Mainstream feminism, white supremacy, and anti-racist feminisms

The history of the women’s movement is one of great gains, as well as missed opportunities, due to the domination of the movement by those women with the most privilege. This report discusses the challenge faced by the mainstream women’s movement to overcome racism and prejudice while trying to remain relevant to many different women. I discuss white supremacy within the mainstream women’s movement as well as scholarship on anti-racist feminism, with a focus on women of Color feminisms and critical whiteness studies. Following Kimberlé Crenshaw and Chandra Mohanty, I argue that the issues of the most marginalized women should be central to the women’s movement’s projects of feminist liberation. While the constraints to women’s liberation will continue to pose challenges through the commodification and domestication of radical politics by liberalism and the neoliberal academy, feminism continues to hold possibilities for women fighting to overcome oppression.Women's and Gender Studie

Walk. Learn. Play.

Nearly 90,000 Soldiers, civilians and family members are stationed in Hawai'i. Schofield Barracks, an Army installation on Oahu, is home to approximately 16,370 Soldiers. A network of Army museums has been organized to expand public service and learning opportunities for these Soldiers and family members. Through this project a mobile application tour has been developed to facilitate the educational mission of the Tropic Lightning Museum on Schofield Barracks. Using location-based software, this app facilitates a historical walking tour of the installation. Accessing resources from archived collections, the tour provides the community with unique historical information, audio, and trivia questions to broaden knowledge and appreciation of the installation’s cultures and history. The purpose of this usability study was to develop, evaluate and improve this mobile application to facilitate an interactive and participatory walking tour used by military personnel and their families. Using the FRAME Model, the app was evaluated based on three aspects: social, device, and learner. This study identified the key components of app-based tours and their relevancy in facilitating on-site educational lessons. Most importantly, this study contributed to the improvement of the apps’ usability and accessibility for the members of the Schofield Barracks’ community. Multiple factors contributed to the success of the app-based tour and the positive reception by community members. The progression of the app from a paper-based walking tour to an interactive and augmented reality experience will be discussed along with the growing pains of developing a mobile app

Save the Trees. Save Humanity.

Visual art by Lindsey Davi

Transcriptional Control of the Opp Operon in Clostridium Difficile

As a serious expense for both the hospital and the patient, nosocomial infections create a burden on the health care industry that is not easily overcome. Among the infections commonly contracted in the hospital environment, those associated with the Clostridium difficile bacterium account for millions of cases each year. Largely due to the nature of C. difficile infection as a response to the disruption of the normal flora of the colon caused by antibiotic activity, no completely effective treatment for this condition has been identified. It is this problem that forms the foundation for research devoted to the development of a control mechanism for the expression of the oligopeptide permease (opp) genes, which are important metabolic structural genes in the C. difficile genome. In the work reported here, a genetic construct with the ability to monitor the activity of the dual promoter known to control the expression of the opp genes was created. When this construct was used in combination with a highly expressed gene for an opp regulatory protein, we found that gene expression associated with the oppDF promoter was enhanced significantly, while oppAB expression was greatly inhibited. This pattern was observed using fructose, glucose, mannitol, and pep tides as growth substrates, with the degree of induction and repression varying with the nature of the substrate. Future applications of the pUA442 construct may make it possible to determine the specific conditions that prevent the formation of structures of metabolism in C. difficile on the most basic transcriptional level, and ultimately allow for the regulation of one of the nosocomial infections that so greatly contributes to the problems of the health care industry

MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS AND ITS SYMPTOM MANAGEMENT THROUGH SUPPLEMENTATION AND DIETARY PLANNING

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune, neuroinflammatory disorder that is characterized by the breakdown of myelinated axons in the Central and Peripheral Nervous Systems. It is a potentially debilitating autoimmune disease that affects almost 1 million people in the United States, and nearly 2.5 million people worldwide. The precise etiology of MS is still being researched, but much progress has been made towards understanding the molecular mechanisms and impactful ways to treat this disease. While there is still no cure, new treatment plans are constantly being orchestrated in effort to alleviate the burden that MS carries. Combination treatment plans have statistically proven to be the most beneficial in caring for the mind and body of MS patients. With new medications such as Larazotide, which aims to control leaky junctions, and dietary systems like the Paleolithic diet, that seeks to reduce saturated fat intake and inflammatory progenitors, the outlook for symptom management of MS is positive

EXPERIENCING POSITIVE ASPECTS IN BEING A SPOUSAL CAREGIVER IN PARKINSON’S AND ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

poster abstractAim: A primary aim of this study was to describe caregiver appraisal and coping strategies in caregivers of family members with Parkinson’s (PD) or Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This study was part of a larger randomized clinical trial of a skill building intervention for caregivers. Method: To achieve this aim, 84 spousal caregivers who were consecutively enrolled in the study were interviewed at baseline. The interview focused on specific caregiving situations where the caregiver was asked to describe a positive or meaningful caregiving event. Interviews were semi-structured and included probes to elicit the full narrative of the events. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed by the research team utilizing a thematic analysis. Results: Of the 84 caregivers, 48% (N=44) were PD caregivers and 52% (N=40) were AD caregivers. Male caregivers comprised 17% (N=14) of the sample. The mean age of the caregivers was 63.7 years (SD ±26.8) with the mean age of their spouses being 75.5 years (SD ± 7.2). The core theme identified was “time spent together”. Within this core theme were several relational sub-themes including turning back the hands of time, being able to rely on the caregiver, and experiencing moments of joy when the family member can participate. Conclusions: Differences existed in both how easily caregivers could identify positive or meaningful aspects to caregiving and how many aspects they could identify. However, the majority of caregivers were able to identify a positive or a meaningful aspect to spousal caregiving. Future intervention studies with spousal caregivers might consider developing targeted interventions based on positive meaningful caregiving situations and building on this relational aspect

Hanging Out or Hooking Up: Improving Adolescent Relationship Abuse Management

Approved May 2017 by the faculty of UMKC in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Nursing PracticeHealthcare providers have unique opportunities to educate patients on healthy relationships, however, research studies have suggested that these conversations are rare in the healthcare setting. The purpose of this quasi-experimental pilot project is to incorporate an educational intervention to improve primary and urgent care providers’ management of adolescent relationship abuse. The population of sixty-seven pediatric primary care and urgent care providers at Children’s Mercy Clinics were recruited to participate in this evidence-based project. The project’s intervention consisted of educating providers on how to use the Hooking Up or Hanging Out safety card, while subsequently measuring self-reported provider behaviors, provider self-efficacy, and provider behavioral intentions. This educational strategy has the potential to improve health care delivery by improving the management of adolescent relationship abuse victims. Results of this project suggest the Hanging Out or Hooking Up training session improves healthcare providers’ intention to discuss and to assess abusive relationships with adolescent patients. It is the responsibility of all healthcare providers to identify violence and to provide appropriated referrals and/or counseling. Preventing violence can improve clinical and social outcomes, promote quality of life, and decrease health care costs