Appending to $(this)
<p>Within a function loop, I need to traverse further into the DOM.</p>

<pre><code>$('.panel_wrapper .panel').each(function(index) {
   // how can I append to this.  For instance another class = "foo"
   $(this) .foo  /* does not work */
</code></pre>

<p>This is similar to what I'm trying to do in a function</p>

<pre><code>$(this) = $('.panel_wrapper .panel');
$(this) .foo
</code></pre>

<p>The following is a better example:</p>

<pre><code>$('.panel-wrapper .panel').each(function(index) {
  $('.panel-wrapper .panel:eq(' + index + ') .collection_alt_thumbs img:eq(0)').css({"border-color" : "#9B9B9B", "opacity" : 1});           
}); 
</code></pre>

<p>Within the function there are additional operations that will be performed, not necessary after the first operation but after a conditional statement.  Can the following be performed:</p>

<pre><code>$('.panel-wrapper .panel').each(function(index) {
   $(this)  ('.collection_alt_thumbs img:eq(0)').css({"border-color" : "#9B9B9B", "opacity" : 1});  
   // conditional statement 
   $(this) /* some other element */

}); 
</code></pre>
