The "Non-favourite": Neo-tribal Sexualities on Celluloid

Much academic ink has been spilt over the way in which female subjectivities and sexualities are constructed in the public domain. Issues of female sexuality form a huge part of queer studies and feminist accounts. Surprisingly enough, the construction of female sexualities and more specifically bisexuality has never been worth mentioning in the accounts of subcultures. The transition from subcultures to neo-tribes and neo-tribal sociality has paid scant attention to the construction of female sexualities. Even more importantly, most academic accounts deal with the construction of female sexuality as usually being strictly kept within the limitations of the familiar, familial and predominantly straight sexuality. This article examines the ways in which female subjectivities and sexualities are constructed on celluloid canvas through an examination of a recent movie called “Disobedience” by the Chilean director Sebastian Lelio as forming an integral part of neo-tribes. It takes a different view on the construction of female sexualities as it locates this construction within the transition from subcultures to neo-tribes. This paper puts forward the suggestion that female sexuality apart from being a product of a number of different socio-cultural relationships, norms and laws, it mainly exposes the dynamics of not just subcultures but also neo-tribes at play. The first part of the article places the formation of female sexuality within the transition from subcultures to neo-tribes. The second part of the paper discusses the way in which class informs female sexuality within the context of neo-tribes. The final part of the article places the discussion on the construction of female sexualities within the overall context of juxtaposing neo-tribal lifestyle choices

The Unpopularity of Property Law Modules: Popular Culture offers Solutions

The commodification of Legal Education and the popularity of law as a subject of study have been reflected in a plethora of law courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels on offer in the English Universities. Property Law modules do not necessarily enjoy the same degree of popularity to other modules on a qualifying law degree in English Universities. Despite being slowly changing modules, Property Law modules did not remain unaffected by the commodification of legal education. As a result, Property Law became highly specialised. This quickly translated in optional modules such as: Succession Law, Housing Law, Landlord and Tenant Law, Construction Law etc. Nevertheless, Property Law modules remain highly unpopular among the student population in the English Universities. This paper examines the reasons for this by focusing on three parameters. The first parameter examines the nature of the subject itself as highly technical, therefore less adventurous and attractive. The second parameter brings forward the suggestion that neither legal educators nor researchers have actually successfully managed to break away from the monotony of Property Law subjects. The third parameter proposes solutions to the increasing unpopularity of these subjects. It puts forward the suggestion that a socio-legal approach to the subjects combined with appealing forms of popular culture might just increase the popularity of the subjects among the student population

My Days of Mercy and In Between: Echoing Changes in Cinematic Representations of Women Lawyers

The booming of Law and Popular Culture has been marked by an unprecedented production and consumption of a voluminous literature examining a wide range of legal themes in movies and TV series on both sides of the Atlantic, the UK and the US. The enthusiastic proponents of the field have been focusing mainly on examining issues of justice, plot, and lead characters in the role of lawyers. Partly, this literature draws parallels between cinematic representations of lawyers and real-life lawyers. Almost indiscriminately, this work focuses mainly on a critical analysis and investigation of cinematic representations of male lawyers, rendering women lawyers’ cinematic portrayals largely unexplored on both sides of the Atlantic. Middle Eastern women lawyers’ celluloid representations are even more limited, functioning as a constant reminder of this ever-present absence. This paper seeks to address this absence by examining a relatively small sample of films from both the Anglo-American and Middle Eastern cinematic traditions. It puts forward the suggestion that despite differences characterising the relevant cinematic traditions, cinematic representations of women lawyers remain largely similar

Molecular and catalytic characterization of the herbicide-inducible glutathione transferases from Phaseolus vulgaris

Plant glutathione transferases (GSTs) comprise a large family of inducible enzymes that play important roles in stress tolerance and herbicide detoxification. Treatment of Phaseolus vulgaris leaves with the aryloxyphenoxypropionic herbicide fluazifop-p-butyl resulted in induction of GST activities. Three inducible GST isoenzymes were identified and separated by affinity chromatography. Their full-length cDNAs with complete open reading frame were isolated using RACE-RT and information from N-terminal amino acid sequences. Analysis of the cDNA clones showed that the deduced amino acid sequences share high homology with GSTs that belong to phi and tau classes. The three isoenzymes were expressed in E. coli and their substrate specificity was determined towards 20 different substrates. The results showed that the fluazifop-inducible glutathione transferases from P. vulgaris (PvGSTs) catalyze a broad range of reactions and exhibit quite varied substrate specificity. Molecular modeling and structural analysis was used to identify key structural characteristics and to provide insights into the substrate specificity and the catalytic mechanism of these enzymes. These results provide new insights into catalytic and structural diversity of GSTs and the detoxifying mechanism used by P. vulgaris

Metabarcoding successfully tracks temporal changes in eukaryotic communities in coastal sediments

Metabarcoding is a method that combines high-throughput DNA sequencing and DNA-based identification. Previously, this method has been successfully used to target spatial variation of eukaryote communities in marine sediments, however, the temporal changes in these communities remain understudied. Here, we follow the temporal changes of the eukaryote communities in Baltic Sea surface sediments collected from two coastal localities during three seasons of two consecutive years. Our study reveals that the structure of the sediment eukaryotic ecosystem was primarily driven by annual and seasonal changes in prevailing environmental conditions, whereas spatial variation was a less significant factor in explaining the variance in eukaryotic communities over time. Therefore, our data suggests that shifts in regional climate regime or large-scale changes in the environment are the overdriving factors in shaping the coastal eukaryotic sediment ecosystems rather than small-scale changes in local environmental conditions or heterogeneity in ecosystem structure. More studies targeting temporal changes are needed to further understand the long-term trends in ecosystem stability and response to climate change. Furthermore, this work contributes to the recent efforts in developing metabarcoding applications for environmental biomonitoring, proving a comprehensive option for traditional monitoring approaches.Peer reviewe

Preconceptual care for couples seeking fertility treatment, an evidence-based approach

There is accumulating evidence demonstrating that positive lifestyle modification and the optimization of the preconceptual period can influence the reproductive potential for both men and women. However, a large percentage of couples attending fertility clinics with potential to improve preconception habits may not always receive appropriate preconceptual advice. In addition, supplements and adjuncts that promise to increase fertility treatment success rates are marketed to infertile patients despite lack of convincing evidence supporting their benefit. This review aims to identify possible associations between lifestyle factors for couples seeking fertility treatment and fertility treatment outcomes and to offer possible explanations of the biological basis of these associations. An electronic search was conducted from 1978 through July 2019 linking preconceptual behaviors for women and men with the outcome of fertility treatment. The literature search explored the importance of numerous factors, including smoking, caffeine, alcohol, obesity, physical exercise, recreational drugs, stress, diet, supplements, alternative medicine, environmental factors, and pollutants. Some associations were found to be more significant than others. The preconceptual period is undeniably a delicate and important window which should not be overlooked during fertility counseling. Simple lifestyle modifications could positively influence fertility treatment outcomes. Fertility teams, consisting of clinicians, fertility nurses, dieticians, psychologists, exercise advisors and others, should dedicate time to offer evidence-based preconceptual advice and targeted interventions to couples seeking fertility treatment

Biocatalysis, Enzyme Engineering and Biotechnology

Enzymes are biocatalysts evolved in nature to achieve the speed and coordination of nearly all the chemical reactions that define cellular metabolism necessary to develop and maintain life. The application of biocatalysis is growing rapidly, since enzymes offer potential for many exciting applications in industry. The advent of whole genome sequencing projects enabled new approaches for biocatalyst development, based on specialised methods for enzyme heterologous expression and engineering. The engineering of enzymes with altered activity, specificity and stability, using sitedirected mutagenesis and directed evolution techniques are now well established. Over the last decade, enzyme immobilisation has become important in industry. New methods and techniques for enzyme immobilisation allow for the reuse of the catalysts and the development of efficient biotechnological processes. This chapter reviews advances in enzyme technology as well as in the techniques and strategies used for enzyme production, engineering and immobilisation and discuss their advantages and disadvantages

16S and 18S rRNA Gene Metabarcoding Provide Congruent Information on the Responses of Sediment Communities to Eutrophication

Metabarcoding analyses of bacterial and eukaryotic communities have been proposed as efficient tools for environmental impact assessment. It has been unclear, however, to which extent these analyses can provide similar or differing information on the ecological status of the environment. Here, we used 16S and 18S rRNA gene metabarcoding to compare eutrophication-induced shifts in sediment bacterial and eukaryotic community structure in relation to a range of porewater, sediment and bottom-water geochemical variables, using data obtained from six stations near a former rainbow trout farm in the Archipelago Sea (Baltic Sea). Shifts in the structure of both community types were correlated with a shared set of variables, including porewater ammonium concentrations and the sediment depth-integrated oxygen consumption rate. Distance-based redundancy analyses showed that variables typically employed in impact assessments, such as bottom water nutrient concentrations, explained less of the variance in community structure than alternative variables (e.g., porewater NH4+ inventories and sediment depth-integrated O2 consumption rates) selected due to their low collinearity (up to 40 vs. 58% of the variance explained, respectively). In monitoring surveys where analyses of both bacterial and eukaryotic communities may be impossible, either 16S or 18S rRNA gene metabarcoding can serve as reliable indicators of wider ecological impacts of eutrophication.Peer reviewe

16S rRNA Gene Metabarcoding Indicates Species-Characteristic Microbiomes in Deep-Sea Benthic Foraminifera

Foraminifera are unicellular eukaryotes that are an integral part of benthic fauna in many marine ecosystems, including the deep sea, with direct impacts on benthic biogeochemical cycles. In these systems, different foraminiferal species are known to have a distinct vertical distribution, i.e., microhabitat preference, which is tightly linked to the physico-chemical zonation of the sediment. Hence, foraminifera are well-adapted to thrive in various conditions, even under anoxia. However, despite the ecological and biogeochemical significance of foraminifera, their ecology remains poorly understood. This is especially true in terms of the composition and diversity of their microbiome, although foraminifera are known to harbor diverse endobionts, which may have a significant meaning to each species' survival strategy. In this study, we used 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding to investigate the microbiomes of five different deep-sea benthic foraminiferal species representing differing microhabitat preferences. The microbiomes of these species were compared intra- and inter-specifically, as well as with the surrounding sediment bacterial community. Our analysis indicated that each species was characterized with a distinct, statistically different microbiome that also differed from the surrounding sediment community in terms of diversity and dominant bacterial groups. We were also able to distinguish specific bacterial groups that seemed to be strongly associated with particular foraminiferal species, such as the family Marinilabiliaceae for Chilostomella ovoidea and the family Hyphomicrobiaceae for Bulimina subornata and Bulimina striata. The presence of bacterial groups that are tightly associated to a certain foraminiferal species implies that there may exist unique, potentially symbiotic relationships between foraminifera and bacteria that have been previously overlooked. Furthermore, the foraminifera contained chloroplast reads originating from different sources, likely reflecting trophic preferences and ecological characteristics of the different species. This study demonstrates the potential of 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding in resolving the microbiome composition and diversity of eukaryotic unicellular organisms, providing unique in situ insights into enigmatic deep-sea ecosystems.Peer reviewe