Disability and Healthcare Access in Morocco: Social and Cultural Influences

I stepped into the SIT Multiculturalism and Human Rights program as a pre-physical therapy student with experience working and volunteering in the disability rights arena. Striking personal encounters with Moroccans combined with these past experiences drew me to investigate how social and cultural factors influence access to healthcare for people with disabilities. I hypothesized that access to medical care is limited by social or cultural mindsets, perceptions, or beliefs for those in my target population. This subject is relevant to Morocco as a developing country and as a society with, in some cases, fixed social dynamics, while in other areas defined by rapidly changing and fluid social dynamics. Research from nearly a decade ago (2014) shows that 6.8% of the Moroccan population has a disability; a different survey from the same year states 9.5% of adults (whether the difference in percentage is because one includes children or because of disparities in obtaining data is not clear, both are quite possible). In addition to this, physical impairment will touch a majority of people at some point in their life, whether that be from accident, war, aging, or other reasons, so not only health professionals or legislators benefit from timely information in this area, but nearly every family in North Africa and the world. In a country with one kinesiotherapist for every 2,000 children with a disability, access to resources is a pressing issue. Over the course of one month, I interviewed people with disabilities, healthcare professionals, and leaders of NGOs as well as conducted observations in therapy sessions, public places, and clinics and care centers. From this qualitative research I hoped to find insights into the struggles of children and adults living with a disability, and what holds them back from living full, healthy lives. This was a basic study, not in-depth, but still sufficient to reveal important clues as to the action steps needed to support this minority population’s well-being and rights

\u3ci\u3eDrosophila\u3c/i\u3e Muller F Elements Maintain a Distinct Set of Genomic Properties Over 40 Million Years of Evolution

The Muller F element (4.2 Mb, ~80 protein-coding genes) is an unusual autosome of Drosophila melanogaster; it is mostly heterochromatic with a low recombination rate. To investigate how these properties impact the evolution of repeats and genes, we manually improved the sequence and annotated the genes on the D. erecta, D. mojavensis, and D. grimshawi F elements and euchromatic domains from the Muller D element. We find that F elements have greater transposon density (25–50%) than euchromatic reference regions (3–11%). Among the F elements, D. grimshawi has the lowest transposon density (particularly DINE-1: 2% vs. 11–27%). F element genes have larger coding spans, more coding exons, larger introns, and lower codon bias. Comparison of the Effective Number of Codons with the Codon Adaptation Index shows that, in contrast to the other species, codon bias in D. grimshawi F element genes can be attributed primarily to selection instead of mutational biases, suggesting that density and types of transposons affect the degree of local heterochromatin formation. F element genes have lower estimated DNA melting temperatures than D element genes, potentially facilitating transcription through heterochromatin. Most F element genes (~90%) have remained on that element, but the F element has smaller syntenic blocks than genome averages (3.4–3.6 vs. 8.4–8.8 genes per block), indicating greater rates of inversion despite lower rates of recombination. Overall, the F element has maintained characteristics that are distinct from other autosomes in the Drosophila lineage, illuminating the constraints imposed by a heterochromatic milieu