Queer Subjectivity, Transmedia, and Embodiment in the Carmilla Fandom

This study examines the ways in which individuals mediate the institutionalization and embodiment of queer identities in the Carmilla fandom by manipulating transmedia networks. The research conducted expands upon Boellstorff’s (2015) methodology for virtual communities and Spitulnik’s (1993) theory of “media power”. Data was collected using three strategies: 1) quantitative surveys of 436 individuals, 2) five interviews, and 3) participant observation in the Carmilla fandom through social media. While Marxist and critical theorists assert that mass media is contextualized as needing to fulfil the needs of the dominant class through institutional legitimation, I propose that an inverse can be recognized in GSRM online communities, whereby transmedia mediates identity production and reproduction and provides agency and legitimation to GSRM representation. By examining Carmilla: The Series’ unconventional mediums and queer-driven narrative, this study hopes to gain a perspective into the importance of queer-normative representation in mass media and acknowledge ways in which minority online communities manufacture and reinforce identity

Internal Migration: The Women Behind Bali’s Tourism Industry

Internal migration in constantly increasing in Indonesia and the island of Bali is a popular destination for many of these immigrants who wish to try their luck in Bali’s tourism industry. One the most significant trends in internal migration has been the participation of autonomous young women, however, often the migration discourse does not adequately address gender-specific facets. This study explores the expectations and realities of Indonesian women’s internal immigration to Bali and is predominantly, based on qualitative research methods. The study consisted of singular semi-structured interviews with four young women who worked in Bali’s tourism industry in the Badung region. Additionally, field research through informal interviews and observation via participation was conducted with the wider Indonesian population in this region for a relational approach. A postcolonial feminist framework was utilised to recognise women’s intersectional identities and value differences in women’s lives, uncovering agency in their decision to internally migrate. Participants’ reasons to migrate to Bali were largely influenced by optimistic reviews of the tourist destination. However, thematic analysis within participants’ stories of internal immigration demonstrated reasons that were varied and complex. The current context surrounding internal immigrants in Bali was examined with prejudices exposed between both internal immigrants and the local Balinese population. Women’s personal experiences of immigration to a “freer” Bali are discussed through their newfound opportunities and experiences, including ‘freedom of movement’. While generally the women in this study provided a positive assessment of their internal immigration and work within Bali’s tourism industry, the women discussed obstacles and challenges in their acculturation to new and different socio-cultural norms

Epigenetic Transgenerational Inheritance of Obesity Susceptibility

The prevalence of obesity and associated diseases has reached pandemic levels. Obesity is often associated with overnutrition and a sedentary lifestyle, but clearly other factors also increase the susceptibility of metabolic disease states. Ancestral and direct exposures to environmental toxicants and altered nutrition have been shown to increase susceptibility for obesity and metabolic dysregulation. Environmental insults can reprogram the epigenome of the germline (sperm and eggs), which transmits the susceptibility for disease to future generations through epigenetic transgenerational inheritance. In this review, we discuss current evidence and molecular mechanisms for epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of obesity susceptibility. Understanding ancestral environmental insults and epigenetic transgenerational impacts on future generations will be critical to fully understand the etiology of obesity and to develop preventative therapy options.The prevalence of obesity has increased dramatically over the past 30 years, and cannot be explained by genetics, diet, and exercise alone.A variety of early life and in utero exposures to environmental insults can change metabolic outcomes through developmental epigenetic reprogramming.Epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of obesity has been observed following ancestral exposure to a high-fat diet, malnutrition, and several environmental toxicants.Unique obesity-specific sperm epimutation signatures have been identified in the transgenerational F3 generation of animals ancestrally exposed to environmental toxicants.Numerous genes modified by DNA methylation in a variety of phenotypes and ancestral exposures have been found to be potential novel modulators of adipocyte (fat cell) metabolism and function

Adipocyte epigenetic alterations and potential therapeutic targets in transgenerationally inherited lean and obese phenotypes following ancestral exposures

The incidence of obesity has increased dramatically over the past two decades with a prevalence of approximately 40% of the adult population within the United States. The current study examines the potential for transgenerational adipocyte (fat cell) epigenetic alterations. Adipocytes were isolated from the gonadal fat pad of the great-grand offspring F3 generation 1-year old rats ancestrally exposed to DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), atrazine, or vehicle control in order to obtain adipocytes for DNA methylation analysis. Observations indicate that there were differential DNA methylated regions (DMRs) in the adipocytes with the lean or obese phenotypes compared to control normal (non-obese or lean) populations. The comparison of epigenetic alterations indicated that there were substantial overlaps between the different treatment lineage groups for both the lean and obese phenotypes. Novel correlated genes and gene pathways associated with DNA methylation were identified, and may aid in the discovery of potential therapeutic targets for metabolic diseases such as obesity. Observations indicate that ancestral exposures during critical windows of development can induce the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of DNA methylation changes in adipocytes that ultimately may contribute to an altered metabolic phenotype

Responses to social rejection: the role of borderline personality disorder traits

The present study examined how people with BPD traits respond to social rejection, using a reliving task as the manipulation of social rejection. In addition, this study examined how rejection sensitivity and BPD traits differentially influence responses to social rejection. One hundred forty-seven undergraduate participants completed questionnaires that assessed BPD traits and mood. In addition, all participants wrote about a previous social rejection or acceptance experience. Results showed the all participants, regardless of level of BPD traits, felt the recalled rejection experience was very negative. In addition, results demonstrated that compared to participants lower in BPD traits, participants higher in BPD traits reported significantly higher anger-hostility, depression-dejection, and overall negative mood after reliving a rejection experience than an acceptance experience. This suggests that the reliving task as a type of social manipulation can influence the ability to detect differences between participants higher in BPD traits and participants lower in BPD traits. Finally, results demonstrated that compared to participants lower in BPD traits, participants higher in BPD traits reported significantly higher tension-anxiety, anger-hostility, depression-dejection, and overall negative mood after reliving a rejection experience than an acceptance experience after partialling out the variance explained by rejection sensitivity. These results suggest that there are characteristics over and above rejection sensitivity that are unique to BPD that contribute to the responses to social rejection

You hurt me, i'll hurt you: the prediction of aggression based on the interaction between an ego threat, fragile high self-esteem, and narcissistic traits

Previous research has produced inconsistent findings in terms of how self-esteem relates to aggressive behavior. Some studies have found that high self-esteem predicts aggression while others have found that low self-esteem predicts aggression. The present study sought to clarify the discrepancies in the literature. It was hypothesized that the interaction between an ego threat and fragile high self-esteem would account for significant variance in aggressive behavior over-and-above the component main effect. Additionally, it was hypothesized that the interaction of high explicit and low implicit self-esteem would account for significant variance in narcissistic traits over-and-above the component main effects. Finally, it was hypothesized that the interaction between an ego threat and narcissistic traits would account for significant variance in aggressive behavior over-and-above the component main effect. One hundred eighteen undergraduate participants completed questionnaires and the other aspects of the study that assessed self-esteem, narcissistic traits, and aggression. Results failed to support the hypotheses regarding the interactions between an ego-threat, fragile high self-esteem, and narcissistic traits. However, consistent with previous research, main effects results indicated that participants with high levels of explicit self-esteem were more aggressive and reported more narcissistic traits than participants with low explicit self-esteem. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for future research

Sperm epimutation biomarkers of obesity and pathologies following DDT induced epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of disease

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) has previously been shown to promote the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of adult onset disease in rats. The current study investigated the potential that sperm epimutation biomarkers can be used to identify ancestral induced transgenerational obesity and associated pathologies. Gestating F0 generational female rats were transiently exposed to DDT during fetal gonadal sex determination, and the incidence of adult-onset pathologies was assessed in the subsequent F1, F2, and F3 generations. In addition, sperm differential DNA methylation regions (DMRs) that were associated with specific pathologies in the transgenerational F3 generation males were investigated. There was an increase of testis disease and early-onset puberty in the F2 generation DDT lineage males. The F3 generation males and females had significant increases in the incidence of obesity and multiple disease. The F3 generation DDT males also had significant increases in testis disease, prostate disease, and late onset puberty. The F3 generation DDT females had increases in ovarian and kidney disease. Epigenetic alterations of the germline are required for the transgenerational inheritance of pathology. Therefore, the F3 generation sperm was collected to examine DMRs for the ancestrally exposed DDT male population. Unique sets of DMRs were associated with late onset puberty, prostate disease, kidney disease, testis disease, obesity, and multiple disease pathologies. Gene associations with the DMR were also identified. The epigenetic DMR signatures identified for these pathologies provide potential biomarkers for transgenerationally inherited disease susceptibility

Epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of parent-of-origin allelic transmission of outcross pathology and sperm epimutations

Epigenetic transgenerational inheritance potentially impacts disease etiology, phenotypic variation, and evolution. An increasing number of environmental factors from nutrition to toxicants have been shown to promote the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of disease. Previous observations have demonstrated that the agricultural fungicide vinclozolin and pesticide DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) induce transgenerational sperm epimutations involving DNA methylation, ncRNA, and histone modifications or retention. These two environmental toxicants were used to investigate the impacts of parent-of-origin outcross on the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of disease. Male and female rats were collected from a paternal outcross (POC) or a maternal outcross (MOC) F4 generation control and exposure lineages for pathology and epigenetic analysis. This model allows the parental allelic transmission of disease and epimutations to be investigated. There was increased pathology incidence in the MOC F4 generation male prostate, kidney, obesity, and multiple diseases through a maternal allelic transmission. The POC F4 generation female offspring had increased pathology incidence for kidney, obesity and multiple types of diseases through the paternal allelic transmission. Some disease such as testis or ovarian pathology appear to be transmitted through the combined actions of both male and female alleles. Analysis of the F4 generation sperm epigenomes identified differential DNA methylated regions (DMRs) in a genome-wide analysis. Observations demonstrate that DDT and vinclozolin have the potential to promote the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of disease and sperm epimutations to the outcross F4 generation in a sex specific and exposure specific manner. The parent-of-origin allelic transmission observed appears similar to the process involved with imprinted-like genes

Personality affects aspects of health-related quality of life in Parkinson’s disease via psychological coping strategies.

Background: Personality traits influence health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in Parkinson's disease (PD). Further, an individual's personality traits can influence the strategies they use to cope with a particular stressful situation. However, in PD, the interplay between personality traits, choice of coping strategy, and their subsequent effect on HRQoL remains unclear. Objective: The objective of this study was to examine whether personality (neuroticism and extraversion) indirectly affects HRQoL through the use of specific psychological coping strategies. Methods: One hundred and forty-six patients with PD completed questionnaires on personality (Big Five Aspects Scale; BFAS), coping (Ways of Coping Questionnaire; WCQ), and mood-specific (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale; DASS-21) and disease-specific HRQoL (Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire; PDQ-39). Results: After controlling for gender, age at diagnosis, and age at testing, the emotion-focused coping strategy of escape-avoidance was significantly correlated with neuroticism and certain aspects of HRQoL (cognitive impairment and social support). This suggests that neurotic personality traits may negatively impact on some aspects of HRQoL due to an increased use of escape-avoidance coping strategies. By contrast, planned problem-solving and escape-avoidance coping strategies were both significantly linked to extraversion and interpersonal and mood-related domains of HRQoL. This suggests that extraversion may positively impact on some aspects of HRQoL due to patients adopting greater planned, problem-solving coping strategies, and using fewer escape-avoidance coping mechanisms. Conclusions: Psychological interventions aimed at targeting maladaptive coping strategies, such as the use of escape-avoidance coping, may be effective in minimising the negative impact of neuroticism on HRQoL in PD

Black Adolescentsâ Critical Reflection Development: Parentsâ Racial Socialization and Attributions About Race Achievement Gaps

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154280/1/jora12485_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154280/2/jora12485.pd