Creating Alternative and Demedicalized Spaces: Testimonial Narrative on Disability, Culture, and Racialization

The literature on disability, gender and “race” has benefited from the political economy perspective. With its emphasis on unmasking the workings of power, this perspective has brought into relief the systemic, institutionalized and spatial oppression of disabled persons, compounded in the case of gender and “race.” This narrative of deconstruction, however, remains incomplete in the absence of voice and subjectivity of persons with disabilities. Using narrative moments, recounted by an immigrant woman with two “disabled” children, this paper makes a case for an integrated framework for a study of racialized persons with disabilities. Here, the margins2 are not out there in other spaces; they form part of the centre whose existence is brought into question by alternative and demedicalized spaces. The data are drawn from a larger study of health and well being of South Asian East African women in metropolitan Vancouver, Canada

Consumption of, and beliefs about fonio (digitaria exilis) in urban area in Mali

The study sought to determine beliefs and practices about neglected crops in West Africa, using fonio (Digitaria exilis) as a model to understand how obstacles impede the consumption of this cereal in Bamako, the capital city of Mali. This was a crosssectional study on food ethnography in three steps: a market survey on availability of fonio, a food consumption survey on utilisation of fonio, and on beliefs on and attributes of fonio. The study covered the pre-harvest and post-harvest periods and involved key informants, food vendors, and women of reproductive age in households. Fonio, as all cereals, is available year-long on markets in Bamako, and is abundant from September to May before most of the common cereals mature. More than two-thirds (68%) of the women reported having consumed fonio one to three times a month. Fonio was more consumed as snack (djouka) on working days (62%) than on weekend and special event days, suggesting that encouraging the development of ready-to-serve fonio-based products would help increase the consumption of fonio among women in urban area. The average individual portion size of fonio was 152g/day, and the contribution to daily energy intake was 16%. A large share of the women was convinced that eating fonio was good for them (95%) and their family members (94%). Also, most of them thought that fonio had good cooking, organoleptic and nutritional qualities and could contribute to diet’s variation (91% to 100%). Decision by the women to purchase or prepare fonio in the household could be favourably influenced by factors such as media, household members suffering from anaemia, neighbouring people buying fonio and shortage of other cereals; whereas shortage of fonio products (77%), high cost of fonio products (69%), difficult cooking process (51%), and lack of knowledge about processing and cooking fonio (43%) were likely to limit fonio consumption among the women. Also, in the present study, fonio was perceived to be for rich people by more than half (58%) of the women. Improving cooking process and knowledge of the women about fonio cooking, as well as creating a demand for the women with the household’s head and others through media, social and health care services would help increase fonio consumption in Bamako. Key words: beliefs, fonio, women, Mali, ethnograph

‘Log’ KyaKahenGey?! (What will ‘people’ say?!): Complicating Sexuality and Empowerment with Community Development Workers in Pakistan

Situated in the postcolonial modernizing discourse of development, empowerment narratives tend to present sexuality as a secondary issue and a private affair one in which ‘development should keep an appropriate distance’ with the exception of helping to reduce unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. This work is presented as a series of journal entries. Through the use of prose and creative writing my participants and I begin to complicate our own understandings of sexuality and empowerment in context. I conclude that the insistence to complicate and situate such messy understandings in specific contexts is important for adult educators to move discussions around empowerment and sexuality forward

Analysis of Small Molecule Inhibitors Aimed at Bacterial Virulence

The emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens and the discovery of new bacterial pathogens have motivated the development of novel antibacterials. One recently proposed strategy is to target pathogenic bacteria specifically by inhibiting virulence mechanisms as opposed to killing bacteria indiscriminately, which includes commensal strains. Due to the increased appreciation for the role commensal bacteria play in the immune response and the importance for maintaining a healthy microbiota, specifically targeting pathogenic bacteria is a desirable goal to attain. Genetic and biochemical studies have highlighted type III secretion systems (T3SSs) as essential components for infection of host cells by Gram-negative bacterial pathogens. Small molecules that target type III protein secretion may therefore represent a new class of antibacterial agents and provide a platform for evaluating an anti-virulence approach. The salicylidene acylhydrazides (SAHs) are a class of compounds that prevent secretion of bacterial effector proteins through the T3SS and attenuate infection from various species of Gram-negative pathogens; however, the molecular target(s) of these compounds remains unknown, and the potency of these compounds is not optimal. To discover the molecular target(s) of the SAHs in Salmonella typhimurium and determine their mechanism of action, I synthesized several alkynyl SAH analogs and employed bioorthogonal labeling techniques for proteomic analysis of their protein-binding partners. Through structure-activity relationship (SAR) analysis of the alkynyl analogs, I discovered important features for the inhibitory activity of the SAHs and observed that they covalently modify many S. typhimurium proteins; however, the protein targets responsible for the inhibitory activity of SAHs remains to be determined. Repurposing chemical inhibitors to target host enzymes required for infection has emerged as an alternative approach to subvert rapid antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens. Towards this goal, the isoquinolinesulfonamide H-89 was reported to limit Salmonella replication in macrophages through inhibition of Akt, a host kinase that is activated during infection. However, more potent Akt-specific inhibitors are less effective at inhibiting bacterial replication, suggesting an alternative mechanism of action for H- 89. I discovered that H-89 does not target Akt in host cells to restrict bacterial replication, but more likely prevents bacterial replication by inhibiting the expression of S. typhimurium T3SS components and effector proteins required for bacterial invasion and replication in host cells. As H-89 does not interfere with bacterial growth in liquid culture, these results highlight isoquinolinesulfonamides as a new class of lead compounds for targeting bacterial virulence

Electing a diverse-city: Improving visible-minority representation in local governments in Metro Vancouver

Visible minorities make up roughly half of the population in Metro Vancouver. Despite this, their representation in municipal governments is very low, in partial contrast to provincial and federal levels of government, where representation is higher, although still not proportionate. This study documents this underrepresentation at the municipal level, investigates the sources of that underrepresentation and examines policy options to address it. In five case studies, the research looks at the impact of at-large versus ward electoral systems, varying rates of voter turnout, and the influence of incumbency on electoral chances of visible minority candidates. Drawing on these case studies and six subject matter interviews, the study then evaluates four policy options in the Metro Vancouver context: changing to a ward system for elections, education campaigns, civic engagement opportunities and the status quo

A diagnostic multiplex PCR scheme for identification of plant-associated bacteria of the genus Pantoea.

Unrefereed reprintThe genus Pantoea forms a complex of more than 25 species, among which several cause diseases of several crop plants, including rice. Notably, strains of Pantoea ananatis and Pantoea stewartii have been found to cause bacterial leaf blight of rice in Togo and Benin, while other authors have observed that Pantoea agglomerans can also cause bacterial leaf blight of rice. The contribution of these and perhaps other species of Pantoea to plant diseases and yield losses of crop plants is currently not well documented, partly due to the lack of efficient diagnostic tools

The N = 1 Supersymmetric Wong Equations and the Non-Abelian Landau Problem

A Lagrangian formulation is given extending to N = 1 supersymmetry the motion of a charged point particle with spin in a non-abelian external field. The classical formulation is constructed for any external static non-abelian SU(N) gauge potential. As an illustration, a specific gauge is fixed enabling canonical quantization and the study of the supersymmetric non-abelian Landau problem. The spectrum of the quantum Hamiltonian operator follows in accordance with the supersymmetric structure.Comment: 10 page

Interview with Porn Scholar Madita Oeming

As part of the "Love, Power & Academia" event, Anna-Lena Oldehus conducted a lively interview with porn scholar Madita Oeming