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At the time of implantation in the maternal uterus, the mouse blastocyst possesses an inner cell mass comprising two lineages: epiblast (Epi) and primitive endoderm (PrE). Representative stem cells derived from these two cell lineages can be expanded and maintained indefinitely in vitro as either embryonic stem (ES) or XEN cells, respectively. Here we describe protocols that can be used to establish XEN cell lines. These include the establishment of XEN cells from blastocyst-stage embryos in either standard embryonic or trophoblast stem (TS) cell culture conditions. We also describe protocols for establishing XEN cells directly from ES cells by either retinoic acid and activin-based conversion or by overexpression of the GATA transcription factor Gata6. XEN cells are a useful model of PrE cells, with which they share gene expression, differentiation potential and lineage restriction. The robust protocols for deriving XEN cells described here can be completed within 2–3 weeks.

Mass Capture argues the CI 9 documents implemented by the Canadian government to acquire information on Chinese migrants acted as a process of mass capture that produced non-citizens. Cho reveals CI 9s as more than documents of racist repression: they offer possibilities for beauty and dignity in the archive, for captivation as well as capture.

The generation of human sensory neurons by directed differentiation of pluripotent stem cells opens new opportunities for investigating the biology of pain. The inability to generate this cell type has meant that up until now their study has been reliant on the use of rodent models. Here, we use a combination of population and single-cell techniques to perform a detailed molecular, electrophysiological, and pharmacological phenotyping of sensory neurons derived from human embryonic stem cells. We describe the evolution of cell populations over 6 weeks of directed differentiation; a process that results in the generation of a largely homogeneous population of neurons that are both molecularly and functionally comparable to human sensory neurons derived from mature dorsal root ganglia. This work opens the prospect of using pluripotent stem-cell–derived sensory neurons to study human neuronal physiology and as in vitro models for drug discovery in pain and sensory disorders.

Individuals with an extremely rare inherited condition, termed Congenital Insensitivity to Pain (CIP), do not feel pain in response to noxious stimuli. Variants in SCN9A, encoding the transmembrane voltage-gated sodium channel Na 1.7, have previously been reported in subjects with CIP accompanied by anosmia, which are typically transmitted in a recessive pattern. Functional characterisations of some of these SCN9A mutations show that they result in complete loss-of-function of Na 1.7. In a consanguineous family we performed whole exome sequencing of three members who have a diagnosis of CIP and one unaffected family member. The functional effects of the segregating variant in SCN9A were determined using patch clamp electrophysiology in human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells transfected with the variant. We found that each CIP subject was homozygous for a putatively nonsense variant, R1488*, in SCN9A. This variant was reported elsewhere in a subject with CIP, though the functional effect was not determined. Using electrophysiology, we confirm that this variant results in a complete loss-of-function of Na 1.7. We confirm through electrophysiological analysis that this R1488* variant in SCN9A results in complete loss-of-function of Na 1.7, which is consistent with reports on other variants in this gene in subjects with CIP.

\"Is there, or can there be, a Canadian literary studies apart from the problematic nature of CanLit?\" They also ask, \"where can or should the field go in the near future?\" Thinking about these questions brings me first to the most immediate loss. [...]we took it for granted that Canadian literary writers and critics wanted, more or less, the same things (and here I am quoting Laura's introduction): \"strong public support for arts and culture in Canada\" and for the \"critics of the future [to] have enough distance and generosity to read the literature and the theoretical debates of the turn of the twenty-first century with respect\" (108). [...]there are many more such stories that demand rethinking and renewed analytical attention. \"Introduction: Generous and Grounded Connections\" 50th Anniversary Interventions, special issue of Canadian Literature, no. 204, 2010, pp. 103-08.

This essay intervenes in global economic discussions on counterfeit goods and piracy. Against the condemnation of fakes and counterfeit put forward by international economic bodies such as the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), this essay argues that fakes are not straightforwardly good or bad. Instead, this article connects fakes and counterfeits to derivatives and examines how they operate in Tash Aw's Five Star Billionaire. It argues that the novel rejects simplistic moralizing and binaristic approaches to fakes and presents instead a system that allows different and multifaceted forms of value to emerge. The novel engages with fakes on multiple levels: it is itself a fake self-help manual, and it features characters whose identities are, in various ways, counterfeit. Aw depicts fake objects and people as sites of possibility in the context of copying and derivatives. Using Arjun Appadurai's argument for understanding financial derivatives as a function of language, this essay shows that Aw engages with the generative possibilities of fakeness. His novel illustrates how counterfeit goods can be more than simply inauthentic and reveals the complex negotiations involved in interpreting and translating counterfeits, as well as the promise they hold. Ultimately, the novel resists condemning fakes and insists on their doubleness and ambiguity.

This essay argues for the need to historicize and theorize race in photography by attending to the interventions of darkroom technicians, especially those who are themselves racialized. Understanding the crucial role of the darkroom technician challenges the idea that photographic development is merely a mechanical or technical process. The photograph in development represents a moment of transition that illuminates the instabilities of photographic images in general, and those that attend to race and diaspora in particular. Racialized and diasporic identities are constructed out of and despite ongoing processes of transition, fragmentation, and dispersal. This essay focuses on Chinese approaches to photographic development, exploring the cultural histories that inform the technique and craft. Engaging with photography as a process of development uncovers a powerful connection to the construction of diasporic communities.

Human Rights and the Arts: Perspectives on Global Asia approaches human rights issues from the perspective of artists and writers in global Asia. By focusing on the interventions of writers, artists, filmmakers, and dramatists, the book moves toward a new understanding of human rights that shifts the discussion of contexts and subjects away from the binaries of cultural relativism and political sovereignty. From Ai Wei Wei and Michael Ondaatje, to Umar Kayam, Saryang Kim, Lia Zixin, and Noor Zaheer, among others, this volume takes its lead from global Asian artists, powerfully re-orienting thinking about human rights subjects and contexts to include the physical, spiritual, social, ecological, cultural, and the transnational. Looking at a range of work from Tibet, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, China, Bangladesh, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Macau as well as Asian diasporic communities, this book puts forward an understanding of global Asia that underscores \"Asia\" as a global site. It also highlights the continuing importance of nation-states and specific geographical entities, while stressing the ways that the human rights subject breaks out of these boundaries. Many of these works are included in the companion volume Human Rights and the Arts in Global Asia: An Anthology, also published by Lexington Books.