Visions for the International Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022-2032

The United Nations General Assembly recently proclaimed the International Decade of Indigenous Languages ( IDIL ) from 2022-2032 to to draw attention to the critical loss of indigenous languages and the urgent need to preserve, revitalize and promote indigenous languages and to take urgent steps at the national and international levels. The Decade is an opportunity to expose and address the severe loss of Indigenous Peoples\u27 languages locally, regionally, and globally. It is a chance for the entire world community to gather together and commit to bringing Indigenous languages back from the brink of dormancy or extinction

"Start Them Young": How the Firearms Industry and Gun Lobby are Targeting Your Children

This report documents ongoing efforts by the gun industry and gun lobby to market guns to children. In recent years these efforts have intensified with little regard for the lethal consequences: the use of guns by children and teens in suicides, homicides, fatal unintentional shootings, and even mass murder.The study reveals the scope of this marketing effort through: gun industry advertisements, catalog copy, articles, marketing documents, and quotes; NRA articles and materials for its "Junior Members" and other youth; articles "For Kids By Kids" in the youth-oriented gun publication Junior Shooters; and numerous photos

Second Street Gangs: Ad Hoc Policy Commissions in the Senate

Recent debates in the US Congress over major policy issues, such as the US debt ceiling, the use of the filibuster in the Senate, and health care reform, have witnessed the emergence of small groups of legislators -- given names like “The Gang of Six” in popular press -- working to craft a bill that (they may expect) covers the middle-ground between opposing factions. Given the usual expectations that, 1) committee members are not preference outliers, and 2) committees have better policy expertise than the average chamber member, what purpose do these small groups serve? The argument here is that these gangs represent a focal point for accusations of ideological compromise and potential blame (if the product does not proceed to a floor vote). As partisanship in Congress has increased, the cost of compromise has increased, which may make the otherwise jurisdictionally-appropriate committee members less inclined to allow bills that would appeal to moderate voters to progress. Allowing other legislators to so visibly drive the work on moderate bills deflects the extremists from accusations of being “soft.” At the same time the heightened attention on the gang raises the reputational costs of failure. We should expect, then, to see gang membership to be comprised of more ideologically moderate members, who have served longer or who have won their seats by a wide margin (making them better able to absorb the reputational cost of failure). We review the (small) number of cases of emergent gangs to examine the model\u27s comportment with observed behavior

Publishing a Master’s Thesis: A Guide for Novice Authors

Publication of original research, clinical experiences, and critical reviews of literature are vital to the growth of the genetic counseling field, delivery of genetic counseling services, and professional development of genetic counselors. Busy clinical schedules, lack of time and funding, and training that emphasizes clinical skills over research skills may make it difficult for new genetic counselors to turn their thesis projects into publications. This paper summarizes and elaborates upon a presentation aimed at de-mystifying the publishing process given at the 2008 National Society of Genetic Counselors Annual Education Conference. Specific topics include familiarizing prospective authors, particularly genetic counseling students, with the basics of the publication process and related ethical considerations. Former students’ experiences with publishing master’s theses also are described in hopes of encouraging new genetic counselors to submit for publication papers based on their thesis projects

MUC1-C drives myeloid leukaemogenesis and resistance to treatment by a survivin-mediated mechanism

Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is an aggressive haematological malignancy with an unmet need for improved therapies. Responses to standard cytotoxic therapy in AML are often transient because of the emergence of chemotherapy-resistant disease. The MUC1-C oncoprotein governs critical pathways of tumorigenesis, including self-renewal and survival, and is aberrantly expressed in AML blasts and leukaemia stem cells (LSCs). However, a role for MUC1-C in linking leukaemogenesis and resistance to treatment has not been described. In this study, we demonstrate that MUC1-C overexpression is associated with increased leukaemia initiating capacity in an NSG mouse model. In concert with those results, MUC1-C silencing in multiple AML cell lines significantly reduced the establishment of AML in vivo. In addition, targeting MUC1-C with silencing or pharmacologic inhibition with GO-203 led to a decrease in active β-catenin levels and, in-turn, down-regulation of survivin, a critical mediator of leukaemia cell survival. Targeting MUC1-C was also associated with increased sensitivity of AML cells to Cytarabine (Ara-C) treatment by a survivin-dependent mechanism. Notably, low MUC1 and survivin gene expression were associated with better clinical outcomes in patients with AML. These findings emphasize the importance of MUC1-C to myeloid leukaemogenesis and resistance to treatment by driving survivin expression. Our findings also highlight the potential translational relevance of combining GO-203 with Ara-C for the treatment of patients with AML

Observational Constraints on Red and Blue Helium Burning Sequences

We derive the optical luminosity, colors, and ratios of the blue and red helium burning (HeB) stellar populations from archival Hubble Space Telescope observations of nineteen starburst dwarf galaxies and compare them with theoretical isochrones from Padova stellar evolution models across metallicities from Z=0.001 to 0.009. We find that the observational data and the theoretical isochrones for both blue and red HeB populations overlap in optical luminosities and colors and the observed and predicted blue to red HeB ratios agree for stars older than 50 Myr over the time bins studied. These findings confirm the usefulness of applying isochrones to interpret observations of HeB populations. However, there are significant differences, especially for the red HeB population. Specifically we find: (1) offsets in color between the observations and theoretical isochrones of order 0.15 mag (0.5 mag) for the blue (red) HeB populations brighter than M_V ~ -4 mag, which cannot be solely due to differential extinction; (2) blue HeB stars fainter than M_V ~ -3 mag are bluer than predicted; (3) the slope of the red HeB sequence is shallower than predicted by a factor of ~3; and (4) the models overpredict the ratio of the most luminous blue to red HeB stars corresponding to ages <50 Myr. Additionally, we find that for the more metal-rich galaxies in our sample (Z> 0.5 Zsolar) the red HeB stars overlap with the red giant branch stars in the color magnitude diagrams, thus reducing their usefulness as indicators of star formation for ages >100 Myr.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, 3 table

Vulnerabilities of the Artificial Pancreas System and Proposed Cryptographic Solutions

Type I Diabetes Mellitus is the most common form of diabetes in people under the age of 30. Current treatment for Type I Diabetes Mellitus includes lifelong monitoring of blood glucose levels and administration of insulin injections, but medical advances in the hybrid closed-loop artificial pancreas are a possible improvement in the maintenance of this disease. Our goal is to build a simulation of the artificial pancreas using three Raspberry Pi computers and an implementation of the OpenAPS algorithm. We will also build an artificial pancreas system using two Raspberry Pi computers, a Medtronic insulin pump, and an implementation of the OpenAPS algorithm. We are investigating the vulnerabilities of the two artificial pancreas systems by using common hacking resources such as Kali Linux equipped with Wireshark and other tools. One challenge with securing the artificial pancreas system and other implantable medical devices is the limitations of the computational power and energy storage. Through an analysis of the vulnerabilities of the system, we will design and perform experiments to propose a lightweight cryptographic algorithm that ensures the security of the data transmissions while operating with constrained resources

UK and Canadian Gulf War Veteran Mortality: Using A Fellow Military Cohort as a Comparison Population

Introduction To compare 1990-91 Gulf War Veterans (GWV) survival outcomes with a comparable cohort, UK’s Ministry of Defence and Canada’s Department of National Defence combined data from their respective cohorts. The survival estimates/comparisons emanating from this collaboration will be novel as they will control for healthy worker/soldier effect (HW/SE). Objectives and Approach GWV cohort building and record linkage methods used by Canada and the UK are described in more detail elsewhere. To ensure comparability in mortality outcomes between cohorts, the following steps will be conducted prior to analysis: • ICD-9 causes of death (COD) will be recoded to ICD-10; recoding by each country will be cross-validated by the other, to ensure high inter-coder reliability; • CODs will be analysed at the ICD-chapter level; Calculated age- and sex-specific rates will be directly standardized using the WHO 2012-2022 Standard Population. Cox proportional hazards will be used to compare survival between cohorts. Results We are currently in the process of completing this exciting cross-sectoral linkage study and expect to have preliminary results to present. To our knowledge, this will be the first time that mortality outcomes for two discrete Gulf War veteran cohorts (ascertained by record linkage) will be analytically compared, rather than comparing to the general population. These findings will not only provide a more recent evaluation of the health status of GWV in Canada, but will also be a rare opportunity to control for the HW/SE, using comparisons with non-equivalent cohorts (e.g., general population, other deployment) cannot achieve. Conclusion/Implications Beyond evidence of a strong inter-sectoral research relationship between military nations, these findings also represent a feasible solution to controlling for the HW/SE. The ability to control for this will mean more accurate UK and Canada GWV mortality/survival estimates than either country can generate on their own

The Nature of Starbursts : II. The Duration of Starbursts in Dwarf Galaxies

The starburst phenomenon can shape the evolution of the host galaxy and the surrounding intergalactic medium. The extent of the evolutionary impact is partly determined by the duration of the starburst, which has a direct correlation with both the amount of stellar feedback and the development of galactic winds, particularly for smaller mass dwarf systems. We measure the duration of starbursts in twenty nearby, ongoing, and "fossil" starbursts in dwarf galaxies based on the recent star formation histories derived from resolved stellar population data obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope. Contrary to the shorter times of 3-10 Myr often cited, the starburst durations we measure range from 450 - 650 Myr in fifteen of the dwarf galaxies and up to 1.3 Gyr in four galaxies; these longer durations are comparable to or longer than the dynamical timescales for each system. The same feedback from massive stars that may quench the flickering SF does not disrupt the overall burst event in our sample of galaxies. While five galaxies present fossil bursts, fifteen galaxies show ongoing bursts and thus the final durations may be longer than we report here for these systems. One galaxy shows a burst that has been ongoing for only 20 Myr; we are likely seeing the beginning of a burst event in this system. Using the duration of the starbursts, we calculate that the bursts deposited 10^(53.9)-10^(57.2) ergs of energy into the interstellar medium through stellar winds and supernovae and produced 3%-26% of the host galaxy's mass.Comment: 28 pages, 4 figure