An Anthropological Exploration of Latino Immigrant Identity in Contemporary Migration Literature

Immigration remains one of the hottest topics of debate in the United States. As a country constructed by immigrants and home to over one million newly admitted immigrants each year, the immigration phenomenon has contributed extensively to the multiculturalism seen in the United States today. While many immigrant groups have historically lived in marginalization, the 21st century has proven especially difficult for Latino immigrants--those from Spanish and Portuguese-speaking Latin America. As the current largest immigrant group, Latinos have received a lot of backlash and discrimination in the U.S. Many of these immigrants, whether they immigrate to the U.S. temporarily or permanently, face an array of challenges on top of navigating their way through a new country. Immigrants increasingly face pressure to adapt to the “American way of life,” as words such as assimilation and adaptation have made their way into everyday discussions. On the opposite spectrum, many immigrants attempt to preserve their cultural traditions and language as a way to maintain their identity. As time passes, Latinos in the U.S. must try to find a balance between cultural adaptation and cultural retention. Through contemporary literature, authors both born in the U.S. and in Latin America have explored some of the challenges immigrants face in terms of maintaining and/or reconstructing their identity. By analyzing overarching themes between a selection of contemporary Latino and Latin American literature, we can better understand some of the fundamental challenges Latino immigrants face today, including their approach to cultural adaptation and cultural retention, and how these two processes relate to an immigrant’s identity

Episodic versus Continuous Care in Outpatient Pediatric Clinics

UW Medicine Valley Medical Center, Children’s Therapy (VMC-CT) has experienced difficulties with consistent service delivery schedules for their clients. Long waitlists, absences, and scheduling and insurance constraints have impeded client ability to receive standard, continuous therapy. Thus, this critically appraised topic (CAT) paper addresses a research question developed in conjunction with Kari Tanta, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA, the Rehabilitation Manager at VMC-CT, to understand the most effective methods of service delivery: episodic therapy (i.e. high frequency over a short duration) or continuous therapy (i.e., low frequency over a longer duration). The following research question was developed: Is episodic pediatric care as effective as continuous care for children (birth to 21 years old) with orthopedic conditions or developmental delays? From a review of twenty articles and one master\u27s thesis, it appears that this modest amount of evidence (most from children with cerebral palsy) is inconclusive regarding which service delivery model is more effective. Thus, therapists can feel confident that scheduling treatment around reasonable real-world constraints will still provide no less effective care for their clients. Due to increased clinician concern regarding scheduling issues, Dr. Tanta felt that two knowledge translation activities would be appropriate: a concise handout outlining our CAT findings for use at a staff in-service, and a case study article from VMC-CT, combined with our CAT evidence, for dissemination to the greater clinician community. As a means of assessing the impact of this article, we will track how many times the article is accessed. Based on the results of this CAT paper, it is clear that future research should focus on a broader array of diagnoses, and clinics should seek to track outcomes after changes in service delivery

Stability and Unobstructedness of Syzygy Bundles

It is a longstanding problem in Algebraic Geometry to determine whether the syzygy bundle $E_{d_1,..., d_n}$ on \PP^N defined as the kernel of a general epimorphism \xymatrix{\phi:\cO(-d_1)\oplus...\oplus\cO(-d_n)\ar[r] &\cO} is (semi)stable. In this note, we restrict our attention to the case of syzygy bundles $E_{d,n}$ on \PP^N associated to $n$ generic forms $f_1,...,f_n\in K[X_0,X_1,..., X_N]$ of the same degree $d$. Our first goal is to prove that $E_{d,n}$ is stable if $N+1\le n\le\tbinom{d+2}{2}+N-2$. This bound improves, in general, the bound $n\le d(N+1)$ given by G. Hein in \cite{B}, Appendix A. In the last part of the paper, we study moduli spaces of stable rank $n-1$ vector bundles on \PP^N containing syzygy bundles. We prove that if $N+1\le n\le\tbinom{d+2}{2}+N-2$ and $N\ne 3$, then the syzygy bundle $E_{d,n}$ is unobstructed and it belongs to a generically smooth irreducible component of dimension $n\tbinom{d+N}{N}-n^2$, if $N \geq 4$, and $n\tbinom{d+2}{2}+n\tbinom{d-1}{2}-n^2$, if N=2.Comment: 32 pages, minor change

Evaluatie Impulsprogramma Zwerfafval 2007-2009

In het najaar van 2009 heeft CSTM in opdracht van de samenwerkende partners\ud (VROM, VNO-NCW, VNG, Stichting Nederland Schoon en SenterNovem) een evaluatieonderzoek uitgevoerd naar de effectiviteit van het Impulsprogramma Zwerfafval 2007-2009. De doelstelling van het evaluatieonderzoek was het geven van inzicht in de behaalde resultaten van het Impulsprogramma zwerfafval, het evalueren van deze resultaten ten opzichte van de gestelde doelen, en het formuleren van aanbevelingen voor een effectieve voortzetting van het impulsprogramma

Learning in Collaborative Moments

In this article, we describe experiences with dialogue evenings within a research collaboration on long-term care and dementia in the Netherlands. What started as a conventional process of ‘reporting back’ to interlocutors transformed over the course of two years into learning and knowing together. We argue that learning took place in three different articulations. First, participants learnt to expand their notion of knowledge. Second, they learnt to relate differently to each other and, therewith, to dementia. And third, participants learnt how to generate knowledge with each other. We further argue that these processes did not happen continuously, but in moments. We suggest that a framework of collaborative moments can be helpful for research projects that are not set up collaboratively from the start. Furthermore, we point to the work required to facilitate these moments.</jats:p

Coumarin-Annulated Ferrocenyl 1,3-Oxazine Derivatives Possessing In Vitro Antimalarial and Antitrypanosomal Potency

A tailored series of coumarin-based ferrocenyl 1,3-oxazine hybrid compounds was synthesized and investigated for potential antiparasitic activity, drawing inspiration from the established biological efficacy of the constituent chemical motifs. The structural identity of the synthesized compounds was confirmed by common spectroscopic techniques: NMR, HRMS and IR. Biological evaluation studies reveal that the compounds exhibit higher in vitro antiparasitic potency against the chemosensitive malarial strain (3D7 P. falciparum) over the investigated trypanosomiasis causal agent (T. b. brucei 427) with mostly single digit micromolar IC50 values. When read in tandem with the biological performance of previously reported structurally similar non-coumarin, phenyl derivatives (i.e., ferrocenyl 1,3-benzoxazines and α-aminocresols), structure-activity relationship analyses suggest that the presence of the coumarin nucleus is tolerated for biological activity though this may lead to reduced efficacy. Preliminary mechanistic studies with the most promising compound (11b) support hemozoin inhibition and DNA interaction as likely mechanistic modalities by which this class of compounds may act to produce plasmocidal and antitrypanosomal effects

Biofilm-like habitat at the sea-surface: A mesocosm study, Cruise No. POS537, 14.09.2019 – 04.10.2019, Malaga (Spain) – Cartagena (Spain) - BIOFILM

Biofilm-like properties can form on sea surfaces, but an understanding of the underlying processes leading to the development of these biofilms is not available. We used approaches to study the development of biofilm-like properties at the sea surface, i.e. the number, abundance and diversity of bacterial communities and phytoplankton, the accumulation of gel-like particles and dissolved tracers. During the expedition POS537 we used newly developed and free drifting mesocosms and performed incubation experiments. With these approaches we aim to investigate the role of light and UV radiation as well as the microbes themselves, which lead to the formation of biofilms. With unique microbial interactions and photochemical reactions, sea surface biofilms could be biochemical reactors with significant implications for ocean and climate research, e.g. with respect to the marine carbon cycle, diversity of organisms and oceanatmosphere interactions

Celecoxib alleviates nociceptor sensitization mediated by interleukin-1beta-primed annulus fibrosus cells.

PURPOSE This study aims to analyze the effect of pro-inflammatory cytokine-stimulated human annulus fibrosus cells (hAFCs) on the sensitization of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) cells. We further hypothesized that celecoxib (cxb) could inhibit hAFCs-induced DRG sensitization. METHODS hAFCs from spinal trauma patients were stimulated with TNF-α or IL-1β. Cxb was added on day 2. On day 4, the expression of pro-inflammatory and neurotrophic genes was evaluated using RT-qPCR. Levels of prostaglandin E2 (PGE-2), IL-8, and IL-6 were measured in the conditioned medium (CM) using ELISA. hAFCs CM was then applied to stimulate the DRG cell line (ND7/23) for 6 days. Then, calcium imaging (Fluo4) was performed to evaluate DRG cell sensitization. Both spontaneous and bradykinin-stimulated (0.5 μM) calcium responses were analyzed. The effects on primary bovine DRG cell culture were performed in parallel to the DRG cell line model. RESULTS IL-1ß stimulation significantly enhanced the release of PGE-2 in hAFCs CM, while this increase was completely suppressed by 10 µM cxb. hAFCs revealed elevated IL-6 and IL-8 release following TNF-α and IL-1β treatment, though cxb did not alter this. The effect of hAFCs CM on DRG cell sensitization was influenced by adding cxb to hAFCs; both the DRG cell line and primary bovine DRG nociceptors showed a lower sensitivity to bradykinin stimulation. CONCLUSION Cxb can inhibit PGE-2 production in hAFCs in an IL-1β-induced pro-inflammatory in vitro environment. The cxb applied to the hAFCs also reduces the sensitization of DRG nociceptors that are stimulated by the hAFCs CM

Activated Human T Cells, B Cells, and Monocytes Produce Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor In Vitro and in Inflammatory Brain Lesions: A Neuroprotective Role of Inflammation?

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has potent effects on neuronal survival and plasticity during development and after injury. In the nervous system, neurons are considered the major cellular source of BDNF. We demonstrate here that in addition, activated human T cells, B cells, and monocytes secrete bioactive BDNF in vitro. Notably, in T helper (Th)1- and Th2-type CD4+ T cell lines specific for myelin autoantigens such as myelin basic protein or myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein, BDNF production is increased upon antigen stimulation. The BDNF secreted by immune cells is bioactive, as it supports neuronal survival in vitro. Using anti-BDNF monoclonal antibody and polyclonal antiserum, BDNF immunoreactivity is demonstrable in inflammatory infiltrates in the brain of patients with acute disseminated encephalitis and multiple sclerosis. The results raise the possibility that in the nervous system, inflammatory infiltrates have a neuroprotective effect, which may limit the success of nonselective immunotherapies