Racial Politics, Resentment, and Affirmative Action: Asian Americans as “Model” College Applicants

This article uses philosophical analysis to clarify the arguments and claims about racial discrimination brought forward in the recent legal challenges to affirmative action in higher education admissions. Affirmative action opponents have argued that elite institutions of higher education are using negative action against Asian American applicants, so they can admit other students of color instead by using race-conscious affirmative action. We examined the surrounding controversy, while positing that the portrayal of Asian Americans as a model minority in this debate foments a politics of resentment that divides racial groups. Our analysis centered on how key concepts such as racial discrimination and diversity may be central to this politics of resentment. Given persistent threats to access and equity in higher education, it is important to gain conceptual clarity about the racial politics of anti-affirmative action efforts

Characterization of highly stable liposomal and immunoliposomal formulations of vincristine and vinblastine

Liposome and immunoliposome formulations of two vinca alkaloids, vincristine and vinblastine, were prepared using intraliposomal triethylammonium sucroseoctasulfate and examined for their ability to stabilize the drug for targeted drug delivery in vivo. The pharmacokinetics of both the encapsulated drug (vincristine or vinblastine) and liposomal carrier were examined in Sprague Dawley rats, and the in vivo drug release rates determined. Anti-HER2 immunoliposomal vincristine was prepared from a human anti-HER2/neu scFv and studied for targeted cytotoxic activity in cell culture, and antitumor efficacy in vivo. Nanoliposome formulations of vincristine and vinblastine demonstrated similar pharmacokinetic profiles for the liposomal carrier, but increased clearance for liposome encapsulated vinblastine (t 1/2 = 9.7 h) relative to vincristine (t 1/2 = 18.5 h). Immunoliposome formulations of vincristine targeted to HER2 using an anti-HER2 scFv antibody fragment displayed a marked enhancement in cytotoxicity when compared to non-targeted liposomal vincristine control; 63- or 253-fold for BT474 and SKBR3 breast cancer cells, respectively. Target-specific activity was also demonstrated in HER2-overexpressing human tumor xenografts, where the HER2-targeted formulation was significantly more efficacious than either free vincristine or non-targeted liposomal vincristine. These results demonstrate that active targeting of solid tumors with liposomal formulations of vincristine is possible when the resulting immunoliposomes are sufficiently stabilized

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Forging Asian American identity: Race, culture, and the Asian American movement, 1968--1975.

This dissertation is a cultural and political history of the emergence of Asian American identity during the late 1960s and early 70s. In it, I trace shifting and competing paradigms by which Asian ethnic groups in the United States understood their relationship to each other, to Asia, and to the U.S. I contrast the multi-ethnic racial category of Asian American with prior modes of Asian American political organizing, including assimilationist Americanism, Asian nationalism, and leftist unionism and communism. In addition, I examine the extent to which Asian American identity arose as a response to the Black Power and anti-Vietnam War movements. The ideology of Black Power rejected the ethnic assimilation model and foregrounded race as a persistent category sustained by structural racism; confronting Black Power forced progressive Asian Americans to examine their own position as a racialized people. Opposition to the Vietnam War heightened Asian Americans' awareness that anti-Asian racism in the U.S. was an extension of U.S. imperialism in Asia and provided both the motivation and means for building a multi-ethnic movement and identity. The ideologies of Black Power and opposition to the war did not create Asian American identity de novo, but rather the Asian American movement adapted them to provide a coherent framework within which to organize Asian American identity. Methodologically, I investigate various conceptualizations of racial, ethnic, and national identity by examining the Japanese American Citizens League's assimilationist culture of performing Americanism during the 1930s, the liberalism of S. I. Hayakawa's general linguistics in the 1940s, and cultural productions of the Asian American movement, including plays by Frank Chin and Melvyn Escueta, poetry, journalism, and the music of A Grain of Sand from the 1960s and early 70s. I conclude that Asian American culture as articulated by the Asian American movement did not seek to eliminate ethnic distinctions, but instead built Asian American identity as a multi-ethnic racial category unified by opposition to both domestic racism and U.S. imperialism.Ph.D.American historyAmerican studiesSocial SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/123536/2/3001003.pd

Risk assessment tool floundering? Let's ask the client to self-predict

Self-prediction by criminal justice involved clients has not been typically implemented in risk assessment procedures, yet clients have unique self-knowledge that may add to the assessment of risk. The Transition Inventory is an eight scale self-prediction measure that addresses areas that are a precursor to antisocial and criminal activity (e.g., “Drugs or alcohol will be a problem for me”). The Transition Inventory was administered to 131 paroled clients (primary drug-related offenses), 104 of whom were of minority/ethnic status. Predictive validity was demonstrated by the Transition Inventory incrementally predicting supervision failure. Individual scale construct validity was demonstrated by predicting later assessed corresponding measures, with the Leisure scale having the most robust predictive relationship. Self-prediction may promote greater predictability and stronger client engagement in the assessment process

Racial Politics, Resentment, and Affirmative Action: Asian Americans as “Model” College Applicants

This article uses philosophical analysis to clarify the arguments and claims about racial discrimination brought forward in the recent legal challenges to affirmative action in higher education admissions. Affirmative action opponents argue that elite institutions of higher education are using negative action against Asian American applicants so that they can admit other students of color instead, using race-conscious affirmative action. We examine the surrounding controversy, positing that the portrayal of Asian Americans as a model minority in this debate foments a politics of resentment that divides racial groups. Our analysis centers on how key concepts such as racial discrimination and diversity may be central to this politics of resentment. Given persistent threats to access and equity in higher education, it is important to gain conceptual clarity about the racial politics of anti-affirmative action efforts

Outcomes in Newly Diagnosed Atrial Fibrillation and History of Acute Coronary Syndromes: Insights from GARFIELD-AF

BACKGROUND: Many patients with atrial fibrillation have concomitant coronary artery disease with or without acute coronary syndromes and are in need of additional antithrombotic therapy. There are few data on the long-term clinical outcome of atrial fibrillation patients with a history of acute coronary syndrome. This is a 2-year study of atrial fibrillation patients with or without a history of acute coronary syndromes