Cultural Appropriation or Religious Syncretism? An Analysis of the “Tarot of the Orishas”

A significant number of practitioners of modern alternative spiritualities adopt rituals, histories, and worldviews from at least one culture that is not their own. The widespread commodification of ideas and values enables the consumption of spiritualities much like the material goods that practitioners may also purchase. The power dynamics between those engaged in cultural appropriation and the group from which they appropriate influence the negative effects of appropriation. The hierarchical power structures of race, class, and colonialism characterize acts of cultural appropriation. Whether an act of borrowing is syncretism or cultural appropriation can often be determined by examining these power differences. The following analysis will first give a brief background of the primary religions written about in “The Tarot of the Orishas,” Candomblé and Umbanda, and their reception in Brazil (Zolrak and Durkon, 2013). Then it will examine the way Zolrak’s discourse reflects one of the many nuanced interpretations of Umbanda, as well as the cultural heterogeneity of syncretic religion in Brazil. The discourse from the book is presented alongside the context of Brazil’s “politics of whitening,” which attempted to scrub African elements out of the country’s multiculturality. Finally, it will examine the role of Indigeneity in Umbanda and the Noble Savage discourse and imagery present in Zolrak’s interpretation of Umbanda. The Tarot of the Orishas\u27\u27 embodies the nuances and intersections in syncretism and cultural appropriation

Objectification theory predicts college women’s attitudes toward cosmetic surgery

This study investigated cosmetic surgery attitudes within the framework of objectification theory. One hundred predominantlyWhite, British undergraduate women completed self-report measures of impression management, global selfesteem, interpersonal sexual objectification, self-surveillance, body shame, and three components of cosmetic surgery attitudes. As expected, each of the objectification theory variables predicted greater consideration of having cosmetic surgery in the future. Also, as expected, sexual objectification and body shame uniquely predicted socialmotives for cosmetic surgery, whereas self-surveillance uniquely predicted intrapersonal motives for cosmetic surgery. These findings suggest that women’s acceptance of cosmetic surgery as a way to manipulate physical appearance can be partially explained by the degree to which they view themselves through the lenses of sexual and self-objectification

Educating English-Language Learners with Special Needs: Beyond Cultural and Linguistic Considerations

English-language learners (ELLs) with special needs consistently languish in the American school system.  The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) included ELLs as a minority group and required to hold schools accountable for reducing the achievement gap between ELLs and their white peers, however the act did not provide a specific direction for educators on how to help these students in the school context.  A conceptual review was conducted to compiles information on critical issues and challenges ELLs with special needs face as well as useful tips for assessment and instruction.  Critical issues and challenges include assessment and identification, teacher preparation and professional development, and legal and policy issues. The useful tips discussed rely on the utilization of guidelines for assessment, Response to Intervention (RTI), and the support of all stakeholders. Keywords: English language learners with disabilities, assessment, identification, Response to Intervention, overrepresentatio

Opportunities for promoting physical activity in rural communities by understanding the interests and values of community members

Purpose. Physical activity (PA) has well-established health benefits, but most Americans do not meet national guidelines. In southeastern Missouri, trails have been developed to increase rates of PA. Although this has had success, broad-scale interventions will be needed to improve rates further. In this study, we surveyed residents of southeastern Missouri to identify ways to improve rates of PA. Methods. We conducted a telephone survey in 2015 of adults (n=524) from eight rural Missouri towns that had walking trails, regarding their activities and interests. Findings. Forty percent of respondents reported both walking and meeting PA recommendations, 29% reported walking but not meeting PA recommendations, and the remainder did not walk or did not answer. Respondents who used the trails were significantly more likely to meet PA recommendations (odds ratio = 2.7; 95% confidence interval = 1.7, 4.5). Certain values and interests that may encourage PA or draw people to trails were common. Conclusions. The group that walked but did not meet PA recommendations would be the ideal group to target for intervention, which could focus on their reported values and interests (e.g., personal relationships, being outdoors). Use of walking trails was associated with meeting PA recommendations

Exploring the experience of participating in a peer support intervention for individuals with chronic non-cancer pain: a qualitative systematic review protocol. [Protocol]

Chronic pain is a prevalent and costly issue. It is defined as pain that persists beyond 12 weeks or past normal healing times. It has been recognized as one of the most prominent causes of disability worldwide and affects up to half of the population in the UK. The cost of chronic pain is also substantial, not only for patients, but also the healthcare system and economy. With such an astounding impact, recent health policies have focused on empowering patients to improve skills with self-management. Improved condition management can be attained by ensuring adequate amounts of social support, particularly support that is condition-specific. Peer support interventions could play a pivotal role in the management of chronic pain as their purpose is to empower patients by equipping them with self-management skills which can aid in improving health outcomes. This is a protocol for a systematic review, the object of which is to synthesize what is known about the patient experience of participating in peer support interventions and identify gaps in the evidence base. This information will be used to make practice recommendations where relevant and to inform further research in the field. It aims to answer the following research questions: 1) What are the perceptions of individuals with chronic non-cancer pain regarding participation in peer support interventions? 2) What are patients' perceptions in terms of format, delivery, role and training of peer support volunteer and duration of intervention? 3) What are the patients' perceptions of the strengths and limitations of peer support interventions? 4) What do patients perceive to be the barriers and facilitators to implementation of peer support interventions

Texts on Repeat: Examining the Persistence of Assigned Course Materials

Many academic libraries’ collection development policies have discouraged the acquisition of assigned textbooks, but recent trends to support textbook affordability, student success, and online learning have caused some library personnel to rethink this approach. Through recent efforts at our library to purchase available e-copies for assigned course textbooks, we became curious about title persistence, or the frequency with which a unique title is assigned across multiple semesters and within a single semester across multiple sections. In this presentation we provide some background and context for our textbook affordability efforts and examine several years of assigned textbook data at Illinois State University for title persistence, prevalence within fields of study, and the relationship between title persistence and specific publishers

Bisphosphonate inhibits the expression of cyclin A2 at the transcriptional level in normal human oral keratinocytes.

Nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates (N-BPs) are the most widely used anti-resorptive agents in the treatment of bone-related diseases. N-BPs inhibit bone resorption by specifically targeting osteoclasts, bone-resorbing cells. However, soft tissue toxicity, such as oral or gastrointestinal (GI) ulcerations has frequently been reported in N-BP users, suggesting that N-BPs may also directly target cells other than osteoclasts. Previously, we reported that BPs inhibit proliferation without inducing the apoptosis of normal human oral keratinocytes (NHOKs). However, the molecular mechanisms through which N-BPs inhibit the proliferation of NHOKs are not yet fully understood. In this study, we performed gene expression profiling in N-BP-treated NHOKs and identified cyclin A2 as one of the most commonly downregulated genes. When the NHOKs were treated with N-BPs, we found that the level of cyclin A2 was suppressed in a dose- and time-dependent manner. In addition, the protein level of cyclin A2 was also significantly lower in oral epithelial cells in N-BP-treated oral mucosal tissue constructs. Cyclin A2 promoter reporter assay revealed that N-BPs inhibited the luciferase activity, indicating that the inhibition of cyclin A2 expression occurs at the transcriptional level. Furthermore, N-BPs did not alter the expression of cyclin A2 in normal human oral fibroblasts (NHOFs), suggesting that the effect of N-BPs on cyclin A2 expression may be cell-type specific. Thus, the findings of our study demonstrate that the inhibition of NHOK proliferation by N-BPs is mediated, at least in part, by the suppression of cyclin A2 expression at the transcriptional level, which may explain the underlying mechanisms of soft tissue toxicity by N-BPs

Developmental hypomyelination in Wolfram syndrome: New insights from neuroimaging and gene expression analyses

Wolfram syndrome is a rare multisystem disorder caused by mutations in WFS1 or CISD2 genes leading to brain structural abnormalities and neurological symptoms. These abnormalities appear in early stages of the disease. The pathogenesis of Wolfram syndrome involves abnormalities in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondrial dynamics, which are common features in several other neurodegenerative disorders. Mutations in WFS1 are responsible for the majority of Wolfram syndrome cases. WFS1 encodes for an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) protein, wolframin. It is proposed that wolframin deficiency triggers the unfolded protein response (UPR) pathway resulting in an increased ER stress-mediated neuronal loss. Recent neuroimaging studies showed marked alteration in early brain development, primarily characterized by abnormal white matter myelination. Interestingly, ER stress and the UPR pathway are implicated in the pathogenesis of some inherited myelin disorders like Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease, and Vanishing White Matter disease. In addition, exploratory gene-expression network-based analyses suggest that WFS1 expression occurs preferentially in oligodendrocytes during early brain development. Therefore, we propose that Wolfram syndrome could belong to a category of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by ER stress-mediated myelination impairment. Further studies of myelination and oligodendrocyte function in Wolfram syndrome could provide new insights into the underlying mechanisms of the Wolfram syndrome-associated brain changes and identify potential connections between neurodevelopmental disorders and neurodegeneration

On the Same Team: Technical Services and Student Success Tackle Textbook Affordability

During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, student textbook access and affordability have emerged as areas of focus for academic libraries to support student success. Librarians across departments at a public four-year institution developed a program to leverage campus information about textbook selection to inform library e-book purchases. The resulting eTextbook collection became an invaluable resource for students during the pandemic and created a direct connection between the work of Technical Services and Student Success. This presentation provides an overview of the project, discusses assessment elements, and highlights the vital aspects of collaboration within an academic library for student success