“Just as Bad as Prisons”: The Challenge of Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline Through Teacher and Community Education

Drawing upon the authors’ experiences working in schools as teachers, teacher educators, researchers, and community members, this study utilizes a Critical Race Theory of education in examining the school-to-prison pipeline for black male students. In doing so, the authors highlight the particular role educators play in the school-to-prison pipeline, focusing particularly on how dispositions toward black males influence educator practices. Recommendations and future directions are provided on how education preparation programs can play a critical role in the transformation of black male schooling

Increasing Teachers\u27 Metacognition Develops Students\u27 Higher Learning during Content Area Literacy Instruction: Findings from the Read-Write Cycle Project

Success in the 21st century, for individuals and societies, requires competence in comprehending and communicating in the academic disciplines--the natural sciences, history, geography, and more. The Read-Write Cycle (RWC) Project, a three year longitudinal research study conducted from 2005-2008 in ten public elementary schools in southern California, explored the effectiveness of curriculum and instructional strategies that integrate literacy with disciplinary knowledge with the simultaneous goals of: (1) enhancing students\u27 literacy outcomes; and (2) broadening and deepening knowledge of the content area. Funded by the U.S. Institute of Education Sciences, the RWC Project concentrated over years one and two on 1,024 students in grades three through six and the ongoing professional development of 18 classroom teachers. This documentary account focuses on one aspect of the larger project, specifically the RWC Project\u27s effect on teachers\u27 metacognition about their own practice leading to upper elementary grade students\u27 higher learning by developing students\u27: (1) metacognition and reflection; (2) exploration and depth in content domains; and (3) integration of literacy in content areas

UK B.1.1.7 variant exhibits increased respiratory replication and shedding in nonhuman primates.

The continuing emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants calls for regular assessment to identify differences in viral replication, shedding and associated disease. In this study, African green monkeys were infected intranasally with either a contemporary D614G or the UK B.1.1.7 variant. Both variants caused mild respiratory disease with no significant differences in clinical presentation. Significantly higher levels of viral RNA and infectious virus were found in upper and lower respiratory tract samples and tissues from B.1.1.7 infected animals. Interestingly, D614G infected animals showed significantly higher levels of viral RNA and infectious virus in rectal swabs and gastrointestinal tract tissues. Our results indicate that B.1.1.7 infection in African green monkeys is associated with increased respiratory replication and shedding but no disease enhancement similar to human B.1.1.7 cases. ONE-SENTENCE SUMMARY: UK B.1.1.7 infection of African green monkeys exhibits increased respiratory replication and shedding but no disease enhancement

Cerebral microinfarcts: the invisible lesions

The association between small but still visible lacunar infarcts and cognitive decline has been established by multiple population-based radiological and pathological studies. Microscopic examination of brain sections reveals even smaller but substantially more numerous microinfarcts, the focus of the current review. These lesions often result from small vessel pathologies such as arteriolosclerosis or cerebral amyloid angiopathy. They typically go undetected in clinical-radiological correlation studies that rely on conventional structural MRI, though the largest acute microinfarcts may be detectable by diffusion-weighted imaging. Given their high numbers and widespread distribution, microinfarcts may directly disrupt important cognitive networks and thus account for some of the neurologic dysfunction seen in association with lesions visible on conventional MRI such as lacunar infarcts and white matter hyperintensities. Standardized neuropathological assessment criteria and development of non-invasive means of detection during life would be major steps towards understanding the causes and consequences of the otherwise macroscopically invisible microinfarct

Recent research on Gulf War illness and other health problems in veterans of the 1991 Gulf War: Effects of toxicant exposures during deployment

Veterans of Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield - the 1991 Gulf War (GW) - are a unique population who returned from theater with multiple health complaints and disorders. Studies in the U.S. and elsewhere have consistently concluded that approximately 25-32% of this population suffers from a disorder characterized by symptoms that vary somewhat among individuals and include fatigue, headaches, cognitive dysfunction, musculoskeletal pain, and respiratory, gastrointestinal and dermatologic complaints. Gulf War illness (GWI) is the term used to describe this disorder. In addition, brain cancer occurs at increased rates in subgroups of GW veterans, as do neuropsychological and brain imaging abnormalities. Chemical exposures have become the focus of etiologic GWI research because nervous system symptoms are prominent and many neurotoxicants were present in theater, including organophosphates (OPs), carbamates, and other pesticides; sarin/cyclosarin nerve agents, and pyridostigmine bromide (PB) medications used as prophylaxis against chemical warfare attacks. Psychiatric etiologies have been ruled out. This paper reviews the recent literature on the health of 1991 GW veterans, focusing particularly on the central nervous system and on effects of toxicant exposures. In addition, it emphasizes research published since 2008, following on an exhaustive review that was published in that year that summarizes the prior literature (RACGWI, 2008). We conclude that exposure to pesticides and/or to PB are causally associated with GWI and the neurological dysfunction in GW veterans. Exposure to sarin and cyclosarin and to oil well fire emissions are also associated with neurologically based health effects, though their contribution to development of the disorder known as GWI is less clear. Gene-environment interactions are likely to have contributed to development of GWI in deployed veterans. The health consequences of chemical exposures in the GW and other conflicts have been called "toxic wounds" by veterans. This type of injury requires further study and concentrated treatment research efforts that may also benefit other occupational groups with similar exposure-related illnesses

Global change effects on plant communities are magnified by time and the number of global change factors imposed

Global change drivers (GCDs) are expected to alter community structure and consequently, the services that ecosystems provide. Yet, few experimental investigations have examined effects of GCDs on plant community structure across multiple ecosystem types, and those that do exist present conflicting patterns. In an unprecedented global synthesis of over 100 experiments that manipulated factors linked to GCDs, we show that herbaceous plant community responses depend on experimental manipulation length and number of factors manipulated. We found that plant communities are fairly resistant to experimentally manipulated GCDs in the short term (<10 y). In contrast, long-term (≥10 y) experiments show increasing community divergence of treatments from control conditions. Surprisingly, these community responses occurred with similar frequency across the GCD types manipulated in our database. However, community responses were more common when 3 or more GCDs were simultaneously manipulated, suggesting the emergence of additive or synergistic effects of multiple drivers, particularly over long time periods. In half of the cases, GCD manipulations caused a difference in community composition without a corresponding species richness difference, indicating that species reordering or replacement is an important mechanism of community responses to GCDs and should be given greater consideration when examining consequences of GCDs for the biodiversity–ecosystem function relationship. Human activities are currently driving unparalleled global changes worldwide. Our analyses provide the most comprehensive evidence to date that these human activities may have widespread impacts on plant community composition globally, which will increase in frequency over time and be greater in areas where communities face multiple GCDs simultaneously

Discovery of common and rare genetic risk variants for colorectal cancer.

To further dissect the genetic architecture of colorectal cancer (CRC), we performed whole-genome sequencing of 1,439 cases and 720 controls, imputed discovered sequence variants and Haplotype Reference Consortium panel variants into genome-wide association study data, and tested for association in 34,869 cases and 29,051 controls. Findings were followed up in an additional 23,262 cases and 38,296 controls. We discovered a strongly protective 0.3% frequency variant signal at CHD1. In a combined meta-analysis of 125,478 individuals, we identified 40 new independent signals at P < 5 × 10-8, bringing the number of known independent signals for CRC to ~100. New signals implicate lower-frequency variants, Krüppel-like factors, Hedgehog signaling, Hippo-YAP signaling, long noncoding RNAs and somatic drivers, and support a role for immune function. Heritability analyses suggest that CRC risk is highly polygenic, and larger, more comprehensive studies enabling rare variant analysis will improve understanding of biology underlying this risk and influence personalized screening strategies and drug development.Goncalo R Abecasis has received compensation from 23andMe and Helix. He is currently an employee of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Heather Hampel performs collaborative research with Ambry Genetics, InVitae Genetics, and Myriad Genetic Laboratories, Inc., is on the scientific advisory board for InVitae Genetics and Genome Medical, and has stock in Genome Medical. Rachel Pearlman has participated in collaborative funded research with Myriad Genetics Laboratories and Invitae Genetics but has no financial competitive interest

Isorhapontigenin, a resveratrol analogue selectively inhibits ADP-stimulated platelet activation

Isorhapontigenin is a polyphenolic compound found in Chinese herbs and grapes. It is a methoxylated analogue of a stilbenoid, resveratrol, which is well-known for its various beneficial effects including anti-platelet activity. Isorhapontigenin possesses greater oral bioavailability than resveratrol and has also been identified to possess anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties. However, its effects on platelet function have not been reported previously. In this study, we report the effects of isorhapontigenin on the modulation of platelet function. Isorhapontigenin was found to selectively inhibit ADP-induced platelet aggregation with an IC50 of 1.85µM although it displayed marginal inhibition on platelet aggregation induced by other platelet agonists at 100µM. However, resveratrol exhibited weaker inhibition on ADP-induced platelet aggregation (IC50>100µM) but inhibited collagen induced platelet aggregation at 50µM and 100µM. Isorhapontigenin also inhibited integrin αIIbβ3 mediated inside-out and outside-in signalling and dense granule secretion in ADP-induced platelet activation but interestingly, no effect was observed on α-granule secretion. Isorhapontigenin did not exert any cytotoxicity on platelets at the concentrations of up to 100µM. Furthermore, it did not affect haemostasis in mice at the IC50 concentration (1.85µM). In addition, the mechanistic studies demonstrated that isorhapontigenin increased cAMP levels and VASP phosphorylation at Ser157 and decreased Akt phosphorylation. This suggests that isorhapontigenin may interfere with cAMP and PI3K signalling pathways that are associated with the P2Y12 receptor. Molecular docking studies emphasised that isorhapontigenin has greater binding affinity to P2Y12 receptor than resveratrol. Our results demonstrate that isorhapontigenin has selective inhibitory effects on ADP-stimulated platelet activation possibly via P2Y12 receptor