Looking for Water Stories

As an immigrant settler, I contemplate my role as witness and participant in relation to water and First Nations people, who, for many generations, have been guardians of the ecosystems where I live. The poem I offer here is a reflection and response to my experience of witnessing a First Nations community during a consultation on the topic of water treatment systems with the engineering initiative Res’ Eau. My poem, Looking for Water Stories, contemplates a relationship to water and humanity through physical, socio-cultural, historical and spiritual perceptions. The poem is the form which my field notes took on spontaneously whilst listening to community members share their stories about water. My intent with this contribution is to offer insights about the experience of witnessing in role as an artist-researcher within an interdisciplinary research project. Through the back and forth of listening and writing in the present moment as stories were shared, this poem expresses the rhythm of present moments captured and the memory of them revisited. My observations took on a poetic responsiveness that I would not have otherwise been able to express as a silent witness, and this expression of my witnessing holds in its creative process a deep contemplative practice with community

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Monologues for Living and Learning:Creating and Performing Educational Moments

This edition of Journal of Educational Enquiry (JEE) brings together six authors to examine and share reflections on performing and creating monologues in the context of classroom research, conferences, and theatres for general audiences. What are common, as well as distinct, phases one goes through when preparing a monologue for performance? When reflecting upon performed monologues, what insights can emerge for the arts-based researcher, or the actor who teaches, or the teacher who acts? How might a monologue performance about learning or teaching inform artistic, research, and pedagogical practices? This issue explores these questions with six articles by scholars from across Canada and Australia; each offering critical discourse on what it means to perform research. The origins of each monologue as it relates to its performer differ from one to the next; nonetheless, all of them are about the transformative act of performing narrative

Increased Energy Expenditure, Ucp1 Expression, and Resistance to Diet-induced Obesity in Mice Lacking Nuclear Factor-Erythroid-2-related Transcription Factor-2 (Nrf2)*

The NRF2 (also known as NFE2L2) transcription factor is a critical regulator of genes involved in defense against oxidative stress. Previous studies suggest thatNrf2plays a role in adipogenesisin vitro, and deletion of theNrf2gene protects against diet-induced obesity in mice. Here, we demonstrate that resistance to diet-induced obesity inNrf2(-/-)mice is associated with a 20-30% increase in energy expenditure. Analysis of bioenergetics revealed thatNrf2(-/-)white adipose tissues exhibit greater oxygen consumption. White adipose tissue showed a >2-fold increase inUcp1gene expression. Oxygen consumption is also increased nearly 2.5-fold inNrf2-deficient fibroblasts. Oxidative stress induced by glucose oxidase resulted in increasedUcp1expression. Conversely, antioxidant chemicals (such asN-acetylcysteine and Mn(III)tetrakis(4-benzoic acid)porphyrin chloride) and SB203580 (a known suppressor ofUcp1expression) decreasedUcp1and oxygen consumption inNrf2-deficient fibroblasts. These findings suggest that increasing oxidative stress by limitingNrf2function in white adipocytes may be a novel means to modulate energy balance as a treatment of obesity and related clinical disorders

Impact of a one-time interprofessional education event for rehabilitation after stroke for students in the health professions

© 2019 Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions, Wash., DC. AIMS: Faculty in the healthcare professions are engaging their students in a variety of interprofessional education (IPE) experiences. One such experience is a one-time IPE event, performed over 2 consecutive years by 2 different cohorts, involving 342 students in occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech-language pathology, and therapeutic recreation. The aim was to provide students with the opportunity to learn about the impact of a stroke, the rehabilitation process, the rehabilitation team and their own profession, as well as incorporating the Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice. METHODS: The event had 3 separate components: a small group discussion on a pre-assigned case of a patient who had a stroke, a patient panel, and a clinician panel. RESULTS: All answers to the survey questions taken by students who attended the IPE event improved significantly at posttest (p\u3c0.001). The IPE event was well received by the students (89.0% reported that the overall experience was good-excellent). CONCLUSION: This one-time event involving four health professions was successful in exposing the students to IPE

Trustworthiness and Rigor in Ethnodramatic Performance

A major issue that confronts ethnodrama as a means of research dissemination (Saldaña, 2011; Beck, Belliveau, Lea, Wage, & 2011) is theorizing the audience’s response to the data. What happens on stage is not what happens in real life, but theatre may communicate more richly than other forms of report. The symposium looks back to core theory in ethnographic methods (Clifford & Marcus, 1986) to look forward to new methods of conveying qualitative research. We discuss two questions How might one appraise the trustworthiness and rigor of ethnodrama in relationship to the events the performance evokes? How might one understand the meanings shaped by ethnodrama in relationship to common academic communication practices, such as Powerpoint lectures and journal articles? During the first half of the session, we perform an excerpt from a revised version of a peer reviewed ethnodrama that evokes a teacher’s effort to teach a difficult and complex subject: the middle passage. The original script was constructed from verbatim transcriptions of the teacher’s interviews using inquiry theatre methods (Vanover, inpress). The original playtext interspliced the teacher’s verbatim stories with excerpts from a novel on the middle passage she taught during the unit. The current script replaces the novel with historical texts; the revised ethnodrama will be performed by a nonprofit theatre company in 2016. The proposed TQRC session will act as an open, peer review process. Panelists and audience members will discuss how the ethnodrama evokes the teacher’s stories of teaching events she imperfectly understood and communicated

Intergenerational service learning with elders: Multidisciplinary activities and outcomes

This article provides an overview of the activities included in a 3-year, multidisciplinary, intergenerational service-learning project conducted as part of a Foundation for Long-Term Care Service Learning: Linking Three Generations grant. Courses from four departments (gerontology, psychology, occupational therapy, and health promotion and physical education) and one interdisciplinary clinical intervention for stroke patients (speech pathology, occupational therapy, and therapeutic recreation) were involved. Service-learning activities were embedded in course curriculums and varied from semester-long activities in group settings to activities involving one-on-one contact for several hours. In total, eight faculty and 225 students worked with 148 elders and 12 different community organizations to plan and implement activities for 357 older adults. Students and elders reported a high degree of satisfaction with the intergenerational activities and indicated that they learned from them and found them of value personally. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC