The importance of space for understanding political mobilisation

This special issue considers the categories of ‘homeland’ and ‘hostland’ as a means to approach questions of identity, loyalty and estrangement that both inspired and shaped political mobilisation in the early twentieth century world. The decade prior to the First World War and the wartime era can be considered as a transitional juncture, spreading across historians’ periodisations. These years represent the final frame of the long nineteenth century and the closure of the belle époque, the era ending with the outbreak of the First World War, or the watershed year of 1917, which saw the Russian Revolution, the American entry into the war and the fading fortunes of the Ottoman Empire. At the same time, they represent the first chapter of the twentieth century, when nationalist and imperialist tensions sharpened and produced a new era of violent conflict. On the one hand, the early twentieth century was a time in which modern territoriality, which Charles S. Maier refers to as the organisation of a ‘space with a border that allows effective control of public and political life’, reached its apogee, as seen in rising nationalism and state centralisation.11. Maier, “Transformations of Territoriality,” 34. View all notes On the other hand, these were years characterised by movement across these same borders: mass migration, colonial expansionism, missionary movements and, in the other direction, imperial fragmentation and regionalism

Postfeminist Media Cultures

This entry provides an overview of postfeminism, which has become central in the last two decades not only within feminist cultural discourse but also within neoliberal discourses and popular culture. The dominant attempts to conceptualize postfeminism often bring to the surface approaches that are complex and contradictory in nature. For instance, postfeminism is viewed as a theoretical framework, as a sensibility, as an expansion of feminist theory, or as a rejection of it. The discussion of postfeminism against the backdrop of media productions further highlights its implications for women and gender representation. A look at quintessential postfeminist texts shows, for instance, that postfeminism essentially problematizes contemporary constructions of gender as it simultaneously evokes and rejects basic feminist tenets

Multilingual gendered identities: female undergraduate students in London talk about heritage languages

In this paper I explore how a group of female university students, mostly British Asian and in their late teens and early twenties, perform femininities in talk about heritage languages. I argue that analysis of this talk reveals ways in which the participants enact ‘culturally intelligible’ gendered subject positions. This frequently involves negotiating the norms of ‘heteronormativity’, constituting femininity in terms of marriage, motherhood and maintenance of heritage culture and language, and ‘girl power’, constituting femininity in terms of youth, sassiness, glamour and individualism. For these young women, I ask whether higher education can become a site in which they have the opportunities to explore these identifications and examine other ways of imagining the self and what their stories suggest about ‘doing being’ a young British Asian woman in London

Ingestion of mycoprotein, pea protein, and their blend support comparable postexercise myofibrillar protein synthesis rates in resistance-trained individuals.

This is the final version. Available from the American Physiological Society via the DOI in this record. DATA AVAILABILITY: Data described in the manuscript may be made available upon request, pending application.Pea protein is an attractive nonanimal-derived protein source to support dietary protein requirements. However, although high in leucine, a low methionine content has been suggested to limit its anabolic potential. Mycoprotein has a complete amino acid profile which, at least in part, may explain its ability to robustly stimulate myofibrillar protein synthesis (MyoPS) rates. We hypothesized that an inferior postexercise MyoPS response would be seen following ingestion of pea protein compared with mycoprotein, which would be (partially) rescued by blending the two sources. Thirty-three healthy, young [age: 21 ± 1 yr, body mass index (BMI): 24 ± 1 kg·m-2] and resistance-trained participants received primed, continuous infusions of l-[ring-2H5]phenylalanine and completed a bout of whole body resistance exercise before ingesting 25 g of protein from mycoprotein (MYC, n = 11), pea protein (PEA, n = 11), or a blend (39% MYC, 61% PEA) of the two (BLEND, n = 11). Blood and muscle samples were taken pre-, 2 h, and 4 h postexercise/protein ingestion to assess postabsorptive and postprandial postexercise myofibrillar protein fractional synthetic rates (FSRs). Protein ingestion increased plasma essential amino acid and leucine concentrations (time effect; P 0.05). These data show that all three nonanimal-derived protein sources have utility in supporting postexercise muscle reconditioning.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study provides evidence that pea protein (PEA), mycoprotein (MYC), and their blend (BLEND) can support postexercise myofibrillar protein synthesis rates following a bout of whole body resistance exercise. Furthermore, these data suggest that a methionine deficiency in pea may not limit its capacity to stimulate an acute increase in muscle protein synthesis (MPS).National Institute of AgingMarlow Foods Ltd

Characterisation and expression profile of the bovine cathelicidin gene repertoire in mammary tissue

BACKGROUND: Cathelicidins comprise a major group of host-defence peptides. Conserved across a wide range of species, they have several functions related to host defence. Only one cathelicidin has been found in humans but several cathelicidin genes occur in the bovine genome. We propose that these molecules may have a protective role against mastitis. The aim of this study was to characterise the cathelicidin gene-cluster in the bovine genome and to identify sites of expression in the bovine mammary gland. RESULTS: Bioinformatic analysis of the bovine genome (BosTau7) revealed seven protein-coding cathelicidin genes, CATHL1-7, including two identical copies of CATHL4, as well as three additional putative cathelicidin genes, all clustered on the long arm of chromosome 22. Six of the seven protein-coding genes were expressed in leukocytes extracted from milk of high somatic cell count (SCC) cows. CATHL5 was expressed across several sites in the mammary gland, but did not increase in response to Staphylococcus aureus infection. CONCLUSIONS: Here, we characterise the bovine cathelicidin gene cluster and reconcile inconsistencies in the datasets of previous studies. Constitutive cathelicidin expression in the mammary gland suggests a possible role for these host defence peptides its protection.An Irish Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Research Stimulus Fund Grant (RSF 06-340).http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcgenomics/am201

Culture and Subjectivity in Neoliberal and postfeminist times

My aim in this paper is to think through a number of issues concerning the relationship between culture and subjectivity. It seems to me that exploring the relationship of changing forms of political organisation, social relations and cultural practices to changing modes and experiences of subjecthood and subjectivity are among the most important and urgent tasks for critical intellectual work. These questions go to the heart of understanding power, ideology and agency and they require research that is interdisciplinary, psychosocial and intersectional. My particular focus in this short article is on the interrelations between changing representational practices in visual culture and changing subjectivity/ies. I argue that neoliberalism and postfeminism are central to understanding contemporary media culture, and I put the case for research which does not retreat from exploring how these broader social/political/economic/cultural discourses and formations may relate to subjectivity

Empowerment/sexism: Figuring female sexual agency in contemporary advertising

This paper argues that there has been a significant shift in advertising representations of women in recent years, such that rather than being presented as passive objects of the male gaze, young women in adverts are now frequently depicted as active, independent and sexually powerful. This analysis examines contemporary constructions of female sexual agency in advertisements examining three recognizable ‘figures’: the young, heterosexually desiring ‘midriff’, the vengeful woman set on punishing her partner or ex partner for his transgressions, and the ‘hot lesbian’, almost always entwined with her beautiful Other or double. Using recent examples of adverts the paper asks how this apparent ‘agency’ and ‘empowerment’ should be understood. Drawing on accounts of the incorporation or recuperation of feminist ideas in advertising the paper takes a critical approach to these representations, examining their exclusions, their constructions of gender relations and heteronormativity, and the way power is figured within them. A feminist poststructuralist approach is used to interrogate the way in which ‘sexual agency’ becomes a form of regulation in these adverts, that requires the re-moulding of feminine subjectivity to fit the current postfeminist, neoliberal moment in which young women should not only be beautiful but sexy, sexually knowledgeable/practised and always ‘up for it’. The paper makes an original contribution to debates about representations of gender in advertising, to poststructuralist analyses about the contemporary operation of power, and to writing about female ‘sexual agency’ by suggesting that ‘voice’ or ‘agency’ may not be the solution to the ‘missing discourse of female desire' but may in fact be a technology of discipline and regulation

Keratin and S100 calcium-binding proteins are major constituents of the bovine teat canal lining

The bovine teat canal provides the first-line of defence against pathogenic bacteria infecting the mammary gland, yet the protein composition and host-defence functionality of the teat canal lining (TCL) are not well characterised. In this study, TCL collected from six healthy lactating dairy cows was subjected to two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) and mass spectrometry. The abundance and location of selected identified proteins were determined by western blotting and fluorescence immunohistochemistry. The variability of abundance among individual cows was also investigated. Two dominant clusters of proteins were detected in the TCL, comprising members of the keratin and S100 families of proteins. The S100 proteins were localised to the teat canal keratinocytes and were particularly predominant in the cornified outermost layer of the teat canal epithelium. Significant between-animal variation in the abundance of the S100 proteins in the TCL was demonstrated. Four of the six identified S100 proteins have been reported to have antimicrobial activity, suggesting that the TCL has additional functionality beyond being a physical barrier to invading microorganisms. These findings provide new insights into understanding host-defence of the teat canal and resistance of cows to mastitis

Mycoprotein and Glycaemic Control

Mycoprotein is a high protein, high fibre, fungal-derived food ingredient that has been previously shown to reduce postprandial glucose concentrations in young healthy adults. The reduction of postprandial glucose concentrations could be beneficial in the dietary management of impaired glycaemic control and type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, it is unclear how this reduction with mycoprotein occurs mechanistically, and whether an improvement in overall glycaemic control would occur after habitual consumption of mycoprotein in people with T2D. The aim of the present thesis was to explore the role of mycoprotein in glycaemic control, both acutely and after 5-weeks of habitual consumption, across a spectrum of glucose tolerance, using a comprehensive assessment of postprandial glucose kinetics and insulin sensitivity. Firstly, the role of mycoprotein in acute glycaemic control was explored by applying a dual stable isotope glucose tracer method over a 6-hour postprandial period to determine how the co-ingestion of 20 or 40g of freeze-dried mycoprotein with 50g dextrose and 250ml milk, impacted the rate of appearance (RaT) and disappearance (RdT) of glucose in young healthy adults, compared to an energy and macronutrient matched control (75g carbohydrate, 18g protein and 12g fat). Secondly, this method was applied to adults with hyperinsulinaemic obesity, to determine how mycoprotein impacted postprandial glucose kinetics in people with impaired glycaemic control. Finally, the impact of regular consumption of mycoprotein, as part of 5-week high-protein, controlled vegan diet, was assessed in people with T2D using a comprehensive assessment of glycaemic control including a mixed-meal tolerance test, hyperinsulinaemic-euglycaemic clamp with stable isotope glucose tracers and continuous glucose monitoring. These assessments provided measures of glucose tolerance and β-cell function, hepatic and peripheral insulin sensitivity, and glycaemic variability, respectively. The studies presented in this thesis demonstrate that mycoprotein does not lower acute postprandial glucose concentrations, contrary to previous findings. In young healthy adults 20g mycoprotein increased blood glucose, serum insulin and RdT after co-ingestion with glucose, compared to an energy and macronutrient matched control drink. However, in people with obesity there was no difference in postprandial glycaemic control after mycoprotein and a control drink. The co-ingestion of freeze-dried mycoprotein with dextrose did not impact the exogenous appearance of glucose, or the endogenous glucose production over a 6h postprandial period in healthy adults, and adults with obesity. A primary novel finding of this thesis was that the incorporation of mycoprotein into a high-protein vegan diet was associated with reduced glycaemic variability, HbA1c and peripheral insulin sensitivity to a similar extent as a high protein animal-based protein diet, in people with T2D. The findings from this thesis may have important clinical and practical implications. This thesis demonstrates that the incorporation of mycoprotein into a habitual vegan can be safe and potentially beneficial for those with T2D, thus increasing the dietary options available for both patients and clinicians/ dietitians that are advising the dietary management of T2D. This thesis details a unique and novel body of work characterising the effect of mycoprotein on both acute and longer-term glycaemic control, across a spectrum of glucose tolerance.Quor