Social Workers, Race Discrimination, and International Human Rights Conventions: A Canadian Perspective

Racial discrimination continues to haunt Canada, calling for effective and new solutions. There are clear and real limitations to the current domestic avenues of redress. This paper reviews the effectiveness of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. We argue that the treaty contains comprehensive and legally effective provisions to combat racial discrimination. Social workers, along with other professionals, should engage with the international legal regime to assist their clientele to combat racial discrimination. Internationally, progress toward racial equality has been made in the last two decades, symbolized partly by the collapse of the apartheid regime in South Africa. But the belief that racism and racial discrimination are very much under control is as erroneous as it is pervasive (Tang, 2003). Xenophobic and racially motivated acts of violence continue to plague people in all parts of the world. In the United States, the fact remains that racial discrimination is deeply entrenched, characterized by disproportionate incarceration of blacks, police violence, and poverty (Gordon, 2000). Likewise, racial discrimination in Canada is more than isolated instances of racist behavior by aberrant individuals or the acts of extremist groups. Scholars like Anand (1998) find much evidence of racism and discrimination in Canadian society that includes government-sanctioned discrimination as well as racial hatred

Socially-distributed cognition and cognitive architectures: towards an ACT-R-based cognitive social simulation capability

ACT-R is one of the most widely used cognitive architectures, and it has been used to model hundreds of phenomena described in the cognitive psychology literature. In spite of this, there are relatively few studies that have attempted to apply ACT-R to situations involving social interaction. This is an important omission since the social aspects of cognition have been a growing area of interest in the cognitive science community, and an understanding of the dynamics of collective cognition is of particular importance in many organizational settings. In order to support the computational modeling and simulation of socially-distributed cognitive processes, a simulation capability based on the ACT-R architecture is described. This capability features a number of extensions to the core ACT-R architecture that are intended to support social interaction and collaborative problem solving. The core features of a number of supporting applications and services are also described. These applications/services support the execution, monitoring and analysis of simulation experiments. Finally, a system designed to record human behavioral data in a collective problem-solving task is described. This system is being used to undertake a range of experiments with teams of human subjects, and it will ultimately support the development of high fidelity ACT-R cognitive models. Such models can be used in conjunction with the ACT-R simulation capability to test hypotheses concerning the interaction between cognitive, social and technological factors in tasks involving socially-distributed information processing

Endoscopic and Angiographic Diagnosis and Management of a Gastric Arteriovenous Malformation

AbstractIntroductionGastric arteriovenous malformation (AVM) is an uncommon cause of upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding.Methods and resultsWe describe a case of gastric AVM which was diagnosed endoscopically and successfully managed by endoclip application and percutaneous transarterial coil embolization.ConclusionsWe propose that these two minimally invasive technologies can be used to manage AVM in the gut: endoscopic therapy to control luminal bleeding and interventional radiology to define the full extent of the malformation and to decrease arterial pressure and flow to the point that hemostasis can occur, without creating symptomatic ischemia

Analysis of the complement and molecular evolution of tRNA genes in cow

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Detailed information regarding the number and organization of transfer RNA (tRNA) genes at the genome level is becoming readily available with the increase of DNA sequencing of whole genomes. However the identification of functional tRNA genes is challenging for species that have large numbers of repetitive elements containing tRNA derived sequences, such as <it>Bos taurus</it>. Reliable identification and annotation of entire sets of tRNA genes allows the evolution of tRNA genes to be understood on a genomic scale.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, we explored the <it>B. taurus </it>genome using bioinformatics and comparative genomics approaches to catalogue and analyze cow tRNA genes. The initial analysis of the cow genome using tRNAscan-SE identified 31,868 putative tRNA genes and 189,183 pseudogenes, where 28,830 of the 31,868 predicted tRNA genes were classified as repetitive elements by the RepeatMasker program. We then used comparative genomics to further discriminate between functional tRNA genes and tRNA-derived sequences for the remaining set of 3,038 putative tRNA genes. For our analysis, we used the human, chimpanzee, mouse, rat, horse, dog, chicken and fugu genomes to predict that the number of active tRNA genes in cow lies in the vicinity of 439. Of this set, 150 tRNA genes were 100% identical in their sequences across all nine vertebrate genomes studied. Using clustering analyses, we identified a new tRNA-Gly^CCCsubfamily present in all analyzed mammalian genomes. We suggest that this subfamily originated from an ancestral tRNA-Gly^GCCgene via a point mutation prior to the radiation of the mammalian lineages. Lastly, in a separate analysis we created phylogenetic profiles for each putative cow tRNA gene using a representative set of genomes to gain an overview of common evolutionary histories of tRNA genes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The use of a combination of bioinformatics and comparative genomics approaches has allowed the confident identification of a set of cow tRNA genes that will facilitate further studies in understanding the molecular evolution of cow tRNA genes.</p

A comparative study of satellite-based operational analyses and ship-based in-situ observations of sea surface temperatures over the eastern Canadian shelf

The satellite-based operational sea surface temperature (SST) was compared to the ship-based in-situ SSTs established by the Atlantic Zone Monitoring Program (AZMP) over the eastern Canadian shelf (ECS) for a 3-year anal-ysis period (2005–2007). Two sets of operational SST analyses were considered in this study, with one set produced by the Canadian Meteorological Centre (CMC) and the other produced by the National Centers for Environmental Predic-tion (NCEP). The comparative study indicated that there was no appreciable systematic difference between the CMC and NCEP SST analyses over the ECS. The root mean squared difference (RMSD) between the AZMP ship-based in-situ SSTs and the satellite-based STT analyses over the ECS was about 1.0°C, without any obvious seasonal or geo-graphic trend. The RMSDs were relatively larger over the outer flank of the Grand Banks than the other regions of the ECS, mainly due to dynamically complicated circulation and hydrographic conditions over this shelf break area associated with the Labrador Current

Tiresias [portable braille display]

BDot is introducing its own revolutionary system, Tiresias, a portable, costeffective Braille display for the visually impaired. With advances in the mobility of technology, it’s no wonder that assistive devices also need to be more portable. While there are many models currently available, large, extensive displays are not affordable for everyone. Tiresias will prove to be a viable solution for any visually impaired person.&nbsp; A compact Braille display system will ensure easier integration of the visually impaired within society, allowing them to contribute as much, if not more, than any able-bodied Canadian. However, to ensure maximum effectiveness, it is the intention of this company to create a refreshable Braille display. By using compressible pins (in sets of six), ASCII characters will be read in, and translated into a corresponding Braille character. By using an innovative rotating system, these characters can be reset, to allow for continuous and seamless translation of digital information for the visually impaired.&nbsp

Identification of Anchor Genes during Kidney Development Defines Ontological Relationships, Molecular Subcompartments and Regulatory Pathways

The development of the mammalian kidney is well conserved from mouse to man. Despite considerable temporal and spatial data on gene expression in mammalian kidney development, primarily in rodent species, there is a paucity of genes whose expression is absolutely specific to a given anatomical compartment and/or developmental stage, defined here as ‘anchor’ genes. We previously generated an atlas of gene expression in the developing mouse kidney using microarray analysis of anatomical compartments collected via laser capture microdissection. Here, this data is further analysed to identify anchor genes via stringent bioinformatic filtering followed by high resolution section in situ hybridisation performed on 200 transcripts selected as specific to one of 11 anatomical compartments within the midgestation mouse kidney. A total of 37 anchor genes were identified across 6 compartments with the early proximal tubule being the compartment richest in anchor genes. Analysis of minimal and evolutionarily conserved promoter regions of this set of 25 anchor genes identified enrichment of transcription factor binding sites for Hnf4a and Hnf1b, RbpJ (Notch signalling), PPARγ:RxRA and COUP-TF family transcription factors. This was reinforced by GO analyses which also identified these anchor genes as targets in processes including epithelial proliferation and proximal tubular function. As well as defining anchor genes, this large scale validation of gene expression identified a further 92 compartment-enriched genes able to subcompartmentalise key processes during murine renal organogenesis spatially or ontologically. This included a cohort of 13 ureteric epithelial genes revealing previously unappreciated compartmentalisation of the collecting duct system and a series of early tubule genes suggesting that segmentation into proximal tubule, loop of Henle and distal tubule does not occur until the onset of glomerular vascularisation. Overall, this study serves to illuminate previously ill-defined stages of patterning and will enable further refinement of the lineage relationships within mammalian kidney development

RNA-MATE: a recursive mapping strategy for high-throughput RNA-sequencing data

Summary: Mapping of next-generation sequencing data derived from RNA samples (RNAseq) presents different genome mapping challenges than data derived from DNA. For example, tags that cross exon-junction boundaries will often not map to a reference genome, and the strand specificity of the data needs to be retained. Here we present RNA-MATE, a computational pipeline based on a recursive mapping strategy for placing strand specific RNAseq data onto a reference genome. Maximizing the mappable tags can provide significant savings in the cost of sequencing experiments. This pipeline provides an automatic and integrated way to align color-space sequencing data, collate this information and generate files for examining gene-expression data in a genomic context

Enhanced B7-H4 expression in gliomas with low PD-L1 expression identifies super-cold tumors.

BACKGROUND: Characterizing expression profiles of different immune checkpoint molecules are promising for personalized checkpoint inhibitory immunotherapy. Gliomas have been shown as potential targets for immune checkpoint inhibitors recently. Our study was performed to determine coexpression levels of two major B7 immune regulatory molecules programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) and B7-H4, both of which have been demonstrated to inhibit antitumor host immunity in gliomas. METHODS: We assessed tumor tissues from stage II-IV primary gliomas (n=505) by immunohistochemistry (IHC) for protein levels of both PD-L1 and B7-H4. Gene coexpression analysis assessing clusters based on extent of PD-L1/B7-H4 classifier genes expression were investigated in two transcriptome datasets (The Cancer Genome Atlas and Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas). In addition, levels of immune cell infiltrates were estimated with IHC and RNA-seq data for assessing the tumor immune microenvironment of PD-L1/B7-H4 subgroups. RESULTS: High expression of PD-L1 and B7-H4 in gliomas was 23% and 20%, respectively, whereas coexpression of two proteins at high levels was limited to 2% of the cases. Comparable results were seen in RNA-seq datasets where PD-L1 mRNA expression levels negatively correlated with that of B7-H4. Gene coexpression modules clustered within each grade of gliomas demonstrated lack of double-high modules (cluster with high expression of both PD-L1 and B7-H4 classifier genes). B7-H4 mRNA expression levels showed negative correlation with extent of immune cell infiltration and High-B7-H4 module gliomas (high B7-H4 but low PD-L1 classifier genes expression) had less tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). IHC assessment also showed few TILs and TAMs in High-B7-H4 subgroup gliomas. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of gliomas express PD-L1 or B7-H4, however, coexpression of both at high levels is minimal. The high-B7-H4 patients could be considered as \u27super-cold\u27 gliomas with significantly deficient in TILs, suggesting that B7-H4 might inhibit T-cell trafficking into the central nervous system. This study demonstrated that PD-L1 and B7-H4 may serve as mutually compensatory immune checkpoint molecules in gliomas for immune targeted or active-specific immunotherapy. The distinct B7-H4 pathways modulating T-cell function and immune evasion in glioma patients deserved to be further explored in the future during immunotherapy