Questions, Questions: Using Problem-Based Learning to Infuse Disability Studies into an Introductory Secondary Special Education Course

This essay describes how an introductory special education course for future high school general education teachers became disability studies friendly through problem-based learning. Course structure and content are described, including opportunities for introducing disability studies concepts. Instructional challenges related to problem-based learning and maintaining a dual content focus are considered

Disability Around the World: Study Abroad in Diverse Cultural Contexts

During a short-term study abroad program undergraduates and instructors from the U.S. explored disability issues in diverse cultural contexts: Ghana, UAE, Nepal, and Thailand. Through qualitative analyses of personal narratives, student interviews, journals, and other products, student- and faculty-researchers learned that participating students developed more critical perspectives on the importance of culture in shaping disability experiences in the U.S. and abroad

New constraints on equatorial temperatures during a Late Neoproterozoic snowball Earth glaciation

Intense glaciation during the end of Cryogenian time (∼635 million years ago) marks the coldest climate state in Earth history – a time when glacial deposits accumulated at low, tropical paleolatitudes. The leading idea to explain these deposits, the snowball Earth hypothesis, predicts globally frozen surface conditions and subfreezing temperatures, with global climate models placing surface temperatures in the tropics between −20 °C and −60 °C. However, precise paleosurface temperatures based upon geologic constraints have remained elusive and the global severity of the glaciation undetermined. Here we make new geologic observations of tropical periglacial, aeolian and fluvial sedimentary structures formed during the end-Cryogenian, Marinoan glaciation in South Australia; these observations allow us to constrain ancient surface temperatures. We find periglacial sand wedges and associated deformation suggest that ground temperatures were sufficiently warm to allow for ductile deformation of a sandy regolith. The wide range of deformation structures likely indicate the presence of a paleoactive layer that penetrated 2–4 m below the ground surface. These observations, paired with a model of ground temperature forced by solar insolation, constrain the local mean annual surface temperature to within a few degrees of freezing. This temperature constraint matches well with our observations of fluvial deposits, which require temperatures sufficiently warm for surface runoff. Although this estimate coincides with one of the coldest near sea-level tropical temperatures in Earth history, if these structures represent peak Marinaon glacial conditions, they do not support the persistent deep freeze of the snowball Earth hypothesis. Rather, surface temperatures near 0 °C allow for regions of seasonal surface melting, atmosphere–ocean coupling and possible tropical refugia for early metazoans. If instead these structures formed during glacial onset or deglaciation, then they have implications for the timescale and character for the transition into or out of a snowball state

Overturning circulation, nutrient limitation, and warming in the Glacial North Pacific

This work was funded by NERC grant NE/N011716/1 to J.W.B.R., a NERC studentship to B.T., and NSF grant OPP 1643445 to I.E. A.R. acknowledges support from NSF grant 1736771.Although the Pacific Ocean is a major reservoir of heat and CO2, and thus an important component of the global climate system, its circulation under different climatic conditions is poorly understood. Here, we present evidence that during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the North Pacific was better ventilated at intermediate depths and had surface waters with lower nutrients, higher salinity, and warmer temperatures compared to today. Modeling shows that this pattern is well explained by enhanced Pacific meridional overturning circulation (PMOC), which brings warm, salty, and nutrient-poor subtropical waters to high latitudes. Enhanced PMOC at the LGM would have lowered atmospheric CO2—in part through synergy with the Southern Ocean—and supported an equable regional climate, which may have aided human habitability in Beringia, and migration from Asia to North America.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Transcriptomic signatures reveal immune dysregulation in human diabetic and idiopathic gastroparesis

Abstract Background Cellular changes described in human gastroparesis have revealed a role for immune dysregulation, however, a mechanistic understanding of human gastroparesis and the signaling pathways involved are still unclear. Methods Diabetic gastroparetics, diabetic non-gastroparetic controls, idiopathic gastroparetics and non-diabetic non-gastroparetic controls underwent full-thickness gastric body biopsies. Deep RNA sequencing was performed and pathway analysis of differentially expressed transcripts was done using Ingenuity®. A subset of differentially expressed genes in diabetic gastroparesis was validated in a separate cohort using QT-PCR. Results 111 genes were differentially expressed in diabetic gastroparesis and 181 in idiopathic gastroparesis with a log2fold difference of | ≥ 2| and false detection rate (FDR) < 5%. Top canonical pathways in diabetic gastroparesis included genes involved with macrophages, fibroblasts and endothelial cells in rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis pathway and differential regulation of cytokine production in macrophages and T helper cells by IL-17A and IL-17F. Top canonical pathways in idiopathic gastroparesis included genes involved in granulocyte adhesion and diapedesis, agranulocyte adhesion and diapedesis, and role of macrophages, fibroblasts and endothelial cells in rheumatoid arthritis. Sixty-five differentially expressed genes (log2fold difference | ≥ 2|, FDR < 5%) were common in both diabetic and idiopathic gastroparesis with genes in the top 5 canonical pathways associated with immune signaling. 4/5 highly differentially expressed genes (SGK1, APOLD1, CXCR4, CXCL2, and FOS) in diabetic gastroparesis were validated in a separate cohort of patients using RT-PCR. Immune profile analysis revealed that genes associated with M1 (pro inflammatory) macrophages were enriched in tissues from idiopathic gastroparesis tissues compared to controls (p < 0.05). Conclusions Diabetic and idiopathic gastroparesis have both unique and overlapping transcriptomic signatures. Innate immune signaling likely plays a central role in pathogenesis of human gastroparesis.https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145193/1/12920_2018_Article_379.pd

Transcriptomic signatures reveal immune dysregulation in human diabetic and idiopathic gastroparesis

Abstract Background Cellular changes described in human gastroparesis have revealed a role for immune dysregulation, however, a mechanistic understanding of human gastroparesis and the signaling pathways involved are still unclear. Methods Diabetic gastroparetics, diabetic non-gastroparetic controls, idiopathic gastroparetics and non-diabetic non-gastroparetic controls underwent full-thickness gastric body biopsies. Deep RNA sequencing was performed and pathway analysis of differentially expressed transcripts was done using Ingenuity®. A subset of differentially expressed genes in diabetic gastroparesis was validated in a separate cohort using QT-PCR. Results 111 genes were differentially expressed in diabetic gastroparesis and 181 in idiopathic gastroparesis with a log2fold difference of | ≥ 2| and false detection rate (FDR) < 5%. Top canonical pathways in diabetic gastroparesis included genes involved with macrophages, fibroblasts and endothelial cells in rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis pathway and differential regulation of cytokine production in macrophages and T helper cells by IL-17A and IL-17F. Top canonical pathways in idiopathic gastroparesis included genes involved in granulocyte adhesion and diapedesis, agranulocyte adhesion and diapedesis, and role of macrophages, fibroblasts and endothelial cells in rheumatoid arthritis. Sixty-five differentially expressed genes (log2fold difference | ≥ 2|, FDR < 5%) were common in both diabetic and idiopathic gastroparesis with genes in the top 5 canonical pathways associated with immune signaling. 4/5 highly differentially expressed genes (SGK1, APOLD1, CXCR4, CXCL2, and FOS) in diabetic gastroparesis were validated in a separate cohort of patients using RT-PCR. Immune profile analysis revealed that genes associated with M1 (pro inflammatory) macrophages were enriched in tissues from idiopathic gastroparesis tissues compared to controls (p < 0.05). Conclusions Diabetic and idiopathic gastroparesis have both unique and overlapping transcriptomic signatures. Innate immune signaling likely plays a central role in pathogenesis of human gastroparesis.https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145193/1/12920_2018_Article_379.pd

The Emotional and Political Power of Images of Suffering: Discursive Psychology and the Study of Visual Rhetoric

Drawing on insights from discursive and rhetorical approaches in psychology, the chapter examines responses to the publication of the photographs of the body of Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian refugee who drowned off the coast of Turkey in 2015. The chapter considers how and why the images were constructed as inherently ‘moving’, and as possessing the power to elicit emotions, and affect the audience on a ‘visceral’ level. It also looks at how accounts of (and for) emotional reactions to the images were deployed rhetorically to manage accountability associated with viewing, and sharing, images of a dead child. Through the examination of the Kurdi images the chapter also considers the possibility of a psychologically-informed approach to visual rhetoric, one that offers a better understanding of how and why certain images (but not others) are constituted as topics of humanitarian concern, and a source of emotional and political investment

Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN

Addressing the needs of children with disabilities experiencing disaster or terrorism

Purpose of review: This paper reviews the empirical literature on psychosocial factors relating to children with disabilities in the context of disaster or terrorism. Recent findings: Research indicates individuals with disabilities experience increased exposure to hazards due to existing social disparities and barriers associated with disability status. However, studies on the psychological effects of disaster/terrorism on children with preexisting disabilities are exceedingly few and empirical evidence of the effectiveness of trauma-focused therapies for this population is limited. Secondary adversities, including social stigma and health concerns, also compromise the recovery of these children post-disaster/terrorism. Schools and teachers appear to be particularly important in the recovery of children with disabilities to disaster. Disasters, terrorism, and war all contribute to the incidence of disability, as well as disproportionately affect children with preexisting disabilities. Summary: Disaster preparedness interventions and societal changes are needed to decrease the disproportionate environmental and social vulnerability of children with disabilities to disaster and terrorism