Otherwises At School And In The Community: Public Schools As Leaders In Rural Food System Relocalization

This action research study looks at the role that rural public schools can play in the relocalization of food systems. The school cafeteria is an oft overlooked site of privatization in public education and the State’s agricultural management curriculum affects an erasure of local knowledges of self-sufficiency. The research engaged students, school staff and community members in a rural, southern Appalachian community in the local food systems projects of seed saving and growing food for the high school’s cafeteria. Based on qualitative, ethnographic data, the analysis explores decolonial otherwises (Mignolo & Walsh, 2018) to the global corporate food system, to the neoliberal subjectivities of public schools and students, and to the existing relationship between the education and food systems. This dissertation presents a rare application of the frameworks of food sovereignty and decoloniality to a white, North American population. In doing so, it highlights the deterritorialized nature of the neocolonial agent and opens opportunities to recognize solidarity across contexts of struggle. Finally, the study recommends a relocalized pedagogy as an adaptive and mitigative response to climate change at the local level

Impact of Meat Consumption, Preparation, and Mutagens on Aggressive Prostate Cancer

The association between meat consumption and prostate cancer remains unclear, perhaps reflecting heterogeneity in the types of tumors studied and the method of meat preparation—which can impact the production of carcinogens.We address both issues in this case-control study focused on aggressive prostate cancer (470 cases and 512 controls), where men reported not only their meat intake but also their meat preparation and doneness level on a semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire. Associations between overall and grilled meat consumption, doneness level, ensuing carcinogens and aggressive prostate cancer were assessed using multivariate logistic regression.Higher consumption of any ground beef or processed meats were positively associated with aggressive prostate cancer, with ground beef showing the strongest association (OR = 2.30, 95% CI:1.39–3.81; P-trend = 0.002). This association primarily reflected intake of grilled or barbequed meat, with more well-done meat conferring a higher risk of aggressive prostate cancer. Comparing high and low consumptions of well/very well cooked ground beef to no consumption gave OR's of 2.04 (95% CI:1.41–2.96) and 1.51 (95% CI:1.06–2.14), respectively. In contrast, consumption of rare/medium cooked ground beef was not associated with aggressive prostate cancer. Looking at meat mutagens produced by cooking at high temperatures, we detected an increased risk with 2-amino-3,8-Dimethylimidazo-[4,5-f]Quinolaxine (MelQx) and 2-amino-3,4,8-trimethylimidazo(4,5-f)qunioxaline (DiMelQx), when comparing the highest to lowest quartiles of intake: OR = 1.69 (95% CI:1.08–2.64;P-trend = 0.02) and OR = 1.53 (95% CI:1.00–2.35; P-trend = 0.005), respectively.Higher intake of well-done grilled or barbequed red meat and ensuing carcinogens could increase the risk of aggressive prostate cancer

Real-time motion analytics during brain MRI improve data quality and reduce costs

Head motion systematically distorts clinical and research MRI data. Motion artifacts have biased findings from many structural and functional brain MRI studies. An effective way to remove motion artifacts is to exclude MRI data frames affected by head motion. However, such post-hoc frame censoring can lead to data loss rates of 50% or more in our pediatric patient cohorts. Hence, many scanner operators collect additional 'buffer data', an expensive practice that, by itself, does not guarantee sufficient high-quality MRI data for a given participant. Therefore, we developed an easy-to-setup, easy-to-use Framewise Integrated Real-time MRI Monitoring (FIRMM) software suite that provides scanner operators with head motion analytics in real-time, allowing them to scan each subject until the desired amount of low-movement data has been collected. Our analyses show that using FIRMM to identify the ideal scan time for each person can reduce total brain MRI scan times and associated costs by 50% or more

The Role of the Magnetic Field in the Interstellar Medium of the Post-Starburst Dwarf Irregular Galaxy NGC 1569

(abridged) NGC 1569 is a nearby dwarf irregular galaxy which underwent an intense burst of star formation 10 to 40 Myr ago. We present observations that reach surface brightnesses two to eighty times fainter than previous radio continuum observations and the first radio continuum polarization observations. These observations allow us to probe the relationship of the magnetic field of NGC 1569 to the rest of its interstellar medium. We confirm the presence of an extended radio continuum halo at 20 cm and see for the first time the radio continuum feature associated with the western Halpha arm at wavelengths shorter than 20cm. The spectral index trends in this galaxy support the theory that there is a convective wind at work in this galaxy. We derive a total magnetic field strength of 38 microG in the central regions and 10-15 microG in the halo. The magnetic field is largely random in the center of the galaxy; the uniform field is ~3-9 microG and is strongest in the halo. We find that the magnetic pressure is the same order of magnitude but, in general, a factor of a few less than the other components of the interstellar medium in this galaxy. The uniform magnetic field in NGC 1569 is closely associated with the Halpha bubbles and filaments. We suggest that a supernova-driven dynamo may be operating in this galaxy. The outflow of hot gas from NGC 1569 is clearly shaping the magnetic field, but the magnetic field in turn may be aiding the outflow by channeling gas out of the disk of the galaxy. Dwarf galaxies with extended radio continuum halos like that of NGC 1569 may play an important role in magnetizing the intergalactic medium.Comment: ApJ accepted. 56 pages, 14 figures (low resolution), 8 tables. Version with high resolution figures at http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~aak8t/data/n1569/ms.pd

IL-1 reprogramming of adult neural stem cells limits neurocognitive recovery after viral encephalitis by maintaining a proinflammatory state

Innate immune responses to emerging RNA viruses are increasingly recognized as having significant contributions to neurologic sequelae, especially memory disorders. Using a recovery model of West Nile virus (WNV) encephalitis, we show that, while macrophages deliver the antiviral and anti-neurogenic cytokine IL-1β during acute infection; viral recovery is associated with continued astrocyte inflammasome-mediated production of inflammatory levels of IL-1β, which is maintained by hippocampal astrogenesis via IL-1R1 signaling in neural stem cells (NSC). Accordingly, aberrant astrogenesis is prevented in the absence of IL-1 signaling in NSC, indicating that only newly generated astrocytes exert neurotoxic effects, preventing synapse repair and promoting spatial learning deficits. Ex vivo evaluation of IL-1β-treated adult hippocampal NSC revealed the upregulation of developmental differentiation pathways that derail adult neurogenesis in favor of astrogenesis, following viral infection. We conclude that NSC-specific IL-1 signaling within the hippocampus during viral encephalitis prevents synapse recovery and promotes spatial learning defects via altered fates of NSC progeny that maintain inflammation

Impact of the SPOP Mutant Subtype on the Interpretation of Clinical Parameters in Prostate Cancer.

Purpose: Molecular characterization of prostate cancer, including The Cancer Genome Atlas, has revealed distinct subtypes with underlying genomic alterations. One of these core subtypes, SPOP (speckle-type POZ protein) mutant prostate cancer, has previously only been identifiable via DNA sequencing, which has made the impact on prognosis and routinely used risk stratification parameters unclear. Methods: We have developed a novel gene expression signature, classifier (Subclass Predictor Based on Transcriptional Data), and decision tree to predict the SPOP mutant subclass from RNA gene expression data and classify common prostate cancer molecular subtypes. We then validated and further interrogated the association of prostate cancer molecular subtypes with pathologic and clinical outcomes in retrospective and prospective cohorts of 8,158 patients. Results: The subclass predictor based on transcriptional data model showed high sensitivity and specificity in multiple cohorts across both RNA sequencing and microarray gene expression platforms. We predicted approximately 8% to 9% of cases to be SPOP mutant from both retrospective and prospective cohorts. We found that the SPOP mutant subclass was associated with lower frequency of positive margins, extraprostatic extension, and seminal vesicle invasion at prostatectomy; however, SPOP mutant cancers were associated with higher pretreatment serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA). The association between SPOP mutant status and higher PSA level was validated in three independent cohorts. Despite high pretreatment PSA, the SPOP mutant subtype was associated with a favorable prognosis with improved metastasis-free survival, particularly in patients with high-risk preoperative PSA levels. Conclusion: Using a novel gene expression model and a decision tree algorithm to define prostate cancer molecular subclasses, we found that the SPOP mutant subclass is associated with higher preoperative PSA, less adverse pathologic features, and favorable prognosis. These findings suggest a paradigm in which the interpretation of common risk stratification parameters, particularly PSA, may be influenced by the underlying molecular subtype of prostate cancer