Standardized testing is eroding the foundation of parentalsupport and engagement essential to student success

In the past decade, federal and state education initiatives such as the Common Core and No Child Left Behind have been put into place with the aim of improving students’ academic performance. In new research, Jesse H. Rhodes examines the impact of the standardized testing that comes along with these reforms. He finds that these tests erode parents’ confidence in government and reduces their involvement in their children’s schools. He argues that by taking parents’ influence away, standardized testing reforms have alienated them from their children’s schools – and from government in general – thus discouraging them from engaging in education

Competing Partisan Regimes and the Transformation of the Voting Rights Act, 1965-2015

On June 26, 2013, the Supreme Court struck down the coverage formula enabling federal preclearance of proposed voting changes in jurisdictions with documented histories of racial discrimination. This paper interprets this event as the most recent symptom of a long-term partisan and institutional struggle over the scope of federal voting rights enforcement. Lingering liberal Democratic influence in Congress, coupled with conservatives’ fears of violating the norm of racial equality, obstructed Republican diminution of federal voting rights enforcement via legislation. Consequently, Republicans turned to lower-profile administrative and especially judicial venues, which offered conservative elected officials chances to circumscribe voting rights enforcement while simultaneously maintaining a public facade of support for the norm of racial equality. Over time, this dynamic has yielded a situation in which the Court has come to serve as the judicial arm of the Republican Party, at least in the realm of voting rights.Le 26 juin 2013 la cour suprême frappa d’inconstitutionnalité la formule permettant de déterminer quelles juridictions s’étaient rendues coupables de discriminations historiques et devaient soumettre tout changement de leurs procédures électorales à la tutelle de l’Etat fédéral. Cet article présente cet événement comme la manifestation la plus récente d’une lutte institutionnelle et partisane centrée sur l’application du droit de vote. La persistance de l’influence de l’aile gauche du parti démocrate au Congrès, ainsi que la peur des républicains d’enfreindre la norme d’égalité raciale, empêchèrent les conservateurs d’affaiblir la protection du droit de vote par la voie législative. Par conséquent, les républicains se sont tournés vers les voies administratives et judiciaires, plus discrètes, qui leur permirent d’affaiblir l’application du droit de vote tout en maintenant un discours public de respect de l’égalité raciale. Au cours du temps, cette dynamique créa une situation dans laquelle la Cour Suprême est devenue le bras armé du Party républicain au moins dans le domaine du droit de vote

Contrary to popular belief, American presidential election campaigns have become less partisan over time

Partisan polarization has perhaps been most common term used to describe American politics in recent years. In new research, Jesse H. Rhodes and Zachary Albert investigate how partisanship has manifested in presidential campaigns over the past six decades. They find that – contrary to the impression created by contemporary public discussion and media coverage – explicit partisanship has declined dramatically as a feature of presidential campaigns, largely due to the abandonment of partisan rhetoric by Democratic presidential candidates. They argue that Democratic candidates have avoided partisan appeals in their public rhetoric in order to reach out to moderate voters alienated by corrosive partisanship

Presidents more likely to represent the concerns of white Americans than black Americans in speeches, yet Obama proves to be exception to rule

Using data from Gallup Poll’s “most important problem” question from 1969 to 2012 Melinda R. Tarsi, Jesse H. Rhodes, and Tatishe M. Nteta were able to evaluate whether Presidents addressed issues of importance to African Americans when delivering speeches to the public. Despite views held by many that Obama failed to represent black interests while in the White House, research found that he was the lone president to prioritize black issues over white issues in his major speeches

The Effect of Judicial Decisions on Issue Salience and Legal Consciousness in Media Serving the LGBTQ+ Community

Scholars have long questioned whether and how courts influence society. We contribute to this debate by investigating the ability of judicial decisions to shape issue attention and affect toward courts in media serving the LGBTQ+ community. To do so, we compiled an original database of LGBTQ+ magazine coverage of court cases over an extended period covering major decisions, including Lawrence v. Texas (2003), Goodridge v. Massachusetts Department of Public Health (2003), and Lofton v. Secretary of Department of Children & Family Services (2004). We argue these cases influence the volume and tone of LGBTQ+ media coverage. Combining computational social science techniques with qualitative analysis, we find increased attention to same-sex marriage after the decisions in Lawrence, Goodridge, and Lofton, and the coalescence of discussions of courts around same-sex marriage after Lawrence. We also show how LGBTQ+ media informed readers about the political and legal implications of struggles over marriage equality

Transgenic mice expressing LHX3 transcription factor isoforms in the pituitary: Effects on the gonadotrope axis and sex-specific reproductive disease

The LHX3 transcription factor plays critical roles in pituitary and nervous system development. Mutations in the human LHX3 gene cause severe hormone deficiency diseases. The gene produces two mRNAs which can be translated to three protein isoforms. The LHX3a protein contains a central region with LIM domains and a homeodomain, and a carboxyl terminus with the major transactivation domain. LHX3b is identical to LHX3a except that it has a different amino terminus. M2-LHX3 lacks the amino terminus and LIM domains of LHX3a/b. In vitro experiments have demonstrated these three proteins have different biochemical and gene regulatory properties. Here, to investigate the effects of overexpression of LHX3 in vivo, the alpha glycoprotein subunit ( ΑGSU ) promoter was used to produce LHX3a, LHX3b, and M2-LHX3 in the pituitary glands of transgenic mice. Alpha GSU-beta galactosidase animals were generated as controls. Male ΑGSU-LHX3a and ΑGSU-LHX3b mice are infertile and die at a young age as a result of complications associated with obstructive uropathy including uremia. These animals have a reduced number of pituitary gonadotrope cells, low circulating gonadotropins, and possible sex hormone imbalance. Female ΑGSU-LHX3a and ΑGSU-LHX3b transgenic mice are viable but have reduced fertility. By contrast, ΑGSU-M2-LHX3 mice and control mice expressing beta galactosidase are reproductively unaffected. These overexpression studies provide insights into the properties of LHX3 during pituitary development and highlight the importance of this factor in reproductive physiology. J. Cell. Physiol. 212: 105–117, 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/56051/1/21010_ftp.pd

Thirty years of critical care medicine

Critical care medicine is a relatively young but rapidly evolving specialty. On the occasion of the 30th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine, we put together some thoughts from a few of the leaders in critical care who have been actively involved in this field over the years. Looking back over the last 30 years, we reflect on areas in which, despite large amounts of research and technological and scientific advances, no major therapeutic breakthroughs have been made. We then look at the process of care and realize that, here, huge progress has been made. Lastly, we suggest how critical care medicine will continue to evolve for the better over the next 30 years

Implementing an Online Research Group about Classism in Counselor Education

In 2021, an online research group was created with counseling students from three different universities. This online research group consisted of masters counseling students and a lead research mentor and counselor educator. This research group was the first of its kind in its Program. This research team focused on intersectionality and classism. Topics of integrating the online world into counseling research, specifically, through this observed research group will be introduced in this documentation. This research team served as a catalyst to increase student morale during required remote learning. Implications driven from this student-centered, online research group will also be described. Discussion regarding ways to increasingly incorporate technology into counselor education pedagogy and research will also be included

Cytokine biomarkers and chronic pain: Association of genes, transcription, and circulating proteins with temporomandibular disorders and widespread palpation tenderness

For reasons unknown, temporomandibular disorder (TMD) can manifest as localized pain or in conjunction with widespread pain. We evaluated relationships between cytokines and TMD without or with widespread palpation tenderness (TMD−WPT or TMD+WPT, respectively), at protein, transcription factory activity, and gene levels. Additionally, we evaluated the relationship between cytokines and intermediate phenotypes characteristic of TMD and WPT. In a case-control study of 344 females, blood samples were analyzed for levels of 22 cytokines and activity of 48 transcription factors. Intermediate phenotypes were measured by quantitative sensory testing and questionnaires asking about pain, health, and psychological status. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) coding cytokines and transcription factors were genotyped. TMD−WPT cases had elevated protein levels of pro-inflammatory cytokine MCP-1 and anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-1ra, whereas TMD+WPT cases had elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-8. MCP-1, IL-1ra, and IL-8 were differentially associated with experimental pain, self-rated pain, self-rated health, and psychological phenotypes. TMD−WPT and TMD+WPT cases had inhibited transcription activity of the anti-inflammatory cytokine TGFβ1. Interactions were observed between TGFβ1 and IL-8 SNPs: an additional copy of the TGFβ1 rs2241719 minor T allele was associated with twice the odds of TMD+WPT among individuals homozygous for the IL-8 rs4073 major A allele and half the odds of TMD+WPT among individuals heterozygous for rs4073. These results demonstrate how pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines contribute to the pathophysiology of TMD and WPT in genetically-susceptible people. Furthermore, they identify MCP-1, IL-1ra, IL-8, and TGFβ1 as potential diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets for pain in patients with TMD

Functional Genomics Complements Quantitative Genetics in Identifying Disease-Gene Associations

An ultimate goal of genetic research is to understand the connection between genotype and phenotype in order to improve the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. The quantitative genetics field has developed a suite of statistical methods to associate genetic loci with diseases and phenotypes, including quantitative trait loci (QTL) linkage mapping and genome-wide association studies (GWAS). However, each of these approaches have technical and biological shortcomings. For example, the amount of heritable variation explained by GWAS is often surprisingly small and the resolution of many QTL linkage mapping studies is poor. The predictive power and interpretation of QTL and GWAS results are consequently limited. In this study, we propose a complementary approach to quantitative genetics by interrogating the vast amount of high-throughput genomic data in model organisms to functionally associate genes with phenotypes and diseases. Our algorithm combines the genome-wide functional relationship network for the laboratory mouse and a state-of-the-art machine learning method. We demonstrate the superior accuracy of this algorithm through predicting genes associated with each of 1157 diverse phenotype ontology terms. Comparison between our prediction results and a meta-analysis of quantitative genetic studies reveals both overlapping candidates and distinct, accurate predictions uniquely identified by our approach. Focusing on bone mineral density (BMD), a phenotype related to osteoporotic fracture, we experimentally validated two of our novel predictions (not observed in any previous GWAS/QTL studies) and found significant bone density defects for both Timp2 and Abcg8 deficient mice. Our results suggest that the integration of functional genomics data into networks, which itself is informative of protein function and interactions, can successfully be utilized as a complementary approach to quantitative genetics to predict disease risks. All supplementary material is available at http://cbfg.jax.org/phenotype