Understanding Needs and Concerns of Black Students in Pursuit of Higher Education

The problem of this study was to increase the general publics\u27 awareness of the difficulties Black Americans faced in pursuit of higher education. The procedure was a twofold process. First, the writer reviewed some of the pre-college variables that affected the Black student. Second, the needs and concerns of the Black student at a predominantly White University were studied by the use of a questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed to three groups on the Eastern Illinois University Campus. The first group was comprised of twenty-five Black students that were currently enrolled in the University. The second group was twenty Black faculty and administrators and the third twenty-five White faculty and administrators. The writer designed twenty questions based on his review of the literature concerning Black students needs and concerns at predominantly White Universities. Each individual respondent was asked to answer the questions according to his or her perception of the specific need or concern. The writer has drawn the following conclusions from his study of the problems Black Americans faced in pursuit of higher education. (1) Black students responded they felt alienated by their environment; (2) Black faculty and administrators also indicated this viewpoint; (3) White faculty and administrators indicated they were in favor of increasing resources to Black elementary and secondary schools and promoting pre-college remedial and tutorial programs; (4) Black students indicated a concern over the limited number of Black faculty and administrators; (5) Black students also indicated that minority counseling and racial interaction were important needs and concerns for Black students in pursuit of higher education. The writer would like to propose the following recommendations as a result of this study: (1) an increase in Black faculty and administrators to serve as role models for the Black students; (2) improved remedial and tutorial programs for Black students; (3) an increase in minority counseling services to aid the disadvantaged Black students; (4) a more open discussion of racial issues to increase the overall awareness of the general public, faculty, and students

Nonviolent Resistance to Security Policy in Nationalist Northern Ireland, 1970-1981

Political division has plagued Northern Ireland since its partition from the rest of Ireland in the 1920s. Current literature recounts the role of nationalist actors in the violent struggle that erupted in 1969 initiating a 3-decade period of civil strife described as the Troubles. However, very little scholarly coverage exists providing details of nonviolent resistance on the part of some community members. The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological study was to examine the meanings and perceptions evoked from Irish nationalists from Belfast and Derry who chose to challenge security policies through nonviolent actions from 1970 through 1981. Using a chain sampling approach, 14 protesters volunteered to tell their stories. Benet\u27s polarities of democracy unifying model was used as the theoretical framework for the study. The data collected were analyzed using the modified Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method, which involved a synthesis of meanings generated from respondents. Data analysis revealed 4 major themes that underpinned informant experiences of protest: social identity, coping, perseverance, and empowerment. Data showed in many instances that more aggressive security tactics used against demonstrators incited more intense antistate activities. Public administrators, through a combination of written policy and security personnel training, should, therefore, address sociopolitical grievances in a manner that will promote mediation in an effort to avoid instigation of further and more physical protest actions. State officials, as well as elected legislators who write and analyze public policy, may incorporate the findings of this study to expediate the delivery of more democratic government services and to support and promote nonviolent active citizenry

None Of Your Business Ethics: Essays In Secrecy, Ethics, And Commerce

What is the place of secrecy in economic life? Using concepts from business ethics, organizational theory, legal theory, and normative political economy, this dissertation presents novel arguments concerning corporate and individual moral privileges to conceal information within firms and markets. Essay 1 addresses a range of theoretical issues in secrecy, transparency, and moral theory. Essay 2 considers a particular contested case of corporate secrecy—pay secrecy. This essay’s applied discussion also generates several additional insights for a more general ethics of corporate secrecy and self-regulation. Essay 3 shifts away from the corporate perspective toward the market actor’s perspective, investigating the moral-economic justifications we may have for refusing to transact with certain other actors in markets. It illustrates how secrecy and information asymmetries can serve as core, morally beneficial features of markets. In total, this dissertation represents a significant step toward a more nuanced ethical perspective on secrecy: its role and value in markets; the reasons market actors may have to advance or thwart it; and the associated duties and privileges that attach to managers in relation to stakeholders and larger society

Solvent extraction of PDMS tubing as a new method for the capture of volatile organic compounds from headspace

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) tubing is increasingly being used to collect volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from static biological headspace. However, analysis of VOCs collected using PDMS tubing often deploys thermal desorption, where samples are considered as ‘one-offs’ and cannot be used in multiple experiments. In this study, we developed a static headspace VOC collection method using PDMS tubing which is solvent-based, meaning that VOC extracts can be used multiple times and can be linked to biological activity. Using a synthetic blend containing a range of known semiochemicals (allyl isothiocyanate, (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol, 1-octen-3-one, nonanal, (E)-anethol, (S)-bornyl acetate, (E)-caryophyllene and pentadecane) with differing chemical and physicochemical properties, VOCs were collected in static headspace by exposure to PDMS tubing with differing doses, sampling times and lengths. In a second experiment, VOCs from oranges were collected using PDMS sampling of static headspace versus dynamic headspace collection. VOCs were eluted with diethyl ether and analysed using gas chromatography – flame ionization detector analysis and coupled GC – mass spectrometry analysis. GC-FID analysis of collected samples showed that longer PDMS tubes captured significantly greater quantities of compounds than shorter tubes, and that sampling duration significantly altered the recovery of all tested compounds. Moreover, greater quantities of compounds were recovered from closed compared to open systems. Finally, analysis of orange headspace VOCs showed only a few qualitative differences in VOCs recovered compared to dynamic headspace collections, although quantities sampled using PDMS tubing were lower. In summary, extraction of PDMS tubing with diethyl ether solvent captures VOCs from the headspace of synthetic blends and biological samples, and the resulting extracts can be used for multiple experiments linking VOC content to biological activity

Protein molecular modeling shows residue T599 is critical to wild-type function of POLG and description of a novel variant associated with the SANDO phenotype

Sensory ataxic neuropathy with dysarthria and ophthalmoparesis (SANDO) is a rare phenotype resulting from pathogenic variants of mitochondrial DNA polymerase gamma (POLG). We modeled a novel POLG variant, T599P, that causes the SANDO phenotype and another variant at the same residue, p.T599E, to observe their effect on protein function and confirm the pathogenicity of T599P. Through neoteric molecular modeling techniques, we show that changes at the T599 residue position introduce extra rigidity into the surrounding helix–loop–helix, which places steric pressure on nearby nucleotides. We also provide a clinical description of the T599P variant, which was found in a 42-year-old female proband. The proband presented a 1-year history of progressive gait instability, dysarthria and foot numbness. Her neurologic examination revealed ataxic dysarthria, restricted eye movements, head and palatal tremors, reduced lower limb reflexes, distal multimodal sensory loss and a wide, unsteady ataxic gait. Electromyography studies indicated a sensory neuropathy. Whole-exome sequencing was pursued after tests for infectious, inflammatory and paraneoplastic causes were negative

A novel splice site variant in CYP11A1 in trans with the p.E314K variant in a male patient with congenital adrenal insufficiency

Background: The CYP11A1 gene encodes the cytochrome P450 side‐chain cleavage enzyme, which is essential for steroid formation. Recessive variants in this gene can lead to impairment of sexual differentiation caused by a complete or partial loss of steroid hormone production. The phenotypic spectrum in affected 46XY males may vary from surgically repairable defects including cryptorchidism and hypospadias to complete feminization of external gonads, accompanied by symptoms of adrenal dysfunction. Methods Whole‐exome sequencing (WES) of a 12‐year‐old male proband and his parents was performed after a protracted diagnostic odyssey failed to uncover the cause of his primary adrenal insufficiency. Of note, the proband had early symptomatology and corrective surgery for hypospadias, raising suspicion for a disorder of steroidogenesis. Results: WES identified compound heterozygous variants in CYP11A1 including a novel canonical splice site variant (c.425+1G>A) and a previously reported p.E314K variant, which were consistent with a diagnosis of congenital adrenal insufficiency with partial 46XY sex reversal. Conclusion: Congenital adrenal insufficiency with 46XY sex reversal is a rare disorder that is characterized by dysregulation of steroid hormone synthesis, leading to adrenal and gonadal dysfunction. In this report, we describe a patient with adrenal insufficiency, hypospadias, and skin hyperpigmentation who was found to have a novel c.425+1G>A variant in trans with the p.E314K variant in CYP11A1. We performed structural analyses to examine the effect of the p.E314K variant on protein function and show that it falls in the core of the protein may disrupt cholesterol binding in the active site

Repurposing Lansoprazole and Posaconazole to treat Leishmaniasis: Integration of in vitro Testing, Pharmacological Corroboration, and Mechanisms of Action

Leishmaniasis remains a serious public health problem in many tropical regions of the world. Among neglected tropical diseases, the mortality rate of leishmaniasis is second only to malaria. All currently approved therapeutics have toxic side effects and face rapidly increasing resistance. To identify existing drugs with antileishmanial activity and predict the mechanism of action, we designed a drug-discovery pipeline utilizing both in-silico and in-vitro methods. First, we screened compounds from the Selleckchem Bio-Active Compound Library containing ~1622 FDA-approved drugs and narrowed these down to 96 candidates based on data mining for possible anti-parasitic properties. Next, we completed preliminary in-vitro testing of compounds against Leishmania amastigotes and selected the most promising active compounds, Lansoprazole and Posaconazole. We identified possible Leishmania drug targets of Lansoprazole and Posaconazole using several available servers. Our in-silico screen identified likely Lansoprazole targets as the closely related calcium-transporting ATPases (LdBPK_352080.1, LdBPK_040010.1, and LdBPK_170660.1), and the Posaconazole target as lanosterol 14-alpha-demethylase (LdBPK_111100.1). Further validation showed LdBPK_352080.1 to be the most plausible target based on induced-fit docking followed by long (100ns) MD simulations to confirm the stability of the docked complexes. We present a likely ion channel-based mechanism of action of Lansoprazole against Leishmania calcium-transporting ATPases, which are essential for parasite metabolism and infectivity. The LdBPK_111100.1 interaction with Posaconazole is very similar to the known fungal orthologue. Herein, we present two novel anti-leishmanial agents, Posaconazole and Lansoprazole, already approved by the FDA for different indications and propose plausible mechanisms of action for their antileishmanial activity

Cover

The cover image, by Thomas R. Caulfield et al., is based on the Clinical Protein molecular modeling techniques investigating novel TAB2 variant R347X causing cardiomyopathy and congenital heart defects in multigenerational family, DOI: 10.1002/mgg3.401