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This paper critically examines and theorizes how digital technologies and forms of communication, such as men-only private chat groups, facilitate and mediate the forms of masculinity young heterosexual men in the UK co-construct, perform and negotiate in their homosocial interactions. Qualitative data is drawn from 8 focus groups and 17 one-to-one interviews with young men aged 18–25 years, who identify as cisgender and heterosexual (N = 40), which is analysed using critical masculinity theories, including the concept of homosociality. Key findings indicate that the characteristics of online communication, including 24/7 connectivity and the ability to rapidly share online content, such as texts in men-only private chat groups, via the infrastructure of digital platforms, technologies and devices, facilitate ‘digitally mediated homosociality’, which changes in response to gendered hierarchies, relational norms and interactional needs. While participants often use online communications to engage in non-hierarchical homosociality via practices that enhance camaraderie, solidarity and emotional intimacy with other men, they also use them for hierarchical homosociality to acquire masculine status via practices that include non-consensually sexting teenage girls and women’s ‘nudes’, though they defensively distanced themselves from misogyny. We conclude by outlining how these findings can inform educational interventions that tackle misogyny and promote non-hierarchical masculinities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically examines how gendered hierarchies and relations, particularly those between hegemonic masculinities and non-hegemonic gendered identities, manifest between students at a university in North West England in and through forms of online harassment, using data collected from a large-scale study (N= 810) conducted in this institutional context. Key findings indicate that some young masculinities subordinate non-hegemonic gendered identities, namely those who identify as female and transgender, in and through gendered and sexualised forms of online harassment or are complicit in these practices. Male research participants are more likely than any other gendered group to use 'free speech' discourses to legitimate online harassment directed at transgendered and cis-female subjects. Some white, heterosexual males, who occupy a dominant position in Britain's gendered and racial social order, appropriate discursive practices associated with identity politics, which have historically been used by non-hegemonic gendered identities to challenge social inequities, to claim they are 'victims' of this society. We argue that these new emerging forms of hybridised hegemonic masculinity, which appropriate and reconfigure the discursive practices of non-hegemonic gendered identities, reproduce and conceal patriarchal systems of power in digitised spaces. We suggest more research is needed to better understand these practices, their relationship to alt-right influencers and men's rights activists, and their implications for digital hegemonic masculinities at the local level of UK university campuses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contribution of myeloid cells to tumour microenvironments is a decisive factor in cancer progression. Tumour-associated macrophages ( TAMs) mediate tumour invasion and angiogenesis through matrix remodelling, immune modulation and release of pro-angiogenic cytokines. Nothing is known about how pathogenic bacteria affect myeloid cells in these processes. Here we show that B artonella henselae, a bacterial pathogen causing vasculoproliferative diseases (bacillary angiomatosis), reprogrammes human myeloid angiogenic cells ( MACs), a pro-angiogenic subset of circulating progenitor cells, towards a TAM-like phenotype with increased pro-angiogenic capacity. B . henselae infection resulted in inhibition of cell death, activation of angiogenic cellular programmes and induction of M2 macrophage polarization. MACs infected with B . henselae incorporated into endothelial sprouts and increased angiogenic growth. Infected MACs developed a vascular mimicry phenotype in vitro, and expression of B . henselae adhesin A was essential in inducing these angiogenic effects. Secretome analysis revealed that increased pro-angiogenic activities were associated with the creation of a tumour-like microenvironment dominated by angiogenic inflammatory cytokines and matrix remodelling compounds. Our results demonstrate that manipulation of myeloid cells by pathogenic bacteria can contribute to microenvironmental regulation of pathological tissue growth and suggest parallels underlying both bacterial infections and cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adhesion to host cells represents the first step in the infection process and one of the decisive features in the pathogenicity of Bartonella spp. B. henselae and B. quintana are considered to be the most important human pathogenic species, responsible for cat scratch disease, bacillary angiomatosis, trench fever and other diseases. The ability to cause vasculoproliferative disorders and intraerythrocytic bacteraemia are unique features of the genus Bartonella. Consequently, the interaction with endothelial cells and erythrocytes is a focus in Bartonella research. The genus harbours a variety of trimeric autotransporter adhesins (TAAs) such as the Bartonella adhesin A (BadA) of B. henselae and the variably expressed outer-membrane proteins (Vomps) of B. quintana, which display remarkable variations in length and modular construction. These adhesins mediate many of the biologically-important properties of Bartonella spp. such as adherence to endothelial cells and extracellular matrix proteins and induction of angiogenic gene programming. There is also significant evidence that the laterally acquired Trw-conjugation systems of Bartonella spp. mediate host-specific adherence to erythrocytes. Other potential adhesins are the filamentous haemagglutinins and several outer membrane proteins. The exact molecular functions of these adhesins and their interplay with other pathogenicity factors (e.g., the VirB/D4 type 4 secretion system) need to be analysed in detail to understand how these pathogens adapt to their mammalian hosts.