Resisting Nudities

This provocative book re-conceives the erotic and its imaginative manifestations as an aesthetic ultimately driven by the disruption of desire. Critical, philosophical, and erotic texts construct a framework for understanding the aesthetics of eroticism including a «resisting nude» grounded in a theory of absence and the psychosocial dynamic of physical and mental surveillance. Resisting Nudities offers a necessary link between the poetry of jouissance and the revolt of body and mind intrinsic to the erotic, at a key moment in our contemporary cultural landscape. Written through a poetic lens, it is a creative new analysis of what George Bataille called the most intense of human moments.

Ever since the uprisings that swept the Arab world, the role of Arab women in political transformations received unprecedented media attention. The copious commentary, however, has yet to result in any serious study of the gender dynamics of political upheaval. Rethinking Gender in Revolutions and Resistance is the first book to analyse the interplay between moments of sociopolitical transformation, emerging subjectivities and the different modes of women’s agency in forging new gender norms in the Arab world. Written by scholars and activists from the countries affected, including Palestine, Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, this is an important addition to Middle Eastern gender studies.

This book reviews the epidemiological associations between insulin resistance and cancer. This is followed by reviews of animal models which support this relationship and provide insight into potential mechanisms. Several chapters then provide detailed examination of the cellular and molecular changes characterizing the insulin resistant state, such as hyperinsulinemia, abnormal metabolism and hormone signaling, and how these interact with various tumor characteristics. For example some tumors present increased quantities of the fetal form of the insulin receptor, unique regulation of oxidative (Krebs’ cycle) metabolism (Warburg effect), as well as mutations in various relevant signaling pathways. Finally, the clinical implications of these data are integrated with considerations of insulin “sensitization” and potential metabolic interventions to prevent and treat cancer. It should be noted that while a number of cancers are associated with obesity the authors here have focused primarily on breast cancer as a key and significant model.

Plant diseases and pests are a major constraint to agricultural production despite the various measures used to control them. Chemical control, although often e~~ective, may pose environmental hazards and is relatively expensive, especially in developing countries where it may be completely uneconomic. Control through genetically mediated resistance to diseases and pests, is both cheap and environmentally sa~e and at present most diseases and pests o~ staple ~ood crops are controlled through some form of resistance. One of the basic problems in the use of resistance is its ~re quent lack of durability; very often a type of resistance is used that 'breaks down' after a certain period. The temporary nature of this resistance, due to the development of new strains of pest or pathogen able to overcome it, has seriously hindered the improvement o~ the yield potential of many crops as a continuing effort is needed to replace old cultivars who resistance has failed, with new ones. Following Vanderplank's now classical publications (1963, 1968) which differentiated horizontal and vertical resistance, studies on several host-parasite systems have shown that di~ferent types of resistance can be distinguished genetically and epidemiologically, and on the ability o~ the pests or pathogens to adapt to them. A knowledge of how resistance operates at the population level has also opened up possibilities of 'managing' relatively simple resistance types in such a way that a stable host-pathogen system can be pro duced with a minimum of crop loss.

First published in 1989, Immunology of Nude Mice presents a discussion of the nature of this viable laboratory mutant. This new volume updates all immunological information contained in the sparse literature concerning nude mice. It comprehensively explores some of the fre-quent questions associated with nude mice, such as if the mutant is really athymic or if the thymic defect causes all of the other deviations from brain to gonads. The practical consequences of hairlessness of the mutant are also consid-ered. Illustrated with original photographs and tables doc-umenting novel facts in immunology and physiology of nude mice, this publication is valuable for investigators and stu-dents entering the field.