207 research outputs found
‘From Badness to Sickness’ and Back Again: The Use of Medication in the U.S. School and Foster Care Systems
This article explores the over- and under-prescription of psychotropic medication to youth of color both in public schools and the foster care system. Under the umbrella of the schools-to-prison pipeline, there is a wide array of literature addressing the under-use of medication for treatment of children of color in the public school system when treating learning or behavioral disabilities. There is also, however, a great deal of literature in a totally different realm surrounding the under-use of medication in treating mental health disorders in the foster care system. This article aims to put these two pieces of discourse in conversation with each other. In examining the use of medication in both of these institutions and the disproportionate rate of black and brown children in the foster care system, I analyze how race, class, and gender play a role in the prescription—or lack thereof—of medication for children of color. These contradicting approaches to treatment and medication illustrate the assumptions that are attached to children of color, and how these institutions ultimately were not made for children of color to survive or thrive. To better serve the needs of children in our country, these two institutions must be considered as co-actors in the system of perpetual social control exerted of youth of color
Introduction to Tapestries Volume 7: Breaking the Shackles of Silence: Knowledge Production as Activism and Resistance
Introduction to volume 7 of Macalester College\u27s journal Tapestries: Interwoven voices of local and global identities
Pionic decay of a possible d' dibaryon and the short-range NN interaction
We study the pionic decay of a possible dibaryon d′→N+N+π in the microscopic quark shell model. The initial d′ dibaryon wave function (JP=0-, T=0) consists of one 1ħω six-quark shell-model s5p[51]X configuration. The most important final six-quark configurations s6[6]X, s4p2[42]X, and (s4p2-s52s)[6]X are properly projected onto the NN channel. The final state NN interaction is investigated by means of two phase-equivalent—but off-shell different—potential models. We demonstrate that the decay width Γd′ depends strongly on the short-range behavior of the NN wave function. In addition, the width Γd′ is very sensitive to the mass and size of the d′ dibaryon. For dibaryon masses slightly above the experimentally suggested value Md′=2.065GeV, we obtain a pionic decay width of Γd′≈0.18–0.32MeV close to the experimental value Γd′≈0.5MeV.Obukhovsky, I. Itonaga, K. ; Wagner, Georg ; Buchmann, A. ; Faessler, Aman
Corporate Social Responsibility/Sustainability Reporting Among the Fortune Global 250: Greenwashing or Green Supply Chain?
The sustainability reporting efforts of MNCs who are members of the Fortune Global 250 (FG250) was investigated. The focus was on sustainability reporting by MNCs of supply chain impacts. The reporting of FG250 MNCs was examined to determine if greenwashing was occurring or whether MNCs had committed to operating a green supply chain. A mixed methodology was used consisting of quantitative analysis of twenty-five MNC CSR/sustainability reports which were randomly selected from the FG250 listing. Qualitative analysis using content analysis was also conducted on the reports. Both methodologies concentrated on the sustainability reporting of the selected MNCs in regard to their supply chain. Findings were mixed as there were great variations among the MNCs in their level of sustainability reporting about their supply chains. Some MNCs did not report on the activities of their supply chain at all (20%), the majority of the MNCs reported on their supply chain impacts at the value and goal level (48%), while the rest reported at the management approach level (32%). A majority of the sampled MNCs could be accused of greenwashing due to the lack of detailed quantitative information provided by the MNCs on the environmental impacts of their supply chai
Distinct Temporal and Anatomical Distributions of Amyloid-β and Tau Abnormalities following Controlled Cortical Impact in Transgenic Mice
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major environmental risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Intracellular accumulations of amyloid-β and tau proteins have been observed within hours following severe TBI in humans. Similar abnormalities have been recapitulated in young 3xTg-AD mice subjected to the controlled cortical impact model (CCI) of TBI and sacrificed at 24 h and 7 days post injury. This study investigated the temporal and anatomical distributions of amyloid-β and tau abnormalities from 1 h to 24 h post injury in the same model. Intra-axonal amyloid-β accumulation in the fimbria was detected as early as 1 hour and increased monotonically over 24 hours following injury. Tau immunoreactivity in the fimbria and amygdala had a biphasic time course with peaks at 1 hour and 24 hours, while tau immunoreactivity in the contralateral CA1 rose in a delayed fashion starting at 12 hours after injury. Furthermore, rapid intra-axonal amyloid-β accumulation was similarly observed post controlled cortical injury in APP/PS1 mice, another transgenic Alzheimer's disease mouse model. Acute increases in total and phospho-tau immunoreactivity were also evident in single transgenic TauP301L mice subjected to controlled cortical injury. These data provide further evidence for the causal effects of moderately severe contusional TBI on acceleration of acute Alzheimer-related abnormalities and the independent relationship between amyloid-β and tau in this setting
Disease Severity in Patients Infected with Leishmania mexicana Relates to IL-1β
Leishmania mexicana can cause both localized (LCL) and diffuse (DCL) cutaneous leishmaniasis, yet little is known about factors regulating disease severity in these patients. We analyzed if the disease was associated with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IL-1β (−511), CXCL8 (−251) and/or the inhibitor IL-1RA (+2018) in 58 Mexican mestizo patients with LCL, 6 with DCL and 123 control cases. Additionally, we analyzed the in vitro production of IL-1β by monocytes, the expression of this cytokine in sera of these patients, as well as the tissue distribution of IL-1β and the number of parasites in lesions of LCL and DCL patients. Our results show a significant difference in the distribution of IL-1β (−511 C/T) genotypes between patients and controls (heterozygous OR), with respect to the reference group CC, which was estimated with a value of 3.23, 95% CI = (1.2, 8.7) and p-value = 0.0167), indicating that IL-1β (−511 C/T) represents a variable influencing the risk to develop the disease in patients infected with Leishmania mexicana. Additionally, an increased in vitro production of IL-1β by monocytes and an increased serum expression of the cytokine correlated with the severity of the disease, since it was significantly higher in DCL patients heavily infected with Leishmania mexicana. The distribution of IL-1β in lesions also varied according to the number of parasites harbored in the tissues: in heavily infected LCL patients and in all DCL patients, the cytokine was scattered diffusely throughout the lesion. In contrast, in LCL patients with lower numbers of parasites in the lesions, IL-1β was confined to the cells. These data suggest that IL-1β possibly is a key player determining the severity of the disease in DCL patients. The analysis of polymorphisms in CXCL8 and IL-1RA showed no differences between patients with different disease severities or between patients and controls
Protective Intestinal Effects of Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase Activating Polypeptide
Pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) is an
endogenous neuropeptide widely distributed throughout the body, including the
gastrointestinal tract. Several effects have been described in human and animal
intestines. Among others, PACAP infl uences secretion of intestinal glands, blood
fl ow, and smooth muscle contraction. PACAP is a well-known cytoprotective peptide
with strong anti-apoptotic, anti-infl ammatory, and antioxidant effects. The
present review gives an overview of the intestinal protective actions of this neuropeptide.
Exogenous PACAP treatment was protective in a rat model of small bowel
autotransplantation. Radioimmunoassay (RIA) analysis of the intestinal tissue showed that endogenous PACAP levels gradually decreased with longer-lasting
ischemic periods, prevented by PACAP addition. PACAP counteracted deleterious
effects of ischemia on oxidative stress markers and cytokines. Another series of
experiments investigated the role of endogenous PACAP in intestines in PACAP
knockout (KO) mice. Warm ischemia–reperfusion injury and cold preservation models
showed that the lack of PACAP caused a higher vulnerability against ischemic
periods. Changes were more severe in PACAP KO mice at all examined time points.
This fi nding was supported by increased levels of oxidative stress markers and
decreased expression of antioxidant molecules. PACAP was proven to be protective
not only in ischemic but also in infl ammatory bowel diseases. A recent study showed
that PACAP treatment prolonged survival of Toxoplasma gondii infected mice suffering
from acute ileitis and was able to reduce the ileal expression of proinfl ammatory
cytokines. We completed the present review with recent clinical results obtained
in patients suffering from infl ammatory bowel diseases. It was found that PACAP
levels were altered depending on the activity, type of the disease, and antibiotic
therapy, suggesting its probable role in infl ammatory events of the intestine
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