Free Your Mind: Contemporary Racial Attitudes and Post Racial Theory

The inauguration of the United States first Black President has prompted mass discussions of race relations in America. It is often articulated that America is now in a post-racial society. However, the question still remains: does the election of a Black president demonstrate that America is now a color-blind society? To answer this question, we rely on data collected by PEW (2007). Our results suggest that white and African Americans differ significantly in the extent to which they express post-racial attitudes. Specifically, we find that whites more commonly express post-racial attitudes, claiming that racism and discrimination are rare, in opposition to African American views. On the other hand, blacks are more likely to believe that discrimination still occurs. We further find that whites\u27 post-racial beliefs are significant determinants of their attitudes towards race-related policies, such as affirmative action. Keywords: Race, Obama, Post-racial, Public Opinion, Racial Attitudes, Racial Politics, African American

Family and partner interpersonal violence among American Indians/Alaska Natives

Family and partner interpersonal violence are common among American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations. AI/AN women have the second highest prevalence of violence against women among all racial/ethnic groups in the United States, and child abuse prevalence rates in AI/AN populations are among the highest. Elder abuse in AI/AN is also an important concern, although data on this are sparse. This review describes the epidemiology of child abuse, violence against women, and elder abuse among AI/AN, including prevalence and associated risk factors. The authors discuss potential reasons for the high burden of interpersonal violence among AI/AN, including common risk factors. Important limitations in existing literature are also highlighted, along with recommendations for future research on this topic

Pyruvate Kinase Inhibits Proliferation during Postnatal Cerebellar Neurogenesis and Suppresses Medulloblastoma Formation

Aerobic glycolysis supports proliferation through unresolved mechanisms. We have previously shown that aerobic glycolysis is required for the regulated proliferation of cerebellar granule neuron progenitors (CGNP) and for the growth of CGNP-derived medulloblastoma. Blocking the initiation of glycolysis via deletion of hexokinase-2 (Hk2) disrupts CGNP proliferation and restricts medulloblastoma growth. Here, we assessed whether disrupting pyruvate kinase-M (Pkm), an enzyme that acts in the terminal steps of glycolysis, would alter CGNP metabolism, proliferation, and tumorigenesis. We observed a dichotomous pattern of PKM expression, in which postmitotic neurons throughout the brain expressed the constitutively active PKM1 isoform, while neural progenitors and medulloblastomas exclusively expressed the less active PKM2. Isoform-specific Pkm2 deletion in CGNPs blocked all Pkm expression. Pkm2-deleted CGNPs showed reduced lactate production and increased SHH-driven proliferation.13C-flux analysis showed that Pkm2 deletion reduced the flow of glucose carbons into lactate and glutamate without markedly increasing glucose-to-ribose flux. Pkm2 deletion accelerated tumor formation in medulloblastoma- prone ND2:SmoA1 mice, indicating the disrupting PKM releases CGNPs from a tumor-suppressive effect. These findings show that distal and proximal disruptions of glycolysis have opposite effects on proliferation, and that efforts to block the oncogenic effect of aerobic glycolysis must target reactions upstream of PKM

Enteric neural crest-derived cells promote their migration by modifying their microenvironment through tenascin-C production

The enteric nervous system (ENS) is derived from vagal and sacral neural crest cells that migrate, proliferate, and differentiate into enteric neurons and glia within the gut wall. The mechanisms regulating enteric neural crest-derived cell (ENCC) migration are poorly characterized despite the importance of this process in gut formation and function. Characterization of genes involved in ENCC migration is essential to understanding ENS development and could provide targets for treatment of human ENS disorders. We identified the extracellular matrix glycoprotein tenascin-C (TNC) as an important regulator of ENCC development. We find TNC dynamically expressed during avian gut development. It is absent from the cecal region just prior to ENCC arrival, but becomes strongly expressed around ENCCs as they enter the ceca and hindgut. In aganglionic hindguts, TNC expression is strong throughout the outer mesenchyme, but is absent from the submucosal region, supporting the presence of both ENCC-dependent and independent expression within the gut wall. Using rat-chick coelomic grafts, neural tube cultures, and gut explants, we show that ENCCs produce TNC and that this ECM protein promotes their migration. Interestingly, only vagal neural crest-derived ENCCs express TNC, whereas sacral neural crest-derived cells do not. These results demonstrate that vagal crest-derived ENCCs actively modify their microenvironment through TNC expression and thereby help to regulate their own migration

The efficacy of playing a virtual reality game in modulating pain for children with acute burn injuries: A randomized controlled trial [ISRCTN87413556]

BACKGROUND: The management of burn injuries is reported as painful, distressing and a cause of anxiety in children and their parents. Child's and parents' pain and anxiety, often contributes to extended time required for burns management procedures, in particular the process of changing dressings. The traditional method of pharmacologic analgesia is often insufficient to cover the burnt child's pain, and it can have deleterious side effects [1,2]. Intervention with Virtual Reality (VR) games is based on distraction or interruption in the way current thoughts, including pain, are processed by the brain. Research on adults supports the hypothesis that virtual reality has a positive influence on burns pain modulation. METHODS: This study investigates whether playing a virtual reality game, decreases procedural pain in children aged 5–18 years with acute burn injuries. The paper reports on the findings of a pilot study, a randomised trial, in which seven children acted as their own controls though a series of 11 trials. Outcomes were pain measured using the self-report Faces Scale and findings of interviews with parent/carer and nurses. RESULTS: The average pain scores (from the Faces Scale) for pharmacological analgesia only was, 4.1 (SD 2.9), while VR coupled with pharmacological analgesia, the average pain score was 1.3 (SD 1.8) CONCLUSION: The study provides strong evidence supporting VR based games in providing analgesia with minimal side effects and little impact on the physical hospital environment, as well as its reusability and versatility, suggesting another option in the management of children's acute pain

Prevalence and characteristics of progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease in a prospective registry

Rationale Progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease (PF-ILD) is characterized by progressive physiologic, symptomatic, and/or radiographic worsening. The real-world prevalence and characteristics of PF-ILD remain uncertain. Methods Patients were enrolled from the Canadian Registry for Pulmonary Fibrosis between 2015-2020. PF-ILD was defined as a relative forced vital capacity (FVC) decline ≥10%, death, lung transplantation, or any 2 of: relative FVC decline ≥5 and <10%, worsening respiratory symptoms, or worsening fibrosis on computed tomography of the chest, all within 24 months of diagnosis. Time-to-event analysis compared progression between key diagnostic subgroups. Characteristics associated with progression were determined by multivariable regression. Results Of 2,746 patients with fibrotic ILD (mean age 65±12 years, 51% female), 1,376 (50%) met PFILD criteria in the first 24 months of follow-up. PF-ILD occurred in 427 (59%) patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), 125 (58%) with fibrotic hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP), 281 (51%) with unclassifiable ILD (U-ILD), and 402 (45%) with connective tissue diseaseassociated ILD (CTD-ILD). Compared to IPF, time to progression was similar in patients with HP (hazard ratio [HR] 0.96, 95% confidence interval, CI 0.79-1.17), but was delayed in patients with U-ILD (HR 0.82, 95% CI 0.71-0.96) and CTD-ILD (HR 0.65, 95% CI 0.56-0.74). Background treatment varied across diagnostic subtypes with 66% of IPF patients receiving antifibrotic therapy, while immunomodulatory therapy was utilized in 49%, 61%, and 37% of patients with CHP, CTD-ILD, and U-ILD respectively. Increasing age, male sex, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and lower baseline pulmonary function were independently associated with progression. Interpretation Progression is common in patients with fibrotic ILD, and is similarly prevalent in HP and IPF. Routinely collected variables help identify patients at risk for progression and may guide therapeutic strategie

Genome-Wide Association of Bipolar Disorder Suggests an Enrichment of Replicable Associations in Regions near Genes

Although a highly heritable and disabling disease, bipolar disorder's (BD) genetic variants have been challenging to identify. We present new genotype data for 1,190 cases and 401 controls and perform a genome-wide association study including additional samples for a total of 2,191 cases and 1,434 controls. We do not detect genome-wide significant associations for individual loci; however, across all SNPs, we show an association between the power to detect effects calculated from a previous genome-wide association study and evidence for replication (P = 1.5×10−7). To demonstrate that this result is not likely to be a false positive, we analyze replication rates in a large meta-analysis of height and show that, in a large enough study, associations replicate as a function of power, approaching a linear relationship. Within BD, SNPs near exons exhibit a greater probability of replication, supporting an enrichment of reproducible associations near functional regions of genes. These results indicate that there is likely common genetic variation associated with BD near exons (±10 kb) that could be identified in larger studies and, further, provide a framework for assessing the potential for replication when combining results from multiple studies

Linking Symptom Inventories using Semantic Textual Similarity

An extensive library of symptom inventories has been developed over time to measure clinical symptoms, but this variety has led to several long standing issues. Most notably, results drawn from different settings and studies are not comparable, which limits reproducibility. Here, we present an artificial intelligence (AI) approach using semantic textual similarity (STS) to link symptoms and scores across previously incongruous symptom inventories. We tested the ability of four pre-trained STS models to screen thousands of symptom description pairs for related content - a challenging task typically requiring expert panels. Models were tasked to predict symptom severity across four different inventories for 6,607 participants drawn from 16 international data sources. The STS approach achieved 74.8% accuracy across five tasks, outperforming other models tested. This work suggests that incorporating contextual, semantic information can assist expert decision-making processes, yielding gains for both general and disease-specific clinical assessment

The Mental Vitality @ Work study: design of a randomized controlled trial on the effect of a workers' health surveillance mental module for nurses and allied health professionals

Employees in health care service are at high risk for developing mental health complaints. The effects of mental health complaints on work can have serious consequences for the quality of care provided by these workers. To help health service workers remain healthy and productive, preventive actions are necessary. A Workers' Health Surveillance (WHS) mental module may be an effective strategy to monitor and promote good (mental) health and work performance. The objective of this paper is to describe the design of a three arm cluster randomized controlled trial on the effectiveness of a WHS mental module for nurses and allied health professionals. Two strategies for this WHS mental module will be compared along with data from a control group. Additionally, the cost effectiveness of the approaches will be evaluated from a societal perspective. The study is designed as a cluster randomized controlled trial consisting of three arms (two intervention groups, 1 control group) with randomization at ward level. The study population consists of 86 departments in one Dutch academic medical center with a total of 1731 nurses and allied health professionals. At baseline, after three months and after six months of follow-up, outcomes will be assessed by online questionnaires. In both intervention arms, participants will complete a screening to detect problems in mental health and work functioning and receive feedback on their screening results. In cases of impairments in mental health or work functioning in the first intervention arm, a consultation with an occupational physician will be offered. The second intervention arm offers a choice of self-help e-mental health interventions, which will be tailored based on each individual's mental health state and work functioning. The primary outcomes will be help-seeking behavior and work functioning. Secondary outcomes will be mental health and wellbeing. Furthermore, cost-effectiveness in both intervention arms will be assessed, and a process evaluation will be performed. When it is proven effective compared to a control group, a WHS mental module for nurses and allied health professionals could be implemented and used on a regular basis by occupational health services in hospitals to improve employees' mental health and work functioning. NTR278

Contribution of copy number variants to schizophrenia from a genome-wide study of 41,321 subjects

Copy number variants (CNVs) have been strongly implicated in the genetic etiology of schizophrenia (SCZ). However, genome-wide investigation of the contribution of CNV to risk has been hampered by limited sample sizes. We sought to address this obstacle by applying a centralized analysis pipeline to a SCZ cohort of 21,094 cases and 20,227 controls. A global enrichment of CNV burden was observed in cases (OR=1.11, P=5.7×10−15), which persisted after excluding loci implicated in previous studies (OR=1.07, P=1.7 ×10−6). CNV burden was enriched for genes associated with synaptic function (OR = 1.68, P = 2.8 ×10−11) and neurobehavioral phenotypes in mouse (OR = 1.18, P= 7.3 ×10−5). Genome-wide significant evidence was obtained for eight loci, including 1q21.1, 2p16.3 (NRXN1), 3q29, 7q11.2, 15q13.3, distal 16p11.2, proximal 16p11.2 and 22q11.2. Suggestive support was found for eight additional candidate susceptibility and protective loci, which consisted predominantly of CNVs mediated by non-allelic homologous recombination