When African-American families choose an African-centered charter school in place of a traditional public school for their children, what motivating factors inform that decision?

A qualitative study was designed to explore and contextualize the motivating factors leading Black families to withdraw their children from traditional public schools and enroll them into an African-centered charter school. The study also sought evidence of the motivating factors identified by Black parents and families at the school of choice. The study was rooted in liberatory/emancipatory educational research and synthesized congruent conceptual themes generated in the literature. The study was composed of six cultural indicators that focused on culturally affirmative and emancipatory concepts of education and emerged from a blended framework specifically designed for the study by synthesizing congruent conceptual themes discussed in the educational research of Shujaa, Gordon, and Ladson-Billings. The six Cultural Indicators that informed the data analysis were: 1) culturally affirmative/culturally relevant classrooms; 2) instruction designed to guide students to be self reflective, gain self knowledge, and discover authentic self; 3) academically rigorous programs scaffold onto students’ prior understanding, knowledge of the world, and cultural identity; 4) interpersonal relationships are fostered; emphasis on creating learning communities and de-emphasis on the individual and competition; 5) hidden curriculum dismantled; students gain ability to critically read and evaluate what is being presented by dominant societal institutions; and 6) teachers and students purposely dialogue about strategies to influence popular and intellectual culture through social and economic justice activities. The study focused on an African-centered charter school in its first year of operation. The research analyzed the narratives of families who exited the traditional public school and documented the disengagement and isolation Black parents, families, and educators experience in traditional public schools. Family narratives revealed that five of the six Cultural Indicators informed the family decision-making process and the choice to exchange the traditional public school setting for a charter school. The study concludes that the motivating factors are real and complex, provides suggestions for educational practice, and discusses implications for future research

EXPLORING FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE AND CAPITAL: CASE STUDIES OF LATINO IMMIGRANT FAMILIES SUPPORTING THEIR CHILDREN'S EDUCATION, WITH A FOCUS ON MATHEMATICS

Latino students are frequently positioned by widespread achievement gap discourse at the bottom of the attainment spectrum. Both students and families are portrayed as inadequate and deficient, and are blamed for their lack of success in mathematics. One recommendation to improve Latino students' educational performance is to increase parental involvement in mathematics among Latinos. However, life conditions of Latino immigrant families include factors that often make it difficult for parents to get involved in the education of their children in the ways that schools expect. This study explores the knowledge and resources two Latino immigrant families have acquired thorough their experiences and how they use them to support their children's education and mathematics education. In order to analyze families' resources, a theoretical framework composed by the concepts of educability, capital, and funds of knowledge and community cultural wealth was developed. The construct of educability, which analyzes the tensions between the limitations that poverty and other life conditions impose on families and the possibilities for students to succeed in school, provides the overarching structure of the framework. Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital and the cycle of reproduction of capital describe why social groups with more capital (middle and upper classes) acquire capital easily, whereas social groups with less capital (low socioeconomic working classes) have fewer opportunities to acquire capital. This piece of the framework explains why it is so difficult for students living in hard conditions to overcome them and succeed academically. The funds of knowledge and community cultural wealth perspectives made it possible to identify the resources and knowledge families have acquired through their experiences and understand their actions and hopes in connection to their life histories. In particular, the study analyzes how families use their resources along three dimensions that affect children's conditions of educability. First, the study looks at how parents influence students' dispositions towards education; second, how parents develop relationships with schools; and third, how parents influence what students do in their leisure time. The researcher's journey as a white middle-class highly educated woman working with Latino working-class families is also analyzed as part of the study

Targeting of the P2X7 receptor in pancreatic cancer and stellate cells

The ATP‐gated receptor P2X7 (P2X7R) is involved in regulation of cell survival and has been of interest in cancer field. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a deadly cancer and new markers and therapeutic targets are needed. PDAC is characterized by a complex tumour microenvironment, which includes cancer and pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs), and potentially high nucleotide/side turnover. Our aim was to determine P2X7R expression and function in human pancreatic cancer cells in vitro as well as to perform in vivo efficacy study applying P2X7R inhibitor in an orthotopic xenograft mouse model of PDAC. In the in vitro studies we show that human PDAC cells with luciferase gene (PancTu‐1 Luc cells) express high levels of P2X7R protein. Allosteric P2X7R antagonist AZ10606120 inhibited cell proliferation in basal conditions, indicating that P2X7R was tonically active. Extracellular ATP and BzATP, to which the P2X7R is more sensitive, further affected cell survival and confirmed complex functionality of P2X7R. PancTu‐1 Luc migration and invasion was reduced by AZ10606120, and it was stimulated by PSCs, but not by PSCs from P2X7(‐/‐) animals. PancTu‐1 Luc cells were orthotopically transplanted into nude mice and tumour growth was followed noninvasively by bioluminescence imaging. AZ10606120‐treated mice showed reduced bioluminescence compared to saline‐treated mice. Immunohistochemical analysis confirmed P2X7R expression in cancer and PSC cells, and in metaplastic/neoplastic acinar and duct structures. PSCs number/activity and collagen deposition was reduced in AZ10606120‐treated tumours

Understanding spatio-temporal variability in the reproduction ratio of the bluetongue (BTV-1) epidemic in southern Spain (Andalusia) in 2007 using epidemic trees

Andalusia (Southern Spain) is considered one of the main routes of introduction of bluetongue virus (BTV) into Europe, evidenced by a devastating epidemic caused by BTV-1 in 2007. Understanding the pattern and the drivers of BTV-1 spread in Andalusia is critical for effective detection and control of future epidemics. A long-standing metric for quantifying the behaviour of infectious diseases is the case-reproduction ratio (Rt), defined as the average number of secondary cases arising from a single infected case at time t (for t>0). Here we apply a method using epidemic trees to estimate the between-herd case reproduction ratio directly from epidemic data allowing the spatial and temporal variability in transmission to be described. We then relate this variability to predictors describing the hosts, vectors and the environment to better understand why the epidemic spread more quickly in some regions or periods. The Rt value for the BTV-1 epidemic in Andalusia peaked in July at 4.6, at the start of the epidemic, then decreased to 2.2 by August, dropped below 1 by September (0.8), and by October it had decreased to 0.02. BTV spread was the consequence of both local transmission within established disease foci and BTV expansion to distant new areas (i.e. new foci), which resulted in a high variability in BTV transmission, not only among different areas, but particularly through time, which suggests that general control measures applied at broad spatial scales are unlikely to be effective. This high variability through time was probably due to the impact of temperature on BTV transmission, as evidenced by a reduction in the value of Rt by 0.0041 for every unit increase (day) in the extrinsic incubation period (EIP), which is itself directly dependent on temperature. Moreover, within the range of values at which BTV-1 transmission occurred in Andalusia (20.6°C to 29.5°C) there was a positive correlation between temperature and Rt values, although the relationship was not linear, probably as a result of the complex relationship between temperature and the different parameters affecting BTV transmission. Rt values for BTV-1 in Andalusia fell below the threshold of 1 when temperatures dropped below 21°C, a much higher threshold than that reported in other BTV outbreaks, such as the BTV-8 epidemic in Northern Europe. This divergence may be explained by differences in the adaptation to temperature of the main vectors of the BTV-1 epidemic in Andalusia (Culicoides imicola) compared those of the BTV-8 epidemic in Northern Europe (Culicoides obsoletus). Importantly, we found that BTV transmission (Rt value) increased significantly in areas with higher densities of sheep. Our analysis also established that control of BTV-1 in Andalusia was complicated by the simultaneous establishment of several distant foci at the start of the epidemic, which may have been caused by several independent introductions of infected vectors from the North of Africa. We discuss the implications of these findings for BTV surveillance and control in this region of Europe

The appropriate use of reference scenarios in mitigation analysis

Comparing emissions scenarios is an essential part of mitigation analysis, as climate targets can be met in various ways with different economic, energy system and co-benefit implications. Typically, a central ‘reference scenario’ acts as a point of comparison, and often this has been a no policy baseline with no explicit mitigative action taken. The use of such baselines is under increasing scrutiny, raising a wider question around the appropriate use of reference scenarios in mitigation analysis. In this Perspective, we assess three critical issues relevant to the use of reference scenarios, demonstrating how different policy contexts merit the use of different scenarios. We provide recommendations to the modelling community on best practice in the creation, use and communication of reference scenarios

Cost reductions in renewables can substantially erode the value of carbon capture and storage in mitigation pathways

Tackling climate change requires a rapid transition to net-zero energy systems. A variety of different technologies could contribute to this transition, and uncertainty remains over their relative role and value. A growing school of thought argues that rapid cost reductions in renewables reduce the need for carbon capture and storage (CCS) in mitigation pathways. Here we use an integrated assessment model to explore how the value of CCS is affected by cost reductions in solar photovoltaics, onshore, and offshore wind. Low-cost renewables could erode the value of CCS by 15%–96% across different energy sectors. Renewables directly compete with CCS, accelerate power sector decarbonization, and enable greater electrification of end-use sectors. CCS has greatest value and resilience to low-cost renewables in sustainable bioenergy/industrial applications, with limited value in hydrogen/electricity generation. This suggests that targeted, rather than blanket, CCS deployment represents the best strategy for achieving the Paris Agreement goals

The contribution of non-CO2 greenhouse gas mitigation to achieving long-term temperature goals

In the latest (fifth) assessment from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) non-CO2 emssions accounted for 28% of total GHG emissions in 2010, when measured on the basis of their global warming potential (relative to CO2) over a 100-year and nitrous oxide (N2O) accounting for about half of all non-CO2 GHGs. With population and incomes increasing, especially in emerging economies, these emissions could grow significantly in the future. Other major sources of non-CO2 GHGs are fugitive CH4 from the extraction and distribution of fossil fuels, N2O from industrial production of nitric and adipic acid, as well as fluorinated gases (F-gases) from a range of industrial manufacturing and product uses. This paper analyses the emissions and cost impacts of mitigation of non-CO2 greenhouse gases (GHGs) at a global level, in scenarios which are focused on meeting a range of long-term temperature goals (LTTGs). The paper demonstrates how an integrated assessment model (TIAM-Grantham) representing CO2 emissions (and their mitigation) from the fossil fuel combustion and industrial sectors is coupled with a model covering non-CO2 emissions (GAINS) in order to provide a complete picture of GHG emissions in a reference scenario in which there is no mitigation of either CO2 or non-CO2 gases, as well as in scenarios in which both CO2 and non-CO2 gases are mitigated in order to achieve different LTTGs

Assessing the challenges of global long-term mitigation scenarios

The implications of global mitigation to achieve different long-term temperature goals (LTTGs) can be investigated in integrated assessment models (IAMs), which provide a large number of outputs including technology deployment levels, economic costs, carbon prices, annual rates of decarbonisation, degree of global net negative emissions required, as well as utilisation levels for fossil fuel plants. All of these factors can be considered in detail when judging the real-world feasibility of the mitigation scenarios produced by these models. This study presents a model inter-comparison of three widely used IAMs (TIAM, MESSAGE and WITCH) to analyse multiple mitigation scenarios exploring a range of LTTGs and a range of constraints, including delayed mitigation action, limited end-use electrification and delayed deployment of carbon capture technologies. The scenario outputs across the three models are examined and discussed and a matrix of the different factors concerning scenario feasibility is presented

Protected percutaneous coronary intervention with Impella CP in a patient with left main disease, severe left ventricular systolic dysfunction and established hemolysis

bstract: The use of the Impella device in patients with left ventricular (LV) systolic impairment undergoing left main (LM) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been growing exponentially. Data from observational studies and registries demonstrate that Impella-assisted high-risk PCI is safe and effective with a low rate of peri-procedural complications. Hemolysis is a potential limitation of virtually all mechanical circulatory support devices and a small incidence of hemolysis has been associated with Impella use. The safety and feasibility of Impella use in patients with established hemolysis has not been previously evaluated. We report the first described case in the literature of Impella-assisted left main stem (LMS) PCI in a patient with severe LV systolic dysfunction and autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA). Despite the patient's high bleeding risk (active hemolysis, thrombocytopenia, impaired renal function, use of steroids), Impella placement and PCI were successfully performed without complication. Haemoglobin, bilirubin and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels were closely monitored peri-procedurally with no evidence of exacerbation of the patient’s hemolysis. We briefly discuss the mechanism of Impella-induced hemolysis and factors that can exacerbate hemolysis