Cholera in post-earthquake Haiti: how an outbreak became an epidemic

Cholera in Haiti has persisted since its introduction after the 2010 earthquake. The outbreak demonstrates how a combination of socioeconomic factors, mainly a lack of infrastructure, can cause an outbreak to become a much more serious epidemic and the current enduring endemic. Because cholera came to a previously unexposed nation through United Nations peacekeepers, the outbreak in Haiti offers a unique perspective on the impact of globalization on public health. In addition, it provides a deeper look into the disproportionate impact of diarrheal diseases on low-income countries. Several biological and socioeconomic factors have facilitated the outbreak. Biological risk factors include immunologically naïve populations, low gastric acidity, and blood type. In addition, socioeconomic factors include a lack of clean drinking water and sanitation as well as a fragile and over-taxed healthcare system. The persisting struggle surrounding water and sanitation combined with a lack of knowledge on cholera prevention have precipitated the outbreak into an epidemic and further into its current endemic status. Current efforts to battle cholera include water and sanitation improvements, a national vaccination campaign, as well as the mobilization of community health workers. However, without the construction of sustainable water and sanitation infrastructure, it is unlikely that cholera in Haiti can be eliminated

The Impact Of Folate Restriction On Cancer And Aging: A Mechanistic Analysis

Aging is a multifactorial process associated with alterations in several physiological functions. It increases susceptibility to disease and ultimately results in mortality. Since the associated diseases of aging are highly prevalent in the geriatric population, targeting the aging process as a whole may provide a better way to delay these age related diseases, in turn delaying aging. Various interventions have been shown to delay aging and age related diseases. They impact a major nutrient sensing pathway, mTOR. mTOR signaling is altered in many cancers and its downregulation was shown to delay aging. Other interventions extend lifespan by altering the one carbon metabolism. In this study, we present folate restriction as a possible nutritional intervention to extend lifespan and improve health span impacting one carbon metabolism and the mTOR signaling pathway

Safety and Efficacy of Oxcarbazepine: Results of Randomized, Double‐Blind Trials

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90287/1/phco.20.12.152S.35254.pd

The Politics Of Hijab In American Culture

The Politics of Hijab in American Culture analyzes the relationship between hijab and US imperialism in contemporary American culture. This project examines the ways in which neoliberal notions of freedom work through discourse on hijab in the U.S. from the vantage point of narratives produced by individuals invested in Muslim American identity. What emerges is a liberated/dominated Muslim woman figure which, I argue, justifies U.S. practices overseas. By looking at how hijab is situated in narratives produced for self-representation of Muslim American identity in the U.S., this project demonstrates the ways in which American imperialism operates such that those marginalized are conditioned to resist through the same language that subjugates them. This work critiques current critical discourse on Muslim women identity that remains circumscribed to discussions of representations, arguing that such theoretical frameworks offer a limited understanding of the stakes involved in investing in neoliberal notions of freedom and identity politics. My analysis shows the limitations of these models, and makes clear that this representational inclusion accompanied with choice and freedoms is to be better understood materially through a socio-political and economic framework

Monotherapy Trials with Gabapentin for Partial Epilepsy

The efficacy and safety of gabapentin as monotherapy for treatment of partial onset seizures were evaluated in three large multicenter, double-blind, parallel-group, dose-controlled trials. In the first trial, 275 outpatients with refractory partial epilepsy maintained on stable doses of one or two antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) were switched to gabapentin (GBP) monotherapy at 600 mg, 1200 mg, or 2400 mg daily. Patients were required to exit the 26-week double-blind phase of the study if they experienced worsening of seizure frequency. With respect to time to exit, there was no statistically significant difference among the three groups; only 3% of patients withdrew from the trial because of adverse events. In the second study, 82 hospitalized patients with medically refractory epilepsy were tapered off baseline AEDs and randomly assigned to GBP monotherapy at 300 mg/day or 3600 mg/day. Patients remained in the trial for a maximum of 8 days but had to exit the trial if they experienced one or more exit events. Time to exit was significantly longer in patients in the 3600-mg group (151 h) compared with those in the 300-mg group (85 h) ( p = 0.0001). None of the patients withdrew from the trial because of side effects. In the third study, 292 patients with newly diagnosed partial seizures were randomized to GBP 300, 900, or 1800 mg/day or to carbamazepine (CBZ) 600 mg/day. Patients remained in the trial for up to 6 months or until they experienced an exit event. Mean time to exit was significantly longer for patients who received GBP 900 mg/day ( p = 0.02) or 1800 mg/day ( p = 0.04) compared with those who received 300 mg/day. The completion rate for the CBZ group (37%) was similar to that of the GBP 900-mg (39%) and 1800-mg (38%) groups. Patients receiving CBZ had a higher withdrawal rate because of adverse events compared with the GBP 900-mg and 1800-mg groups. The results of these trials provide good evidence of the efficacy and safety of GBP as monotherapy for the treatment of partial-onset seizures.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65608/1/j.1528-1157.1999.tb00927.x.pd

A Demographic Threat? Proposed Reclassification of Arab Americans on the 2020 Census

“Arab Americans are white?” This question—commonly posed as a demonstration of shock or surprise—highlights the dissonance between how “Arab” and “white” are discursively imagined and understood in the United States today. These four words also encapsulate the dilemma that currently riddles Arab Americans. The population finds itself interlocked between formal classification as white, and de facto recognition as nonwhite. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the government agency that oversees the definition, categorization, and construction of racial categories, currently counts people from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) as white. The United States Census Bureau (Census Bureau), the agency responsible for collecting and compiling demographic data about the American people, adopts these definitions and classifications for the administration of its decennial census. Since the racially restrictive “Naturalization Era,” Arab Americans have been legally classified as white

Lone Wolf Terrorism: Types, Stripes, and Double Standards

The recent spike in mass shootings, topped by the October 1, 2017, Las Vegas massacre, dubbed the “deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history,” has brought newfound urgency and attention to lone wolf violence and terrorism. Although a topic of pressing concern, the phenomenon—which centers on mass violence inflicted by one individual—is underexamined and undertheorized within legal literature. This scholarly neglect facilitates flat understandings of the phenomenon and enables the racial and religious double standards arising from law enforcement investigations and prosecutions of white and Muslim lone wolves. This Essay contributes a timely reconceptualization of the phenomenon, coupled with a typology adopted from social science, for understanding the myriad forms of lone wolf terrorism. In addition to contributing the theoretical frameworks to further examine lone wolf terrorism within legal scholarship, this Essay examines how the assignment of the lone wolf designation by law enforcement functions as: (1) a presumptive exemption from terrorism for white culprits and (2) a presumptive connection to terrorism for Muslim culprits. This asymmetry is rooted in the distinct racialization of white and Muslim identity, and it is driven by War on Terror baselines that profile Muslim identity as presumptive of a terror threat