Poza girl power: dziewczyński opór, kontrpubliczności i prawo do miasta

Girlhood‟s political potential does not lie in the power of individual girls, however magnificent, but in acknowledging the commonalities and multiplicities of all girls‟ experiences. Rejecting the individualistic “girl power” paradigm opens up new, sometimes contradictory narrations and representations of contemporary girlhood. This non-heroic approach to girlhood reveals not only the intricate workings of exclusion mechanisms, but also the various inclusive tactics and resistance strategies at work. Engaging with the concepts of counterpublics, the gendered right to the city, and feminist theory more broadly, I look closely at selected examples of girl resistance from popular culture to demonstrate how girls‟ interventions in urban places usually coded as masculine can subvert cultural, gender, racial, and class codes, reappropriate narrations about themselves, and execute their right to the city. Even if some of the gestures and tactics I discuss in the paper may seem too mild to have any political power, I propose that it is exactly such unassuming forms of resistance that promise real change and deserve our urgent attention.Polityczny potencjał siły dziewczyńskości nie tkwi w sile jednostki, ale w dostrzeżeniu wspólności i wielości dziewczyńskich doświadczeń. Odrzucenie postawy heroicznej i wyjście poza indywidualistyczny paradygmat girl power pozwalają na uwidocznienie różnych, nierzadko sprzecznych ze sobą narracji i reprezentacji składających się na współczesne dziewczyństwo, co z kolei pozwala nie tylko na identyfikację kompleksowych mechanizmów wykluczenia, ale też wytworzenie inkluzywnych taktyk i strategii oporu wobec nich. W oparciu o literaturę feministyczną oraz przykłady dziewczyńskiego oporu z kultury popularnej staram się pokazać, w jaki sposób dziewczyny, dokonując interwencji w miejscach zakodowanych jako męskie, łamią kody kulturowe, płciowe, rasowe i klasowe, stawiają opór, przechwytują narracje o sobie samych i egzekwują swoje prawo do miasta. Choć niektóre z omawianych przeze mnie gestów, taktyk i strategii mogą się wydawać zbyt łagodne, żeby mieć siłę polityczną, proponuję, że właśnie tym niepozornym formom wyrażania oporu warto się bliżej przyjrzeć, stosując w ich analizie kategorię kontrpubliczności i upłciowionego prawa do miasta

Urban Multiculture and Xenophonophobia in London and Berlin

In this article, we argue that in the context of the rise of nationalism and increasing inequalities across European metropolises, developing an attentiveness to the sounds of the city can be utilized to unpack individual and collective claims to entitlement and belonging. Focussing on London and Berlin, we argue that thinking through two aspects of sonic registers – languages and non-verbal sounds – together can enrich understandings of cities where questions of living with difference have become politicized and fiercely charged. We draw on and further develop the concept of xenoglossophobia – the fear of foreign languages – to become inclusive of non-verbal sounds as well. Using the concept of xenophonophobia – the fear of all foreign sounds, including, but not limited to, foreign languages – we begin the process of naming racism beyond words in an attempt to find new ways to explore how the struggle for belonging is unfolding within the city. A consideration of the meanings given to sounds can offer a way to understand how boundaries between ‘us’ and ‘them’ are being drawn in European capital cities like Berlin and London

The effect of hyperosmolar stimuli and cyclophosphamide on the culture of normal rat urothelial cells in vitro

AbstractHighly concentrated urine may induce a harmful effect on the urinary bladder. Therefore, we considered osmolarity of the urine as a basic pathomechanism of mucosal damage. The influence of both cyclophosphamide (CYP) and hyperosmolar stimuli (HS) on the urothelium are not well described. The purpose was to evaluate the effect of CYP and HS on rat urothelial cultured cells (RUCC). 15 Wistar rats were used for RUCC preparation. RUCC were exposed to HS (2080 and 3222 mOsm/l NaCl) for 15 min and CYP (1 mg/ml) for 4 hrs. APC-labelled annexin V was used to quantitatively determine the percentage of apoptotic cells and propidium iodide (PI) as a standard flow cytometric viability probe to distinguish necrotic cells from viable ones. Annexin V-APC (+), annexin V-APC and PI (+), and PI (+) cells were analysed as apoptotic, dead, and necrotic cells, respectively. The results were presented in percentage values. The flow cytometric analysis was done on a FACSCalibur Flow Cytometer using Cell-Quest software. Treatment with 2080 and 3222 mOsm/l HS resulted in 23.7 ± 3.9% and 26.0 ± 1.5% apoptotic cells, respectively, 14.3 ± 1.4% and 19.4 ± 2.7% necrotic cells, respectively and 60.5 ± 1.4% and 48.6 ± 5.3% dead cells, respectively. The effect of CYP on RUCC was similar to the effect of HS. After CYP the apoptotic and necrotic cells were 23.1 ± 0.3% and 17.9 ± 7.4%, respectively. The percentage of dead cells was 57.7 ± 10.8%. CYP and HS induced apoptosis and necrosis in RUCC. 3222 mOsm/l HS had the most harmful effect based on the percentage of necrotic and apoptotic cells.</jats:p

Repeated transcranial direct current stimulation induces behavioral, metabolic and neurochemical effects in rats on high-calorie diet

Due to its high prevalence, obesity is considered an epidemic, which stimulated research on non-invasive methods to reduce excess body fat. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive technique used to modulate the activity of cerebral cortex, which has already found increasing interest in medicine as a promising methodology. The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of tDCS on feeding behavior, metabolic abnormalities and neurotransmitters in certain brain areas involved in appetite control of obese rats. The male Wistar rats were divided into five subgroups depending on consumed diet effect (lean, obese) and tDCS type (anodal, cathodal, sham, and no stimulation). Two 10-min daily sessions of tDCS for 8 consecutive days of the study were applied. Rats subjected to active tDCS (anodal right or cathodal left of the prefrontal cortex) had reduced appetite and showed lesser body weight gain than the animals subjected to sham procedure or those receiving no stimulation at all. Furthermore, tDCS contributed to reduction of epididymal fat pads and to a decrease in blood concentration of leptin. Neurochemical examination revealed that tDCS modulated serotonin pathways of the reward-related brain areas and contributed to a significant decrease in the density of D2 but not D1 dopamine receptors in the dorsal striatum, recorded 5 h after the last stimulation. No significant effect of tDCS on dopamine and it's metabolites in examined brain regions was observed. It seems that the hypothalamus was not affected by tDCS application as no changes in measured neurotransmitters were detected at any examined time point. However, these results do not exclude the possibility of the delayed response of the monoamines in the examined brain areas to tDCS application. Altogether, these findings imply that repeated tDCS of the prefrontal cortex may change feeding behavior of obese rats. Either right anodal or left cathodal tDCS were sufficient to decrease food intake, to reduce body adiposity and to normalize other metabolic anomalies. These beneficial effects can be at least partially explained by changes in serotoninergic and in lesser extent dopaminergic system activity within some brain areas belonging to reward system

Peripheral vagus nerve stimulation significantly affects lipid composition and protein secondary structure within dopamine-related brain regions in rats

Recent immunohistochemical studies point to the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve as the point of departure of initial changes which are related to the gradual pathological developments in the dopaminergic system. In the light of current investigations, it is likely that biochemical changes within the peripheral nervous system may influence the physiology of the dopaminergic system, suggesting a putative role for it in the development of neurodegenerative disorders. By using Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy, coupled with statistical analysis, we examined the effect of chronic, unilateral electrical vagus nerve stimulation on changes in lipid composition and in protein secondary structure within dopamine-related brain structures in rats. It was found that the chronic vagal nerve stimulation strongly affects the chain length of fatty acids within the ventral tegmental area, nucleus accumbens, substantia nigra, striatum, dorsal motor nucleus of vagus and the motor cortex. In particular, the level of lipid unsaturation was found significantly increasing in the ventral tegmental area, substantia nigra and motor cortex as a result of vagal nerve stimulation. When it comes to changes in protein secondary structure, we could see that the mesolimbic, mesocortical and nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathways are particularly affected by vagus nerve stimulation. This is due to the co-occurrence of statistically significant changes in the content of non-ordered structure components, alpha helices, beta sheets, and the total area of Amide I. Macromolecular changes caused by peripheral vagus nerve stimulation may highlight a potential connection between the gastrointestinal system and the central nervous system in rat during the development of neurodegenerative disorders

The Making of (Post)colonial Cities in Central Europe

In her article The Making of (Post)colonial Cities in Central Europe Agata Anna Lisiak discusses some of the transformations taking place in Berlin, Budapest, Prague, and Warsaw after 1989. Lisiak proposes that Central European capitals are (post)colonial cities because their politics, cultures, societies, and economies have been shaped by two centers of power: the Soviet Union as the former colonizer, whose influence remains visible predominantly in architecture, infrastructure, social relations, and mentalities and Western culture and Western and/or global capital as the current colonizer, whose impact extends over virtually all spheres of urban life. Furthermore, the cities under scrutiny are in-between not only because they exist between the West and the East, but also because they are torn between the Soviet colonial past and the Western/global colonial present. The (post)colonial and in-between peripheral identities and locations of the Central European capitals complement each other and their analysis provides a relevant perspective on the transformation processes that have shaped and continue to shape the region after 1989