Sam and Cristina: A Critical Dialogue Between a Teacher and Student About the Commoditization of People of Color by Schools

This article was written by a white high school teacher (Sam) and a high school student of color (Cristina) in order to consider the harmful potential for schools in the United States to commoditize students of color at the expense of critical, antiracist work. It was written out of a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) study and uses a critical whiteness framework in order to examine how Cristina, in dialogue with Sam, came to theorize that her racial identity was commoditized as a cultural asset of their high school in exploitative ways. Her thinking, juxtaposed with Sam’s consideration of his own whiteness, illustrates the complex ways that students of color can be exploited in ways that do not disrupt hegemonic white supremacy in educational contexts. It is our hope that sharing this dialogical interaction will contribute to the consideration of a more nuanced understanding of how whiteness can obstruct democratic practices, especially racial justice, in U.S. schools

Non-symmetric liquid crystal dimer containing a carbohydrate-based moiety

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Formal Synthesis of (±)-Allocolchicine Via Gold-Catalysed Direct Arylation: Implication of Aryl Iodine(III) Oxidant in Catalyst Deactivation Pathways

Abstract A concise formal synthesis of racemic allocolchicine has been developed, centred on three principal transformations: a retro-Brook alkylation reaction to generate an arylsilane, a gold-catalysed arylative cyclisation to generate the B-ring via biaryl linkage, and a palladium-catalysed carbonylation of an aryl chloride to generate an ester. 1H NMR monitoring of the key gold-catalysed cyclisation step reveals that a powerful catalyst deactivation process progressively attenuates the rate of catalyst turnover. The origins of the catalyst deactivation have been investigated, with an uncatalysed side-reaction, involving the substrate and the iodine(III) oxidant, identified as the source of a potent catalyst poison. The side reaction generates 1–4% of a diaryliodonium salt, and whilst this moiety is shown not to be an innate catalyst deactivator, when it is tethered to the arylsilane reactant, the inhibition becomes powerful. Kinetic modelling of processes run at two different catalyst concentrations allows extraction of the partitioning of the gold catalyst between the substrate and its diaryliodonium salt, with a rate of diaryliodonium salt generation consistent with that independently determined in the absence of catalyst. The high partition ratio between substrate and diaryliodonium salt (5/1) results in very efficient, and ultimately complete, diversion of the catalyst off-cycle. Graphical Abstract </jats:sec

Understanding mental health needs of Southeast Asian refugees: Historical, cultural, and contextual challenges

Research and clinical information pertaining to mental health needs of Asians residing in the United States is limited but growing. There is a tendency to group all persons of Asian descent together and, therefore, the empirical literature does not sufficiently address the mental health needs in specific subgroups. The focus of this article is to understand the mental health needs of one subgroup of Asians-Southeast Asian refugees (SEAR). The main purpose is to review the relevant literature pertaining to Southeast Asian refugees’ experiences and to understand the manifestation of psychiatric disorders by examining historical, cultural, and contextual challenges. Despite the well-documented mental health needs for SEAR, most do not present for mental health services. Therefore, resilience and protective factors are discussed. Research and clinical implications are described and suggestions are offered on how to apply information obtained from Southeast Asian refugees’ experiences to future refugees

A randomised trial evaluating Bevacizumab as adjuvant therapy following resection of AJCC stage IIB, IIC and III cutaneous melanoma : an update

At present, there are no standard therapies for the adjuvant treatment of malignant melanoma. Patients with primary tumours with a high-Breslow thickness (stages IIB and IIC) or with resected loco-regional nodal disease (stage III) are at high risk of developing metastasis and subsequent disease-related death. Given this, it is important that novel therapies are investigated in the adjuvant melanoma setting. Since angiogenesis is essential for primary tumour growth and the development of metastasis, anti-angiogenic agents are attractive potential therapeutic candidates for clinical trials in the adjuvant setting. Therefore, we initiated a phase II trial in resected high-risk cutaneous melanoma, assessing the efficacy of bevacizumab versus observation. In the interim safety data analysis, we demonstrate that bevacizumab is a safe therapy in the adjuvant melanoma setting with no apparent increase in the surgical complication rate after either primary tumour resection and/or loco-regional lymphadenectomy

Species richness patterns and functional traits of the bat fauna of arid southern Africa

The bat fauna of arid regions is still poorly studied mostly due to a lack of interest in areas with low species richness and a low number of threatened species. In this study, we reviewed the status of bat diversity in the arid parts of southern Africa, with the aim of setting up a baseline for future work. In particular, we described species richness patterns across four arid zones within the region (Namib Desert, Kalahari, Nama Karoo and Succulent Karoo), exploring abiotic gradients and local landscape structure. Additionally, we examined bat functional groups in this region and compared them with those of three other arid regions of the world to identify potential similarities and differences. The southern African arid region hosted 17 bat species, representing eight families, of which three are endemic to the region (Rhinolophus denti, Laephotis namibensis and Cistugo seabrae) and one is vagrant (the fruit bat Eidolon helvum). Species richness varied spatially within this arid region, being highest in the drier but topographically heterogeneous Namib Desert, probably as a result of roost availability. With regards to functional groups, the southern African arid region had few bat species adapted to foraging in open spaces, particularly when compared with the neighbouring savannahs. Drawing from this study, we suggest that: a) despite species richness decreasing with increasing aridity at the sub-continental scale, at a more local scale landscape features (e.g. habitat structure) might be more relevant than aridity in determining bat species richness; and b) an unknown factor, possibly patterns of temperature limiting the availability of insects flying high above the ground, restricted the diversity of the open air foragers throughout the region. We highlight additional areas of research worth investigation.Peer reviewe