The Confrontation of White Supremacy: A Consciousness Raising Group Experience

This study investigated the responses of six white female high school teachers in a small, rural community in southern Georgia to discussions about and challenges to their belief systems concerning racial issues and the racial climate of their school. These women were part of a multi-session consciousness raising focus group experience. The theoretical framework for this study was black feminist theory. Black feminist theorists\u27 emphasis of the importance of lived experience and dialogue in questioning the structures of dominant powers was an important component of the study. Qualitative research was employed in an effort to capture the fullness of the experience of the participants. The analysis and presentation of the data and findings involved biographical sketches and thematic patterns drawn from the participants. White identity development models were used during the analysis of the data. The importance of critical self-reflection and culturally relevant pedagogy was also discussed. Connections between the participants\u27 lived experiences and the stage of development of their white identity and their responses to these challenges to their belief systems was evident. This connection illustrates the need for a more systematic approach to racial awareness for pre- and in-service teachers

Comparison of effectiveness of cefovecin, doxycycline, and amoxicillin for the treatment of experimentally induced early Lyme borreliosis in dogs

Background While Koch’s postulates have been fulfilled for Lyme disease; causing transient fever, anorexia and arthritis in young dogs; treatment of sero-positive dogs, especially asymptomatic animals, remains a topic of debate. To complicate this matter the currently recommended antibiotic treatments of Lyme Disease in dogs caused by Borrelia burgdorferi require daily oral administrations for 31 days or longer, which makes non-compliance a concern. Additionally, there is no approved veterinary antimicrobial for the treatment of Lyme Disease in dogs in the USA and few recommended treatments have been robustly tested. In vitro testing of cefovecin, a novel extended-spectrum cephalosporin, demonstrated inhibition of spirochete growth. A small pilot study in dogs indicated that two cefovecin injections two weeks apart would be as efficacious against B. burgdorferi sensu stricto as the recommended treatments using doxycycline or amoxicillin daily for 31 days. This hypothesis was tested in 17–18 week old Beagle dogs, experimentally infected with B. burgdorferisensu stricto, using wild caught ticks, 75 days prior to antimicrobial administration. Results Clinical observations for lameness were performed daily but were inconclusive as this characteristic sign of Lyme Disease rarely develops in the standard laboratory models of experimentally induced infection. However, each antibiotic tested was efficacious against B. burgdorferi as measured by a rapid elimination of spirochetes from the skin and reduced levels of circulating antibodies to B. burgdorferi. In addition, significantly less cefovecin treated animals had Lyme Disease associated histopathological changes compared to untreated dogs. Conclusions Convenia was efficacious against B. burgdorferi sensu stricto infection in dogs as determined by serological testing, PCR and histopathology results. Convenia provides an additional and effective treatment option for Lyme Disease in dogs

Comparison of methods to estimate variance and covariance components in mixed linear models for ordinal, categorical variables

A simulation study was conducted to compare methods to estimate variance components for ovulation rate and litter size in mice. Both traits are ordinal, categorical variables, so the results are generally applicable to similar problems. The data were arranged in one of the following three-stage nested designs: completely balanced; Anderson staggered, nested; or Bainbridge staggered, nested. One set of methods treated the traits as if they were continuous; REML using a reparameterization, REML using pseudo expectations, and Henderson\u27s Method 3. The other treated them as threshold traits; Bayesian analysis using a flat prior, Bayesian analysis using an informative prior and a generalized linear model analysis. The variance components were used to estimate heritabilities and realized values of random effects. Methods were compared using MSE as a criterion. For both traits and all three designs the MSE for heritability was the smallest for the Bayesian analysis using an informative prior. The Bayesian analysis with an informative prior also produced the best random effects estimates and required the fewest number of iterations to reach convergence for all but the.10 heritability level (litter size) for the balanced design. A two-trait pseudo expectation method and a two-trait Bayesian method using a flat prior were developed for a three-stage nested model to estimate variance and covariance components for ordinal, categorical data. The Bayesian method is based on a threshold model, while the pseudo expectation method is based on the use of normal, continuous data. The two procedures were compared using simulation. The Bayesian method had smaller MSE\u27s for the heritability and correlation estimates, produced similar rank correlations and required substantially less total computer time than the pseudo expectation method

The efficacy of a multivalent calicivirus, herpesvirus and parvovirus vaccine and a rabies vaccine is not affected when administered in combination

The results of a serological study examining the antibody responses generated in cats following administration of a trivalent feline vaccine (feline calicivirus [FCV], feline herpesvirus [FHV] and feline panleucopaenia virus [FPV]; Versifel CVR) in combination with an inactivated rabies vaccine, in compliance with European Pharmacopoeia requirements to support new product registrations, are presented. Nine week old cats were allocated to one of three groups, 10 cats per group. Group 1 received the CVR vaccine on days 0 and 21, group 2 received the rabies vaccine on day 21 and group 3 received the CVR vaccine on day 0 and the CVR vaccine reconstituted with the rabies vaccine (i.e., administered simultaneously) on day 21. Blood samples were collected from each animal, on days 0, 21, 28, 35, 42 and 49; and antibody titres determined using haemagglutination inhibition assay or virus neutralisation test. FHV and FPV antibody responses in the group 3 combination administration were considered non-inferior to the responses in the group 1 CVR-only at all time points (days 28, 35, 42 and 49). However for FCV, group 3 was considered non-inferior to the responses in group 1 on days 28, 35 and 42; but not on day 49. For rabies, group 3 was only considered non-inferior to the responses in group 2 on day 49; an apparent inferiority was observed on days 28, 35 and 42. However, in all cases cats that received the combination administration seroconverted with antibody titres at a magnitude shown in other studies to be protective against virulent challenge, and also at a titre deemed adequate by the European Pharmacopeia monograph 04/2013:0451 (Rabies vaccine [inactivated] for Veterinary use). In conclusion, the data show that combining these two separate vaccines in one administration has limited impact on their ability to generate serological responses, and that these responses are still of a magnitude previously demonstrated to be protective

VIDEO: Session 3: Sustainability, Resource Extraction, and Social License to Operate

This session will discuss the growing discussion of the social license to operate concept, as used in natural resources development, including hard rock mining, and oil and gas development. The topic will examine carefully ongoing conflicts in the United States regarding local control over shale gas development and examine the perspective of American Indian tribes as to their concerns over a lack of a shared value perspective. VIDEO: 2:00 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. SESSION 3: Sustainability, Resource Extraction, and Social License to Operate Moderator: Britt Banks, Executive Director, Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment Speakers: Kristen Carpenter, Associate Professor and Director, American Indian Law Program, University of Colorado Law School Vickie Patton, General Counsel, Environmental Defense Fund Elaine Dorward-King, Executive Vice President of Sustainability and External Relations, Newmont Mining Corporation Bill Ritter, Director of the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University, former Governor of Colorad

Construction and Validation of a Novel Pathway Ratio Reporter System (PARRES)

The Transforming Growth Factor-beta (TGFβ) superfamily is a large group of signaling molecules whose members play conserved roles in embryo specification, organogenesis, and tissue homeostasis. Structural considerations delineate the TGFβ superfamily into ligands that interact with ALK1/2/3/6 or ALK4/5/7, with the former being mostly BMPs and the latter being mostly Activins and TGFβs. Reports of distinctly opposing effects between the BMP/GDF and Activin/TGFβ pathways are becoming increasingly common. A major focus of our laboratory is elucidating the molecular mechanisms that allow the BMP/GDF and Activin/TGFβ pathways to antagonize one another. To accomplish this goal, we must create a first-of-its-kind biosensor reporter system (called the Pathway Ratio Reporter System, or PARRES) that will allow us to examine the real-time ratio of BMP/GDF vs. Activin/TGFβ in vivo. PARRES is a novel biosensor system that uses two independent fluorescent reporters that are linked through reciprocal RNA interference so that, through mutual antagonism, fluorescent signal occurs only when transcriptional activation through one pathway is dominant. Here, we focus on the crucial, initial characterization of PARRES – the maturation and half-life kinetics of the fluorescent proteins. Using HEK293 cells, we demonstrate that the maturation kinetic of the Emerald variant of Green Fluorescent Protein is acceptable but the half-life is far too long for our needs. We subsequently destabilize Emerald to an approximate half-life of 29 hours by appending a validated degradation domain. Current studies involve generating point mutations in the destabilized Emerald protein to further reduce its half-life. Once completed, this biosensor will be especially useful to our lab as a tool for examining the influence of canonical signaling by skeletal mesenchymal progenitors, a population known to rely on BMPs, GDFs, TGFβ and Activins to instruct their differentiation into tissue-specific cell types such as osteoblasts