Implementaton of Strength Reimagined: A Therapeutic Well-Being Framework for African American Women to Counteract the Strong Black Woman Stereotype

The Strong Black Woman (SBW) stereotype has been consistently linked to poor mental health for African American women and its endorsement leads to anxiety, depression, and stress. African American women unknowingly subscribe to this stereotype through the exertion of strength and independence found necessary to combat oppression and gendered racism. This article explores existing literature on the SBW stereotype and suggests strategies for leveraging this stereotype to enhance mental health interventions for African American women. Utilizing an integrated conceptual framework that draws from the lens of Black Feminist Thought, Intersectionality, and Social Constructivism Theory, Strength Reimagined: A Therapeutic Framework for African American Women is proposed. This treatment framework incorporates five key aspects: therapist awareness, psychoeducation, culturally responsive psychotherapy, trauma-informed complementary interventions, and mutual support to improve mental health outcomes among African American women

Inverse magnetic catalysis in field theory and gauge-gravity duality

We investigate the surface of the chiral phase transition in the three-dimensional parameter space of temperature, baryon chemical potential and magnetic field in two different approaches, the field-theoretical Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model and the holographic Sakai-Sugimoto model. The latter is a top-down approach to a gravity dual of QCD with an asymptotically large number of colors and becomes, in a certain limit, dual to an NJL-like model. Our main observation is that, at nonzero chemical potential, a magnetic field can restore chiral symmetry, in apparent contrast to the phenomenon of magnetic catalysis. This "inverse magnetic catalysis" occurs in the Sakai-Sugimoto model and, for sufficiently large coupling, in the NJL model and is related to the physics of the lowest Landau level. While in most parts our discussion is a pedagogical review of previously published results, we include new analytical results for the NJL approach and a thorough comparison of inverse magnetic catalysis in the two approaches.Comment: 37 pages, 11 figures, to appear in Lect. Notes Phys. "Strongly interacting matter in magnetic fields" (Springer), edited by D. Kharzeev, K. Landsteiner, A. Schmitt, H.-U. Ye

Reaction rates and transport in neutron stars

Understanding signals from neutron stars requires knowledge about the transport inside the star. We review the transport properties and the underlying reaction rates of dense hadronic and quark matter in the crust and the core of neutron stars and point out open problems and future directions.Comment: 74 pages; commissioned for the book "Physics and Astrophysics of Neutron Stars", NewCompStar COST Action MP1304; version 3: minor changes, references updated, overview graphic added in the introduction, improvements in Sec IV.A.

Melanoma cells break down LPA to establish local gradients that drive chemotactic dispersal.

The high mortality of melanoma is caused by rapid spread of cancer cells, which occurs unusually early in tumour evolution. Unlike most solid tumours, thickness rather than cytological markers or differentiation is the best guide to metastatic potential. Multiple stimuli that drive melanoma cell migration have been described, but it is not clear which are responsible for invasion, nor if chemotactic gradients exist in real tumours. In a chamber-based assay for melanoma dispersal, we find that cells migrate efficiently away from one another, even in initially homogeneous medium. This dispersal is driven by positive chemotaxis rather than chemorepulsion or contact inhibition. The principal chemoattractant, unexpectedly active across all tumour stages, is the lipid agonist lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) acting through the LPA receptor LPAR1. LPA induces chemotaxis of remarkable accuracy, and is both necessary and sufficient for chemotaxis and invasion in 2-D and 3-D assays. Growth factors, often described as tumour attractants, cause negligible chemotaxis themselves, but potentiate chemotaxis to LPA. Cells rapidly break down LPA present at substantial levels in culture medium and normal skin to generate outward-facing gradients. We measure LPA gradients across the margins of melanomas in vivo, confirming the physiological importance of our results. We conclude that LPA chemotaxis provides a strong drive for melanoma cells to invade outwards. Cells create their own gradients by acting as a sink, breaking down locally present LPA, and thus forming a gradient that is low in the tumour and high in the surrounding areas. The key step is not acquisition of sensitivity to the chemoattractant, but rather the tumour growing to break down enough LPA to form a gradient. Thus the stimulus that drives cell dispersal is not the presence of LPA itself, but the self-generated, outward-directed gradient

Chromomagnetic Catalysis of Color Superconductivity in a (2+1)-dimensional NJL Model

The influence of a constant uniform external chromomagnetic field $H$ on the formation of color superconductivity has been investigated. The consideration was performed in the framework of a (2+1)-dimensional Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model with two different four-fermionic structures responsible for $$and diquark$$ condensates. In particular, it was shown that there exists a critical value $H_c$ of the external chromomagnetic field such that at $H>H_c$ a nonvanishing diquark condensate is dynamically created (the so-called chromomagnetic catalysis effect of color superconductivity). Moreover, external chromomagnetic fields may in some cases enhance the diquark condensate of color superconductivity.Comment: 32 pages, 2 figures, revte

Regulation of mammary gland branching morphogenesis by the extracellular matrix and its remodeling enzymes.

A considerable body of research indicates that mammary gland branching morphogenesis is dependent, in part, on the extracellular matrix (ECM), ECM-receptors, such as integrins and other ECM receptors, and ECM-degrading enzymes, including matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their inhibitors, tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs). There is some evidence that these ECM cues affect one or more of the following processes: cell survival, polarity, proliferation, differentiation, adhesion, and migration. Both three-dimensional culture models and genetic manipulations of the mouse mammary gland have been used to study the signaling pathways that affect these processes. However, the precise mechanisms of ECM-directed mammary morphogenesis are not well understood. Mammary morphogenesis involves epithelial 'invasion' of adipose tissue, a process akin to invasion by breast cancer cells, although the former is a highly regulated developmental process. How these morphogenic pathways are integrated in the normal gland and how they become dysregulated and subverted in the progression of breast cancer also remain largely unanswered questions

Disgust Sensitivity and the Neurophysiology of Left- Right Political Orientations

Disgust has been described as the most primitive and central of emotions. Thus, it is not surprising that it shapes behaviors in a variety of organisms and in a variety of contexts—including homo sapien politics. People who believe they would be bothered by a range of hypothetical disgusting situations display an increased likelihood of displaying right-of-center rather than left-of-center political orientations. Given its primal nature and essential value in avoiding pathogens disgust likely has an effect even without registering in conscious beliefs. In this article, we demonstrate that individuals with marked involuntary physiological responses to disgusting images, such as of a man eating a large mouthful of writhing worms, are more likely to self-identify as conservative and, especially, to oppose gay marriage than are individuals with more muted physiological responses to the same images. This relationship holds even when controlling for the degree to which respondents believe themselves to be disgust sensitive and suggests that people’s physiological predispositions help to shape their political orientations

EZH2 promotes a bi-lineage identity in basal-like breast cancer cells

The mechanisms regulating breast cancer differentiation state are poorly understood. Of particular interest are molecular regulators controlling the highly aggressive and poorly differentiated traits of basal-like breast carcinomas. Here we show that the Polycomb factor EZH2 maintains the differentiation state of basal-like breast cancer cells, and promotes the expression of progenitor-associated and basal-lineage genes. Specifically, EZH2 regulates the composition of basal-like breast cancer cell populations by promoting a ‘bi-lineage’ differentiation state, in which cells co-express basal- and luminal-lineage markers. We show that human basal-like breast cancers contain a subpopulation of bi-lineage cells, and that EZH2-deficient cells give rise to tumors with a decreased proportion of such cells. Bi-lineage cells express genes that are active in normal luminal progenitors, and possess increased colony-formation capacity, consistent with a primitive differentiation state. We found that GATA3, a driver of luminal differentiation, performs a function opposite to EZH2, acting to suppress bi-lineage identity and luminal-progenitor gene expression. GATA3 levels increase upon EZH2 silencing, mediating a decrease in bi-lineage cell numbers. Our findings reveal a novel role for EZH2 in controlling basal-like breast cancer differentiation state and intra-tumoral cell composition

Advancing disability-inclusive climate research and action, climate justice, and climate-resilient development

Globally, more than 1 billion people with disabilities are disproportionately and differentially at risk from the climate crisis. Yet there is a notable absence of climate policy, programming, and research at the intersection of disability and climate change. Advancing climate justice urgently requires accelerated disability-inclusive climate action. We present pivotal research recommendations and guidance to advance disability-inclusive climate research and responses identified by a global interdisciplinary group of experts in disability, climate change, sustainable development, public health, environmental justice, humanitarianism, gender, Indigeneity, mental health, law, and planetary health. Climate-resilient development is a framework for enabling universal sustainable development. Advancing inclusive climate-resilient development requires a disability human rights approach that deepens understanding of how societal choices and actions—characterised by meaningful participation, inclusion, knowledge diversity in decision making, and co-design by and with people with disabilities and their representative organisations—build collective climate resilience benefiting disability communities and society at large while advancing planetary health

Maternal age, education level and migration: Socioeconomic determinants for smoking during pregnancy in a field study from Turkey

WOS: 000279909900003PubMed ID: 20534133Background: Smoking during pregnancy has been associated with socioeconomic determinants and it is recognized as the most important preventable risk factor for an unsuccessful pregnancy outcome. Turkey has national data on the prevalance of smoking during pregnancy; however there is no data on the characteristics of the high-risk population. This is a field study that aims to identify socioeconomic determinants for smoking during pregnancy as well as differentiating the daily and occasional smokers. Method: Cross sectional study was conducted among women with 0-5 year old children living in the area served by Primary Health Care Center (PHCC) in Burhaniye, Turkey. Face-to-face interviews were conducted by the researchers during January-March 2008 at the home of the participants with 83.7% response rate (n = 256). The relation of "smoking during pregnacy" and "daily smoking during pregnancy" with the independent variables was determined with chi(2) tests. Women's age, educational level, number of previous births, place of origin, migration, partner's educational level, poverty, perceived income, social class were evaluated. Statistical significance was achieved when the p value was less than 0.05. The variables in relation with the dependent variables in the chi(2) tests were included in the forward-stepwise logistic analysis. Results: Prevalance of smoking during pregnancy was 22.7%. The majority (74.1%) were daily smokers. Young mothers (< 20), low educated women and migrants were at increased risk for smoking during pregnancy. Low education and being a migrant were risk factors for daily consumption (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Systematic attention should be paid to socioeconomic determinants in smoking for pregnant women, especially in countries like Turkey with high rates of infant and mother mortality and substantial health inequalities. Young mothers (< 20), low educated women and migrants are important groups to focus on