359 research outputs found

    Children Without a Country: A Migration Educational Study of Mexicans in Minnesota

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    Abstract Several undocumented Mexicans and Mexican-Americans have returned to Mexico, whether by choice or deportation, including children and youth who were born and raised in Minnesota. The research for the case study explored reasons for migration of Mexican families from Morelos, Mexico, who migrated to Minnesota, United States and how deportation affected the education of their Mexican and Mexican–American children upon returning to Mexico. Furthermore, the study also explored Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) adult student’s education system barriers encountered in the Mexican education system as they returned to Mexico from the United States. Study results indicated it is imperative that collaboration regarding K-12 education takes place between the migrant education agencies in Mexico and those in Minnesota since many returning Mexican-American students to Mexico are citizens of the United States, and someday may return to their home state of Minnesota. Study findings indicated that 90.3% of participants’ reasons for migration to Minnesota from Morelos, Mexico was the lack of employment, and 74.2% of the participants reported that they returned to Mexico voluntarily, either to avoid separation or deportation of families. Regarding the education in Morelos, Mexico, 67.7% of the participants described how the lack of academic support combined with a poor quality of education was affecting their children’s education

    COTS DRONE DESIGN: A RAPID EQUIPAGE ALTERNATIVE FOR FORCE RECON COMPANIES

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    The Force Reconnaissance Group (FRG) of the Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) is a pioneer unit of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in acquiring and utilizing small unmanned aircraft systems (SUAS) for aerial intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR). The sustainment of this ISR equipment, however, largely depends on ample resources that the FRG does not have. This organizational challenge results in an aerial ISR capability gap at the company level. Force Recon Companies (FRCs) do not have organic drones to support their aerial real-time reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition requirements. This study explored an alternative solution to address this capability gap: a low-cost commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) drone design specific to the operational needs of FRCs. A systems engineering approach to SUAS design resulted in a micro traditional helicopter drone as the FRC COTS Drone design. The study produced a prototype FRC COTS Drone consisting of a four-part reconnaissance kit that includes a micro helicopter UAV, handheld controller, first person view (FPV) goggles, and FPV monitor. This effort can promote a culture of innovation in small unmanned systems, not just within the PMC, but the AFP as a whole. This study can also serve as a model for security cooperation between the United States and the Philippines through the integration of three fields: Philippine experience, U.S. technical expertise and resources, and the global commercial market.Outstanding ThesisMajor, Philippine Marine CorpsApproved for public release. distribution is unlimite

    MicroRNA in Situ Hybridization in the Human Entorhinal and Transentorhinal Cortex

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    MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play key roles in gene expression regulation in both healthy and disease brains. To better understand those roles, it is necessary to characterize the miRNAs that are expressed in particular cell types under a range of conditions. In situ hybridization (ISH) can demonstrate cell- and lamina-specific patterns of miRNA expression that would be lost in tissue-level expression profiling. In the present study, ISH was performed with special focus on the human entorhinal cortex (EC) and transentorhinal cortex (TEC). The TEC is the area of the cerebral cortex that first develops neurofibrillary tangles in Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD). However, the reason for TEC\u27s special vulnerability to AD-type pathology is unknown. MiRNA ISH was performed on three human brains with well-characterized clinical and pathological parameters. Locked nucleic acid ISH probes were used referent to miR-107, miR-124, miR-125b, and miR-320. In order to correlate the ISH data with AD pathology, the ISH staining was compared with near-adjacent slides processed using Thioflavine stains. Not all neurons or cortical lamina stain with equal intensity for individual miRNAs. As with other areas of brain, the TEC and EC have characteristic miRNA expression patterns. MiRNA ISH is among the first methods to show special staining characteristics of cells and laminae of the human TEC

    Taller de literatura para el desarrollo de inteligencias múltiples e inteligencia emocional basado en el método Freinet

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    "Este proyecto surge por la necesidad que se observa en los jóvenes en cuanto a adquisición no tan solo de equilibrio emocional y guía profesional, que les demuestre que tras lo que parece un sinfín de años en la escuela existe algo más a lo que aspirar, sino también un equilibrio en cuanto a la forma misma de impartir las clases. Una propuesta que manifieste que hay otra manera, diferente a la tradicional, de aprender, de enseñar y de evaluar. Es por esta razón que mi propuesta se centra en un taller de seguimiento sobre la educación socioemocional a través de actividades para la materia de español, elaboradas según la pedagogía de la escuela Freinet y la teoría de las inteligencias múltiples propuesta por Gardner. Entonces, ¿será posible, que un taller dé seguimiento de índole socioemocional mediante la intervención de la Filosofía de Freinet y la teoría de Gardner propicie un mejor desarrollo socioemocional, afectivo y académico?"

    Microglial-Associated Responses to Comorbid Amyloid Pathology and Hyperhomocysteinemia in an Aged Knock-in Mouse Model of Alzheimer\u27s Disease

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    BACKGROUND: Elevated blood homocysteine levels, termed hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy), is a prevalent risk factor for Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) in elderly populations. While dietary supplementation of B-vitamins is a generally effective method to lower homocysteine levels, there is little if any benefit to cognition. In the context of amyloid pathology, dietary-induced HHcy is known to enhance amyloid deposition and certain inflammatory responses. Little is known, however, about whether there is a more specific effect on microglia resulting from combined amyloid and HHcy pathologies. METHODS: The present study used a knock-in mouse model of amyloidosis, aged to 12 months, given 8 weeks of B-vitamin deficiency-induced HHcy to better understand how microglia are affected in this comorbidity context. RESULTS: We found that HHcy-inducing diet increased amyloid plaque burden, altered the neuroinflammatory milieu, and upregulated the expression of multiple damage-associated and homeostatic microglial genes. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, these data indicate complex effects of comorbid pathologies on microglial function that are not driven solely by increased amyloid burden. Given the highly dynamic nature of microglia, their central role in AD pathology, and the frequent occurrence of various comorbidities in AD patients, it is increasingly important to understand how microglia respond to mixed pathological processes

    Can Agroforestry Farmers Attain Sustainability? Case of Farmers in Selected Upland Farming Communities in the Philippines

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    This article is based on the study which investigated the socioeconomic and biophysical conditions of the upland farming communities in the Philippines; identified the development pathways that were undertaken by the upland farmers; and determined level of sustainability of the upland farming communities on the basis of their development pathways. This article argues that agroforestry farmers in upland farming communities in the Philippines can attain sustainability. This argument is based on the study conducted in the three pilot upland communities of the Conservation Farming Villages program in Albay, Ifugao and Negros Oriental, Philippines. From seven focus group discussions (FGDs) with at least 12 participants per FGD for a total of 147 farmers, and farm household survey of 230 upland farmers, research results indicate that agroforestry farmers in the three study sites were smallholders and were cultivating in areas with marginal conditions. There were five development pathways identified. These are monocropping in contour, multiple cropping in contour, agroforestry, agroforestry with non-farm activities, and multiple cropping/monocropping without contour. With the community capitals framework as the theoretical foundation, analysis indicated that the five development pathways contributed to a high level of social, human and political capitals having mean scores of 0.73, 0.55 and 0.54, respectively; a moderate level of physical, financial and natural capital, with mean scores of 0.23, 0.20 and 0.23, respectively; and a very low level of cultural capital with mean score of -0.08. At the community level, on the other hand, research results revealed that the CFV sites in Ligao, Albay and La Libertad, Negros Oriental have almost similar contributions to the sustainability of the upland farming communities, while Alfonso Lista, Ifugao had the lowest. Thus, institutional arrangements with the farmers’ association and the local government units also played a key role in the sustainability of the upland farming communities. These results imply the need for a holistic and collaborative engagement towards attaining sustainable upland farming communities

    Enhanced Neointima Formation Following Arterial Injury in Immune Deficient Rag-1−/− Mice Is Attenuated by Adoptive Transfer of CD8+ T cells

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    T cells modulate neointima formation after arterial injury but the specific T cell population that is activated in response to arterial injury remains unknown. The objective of the study was to identify the T cell populations that are activated and modulate neointimal thickening after arterial injury in mice. Arterial injury in wild type C57Bl6 mice resulted in T cell activation characterized by increased CD4+CD44hi and CD8+CD44hi T cells in the lymph nodes and spleens. Splenic CD8+CD25+ T cells and CD8+CD28+ T cells, but not CD4+CD25+ and CD4+CD28+ T cells, were also significantly increased. Adoptive cell transfer of CD4+ or CD8+ T cells from donor CD8−/− or CD4−/− mice, respectively, to immune-deficient Rag-1−/− mice was performed to determine the T cell subtype that inhibits neointima formation after arterial injury. Rag-1−/− mice that received CD8+ T cells had significantly reduced neointima formation compared with Rag-1−/− mice without cell transfer. CD4+ T cell transfer did not reduce neointima formation. CD8+ T cells from CD4−/− mice had cytotoxic activity against syngeneic smooth muscle cells in vitro. The study shows that although both CD8+ T cells and CD4+ T cells are activated in response to arterial injury, adoptive cell transfer identifies CD8+ T cells as the specific and selective cell type involved in inhibiting neointima formation

    Microglial p38α MAPK is a key regulator of proinflammatory cytokine up-regulation induced by toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands or beta-amyloid (Aβ)

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Overproduction of proinflammatory cytokines from activated microglia has been implicated as an important contributor to pathophysiology progression in both acute and chronic neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, it is critical to elucidate intracellular signaling pathways that are significant contributors to cytokine overproduction in microglia exposed to specific stressors, especially pathways amenable to drug interventions. The serine/threonine protein kinase p38α MAPK is a key enzyme in the parallel and convergent intracellular signaling pathways involved in stressor-induced production of IL-1β and TNFα in peripheral tissues, and is a drug development target for peripheral inflammatory diseases. However, much less is known about the quantitative importance of microglial p38α MAPK in stressor-induced cytokine overproduction, or the potential of microglial p38α MAPK to be a druggable target for CNS disorders. Therefore, we examined the contribution of microglial p38αMAPK to cytokine up-regulation, with a focus on the potential to suppress the cytokine increase by inhibition of the kinase with pharmacological or genetic approaches.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The microglial cytokine response to TLR ligands 2/3/4/7/8/9 or to Aβ<sub>1-42 </sub>was tested in the presence of a CNS-penetrant p38α MAPK inhibitor, MW01-2-069A-SRM. Primary microglia from mice genetically deficient in p38α MAPK were used to further establish a linkage between microglia p38α MAPK and cytokine overproduction. The <it>in vivo </it>significance was determined by p38α MAPK inhibitor treatment in a LPS-induced model of acute neuroinflammation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Increased IL-1β and TNFα production by the BV-2 microglial cell line and by primary microglia cultures was inhibited in a concentration-dependent manner by the p38α MAPK-targeted inhibitor. Cellular target engagement was demonstrated by the accompanying decrease in the phosphorylation state of two p38α MAPK protein substrates, MK2 and MSK1. Consistent with the pharmacological findings, microglia from p38α-deficient mice showed a diminished cytokine response to LPS. Further, oral administration of the inhibitor blocked the increase of IL-1β in the cerebral cortex of mice stressed by intraperitoneal injection of LPS.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The p38α MAPK pathway is an important contributor to the increased microglial production of proinflammatory cytokines induced by diverse stressors. The results also indicate the feasibility of targeting p38α MAPK to modulate CNS proinflammatory cytokine overproduction.</p
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