Queer TV? The case of showtime's Queer as Folk and The L Word

This work answers questions regarding the extent to which U.S. pay cable television can be thought of as queer TV, in the sense of defying (hetero)normativity and advocating for political resistance. Adopting a queer theory approach, the thesis examines how this queerness manifests at the production, textual and reception levels and how it shifts the understanding of television as a domestic medium and re/producer of mass culture. It suggests that Showtime’s Queer as Folk and The L Word are queer narratives that generate critical and political sites of resistance by offering diverse and flexible producing and viewing positions and images challenging essentialised understandings of identities and sexualities. This is possible because these texts are produced by Showtime, which offers its writers creative freedom and authorial vision unavailable on other forms of television, and its subscribers content that is not ‘regular TV’. Exploring the state of the U.S. television landscape, Chapter I demonstrates the complexity of U.S. television and argues that TV texts should be discussed in relation to the medium that produces them. Analysing Showtime’s writing process, Chapter II identifies three characteristics that make my case studies queer narratives and proposes that these narrative devices are directly connected with the Showtime ‘quality TV’ brand. Focussing on television reception, Chapter III discusses TV viewers as tourists visiting and discovering new places and characters and suggests that queer narrative viewers occupy viewing positions that exist betwixt and between on-screen and real-life life-worlds. Another queer narrative characteristic, liminality offers viewers a dual identification process with the characters: immersion and awareness. This thesis contributes to the body of work on my case studies by discussing them with respect to Showtime, a perspective often neglected in past studies, and to the queer television studies literature through its discussion of queer narratives and liminal television viewers

Producción de cuerpos y erotismos en un festival de placeres: un análisis etnográfico de la SexpoErótica de la ciudad de Córdoba, Argentina

Este trabajo se desprende de una indagación etnográfica colectiva realizada en la Sexpo Erótica de la ciudad de Córdoba, durante las ediciones 2015 a 2019. La SexpoErótica, que cumplió 15 años este 2021, excede la idea de “Expo” entendida como una feria de exposición y venta de objetos para convertirse en una celebración (Turner, 1982) de lo que desde la organización llaman sexualidad, sensualidad y placeres. La Sexpo cuenta con espectáculos simultáneos de pole dance, striptease, stand up, teatro, juegos, espacios BDSM y swinger, charlas y talleres sobre técnicas sexuales, masajes eróticos o seducción, y suele cerrar sus noches con la actuación de algún DJ local o una fiesta reconocida en la ciudad llamada la fiesta Limbo Pop. La Sexpo se analiza, aquí, como performance (Schechner, 2000), es decir, como situación activa, proceso continuo y turbulento de transformación que cuenta con una sucesión de momentos/espacios experienciales que, valiéndose de tecnologías cinestésicas, visuales, sonoras, lúdicas, pedagógicas, entretienen tanto como producen performativamente cuerpos y erotismos. Las diversas actividades que propone la Sexpo funcionan como actos de transferencia de técnicas corporales, de repertorios sexuales tanto como de sentidos referidos a aquello que es posible, vivible y deseable en términos eróticos. En este sentido, las preguntas que guían esta indagación se enfocan en los modos de producción y gestión de cuerpos y erotismos en esta celebración situada de la ciudad de Córdoba: ¿qué cuerpos y qué erotismos produce la Sexpo?, ¿cómo lo hace?, ¿importan algunos cuerpos más que otros?, ¿cómo se gestionan, allí, la excitación, la eyaculación, el orgasmo y el placer –materias primas del proceso de producción farmacopornográfico contemporáneo–?, ¿qué modos de pedagogización y optimización de los cuerpos se establecen en la Sexpo?GT 33: Antropología de y desde los cuerpos.Universidad Nacional de La Plat

Unsuspected task for an old team: Succinate, fumarate and other Krebs cycle acids in metabolic remodeling

AbstractSeventy years from the formalization of the Krebs cycle as the central metabolic turntable sustaining the cell respiratory process, key functions of several of its intermediates, especially succinate and fumarate, have been recently uncovered. The presumably immutable organization of the cycle has been challenged by a number of observations, and the variable subcellular location of a number of its constitutive protein components is now well recognized, although yet unexplained. Nonetheless, the most striking observations have been made in the recent period while investigating human diseases, especially a set of specific cancers, revealing the crucial role of Krebs cycle intermediates as factors affecting genes methylation and thus cell remodeling. We review here the recent advances and persisting incognita about the role of Krebs cycle acids in diverse aspects of cellular life and human pathology

Variability of Luminous Stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud Using 10 Years of ASAS Data

Motivated by the detection of a recent outburst of the massive luminous blue variable LMC-R71, which reached an absolute magnitude M_V = -9.3 mag, we undertook a systematic study of the optical variability of 1268 massive stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, using a recent catalog by Bonanos et al. (2009) as the input. The ASAS All Star Catalog (Pojmanski 2002) provided well-sampled light curves of these bright stars spanning 10 years. Combining the two catalogs resulted in 599 matches, on which we performed a variability search. We identified 117 variable stars, 38 of which were not known before, despite their brightness and large amplitude of variation. We found 13 periodic stars that we classify as eclipsing binary (EB) stars, eight of which are newly discovered bright, massive eclipsing binaries composed of OB type stars. The remaining 104 variables are either semi- or non-periodic, the majority (85) being red supergiants. Most (26) of the newly discovered variables in this category are also red supergiants with only three B and four O stars.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures and 3 tables; published in A

Broad Balmer Wings in BA Hyper/Supergiants Distorted by Diffuse Interstellar Bands: Five Examples in the 30 Doradus Region from the VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey

Extremely broad emission wings at Hβ and Hα have been found in VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey data for five very luminous BA supergiants in or near 30 Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The profiles of both lines are extremely asymmetrical, which we have found to be caused by very broad diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) in the longward wing of Hβ and the shortward wing of Hα. These DIBs are well known to interstellar but not to many stellar specialists, so that the asymmetries may be mistaken for intrinsic features. The broad emission wings are generally ascribed to electron scattering, although we note difficulties for that interpretation in some objects. Such profiles are known in some Galactic hyper/supergiants and are also seen in both active and quiescent Luminous Blue Variables (LBVs). No prior or current LBV activity is known in these 30 Dor stars, although a generic relationship to LBVs is not excluded; subject to further observational and theoretical investigation, it is possible that these very luminous supergiants are approaching the LBV stage for the first time. Their locations in the HRD and presumed evolutionary tracks are consistent with that possibility. The available evidence for spectroscopic variations of these objects is reviewed, while recent photometric monitoring does not reveal variability. A search for circumstellar nebulae has been conducted, with an indeterminate result for one of them

Overexpression of the Insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) is associated with malignancy in familial pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas

CONTEXT: Pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas (pheo/pgl) are neuroendocrine tumours derived from chromaffin cells. Although mostly benign, up to 26% of pheo/pgl will undergo malignant transformation. Reliable histological signs to differentiate benign pheo/pgl from malignant tumours are currently lacking. Increased IGF-1R expression has been shown during progression to metastatic phenotypes of several types of cancer. OBJECTIVE: To analyse the distribution and expression of the IGF-1R in pheo/pgl of different genetic origin and degree of malignancy. MEASUREMENTS: We studied the expression of the IGF-1R protein by immunohistochemistry, in 40 primary tumours from patients with pheo/pgl from different genetic aetiology (11 of 29 metastatic/nonmetastatic diseases). RESULTS: We found a strong association between increased expression of IGF-1R and malignant behaviour regardless of the age at diagnosis and the genetic aetiology. IGF-1R labelling was mostly weak in primary tumours from patients with nonmetastatic pheo/pgl. Conversely, intense IGF-1R labelling was predominant in cases of pheo/pgl with confirmed metastatic disease. The risk of metastases was 11·7 times higher if tumour IGF-1R labelling was intense independently of age at diagnosis. The probability of remaining free of metastases was higher in patients with pheo/pgl scored weak for IGF-1R at 60 months and more than twofold higher at 120 months of follow-up than in patients with intense IGF-1R labelling in their primary tumours. CONCLUSIONS: Our results strongly suggest that IGF-1R is associated with malignancy in familial pheo/pgl and that IGF-1R expression in the primary tumour might be a useful tool to detect those patients harbouring pheo/pgl who have an increased risk of metastasis.Fil: Fernández, María Celia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones Endocrinológicas; ArgentinaFil: Martin, Ayelen. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones Endocrinológicas; ArgentinaFil: Venara, Marcela Cristina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones Endocrinológicas; ArgentinaFil: Calcagno, María Lujan. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica; ArgentinaFil: Sanso, Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones Endocrinológicas; ArgentinaFil: Quintana, Silvina. Instituto de Análisis Farestaie; ArgentinaFil: Chemes, Hector Edgardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones Endocrinológicas; ArgentinaFil: Barontini, Marta Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones Endocrinológicas; ArgentinaFil: Pennisi, Patricia Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones Endocrinológicas; Argentin

In Vivo Detection of Succinate by Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy as a Hallmark of SDHx Mutations in Paraganglioma

International audiencePurpose: Germline mutations in genes encoding mitochon-drial succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) are found in patients with paragangliomas, pheochromocytomas, gastrointestinal stromal tumors, and renal cancers. SDH inactivation leads to a massive accumulation of succinate, acting as an oncometabolite and which levels, assessed on surgically resected tissue are a highly specific biomarker of SDHx-mutated tumors. The aim of this study was to address the feasibility of detecting succinate in vivo by magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Experimental Design: A pulsed proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1 H-MRS) sequence was developed, optimized, and applied to image nude mice grafted with Sdhb À/À or wild-type chromaffin cells. The method was then applied to patients with paraganglioma carrying (n ¼ 5) or not (n ¼ 4) an SDHx gene mutation. Following surgery, succinate was measured using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and SDH protein expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry in resected tumors. Results: A succinate peak was observed at 2.44 ppm by 1 H-MRS in all Sdhb À/À-derived tumors in mice and in all paragangliomas of patients carrying an SDHx gene mutation, but neither in wild-type mouse tumors nor in patients exempt of SDHx mutation. In one patient, 1 H-MRS results led to the identification of an unsus-pected SDHA gene mutation. In another case, it helped define the pathogenicity of a variant of unknown significance in the SDHB gene. Conclusions: Detection of succinate by 1 H-MRS is a highly specific and sensitive hallmark of SDHx mutations. This non-invasive approach is a simple and robust method allowing in vivo detection of the major biomarker of SDHx-mutated tumors. Clin Cancer Res; 22(5); 1120–9. Ó2015 AACR