bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Design Aspects of a Ring Tension Test Setup and Evaluation of Transverse Material Stress-Strain Curve of Tubular Components Using FE Analysis
Authors: Samal M. K. , Balakrishnan K. S. , Balakrishnan S.
Published: December 2015

Ring tensile specimens are often used to determine the transverse properties of tubular components due to ease in fabrication and handling. Due to the presence of combined tension, bending, lateral pressure, and friction stresses in the ring tension test setup, it is essential to employ a computational tool in order to evaluate the transverse mechanical properties of these tubes accurately. On the other hand, choice of suitable loading mandrel and loading geometry may facilitate estimation of mechanical properties directly from the tests. In this work, the effect of various types of mandrel design and loading geometries on the load-displacement response of a ring specimen were studied. Finite element analysis with material, geometric, and contact nonlinearities were used in order to simulate the plastic deformation behavior of the specimen in ring tension setup and a novel algorithm was employed to extract the material stress-strain curve from experimental data. In addition, it was observed that a 3-piece mandrel with gage length oriented perpendicular to loading axis produced data which closely fits with the results from finite element analysis.
Investigation of Thermal Comfort Properties of Jeggings Manufactured by the Use of Knitted Denim-Like Fabrics
Authors: Değirmenci Züleyha , Çelik Nihat
Published: December 2015

This paper reported the evaluation, discussions, and results of our study on thermal comfort properties of jeggings manufactured by the use of eighteen different types of fleeced knitted fabrics, all of which have been specially designed and produced as to get denim-like appearance. Jeggings, originally, defines tight-fitting stretch pants for women, styled to resemble a pair of denim jeans. Thermal comfort properties of jeggings are of great importance since they are usually used as summer clothes. Tests were performed on air permeability, water vapor permeability, thermal resistance, and absorptivity of the fabrics. Air permeability has been realized under a constant air pressure by the use of SDL Atlas Air Permeability Tester according to the ISO 9237 standard (ISO 9237:1999: Textile-Determination the Air Permeability of Textile Materials, ISO, Geneva, Switzerland, 1999). Water vapor permeability test results were obtained as the index values using SDL Atlas Rotational Platform Tester according to ASTM E96/E96M-14 (Standard Test Methods for Water Vapor Transmission of Materials, ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, 2014, www.astm.org). Thermal resistance and thermal absorptivity tests have been applied on an Alambeta tester. The main goal of the study, besides a contribution to the literature to extend the knowledge in this field, was choosing the best suited fabric or fabrics that were comparatively better than the others examined in this study in terms of the optimized characteristics for wearing cloths as jeggings in summer. Hence, the overall test results were compared in graphic form and evaluated statistically using the SPSS 17.0 package program. Additionally, the multi-response optimization method was applied on the data using the Design Expert 8.0 package program to help for selection of convenient fabric/fabrics for this purpose. At the end of the study, it was found that the fabrics which have bamboo and modal fleecy yarns are suitable for summer wear.
Experimental Investigation of Bending Fatigue Life of Driving Pinion Tooth of Hypoid Bevels
Authors: Xi Lu , Wang Shuwen
Published: December 2015

Using transmission assemblies and pairs of hypoid bevel gears, fatigue experiments with two different test apparatuses were performed to investigate the bending fatigue life of driving pinion tooth. Experimental results indicated that the average fatigue life of driving pinion tooth tested by a pair of hypoid gears was about 4 times longer than that of the results of transmission assemblies under the same input torque. Simulation results of static stress and static deformation proved that one of the main reasons that affect the bending fatigue life of driving pinion tooth was the mounting stiffness of hypoid gear pair. The assessment standards of bending fatigue life of driving pinion tooth were then changed when the mounting stiffness of the hypoid gear pair was different. One of the effective methods for increasing fatigue life of driving pinion tooth and transmission assembly was to increase the mounting stiffness and to ensure accurate mesh of the hypoid gear pair.
Strain Transfer Analysis of Embedded Fiber Bragg Grating Strain Sensor
Authors: Sun Li , Hao Hong , Zhang Bo , Ren Xueling , Li Jun
Published: December 2015

Due to the difference in the physical and mechanical properties between the optical fiber, protective layer, adhesive layer, and the host material, the strains measured by a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor may not be the actual strains of the host material, which impedes the reliable applications of FBG sensors. To overcome this problem, in this paper, the strain transfer formula was derived by using elastic analysis, the shear-lag method, and several reasonable assumptions taking into account temperature variations and nonaxial stresses, which was an improvement to an existing study (Li, H. N., Zhou, G. D., Ren, L., and Li, D. S., “Strain Transfer Analysis of Embedded Fiber Bragg Grating Sensor Under Nonaxial Stress,” Optic. Eng., Vol. 46, No. 5, 2007, 054402). The analytical results were validated by simulating the behavior of a bare optical fiber through finite element analysis. The data enabled the identification of the parameters that influence the strain transfer from the host material to the embedded FBG sensors and the impact of the temperature variation and sensor alignment angle on the measurement accuracy. This work provided additional knowledge for the improvement of the existing strain transfer theory of FBG sensors in order to achieve a more accurate strain measurement with this sensing technology.
An Innovative Approach to Evaluate the Performance of Sludge-Incorporated Fly Ash Bricks
Authors: Velumani P. , SenthilKumar S. , Premalatha P. V.
Published: December 2015

The Industrial Revolution turned a new leaf in the economic growth of India, which is famous for its industries and agriculture. Notably, the textile industry, which is one of the major sectors, has had rapid growth throughout India in general and Tamil Nadu in particular. The government of India has earmarked seven hundred crore rupees in its twelfth five-year plan during 2012–2017 for the development of textiles to increase production at a large scale. For the largest production operations, the necessity arises for the treatment of effluents to be carried out jointly by companies or as individual industries. Apparently, the treatment of textile effluents generates sludge in bulk quantities. This poses a challenge for its disposal. So, attempts were taken to use the sludge as an affordable construction material. Sludge was collected from the effluent treatment plants of the textile industries located in the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT), Perundurai, which is popularly known as a commercial hub. To make a brick, materials like hypo sludge, textile sludge, quarry dust, fly ash, and gypsum were added in suitable proportion. The manufacture of bricks was done in accordance with Indian standard practice. Not only observations but also evaluations were made correctly. There was an increase in strength, which satisfied the criteria of durability, as hypo sludge content was increased. All the combinations that were formulated for the production of brick satisfy Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) requirements.
GPR Raw-Data Analysis to Detect Crack Using Order Statistic Filtering
Authors: Kilic Gokhan , Unluturk Mehmet S.
Published: December 2015

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) uses data collected with the aid of electromagnetic waves transmitted into a structure by antenna to assess and monitor the structural health of many different kinds of civil infrastructure. With GPR technology promoting their system with promises of the achievement of in excess of 1000 sample points per scan, this research demonstrated on the basis of the Nyquist theorem that 256 sample points per scan provided equally reliable inspection results. Furthermore, 256 sample points per scan GPR data were further analyzed by order statistic filtering with neural networks to locate cracks within concrete materials. The results showed that the neural network order statistic filters are effective in their use of detecting cracks in noisy environments using 256 sample points per scan GPR data.
Photoelastic Investigation of Interaction Between Matrix Crack and Different Shapes of Inclusions
Authors: Hao Wenfeng , Tang Can , Yuan Yanan , Ma Yinji
Published: December 2015

The interaction between different shapes of inclusions and the mode I matrix crack was studied experimentally using the photoelasticity method. First, the stress intensity factor (SIF) at the matrix crack tip in the neighborhood of the inclusions was derived based on transformation toughening theory and the Eshelby equivalent inclusion method. Then, photoelastic experiments were conducted using specimens with different shapes of inclusions, and the typical isochromatic fringe patterns around the crack tip near the inclusions were obtained. Finally, a numerical simulation was conducted for the same problem using ABAQUS, and the stress intensity factors computed from the finite-element method were compared with the experimental results. The results show that the stress intensity factors extracted from isochromatic fringe patterns agree well with the numerical and theoretical results.
Spherical Indentation, Part II: Experimental Validation for Measuring Equibiaxial Residual Stresses
Authors: Mahmoudi A. H. , Ghanbari-Matloob M. , Gomar A.
Published: December 2015

It is occasionally important or even inevitable to measure residual stresses without harming engineering components. Spherical indentation can be categorized as a nondestructive method to measure residual stresses, as it causes very little damage to the surface of the sample. Furthermore, it is cheap and quick. Spherical indentation has gained the interest of a number of researchers in recent years. Although, this technique has been used in the literature to measure residual stresses, it has mostly been employed to determine material characteristics. In the current study, the application of the spherical indentation to measure residual stresses was examined and verified experimentally. The instrumented indentation tests resulted in load-displacement curves for different materials with a variety of ranges of equibiaxial stresses, which were then used to train an artificial neural network (ANN). The stress measurements were carried out for both residual and applied stresses. A quenched sample and a cross-shaped bending sample were considered as a source of residual stresses and in-plane applied stresses, respectively. An important benefit of this method was that it could be used with no requirement for a reference stress-free sample. The results of stress measurements illustrated a reasonable success.
Olig1 Acetylation and Nuclear Export Mediate Oligodendrocyte Development
Authors: Dai Jinxiang , Bercury Kathryn K. , Jin Weilin , Macklin Wendy B.
Published: December 2015

The oligodendrocyte transcription factor Olig1 is critical for both oligodendrocyte development and remyelination in mice. Nuclear to cytoplasmic translocation of Olig1 protein occurs during brain development and in multiple sclerosis, but the detailed molecular mechanism of this translocation remains elusive. Here, we report that Olig1 acetylation and deacetylation drive its active translocation between the nucleus and the cytoplasm in both mouse and rat oligodendrocytes. We identified three functional nuclear export sequences (NES) localized in the basic helix-loop-helix domain and one specific acetylation site at Lys 150 (human Olig1) in NES1. Olig1 acetylation and deacetylation are regulated by the acetyltransferase CREB-binding protein and the histone deacetylases HDAC1, HDAC3, and HDAC10. Acetylation of Olig1 decreased its chromatin association, increased its interaction with inhibitor of DNA binding 2 and facilitated its retention in the cytoplasm of mature oligodendrocytes. These studies establish that acetylation of Olig1 regulates its chromatin dissociation and subsequent translocation to the cytoplasm and is required for its function in oligodendrocyte maturation.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTThe nuclear to cytoplasmic translocation of Olig1 protein has been observed during mouse and human brain development and in multiple sclerosis in several studies, but the detailed molecular mechanism of this translocation remains elusive. Here, we provide insight into the mechanism by which acetylation of Olig1 regulates its unique nuclear-cytoplasmic shuttling during oligodendrocyte development and how the acetylation status of Olig1 modulates its distinct function in the nucleus versus the cytoplasm. The current study provides a unique example of a lineage-specific transcription factor that is actively translocated from the nucleus to the cytoplasm as the cell differentiates. Importantly, we demonstrate that this process is tightly controlled by acetylation at a single lysine.
KCC2 Gates Activity-Driven AMPA Receptor Traffic through Cofilin Phosphorylation
Authors: Chevy Quentin , Heubl Martin , Goutierre Marie , Backer Stéphanie , Moutkine Imane , Eugène Emmanuel , Bloch-Gallego Evelyne , Lévi Sabine , Poncer Jean Christophe
Published: December 2015

Expression of the neuronal K/Cl transporter KCC2 is tightly regulated throughout development and by both normal and pathological neuronal activity. Changes in KCC2 expression have often been associated with altered chloride homeostasis and GABA signaling. However, recent evidence supports a role of KCC2 in the development and function of glutamatergic synapses through mechanisms that remain poorly understood. Here we show that suppressing KCC2 expression in rat hippocampal neurons precludes long-term potentiation of glutamatergic synapses specifically by preventing activity-driven membrane delivery of AMPA receptors. This effect is independent of KCC2 transporter function and can be accounted for by increased Rac1/PAK- and LIMK-dependent cofilin phosphorylation and actin polymerization in dendritic spines. Our results demonstrate that KCC2 plays a critical role in the regulation of spine actin cytoskeleton and gates long-term plasticity at excitatory synapses in cortical neurons.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTChanges in the expression of neuronal chloride transporters, such as KCC2, occur during postnatal development and are induced in a variety of neurological and psychiatric conditions. Such changes are expected to primarily impact GABA signaling because GABAA receptors are predominantly permeable to chloride ions. However, the KCC2 transporter forms clusters near glutamatergic synapses and interacts with several actin-related proteins. We show that KCC2 is strictly required for LTP expression at hippocampal excitatory synapses. This effect is due to KCC2 interaction with the Rac1/PAK signaling pathway that controls actin polymerization. Suppressing this interaction promotes actin polymerization thereby hindering AMPA receptor traffic upon KCC2 suppression. Alterations of KCC2 expression therefore impact not only GABAergic signaling but also glutamatergic synaptic function and long term plasticity.
The Role of 5-HT3Receptors in Signaling from Taste Buds to Nerves
Authors: Larson Eric D. , Vandenbeuch Aurelie , Voigt Anja , Meyerhof Wolfgang , Kinnamon Sue C. , Finger Thomas E.
Published: December 2015

Activation of taste buds triggers the release of several neurotransmitters, including ATP and serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT). Type III taste cells release 5-HT directly in response to acidic (sour) stimuli and indirectly in response to bitter and sweet tasting stimuli. Although ATP is necessary for activation of nerve fibers for all taste stimuli, the role of 5-HT is unclear. We investigated whether gustatory afferents express functional 5-HT3receptors and, if so, whether these receptors play a role in transmission of taste information from taste buds to nerves. In mice expressing GFP under the control of the 5-HT3Apromoter, a subset of cells in the geniculate ganglion and nerve fibers in taste buds are GFP-positive. RT-PCR andin situhybridization confirmed the presence of 5-HT3AmRNA in the geniculate ganglion. Functional studies show that only those geniculate ganglion cells expressing 5-HT3A-driven GFP respond to 10 μm5-HT and this response is blocked by 1 μmondansetron, a 5-HT3antagonist, and mimicked by application of 10 μmm-chlorophenylbiguanide, a 5-HT3agonist. Pharmacological blockade of 5-HT3receptorsin vivoor genetic deletion of the 5-HT3receptors reduces taste nerve responses to acids and other taste stimuli compared with controls, but only when urethane was used as the anesthetic. We find that anesthetic levels of pentobarbital reduce taste nerve responses apparently by blocking the 5-HT3receptors. Our results suggest that 5-HT released from type III cells activates gustatory nerve fibers via 5-HT3receptors, accounting for a significant proportion of the neural taste response.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTHistorically, serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) has been described as a candidate neurotransmitter in the gustatory system and recent studies show that type III taste receptor cells release 5-HT in response to various taste stimuli. In the present study, we demonstrate that a subset of gustatory sensory neurons express functional 5-HT3receptors that play a significant role in the neurotransmission of taste information from taste buds to nerves. In addition, we show that the anesthetic pentobarbital, widely used in taste nerve recordings, blocks 5-HT3signaling. Therefore, many conclusions drawn from those data need to be reexamined in light of this anesthetic effect.
Miro1 Regulates Activity-Driven Positioning of Mitochondria within Astrocytic Processes Apposed to Synapses to Regulate Intracellular Calcium Signaling
Authors: Stephen Terri-Leigh , Higgs Nathalie F. , Sheehan David F. , Al Awabdh Sana , López-Doménech Guillermo , Arancibia-Carcamo I. Lorena , Kittler Josef T.
Published: December 2015

It is fast emerging that maintaining mitochondrial function is important for regulating astrocyte function, although the specific mechanisms that govern astrocyte mitochondrial trafficking and positioning remain poorly understood. The mitochondrial Rho-GTPase 1 protein (Miro1) regulates mitochondrial trafficking and detachment from the microtubule transport network to control activity-dependent mitochondrial positioning in neurons. However, whether Miro proteins are important for regulating signaling-dependent mitochondrial dynamics in astrocytic processes remains unclear. Using live-cell confocal microscopy of rat organotypic hippocampal slices, we find that enhancing neuronal activity induces transient mitochondrial remodeling in astrocytes, with a concomitant, transient reduction in mitochondrial trafficking, mediated by elevations in intracellular Ca2+. Stimulating neuronal activity also induced mitochondrial confinement within astrocytic processes in close proximity to synapses. Furthermore, we show that the Ca2+-sensing EF-hand domains of Miro1 are important for regulating mitochondrial trafficking in astrocytes and required for activity-driven mitochondrial confinement near synapses. Additionally, activity-dependent mitochondrial positioning by Miro1 reciprocally regulates the levels of intracellular Ca2+in astrocytic processes. Thus, the regulation of intracellular Ca2+signaling, dependent on Miro1-mediated mitochondrial positioning, could have important consequences for astrocyte Ca2+wave propagation, gliotransmission, and ultimately neuronal function.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTMitochondria are key cellular organelles that play important roles in providing cellular energy and buffering intracellular calcium ions. The mechanisms that control mitochondrial distribution within the processes of glial cells called astrocytes and the impact this may have on calcium signaling remains unclear. We show that activation of glutamate receptors or increased neuronal activity leads to the altered transport of mitochondria and their positioning at synapses dependent on a key mitochondrial trafficking protein called Miro1. We also show that, the control of mitochondrial movement and stopping by Miro plays an important role in regulating astrocyte calcium responses. Thus the regulation of intracellular calcium signaling, by Miro-mediated mitochondrial positioning, could have important consequences for astrocyte signaling and neuron–glial interactions.
Parallel Inhibition of Dopamine Amacrine Cells and Intrinsically Photosensitive Retinal Ganglion Cells in a Non-Image-Forming Visual Circuit of the Mouse Retina
Authors: Vuong Helen E. , Hardi Claudia N. , Barnes Steven , Brecha Nicholas C.
Published: December 2015

An inner retinal microcircuit composed of dopamine (DA)-containing amacrine cells and melanopsin-containing, intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (M1 ipRGCs) process information about the duration and intensity of light exposures, mediating light adaptation, circadian entrainment, pupillary reflexes, and other aspects of non-image-forming vision. The neural interaction is reciprocal: M1 ipRGCs excite DA amacrine cells, and these, in turn, feed inhibition back onto M1 ipRGCs. We found that the neuropeptide somatostatin [somatotropin release inhibiting factor (SRIF)] also inhibits the intrinsic light response of M1 ipRGCs and postulated that, to tune the bidirectional interaction of M1 ipRGCs and DA amacrine cells, SRIF amacrine cells would provide inhibitory modulation to both cell types. SRIF amacrine cells, DA amacrine cells, and M1 ipRGCs form numerous contacts. DA amacrine cells and M1 ipRGCs express the SRIF receptor subtypes sst2Aand sst4respectively. SRIF modulation of the microcircuit was investigated with targeted patch-clamp recordings of DA amacrine cells in TH–RFP mice and M1 ipRGCs in OPN4–EGFP mice. SRIF increases K+currents, decreases Ca2+currents, and inhibits spike activity in both cell types, actions reproduced by the selective sst2Aagonist L-054,264 (N-[(1R)-2-[[[(1S*,3R*)-3-(aminomethyl)cyclohexyl]methyl]amino]-1-(1H-indol-3-ylmethyl)-2-oxoethyl]spiro[1H-indene-1,4′-piperidine]-1′-carboxamide) in DA amacrine cells and the selective sst4agonist L-803,087 (N2-[4-(5,7-difluoro-2-phenyl-1H-indol-3-yl)-1-oxobutyl]-l-arginine methyl ester trifluoroacetate) in M1 ipRGCs. These parallel actions of SRIF may serve to counteract the disinhibition of M1 ipRGCs caused by SRIF inhibition of DA amacrine cells. This allows the actions of SRIF on DA amacrine cells to proceed with adjusting retinal DA levels without destabilizing light responses by M1 ipRGCs, which project to non-image-forming targets in the brain.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTAmacrine cells form multiple microcircuits in the inner retina to mediate visual processing, although their organization and function remain incompletely understood. The somatostatin [somatotropin release inhibiting factor (SRIF)]- and dopamine (DA)-releasing amacrine cells act globally, and, in this study, they are shown to interact and modulate the light response of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs). SRIF amacrine cells target both DA amacrine cells and M1 ipRGCs for inhibition. The parallel actions of SRIF may serve to compensate for the loss of DA-mediated inhibition of M1 ipRGCs. This inhibitory tuning is of particular importance because the DA system mediates a broad range of light adaptational actions in the retina and M1 ipRGCs project to brain areas that influence sleep, mood, cognition, circadian entrainment, and pupillary reflexes.
Rewarding Effects of Optical Stimulation of Ventral Tegmental Area Glutamatergic Neurons
Authors: Wang Hui-Ling , Qi Jia , Zhang Shiliang , Wang Huikun , Morales Marisela
Published: December 2015

Ventral tegmental area (VTA) neurons play roles in reward and aversion. The VTA has three major neuronal phenotypes: dopaminergic, GABAergic, and glutamatergic. VTA glutamatergic neurons—expressing vesicular glutamate transporter-2 (VGluT2)—project to limbic and cortical regions, but also excite neighboring dopaminergic neurons. Here, we test whether local photoactivation of VTA VGluT2 neurons expressing Channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) under the VGluT2 promoter causes place preference and supports operant responding for the stimulation. By using a Cre-dependent viral vector, ChR2 (tethered to mCherry) was expressed in VTA glutamatergic neurons ofVGluT2::Cre mice. The mCherry distribution was evaluated by immunolabeling. By confocal microscopy, we detected expression of mCherry in VTA cell bodies and local processes. In contrast, VGluT2 expression was restricted to varicosities, some of them coexpressing mCherry. By electron microscopy, we determined that mCherry-VGluT2 varicosities correspond to axon terminals, forming asymmetric synapses on neighboring dopaminergic neurons. These findings indicate that ChR2 was present in terminals containing glutamatergic synaptic vesicles and involved in local synaptic connections. Photoactivation of VTA slices from ChR2-expressing mice induced AMPA/NMDA receptor-dependent firing of dopaminergic neurons projecting to the nucleus accumbens. VTA photoactivation of ChR2-expressing mice reinforced instrumental behavior and established place preferences. VTA injections of AMPA or NMDA receptor antagonists blocked optical self-stimulation and place preference. These findings suggest a role in reward function for VTA glutamatergic neurons through local excitatory synapses on mesoaccumbens dopaminergic neurons.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTWe show that previously discovered glutamatergic neurons within the ventral tegmental area (VTA), through their local connections, play a role in reward. The participation of VTA glutamatergic neurons in reward involves VTA glutamatergic neurons that establish local excitatory connections. These neurons concentrate the protein VGluT2 in their axon terminals to transport and accumulate glutamate into vesicles for its synaptic release. The VTA activation of these terminals is rewarding and involves local synaptic glutamate release, which in turn activates glutamatergic receptors in neighboring mesoaccumbens dopaminergic neurons.
1968/2008: Reflections on Social Movements in an Age of Permanent War
Authors: Singh Nikhil Pal
Published: December 2015

1968 represents a crossroads of sorts, whose alternative political trajectories continue to influence the present in often confusing and contradictory ways. We have an increasingly exhaustive historical narrative detailing the long Black freedom struggle against white supremacist monopolizations of power and resources in the era before the Montgomery bus boycott. From the heroic mobilizations of Reconstruction-era Black politics in the face of white terror, through two great migrations, the mobilizations of Black labor, a new Black urbanism, and forms of worldly engagement in an era of global wars and decolonization struggles, the Black freedom movement simultaneously carried and deepened a demand for racial democracy. It is ironic, however, that even as aspects of this past become clarified, the more immediate history and political meaning of this long struggle have grown murky. I am specifically thinking about the foreclosure of Black freedom imperatives in the United States, particularly in the late 1960s and early 1970s, for which the year 1968 retains an iconic significance. Here the story often bifurcates, becoming a tale either of teleological fulfillment and narrative closure, or of violent fragmentation and ragged endings. These different trajectories lead us in turn to starkly different eventualities: the election of Barack Obama and the symbolic validation of the promise of Black politics, or the increasingly global US war-prison complex, where the tattered ends of our social contract once again meet the unforgiving cut of racialized governance. In this context, the searching question asked by Martin Luther King in his fateful final year—“Where Do We Go from Here?”—remains as relevant as ever.
More than Mojo: Gender, Sex, and the Racialized Erotics of Global ’68
Authors: Cohen Deborah , Frazier Lessie Jo
Published: December 2015

Here we offer a transnational perspective on ’68 that takes sex, sexuality, and gender seriously. These factors are, we contend, critical to decoding the actions of rebellious youth and the elite panics that this youth activism provoked in a thoroughly racialized global arena. International dynamics of the sixties were themselves part of erotic economies of power often expressed in symbolically gendered and sexualized terms. They called attention to a modernist project premised on the global (already racialized) hierarchization of nations and peoples. National elites around the world were up in arms that the university children who had benefited from this modernizing project with the expansion of education were attempting to subvert it by flaunting its fundamental rule and engaging in cross-class and cross-racial sex. That is, the actions and rhetoric of both elites and youth reveal linkages between modernity, education, and the racialized erotics of ’68 movements. Hence, the political imaginaries animating social movements and sixties political culture writ large were gendered, sexed, racialized, and transnational. Taking racialized erotics seriously, we argue, reveals both the gendered and sexed nature of political agency, and the profound social, political, and cultural transformations many of the ’68 movements engendered. Sex, sexuality, and gender offer lenses into the workings of subjectivity, agency, memory, political cultures of the state, and contestatory social movements of the period, and show how the personal was (and still remains) political as a way of explaining ’68 as a pivotal year on a global scale.
Music and Memory: The Tlatelolco Refrain
Authors: Kun Josh
Published: December 2015

Ever since the 1968 student movements and the events surrounding the Tlatelolco massacre, Mexico City rock bands have openly engaged with the intersection of music and memory. Their songs offer audiences a medium through which to come to terms with the events of the past as a means of praising a broken world, to borrow the poet Adam Zagajewski’s phrase. Contemporary songs such as Saúl Hernández’s “Fuerte” are a twenty-first-century voicing of the ceaseless revolutionary spirit that John Gibler has called “Mexico unconquered,” a current of rebellion and social hunger for justice that runs in the veins of Mexican history. They are the latest additions to what we might think about as “the Mexico unconquered songbook”: musical critiques of impunity and state violence that are rooted in the weaponry of memory, refusing to focus solely on the present and instead making connections with the political past. What Octavio Paz described as a “swash of blood” that swept across “the international subculture of the young” during the events in Tlatelolco Plaza on October 2, 1968, now becomes a refrain of musical memory and political consciousness that extends across eras and generations. That famous phrase of Paz’s is a reminder that these most recent Mexican musical interventions, these most recent formations of a Mexican subculture of the young, maintain a historically tested relationship to blood, death, loss, and violence.
“The Burial and Unburial of Women”: Thin Black Line(s) and Tracing “Moments and Connections” in Black British Women’s Art Histories
Authors: Bernier Celeste-Marie
Published: December 2015

As an artist who refuses categorically to shy away from both the “history of slavery” and the “contemporary grievances” arising from a white-dominated British art world, Lubaina Himid created a curatorial tour de force with her Thin Black Line(s) exhibition, on display at Tate Britain in 2011–2012. She adopted an array of signifying practices designed to riff off, reclaim, and revise the ideological biases and racialized blind spots of the Tate as a national institution. Himid’s long history of exhibiting Black British women’s work reflects her determination to fight against their “collective invisibility in the art world” as they “engaged with the social, cultural, political and aesthetic issues of the time” by undertaking a “conceptual reframing of the image of black and Asian women themselves.” Working with the spatial constraints of just one room in which to exhibit a decades-long history of Black British women artists and art making, Himid also had to rely upon numerous strategies to confront the obstacles presented by the Tate’s decision to mount Thin Black Line(s) not as a full-scale exhibition but as an “in-focus display.” This meant that it was not given as extensive a budget or as large an exhibition space as the Tate exhibitions appearing as part of their regular programming, and also not accorded the same levels of marketing, advertising, and scholarly attention. Himid set about solving these problems by engaging in diverse extra-curatorial practices and also by contesting and critiquing these limitations within the space itself. Himid’s self-reflexive strategies became a form of “guerrilla curating” as she engaged in a multitude of methods designed to critique, interrogate, and displace—if not outright reject—the challenges presented by the ideologically confining and tokenizing framing of the Tate as an exhibition space.
Pathways to Legalization: Undocumented Mexican Immigrants in the US/Mexico Borderlands, 1942–1956
Authors: Rosas Ana Elizabeth
Published: December 2015

In the 1940s, curbing undocumented Mexican immigrant entry into the United States became a US government priority because of an alleged immigration surge, which was blamed for the unemployment of an estimated 252,000 US domestic agricultural laborers. Publicly committed to asserting its control of undocumented Mexican immigrant entry, the US government used Operation Wetback, a binational INS border-enforcement operation, to strike a delicate balance between satisfying US growers’ unending demands for surplus Mexican immigrant labor and responding to the jobs lost by US domestic agricultural laborers. Yet Operation Wetback would also unintentionally and unexpectedly fuel a distinctly transnational pathway to legalization, marriage, and extended family formation for some Mexican immigrants.On July 12, 1951, US president Harry S. Truman’s signing of Public Law 78 initiated such a pathway for an estimated 125,000 undocumented Mexican immigrant laborers throughout the United States. This law was an extension the Bracero Program, a labor agreement between the Mexican and US governments that authorized the temporary contracting of braceros (male Mexican contract laborers) for labor in agricultural production and railroad maintenance. It was formative to undocumented Mexican immigrant laborers’ transnational pursuit of decisively personal goals in both Mexico and the United States.Section 501 of this law, which allowed employers to sponsor certain undocumented laborers, became a transnational pathway toward formalizing extended family relationships between braceros and Mexican American women. This article seeks to begin a discussion on how Operation Wetback unwittingly inspired a distinctly transnational approach to personal extended family relationships in Mexico and the United States among individuals of Mexican descent and varying legal statuses, a social matrix that remains relatively unexplored.
Force and Shadow in the Making of Precarity: Racialized Bodies and State Power
Authors: Boris Eileen
Published: December 2015

This article illuminates the ways that citizenship status and race enter into the making of precarity under social policies beyond the exclusions from labor protections, social security, and public assistance (the welfare we hear about) that historians commonly discuss to explain the workings of what I have named the “racialized gendered” state. That is, over the last quarter century, women and gender historians have reshaped the narrative of social politics to show the differential treatment of women by race and class that has reinforced and intensified, even while it has reflected, economic and social inequality. To explore how force generates a shadow, pushing some outside the law to live unnoticed and toil in low-waged and temporary jobs, I turn to immigration policy, especially the threat of deportation that has generated fear for those classified as “alien” or “illegal.” In focusing on the violence of both immigration restriction and segregation, I argue that state power has particularly targeted racialized gendered bodies for the low wages of precarity.  That is, we cannot fully understand women and precarious labor without accounting for the ways that race, gender, and citizenship status work together.
California
Authors: Alvarez Roberto
Published: December 2015

I utilize my situated position as anthropologist, academician, and citizen to argue not only that we should “think” California, but also that we should “rethink” our state—both its condition and its social cartography. To be clear, I see all my research and endeavors—my research on the US/Mexico border; my time among the markets and entrepreneurs I have worked and lived with; my focus on those places in which I was raised: Lemon Grove, Logan Heights; the family network and my community ethnographic work—as personal. I am in this academic game and the telling of our story because it is personal. When Lemon Grove was segregated, it was about my family; when Logan Heights was split by the construction of Interstate 5 and threatened by police surveillance, it was about our community; when the border was sanctioned and militarized it again was about the communities of which I am a part. A rethinking California is rooted in the experience of living California, of knowing and feeling the condition and the struggles we are experiencing and the crises we have gone through. We need to rethink California, especially the current failure of the state. This too is ultimately personal, because it affects each and every one of us, especially those historically unrepresented folks who have endured over the decades.
Teaching Teachers and Learning from Young Learners
Authors: Reynolds Milton
Published: December 2015

At its best, education is an important training for citizenship, and the content we teach plays an important role in this process. One’s ability to ask questions is often a function of what one knows, but may also be a function of what one does not know. History is an argument about the past. Power relationships—who has the ability to legitimize their own stories, whose stories matter, whose stories are in the spotlight and which ones remain in the shadows—are part of the mix. A major challenge of US history teaching and learning is that our narrative is primarily a celebratory one. While not unique to the United States, efforts to avoid the more troubling aspects of our past too often obscure the contributions of an increasingly large segment of our current student population, our future leaders. All nations have a compelling interest in presenting a narrative that is engaging, that is inspiring. However, one casualty of the process of narrative construction is that troubling or controversial aspects of a nation’s history are often relegated to the dustbin. This can leave many wanting, or lead them to become cynical. We need to engage with our past if we are to meet the challenges of our present. Many of today’s most pressing challenges are directly connected to the past.
Multifocal Gastrointestinal Angiosarcoma: a Challenging Diagnosis?
Authors: De Francesco Vincenzo , Bellesia Annamaria , Corsi Fabrizio , Pennella Antonio , Ridola Lorenzo , Zullo Angelo
Published: December 2015

Angiosarcoma rarely involves the gastrointestinal tract. Herein, we describe the case of a 68-year-old man with haemoptysis and melena who was eventually diagnosed with multifocal angiosarcoma of the stomach, small bowel, lungs, and thyroid. The peculiarity was that the histological feature of the polypoid lesions removed at endoscopy was initially misinterpreted as benign hyperplastic polyps, whilst their neoplastic nature was clinically suspected only when the videocapsule endoscopy revealed the presence of multiple variable-sized nodules with apical erosion or active bleeding in the small bowel.Based on the very low incidence, diagnosis of angiosarcoma involving the gastrointestinal tract may be misinterpreted by both the endoscopist and pathologist.

Abbreviations: GI: Gastrointestinal; GIST: Gastrointestinal stromal tumor; VCE: Videocapsule endoscopy
Tuberculin Skin Test and Quantiferon in BCG Vaccinated, Immunosuppressed Patients with Moderate-to-Severe Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Authors: Kurti Zsuzsanna , Lovasz Barbara Dorottya , Gecse Krisztina Barbara , Balint Anita , Farkas Klaudia , Morocza- Szabo Agnes , Gyurcsanyi Andras , Kristof Katalin , Vegh Zsuzsanna , Gonczi Lorant , Kiss Lajos Sandor , Golovics Petra Anna , Lakatos Laszlo , Molnar Tamas , Lakatos Peter Laszlo
Published: December 2015

Background & Aims: There are few data available on the effect of immunomodulator/biological therapy on the accuracy of the tuberculin skin test (TST) and interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) in BCG-vaccinated immunosuppressed patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Our aim was to define the accuracy, predictors and agreement of TST and IGRA in a BCG-vaccinated immunosuppressed referral IBD cohort.

Methods: 166 consecutive moderate-to-severe IBD patients (122 Crohn’s disease, CD and 44 ulcerative colitis, UC) were enrolled in a prospective study from three centers. Patients were treated with immunosuppressives and/or biologicals. IGRA and TST were performed on the same day. Both in- and outpatient records were collected and comprehensively reviewed.

Results: TST positivity rate was 23.5%, 21.1%,14.5% and 13.9% when cut-off values of 5, 10, 15 and 20mm were used. IGRA positivity rate was 8.4% with indeterminate result in 0.6%. Chest X-ray was suggestive of latent tuberculosis in 2 patients. Correlation between TST and IGRA was moderate (kappa: 0.39-0.41, p<0.001). In addition, a cut-off of 14 and 17mm for TST was defined to identify IGRA positivity in a ROC analysis (AUC: 0.76, p=0.03). TST and/or IGRA positivity was not influenced by medical therapy or disease phenotype. Importantly, smoking was identified as a risk factor for TST but not IGRA positivity (OR: 2.70-5.02, p<0.01, for TSTcut-offs=5-20mm).

Conclusion: TST and IGRA tests are partly complimentary methods, and additional testing by TST (with a cut-off of >15mm) should be considered to identify patients at risk for latent TB. Accuracy is satisfactory in BCG-vaccinated, immunosuppressed IBD patients. Smoking is a risk factor for TST positivity.– .

Abbreviations: AZA: azathioprine; BCG: Bacille Calmette-Guérin; CD: Crohn’s disease; CRP: C-reactive protein; HBI: Harvey–Bradshaw Index; IBD: inflammatory bowel diseases; IGRA: interferon-gamma release assay; IST: immunosuppressive therapy; LTB: latent tuberculosis; UC: ulcerative colitis; TB: tuberculosis; TNF: tumor necrosis factor; TST: tuberculin skin test/ Mantoux skin test
Self-Administered Home Series Fecal “Minitransplants” for Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection on a Rectal Remnant
Authors: Popa Daniel , Laszlo Mihaela , Ciobanu Lidia , Ucenic Elena , Mihalache Manuela , Pascu Oliviu
Published: December 2015

A fecal microbiota transplant has proved to be an extremely effective method for patients with recurrent infections with Clostridium difficile. We present the case of a 65-year-old female patient with multiple Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) relapses on the rectal remnant, post-colectomy for a CDI-related toxic megacolon. The patient also evidenced associated symptomatic Clostridium difficile vaginal infection. She was successfully treated with serial fecal “minitransplants” (self-administered at home) and metronidazole ovules.Abbreviations: GI: gastrointestinal; MRI: magnetic resonance imaging; CDI: Clostridium difficile infection; FMT: fecal microbiota transplant.
Peritoneal Coccidioidomycosis: a Rare Case Report and Review of the Literature
Authors: Storage Tina R. , Segal Joshua , Brown Janice
Published: December 2015

Coccidioidomycosis is a fungal infection endemic to the southwestern United States that typically causes a self-limited pulmonary illness. Extrapulmonary dissemination is extremely rare and typically localized to the skin, bone, and meninges. The gastrointestinal system has generally been thought to be spared from this disease. This report describes a patient who was initially diagnosed with pulmonary coccidioidomycosis with mediastinal lymphadenopathy and skin dissemination. Ten months after completion of treatment, he presented with nonspecific abdominal pain and diffuse musculoskeletal and constitutional symptoms. Radiographic imaging revealed near resolution of previously noted thoracic findings but new peritoneal thickening and enhancement suggestive of peritoneal carcinomatosis. Laparoscopic biopsies confirmed Coccidioides immitis by culture and histology without evidence of other abnormalities.This case is unique for several reasons. It is one of a relatively small number of cases that describes a diagnosis of peritoneal coccidioidomycosis and the first case identified in which a healthy patient developed extensive peritoneal disease in spite of near-complete resolution of pulmonary and skin manifestations after appropriate treatment. This case underscores the complexity of this disease and motivates more investigation into pathophysiology and treatment considerations of coccidioidomycosis in the gastrointestinal system. We will review the risk factors associated with dissemination, the interpretation of serologies, the characteristics of patients with peritoneal involvement, and finally, the current treatment guidelines.

Abbreviations: AIDS: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; CF: complement fixation; HIV: Human Immunodeficiency Virus; ID: immunodiffusion; IDCF: quantitative immunodiffusion.
Hepatocellular Adenomas and Carcinoma in Asymptomatic, Non- Cirrhotic Type III Glycogen Storage Disease
Authors: Oterdoom Leendert H. , Verweij Evelyne K. , Biermann Katharina , Langeveld Mirjam , Van Buuren Henk R.
Published: December 2015

Glycogen storage diseases (GSDs) are a group of inherited metabolic disorders characterized by accumulation of abnormal glycogen in muscle or liver or both. Specific hepatic complications include liver adenomas and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Hepatocellular carcinomas described in GSD type I are often due to the degeneration of liver adenomas. Hepatocellular carcinoma in GSD type III, however, is rare and is thought to be associated with underlying cirrhosis.We present the case of a 63-year old male who was admitted for assessment of suitability for liver transplantation because of development of recurrent HCC in the presence of multiple liver adenomas. A diagnosis of GSD type III was made in this patient without underlying cirrhosis or metabolic disturbances resembling GSD. This case report is the first documentation of HCC development in an asymptomatic, non-cirrhotic patient with GSD type III. This raises the possibility that in GSD type III, the adenoma – carcinoma sequence can occur as it is also seen in GSD type I. Physicians taking care of GSD patients should be aware of this and some form of surveillance for cirrhosis and HCC should be considered. Also male patients with adenomas should have a thorough workup to reveal any underlying disease such as GSD.

Abbreviations: GSD: glycogen storage disease; HCC: hepatocellular carcinoma; RFA: radiofrequency ablation.