Theatre & the Environment: Cross-Cultural Exchange Through Travel and Performance Activism

Performance activism, collaborative and cross-cultural, were keys to the success of EnviroLab Asia\u27s clinic trip to Thailand in May 2018. Working with peers in Thai universities, this writer reflects on the degree to which her immersion in local environmental struggles in Thailand, and the compelling theater project that grew out of it, also has helped her understand some of the same pressures that confront her home communities in Africa

Belonging While Black at Lake Merritt: The Black Spatial Imaginary and Place-Making in Oakland, CA

This thesis aims to demonstrate how the processes of gentrification and displacement are interrelated processes that invent new ways of perpetuating anti- blackness in the U.S. I demonstrate this through an engagement with Christina Sharpe’s (2016) analysis of the imagery of the wake, the ship, the hold, and the weather as axis points that position Black life in the afterlife of slavery—how the conditions of slavery are ongoing today—presenting the racist encounters at Lake Merritt as illustrative examples. In her most recent book, In the Wake: On Blackness and Being, Sharpe (2016) deploys an interdisciplinary approach to critically theorize Black subjection and grief through a Black feminist framework, offering care, or what she terms “wake work” as an anecdote to state-sanctioned anti-black violence. She turns to poetry, film, historical archives, and intimate personal experiences to thoroughly articulate how the past is not passed; I reveal how capitalist logic simultaneously structures media representations of Black people in ways that distort what we signify— monstrosity, threat, and criminal are three examples of this distortion—and fix abstract space in hegemonic spatial imaginaries through privatization and commodification. Most importantly, I turn to art and expression—prominent examples being “BBQ’N While Black” and The Black Spatial Imaginary as a community response to BBQ Becky and serial displacement in Portland, Oregon respectively—as resistance and examples of place-making practices that Black people have been engaged in historically to articulate their self-hood, belonging, and beauty through Black love. I strive to undertake this work with intentionality and care, which necessitates an undisciplined approach as academic disciplines have historically deployed methodologies that construct narratives on Blackness that reproduce colonial and anti-black violence

Kangaroo – A pattern-matching program for biological sequences

BACKGROUND: Biologists are often interested in performing a simple database search to identify proteins or genes that contain a well-defined sequence pattern. Many databases do not provide straightforward or readily available query tools to perform simple searches, such as identifying transcription binding sites, protein motifs, or repetitive DNA sequences. However, in many cases simple pattern-matching searches can reveal a wealth of information. We present in this paper a regular expression pattern-matching tool that was used to identify short repetitive DNA sequences in human coding regions for the purpose of identifying potential mutation sites in mismatch repair deficient cells. RESULTS: Kangaroo is a web-based regular expression pattern-matching program that can search for patterns in DNA, protein, or coding region sequences in ten different organisms. The program is implemented to facilitate a wide range of queries with no restriction on the length or complexity of the query expression. The program is accessible on the web at http://bioinfo.mshri.on.ca/kangaroo/ and the source code is freely distributed at http://sourceforge.net/projects/slritools/. CONCLUSION: A low-level simple pattern-matching application can prove to be a useful tool in many research settings. For example, Kangaroo was used to identify potential genetic targets in a human colorectal cancer variant that is characterized by a high frequency of mutations in coding regions containing mononucleotide repeats

The role of microfinance institution on promoting urban self-employment: the case of Addis Credit and Saving institution Arada branch

Economic development of any country comes through different processes (stages).Thorough these process, it faces many difficulties .Even thorough developed countries face these problems, the economics development of developing countries faces more obstacles. Among them, the requirement of collateral by banks as guarantee for borrowing money makes the poor peoples unable to get loan. These hinder them from being an active participant in economic development. This problem is show on both in rural and urban area of nation. Beside this, industrial employment opportunities in this countries are very narrow because they mostly employ educate people. As a result these most urban dwellers that have no collateral and not get higher education are unable to make their own livelihood. On the other hand, lack of access to the formal financial institution hangs people's economy. Theses all h reasons slow down the speed of economics development of country. The introduction of micro finance institution makes the loan service easier then the formal financial institution. Micro financial institution has a grate role in speed up the economic development of country. The objective of this study is to examine whether this micro finance institution are able to pave ways for promoting self-employment for urban dwellers or not. To meet these objective the research use both primary and secondary data

Epigenetic regulatory pathways involving microRNAs may modulate the host immune response following major trauma

BACKGROUND Posttraumatic nosocomial pneumonia is a common complication resulting in significant morbidity. Trauma-induced immunocompromise is associated with an enhanced susceptibility to pneumonia. In this study, we explore the hypothesis that posttranscriptional epigenetic regulation of gene expression may be an important factor in determining this immune phenotype. We describe the pattern of production of microRNAss (miRs) and their association with nosocomial pneumonia following severe trauma. METHODS A convenience sample of 30 ventilated polytrauma patients (UKCRN ID: 5637) and 16 healthy controls were recruited. Messenger RNA and protein levels of key cytokines were quantified within 2 hours of the injury and at 24 hours. Three miRs per cytokine were then selected based on miRBase target prediction scores and quantified using polymerase chain reaction. Nosocomial pneumonia was defined using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definitions. RESULTS Median Injury Severity Score (ISS) was 29, and 47% of the patients developed nosocomial pneumonia. miR-125a and miR-202 decreased by 34% and 77%, respectively, immediately following injury, whereas their target, IL-10, increased messenger RNA levels 3-fold and protein levels 180 fold. Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and IL-12 gene expression decreased by 68% and 43%, respectively, following injury, and this was mirrored by a 10-fold increase in miR-181, an miR predicted to target TNF-α transcripts. Lower levels of miR-125a and miR-374b were associated with the later acquisition of hospital-acquired pneumonia. CONCLUSION Alteration in the expression of miRs with highly predicted complementarity to IL-10 and TNF-α may be an important mechanism regulating the posttraumatic immunosuppressive phenotype in intensive care unit patients. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Retrospective observational study, level III

Tuberculous Dactylitis: An Uncommon Presentation of Skeletal Tuberculosis

BACKGROUND: Skeletal involvement accounts 1-5% of all cases of Tuberculosis. The vertebrae are more commonly affected. The bones of the hands are more affected than the bones of the feet. The term “spina ventosa” has been used to describe this disorder because of its radiographic features of cystic expansion of the involved short tubular bones. Tuberculous dactylitis mainly occurs through lympho-hematogenous spread. The lung is the primary focus in 75% of cases.CASE DETAILS: A 4 years old female child developed a painless swelling on her left index finger two months prior to her presentation. Following an unsuccessful treatment as a case of osteomyelitis with antibiotics, imaging showed an expansile lytic lesion with sclerosis, and fine needle aspiration confirmed tuberculous dactylitis. The child was initiated on anti-tubercular treatment with subsequent marked clinical and radiologic improvement.CONCLUSION: Presence of longstanding finger swelling and pain should alert a clinician to consider active disseminated tuberculosis. Furthermore, proper interpretation of imaging and use of fine needle aspiration has been highlighted.KEYWORDS: Tuberculous dactylitis, Spina ventosa, Expansile lytic lesion, Tuberculosi

Socio-cultural factors contributing to the differential HIV statuses between Agnuak and Nuer communities in Fugnido refugee camp, Ethiopia

According to the 2005 Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey, HIV prevalence in Gambella region where Fugnido refugee camp is located is 6%, which is the highest prevalence data recorded in the country. Similarly, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Health Information System (HIS) demonstrates that Fugnido has the highest HIV prevalence compared to other refugee camps in Ethiopia and furthermore shows variation in prevalence among the two main ethnic groups in the camp, namely Agnuak and Nuer (about 8.5% and 2.3% respectively). The study seeks to investigate why a significant difference exists in the number of people with known HIV positive status among the Agnuak community compared to the Nuer community in the Fugnido refugee camp in Ethiopia. It does this by investigating factors that are presumed to explain HIV high risk-behaviour and vulnerability. This was a cross-sectional study of Agnuak and Nuer tribes living at the Fugnido refugee camp. The sampled population involved men and women refugees from the ages of 15 to 49 years. The study used a mixed method approach or methodological triangulation. Cluster sampling technique was used for the quantitative data collection. The sample size was 831 refugees (439 Agnuak and 390 Nuer). Seven (7) Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and 3 Key Informant (KI) interviews was used for the qualitative data collection. Findings show that the Agnuak were almost 4 times (OR=3.8, 95% CI [1.9-7.4] p < 0.05) more likely to practice risky behaviour compared to 0.3 times (OR=0.3, 95% CI [0.1- 0.9] p < 0.05) likelihood among the Nuer refugees. Factors associated with differences in risky behaviour for both Agnuak and Nuer included, inter alia, primary education as the highest level of education attained, 50% among the Agnuak (OR=0.5, 95% CI [0.3-0.8] p < 0.05), compared to Nuer community’s 30% (OR=0.3, 95% CI [0.2-0.6] p < 0.05). Access to HIV and voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) services was lower for the Agnuak (OR=1.8, 95% CI [1.1-2.9] p < 0.05) compared to the Nuer (OR=2.9, 95% CI [1.6-5.1] p < 0.05). Unlike the Nuer refugees, the Agnuak refugees who had experienced forced sex (OR=7.3, 95% CI [2.9-18.8] p < 0.05) and had a positive attitude (lack of or reduced stigma) towards HIV (OR=2.1, 95% CI [1.3-3.7] p < 0.05) were more positively associated with risky 6 behaviour (than the Nuer). The Nuer had no factor associated with risky behaviour that was different from that of the Agnuak. The study revealed more Agnuak refugees than Nuer refugees had been engaged in risky sexual behaviour by having multiple sex partners and being involved in transactional sex. The Nuer was more closed and reserved to having sexual relations outside of their group than the Agnuak were which contributed to their relatively lower HIV prevalence. Furthermore, there was very low condom use among the Nuer community compared to the Agnuak community, which was based on differential attitudes between the two communities concerning trust of partner and monogamous relations. The study findings recommend that humanitarian workers and community partners need to collaborate to develop congruent HIV interventions that go beyond traditional strategies of distributing condoms and focus on correct and consistent use of condoms in the camp. Humanitarian and community workers’ understanding the socioeconomic context of the communities and the influence of cultural and other factors, including behaviour with intervention strategies,could also curb the epidemic.SociologyM.A. (Sociology