Food Sovereignty in Indigenous Communities: Extension Programs for Health, Culture, and Resilience

Extension is not equitably serving Indigenous communities due to the effects of colonization in the Land Grant System, a lack of funding, and a lack of understanding of the needs of Indigenous communities. The concept of food sovereignty offers a way to create meaningful educational programming and, despite the inequitable access to services, there are some Extension educators that collaborate with Indigenous communities. To understand these collaborations, I investigated the Western Region of Extension through an interview study. The interviews revealed that educators are facilitating programs having to do with food sovereignty that meet communities’ goals and respect Indigenous sovereignty

Equitable access to cooperative extension services for Indigenous communities

2021 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.Cooperative Extension, the United States Department of Agriculture's educational outreach program, is found in nearly 100% of US counties, but can only be found in a tiny percentage, less than 10%, of Indigenous communities (Brewer, Hiller, Burke, & Teegerstrom, 2016; NCAI, 2010). Control over agricultural systems and alienation from traditional foodways was used during colonization to overpower and disenfranchise Indigenous communities (Dunbar- Ortiz, 2015; Harris, 2004; Knobloch, 1996) and the reverberations of this history are still present in Indigenous communities today. Given the mission of equity and access that Land Grant Institutions (LGIs) ascribe to (Sorber & Geiger, 2014) and the history of Indigenous land dispossession that created LGIs (Stein, 2017), Cooperative Extension has a responsibility to Indigenous communities to provide equitable access to the benefits of this system. Traditional Extension programs at 1862 LGIs can collaborate with the Indigenous communities in their state in order to equitably provide educational resources and agricultural support. Through a Critical Race Theory and decolonizing lens, I investigated to what extent Extension educators at 1862 LGIs in the Western Region of Extension are collaborating with Indigenous communities, what makes Extension educators that do form these collaborations successful, the common barriers to successful collaborations, and what systemic supports are missing for successful collaborations to exist. In order to do this, I used a transformative convergent mixed methods approach that included a survey to gain a quantitative overview of the collaborations in the region and qualitative interviews to more deeply understand specific examples of collaborations through educators' lived experiences. During the research process, I included participant voices and feedback during all stages. The major findings from this work are grouped into four sections. First, I provided an overview of the kinds of programs that Extension educators are facilitating in the region, including many programs that address traditional Extension topics as well as programs that lie further outside of Extension's traditional reach. Next, I explored the characteristics of successful education programs and successful educators. Successful programs centered the goals of the communities in their planning and implementation, they enjoyed collaborative support from an Insider to the community, and were culturally relevant. The participants also identified characteristics that make educators successful, including making a long-term commitment and getting involved with the community, building trusting relationships, developing an academic understanding of the historical, cultural, and educational context, being willing to learn, and developing allyship. The last section of the Findings explored the barriers that educators identified to successful collaborations, including a lack of funding, the logistics of doing research, issues associated with rural communities, their time being spread too thin, community distrust of the government and universities, and the racism that they and their communities face. From the findings of this study, my participants and I co-constructed recommendations and implications. Suggestions for what Extension could be doing to better serve Indigenous communities emerged, including how they might support people, education, and culture within their organization. These included encouraging engagement and collaboration, creating culturally relevant programs, allowing Extension educators freedoms in their work, giving value to this work in employee evaluations, and providing support, education, and mentoring to Extension educators. Lastly, I discuss next steps for Extension administration, educators, and future research including how they can create systemic change through supporting collaborations with Indigenous communities and the work that still needs to be done

Gestational Age at Enrollment and Continued Substance Use Among Pregnant Women in Drug Treatment

Substance use during pregnancy is associated with poor obstetrical and neonatal outcomes. Although intervention for substance use including alcohol improves pregnancy outcomes, a substantial number of women continue to use drugs or consume alcohol during treatment. To determine whether gestational age at entry into treatment (specifically first trimester enrollment) was associated with lower risk of continued substance use, we analyzed the North Carolina Treatment Outcomes and Program Performance System, an administrative database of drug treatment clinics, between 2000 and 2004. There were 847 pregnant women using substances who met our inclusion criteria. Demographic and other risk factor data were collected. We conducted logistic regression and a Generalized Estimating Equation analysis. Gestational age at enrollment was not associated with continued substance use (odds ratio [OR] = 0.88; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.51, 1.51). Women who had child care provided, were less likely to continue substance use (OR = 0.64; 95% CI = 0.48, 0.84), whereas those referred from the criminal justice system were more likely to continue (OR = 1.53; 95% CI = 1.01, 2.30). Although earlier gestational age at enrollment in treatment does not predict greater abstinence at any time point, this data does suggest that the provision of childcare may improve treatment success

Creating and Completing Service-Learning within Medical School Curricula: From the Learner’s Perspective

Background: This article describes a service-learning project implemented at local free clinics by students at the Ohio State University College of Medicine and identifies key factors in their success. Methods: In response to a lack of longitudinal patient-physician relationships at free clinics, the students developed an initiative linking free clinic patients with diabetes to primary care homes for longitudinal care and counseled patients on the benefits of establishing a longitudinal relationship with a primary care physician. Results: All patients counseled were linked, compared to a historical 10% linkage rate, and 78% of patients scheduling initial appointments. Five factors were identified and listed by the students as key to the project’s process, success, and impact. Conclusion: Although all of these listed factors may prove difficult to replicate, this case-study serves as a model for other medical schools incorporating service-learning and exhibits that medical students can become integral portions of healthcare infrastructure

The Importance of Disk Structure in Stalling Type I Migration

As planets form they tidally interact with their natal disks. Though the tidal perturbation induced by Earth and super-Earth mass planets is generally too weak to significantly modify the structure of the disk, the interaction is potentially strong enough to cause the planets to undergo rapid type I migration. This physical process may provide a source of short-period super-Earths, though it may also pose a challenge to the emergence and retention of cores on long-period orbits with sufficient mass to evolve into gas giants. Previous numerical simulations have shown that the type I migration rate sensitively depends upon the circumstellar disk's properties, particularly the temperature and surface density gradients. Here, we derive these structure parameters for 1) a self-consistent viscous-disk model based on a constant \alpha-prescription, 2) an irradiated disk model that takes into account heating due to the absorption of stellar photons, and 3) a layered-accretion disk model with variable \alpha-parameter. We show that in the inner viscously-heated regions of typical protostellar disks, the horseshoe and corotation torques of super-Earths can exceed their differential Lindblad torque and cause them to undergo outward migration. However, the temperature profile due to passive stellar irradiation causes type I migration to be inwards throughout much of the disk. For disks in which there is outwards migration, we show that location and the mass range of the "planet traps" depends on some uncertain assumptions adopted for these disk models. Competing physical effects may lead to dispersion in super-Earths' mass-period distribution.Comment: 12 pages, Submitted to Ap

Estimating and exploring the proportions of inter- and intrastate cattle shipments in the United States

Mathematical models are key tools for the development of surveillance, preparedness and response plans for the potential events of emerging and introduced foreign animal diseases. Creating these types of plans requires data; when data are incomplete, mathematical models can help fill in missing information, provided they are informed by the data that are available. In the United States, the most complete national-scale data available on cattle shipments are based on Interstate Certificates of Veterinary Inspection, which track the shipment of cattle between states; data on intrastate cattle shipments are lacking. Here we develop four new datasets on intrastate cattle shipments in the U.S., including an expert elicitation survey covering 19 states and territories and three state-level brand inspection data sets. The expert elicitation survey provides estimates on the proportion of shipments that travel interstate over multiple regions of the U.S. These survey data also identify differences in shipment patterns between regions, cattle commodity types, and sectors of the cattle industry. These survey data cover more states than any other source of intrastate data; however, one limitation of these data is the small number of participating experts in many of the states, only seven of the 19 responding states and territories had a group size of three or larger. The brand data sets include origin and destination information for both intra- and interstate shipments. These data, therefore, also provide detailed information on the proportion of interstate shipments in three Western states, including the temporal and geographic variation in shipments. Because the survey and brand data overlap in the Western U.S., they can be compared. We find that in the Western U.S. the expert estimates of the overall proportion of cattle shipments matched the brand data well. However, the experts estimated that there would be larger differences in beef and dairy shipments than the brand data show. This suggests the cattle industries in the West may be sending similar proportions of commodity specific cattle shipments over state lines. We additionally used the expert survey data to explore how differences in the proportion of interstate shipments can change predictions about cattle shipment patterns using the example of model-guided suggestions for targeted surveillance in Texas. Together these four data sets are the most extensive and geographically comprehensive information to date on intrastate cattle shipments. Additionally, our analyses on predicted shipment patterns suggest that assumptions about intrastate shipments could have consequences for targeted surveillance

RIG-I-dependent sensing of poly(dA:dT) through the induction of an RNA polymerase III-transcribed RNA intermediate

RNA is sensed by Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) and TLR8 or by the RNA helicases LGP2, Mda5 and RIG-I to trigger antiviral responses. Much less is known about sensors for DNA. Here we identify a novel DNA-sensing pathway involving RNA polymerase III and RIG-I. In this pathway, AT-rich double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) served as a template for RNA polymerase III and was transcribed into double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) containing a 5'-triphosphate moiety. Activation of RIG-I by this dsRNA induced production of type I interferon and activation of the transcription factor NF-kappaB. This pathway was important in the sensing of Epstein-Barr virus-encoded small RNAs, which were transcribed by RNA polymerase III and then triggered RIG-I activation. Thus, RNA polymerase III and RIG-I are pivotal in sensing viral DNA

MHC class I chain-related protein A shedding in chronic HIV-1 infection is associated with profound NK cell dysfunction

Natural killer (NK) cells play a critical role in host defense against viral infections. However chronic HIV-1 infection is associated with an accumulation of dysfunctional NK cells, that poorly control viral replication. The underlying mechanisms for this NK cell mediated dysfunction are not understood. Certain tumors evade NK cell mediated detection by dampening NK cell activity through the downregulation of NKG2D, via the release of soluble NKG2D-ligands, resulting in a potent suppression of NK cell function. Here we show that chronic HIV-1 infection is associated with a specific defect in NKG2D-mediated NK cell activation, due to reduced expression and transcription of NKG2D. Reduced NKG2D expression was associated with elevated levels of the soluble form of the NKG2D-ligand, MICA, in patient sera, likely released by HIV+CD4+ T cells. Thus, like tumors, HIV-1 may indirectly suppress NK cell recognition of HIV-1-infected CD4+ T cells by enhancing NKG2D-ligand secretion into the serum resulting in a profound impairment of NK cell function

Bone material properties and response to teriparatide in osteoporosis due to WNT1 and PLS3 mutations

Context: Patients with osteoporosis-associated WNT1 or PLS3 mutations have unique bone histomorphometric features and osteocyte-specific hormone expression patterns. Objective: To investigate the effects of WNT1 and PLS3 mutations on bone material properties. Design: Transiliac bone biopsies were evaluated by quantitative backscattered electron imaging, immunohistochemistry, and bone histomorphometry. Setting: Ambulatory patients. Patients: Three pediatric and eight adult patients with WNT1 or PLS3 mutations. Intervention: Bone mineralization density distribution and osteocyte protein expression was evaluated in 11 patients and repeated in six patients who underwent repeat biopsy after 24 months of teriparatide treatment. Main outcome measure: Bone mineralization density distribution and protein expression. Results: Children with WNT1 or PLS3 mutations had heterogeneous bone matrix mineralization, consistent with bone modeling during growth. Bone matrix mineralization was homogenous in adults and increased throughout the age spectrum. Teriparatide had very little effect on matrix mineralization or bone formation in patients with WNT1 or PLS3 mutations. However, teriparatide decreased trabecular osteocyte lacunae size and increased trabecular bone FGF23 expression. Conclusion: The contrast between preserved bone formation with heterogeneous mineralization in children and low bone turnover with homogenous bone mineral content in adults suggests that WNT1 and PLS3 have differential effects on bone modeling and remodeling. The lack of change in matrix mineralization in response to teriparatide, despite clear changes in osteocyte lacunae size and protein expression, suggests that altered WNT1 and PLS3 expression may interfere with coupling of osteocyte, osteoblast, and osteoclast function. Further studies are warranted to determine the mechanism of these changes.Peer reviewe