Indigenous (Mis)Representation: Implications for the MMIWG2S Epidemic

In the United States and Canada, Native women, girls, and two-spirit people are stolen and killed at a disproportionate rate. Despite their pleas for justice, non-indigenous media are reluctant to give Indigenous voices a platform to incite change. Critically, the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People (MMIWG2S) is not endemic to North America, but permeates through aboriginal life on every continent as a tool of settler colonialism. Existing literature on the topic of MMIWG2S has traced the roots of the crisis to settler colonialism and to non-Indigenous popular culture, but there is a gap in knowledge about how these two phenomena reinforce one another. After all, colonialism is an ongoing process. Our research question addresses this gap by asking: how does settler colonialism inform the portrayal of Indigenous women in popular culture today and perpetuate the disproportionate rates of violence that contribute to the MMIWG2S epidemic? We find that popular culture intentionally fetishizes and misrepresents Indigenous women and girls, through the folklorized narrative of Pocahontas, for example, so as to reinforce ideologies of conquest and colonization that are embedded in the American ethos. While American media is consumed on a global scale, colonized media representations of Indigenous people are not specific to the American experience, and are present in settler colonial states across the globe including Canada and Australia. Taught to children at a young age, these sexualized, gendered, and racialized narratives contribute to settler attempts at erasure of Native people across the globe.To rectify this, our capstone group devised a two-part project. First, we collaborated with the Big Sky Institute to organize and promote the Native Filmmaker Initiative feature of their documentary film festival and host a panel discussion after the showing. Additionally, we sold raffle tickets and donated proceeds to Missoula Project Beacon and an MMIP direct services organization. Second, using perspective and knowledge gained from organizing the panel discussion and speaking with Indigenous filmmakers, educators, and activists, we created and shared a media literacy toolkit designed to help high school educators encourage critical thinking about misrepresentations of Indigenous life in popular culture. It is our hope that this toolkit will transcend the boundaries of the Missoula community and uplift Indigenous voices on a global scale

Developing a Multi-Dimensional Early Elementary Mathematics Screener and Diagnostic Tool: The Primary Mathematics Assessment

There is a critical need to identify primary level students experiencing difficulties in mathematics to provide immediate and targeted instruction that remediates their deficits. However, most early math screening instruments focus only on the concept of number, resulting in inadequate and incomplete information for teachers to design intervention efforts. We propose a mathematics assessment that screens and provides diagnostic information in six domains that are important to building a strong foundation in mathematics. This article describes the conceptual framework and psychometric qualities of a web-based assessment tool, the Primary Math Assessment (PMA). The PMA includes a screener to identify students at risk for poor math outcomes and a diagnostic tool to provide a more in-depth profile of children’s specific strengths and weaknesses in mathematics. The PMA allows teachers and school personnel to make better instructional decisions by providing more targeted analyses

GWAS of Follicular Lymphoma Reveals Allelic Heterogeneity at 6p21.32 and Suggests Shared Genetic Susceptibility with Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) represents a diverse group of hematological malignancies, of which follicular lymphoma (FL) is a prevalent subtype. A previous genome-wide association study has established a marker, rs10484561 in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II region on 6p21.32 associated with increased FL risk. Here, in a three-stage genome-wide association study, starting with a genome-wide scan of 379 FL cases and 791 controls followed by validation in 1,049 cases and 5,790 controls, we identified a second independent FL–associated locus on 6p21.32, rs2647012 (ORcombined = 0.64, Pcombined = 2×10−21) located 962 bp away from rs10484561 (r2<0.1 in controls). After mutual adjustment, the associations at the two SNPs remained genome-wide significant (rs2647012:ORadjusted = 0.70, Padjusted = 4×10−12; rs10484561:ORadjusted = 1.64, Padjusted = 5×10−15). Haplotype and coalescence analyses indicated that rs2647012 arose on an evolutionarily distinct haplotype from that of rs10484561 and tags a novel allele with an opposite (protective) effect on FL risk. Moreover, in a follow-up analysis of the top 6 FL–associated SNPs in 4,449 cases of other NHL subtypes, rs10484561 was associated with risk of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (ORcombined = 1.36, Pcombined = 1.4×10−7). Our results reveal the presence of allelic heterogeneity within the HLA class II region influencing FL susceptibility and indicate a possible shared genetic etiology with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. These findings suggest that the HLA class II region plays a complex yet important role in NHL

Indigenous (Mis)Representation: Implications for the MMIWG2S Epidemic

In the United States and Canada, Native women, girls, and two-spirit people are stolen and killed at a disproportionate rate. Despite their pleas for justice, non-indigenous media are reluctant to give Indigenous voices a platform to incite change. Critically, the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People (MMIWG2S) is not endemic to North America, but permeates through aboriginal life on every continent as a tool of settler colonialism. Existing literature on the topic ofMMIWG2S has traced the roots of the crisis to settler colonialism and to non-Indigenous popular culture, but there is a gap in knowledge about how these two phenomena reinforce one another. After all, colonialism is an ongoing process. Our research question addresses this gap by asking: how does settler colonialism inform the portrayal of Indigenous women in popular culture today and perpetuate the disproportionate rates of violence that contribute to the MMIWG2S epidemic? We find that popular culture intentionally fetishizes and misrepresents Indigenous women and girls, through the folklorized narrative of Pocahontas, for example, so as to reinforce ideologies of conquest and colonization that are embedded in the American ethos. While American media is consumed on a global scale, colonized media representations of Indigenous people are not specific to the American experience, and are present in settler colonial states across the globe including Canada and Australia. Taught to children at a young age, these sexualized, gendered, and racialized narratives contribute to settler attempts at erasure of Native people across the globe.To rectify this, our capstone group devised a two-part project. First, we collaborated with the Big Sky Institute to organize and promote the Native Filmmaker Initiative feature of their documentary film festival and host a panel discussion after the showing. Additionally, we sold raffle tickets and donated proceeds to Missoula Project Beacon and an MMIP direct services organization. Second, using perspective and knowledge gained from organizing the panel discussion and speaking with Indigenous filmmakers, educators, and activists, we created and shared a media literacy toolkit designed to help high school educators encourage critical thinking about misrepresentations of Indigenous life in popular culture. It is our hope that this toolkit will transcend the boundaries of the Missoula community and uplift Indigenous voices on a global scale

Developing a Comprehensive Mathematical Assessment Tool to Improve Mathematics Intervention for At-Risk Students

Students who complete kindergarten with an inadequate knowledge of basic mathematics concepts and skills will continue to experience difficulties with mathematics throughout their elementary and secondary years and may be at increased risk for math disabilities. There is a critical need to identify students experiencing difficulties in mathematics in the early elementary grades and to provide immediate and targeted instruction to remediate these deficits. Most early math screening tools focus on only a single skill, resulting in an incomplete picture of student performance and limited predictive validity. To address this need, we are developing a multiple-gating system of math assessment, the Primary Math Assessment (PMA), that both screens and provides diagnostic information in six domains. In this study, we present the results of the development and validation of items across the domains that will comprise the PMA. Multidimensional Rasch models were used to estimate theoretically plausible dimensionality structures. Parsimony fit indices supported the six-dimensional model as the most generalizability model for the PMA data and supports reporting of six separate scores

GWAS of follicular lymphoma reveals allelic heterogeneity at 6p21.32 and suggests shared genetic susceptibility with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) represents a diverse group of hematological malignancies, of which follicular lymphoma (FL) is a prevalent subtype. A previous genome-wide association study has established a marker, rs10484561 in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II region on 6p21.32 associated with increased FL risk. Here, in a three-stage genome-wide association study, starting with a genome-wide scan of 379 FL cases and 791 controls followed by validation in 1,049 cases and 5,790 controls, we identified a second independent FL-associated locus on 6p21.32, rs2647012 (OR(combined)  = 0.64, P(combined)  = 2 × 10(-21)) located 962 bp away from rs10484561 (r(2)&lt;0.1 in controls). After mutual adjustment, the associations at the two SNPs remained genome-wide significant (rs2647012:OR(adjusted)  = 0.70, P(adjusted)  =  4 × 10(-12); rs10484561:OR(adjusted)  = 1.64, P(adjusted)  = 5 × 10(-15)). Haplotype and coalescence analyses indicated that rs2647012 arose on an evolutionarily distinct haplotype from that of rs10484561 and tags a novel allele with an opposite (protective) effect on FL risk. Moreover, in a follow-up analysis of the top 6 FL-associated SNPs in 4,449 cases of other NHL subtypes, rs10484561 was associated with risk of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (OR(combined)  = 1.36, P(combined)  =  1.4 × 10(-7)). Our results reveal the presence of allelic heterogeneity within the HLA class II region influencing FL susceptibility and indicate a possible shared genetic etiology with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. These findings suggest that the HLA class II region plays a complex yet important role in NHL

Etiologic heterogeneity among non-Hodgkin lymphoma subtypes : the InterLymph non-Hodgkin lymphoma subtypes project

Background: Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) comprises biologically and clinically heterogeneous subtypes. Previously, study size has limited the ability to compare and contrast the risk factor profiles among these heterogeneous subtypes. Methods: We pooled individual-level data from 17 471 NHL cases and 23 096 controls in 20 case-control studies from the International Lymphoma Epidemiology Consortium (InterLymph). We estimated the associations, measured as odds ratios, between each of 11 NHL subtypes and self-reported medical history, family history of hematologic malignancy, lifestyle factors, and occupation. We then assessed the heterogeneity of associations by evaluating the variability (Q value) of the estimated odds ratios for a given exposure among subtypes. Finally, we organized the subtypes into a hierarchical tree to identify groups that had similar risk factor profiles. Statistical significance of tree partitions was estimated by permutation-based P values (PNODE). Results: Risks differed statistically significantly among NHL subtypes for medical history factors (autoimmune diseases, hepatitis C virus seropositivity, eczema, and blood transfusion), family history of leukemia and multiple myeloma, alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, and certain occupations, whereas generally homogeneous risks among subtypes were observed for family history of NHL, recreational sun exposure, hay fever, allergy, and socioeconomic status. Overall, the greatest difference in risk factors occurred between T-cell and B-cell lymphomas (PNODE < 1.0 x 10⁻⁴), with increased risks generally restricted to T-cell lymphomas for eczema, T-cell-activating autoimmune diseases, family history of multiple myeloma, and occupation as a painter. We further observed substantial heterogeneity among B-cell lymphomas (PNODE < 1.0 x 10⁻⁴). Increased risks for B-cell-activating autoimmune disease and hepatitis C virus seropositivity and decreased risks for alcohol consumption and occupation as a teacher generally were restricted to marginal zone lymphoma, Burkitt/Burkitt-like lymphoma/leukemia, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and/or lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma/Waldenström macroglobulinemia. Conclusions: Using a novel approach to investigate etiologic heterogeneity among NHL subtypes, we identified risk factors that were common among subtypes as well as risk factors that appeared to be distinct among individual or a few subtypes, suggesting both subtype-specific and shared underlying mechanisms. Further research is needed to test putative mechanisms, investigate other risk factors (eg, other infections, environmental exposures, and diet), and evaluate potential joint effects with genetic susceptibility.15 page(s