Assimilation—On (Not) Turning White: Memory and the Narration of the Postwar History of Japanese Canadians in Southern Alberta

This essay explores understandings of “race” – specifically, what it means to be Japanese – of nisei (“second generation”) individuals who acknowledge their near complete assimilation structurally and normatively into the Canadian mainstream. In historically-contextualized analyses of memory fragments from oral-history interviews conducted between 2011-2017, it focusses on voices and experiences of southern Alberta, an area whose significance to local, national, continental, and trans-Pacific histories of people of Japanese descent is belied by a lack of dedicated scholarly attention. In this light, this essay reveals how the fact of being Japanese in the latter half of the twentieth century was strategically central to nisei lives as individuals and in their communities. In imagining a racial hierarchy whose apex they knew they could never share with the hakujin (whites), the racial heritage they nevertheless inherited and would bequeath could be so potent as to reverse the direction of the colonial gaze with empowering effects in individual engagements then and as remembered now. We see how the narration and validation of one’s life is the navigation of wider historical contexts, the shaping of the post-colonial legacy of Imperial cultures, as Britain and Japan withdrew from their erstwhile colonial projects in Canada

Association between Bone Mineral Density of Femoral Neck and Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Treated with Biological Disease-Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs

Treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) induces rapid remission. However, osteoporosis and its management remains a problem. The Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI) evaluates the risk of malnutrition-related complications in elderly patients and has been shown to be a significant predictor of many diseases. We evaluated the correlation between GNRI and RA activity. In addition, risk factors for femoral neck bone loss were evaluated in RA patients treated with bDMARDs. We retrospectively examined the medical records of 146 patients with RA, collecting and recording the patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics. Bone mineral density (BMD) was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Inverse correlations were observed between GNRI and disease duration, disease activity score-28 joint count serum C-reactive protein (CRP), simple disease activity index, modified health assessment questionnaire score and CRP. GNRI showed correlation with femoral neck BMD and femoral neck BMD ≤ 70% of young adult men (YAM). Multiple regression analysis showed that female sex, increased age and lower GNRI were risk factors for lower BMD of the femoral neck. Multivariate binomial logistic regression analysis showed that female sex (odd ratio: 3.67) and lower GNRI (odd ratio: 0.87) were risk factors for BMD ≤ 70% of YAM. Because the GNRI is a simple method, it might be a simple predictor for RA activity and BMD status in RA patients. Complementary nutritional therapies might improve RA activity and osteoporosis in RA patients who have undergone treatment with bDMARDs

MOESM1 of Risk factors for bone loss in patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs

Additional file 1: Figure S1. These scatter plot show the reduction of BMD in lumber spine (A) and femoral neck (B)