Introduction

This collection seeks to encourage new ways of thinking about the connections and tensions between sexual politics, citizenship and belonging by bringing together a diverse range of critical interventions within sexuality and gender studies. The book is organised around three interlinked thematic areas, focusing on sexual citizenship, nationalism and international borders (section 1); sexuality and ‘race ’ (section 2); and sexuality and religion (section 3). In revisiting notions of sexual citizenship and belonging, contributors engage with topical debates about ‘sexual nationalism’, or the construction of western/European nations as exceptional in terms of attitudes to sexual and gender equality vis-à-vis an uncivilised, racialized ‘Other’. The collection explores macro-level perspectives by attending to the broader geopolitical and socio-legal structures within which competing claims to citizenship and belonging are played out; at the same time, micro-level perspectives are utilised to explore the interplay between sexuality and ‘race’, nation, ethnicity and religious identities, both in individuals’ lived experiences and in activism and forms of collective belonging. Geographically, the collection has a prevalently European focus, yet contributions explore a range of trans-national spatial dimensions that exceed the boundaries of ‘Europe’ and of European nation-states. They consider, for example, links between former European imperial powers and their former colonies; the construction of a European ‘core’ and its ‘peripheries’ in discourses on sexual and reproductive rights; and forms of belonging shaped by migration from within and outside ‘fortress Europe’

The body as an alternative : space for utopia

This paper questions whether the body can be seen as a sacred space, and if so, whether the body as a sacred space can be considered as an alternative space for utopia. Throughout this essay, I approach phenomenology in order to conceptualise the spatiality of the body. I then move on to discuss whether this spatiality can take on the sacred: firstly, by identifying what is meant by “sacred”, and, secondly, through the work of the religious historian Mircea Eliade, wherein he discusses religious phenomena, the believer’s experience, and the sacred. I explore the work of Mary Douglas, who provides insight on the body as a symbol as well as on the rituals surrounding the corporeal body. Once the body’s spatiality is established as being able to take on the dimension of the sacred, I then shift attention towards the idea of utopia, examining this through Vincent Geoghenhan’s work, arguing that if the body’s spatiality may take on the sacred, then it will also have utopian traces rooted in ideology. I conclude by answering my initial question of whether the body, or bodily symbolism, can manifest or mirror utopian ideals.peer-reviewe

Documenting Program Outcomes of Relationship Education with Incarcerated Adults

The current study examined program outcomes for an understudied population of Relationship Education (RE) participants: incarcerated men and women. In addition to relationship functioning, we examined a number of individual and parenting outcomes which had not previously been explored. In a sample of 453 adult inmates, we found improvements in (a) trust, (b) confidence in the relationship, (c) intimacy, (d) individual empowerment, (e) conflict management, (f) help-seeking attitudes, (g) self-esteem, (h) depression, (i) global life stress, (j) faulty relationship beliefs, and (k) parenting efficacy. Tests of moderation by gender and race indicated minimal differences in change patterns between groups; however, we found a significant time by gender interaction on intimacy and a time by race interaction on parenting efficacy. Implications for research and practice are presented

Sulfation pathways during neurodevelopment

Sulfate is an important nutrient that modulates a diverse range of molecular and cellular functions in mammalian physiology. Over the past 2 decades, animal studies have linked numerous sulfate maintenance genes with neurological phenotypes, including seizures, impaired neurodevelopment, and behavioral abnormalities. Despite sulfation pathways being highly conserved between humans and animals, less than one third of all known sulfate maintenance genes are clinically reportable. In this review, we curated the temporal and spatial expression of 91 sulfate maintenance genes in human fetal brain from 4 to 17 weeks post conception using the online Human Developmental Biology Resource Expression. In addition, we performed a systematic search of PubMed and Embase, identifying those sulfate maintenance genes linked to atypical neurological phenotypes in humans and animals. Those findings, together with a search of the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man database, identified a total of 18 candidate neurological dysfunction genes that are not yet considered in clinical settings. Collectively, this article provides an overview of sulfate biology genes to inform future investigations of perturbed sulfate homeostasis associated with neurological conditions

Quintessence, Supersymmetry and Inflation

Recent data point in the direction of a $\Lambda$ dominated universe. We briefly review ``Quintessence'' as a model for a dynamical cosmological term and analyse the role of Susy QCD as a possible particle physics candidate. The multiscalar content of the theory is fully taken into account and interaction with other cosmological fields is discussed. Finally, the possibility of constructing a unified scheme for quintessence and inflation is mentioned.Comment: 5 LaTex pages, no figures; Talk given at the International Workshop on "Particles in Astrophysics and Cosmology: from Theory to Observations" (Valencia99), 3-8 May 1999, Valencia, Spain. To appear on Nucl. Phys. B, Proc. Supp

A lack of confirmation with alternative assays questions the validity of IL-17A expression in human neutrophils using immunohistochemistry

We identified IL-17A-positive neutrophils in Wolbachia-positive Onchocerca volvulus nodules using an antibody that has previously reported IL-17A-positive neutrophils in several inflammatory conditions. However, we could not detect IL-17A using a range of alternative assays. Our data question the IL-17A antibody specificity and the ability of human neutrophils to express IL-17A