as February 2011. Performance arts and advanced audiovisual technologies were combined in holding the Festival international du théâtre de rue at Aurillac from August 18-21, 2010. Papers are being solicited for the Society for French Studies 52nd Annual Conference to be held at Queen Mary University of London in England from July 4-6, 2011. A list of culture-related websites is presented.

This section offers news briefs on French arts and culture. The Ministry of Culture and Communication has scheduled the staging of the nationwide slam or performance poetry competition on March 24, 2011. It cites several new books, including "Intellectuals, Culture and Public Policy in France: Approaches From the Left," by J. Ahearne. It offers information on several conferences, including the Impure Cinema Conference to be held at the University of Leeds in England on December 2-5, 2010.

The article offers information about recent events, statements and publications connected with France' Ministry of Culture. It lists several books including "La Vie culturelle dans la France occupée," by O. Barrot and R. Chirat, "Guillaume Apollinaire: une biographie de guerre," by A. Becker and "Composer sous Vichy," by Y. Simon. Several upcoming conferences for 2010 including the Society for Frence Studies 51st Annual Conference to be held in Swansea University are also detailed.

The article provides information related to events, statements, and publications connected with the French Ministry of Culture. ARTE Live Web is launched by the Franco-German cultural television (TV) channel, ARTE, in the website, http://liveweb.arte.tv. The legislation, Création et Internet, has been voted through the French parliament on September 21, 2009.

The article offers information on the study conducted by Liam Donaldson on the percentage of patient deaths in hospitals caused by human error in England. Results reveal that approximately 1 in 300 patients are at risk of hospital death due to human error. Moreover, 16 out of 19 industrialized nations have an estimated 103 patients per 100,000 of the population due to healthcare-associated error.

The article discusses the meanings of youth culture, and particularly music, in contemporary France, in the light of the Ministry of Culture's adoption a quarter of a century ago of a sympathetic discourse towards it. Contrasting similarly sympathetic French sociological analyses with the seminal work undertaken in Anglophone cultural studies on subcultures, it argues that the variable nomenclature of youth culture in French public discourse is founded on two fundamental ways of conceptualising youth culture, to which the work of Pierre Mayol draws attention. While la culture des jeunes, denoting the leisure practices of 15- to 24-year-olds, connotes a culture existing in an ephemeral, ghettoised present, la culture jeune has undergone the process that Bourdieu calls legitimation. The article concludes by asking whether these dual meanings of youth culture may ultimately be mapped on to the republican opposition between particularism and universalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers several lists of books and publications, museums and exhibitions, theaters, and forthcoming events associated with and relating to culture. The books offered focus on contemporary French culture. The events cover conferences and activities of the Ministry about pop culture, music, and racism.

The article examines the work of the sociologist of music Antoine Hennion and its relevance to cultural policy today. Beginning with a general consideration of his problematic status as an intellectual and his growing international reputation as a cultural theorist, it goes on to analyse his complex position on the music–society nexus, from which he posits the indivisibility of music and its uses. This leads him to develop a “pragmatics of taste”, from which a set of largely theoretical implications for cultural policy can be deduced. Hennion’s pragmatism suggests a relativization of genre, though not, he argues, an ethical or aesthetic relativism. Its application to the institutionalization of music, and of culture generally, also points to a possible third phase in the evolution of cultural studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents several announcements from the "French Cultural Studies" including the forthcoming events, and a list of recent books involving all aspects of modern French culture. It highlights specific sectors of the Ministry of Culture and their activities. One event is the showing of the theatrical production titled "Quartett," directed by Robert Wilson and starring Isabelle Huppert on September 28 to December 2, 2006.

Announces forthcoming activities related to modern French culture. Information on recent events from the Ministry of Culture in France; Launch of country's digital "télévision numérique terrestre" initiative by the Prime Minister; Selections of books related to contemporary French culture.

This article is concerned with the social exclusion agenda in contemporary French cultural policy, exploring the relevance of aspects of postcolonial theory to an understanding of that agenda. The tensions involved in recent attempts to evolve policies addressing interculturalism, integration and “emergent” cultures (such as hip‐hop) while also staying true to the French republican tradition of universalism are illuminated by France’s problematic relationship with its colonial past. They are also shown to be related to a wider movement of post‐industrial, postmodern experimentation with aesthetic forms, from video and computer art to street arts, free parties and electronic dance music. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the current status of musician Johnny Hallyday as a national icon as the starting point for an investigation of the relationship between popular music, authenticity and national culture in contemporary France. Comparison of the public representations of Hallyday in his sixtieth birthday and during the start of his rock and roll career; Portrayal of Hallyday as one belonging to the French chanson tradition; Parallel mutation of the status of popular music in France and the Americanization of the French cultural values.

Presents an introductory statement to the June 2005 issue of "French Cultural Studies."

Announces books and forthcoming events pertinent to modern French culture. Aims of the French Ministry of Culture in providing information; Record number of films produced in 2003; Launching of national consultation on the development of popular music; Campaign against illegal sharing of audio-files.

The article argues that developing a social exclusion agenda has, in various guises and terminologies ('democratization', 'cultural democracy', 'cultural development'), been the driver of French cultural policy thinking and debate since the creation of a Ministry of Culture in 1959. Addressing exclusion has in fact been a perennial problem for the French ministry, because of a founding and apparently irrepressible conviction, from Malraux in the 1960s to Lang in the 1980s and 1990s, that art speaks for itself without mediation; and because of the consequent structural separation of (to use the standard French terminology) the 'cultural' from the 'social'. This conviction was contested in the late 1960s--partly with the help of Bourdieu's notion of cultural capital, although since then policy agents have mostly attempted to move on from Malraux's position by taking up positions against Bourdieu. The article traces the history of these attempts, then examines in more detail the principles, problems and paradoxes of the exclusion agenda in French cultural policy today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses developments relating to French cultural studies as of February 2004. Activities of the French Ministry of Culture; Selection of books on aspects of contemporary French culture.

The article examines cultural policy in France during the third Socialist quinquennium, discussing the degree of conceptual change which took place in relation to the Ministry of Culture's two most prominent past incumbents, André Malraux and Jack Lang. It looks particularly at what positions were adopted by the Socialist Ministers of Culture Catherine Trautmann and Catherine Tasca with regard to Lang, their only Socialist predecessor. These positions are summarised as building on his achievements but attempting to move on from them, towards a modernised policy which, nonetheless, looked back to the first principles of cultural action (public service, education, animation ). The analysis concludes, however, by suggesting that policy was reconfigured rather than fundamentally rethought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines ways in which the long-standing ambition to democratise culture in France can be applied to popular music, and to French pop particularly. Theoretically, pop should not need to be democratised at all since it is 'popular' by definition. But the rhetoric of 'popular culture' in France has traditionally been more to do with aspiration than reality. The analysis considers how French sociology and cultural policy have 'democratised' pop in one sense, by helping it find acceptance as a 'legitimate' practice, but have in the process constructed it as a social phenomenon, bypassing the much more complex issue of its aesthetic worth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides a background on research articles on the material and ethical issues involved in the cultural democratization in France, published in the volume 11, number one, February 2003 edition of the periodical 'Modern and Contemporary France.' Relationship between professional and amateur practices and practitioners; Economic dimension of the problem.

Presents several information involving all aspects of modern French culture. News from the Ministry of Culture; List of suggested books; Announcement of forthcoming events.

Provides information on events and publications connected with the Ministry of Culture in France. Number of existing multiplex cinemas; Promotion of cultural diversity; Appointment of Catherine Tasca as the Minister; Increase in the number of visitors of museums.

Presents several news articles regarding the Ministry of Culture in France. Details on the public reopening of the Beaubourg Forum; Departure of Catherine Trautman as Minister of Culture and Communication; Account on the first anniversary of the creation of the Direction de la musique, de le danse, du theatre et spectacles.

Reports updates on events, statements and publications connected with the Ministry of Culture in France as of October 1999. Adoption of the revisions to the broadcasting bill of Catherine Trautmann; Addition of BN-Opale Plus to the online catalogue of Bibliotheque Nationale de France; Presentation measures designed to relaunch democratization in the performing arts.

Presents information on news briefs relating to the Ministry of Culture in France. Information on the struggle over cultural globalization between France and the United States; Measures unveiled by Lionel Jospin to expose France to information technology; Details on the `Bandes dessinees' festival.

Presents information relating to the Ministry of Culture in France. Details on the ministry's activities; Schedule of events; Description of the ministry's architecture and heritage; Information dealing with its budget.

Reports on various developments related to the French Ministry of Culture. Release of details regarding the projets culturels de quartier; Publications on amateur cultural practices; Books and literature; Information technology; Photography.

Presents information on the activities, plans, events and publications connected with the Ministry of Culture in France. Plans of Jacques Toubon to establish a full-fledged audiovisual policy at European level; Note on the activities of Cultural Information and Research Centres Liaison in Europe; Focus on the literary and theatrical archives; More.

Provides information on events, statements and publications connected with the Ministry of Culture in France. Appointment of Jacques Toubon as in charge of both Culture and Francophonie; Archives and libraries; Cinema.

Presents information on events, statements and publications connected with France's Ministry of Culture. Ministry's publication of a supplement entitled `L'insertion singuliere'; Plans for the opening of a museum of cinema and the image in the renovated Palais de Tokyo in January 1995; Budget for the ministry in 1993; Maastricht Treaty's article 28; More.

1 Heaton T, Hardern T, Burnett K, Devlin M. Stress, burnout, depression and work satisfaction among UK anaesthetic trainees - a response. Stress, burnout, depression and work satisfaction among UK anaesthetic trainees: a qualitative analysis of in-depth participant interviews in the Satisfaction and Wellbeing in Anaesthetic Training study. [Extracted from the article]

Presents events and developments involving affecting the initiatives of the government on all aspects of modern French culture. Digitization of the ; audiovisual archives of the Bibliotheque Nationale de France; Efforts of the government to enforce its anti-piracy initiatives for the prevention of illegal reproduction of research materials in the Internet; Invitation of the representatives of the electronic music scene by Minister of Culture Donnedieu de Vabres.

Offers information on events and publications regarding organizations related to French culture. Positions adopted by the Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres on cultural diversity in Europe; French Ministry of Culture's inauguration of the Centre national de la danse; Release of books related to French culture.

Presents the forthcominhg events and small number of recent books involving all aspects of modern French culture published in the June 2004 issues of the journal "French Cultural Studies."