Queer subjectivities in hospitality labor

This paper explores the experiences of queer workers in the service economy with a focus on hospitality labor. Studies of gender, sexuality and service labor approached mainstream service work as a scene of compulsory heterosexuality, while literature on the position of queer workers has tended to approach work in terms of structural inequalities that prevent queer workers from participating in the labor market, and has therefore focused on notions of diversity and inclusion as frameworks for understanding how the heteronormativity of service relationships can be overcome. This paper shifts focus to examine how queer subjectivities are enacted within the disciplinary requirements of service labor, and on the way that workers negotiate and contest their positioning at work. The paper situates the subjectivities and laboring practices of queer workers at the nexus of tensions between heteronormativity and the politics of diversity in service venues, and examines how workers negotiate and contest their positioning at work. We explore the normativities that shape permissible queer embodiment at work and show how biographical experiences specific to queer workers inform their laboring practices. The paper shows that queer workers in mainstream hospitality venues are enrolled into a specific mode of interactive service labor that capitalizes on their queer biographies, requires highly cultivated relational capacities, and repositions work as a site of political intervention

Fasciola hepatica Gastrodermal Cells Selectively Release Extracellular Vesicles via a Novel Atypical Secretory Mechanism

Publication history: Accepted - 12 May, 2022; Published - 15 may 2022.The liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica, is an obligate blood-feeder, and the gastrodermal cells of the parasite form the interface with the host’s blood. Despite their importance in the host–parasite interaction, in-depth proteomic analysis of the gastrodermal cells is lacking. Here, we used laser microdissection of F. hepatica tissue sections to generate unique and biologically exclusive tissue fractions of the gastrodermal cells and tegument for analysis by mass spectrometry. A total of 226 gastrodermal cell proteins were identified, with proteases that degrade haemoglobin being the most abundant. Other detected proteins included those such as proton pumps and anticoagulants which maintain a microenvironment that facilitates digestion. By comparing the gastrodermal cell proteome and the 102 proteins identified in the laser microdissected tegument with previously published tegument proteomic datasets, we showed that one-quarter of proteins (removed by freeze– thaw extraction) or one-third of proteins (removed by detergent extraction) previously identified as tegumental were instead derived from the gastrodermal cells. Comparative analysis of the laser microdissected gastrodermal cells, tegument, and F. hepatica secretome revealed that the gastrodermal cells are the principal source of secreted proteins, as well as showed that both the gastrodermal cells and the tegument are likely to release subpopulations of extracellular vesicles (EVs). Microscopical examination of the gut caeca from flukes fixed immediately after their removal from the host bile ducts showed that selected gastrodermal cells underwent a progressive thinning of the apical plasma membrane which ruptured to release secretory vesicles en masse into the gut lumen. Our findings suggest that gut-derived EVs are released via a novel atypical secretory route and highlight the importance of the gastrodermal cells in nutrient acquisition and possible immunomodulation by the parasite.This work was supported by a grant to M.W.R. (BB/L019612/1) from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). A.P.S.B. was supported by a postgraduate studentship from the Department for the Economy (DfE) Northern Ireland

Testing the survival of microfossils in artificial martian sedimentary meteorites during entry into Earth's atmosphere: the STONE 6 experiment

If life ever appeared on Mars, could we find traces of primitive life embedded in sedimentary meteorites? To answer this question, a 3.5 billion-year-old volcanic sediment containing microfossils was embedded in the heat shield of a space capsule in order to test survival of the rock and the microfossils during entry into the Earth's atmosphere (the STONE 6 experiment). The silicified volcanic sediment from the Kitty's Gap Chert (Pilbara, Australia) is considered to be an excellent analogue for Noachian-age volcanic sediments. The microfossils in the chert are also analogues for potential martian life. An additional goal was to investigate the survival of living microorganisms (Chroococcidiopsis) protected by a 2 cm thick layer of rock in order to test whether living endolithic organisms could survive atmospheric entry when protected by a rocky coating. Mineralogical alteration of the sediment due to shock heating was manifested by the formation of a fusion crust, cracks in the chert due to prograde and retrograde changes of ? quartz to ? quartz, increase in the size of the fluid inclusions, and dewatering of the hydromuscovite-replaced volcanic protoliths. The carbonaceous microfossils embedded in the chert matrix survived in the rock away from the fusion crust but there was an increase in the maturity index of the kerogen towards the crust. We conclude that this kind of sediment can survive atmospheric entry and, if it contains microfossils, they could also survive. The living microorganisms were, however, completely carbonised by flame leakage to the back of the sample and therefore non-viable. However, using an analytical model to estimate the temperature reached within the sample thickness, we conclude that, even without flame leakage, the living organisms probably need to be protected by at least 5 cm of rock in order to be shielded from the intense heat of entry

Background Music Stints Creativity: Evidence from Compound Remote Associate Tasks

Background music has been claimed to enhance people’s creativity (Ritter & Ferguson, 2017). In three experiments we investigated the impact of background music on performance of Compound Remote Associate Tasks (CRATs), which are widely thought to tap creativity. Background music with foreign (unfamiliar) lyrics (Experiment 1), instrumental music without lyrics (Experiment 2), and music with familiar lyrics (Experiment 3) all significantly impaired CRAT performance in comparison to quiet background conditions. Furthermore, Experiment 3 demonstrated that background music impaired CRAT performance regardless of whether the music induced a positive mood or whether participants typically studied in the presence of music. The findings challenge the view that background music enhances creativity, and are discussed in terms of an auditory distraction account (interference-by-process; Jones & Tremblay, 2000) and the processing disfluency account (Mehta et al., 2012)

Characterization of Schistosome Tegumental Alkaline Phosphatase (SmAP)

Schistosomes are parasitic platyhelminths that currently infect over 200 million people globally. The parasites can live for years in a putatively hostile environment - the blood of vertebrates. We have hypothesized that the unusual schistosome tegument (outer-covering) plays a role in protecting parasites in the blood; by impeding host immunological signaling pathways we suggest that tegumental molecules help create an immunologically privileged environment for schistosomes. In this work, we clone and characterize a schistosome alkaline phosphatase (SmAP), a predicted ∼60 kDa glycoprotein that has high sequence conservation with members of the alkaline phosphatase protein family. The SmAP gene is most highly expressed in intravascular parasite life stages. Using immunofluorescence and immuno-electron microscopy, we confirm that SmAP is expressed at the host/parasite interface and in internal tissues. The ability of living parasites to cleave exogenous adenosine monophosphate (AMP) and generate adenosine is very largely abolished when SmAP gene expression is suppressed following RNAi treatment targeting the gene. These results lend support to the hypothesis that schistosome surface enzymes such as SmAP could dampen host immune responses against the parasites by generating immunosuppressants such as adenosine to promote their survival. This notion does not rule out other potential functions for the adenosine generated e.g. in parasite nutrition

The efficacy of high-throughput sequencing and target enrichment on charred archaeobotanical remains

The majority of archaeological plant material is preserved in a charred state. Obtaining reliable ancient DNA data from these remains has presented challenges due to high rates of nucleotide damage, short DNA fragment lengths, low endogenous DNA content and the potential for modern contamination. It has been suggested that high-throughput sequencing (HTS) technologies coupled with DNA enrichment techniques may overcome some of these limitations. Here we report the findings of HTS and target enrichment on four important archaeological crops (barley, grape, maize and rice) performed in three different laboratories, presenting the largest HTS assessment of charred archaeobotanical specimens to date. Rigorous analysis of our data-excluding false-positives due to background contamination or incorrect index assignments-indicated a lack of endogenous DNA in nearly all samples, except for one lightly-charred maize cob. Even with target enrichment, this sample failed to yield adequate data required to address fundamental questions in archaeology and biology. We further reanalysed part of an existing dataset on charred plant material, and found all purported endogenous DNA sequences were likely to be spurious. We suggest these technologies are not suitable for use with charred archaeobotanicals and urge great caution when interpreting data obtained by HTS of these remains