Islam, education, and freedom: An uncommon perspective on leadership

Islam, Education and Freedom explores six key areas of freedom: identity, acceptance, pedagogy, conflict, trust, and love. Based on a qualitative case study of a progressive Islamic school in Southern California, North Star Academy, the book illustrates through the voices of the participants how each particular freedom was applied in the school. The authors show how the six freedoms were understood, taught, and practiced with the aim of developing courageous and confident American Muslims. It explores the ways the school leaders facilitate and impart each freedom and the influence this has on the development of American Muslim students’ identity. The book culminates with a model for freedom in Islamic schooling. It concludes with three key insights: (1) Islamic schooling can facilitate or constrain the way that leaders, teachers, students, and the school community experience freedom; (2) as freedom is a core value of Islam, it should be made central to the conceptualization and practice of Islamic schooling; and, (3) Islamic schooling, when grounded in the six freedoms, can be a pathway to comprehensive school reform and is applicable to Islamic schools. The book includes a Foreword written by Khaula Murtadha, Associate Vice Chancellor for the Office of Community Engagement, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, USA

Creative activity, health and wellbeing: Developing research priorities and questions with key stakeholders

A report on two participatory workshop events held in 2016 at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the University of Huddersfield. We hosted two workshops, run as World Café style events and attended by a variety of broadly defined stakeholders (service users and carers; creative professionals; health and social care professionals; total =81 attendees). The purpose of the events was to reflect on the impact of creativity on health and well-being, and to establish key research priorities and questions from attendees’ varying perspectives. In addition to providing useful guidance to develop future work, findings reported here themselves begin to evidence the successes already achieved by those working to use creative activity to improve health and well-being in our locality. The workshops produced a large amount of rich, interesting data and were well received by those attending. The approach and methods used worked well to reduce communicative barriers and encourage sharing of perspectives between different stakeholder types

Game On! Understanding the Emerging Game Meat Value Chain in South Africa

* Expansion and intensification of game meat production in South Africa is gathering momentum. This is primarily due to efforts by the South African game industry which views expansion and formalization of the game meat value chain to be a good way forward as it faces many challenges and is at a crossroad in 2020. Among the most significant challenges are the collapse in game prices and the economic shut-downs associated with COVID-19.* This report traces the efforts made by the South Africa game sector. It also explains the changes that lead to the challenges experienced by the sector and to an increase in game populations that needs to be dealt with. These reasons and changes are complex. They are related to and intersect with: Game breeding practices, farm conversions and new investment patterns, hunting norms, ecotourism, biodiversity loss, processed game products, and the emergence of community game farms through land reform.* An expanded game meat value chain raises serious concerns for socio-economic development and racial transformation, environmental sustainability, human health and animal welfare. And there are key gaps in the regulatory framework for game meat production. The report highlights these concerns and gaps. It provides six recommendations for front-line persons and policy makers who want to ensure that expansions in game meat production occur in an inclusive, sustainable, safe, and ethical manner.

Tau Aggregation Correlates with Amyloid Deposition in Both Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease Subjects

Background:Amyloid plaque and tau-containing neurofibrillary tangles are important features of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the relationship between these processes is still debated. Objective:We aimed to investigate local and distant relationships between tau and amyloid deposition in the cortex in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD using PET imaging. Methods:Seventy-nine subjects (51 controls, 13 amyloid-positive MCI subjects, and 15 amyloid positive AD subjects) underwent MRI and 18F-flutemetamol PET. All MCI/AD subjects and 8 healthy controls as well as 33 healthy control subjects from the ADNI dataset also had 18F-AV1451 PET. Regional and distant correlations were examined after sampling target-to-cerebellar ratio images. Biological parametric mapping was used to evaluate voxel level correlations locally. Results:We found multiple clusters of voxels with highly significant positive correlations throughout the association cortex in both MCI and AD subjects. Conclusion:The multiple clusters of positive correlations indicate that tau and amyloid may interact locally and be involved in disease progression. Our findings suggest that targeting both pathologies may be required

Racialization of Muslim Students in Australia, Ireland, and the United States: Cross-cultural perspectives

The purpose of this qualitative cross-cultural case study was to better understand how Muslim students living in Australia, Ireland, and the United States navigated racism to identify ways in which school leaders and teachers can better address the structural, historical, and socioeconomic roots of racial injustice, discrimination, and ongoing oppression. Data collection was guided by a shared interview protocol that asked questions regarding family background, personal interests, identity, and friendships with a focus on their experiences of anti-Muslim racism in secondary schools. Findings suggested that Muslim students navigated racialization by (de)constructing their Muslimness, seeking voice, navigating between inclusion and exclusion, and responding to hate. This paper contributes to the bourgeoning literature exploring anti-Muslim racialization and makes a foundational empirical cross-cultural contribution with its identification of essential practices for anti-Muslim racism in schooling

Injury programs shape glioblastoma

Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive primary brain cancer in adults and is almost universally fatal due to its stark therapeutic resistance. During the past decade, although survival has not substantially improved, major advances have been made in our understanding of the underlying biology. It has become clear that these devastating tumors recapitulate features of neurodevelopmental hierarchies which are influenced by the microenvironment. Emerging evidence also highlights a prominent role for injury responses in steering cellular phenotypes and contributing to tumor heterogeneity. This review highlights how the interplay between injury and neurodevelopmental programs impacts on tumor growth, invasion, and treatment resistance, and discusses potential therapeutic considerations in view of these findings

Evidence-based implementation practices applied to the intensive treatment of eating disorders: Summary of research and illustration of principles using a case example

Implementation of evidence‐based practices (EBPs) in intensive treatment settings poses a major challenge in the field of psychology. This is particularly true for eating disorder (ED) treatment, where multidisciplinary care is provided to a severe and complex patient population; almost no data exist concerning best practices in these settings. We summarize the research on EBP implementation science organized by existing frameworks and illustrate how these practices may be applied using a case example. We describe the recent successful implementation of EBPs in a community‐based intensive ED treatment network, which recently adapted and implemented transdiagnostic, empirically supported treatment for emotional disorders across its system of residential and day‐hospital programs. The research summary, implementation frameworks, and case example may inform future efforts to implement evidence‐based practice in intensive treatment settings.Published versio

Neuroinflammation is independently associated with brain network dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease

Brain network dysfunction is increasingly recognised in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the causes of brain connectivity disruption are still poorly understood. Recently, neuroinflammation has been identified as an important factor in AD pathogenesis. Microglia participate in the construction and maintenance of healthy neuronal networks, but pro-inflammatory microglia can also damage these circuits. We hypothesised that microglial activation is independently associated with brain connectivity disruption in AD. We performed a cross-sectional multimodal imaging study and interrogated the relationship between imaging biomarkers of neuroinflammation, Aβ deposition, brain connectivity and cognition. 42 participants (12 Aβ-positive MCI, 14 Aβ-positive AD and 16 Aβ-negative healthy controls) were recruited. Participants had 11C-PBR28 and 18F-flutemetamol PET to quantify Aβ deposition and microglial activation, T1-weighted, diffusion tensor and resting-state functional MRI to assess structural network and functional network. 11C-PBR28 uptake, structural network integrity and functional network orgnisation were compared across diagnostic groups and the relationship between neuroinflammation and brain network was tested in 26 Aβ-positive patients. Increased 11C-PBR28 uptake, decreased FA, network small-worldness and local efficiency were observed in AD patients. Cortical 11C-PBR28 uptake correlated negatively with structural integrity (standardised β = −0.375, p = 0.037) and network local efficiency (standardised β = −0.468, p < 0.001), independent of cortical thickness and Aβ deposition, while Aβ was not. Network structural integrity, small-worldness and local efficiency, and cortical thickness were positively associated with cognition. Our findings suggest cortical neuroinflammation coincide with structural and functional network disruption independent of Aβ and cortical atrophy. These findings link the brain connectivity change and pathological process in Alzheimer’s disease, and suggest a pathway from neuroinflammation to systemic brain dysfunction