Mid and later life care work migration: Patterns of re-organising informal care obligations in Central and Eastern Europe.

BACKGROUND: Many women in mid or later life from Central and Eastern Europe commute for live-in 24-hour care work to Austria. In addition to paid care work abroad, the majority of women in this age group is confronted with informal (family) care obligations towards children, towards older relatives or towards grandchildren. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore the patterns of re-organising these informal care obligations (childcare, long-term care and domestic work) in the respective home country and to analyse the factors that determine the re-organisation. METHODS: The study builds on qualitative interviews with 20 migrant care workers aged 40years and over, 9 Romanian and 11 Slovakian women providing 24-hour care work in Austria. RESULTS: All interviewees commute in 2- to 4-weekly shifts between the home country and Austria and report multiple informal care obligations towards family members in the respective home country. In most cases, members of the nuclear and extended family, and in many cases husbands or partners of migrant care workers, act as the main substitute caregivers. Institutional care provision plays a more important role for child care as against for older people in need of care for whom care services are hardly available or accessible in the countries observed. DISCUSSION: While re-organisation depends much on the specific family constellations, strong assumptions towards family care, the limitations in (monetary) resources and the lack of public welfare provisions strongly co-determine the arrangements.

Home care in Austria: the interplay of family orientation, cash-for-care and migrant care.

This article discusses the development of the home care sector in Austria. It analyses what impacts the interplay of the traditional family orientation to care, a universal cash-for-care scheme (reaching about 5% of the population) and a growing migrant care sector have on formal home care in Austria. The article is based on an analysis of research papers, policy documents and statistical data covering the period from the introduction of the cash-for-care scheme in 1993 up to 2011. Some authors have argued that generous cash benefits with no direct link to service use - as in the case of Austria - limit the development of home care, particularly in countries with a traditionally strong family orientation towards long-term care. Additionally, a tradition of family care and an emphasis on cash benefits may be conducive to the employment of migrant carers in private households, as a potential substitute for both family care and formal care. Despite this context, Austria has seen a substantial increase in formal home care over the past two decades. This has been driven by clients using their increased purchasing power and by policy priorities emphasising the extension of home care. Migrant care work was regularised in 2007, and the analysis suggests that while migrant care has usually worked as a substitute for other care arrangements, migrant care can also become a more integral element of care schemes. The article concludes that family orientation, unconditional cash benefits and the use of migrant carers do not necessarily preclude the development of a strong social service sector. However, there is a risk that budgetary limitations will primarily affect social service development.

Transcriptional regulation of xyr1, encoding the main regulator of the xylanolytic and cellulolytic enzyme system in Hypocrea jecorina.

In Hypocrea jecorina, Xyr1 (xylanase regulator 1) is the main transcription activator of hydrolase-encoding genes, such as xyn1, xyn2, bxl1, cbh1, cbh2, egl1, and bgl1. Even though Xyr1 mediates the induction signal for all these genes derived from various inducing carbon sources and compounds, xyr1 transcription itself is not inducible by any of these substances. However, cultivation on glucose as the carbon source provokes carbon catabolite repression of xyr1 transcription mediated by Cre1. In addition, xyr1 transcription is repressed by the specific transcription factor Ace1. Moreover, Xyr1 is permanently available in the cell, and no de novo synthesis of this factor is needed for a first induction of xyn1 transcription. The constitutive expression of xyr1 leads to a significant elevation/deregulation of the xyn1, xyn2, and bxl1 transcription compared to what is seen for the parental strain. Overall, the corresponding xylanolytic enzyme activities are clearly elevated in a constitutively xyr1-expressing strain, emphasizing this factor as an auspicious target for genetically engineered strain improvement.