“The path of social justice”: A Human Rights History of Social Justice Education

Although not often recognized, social justice education in the U.S. is historically and philosophically tied to the twentieth century\u27s human rights initiatives. The efforts of human rights pioneers, such as those who authored the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, have indelibly shaped social justice efforts, including within education, in the U.S. Reframing social justice education in light of human rights gives clarity to and concretizes our work as social justice educators: It strengthens a vision of education as central to promoting rights and justice; it refocuses attention on a broader array of fundamental rights, and it explicitly contests our globalized and neoliberal context, a context heavily influencing educational reform

Applied behavior analysis function based procedures contribute to parent child interaction therapy child outcomes

Developmental disabilities affect nearly one in six children in the United States; up to 30 % of these individuals have problem behaviors causing stressors in both the child and their caregiver’s lives. These problem behaviors have various topographical and functional forms, such as property destruction, aggression, tantrums, self-injurious behavior, and many others. If these behaviors are not nipped in the bud during younger years they have the capability to bring about academic failure, alienation from typical peers and other adults, and in the longer term, substance abuse issues, and a decrease in functioning skills within their communities. Evidence-based practices are shown to be effective for treating problem behaviors for children with developmental disabilities. These effective interventions can change the environment, making behavior more socially acceptable and can be implemented by various individuals in the child’s life. This study utilized a multi-element and multiple baseline across participants, single-case research design to examine the effects of a function-based intervention (FBI) and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) on child behavior outcomes. The current study examined two therapist/child dyads; both child participants were diagnosed with a developmental disability. The researcher coached the therapists on both FBI and PCIT techniques, monitoring and providing feedback on their skills while interacting with the child. researcher assistants observed a decrease in child disruptive behaviors and an increase in target appropriate behaviors during the PCIT conditions, but a stronger change in behavior level during the PCIT+FBI condition

Pyruvate kinase, inflammation and periodontal disease

Pyruvate kinase (PK) is the final and rate-limiting enzyme in glycolysis. It has four isoforms PKM1, PKM2, PKL and PKR. PK can form homo tetramers, dimers or monomers. The tetrameric form has the most catalytic activity; however, the dimeric form has non-canonical functions that contribute to the inflammatory response, wound healing and cellular crosstalk. This brief review explores these functions and speculates on their role in periodontal disease

Next generation sequencing discoveries of the nitrate-responsive oral microbiome and its effect on vascular responses

Cardiovascular disease is a worldwide human condition which has multiple underlying contributing factors: one of these is long-term increased blood pressure-hypertension. Nitric oxide (NO) is a small nitrogenous radical species that has a number of physiological functions including vasodilation. It can be produced enzymatically through host nitric oxide synthases and by an alternative nitrate-nitrite-NO pathway from ingested inorganic nitrate. It was discovered that this route relies on the ability of the oral microbiota to reduce nitrate to nitrite and NO. Next generation sequencing has been used over the past two decades to gain deeper insight into the microbes involved, their location and the effect of their removal from the oral cavity. This review article presents this research and comments briefly on future directions

Local understandings of zoonotic disease should be built into epidemic preparedness and response

People in many global regions can make complex trade-offs between the risk of contracting disease and the need to support their livelihoods, particularly in situations of poverty. Interventions to promote epidemic preparedness should therefore be sensitive to local contexts. These should incorporate knowledge within communities to ensure more effective zoonotic disease surveillance and control, while appreciating broader local priorities for health and well-being

The use of proteomic techniques to explore the holistic effects of nutrients in vivo

The availability of ‘omics’ technologies is transforming scientific approaches to physiological problems from a reductionist viewpoint to that of a holistic viewpoint. This is of profound importance in nutrition, since the integration of multiple systems at the level of gene expression on the synthetic side through to metabolic enzyme activity on the degradative side combine to govern nutrient availability to tissues. Protein activity is central to the process of nutrition from the initial absorption of nutrients via uptake carriers in the gut, through to distribution and transport in the blood, metabolism by degradative enzymes in tissues and excretion through renal tubule exchange proteins. Therefore, the global profiling of the proteome, defined as the entire protein complement of the genome expressed in a particular cell or organ, or in plasma or serum at a particular time, offers the potential for identification of important biomarkers of nutritional state that respond to alterations in diet. The present review considers the published evidence of nutritional modulation of the proteome in vivo which has expanded exponentially over the last 3 years. It highlights some of the challenges faced by researchers using proteomic approaches to understand the interactions of diet with genomic and metabolic–phenotypic variables in normal populations

Front-Line Worker Perspectives on Indigenous Youth Suicide in Central Australia: Contributors and Prevention Strategies

Articles are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/) which permits unrestricted distribution and reproduction in any medium, providing that the work is properly cited.ABSTRACT: This paper presents the perspectives of Central Australian workers in relation to Aboriginal youth suicide. Interviews were conducted as part of a project to develop a data collection system and referral pathway for Indigenous youth suicide and suicide attempts. Twenty-two in-depth interviews were conducted with a range of practitioners who have front-line contact in suicide related issues (such as police, primary health, community support, youth services). The interview schedule reflected the project aims, but the transcripts revealed a much broader consideration of the issue. This paper reports on a secondary analysis of the data. The two major themes of salient contributing factors and service prevention strategies provide insights into these workers’ attempts to understand and respond to this issue. There is a need to ensure workers develop and maintain strong networks, are well informed about local socio-cultural factors and skilled to work with local elders, traditional healers and community members, and are well supported in their roles to ensure longevity and relationships. The results contribute to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide prevention sector with particular relevance for remote Australia

Role of glutathione in neutrophil chemotaxis in periodontitis

Periodontitis is a common non-communicable inflammatory disease that leads to the destruction of periodontal tissues and tooth loss. Initiated by the plaque biofilm, there is a strong innate immune response with an abundance of neutrophils in the periodontium of affected individuals. Previous reports have shown that the intracellular concentration of glutathione in peripheral blood neutrophils from periodontitis patients and the chemotactic ability of these cells are compromised. Furthermore, other studies have described that in oxidative stress conditions neutrophil chemotaxis is aberrant and causes the glutathionylation of F-actin, a key player in chemotaxis. In this study, the effects of glutathione-modulating compounds were assessed in neutrophils isolated from healthy donors, showing that the perturbation of glutathione homeostasis decreases the chemotaxis of neutrophils. Following this, the intracellular glutathione status and chemotactic ability of neutrophils isolated from periodontitis patients was compared to that of age- and sex-matched controls. A decrease in glutathione and chemotactic ability were confirmed. Finally, the proteome of these neutrophils was explored, demonstrating a change in the abundance of proteins involved in glutathione homeostasis. Together these data suggest that peripheral blood neutrophils from periodontitis patients are compromised in their ability to cope with oxidative stress and move

Intraoperative Glycemic Management

Background: Hospitals have protocols in place to provide safe and high quality care for clients. One of these protocols involves monitoring blood glucose levels by anesthesiologists every two hours during surgery if the client had subcutaneous insulin prior to surgery. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if anesthesiologists at a specific hospital are following a new glycemic management protocol during surgeries. Method(s): Anesthesia surgery records were audited for the day of surgery on all clients whose medication administration records indicated they had received subcutaneous insulin prior to surgery. Data was gathered during the months of December 2013 through February 2014. Results: 46% (13 of 28) of clients that fell under protocol parameters were not monitored. Conclusions: Action needs to be taken to ensure the protocol is being followed. Possible actions might include posting the protocol in the surgical area and providing in-service education to appropriate staff