Inside Out Pedagogy: A Praxis for Social Policy

This paper examines the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program’s pedagogy as a praxis for transformative learning and social change, with a particular focus on the role of incarcerated students in shaping public policy. It explores how an Inside-Out approach cultivates a learning environment rooted in critical thinking, reflection, collaboration, and inclusivity. This paper demonstrates how incarcerated students can contribute to the broader discourse and challenge conventional perceptions of incarceration. By centering the voices of incarcerated students, Inside-Out pedagogy fosters student agency and offers alternatives to current paradigms of punishment.

Pride and Joy

24” x 24” Oil on Pane

Evolving Trends in Intervention Types for Pediatric Pancreatic Pseudocysts

Background: Pancreatic pseudocysts (PP) have various treatment options, including careful monitoring without intervention and procedural interventions (endoscopic, percutaneous, surgical excision). The composition of procedures and optimal management in pediatric patients remains unclear. Therefore, this study aims to (1) identify characteristics and outcomes of patients associated with PP intervention types and (2) evaluate trends over time of intervention types for pediatric PP. Methods: The Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) database was used to evaluate patient characteristics, procedures, and outcomes. Identification codes (ICD-9 and -10) identified patients less than 18 yo with PP from 2005-2022 and their associated interventions. Interventions related to their pseudocysts were categorized as endoscopy, interventional radiology (IR), surgery, or multiple and were compared using bivariate analysis. Results: Data was analyzed from 2718 patients of which 697 had a procedural intervention. Most patients were Male (52%), Caucasian (51%), not Hispanic or Latino (58%), and had a mean age of 12.2 years (SD 7.6 years). Procedures consisted of surgery (48%), endoscopy (23%), IR (20%), and multiple (9%). There were no differences in gender across intervention subtypes. Patients were significantly younger for those undergoing surgical intervention (11.5±8years) versus endoscopy (14.0±7.2years) and IR (12.2±7.7years) (p<0.001). More endoscopy procedures were performed in PHIS hospitals in the Midwest (29%) and South (34%) vs the Northeast (13%) and West (24%). The proportion of patients undergoing a procedure has decreased from 30% to 18% from 2005-2022. Surgical procedure proportion has decreased over time from 18% to 5% of patients. Whereas endoscopic procedures have increased over time from 2% to 15% of patients. This increase began around 2014 and has been steadily increasing since then. Conclusion: For pediatric patients with PP, surgical procedures are more common in younger patients. Endoscopic procedures have become most frequently utilized for intervention for PP, while surgical procedures have decreased over time

Relationship between Perivascular Space Burden, White Matter Hyperintensities, and Cognitive Function

Introduction: Perivascular space (PVS) is believed to be involved in clearing metabolic waste from the brain. PVS has been found to increase in size in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, but the relationship between PVS enlargement and cognitive function still requires further investigation. This study seeks to clarify the relationship between Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores and the percentage of brain volume occupied by perivascular space. We take into account confounding factors such as white matter hyperintensities (WMH), a biomarker associated with cognitive decline. We hypothesize that PVS enlargement leads to decreased brain waste clearing efficiency, which subsequently leads to cognitive impairment. Methods: The included participants (n = 15, ages 62 to 89, female: n = 9) were recruited for the 3YWU study from the Indiana Alzheimer\u27s Disease Research Center. The sample included the control group (n = 9) and patients with mild cognitive impairment (n = 1) and subjective cognitive decline (n = 5). For imaging processing, the enhanced PVS contrast (EPC) was calculated by dividing T1-weighted images by T2-weighted images, followed by applying the Frangi filter to capture the vessel-like PVS structure. Three trained and blinded reviewers then further manually improved the PVS masks. For the analysis, we calculated the correlation coefficients between the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores and normalized PVS volume, as well as a partial correlation coefficient while controlling for the normalized WMH volume. Results. We found a negative association between the PVS volume and MoCA scores of -0.28 (p=0.31), and after controlling for WMH, we still observed a negative correlation of -0.34 (pvalue of 0.23). Conclusion. Our results suggest that PVS enlargement is a possible factor in cognitive impairment. However, further investigation is necessary to characterize these correlations

The Regulatory Role of Folate Receptor Beta on Inflammasome Activation

Background and Hypothesis: Group B Streptococcus (GBS) causes intrauterine infection during pregnancy. The inflammatory response of macrophages at the maternal-fetal interface to GBS may contribute to host defense. The NOD-, LRR- and pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome regulates macrophage responses, activated by microbial patterns and danger signals, leading to caspase-1-driven release of proinflammatory cytokines like IL-1β and cleavage of gasdermin D (GasD), which induces pyroptotic cell death. Folate receptor beta (FRβ), encoded by the FOLR2 gene, is a GPI-anchored glycoprotein that is highly expressed by macrophages, but its function is unknown. We hypothesize that FRβ regulates NLRP3 activation. Method of Study: The human monocytic cell line THP-1 was CRISPR/Cas9-modified to delete the FOLR2 gene (knock-out, KO) or mock-transfected for wild-type (WT) control cells. WT and FOLR2 KO macrophages were cultured in a physiologic amount of folate (25 nM) for 7d before being treated with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) to induce macrophage differentiation. WT and FOLR2 KO macrophages were stimulated for 4h with either GBS or FSL-1 (toll-like receptor 2/6 agonist); or for 3h with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) + 30m ATP (LPS+ATP), or LPS + 30m Nigericin (LPS+Nig). Supernatants were analyzed for IL-1β, caspase-1, and cleaved GasD release by ELISA, while lysates were analyzed for IL-1β, caspase-1, and cleaved GasD by Western Blot. Results: FRβ KO macrophages showed a reduced ability to secrete IL-1β after FSL-1 or LPS+Nig stimulation vs WT macrophages, which was not observed in the cellular lysate. Also observed was a significantly reduced ratio of cleaved GasD in FRβ KO macrophages stimulated with LPS+Nig compared to WT macrophages, not seen in the cell supernatant. There was not an observed significant difference between FRβ KO and WT macrophages in the amount of caspase-1 both inside and outside the cell. Both WT and FRβ KO macrophages were weakly, and equally, stimulated with GBS or LPS+ATP. Conclusions: FRβ KO THP-1 cells exhibit a reduced NLRP3-dependent inflammatory response to stimulation, suggesting a proinflammatory regulatory role for FRβ in immune surveillance