Health Through a Human Right Lens at the US-Mexico Border: Increasing Access to Healthcare for Central American Immigrants

The number of immigrants seeking entry into the U.S. through asylum requests or through irregular means is increasing, and most come from the Northern Triangle of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Immigrants come fleeing extreme poverty, violence, health and social inequities, and drastic climate changes. Most had limited access to healthcare at home, and even more limited care along the journey. Those that are allowed entry into the U.S., are confronted with feeling unwelcome in many communities, having to navigate an array of local, state, and federal laws that regulate access to healthcare. We need immigration policies that preserve the health, dignity with a multinational policy for provision of healthcare through a human rights lens from point of origin to point of destination

Enhancing student explanations of evolution: Comparing elaborating and competing theory prompts

In this study, we explore how two different prompt types within an online computer-based inquiry learning environment enhance 392 7th grade students’ explanations of evolution with three teachers. In the elaborating prompt condition, students are prompted to write explanations that support the accepted theory of evolution. In the competing prompt condition, students are prompted to write explanations that differentiate two views of evolution associated with Darwin and Lamarck. Data sources included a pretest and posttest, an embedded item, observations, logged teacher guidance, and teacher interviews. Findings show similar pretest to posttest gains in students’ understanding of evolution for both conditions, but this pattern was not uniform across all three teachers. For one teacher, students who received competing theory prompts produced significantly higher gains than those who received elaborating theory prompts. A closer look at embedded student work reveals a higher degree of teacher participation (i.e., grading and guidance) than for the other teachers. Our findings illustrate how helping students distinguish between competing scientific claims can support learning in an inquiry unit, but may require a higher degree of teacher participation and reinforcement. We discuss the implications of these findings for enhancing students’ scientific explanations. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 53: 1341–1363, 2016

Depicting the tree of life in museums: guiding principles from psychological research

The Tree of Life is revolutionizing our understanding of life on Earth, and, accordingly, evolutionary trees are increasingly important parts of exhibits on biodiversity and evolution. The authors argue that in using these trees to effectively communicate evolutionary principles, museums need to take into account research results from cognitive, developmental, and educational psychology while maintaining a focus on visitor engagement and enjoyment. Six guiding principles for depicting evolutionary trees in museum exhibits distilled from this research literature were used to evaluate five current or recent museum trees. One of the trees was then redesigned in light of the research while preserving the exhibit’s original learning goals. By attending both to traditional factors that influence museum exhibit design and to psychological research on how people understand diagrams in general and Tree of Life graphics in particular, museums can play a key role in fostering 21st century scientific literacy

Predictors of low cervical cancer screening among immigrant women in Ontario, Canada

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Disparities in cervical cancer screening are known to exist in Ontario, Canada for foreign-born women. The relative importance of various barriers to screening may vary across ethnic groups. This study aimed to determine how predictors of low cervical cancer screening, reflective of sociodemographics, the health care system, and migration, varied by region of origin for Ontario's immigrant women.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using a validated billing code algorithm, we determined the proportion of women who were not screened during the three-year period of 2006-2008 among 455 864 identified immigrant women living in Ontario's urban centres. We created eight identical multivariate Poisson models, stratified by eight regions of origin for immigrant women. In these models, we adjusted for various sociodemographic, health care-related and migration-related variables. We then used the resulting adjusted relative risks to calculate population-attributable fractions for each variable by region of origin.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Region of origin was not a significant source of effect modification for lack of recent cervical cancer screening. Certain variables were significantly associated with lack of screening across all or nearly all world regions. These consisted of not being in the 35-49 year age group, residence in the lowest-income neighbourhoods, not being in a primary care patient enrolment model, a provider from the same region, and not having a female provider. For all women, the highest population-attributable risk was seen for not having a female provider, with values ranging from 16.8% [95% CI 14.6-19.1%] among women from the Middle East and North Africa to 27.4% [95% CI 26.2-28.6%] for women from East Asia and the Pacific.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>To increase screening rates across immigrant groups, efforts should be made to ensure that women have access to a regular source of primary care, and ideally access to a female health professional. Efforts should also be made to increase the enrolment of immigrant women in new primary care patient enrolment models.</p

Molecular and Physiological Properties Associated with Zebra Complex Disease in Potatoes and Its Relation with Candidatus Liberibacter Contents in Psyllid Vectors

Zebra complex (ZC) disease on potatoes is associated with Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum (CLs), an α-proteobacterium that resides in the plant phloem and is transmitted by the potato psyllid Bactericera cockerelli (Šulc). The name ZC originates from the brown striping in fried chips of infected tubers, but the whole plants also exhibit a variety of morphological features and symptoms for which the physiological or molecular basis are not understood. We determined that compared to healthy plants, stems of ZC-plants accumulate starch and more than three-fold total protein, including gene expression regulatory factors (e.g. cyclophilin) and tuber storage proteins (e.g., patatins), indicating that ZC-affected stems are reprogrammed to exhibit tuber-like physiological properties. Furthermore, the total phenolic content in ZC potato stems was elevated two-fold, and amounts of polyphenol oxidase enzyme were also high, both serving to explain the ZC-hallmark rapid brown discoloration of air-exposed damaged tissue. Newly developed quantitative and/or conventional PCR demonstrated that the percentage of psyllids in laboratory colonies containing detectable levels of CLs and its titer could fluctuate over time with effects on colony prolificacy, but presumed reproduction-associated primary endosymbiont levels remained stable. Potato plants exposed in the laboratory to psyllid populations with relatively low-CLs content survived while exposure of plants to high-CLs psyllids rapidly culminated in a lethal collapse. In conclusion, we identified plant physiological biomarkers associated with the presence of ZC and/or CLs in the vegetative potato plant tissue and determined that the titer of CLs in the psyllid population directly affects the rate of disease development in plants

The Functional −765G→C Polymorphism of the COX-2 Gene May Reduce the Risk of Developing Crohn's Disease

Contains fulltext : 87827.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is a key enzyme involved in the conversion of arachidonic acid into prostaglandins. COX-2 is mainly induced at sites of inflammation in response to proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-1alpha/beta, interferon-gamma and tumor necrosis factor-alpha produced by inflammatory cells. AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate the possible modulating effect of the functional COX-2 polymorphisms -1195 A-->G and -765G-->C on the risk for development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in a Dutch population. METHODS: Genomic DNA of 525 patients with Crohn's disease (CD), 211 patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and 973 healthy controls was genotyped for the -1195 A-->G (rs689466) and -765G-->C (rs20417) polymorphisms. Distribution of genotypes in patients and controls were compared and genotype-phenotype interactions were investigated. RESULTS: The genotype distribution of the -1195A-->G polymorphism was not different between the patients with CD or UC and the control group. The -765GG genotype was more prevalent in CD patients compared to controls with an OR of 1.33 (95%CI 1.04-1.69, pC polymorphism was associated with a reduced risk for developing Crohn's disease in a Dutch population

Advancing co-production for transformative change by synthesizing guidance from case studies on the sustainable management and governance of natural resources.

Co-production has become paramount for scientists, practitioners and social groups of Indigenous peoples and local communities of rural and urban areas to deliver transformative changes that enhance sustainability. Coproduction should result in knowledge that is credible, legitimate and usable to enable sustainable outcomes effectively. However, this is not always the case due to challenges related to differences between scientific and Indigenous and local knowledge, as well as inherent power imbalances. The literature emphasises that these challenges are often triggered by rigid scientific theories and postures, dominant practices, and time-money limitations that co-production projects involve. This happens despite the adoption of guidelines recommended in the literature. We investigate the role of these challenges and guidelines in the generation of credible, legitimate, usable, and effective knowledge. We analyse this role in 13 co-production cases focused on sustainable transformative changes linked with the management and governance of natural resources across the globe. Despite challenges varying between groups and contexts, credibility, usability, and effectiveness are promoted simultaneously, especially when co-production empowers social actors via legitimate processes. Scientists and practitioners do so, through creative and flexible reshaping of existing knowledge and worldviews with a focus on common goals that link sustainability and livelihoods. They conceptualise a mutual understanding of knowledge and that is deemed trustworthy feasible to use in their socioecological context. Our findings complement existing scholarship on co-production, exploring the credibility of situated knowledge and its practical effectiveness together with its commonly addressed legitimacy and usability. A focus on the practices of different actors, including dynamics that are external to co-production, and changes in the scientific and social status quo, are needed to advance co-production effectiveness

“Whoa! we’re going deep in the trees!”: patterns of collaboration around an interactive information visualization exhibit

In this paper we present a qualitative analysis of natural history museum visitor interaction around a multi-touch tabletop exhibit called DeepTree that we designed around concepts of evolution and common descent. DeepTree combines several large scientific datasets and an innovative visualization technique to display a phylogenetic tree of life consisting of over 70,000 species. After describing our design, we present a study involving pairs of children interacting with DeepTree in two natural history museums. Our analysis focuses on two questions. First, how do dyads negotiate their moment-to-moment exploration of the exhibit? Second, how do dyads develop and negotiate their understanding of evolutionary concepts? In order to address these questions we present an analytical framework that describes dyads’ exploration along two dimensions: coordination and target of action. This framework reveals four distinct patterns of interaction, which, we argue, are relevant for similar interactive designs. We conclude with a discussion of the role of design in helping visitors make sense of interactive experiences involving the visualization of large scientific datasets