(Not) being at home: Hsu Ming Teo's Behind the Moon (2005) and Michelle de Kretser's Questions of Travel (2012)

This article examines some interventions of Asian Australian writing into the debate over multiculturalism, and the shift from negative stereotyping of Asian migrants, to reification of racial divisions and propagation of a masked racism, to the creation of new alignments and the revival of pre-existing affiliations by migrant and second generation subjects. It compares the practices of not-at-homeness by Asian migrants and their descendants and white Australians in Hsu Ming Teo’s Behind the Moon with those of a Sri Lankan refugee and a white Australian traveller in Michelle de Kretser’s Questions of Travel. The changing concepts of belonging in the novels show a realignment of core and periphery relations within the nation state under the pressures of multiculturalism and globalization: where home is and how it is configured are questions as important for white Australians whose sense of territory is challenged as they are for Asian migrants who seek to establish a new belonging

Sertolin Mediates Blood-Testis Barrier Restructuring

Two important events that occur during mammalian spermatogenesis are the release of elongated spermatids at late stage VIII of the seminiferous epithelial cycle and the restructuring of the blood-testis barrier (BTB) during stages VIII–XI. Still, it is not completely understood how these cellular events are accomplished within the seminiferous epithelium. In the present study, we investigate how sertolin, a protein that was initially identified, cloned, and partially characterized by our laboratory, functions in these critical events. Sertolin was found at the BTB, as well as at the apical ectoplasmic specialization and apical tubulobulbar complex, where it colocalized with epidermal growth factor receptor kinase substrate 8 and actin-related protein 3, two actin-regulatory proteins. Knockdown of sertolin by RNA interference showed Sertoli cell barrier function to be enhanced when assessed by transepithelial electrical resistance measurements and immunolocalization experiments. By contrast, the integrity of the BTB was disrupted when sertolin was overexpressed in vitro and in vivo. Sertolin overexpression also prompted germ cell loss from the seminiferous epithelium. Taken collectively, these results suggest that sertolin may be involved in coordinating spermatid release and BTB restructuring during spermatogenesis in the rat

Intercellular adhesion molecule 1 : recent findings and new concepts involved in mammalian spermatogenesis

Spermatogenesis, the process of spermatozoa production, is regulated by several endocrine factors, including testosterone, follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone and estradiol 17β. For spermatogenesis to reach completion, developing germ cells must traverse the seminiferous epithelium while remaining transiently attached to Sertoli cells. If germ cell adhesion were to be compromised for a period of time longer than usual, germ cells would slough the seminiferous epithelium and infertility would result. Presently, Sertoli-germ cell adhesion is known to be mediated largely by classical and desmosomal cadherins. More recent studies, however, have begun to expand long-standing concepts and to examine the roles of other proteins such as intercellular adhesion molecules. In this review, we focus on the biology of intercellular adhesion molecules in the mammalian testis, hoping that this information is useful in the design of future studies