Reaching Harmony Across Indigenous and Mainstream Research Contexts: An Emergent Narrative

Research with indigenous communities is one of the few areas of research encompassing profound controversies, complexities, ethical responsibilities, and historical context of exploitation and harm. Often this complexity becomes overwhelmingly apparent to the early career researcher who endeavors to make meaningful contributions to decolonizing research. Decolonizing research has the capacity to be a catalyst for the improved wellbeing and positive social change among indigenous communities and beyond. The purpose of this critical analysis is to reach harmony across mainstream and indigenous research contexts. We martial critical theory to deconstruct barriers to decolonizing research, such as power inequities, and identify strategies to overcome these barriers. First, we critically analyze the historical context of decolonizing research with indigenous communities. Next, we analyze the concept of “insider” and “outsider” research. We identify barriers and strategies toward finding harmony across indigenous and mainstream research paradigms and contexts

Impedancemetry of multiplexed quantum devices using an on-chip cryogenic CMOS active inductor

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Pulsed field gradient NMR investigation of solubilization equilibria in amino acid and dipeptide terminated micellar and polymeric surfactant solutions

Pulsed field gradient NMR spectroscopy was used to investigate the association of toluene, chlorobenzene and benzyl alcohol with amino acid and dipeptide terminated polymerized surfactants (PS). The diffusion coefficient for each probe was measured in the presence and absence of the polymers and the mole fraction of bound probe molecules, fb, was calculated. For all solutions investigated, the probes associated more strongly with unpolymerized surfactant micelles than with corresponding PS. For example, the toluene f b values for association with sodium undecanoyl valinate micelles and the PS poly(sodium undecanoyl valinate) were 0.88 and 0.15, respectively. The relatively weak probe-polymer association was attributed to the polarity and fluidity of the polymers\u27 hydrocarbon cores and to the fact that these PS have smaller aggregation numbers than the corresponding unpolymerized surfactant micelles. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Vimentin and Ki67-expression in circulating tumor cells derived from castrate-resistant prostate cancer

BACKGROUND: High circulating tumor cell (CTC) counts are associated with poor prognosis in advanced prostate cancer, and recently CTC number was suggested to be a surrogate for survival in metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Ki67 and vimentin are well-characterised markers of tumour cell proliferation and the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), respectively. Here we asked if the expression of vimentin and Ki67 in CTCs offered prognostic or predictive information in mCRPC. METHODS: In two separate patient cohorts, anti-vimentin or anti-Ki67 antibodies were added to the free channel in the CellSearch® system for analysis of peripheral blood samples. For each cohort, association of CTC number with clinical characteristics were assessed using Fisher’s exact, Mann-Whitney and chi-squared tests. Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank tests were used to analyse overall survival (OS) of vimentin-expressing and Ki67-expressing CTC patient cohorts. RESULTS: In this retrospective analysis, CTC vimentin expression was analysed in 142 blood samples from 93 patients, and CTC Ki67 expression was analysed in 90 blood samples from 51 patients. In the vimentin cohort, 80/93 (86 %) of baseline samples from patients were CTC-positive overall (≥1 total CTC per 7.5 mls blood), and 30/93 (32.3 %) vimentin CTC-positive (≥1 vimentin-positive CTC per 7.5 mls blood). 41/51 (80.4 %) of baseline samples from patients in the Ki67 cohort were CTC-positive overall, and 23/51 (45.1 %) Ki67 CTC-positive (≥1 Ki67-positive CTC per 7.5 mls blood). There was no significant difference in baseline PSA in patients with vimentin-positive CTC at baseline versus those with no vimentin-positive CTC at baseline (p = 0.33). A significant reduction in OS was shown in patients with vimentin-positive CTC compared to those without vimentin-positive CTC (median 305 days vs 453 days, p = 0.0293). There was no significant difference in baseline PSA in patients with Ki67-positive CTC at baseline versus those without Ki67-positive CTC (p = 0.228), but OS was significantly reduced in the Ki67-positive CTC group (median 512 days vs 751 days, p = 0.0091). No changes in relative proportion of vimentin- or Ki67-positive CTCs were observed in post-treatment samples compared to baseline. CONCLUSIONS: Analysis of vimentin and Ki67 expression can straightforwardly be assessed in CTCs from patients with mCRPC. Poorer survival outcomes were observed in vimentin- and Ki67-positive CTC patients. TRANSLATIONAL STUDY PROTOCOLS: CEC-CTC (IDRCB2008-AOO585-50) and Petrus (NCT01786031). ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-016-2192-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users