Mind the Gap, But Don\u27t Fret the Platform

This brief essay makes the case for effective online teaching and learning in anthropology. It addresses areas of traditional faculty resistance to online teaching and suggests that inline teaching has unique strengths and possibilities that can be used to encourage excellence in teachers and students in online anthropology courses

Los niños como actores culturales en las interpretaciones arqueológicas: grafitis del siglo XIX en San Salvador, Bahamas

Evidence of children in the material record can be both elusive and ambiguous, and most typical and comfortable interpretations of the archaeological record create a view of the past where adults are the only cultural actors. Literature on the archaeology of childhood presents a challenge for archaeologists to rethink their assumptions about childhood and to approach the archaeological record in a way that enables the social, economic, and symbolic contributions of children to become viable parts of the stories we tell about life in the past. This paper presents and engages this particular aspect of the literature on the archaeology of childhood using the case of graffiti identified at a former 19th century plantation site on the island of San Salvador, The Bahamas. Initial interpretations of graffiti in these contexts focused on the symbolic meanings and archival functions of such artwork in the world of adults. A careful examination of the graffiti, however, indicates that children were likely responsible for the creation and consumption of this artwork, and that a different set of symbolic meanings and social functions may have been the motivation behind its creation.Las evidencias sobre la infancia en el registro arqueológico pueden ser tan esquivas como ambiguas, y las interpretaciones sobre el registro arqueológico más cómodas y típicas crean visiones del pasado en las que los adultos son los únicos agentes culturales. La bibliografía sobre arqueología de la infancia representa el reto de repensar las asunciones realizadas sobre la infancia y una aproximación diferente al registro arqueológico para que las contribuciones sociales, económicas y simbólicas de los individuos infantiles formen parte de las historias que contamos sobre la vida en el pasado. Este texto presenta y trata este aspecto particular del tema usando como caso de estudio los grafitis documentados en una antigua plantación del siglo XIX en la isla de San Salvador de las Bahamas. Las interpretaciones iniciales sobre los grafitis se centraban en el significado simbólico y en las funciones de archivo de estas representaciones por parte del mundo adulto. Un análisis más cuidadoso nos indica que los individuos infantiles fueron probablemente los responsables de la creación y consumo de estas representaciones y que existen diferentes significados simbólicos y funciones sociales distintas que pueden haber motivado su creación

University Students and Local Museums: Developing Effective Partnerships with Oral History

This is a descriptive paper that details the collaboration between a group of twenty-one DePaul University students and the Exhibitions Committee of the Chinese American Museum of Chicago (CAMOC) in the spring of 2010.  The students were all junior and senior Anthropology Majors participating in a course on applied-anthropology, or the applications of anthropological methods and perspectives outside of an academic setting.  CAMOC is a significant, volunteer-driven Chicago museum devoted to the collection, study, and exhibition of materials relating to the Chinese-Americans and Chinese-Canadians who settled in the regions between the coasts of these nations.  The museum first opened its doors in 2005, and in 2008 suffered a devastating fire resulting in the loss of most of the collections and exhibits.  DePaul students partnered with the Exhibitions Committee to collect, archive, and display oral histories of community members to assist in their rebuilding efforts.  The presentation of this particular project focusing on three significant ideas: (1) The importance of developing a project that can be brought to fruition in the course of a single collaborative episode, (2) The types of infrastructure that should be provided by the partners in such a collaboration, and (3) The necessity of creating a project that can simultaneously address the needs of a small museum and the educational goals for student participants

Allosteric Conversation in the Androgen Receptor Ligand-Binding Domain Surfaces

Androgen receptor (AR) is a major therapeutic target that plays pivotal roles in prostate cancer (PCa) and androgen insensitivity syndromes. Wepreviously proposed that compounds recruited to ligand-binding domain (LBD) surfaces could regulate AR activity in hormone-refractory PCa and discovered several surface modulators of AR function. Surprisingly, the most effective compounds bound preferentially to a surface of unknown function [binding function 3 (BF-3)] instead of the coactivator-binding site [activation function 2 (AF-2)]. Different BF-3 mutations have been identified in PCa or androgen insensitivity syndrome patients, and they can strongly affect AR activity. Further, comparison of AR x-ray structures with and without bound ligands at BF-3 and AF-2 showed structural coupling between both pockets. Here, we combine experimental evidence and molecular dynamic simulations to investigate whether BF-3 mutations affect AR LBD function and dynamics possibly via allosteric conversation between surface sites. Our data indicate that AF-2 conformation is indeed closely coupled to BF-3 and provide mechanistic proof of their structural interconnection. BF-3 mutations may function as allosteric elicitors, probably shifting the AR LBD conformational ensemble toward conformations that alter AF-2 propensity to reorganize into subpockets that accommodate N-terminal domain and coactivator peptides. The induced conformation may result in either increased or decreased AR activity. Activating BF-3 mutations also favor the formation of another pocket (BF-4) in the vicinity of AF-2 and BF-3, which we also previously identified as a hot spot for a small compound. We discuss the possibility that BF-3 may be a protein-docking site that binds to the N-terminal domain and corepressors. AR surface sites are attractive pharmacological targets to develop allosteric modulators that might be alternative lead compounds for drug design. © 2012 by The Endocrie Society

Developing clinical decision tools to implement chronic disease prevention and screening in primary care: the BETTER 2 program (building on existing tools to improve chronic disease prevention and screening in primary care).

BackgroundThe Building on Existing Tools to Improve Chronic Disease Prevention and Screening in Family Practice (BETTER) trial demonstrated the effectiveness of an approach to chronic disease prevention and screening (CDPS) through a new skilled role of a 'prevention practitioner'(PP). The PP has appointments with patients 40-65 years of age that focus on primary prevention activities and screening of cancer (breast, colorectal, cervical), diabetes and cardiovascular disease and associated lifestyle factors. There are numerous and occasionally conflicting evidence-based guidelines for CDPS, and the majority of these guidelines are focused on specific diseases or conditions; however, primary care providers often attend to patients with multiple conditions. To ensure that high-level evidence guidelines were used, existing clinical practice guidelines and tools were reviewed and integrated into blended BETTER tool kits. Building on the results of the BETTER trial, the BETTER tools were updated for implementation of the BETTER 2 program into participating urban, rural and remote communities across Canada.MethodsA clinical working group consisting of PPs, clinicians and researchers with support from the Centre for Effective Practice reviewed the literature to update, revise and adapt the integrated evidence algorithms and tool kits used in the BETTER trial. These resources are nuanced, based on individual patient risk, values and preferences and are designed to facilitate decision-making between providers across the target diseases and lifestyle factors included in the BETTER 2 program. Using the updated BETTER 2 toolkit, clinicians 1) determine which CDPS actions patients are eligible to receive and 2) develop individualized 'prevention prescriptions' with patients through shared decision-making and motivational interviewing.ResultsThe tools identify the patients' risks and eligible primary CDPS activities: the patient survey captures the patient's health history; the prevention visit form and integrated CDPS care map identify eligible CDPS activities and facilitate decisions when certain conditions are met; and the 'bubble diagram' and 'prevention prescription' promote shared decision-making.ConclusionThe integrated clinical decision-making tools of BETTER 2 provide resources for clinicians and policymakers that address patients' complex care needs beyond single disease approaches and can be adapted to facilitate CDPS in the urban, rural and remote clinical setting.Trial registrationThe registration number of the original RCT BETTER trial was ISRCTN07170460

The "ready-to-hand" test:Diagnostic availability and usability in primary health care settings in Sierra Leone

This article assesses the availability of essential diagnostic tests in primary health care facilities in two districts in Sierra Leone. In addition to evaluating whether a test is physically present at a facility, it extends the concept of availability to include whether equipment is functional and whether infrastructure, systems, personnel and resources are in place to allow a particular test to be "ready to hand", that is, available for immediate use when needed. Between February 2019 and September 2019, a cross-sectional mixed-methods survey was conducted in all 40 Community Health Centres (CHCs) in Western Area, one of five principal divisions in Sierra Leone. The number of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) available ranged from 1-12, with 75% of facilities having 9 or less RDTs available out of a possible 17. While RDTs were overall more widely present than manual assays, there was wide variation between tests. The presence of RDTs at individual facilities was associated with having a permanent laboratory technician on staff. Despite CHCs being formally designated as providing laboratory services, no CHC fulfilled standard World Health Organisation (WHO) criteria for a laboratory. Only 9/40 (22.5%) CHCs had a designated laboratory space and a permanently employed laboratory technician. There was low availability of essential equipment and infrastructure. Supply chains were fragmented and unreliable, including a high dependency (>50%) on informal private sources for the majority of the available RDTs, consumables, and reagents. We conclude that the readiness of diagnostic services, including RDTs, depends on the presence and functionality of essential infrastructure, human resources, equipment and systems and that RDTs are not on their own a solution to infrastructural failings. Efforts to strengthen laboratory systems at the primary care level should take a holistic approach and focus on whether tests are "ready-to-hand" in addition to whether they are physically present