Binding Cultures

"Wilentz . . . makes convincing arguments for the connections between African and Afro-American women's culture." —Nellie McKay "Wilentz's jargon-free, intelligent discussion . . . will appeal to students in African, African American, and women's literature courses, as well as general readers interested in the emerging field." —Choice "Through these works, Wilentz demonstrates the powerful transformation possible through understanding—and embracing—the past, even if that past includes oppression and brutalization." —Belles Lettres Binding Cultures investigates the cultural bonds between African and African-American women writers such as Nigerian Flora Nwapa and Ghanaians Efua Sutherland and Ama Ata Aidoo, writers who focus on the role of women in passing on cultural values to future generations, and African-American writers Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, and Paule Marshall, who self-consciously evoke African culture to help create a more integrated African-American community.

In this classic text, James W. Carey maintains that communication is not merely the transmission of information; reminding the reader of the link between the words "communication" and "community," he broadens his definition to include the drawing-together of a people that is culture. In this context, Carey questions the American tradition of focusing only on mass communication's function as a means of social and political control, and makes a case for examining the content of a communication—the meaning of symbols, not only the motives that originate them or the purposes they serve. He seeks to recast the goal of communication studies, replacing the search for deterministic laws of behavior with a simpler, yet far more challenging mission: "to enlarge the human conversation by comprehending what others are saying." This new edition includes a new critical foreword by G. Stuart Adam that explains Carey's fundamental role in transforming the study of mass communication to include a cultural perspective and connects his classic essays with contemporary media issues and trends. This edition also adds a new, complete bibliography of all of Carey's writings.

Bacterial Immunoglobulin-Binding Proteins: Applications in Immunotechnology, Volume 2 covers the state of knowledge of bacterial immunoglobulin-binding proteins. The book focuses on practical approaches to isolation, characterization, and use of bacterial immunoglobulin-binding proteins. The majority of these studies involve the type I Fc-binding protein (staphylococcal protein A) and the type III Fc-binding protein (streptococcal protein G). Physiological chemists, pediatricians, and microbiologists will find the book invaluable.

This book describes the complex structures of heparins and heparan sulfates (heparinoids) and how they are generated by their biosynthetic pathways. The book also details the methodologies for studying these structures and their cellular metabolism. Heparin-Binding Proteins introduces the general nature of interactions between heparinoids and proteins, and presents the role for these structures in their interactions with the proteins of the hemostatic mechanisms, fibroblasts growth factors, superoxide dismutase, and lipoproteins. Covers cellular metabolism of heparinoid proteoglycans Written by a distinguished expert in the field of carbohydrate biochemistry Describes the roles of heparan sulfate proteoglycans in Blood coagulation and fibrinolysis Lipoprotein metabolism Superoxide dismutase activity Fibroblast growth factor responses of cells

Receptor-Mediated Binding and Internalization of Toxins and Hormones presents the proceedings of a conference conducted for the purpose of exploring relationships between hormones and toxins, specifically, receptor-mediated internalization of toxins and hormones and the role of this internalization in message transmission and biodegradatory processes. This book is divided into three sections, with the first focusing on model systems of internalization. It presents pictorial illustrations of the receptor-mediated endocytosis of low-density lipoprotein via coated regions of membrane and discusses the receptor for lysosomal enzymes on the surface of cultured fibroblasts. The second section focuses on toxins and hormones and discusses such topics as receptor-mediated internalization of diphtheria toxin, diphtheria toxin interactions with an inhibitory activity from plasma membranes, and uptake mechanisms for ADP-ribosylating toxins. The third and final section focuses on hybrids and discusses such topics as chimeric toxins containing fragment A from diphtheria toxin, directed entry of hybrid proteins into cells via alternate receptors, and a hybrid protein of monoclonal anti-THY 1.2 and diphtheria toxin fragment A. This book will be of interest to practitioners in the fields of endocrinology, cell biology, and molecular genetics.

The family of IGFBPs has been developed by the duplication of genes and genomes and contributes to genetic and functional diversity. Due to the different protein domains present in the molecule, IGFBPs can be seen as mediators of tissue-specific IGF-functions. However, IGFBPs also have IGF-independent functions both inside and outside the cell. These diverse genetic, molecular and functional aspects of IGFBPs are discussed within this Research Topic. Accumulating data provide evidence for the regulation of IGFBP-functions by proteases, which may acutely regulate bioactivity of the IGFs. However, during proteolytic degradation IGFBP-fragments with novel functions can also be formed and are located both intra- and extracellularly. Distinct IGFBP-fragments can even be found in the perinuclear compartment or within the nucleus, where they can impact on gene expression. Several contributions presented in the current Research Topic particularly stress the relevance of structural aspects in IGFBP research. The current lack of comprehensive structural information is dramatically limiting the biomarker potential of particular IGFBPs. Finally, the Research Topic also provides novel functions of the IGFBP family from model organisms, farm animals and humans. Thereby, the biomarker potential not only relates to normal and malignant growth but also to metabolism and animal welfare. One important aim of the Research Topic is to encourage next generation IGFBP research reflecting subject-individual, conditional, and hormonal parameters but also structural aspects of the IGFBPs.

Mining the rich Venetian archives, especially the unusually detailed records of Venice's own branch of the Roman Inquisition, Guido Ruggiero provides a strikingly new and provocative interpretation of the end of the Renaissance in Italy. In this boldly structured work, he develops five narrative accounts of individual encounters with the Inquisition that illustrate the double-edged metaphor of how passions were both bound by late Renaissance society and were seen in turn as binding people. In this way new perspectives are opened on magic, witchcraft, love, marriage, gender, and discipline at the level of the community and beyond. Witches, courtesans, prostitutes, women healers, nobles, Cardinals, and renegade priests and monks speak from these pages describing their lives, beliefs, hopes, fears, and lies. With an imaginative flair for storytelling and impeccable scholarship, Ruggiero exposes the rich complexity of the culture and poetics of the everyday at the end of the Renaissance and illuminates a previously unexplored chapter in Italian history.