From the Yellow Peril to the Model Minority: An Experimental Survey Examining Racial Attitudes towards Asian Americans

Attitudinal research continues to show a more liberal trend in racial attitudes of Whites towards Blacks across a spectrum of issues (i.e. interracial marriage, residential integration, etc.) leading some to believe that we are moving into a post-racial society. However, a growing body of research has brought into question this utopian post-racial assertion. While Whites express support for racial equality in principle, they vehemently oppose race-targeted policies aimed to address racial inequality. This principle-policy gap has been consistently associated with persistent racial resentment; thus, contradicting the notion that of a post-racial era. Existing attitudinal research is often limited to the Black-White binary. Asian Americans in particular are often omitted from attitudinal research. Through a group threat framework, which argues that racial resentment occurs when there exists a threat to valued resources, this dissertation research examines racial attitudes towards Asian American in four domains: education, jobs, marriage, and residential integration. Given the stereotype of the model minority and the successes made by many Asian Americans, the project assesses whether there continues to be underlying racial resentment toward Asian Americans by Whites and whether the racial resentment is based in feelings of threat to valued resources. This study utilized an experimental list survey design, which addresses social desirability bias in traditional survey research. Quantitative analyses were conducted from a sample collected at a large public university. Traditional difference-in-means approach along with Ordinary Least Squares Regression were conducted to examine what factor(s) significantly predicted anger towards Asian Americans in these domains. Results suggests that group threat significantly predicted the presence of anger towards Asian Americans in the job domain, but not in the education, marriage, or residential domains. As group threat increased in the job domain, presence of anger also significantly increased. Results suggest that not every domain stimulates feelings of anger towards Asian Americans. Moreover, not every domain evokes feelings of threat to valued resources

The SMAC mimetic LCL-161 selectively targets JAK2V617F mutant cells.

Background:Evasion from programmed cell death is a hallmark of cancer and can be achieved in cancer cells by overexpression of inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAPs). Second mitochondria-derived activator of caspases (SMAC) directly bind to IAPs and promote apoptosis; thus, SMAC mimetics have been investigated in a variety of cancer types. particularly in diseases with high inflammation and NFĸB activation. Given that elevated TNFα levels and NFĸB activation is a characteristic feature of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN), we investigated the effect of the SMAC mimetic LCL-161 on MPN cell survival in vitro and disease development in vivo. Methods:To investigate the effect of the SMAC mimetic LCL-161 in vitro, we utilized murine and human cell lines to perform cell viability assays as well as primary bone marrow from mice or humans with JAK2V617F-driven MPN to interrogate myeloid colony formation. To elucidate the effect of the SMAC mimetic LCL-161 in vivo, we treated a JAK2V617F-driven mouse model of MPN with LCL-161 then assessed blood counts, splenomegaly, and myelofibrosis. Results:We found that JAK2V617F-mutated cells are hypersensitive to the SMAC mimetic LCL-161 in the absence of exogenous TNFα. JAK2 kinase activity and NFĸB activation is required for JAK2V617F-mediated sensitivity to LCL-161, as JAK or NFĸB inhibitors diminished the differential sensitivity of JAK2V617F mutant cells to IAP inhibition. Finally, LCL-161 reduces splenomegaly and may reduce fibrosis in a mouse model of JAK2V617F-driven MPN. Conclusion:LCL-161 may be therapeutically useful in MPN, in particular when exogenous TNFα signaling is blocked. NFĸB activation is a characteristic feature of JAK2V617F mutant cells and this sensitizes them to SMAC mimetic induced killing even in the absence of TNFα. However, when exogenous TNFα is added, NFĸB is activated in both mutant and wild-type cells, abolishing the differential sensitivity. Moreover, JAK kinase activity is required for the differential sensitivity of JAK2V617F mutant cells, suggesting that the addition of JAK2 inhibitors to SMAC mimetics would detract from the ability of SMAC mimetics to selectively target JAK2V617F mutant cells. Instead, combination therapy with other agents that reduce inflammatory cytokines but preserve JAK2 signaling in mutant cells may be a more beneficial combination therapy in MPN

Developmental Effects Due to Childhood Sexual Abuse

Childhood development is a crucial component in the life of any individual. Any disturbances or abnormalities present during childhood may cause adverse outcomes later in life. Nurses play a pivotal role as the patient’s advocate and even more importantly, they are the last line of defense in all aspects of care. Therefore, gaining deeper insight into the patient’s histories is vitally important to nurses as they work to ensure the best health outcomes. For this investigation, nursing science students focused on the detrimental effects that childhood sexual abuse has on the mental and physical development throughout the aging process. After conducting a literature review, the researchers discerned the lack of evidence on childhood sexual abuse and males. Due to this observation, a pilot study focusing on males aged six to 16 and the early timing of puberty is proposed

Health Benefits of Group-Based Cooking with Fresh Produce in a Skilled Nursing Facility

This study explored the health-related benefits of a cooking intervention on participants within a skilled nursing facility

A study of Fez1 and Fez2. Establishment of Fez1 and Fez2 knock out cells lines. Localization of Fez1 and Fez2

Autophagy is an essential cellular process that is important to maintain homeostasis by degrading proteins, lipids and organelles during critical times like cellular or environmental stress conditions. Autophagy plays a critical role in human pathologies, since defective autophagy can lead to diseases like cancer, neurodegenerative- and inflammatory diseases. Fez1 (Fasciculation and elongation protein zeta 1) is a protein that has been reported to inhibit autophagy. In the first part of this study an attempt to establish stable knock out cell lines of Fez1, its homologue Fez2 and double Fez1-Fez2 by using CRISPR/Cas9 technology was performed. The knock out strategy was applied on two different human cell lines, Hek293 Flp-In and the neuronal cell line SH-SY5Y, and more than 200 putative clones were screened. Unfortunately, none of them displayed complete knock out of Fez1 or Fez2. This may indicate that Fez1 and Fez2 are essential for cell survival or cell growth in these cell lines. In the second part of this study, confocal imaging was applied to study the localization of Fez1 and Fez2, and if they colocalized with proteins involved in autophagy and intracellular transport. Interestingly, upon over-expression both Fez1 and Fez2 colocalized with proteins involved in autophagosome initiation and maturation like WIPI2 and the Atg8 proteins. However, they did not colocalize with syntaxin17, which is involved in the fusion step between autophagosomes and lysosomes. Both proteins also colocalized with tubulin and the transport protein KIF5B. This may suggest a role for Fez1 and Fez2 in the transport of early autophagosomes. The colocalization with tubulin, specifically γ tubulin, was verified at the endogenous level by immunostaining

Improving Screening for Sleep Disturbance in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

Background: Sleep disturbance (SD) is one of the most common and debilitating non-motor manifestations of Parkinson’s disease (PD). SD intensifies the disease-related disabilities of motor and non-motor symptoms. In spite of this, it is often under-recognized and underaddressed by healthcare professionals. The Movement Disorder Society recommends the Parkinson’s disease Sleep Scale (PDSS – 2) be used to screen and measure severity of overall sleep problems in this patient population. Objectives: The purpose of this quality improvement (QI) project is to increase the utilization of the PDSS-2, a standardized approach to assessment of sleep difficulties. This can facilitate identification of individual SD to target treatment appropriately. There are two aims: 1) to improve the screening rate of SD in patients with PD to 80%, and 2), to assess for association between the screening and treatment planning. Methods: Using the PDCA study design, the PDSS -2 sleep screening questionnaire were distributed to every returning patient over three cycles. Results: We recruited 41 patients. The screening rate improved from 51.2% at the pretest to 82.9% at the posttest, reaching the goal of 80%. The change in the rate of treatment planning from pretest to posttest is from 52.5% to 31.7 % (p = 0.03). The use of PDSS – 2 did reduced the rate of treatment planning for sleep. Conclusions: This QI project positively increased the rate of sleep screening in at risk patients with PD. An improvement in the rate of screening and pretest treatment reduced the rate of treatment planning at the follow up visit

Transitions to Injecting and Risk of Hepatitis C Transmission among Ethnic Vietnamese Heroin Smokers in Melbourne, Australia

Background and Aims: To examine factors associated with transition from non-injecting to injecting routes of drug administration and testing antibody positive to hepatitis C virus (HCV) among ethnic Vietnamese heroin users in Melbourne, Australia. Methods: In a cross-sectional convenience survey, sample recruited by peer-workers using snowball sampling technique with a finger prick blood collection. Two-hundred ethnic Vietnamese heroin users were recruited and interviews conducted mainly in Footscray, an area of high ethnic Vietnamese residency with a prominent street based drug market. A structured questionnaire was administered. Measures included patterns of drug use, transition from smoking to injecting and vice versa, injection related risk behaviours and HCV sero-status. Results: Ninety-three percent of the sample commenced drug use by non-injecting routes of administration. More than a half had made the transition from smoking to injecting and almost two thirds of participants had ever injected. The factors associated with making this transition included being male and a longer duration of use. Prevalence of exposure to HCV among injectors was over 50%. Factors associated with being HCV positive were longer duration of injecting, sharing injecting equipment and being older. Conclusions: Smoking heroin is a common route of drug administration among heroin users of Vietnamese ethnicity in this study. The transition from smoking to injecting was very common in the sample. The need for targeted harm reduction initiatives is indicated, and these must take into account patterns of heroin use as well as the social context of drug use if we are to work effectively with heroin users of Vietnamese ethnicity