DLA Class II Alleles Are Associated with Risk for Canine Symmetrical Lupoid Onychodystropy (SLO)

Symmetrical lupoid onychodystrophy (SLO) is an immune-mediated disease in dogs affecting the claws with a suggested autoimmune aethiology. Sequence-based genotyping of the polymorphic exon 2 from DLA-DRB1, -DQA1, and -DQB1 class II loci were performed in a total of 98 SLO Gordon setter cases and 98 healthy controls. A risk haplotype (DRB1*01801/DQA1*00101/DQB1*00802) was present in 53% of cases and 34% of controls and conferred an elevated risk of developing SLO with an odds ratio (OR) of 2.1. When dogs homozygous for the risk haplotype were compared to all dogs not carrying the haplotype the OR was 5.4. However, a stronger protective haplotype (DRB1*02001/DQA1*00401/DQB1*01303, OR = 0.03, 1/OR = 33) was present in 16.8% of controls, but only in a single case (0.5%). The effect of the protective haplotype was clearly stronger than the risk haplotype, since 11.2% of the controls were heterozygous for the risk and protective haplotypes, whereas this combination was absent from cases. When the dogs with the protective haplotype were excluded, an OR of 2.5 was obtained when dogs homozygous for the risk haplotype were compared to those heterozygous for the risk haplotype, suggesting a co-dominant effect of the risk haplotype. In smaller sample sizes of the bearded collie and giant schnauzer breeds we found the same or similar haplotypes, sharing the same DQA1 allele, over-represented among the cases suggesting that the risk is associated primarily with DLA-DQ. We obtained conclusive results that DLA class II is significantly associated with risk of developing SLO in Gordon setters, thus supporting that SLO is an immune-mediated disease. Further studies of SLO in dogs may provide important insight into immune privilege of the nail apparatus and also knowledge about a number of inflammatory disorders of the nail apparatus like lichen planus, psoriasis, alopecia areata and onycholysis

A Critical Race Inquiry of African American Female Law Students\u27 Educational Experiences at a Racially Diverse Law School

The purpose of this research is to examine how African American female law students’ educational experiences have been impacted by institutionalized racism. Using Critical Race Theory, we analyzed data from a focus group comprised of five, 3rd-year black female law students attending a racially diverse campus in the Mid-South. Results indicate that systemic racism and sexism affects all aspects of law school experience for black females. Nonetheless, the strong presence of an institutional honor council, mentors, and minority professors served as protective factors to assist participants navigate a racist and patriarchal legal system

Transgender affect misattribution procedure (Transgender AMP): Development and initial evaluation of performance of a measure of implicit prejudice

Decades of social attitudes research has shown the importance of examining both implicit and explicit attitudes for a fuller understanding of attitudes. Despite evidence from the broader literature, transgender attitudes studies to date have almost exclusively utilized self-report measures to assess explicit transgender prejudice due, in large part, to the dearth of implicit transgender prejudice measures. The current study, therefore, conducted a series of three pilot studies using online samples to build a standardized procedure based on the Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP) to assess implicit transgender prejudice (Transgender AMP) and examined its performance to establish preliminary validity and reliability evidence for scores from the procedure. Results of the repeated-measures ANOVA showed a significant effect of prime type, demonstrating a systematic difference in the ratings of transgender primes versus neutral primes and provided initial evidence of construct validity. Although the effect size was not as large as what is reported for the original AMP, the Transgender AMP still showed sensitivity as a measure of implicit transgender prejudice. Likewise, results of the mixed ANOVA showed a significant effect of contact, replicating findings from the explicit transgender prejudice literature. Transgender AMP scores were also found to be internally consistent (α = .87). Overall, the newly developed Transgender AMP performed as expected with preliminary evidence suggesting that it is a simple, user-friendly procedure capturing implicit transgender prejudice

The relationship of the clinician-rated Functional Status Interview with executive functioning

Self/informant-report and performance-based instruments are typically used to measure activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). Minimal attention has focused on clinician-rated measures. Executive functioning (EF) contributes significantly to functional independence, and the validity of functional status measures has been examined through its relationship to EF scores. The current study used a clinical sample of older U.S. Veterans who completed a neurocognitive evaluation (n = 266). The psychometric properties of a novel, clinician-rated Functional Status Interview (FSI) and its relationship to EF measures, including the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) and Trail Making Test (TMT-A and TMT-B), were explored. Two FSI factors (IADL and ADL) emerged with all items loading strongly onto the subscales as predicted. EF correlated strongly with IADL but had small to medium correlations with ADL. In regression models that controlled for sociodemographic variables, all EF measures uniquely contributed to the IADL model, but only FAB and TMT-A contributed to the model for ADL. Notably, results may have been limited by prominent floor effects on TMT-B. Overall, the FSI is a promising measure with demonstrated content validity. Thus, there is preliminary support for clinicians to incorporate multiple sources of information to rate functional status using the FSI

International Students who Became US Counseling Psychology Faculty Members: A Collaborative Autoethnography

International students have a considerable presence in U.S. counseling psychology programs; what happens when they pursue academic counseling psychology positions in U.S. institutions? Seven counseling psychology faculty who started as international students in the United States used collaborative autoethnography to examine this matter. We found that our identification with counseling psychology philosophy and our lifelong, self-reflective process as cultural insiders/outsiders have proven crucial. Likewise, we found that our academic career development has been shaped by extra challenges encountered when dealing with ethnocentric aspects of U.S. psychology and by unique opportunities generated by our multinational professional identities and multilingual abilities. Three themes recurred across our reflections: Overcoming Linguistic Differences, Learning to Thrive Across Cultures, and Mentoring as a Valued Experience. We offer advice for international counseling students considering careers in U.S. academia and discuss the implications of our findings for research, training, and advocacy

Balancing Dangers: GLBT Experience in a Time of Anti-GLBT Legislation

In the past few years, 26 states have changed their constitutions to restrict marriage to one man and one woman. There has been little research on the psychological effects of this political process on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) people. In this qualitative project, 13 GLBT people were interviewed about their experience during the process of a constitutional amendment. A grounded theory analysis of these semistructured interviews was conducted. The core category, or central finding, was GLBT people need to balance the dual dangers of engagement with GLBT advocacy and self-protection through withdrawal. Other findings focused on the experience of living in a context of painful reminders that one is seen as less than human by the government and public, and in which one\u27s life is frequently and publicly misrepresented to advance hostile political campaigns. Social support and a process of self-acceptance helped participants to face their fears of isolation, discrimination, and aggression and to fight for social justice. © 2009 American Psychological Association

A Cross-Cultural Exploration of Masculinity and Relationships in Men From Turkey, Norway, and the United States

Masculinity ideology is the endorsement of a set of culturally based male role norms that influences gender-related attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. However, masculinity research has been criticized for not being inclusive enough of different cultures. This study explored the cultural and relational components of masculinity by comparing 564 Turkish, Norwegian, and U.S. men\u27s endorsement of masculinity ideology and examining the associations between masculinity ideology and interpersonal attitudes and behavioral competencies with romantic partners and work colleagues separately for the three groups of men. Norwegian men had significantly lower scores on a measure of masculinity ideology than both Turkish and U.S. men. Canonical correlation analyses revealed that all three groups of men had significant associations between male role norms and interpersonal relationship variables, but the patterns of association differed by country. Generally, endorsement of traditional male role norms was associated with poorer interpersonal competencies for men in all three countries, although the associations were much stronger for the Norwegian sample. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed. © The Author(s) 2013