Hasta manana...teacher : perspectives of cultural identity infusion on a group of youth in Arequipa, Peru / Maija Lamminmaki.

This intrinsic ethnographic case study examines the group identity of youth attending the Villa Chachani Community School, in Arequipa, Peru. Considering the colonial, historical and current contextual factors, this study examined if the youth at this school were struggling with their identity or, alternatively, if they expressed a strong sense of identity. The data was collected from interviews with four adult participants associated with the Villa Chachani Community School and researcher field notes. Participants were asked to share their perspectives on the expressed identity of this youth cultural sub-group, while focusing on the unique contexts encasing the students. Three major themes emerged from an analysis of the data: (1) environments; (2) people; and (3) culture and society. Within each of these themes, critical data supporting the overall strength of a youth sub-cultural identity emerged. Specifically, the environments of the Flora Tristan community, the Villa Chachani Community School, and the city of Arequipa impacted the students’ group identity formation. The people surrounding and supporting the students, including their families, role models, peers and volunteer teachers, were also important factors. Finally, the role of culture and society; clothing, technology, and youth culture in general, were seen to contribute to the overall strength of the group identity, or sub-culture, expressed by these Villa Chachani youth. In conclusion, despite the lack of an obviously expressed Indigenous identity, the students exhibit a strong and unique Peruvian youth sub-culture

Painting like a housewife : an inquiry into gender bias in professional art education

Primary research method consisted of in-depth interviews with 10 female artists from Thunder Bay, Northwestern Ontario, Canada.This thesis is an examination of the post-secondary art educational experiences of female artists. The focus of the thesis is an analysis of their perceptions regarding the effect of gender on their art, their lives as artists, and their education. In essence, it explores the synthesis of artist and woman. Such an exploration directs attention to those virtually excluded from previous research. In order to accomplish this, the primary research method consisted of conducting in-depth interviews with 10 female artists from the Thunder Bay area. With regard to these female artists I explored: their personal perception of art education, their construction of professional identity as artists, their integration of the role of artist with other roles, as well as any perceived or real barriers to creative work. To understand fully the perceptions women artists have of their own professional identity, it was necessary to incorporate other societal roles held by the participants, and explore the resultant juxtaposition. A portion of this thesis is an autobiographical investigation of my own journey as an artist designed to integrate with and provide additional focus to the investigation. This research contributes to the understanding that there is a great deal to discover from the standpoint of women, and also from personal reflection

Funding common property expenditure in multi-owned housing schemes

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Human ROBO1 Regulates Interaural Interaction in Auditory Pathways

In rodents, the Robo1 gene regulates midline crossing of major nerve tracts, a fundamental property of the mammalian CNS. However, the neurodevelopmental function of the human ROBO1 gene remains unknown, apart from a suggested role in dyslexia. We therefore studied axonal crossing with a functional approach, based on magnetoencephalography, in 10 dyslexic individuals who all share the same rare, weakly expressing haplotype of the ROBO1 gene. Auditory-cortex responses were recorded separately to left- and right-ear sounds that were amplitude modulated at different frequencies. We found impaired interaural interaction that depended on the ROBO1 in a dose-dependent manner. Our results indicate that normal crossing of the auditory pathways requires an adequate ROBO1 expression level.Peer reviewe

Health inequalities among Russian-born immigrant women in Finland : Longitudinal analysis on cervical cancer incidence and participation in screening

Research has documented both lower and higher cancer incidence among migrants. Evidence among the large Russian-born migrant population, however, is scarce. We examined cervical cancer incidence and screening participation among Russian-born immigrant women in Finland, a country with complete cancer registration and universal public health care including organized cancer screening. Our study population included all the women that resided in Finland during 1970-2017 and was formed linking individual-level data from four nationwide registries. The linked data sets on cancer and cancer screening were analysed separately using different statistical models. Russian-born immigrant women had increased (+62%) incidence of cervical cancer compared to the general Finnish female population, and they participated in cervical cancer screening slightly less than other women. Our findings showed no consistent transition pattern in cancer incidence or screening participation rate with duration of stay. Potential explanations for the observed differences include institutional and behavioural factors. Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable cancers, and cancer screening can both prevent and reduce incidence and mortality of cervical cancer. Efforts should be made to encourage migrant populations to participate in cervical screening.Peer reviewe

Intraoperative transimpedance and spread of excitation profile correlations with a lateral-wall cochlear implant electrode array

A limiting factor of cochlear implant technology is the spread of electrode-generated intracochlear electrical field (EF) leading to spread of neural excitation (SOE). In this study, we investigated the relation of the spread of the intracochlear EF, assessed via transimpedance matrix (TIM), and SOE. A total of 43 consecutive patients (ages 0.7-82 years; 31.0 +/- 25.7 years, mean +/- SD) implanted with a Cochlear Nucleus CI522 or CI622 cochlear implant with Slim Straight electrode array (altogether 51 ears) were included in the study. Cochlear nerve was visualized for all patients in preoperative imaging and there were no cochlear anomalies in the study sample. The stimulated electrodes were in the basal, middle, and apical parts of the electrode array (electrode numbers 6, 11, and 19, respectively). The stimulation level was 210 CL on average for the TIM measurement and always 230 CL for the SOE measurement. Approximately 90% of the individual TIM and SOE profiles correlated with each other ( p < .05; r = 0.61- 0.99). Also, the widths of the TIM and SOE peaks, computed at 50% of the maximum height, exhibited a weak correlation ( r = 0.39, p = .007). The 50% widths of TIM and SOE were the same only in the apical part of the electrode array; in the basal part SOE was wider than TIM, and in the middle part TIM was wider than SOE ( p < .01 and p = .048, respectively). Within each measurement, TIM 50% widths were different between all three parts of the electrode array, while for SOE, only the basal electrode differed from the middle electrode. Finally, the size of the cochlea and the 50% widths of TIM and SOE had the strongest correlation in the middle part of the electrode array ( r = -0.63, and -0.37, respectively). Our results suggest that there is a correlation between the spread of intracochlear EF and neural SOE at least in the apical part of the electrode array used in this study, and that larger cochleae are associated with more focused TIM and SOE. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Effect of DNA sequence of Fab fragment on yield characteristics and cell growth of E-coli

Codon usage is one of the factors influencing recombinant protein expression. We were interested in the codon usage of an antibody Fab fragment gene exhibiting extreme toxicity in the E. coli host. The toxic synthetic human Fab gene contained domains optimized by the "one amino acid-one codon" method. We redesigned five segments of the Fab gene with a "codon harmonization" method described by Angov et al. and studied the effects of these changes on cell viability, Fab yield and display on filamentous phage using different vectors and bacterial strains. The harmonization considerably reduced toxicity, increased Fab expression from negligible levels to 10 mg/l, and restored the display on phage. Testing the impact of the individual redesigned segments revealed that the most significant effects were conferred by changes in the constant domain of the light chain. For some of the Fab gene variants, we also observed striking differences in protein yields when cloned from a chloramphenicol resistant vector into an identical vector, except with ampicillin resistance. In conclusion, our results show that the expression of a heterodimeric secretory protein can be improved by harmonizing selected DNA segments by synonymous codons and reveal additional complexity involved in heterologous protein expression

Oligovalent Fab Display on M13 Phage Improved by Directed Evolution

Efficient display of antibody on filamentous phage M13 coat is crucial for successful biopanning selections. We applied a directed evolution strategy to improve the oligovalent display of a poorly behaving Fab fragment fused to phage gene-3 for minor coat protein (g3p). The Fab displaying clones were enriched from a randomly mutated Fab gene library with polyclonal anti-mouse IgG antibodies. Contribution of each mutation to the improved phenotype of one selected mutant was studied. It was found out that two point mutations had significant contribution to the display efficiency of Fab clones superinfected with hyperphage. The most dramatic effect was connected to a start codon mutation, from AUG to GUG, of the PelB signal sequence preceding the heavy chain. The clone carrying this mutation, FabM(GUG), displayed Fab 19-fold better and yielded twofold higher phage titers than the original Fab

Identification of a Novel Bacterial Outer Membrane Interleukin-1B-Binding Protein from Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans

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