Crossover literature and age in crisis at the turn of the 21st century : Harry Potter’s kidults and the Twilight moms

At the turn of the 21st century, the widely visible popularity of children’s and young adult literature with adult readers lead literary and social critics to ask whether the inhabitants of Western culture were refusing to grow up. Whilst books had been crossing over the line between the adult and children’s book market ever since the separation into two markets had been introduced, the perceived rise in this traffic led to a felt crisis concerning age and identity. At the example of the Harry Potter and the Twilight novels, Maria Verena Peters analyzes the discourse about childhood, coming of age and adulthood inside and outside the pages of children’s and young adult literature as the 20th century came to an end and a new millennium was beginning. Her analysis suggests that this discourse was determined by an anxiety that without the patriarchal, heterosexual, nuclear family, age cannot serve to produce meaningful identity categories. Beyond the policing of gender and sexuality, the discourse of age in crisis – as the examples of Harry Potter’s kidults and the Twilight moms serve to show – also functions to naturalize notions of class and consumption. In addition to the prominent two novel series of the title, the PhD thesis covers a wide range of popular culture artefacts, from Near Dark to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and from The Big Bang Theory to Hotter than my Daughter. It builds upon key findings of fan studies to uncover the intersectionality of age, gender, class and consumption in the marketing, reception and critique of children’s and young adult literature.Um die letzte Jahrhundertwende sorgte die erhöhte Sichtbarkeit der Popularität von Kinder- und Jugendliteratur bei einer erwachsenen Leserschaft dafür, dass Literatur- und Gesellschaftskritiker die Frage stellten, ob die westliche Gesellschaft sich weigere erwachsen zu werden. Obgleich Bücher über die Grenze zwischen dem Segment für Kinder und dem für Erwachsene hin und her gewandert waren seit der Buchmarkt in diese zwei Hälften geteilt worden war, sorgte der Eindruck eines Anstiegs dieser Grenzüberschreitungen für das Gefühl einer Krise von Alter und Identität. Am Beispiel der Harry Potter- und Twilight-Romane analysiert Maria Verena Peters den Diskurs über Kindheit, Erwachsen-Werden und Erwachsen-Sein um die Wende vom 20. zum 21. Jahrhundert diesseits und jenseits der Romanwelten von Rowling und Meyer. Ihre Analyse fördert zu Tage, dass dieser Diskurs von einer Angst gekennzeichnet ist, dass Alter ohne das Konstrukt der patriarchalen, weißen, heterosexuellen, nuklearen Familie keine bedeutungsvollen Identitätskategorien stiften kann. Abgesehen vom Regulieren von Geschlechterrollen und Sexualität naturalisiert der Diskurs von Alter in der Krise auch die soziale Klasse und den Konsum, wie die Beispiele der „Kidults“ im Zusammenhang mit Harry Potter und der sogenannten „Twilight Moms“ zeigen. Zusätzlich zu den titelstiftenden zwei Romanreihen behandelt diese Dissertationsschrift eine weite Bandbreite popkultureller Artefakte, wie z.B. Near Dark, The Big Bang Theory, Buffy the Vampire Slayer und Hotter than my Daughter. Aufbauend auf den Erkenntnissen der fan studies wird die Intersektionalität von Alter, Geschlechterrollen, Klasse und Konsum in der Vermarktung, Rezeption und Kritik von Kinder- und Jugendliteratur aufgezeigt

From the Whisper Network to #MeToo—Framing Gender, Gossip and Sexual Harassment

There is a long-standing connection between gender and gossip in Western culture as the communication amongst women has been stigmatized as gossip. Long before #MeToo, women who had become victims of sexual abuse and who spoke out against sexual violence were pillorized through gossip and stigmatized as gossips in the public sphere. As a consequence, women have resorted to private forms of communication―so-called “whisper networks”―to warn each other about abuse and harassment. However, the #MeToo-movement has shifted this network from the private sector into that strange hybrid of private and public communication that is social media. The “mainstreaming” of feminist activism achieved through hashtag feminism has had repercussions for the representation of rape survivors and feminist activists in traditional, analog media. The particulars of these repercussions are what this essay seeks to analyze. The traditional public forum of the printed press started to represent these women as trustworthy witnesses―in a dramatic deviation from previous patterns of representation. While the connection between femininity and gossip thus seems to have been severed, this does not, however, mean that the representation of women in the media has been fundamentally altered. Through a semiotic analysis of the visual representations of women in print media around and after #MeToo, this essay will critically call into question the extent of the perceived paradigm shift in the context of #MeToo and the trial of Bill Cosby in 2017

Hydrogen Sulfide and Carnosine: Modulation of Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in Kidney and Brain Axis

Emerging evidence indicates that the dysregulation of cellular redox homeostasis and chronic inflammatory processes are implicated in the pathogenesis of kidney and brain disorders. In this light, endogenous dipeptide carnosine (β-alanyl-L-histidine) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) exert cytoprotective actions through the modulation of redox-dependent resilience pathways during oxidative stress and inflammation. Several recent studies have elucidated a functional crosstalk occurring between kidney and the brain. The pathophysiological link of this crosstalk is represented by oxidative stress and inflammatory processes which contribute to the high prevalence of neuropsychiatric disorders, cognitive impairment, and dementia during the natural history of chronic kidney disease. Herein, we provide an overview of the main pathophysiological mechanisms related to high levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin-1β (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and neurotoxins, which play a critical role in the kidney–brain crosstalk. The present paper also explores the respective role of H2S and carnosine in the modulation of oxidative stress and inflammation in the kidney–brain axis. It suggests that these activities are likely mediated, at least in part, via hormetic processes, involving Nrf2 (Nuclear factor-like 2), Hsp 70 (heat shock protein 70), SIRT-1 (Sirtuin-1), Trx (Thioredoxin), and the glutathione system. Metabolic interactions at the kidney and brain axis level operate in controlling and reducing oxidant-induced inflammatory damage and therefore, can be a promising potential therapeutic target to reduce the severity of renal and brain injuries in humans

Timing of eating across ten European countries - results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) calibration study

Objective To examine timing of eating across ten European countries. Design Cross-sectional analysis of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) calibration study using standardized 24 h diet recalls collected during 1995-2000. Eleven predefined food consumption occasions were assessed during the recall interview. We present time of consumption of meals and snacks as well as the later:earlier energy intake ratio, with earlier and later intakes defined as 06.00-14.00 and 15.00-24.00 hours, respectively. Type III tests were used to examine associations of sociodemographic, lifestyle and health variables with timing of energy intake. Setting Ten Western European countries. Subjects In total, 22 985 women and 13 035 men aged 35-74 years (n 36 020). Results A south-north gradient was observed for timing of eating, with later consumption of meals and snacks in Mediterranean countries compared with Central and Northern European countries. However, the energy load was reversed, with the later:earlier energy intake ratio ranging from 0 center dot 68 (France) to 1 center dot 39 (Norway) among women, and from 0 center dot 71 (Greece) to 1 center dot 35 (the Netherlands) among men. Among women, country, age, education, marital status, smoking, day of recall and season were all independently associated with timing of energy intake (all PPeer reviewe

Prediagnostic Blood Metal Levels and the Risk of Parkinson's Disease: A Large European Prospective Cohort

Background: Metals have been postulated as environmental concerns in the etiology of Parkinson's disease (PD), but metal levels are typically measured after diagnosis, which might be subject to reverse causality. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between prediagnostic blood metal levels and PD risk. Methods: A case-control study was nested in a prospective European cohort, using erythrocyte samples collected before PD diagnosis. Results: Most assessed metals were not associated with PD risk. Cadmium has a suggestive negative association with PD (odds ratio [95% confidence interval] for the highest quartile, 0.70 [0.42–1.17]), which diminished among never smokers. Among current smokers only, lead was associated with decreased PD risk (0.06 [0.01–0.35]), whereas arsenic showed associations toward an increased PD risk (1.85 [0.45–7.93]). Conclusions: We observe no strong evidence to support a role of metals in the development of PD. In particular, smoking may confound the association with tobacco-derived metals

Lipopolysaccharide-binding protein and future Parkinson's disease risk: a European prospective cohort

INTRODUCTION: Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is the outer membrane component of Gram-negative bacteria. LPS-binding protein (LBP) is an acute-phase reactant that mediates immune responses triggered by LPS and has been used as a blood marker for LPS. LBP has recently been indicated to be associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) in small-scale retrospective case-control studies. We aimed to investigate the association between LBP blood levels with PD risk in a nested case-control study within a large European prospective cohort. METHODS: A total of 352 incident PD cases (55% males) were identified and one control per case was selected, matched by age at recruitment, sex and study center. LBP levels in plasma collected at recruitment, which was on average 7.8 years before diagnosis of the cases, were analyzed by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Odds ratios (ORs) were estimated for one unit increase of the natural log of LBP levels and PD incidence by conditional logistic regression. RESULTS: Plasma LBP levels were higher in prospective PD cases compared to controls (median (interquartile range) 26.9 (18.1-41.0) vs. 24.7 (16.6-38.4) µg/ml). The OR for PD incidence per one unit increase of log LBP was elevated (1.46, 95% CI 0.98-2.19). This association was more pronounced among women (OR 2.68, 95% CI 1.40-5.13) and overweight/obese subjects (OR 1.54, 95% CI 1.09-2.18). CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that higher plasma LBP levels may be associated with an increased risk of PD and may thus pinpoint to a potential role of endotoxemia in the pathogenesis of PD, particularly in women and overweight/obese individuals

Correction to: Solving patients with rare diseases through programmatic reanalysis of genome-phenome data

In the original publication of the article, consortium author lists were missing in the articl

Correction to: Solve-RD: systematic pan-European data sharing and collaborative analysis to solve rare diseases

In the original publication of the article, consortium author list was missing in the article