MOVING BETWEEN ENTITLEMENT AND CO-CONSPIRACY: A STUDY OF HOW SUPPORT, SKILLS, AND COMMUNITY CAN ADVANCE ANTI-RACISM EFFORTS OF WHITE PARENTS

Many white parents of white children (WPWC) do not know how to engage in conversations about race and racism with their children. Simultaneously, the lived realities of white identity are embodied and enacted in material and cultural terms in the lives of all white-identified folk who continue to be re-socialized into our dominant culture of white supremacy. As such, racism and white supremacy are taught through socialization via media, schooling, familial relationships and other social interactions (Harro, 2000). And as a result, whiteness and white supremacy are pervasive and endemic (Bell 2016; Delgado, & Stefanick, 2012; Ladson-Billings 2013, 2016; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995) and color-evasive1 ideology is a common phenomenon among white parents, especially those who believe that talking about race is racist (Annamma, 2017; Bonilla Silva, 2017; Underhill, 2018). In order to address race and racism, WPWC need to make a conscious choice to talk with our white children about race. White parents need to see one’s own children and the lives of children of color as connected. Scholar Zeus Leonardo quotes the words of McLaren and Torres, “whiteness is not a hopeless disease and may be rehabilitated” (McLaren & Torres, as cited in Leonardo, 2009, p. 98). This requires moving away from the “consumption” of diversity that maintains a body habitus via “happy talk” that celebrates diversity while avoiding social action, while simultaneously uncoupling from the individualistic narrative of success that pervades the United States and embracing a vision of collective liberation (Burke, 2017; Taylor, 2016, Crass, 2013). The purpose of this critical phenomenological qualitative study was to use in-depth interviews with White Parents of White Children (WPWC) to explore what they need in order to engage in conversations and actions to support increasing their racial literacy and anti-racist moves. Four main findings emerged from this study: The subtle pervasiveness of racism & how it gets perpetuated in family life; how different definitions of “racist” inform kinkeeping and what I have named the “Racial Justice Sandwich Generation”; there are varied yet concrete pathways of learning and support for parents, and that conceptualizing conversations about race and racism through a lens of love and collective liberation is a fundamental shift that allows WPWC to engage in ingoing dialogues about race

Structure and specificity of T cell receptor gamma/delta on major histocompatibility complex antigen-specific CD3+, CD4-, CD8- T lymphocytes.

Analyses of TCR-bearing murine and human T cells have defined a unique subpopulation of T cells that express the TCR-gamma/delta proteins. The specificity of TCR-gamma/delta T cells and their role in the immune response have not yet been elucidated. Here we examine alloreactive TCR-gamma/delta T cell lines and clones that recognize MHC-encoded antigens. A BALB/c nu/nu (H-2d)-derived H-2k specific T cell line and derived clones were both cytolytic and released lymphokines after recognition of a non-classical H-2 antigen encoded in the TL region of the MHC. These cells expressed the V gamma 2/C gamma 1 protein in association with a TCR-delta gene product encoded by a Va gene segment rearranged to two D delta and one J delta variable elements. A second MHC-specific B10 nu/nu (H-2b) TCR-gamma/delta T cell line appeared to recognize a classical H-2D-encoded MHC molecule and expressed a distinct V gamma/C gamma 4-encoded protein. These data suggest that many TCR-gamma/delta-expressing T cells may recognize MHC-linked antigens encoded within distinct subregions of the MHC. The role of MHC-specific TCR-gamma/delta cells in immune responses and their immunological significance are discussed

Effect of the Healthy Schools Program on prevalence of overweight and obesity in California schools, 2006-2012.

IntroductionThe Alliance for a Healthier Generation's Healthy Schools Program (HSP) is a national evidence-based obesity-prevention initiative aimed at providing the schools in greatest need with onsite training and technical assistance (TTA) and consultation with national experts (HSP national advisors) to create sustainable healthy change in schools' nutrition and physical activity environments. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of HSP on the prevalence of overweight and obesity in California schools, from HSP's inception in 2006 through 2012.MethodsWe used statewide body mass index (BMI) data collected annually from 5th-, 7th-, and 9th-grade students to determine whether enrolling in the HSP's onsite intervention reduced the prevalence of overweight and obesity in intervention schools (n = 281) versus propensity-score matched control schools (n = 709) and whether increasing exposure to the program (TTA and contact with HSP national advisors) was associated with reductions in the prevalence of overweight and obesity.ResultsAnalyses showed no difference between HSP schools and control schools in overweight or obesity prevalence. However, program exposure varied widely among participating schools, and each additional contact with TTA or HSP national advisors was associated with a 0.3% decline in overweight and obesity prevalence (P < .05).ConclusionHSP appears to be an important means of supporting schools in reducing obesity. Although participation in HSP alone was not sufficient to improve weight status in California schools, there was a clear dose-response relationship to the program. HSP serves as an effective model for addressing childhood obesity among engaged schools

N-Myc Regulates Expression of Pluripotency Genes in Neuroblastoma Including lif, klf2, klf4, and lin28b

myc genes are best known for causing tumors when overexpressed, but recent studies suggest endogenous myc regulates pluripotency and self-renewal of stem cells. For example, N-myc is associated with a number of tumors including neuroblastoma, but also plays a central role in the function of normal neural stem and precursor cells (NSC). Both c- and N-myc also enhance the production of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) and are linked to neural tumor stem cells. The mechanisms by which myc regulates normal and neoplastic stem-related functions remain largely open questions. Here from a global, unbiased search for N-Myc bound genes using ChIP-chip assays in neuroblastoma, we found lif as a putative N-Myc bound gene with a number of strong N-Myc binding peaks in the promoter region enriched for E-boxes. Amongst putative N-Myc target genes in expression microarray studies in neuroblastoma we also found lif and three additional important embryonic stem cell (ESC)-related factors that are linked to production of iPSC: klf2, klf4, and lin28b. To examine the regulation of these genes by N-Myc, we measured their expression using neuroblastoma cells that contain a Tet-regulatable N-myc transgene (TET21N) as well as NSC with a nestin-cre driven N-myc knockout. N-myc levels closely correlated with the expression of all of these genes in neuroblastoma and all but lif in NSC. Direct ChIP assays also indicate that N-Myc directly binds the lif promoter. N-Myc regulates trimethylation of lysine 4 of histone H3 in the promoter of lif and possibly in the promoters of several other stem-related genes. Together these findings indicate that N-Myc regulates overlapping stem-related gene expression programs in neuroblastoma and NSC, supporting a novel model by which amplification of the N-myc gene may drive formation of neuroblastoma. They also suggest mechanisms by which Myc proteins more generally contribute to maintenance of pluripotency and self-renewal of ESC as well as to iPSC formation

Organic Wines and Little Debbies in the New Company Town: The Post-Industrial Politics of Rural Redevelopment

This qualitative case study examines Saxapahaw—a former textile mill village in central North Carolina that has recently been incorporated into a consumption-based regime of accumulation—as a contested site of rural gentrification, exploring the key insights that the unique social and material landscapes of Piedmont textile mill villages offer the rural gentrification literature, which has by-and-large overlooked the southern United States. I follow Phillips (2002) lead in applying a three-part Lefebvrian approach to unpacking the material, symbolic, and social production of gentrifying rural spaces. By exploring the "sedimentations" (Lefebvre, 1956) left by Saxapahaw's company town period, this project illuminates how the social relations of gentrifying communities have deep roots in previous stages of capitalist production. In Saxapahaw, these enduring legacies include a nostalgic rural lifestyle marketed to new residents and tourists, persistent forms of social inequality, and naturalized structures of power and governance that shape the gentrification process.Master of Art

Indication of Unit Factor Inheritance in Data Comprising but a Single Generation

Author Institution: Genetics Laboratory, Ohio State Universit

Myc and Miz-1 have coordinate genomic functions including targeting Hox genes in human embryonic stem cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A proposed role for Myc in maintaining mouse embryonic stem (ES) cell pluripotency is transcriptional repression of key differentiation-promoting genes, but detail of the mechanism has remained an important open topic.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To test the hypothesis that the zinc finger protein Miz-1 plays a central role, in the present work we conducted chromatin immunoprecipitation/microarray (ChIP-chip) analysis of Myc and Miz-1 in human ES cells, finding homeobox (<it>Hox</it>) genes as the most significant functional class of Miz-1 direct targets. Miz-1 differentiation-associated target genes specifically lack acetylated lysine 9 and trimethylated lysine 4 of histone H3 (AcH3K9 and H3K4me3) 9 histone marks, consistent with a repressed transcriptional state. Almost 30% of Miz-1 targets are also bound by Myc and these cobound genes are mostly factors that promote differentiation including <it>Hox </it>genes. Knockdown of Myc increased expression of differentiation genes directly bound by Myc and Miz-1, while a subset of the same genes is downregulated by Miz-1 loss-of-function. Myc and Miz-1 proteins interact with each other and associate with several corepressor factors in ES cells, suggesting a mechanism of repression of differentiation genes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Taken together our data indicate that Miz-1 and Myc maintain human ES cell pluripotency by coordinately suppressing differentiation genes, particularly <it>Hox </it>genes. These data also support a new model of how Myc and Miz-1 function on chromatin.</p

No COVID-19 Climate Silver Lining in the US Power Sector

Recent studies conclude that the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic decreased power sector CO$_2$ emissions globally and in the United States. In this paper, we analyze the statistical significance of CO2 emissions reductions in the U.S. power sector from March through December 2020. We use Gaussian process (GP) regression to assess whether CO2 emissions reductions would have occurred with reasonable probability in the absence of COVID-19 considering uncertainty due to factors unrelated to the pandemic and adjusting for weather, seasonality, and recent emissions trends. We find that monthly CO2 emissions reductions are only statistically significant in April and May 2020 considering hypothesis tests at 5% significance levels. Separately, we consider the potential impact of COVID-19 on coal-fired power plant retirements through 2022. We find that only a small percentage of U.S. coal power plants are at risk of retirement due to a possible COVID-19-related sustained reduction in electricity demand and prices. We observe and anticipate a return to pre-COVID-19 CO2 emissions in the U.S. power sector.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, preprin