Beyond Erasure and Profiling: Cultivating Strong and Vibrant Arab American Communities in Chicagoland

This report captures the conditions and experiences of Arab Americans in the Chicagoland area. The report uses demographic research, surveys, focus group data, as well as expert commentaries by organizers and academics to analyze how systemic inequities and anti-Arab/anti-Muslim racism affect the lives of Arab Americans in employment, education, health care, housing, and policing. The report engages with the diversity of experiences among Arab American communities and their common challenge in navigating being at once hypervisible as a result of commonplace stereotypes as well as invisible due to being classified as white by government agencies and due to the general lack of knowledge about Arab Americans in our society

Pitfalls in assessing stromal tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) in breast cancer

Abstract: Stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) are important prognostic and predictive biomarkers in triple-negative (TNBC) and HER2-positive breast cancer. Incorporating sTILs into clinical practice necessitates reproducible assessment. Previously developed standardized scoring guidelines have been widely embraced by the clinical and research communities. We evaluated sources of variability in sTIL assessment by pathologists in three previous sTIL ring studies. We identify common challenges and evaluate impact of discrepancies on outcome estimates in early TNBC using a newly-developed prognostic tool. Discordant sTIL assessment is driven by heterogeneity in lymphocyte distribution. Additional factors include: technical slide-related issues; scoring outside the tumor boundary; tumors with minimal assessable stroma; including lymphocytes associated with other structures; and including other inflammatory cells. Small variations in sTIL assessment modestly alter risk estimation in early TNBC but have the potential to affect treatment selection if cutpoints are employed. Scoring and averaging multiple areas, as well as use of reference images, improve consistency of sTIL evaluation. Moreover, to assist in avoiding the pitfalls identified in this analysis, we developed an educational resource available at www.tilsinbreastcancer.org/pitfalls

Report on computational assessment of Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes from the International Immuno-Oncology Biomarker Working Group

Funder: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Cancer Institute (NCI)Funder: National Center for Research Resources under award number 1 C06 RR12463-01, VA Merit Review Award IBX004121A from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development Service, the DOD Prostate Cancer Idea Development Award (W81XWH-15-1-0558), the DOD Lung Cancer Investigator-Initiated Translational Research Award (W81XWH-18-1-0440), the DOD Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program (W81XWH-16-1-0329), the Ohio Third Frontier Technology Validation Fund, the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation Program in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Clinical and Translational Science Award Program (CTSA) at Case Western Reserve University.Funder: Susan G Komen Foundation (CCR CCR18547966) and a Young Investigator Grant from the Breast Cancer Alliance.Funder: The Canadian Cancer SocietyFunder: Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), Grant No. 17-194Abstract: Assessment of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) is increasingly recognized as an integral part of the prognostic workflow in triple-negative (TNBC) and HER2-positive breast cancer, as well as many other solid tumors. This recognition has come about thanks to standardized visual reporting guidelines, which helped to reduce inter-reader variability. Now, there are ripe opportunities to employ computational methods that extract spatio-morphologic predictive features, enabling computer-aided diagnostics. We detail the benefits of computational TILs assessment, the readiness of TILs scoring for computational assessment, and outline considerations for overcoming key barriers to clinical translation in this arena. Specifically, we discuss: 1. ensuring computational workflows closely capture visual guidelines and standards; 2. challenges and thoughts standards for assessment of algorithms including training, preanalytical, analytical, and clinical validation; 3. perspectives on how to realize the potential of machine learning models and to overcome the perceptual and practical limits of visual scoring

Application of a risk-management framework for integration of stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in clinical trials

Funder: Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF); doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/100001006Abstract: Stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) are a potential predictive biomarker for immunotherapy response in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). To incorporate sTILs into clinical trials and diagnostics, reliable assessment is essential. In this review, we propose a new concept, namely the implementation of a risk-management framework that enables the use of sTILs as a stratification factor in clinical trials. We present the design of a biomarker risk-mitigation workflow that can be applied to any biomarker incorporation in clinical trials. We demonstrate the implementation of this concept using sTILs as an integral biomarker in a single-center phase II immunotherapy trial for metastatic TNBC (TONIC trial, NCT02499367), using this workflow to mitigate risks of suboptimal inclusion of sTILs in this specific trial. In this review, we demonstrate that a web-based scoring platform can mitigate potential risk factors when including sTILs in clinical trials, and we argue that this framework can be applied for any future biomarker-driven clinical trial setting

Muslim First, Arab Second: A Strategic Politics of Race and Gender

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75293/1/j.1478-1913.2005.00107.x.pd

Interseccionalidade em uma era de globalização: As implicações da Conferência Mundial contra o Racismo para práticas feministas transnacionais

Este relatório analisa a interseccionalidade como uma abordagem feminista com significante impacto nos discursos e debates durante o Fórum de ONGs e a Conferência Mundial Contra o Racismo, em Durban, África do Sul. O termo 'interseccionalidade' se refere às articulações entre a discriminação de gênero, a homofobia, o racismo e a exploração de classe. Falando do lugar de enunciação de mulheres de cor feministas situadas nos territórios geográficos dos Estados Unidos, as autoras enfatizam algumas questões-chave e tendências dos movimentos sociais que foram ignoradas pela mídia estadunidense. Alternativamente, o relatório examina como a introdução das 'intolerâncias correlatas' na agenda da Conferência permitiu discussões mais amplas sobre os efeitos da globalização no agravamento do racismo e sobre as múltiplas opressões com relação à orientação sexual e aos direitos sexuais. As autoras argumentam que uma insistência na significância do gênero e da raça, bem como da classe, no contexto do capitalismo neo-liberal, coloca novas e importantes coordenadas nos mapas do feminismo transnacional e do crescente movimento anti-globalização

Intersectionality in an Era of Globalization: The Implications of the U.N. World Conference against Racism for Transnational Feminist Practices

This report examines intersectionality as a feminist approach that significantly impacted the discourses and conversations that took place at the World Conference Against Racism and its parallel NGO Forum, in Durban, South Africa in 2001. The term intersectionality refers to the links between gender discrimination, homophobia, racism and class exploitation. As women of color feminist scholars positioned within the geographic territories of the U.S., the authors specifically highlight key issues and social movement trends that were ignored by the U.S. media. Alternatively, this report focuses on how the conference framework of related intolerance allowed for broader conversations on how racism is exacerbated by globalization as well as on multiple oppressions in relation to sexual orientation and sexual rights. The authors emphasize how an insistence on discussing the significance of race and gender as well as class, in the context of neo-liberal capitalism, puts important new coordinates on the maps of transnational feminist organizing and anti-globalization movement