Children and the Shifting Engagement with Racial/Ethnic Identity among Second-Generation Interracially Married Asian Americans

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_asian_american_studies/v016/16.2.chong.htmlAsian Americans have historically enjoyed one of the highest rates of intermarriage of any racial/ethnic group. By exploring the dynamics of interracial marriages among middle-class, professional Asian Americans in Chicago, this article examines what interracial marriages mean for these putative racial/ethnic “boundary crossers” and what they signify about assimilation, racial/ethnic identity, and redrawing of color boundaries in America. This article finds that for Asian Americans in this study, interracial marriage is far from an unproblematic indicator of assimilation; rather, it is a terrain in which complex subjective negotiations over ethnic/racial identities are waged over lifetimes. For both female and male Asian Americans, personal struggles over racial/ethnic identity are thrown into full relief when they begin the process of raising mixed-race children, which forces a reexamination of their own identities, and of those of their children. This article makes a distinctive contribution to the interrelationship of intermarriage, race, and ethnic identity development by comparing the views of Asian Americans and those of their non-Asian spouses regarding marital dynamics and children, which helps to further illuminate the uniqueness of the Asian American experience

Fundamentalisms and Patriarchal Gender Politics

This is the published version. Copyright 1999 Johns Hopkins University Press.Recent studies of North American and Latin American evangelicalism suggest that the ideology and politics of charismatic and legalistic-literalist fundamentalist groups differ with regard to gender relations. Although both advocate patriarchal structures of authority, women in charismatic groups can negotiate gender relations more actively, thereby promoting their own interests. Applying this basic distinction to evangelical groups in South Korea, however, suggests that differences among the outcomes for women depend on preexisting structures of authority rather than the type of fundamentalism. When patriarchal structures of authority, especially in the family, still function, the differences between charismatic and legalistic-literalist fundamentalism become minimized. However, when these structures are breaking down or already have eroded, charismatic types of fundamentalism offer women a stronger voice and greater opportunities to renegotiate gender relations than do literalist-legalistic ones

Negotiating Patriarchy: South Korean Evangelical Women and the

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A Novel Approach to Small Form-Factor Spacecraft Structures for Usage in Precision Optical Payloads

Precision optical payloads will soon experience a boom in manufacturing scale with the onset of proliferated satellite constellation concepts. Presently, the cost of assembly for a single unit can reach upwards of $500,000. Reduction in recurring engineering and assembly complexity can reduce this figure by up to two orders of magnitude. This paper discusses one potential solution which relies on consistent structural components that are easily manufactured in bulk quantities to facilitate general uses while also enabling high-precision mounting in designated payload slots. This proposed approach combines standardized struts and panels able to be connected and stacked in a variety of ways to form a modular structure from 1U subsections. For the subsections in need of higher precision, slots are milled and reamed from the same standard panel. Within these slots, card-like brackets are mounted to within 10 micrometer precision with the use of low-tolerance gauge spheres. A technique called “screw-pulling” secures these brackets such that the gauge spheres act as nearly single-point-of-contact datums. This approach allows payloads to be tested externally with minimal alignment shifts when re-integrated into the structure and is demonstrated with a 2.2 μm pixel size CMOS sensor and a 23 mm focal length lens

Singular PCV2a or PCV2b infection results in apoptosis of hepatocytes in clinically affected gnotobiotic pigs

Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) is clinically associated with respiratory disease, failure-to-thrive, hepatitis, and diarrhea; however, the precise pathogenesis of PCV2-associated disease and in particular its involvement in apoptosis is still controversial. The objectives of this study were (1) to determine whether PCV2 is associated with apoptosis by examining and comparing hepatic tissues from clinically affected or unaffected gnotobiotic pigs that were experimentally infected with PCV2, (2) to determine if there are differences between PCV2a and PCV2b in inducing hepatocyte apoptosis, and (3) to determine if there are differences between apoptosis detection systems. Forty-eight gnotobiotic pigs were separated into five groups based on inoculation status and development of clinical disease: (1) sham-inoculated, clinically-unaffected (n = 4), (2) inoculated with PCV2a, clinically-unaffected (n = 10), (3) inoculated with PCV2a, clinically-affected (n = 6), (4) inoculated with PCV2b, clinically-unaffected, (n = 13) and (5) inoculated with PCV2b, clinically-affected (n = 15). Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections of liver from all pigs were analyzed for signs of apoptosis [presence of single strand DNA breaks in the nucleus by the terminal transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay or presence of intra-nuclear cleaved caspase 3 (CCasp3) demonstrated by CCasp3 immunohistochemistry (IHC)]. In addition, the liver tissues were also tested for presence of cytoplasmic and intra-nuclear PCV2 antigen by an IHC assay. Specific CCasp3 and TUNEL labeling was detected in the nucleus of hepatocytes in PCV2a and PCV2b infected pigs with significantly (P \u3c 0.05) higher levels of apoptotic cells in clinically-affected pigs. Regardless of PCV2 subtype (PCV2a; PCV2b), there were higher levels of PCV2 antigen in clinically-affected pigs compared to clinically-unaffected pigs. There was no significant difference in detection rate of apoptotic cells between the TUNEL assay and CCasp3 IHC. When high amounts of PCV2 antigen were present, the incidence of CCasp3 and TUNEL staining also increased regardless of the PCV2 genotype. This suggests that PCV2-induced apoptosis of hepatocytes is important in the pathogenesis of PCV2-associated lesions and disease

Harnessing CD8+ T cell activity for improving adoptive cell therapies in pancreatic cancer

Cancer immunotherapies have revolutionized the field of oncology. Adoptive cell therapy (ACT) is a specialized immunotherapies wherein T cells are collected from a patient, engineered and expanded in the lab, and thereafter returned to the patient to enhance the immune response against cancer. ACTs have shown remarkable success in treating hematological cancers in the past decade. However, the efficacy of ACTs, including T cells engineered with artificial receptors such as chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T), in treating solid tumor cancers remains low. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a solid malignancy with poor ACT outcomes due to a harsh, immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) that drives T cell dysfunction or “exhaustion.” In this study, we sought to establish preclinical models for evaluating and manipulating T cell exhaustion in PDAC. By developing new strategies to understand the molecular signals controlling a dysfunctional or an exhausted state, we can begin to genetically engineer T cells for improved ACT efficacy. We have established two clinically relevant models for evaluating ACTs in PDAC, which we seek to leverage for understanding the signals controlling adoptively transferred T cell dysfunction in PDAC tumors. The first model is an engineered T cell receptor (TCR)-T model wherein T cells recognize a tumor antigen through their genetically engineered TCR, and the second model is a previously published CAR-T model wherein T cells recognize tumor-specific surface antigens through their genetically engineered CAR. Future work will leverage these tools to uncover new modes for genetically engineering T cells for improved control of PDAC growth.Bachelor of Scienc

Experience dependent coding of intonations by offsets in mouse auditory cortex

Acoustic communication is an important aspect of many social interactions across mammalian species. The encoding of intra-species vocalizations and plasticity mechanisms engaged during the process of learning vocalizations are poorly understood. This is particularly true with regards to how sensory representations of vocalizations is transformed between primary to secondary auditory cortical areas. Moreover, learning in a natural communication paradigm engages auditory cortical plasticity mechanisms in ways that are distinct from laboratory operant training paradigms, emphasizing the importance of studying learning in social settings. Our work utilizes a natural paradigm in which mouse mothers learn the behavioral significance of pup ultrasonic vocalizations during maternal experience to study auditory cortical plasticity in a natural social context. Specifically, we aim to determine how mice learn to use acoustic features to discriminate vocalization categories. One of the acoustic features that can be used to distinguish whistle-like mouse vocalizations is their frequency trajectory or intonation, which can be modeled using a parameterized sinusoidally frequency modulated tone. We will employ a combination of in vivo head-fixed awake single unit electrophysiology and modeling of the natural mouse vocalization repertoire to explore the frequency trajectory parameter space. With this approach, we aim to study the native sensitivity of auditory cortical neurons to frequency trajectory parameters across primary and secondary auditory regions, as well as how sensitivity to these parameters changes with experience. This work will further our understanding of how the acoustic feature space is represented by the auditory cortex, and uncovers a potential mechanism by which natural sound categories are learned.Ph.D

Development and implementation of a novel immune thrombocytopenia bleeding score for dogs

Background A method of quantifying clinical bleeding in dogs with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is needed because ITP patients have variable bleeding tendencies that inconsistently correlate with platelet count. A scoring system will facilitate patient comparisons and allow stratification based on bleeding severity in clinical trials. Hypothesis/Objectives To develop and evaluate a bleeding assessment tool for dogs, and a training course for improving its consistent implementation. Animals Client‐owned dogs (n = 61) with platelet counts \u3c50,000/μL; 34 classified as primary ITP, 17 as secondary ITP, and 10 as non‐ITP. Methods A novel bleeding assessment tool, DOGiBAT, comprising bleeding grades from 0 (none) to 2 (severe) at 9 anatomic sites, was developed. Clinicians and technicians completed a training course and quiz before scoring thrombocytopenic patients. The training course was assessed by randomizing student volunteers to take the quiz with or without prior training. A logistic regression model assessed the association between training and quiz performance. The correlation of DOGiBAT score with platelet count and outcome measures was assessed in the thrombocytopenic dogs. Results Clinicians and technicians consistently applied the DOGiBAT, correctly scoring all quiz cases. The odds of trained students answering correctly were higher than those of untrained students (P \u3c .0001). In clinical cases, DOGiBAT score and platelet count were inversely correlated (rs = −0.527, P \u3c .0001), and DOGiBAT directly correlated with transfusion requirements (rs = 0.512, P \u3c .0001) and hospitalization duration (rs = 0.35, P = .006). Conclusions and Clinical Importance The DOGiBAT and assessment quiz are simple tools to standardize evaluation of bleeding severity. With further validation, the DOGiBAT may provide a clinically relevant metric to characterize ITP severity and monitor response in treatment trials

Methionine Adenosyltransferase 1a (MAT1A) Enhances Cell Survival During Chemotherapy Treatment and is Associated with Drug Resistance in Bladder Cancer PDX Mice.

Bladder cancer is among the top ten most common cancers, with about ~380,000 new cases and ~150,000 deaths per year worldwide. Tumor relapse following chemotherapy treatment has long been a significant challenge towards completely curing cancer. We have utilized a patient-derived bladder cancer xenograft (PDX) platform to characterize molecular mechanisms that contribute to relapse following drug treatment in advanced bladder cancer. Transcriptomic profiling of bladder cancer xenograft tumors by RNA-sequencing analysis, before and after relapse, following a 21-day cisplatin/gemcitabine drug treatment regimen identified methionine adenosyltransferase 1a (MAT1A) as one of the significantly upregulated genes following drug treatment. Survey of patient tumor sections confirmed elevated levels of MAT1A in individuals who received chemotherapy. Overexpression of MAT1A in 5637 bladder cancer cells increased tolerance to gemcitabine and stalled cell proliferation rates, suggesting MAT1A upregulation as a potential mechanism by which bladder cancer cells persist in a quiescent state to evade chemotherapy