Children as the Symptom Bearers: Supporting South Asian Families through School Interventions

This paper will focus on the interface of school, children, families and mental health support for South Asian immigrant children and adolescents in a Quebec context. South Asian students have often been considered a model minority with strong educational achievement. South Asian culture inherently has both protective factors and dissonances with mainstream culture, which often places a burden of cultural negotiation on children and youth. A few clinical vignettes will outline some of the complexities of the ethical, identity, social and mental health agendas that are vital to a discourse on the school as a factor in these negotiations of children and adolescents. While the rates of self referral by South Asian families seeking child mental health services remain low, the school as well as social services are often the social institutions promoting mental health intervention. In this context, school staff and counselors may need to build on cultural competencies to deal with increasing culturally diverse school populations. In addition, current South Asian immigrant and refugee populations in schools may have significant pre-immigrant trauma whether from circumstances of poverty, social, domestic or war related causes as demographics of migration are changing. The social realities of Quebec (Bouchard G. et Taylor, C 2008) have also changed as the priorities of language assimilation are promoted to create a cohesive society while the social space seeks to balance an equitable place for minority cultures and influences. Schools are implicated in this socio-psychological dynamic of dealing with increasing immigrant populations from origins outside Europe or North America while they promote both academics and student resilience. Cet article visera sur l’interface de l’appui scolaire, infantile, familial et santé mentale disponible pour les enfants et adolescents d’immigrants d’Asie du Sud, dans le contexte québécois. Les étudiants Sud-Asiatique sont souvent considérés comme un modèle de minorité ayant de forts résultats scolaires. La culture sud-asiatique possède et des facteurs conservateurs et des dissonances par rapport à la culture dominante, ce qui souvent pèse lourd sur les enfants et les jeunes dans leur négociation culturelle. Quelques vignettes cliniques souligneront quelques-unes des complexités des programmes d’éthique, d’identité, de société et de santé mentale, qui sont vitaux pour tout discours sur l’école comme facteur dans ces négociations d’enfants et d’adolescents. Quoique le taux de familles sud-asiatiques ayant, d’eux-mêmes, recours aux services de santé mentale pour enfant, reste bas, l’école ainsi que les services sociaux sont souvent les institutions sociales qui encouragent les interventions en santé mentale. Dans ce contexte, le personnel scolaire et les conseillers devraient développer des compétences culturelles afin de gérer la croissante d’une population scolaire culturellement diversifiée. De plus, les actuels immigrants Sud-Asiatiques et la population de réfugiés peuvent très bien souffrir de significatifs traumatismes pré-migration, quelque soit les circonstances dues à la pauvreté, aux effets sociaux, domestiques ou liés à la guerre étant donné que les démographies migratoires changent. Les réalités sociales de Québec (Bouchard, G. et Taylor, C., 2008) changent aussi, autant que les priorités accordées à l’assimilation langagière sont promues afin de créer une société unie pendant que le milieu sociale cherche à équilibrer un espace équitable pour les cultures et les influences des minorités. Les écoles sont impliquées dans cette dynamique socio-psychologique qui gère un nombre croissant d’immigrants venant de pays autres que l’Europe et l’Amérique du Nord, tout en encourageant, et le travail scolaire, et l’ajustement personnel de l’élève

Re-bordering Immigrant and Refugee Identities in Quebec’s Multicultural Society: The Case of South Asian (SA) Youth

Re-bordering is an aspect of globalization. Borders have become impervious to national, political and even cultural boundaries. All regions of the world are permeable to political, economic, cultural, social, environmental and epidemic factors. People’s identities and identifications are no longer seen as being stable and fixed, but rather- they are constantly in a state of flux. Canada is a country of immigrants and the last census (2006) put the number of visible minority people at 16.20% of a population of nearly 34 million people (Statistics Canada, 2007). Canada is known as a country with a broad immigration policy and one of the top destinations for immigrants. Canada is also seen as a leader in refugee protection and ranks first among the G8 major industrialized countries in the number of refugee status claimants per capita of its population. In 2001, the Immigration Act of 1976 was replaced by the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) (Bill-11), at which point Canada began to accept approximately 25,000 refugees a year. OECD figures indicate that in 2008, 34,800 people sought asylum in Canada. Since 9/11 there has been a significant change in how cultural and religious minorities, especially those from certain parts of the world, are viewed. People from South Asia 1 more if they are identifiable as Muslims – are viewed with suspicion. Globalization and international migration, as well as refugees from the wars in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka2 have been bringing people from the sub-continent of India to Western countries in larger numbers than ever before. South Asians (SAs) are the largest source of immigration in Canada, and in fact, one of the fastest growing immigrant groups in North America. This trend is not likely to change given the need for immigrants for a graying population and a below sustainable birthrate. Many SAs come to Quebec which has around 80,000 people with origins in the sub-continent, and they are mainly concentrated in Montreal. “Retracer les frontières ” est un aspect de la globalisation. A travers les frontières, les bornes nationales, politiques et même culturelles sont devenues imperméables. Toutes les régions du monde sont perméables aux facteurs politiques, économiques, culturels, sociaux, environnementaux et épidémiques. Les notions d’identités et d’identifications du genre humain ne sont, désormais, plus considérées comme étant stables et fixes, mais plutôt sont-elles constamment en état de fluctuation. Le Canada est un pays d’immigrants, et le dernier recensement (2006) a avancé le nombre des minorités visibles à 16,20% d’une population de près de 34 millions d’habitants (Statistics Canada, 2007). Le Canada est reconnu comme un pays ayant une vaste politique migratoire et est l’une des destinations préférées des immigrants. Le Canada est également perçu comme un leader dans la protection des réfugiés et occupe la première place parmi les grands pays industrialisés du G8, dans le nombre des revendicateurs du statut de réfugié et par habitant dans sa population. En 2001, la Loi sur l’Immigration de 1976 a été remplacée par la Loi sur l’Immigration et la Protection des Réfugiés (LIPR) (Projet de loi-11), à un tel point que le Canada a commencé à accepter environs 25 000 réfugiés par an. Les données de l’OECD indiquent qu’en 2008, 34 800 personnes ont cherché asile au Canada. Depuis le 11 Septembre, un changement significatif a été constaté dans la manière dont les minorités culturelles et religieuses, particulièrement celles qui proviennent de certaines parties du monde, sont perçues. Les habitants d’Asie du Sud, davantage s’ils sont Musulmans, sont regardés avec suspicion. La globalisation et la migration internationale, ainsi que les réfugiés des guerres en Afghanistan et au Sri Lanka, ont entraîné des gens en plus grand nombre que jamais, du souscontinent de l’Inde vers les pays occidentaux. Les Sud-Asiatiques (SA) représentent la source la plus importante de l’immigration canadienne, et en fait, l’un des groupes d’immigrants à la croissance rapide, en Amérique du Nord. Cette tendance n’est pas susceptible de changer, compte tenu de la nécessité des immigrants pour compenser à une population vieillissante et à un taux de naissance en dessous de la moyenne. Beaucoup de SA vont au Québec qui compte environ 80 000 habitants originaires du sous-continent, et ils sont principalement concentrés à Montréal

Characterization of Alkylation Repair and Comparison to Other Stress-Inducible Phenomenon in Drosophila.

Drosophila melanogaster employs methyltransferase protein(s) to repair lesions in alkylated DNA in vitro (Green and Deutsch, 1983). This investigation deals with the characterization of the methyltransferase protein(s), and their inducibility in the organism upon exposure to alkylating agents. Ammonium sulfate fractionation of crude extracts from pupae resulted in the enrichment (approximately 15-fold in both the 50% and 30% ammonium sulfate supernatants) of the methyltransferase activity(s). Proteins with molecular weights of 30 Kd and 19 Kd were evident by SDS-PAGE analysis of crude extracts; the 30 Kd and 19 Kd could be separated in the 50% ammonium sulfate supernatant and 30% ammonium sulfate supernatant fractions, respectively. Attempts to purify the protein(s) by a variety of procedures was unsuccessful, and procedures to induce the activity were initiated. Ovaries exposed to alkylating, and other DNA-damaging agents, resulted in the induction of new proteins, with an overall decrease in the number of constitutively expressed proteins. The alklator N-methyl-N\sp\prime-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine induced three new proteins which overlap with the 70 Kd heat shock proteins, and others at 26 Kd and 24 Kd which overlap with the small molecular weight heat shock proteins. Hydrogen peroxide, 4-NQO, and sodium bisulfite also induce a set of similar proteins. Other differences between alkylating agents and other DNA-damaging agents are discussed. The Drosophila methyltransferase protein(s) transfer the methyl group to a cysteine residue, which is demonstrated by the generation of S-methylcysteine as the end product of a methyltransferase reaction. Crude extracts from control, 0.6 pM, and 6.0 pM MNNG-exposed samples showed cross-reacting material at 30 Kd and 17 Kd, using an antibody directed toward the MT 19 Kd protein of Escherichia coli, thus demonstrating that the protein is highly conserved through evolution. These observations indicate that Drosophila repairs alkyl base modifications from DNA by employing methyltransferase proteins with a mechanism similar to that in Escherichia coli. However, the Drosophila methyltransferase protein scavenges N\sp7mG and N\sp3mA in addition to O\sp6mG. The induction of a common set of proteins by DNA-damaging agents or stress suggests that Drosophila, and perhaps other eucaryotes, possess a DNA damage-inducible regulon which encodes proteins to counter cell damage

Children of War: Quebec’s Social Policy Response to Children and Their Families

Canada has signed the Optional Protocol of the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict that obligates signatories to ensure assistance and support to war-affected children’s physical and psychological recovery as well as their social reintegration. In light of this obligation, the paper reviews the most recent policies related to immigrants and refugees of four Quebec (Canada) ministries, with particular attention to the frameworks underpinning these policies and practices in order to explore how the needs of refugee children are conceptualised and how these same conceptualisations orient the action plans. Miller and Rasmussen’s (2010) psychosocial/trauma integrative model is used as a benchmark to assess whether and how policies integrate considerations from both psychosocial and trauma focused conceptual models. The analysis suggests that all four ministries adopt a psychosocial focus but that none directly mention the impact of war, potential trauma or pre-migratory experiences on children’s reintegration or resettlement. There seems to be a divide and a lack of coherence in the goals and underlying philosophies of the action plans of the different ministries, most likely in part related to their differences in mandate. Indeed, the Ministry of Health and Social Services emphasizes individual and family wellbeing, while the Ministry of Education prioritizes citizenship and the development of Quebec. Potential implications of these policy orientations for children having been exposed to war living in the Quebec context are discussed

Historical Scientific Racism and Psychiatric Publications: A Necessary International Anti-racist Code of Ethics

Ethical aspects of publishing in scientific journals are an important issue addressed since the late 1970s by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (1978). Today, medical journals also benefit from other international organizations’ recommendations such as the Committee on Publication Ethics, World Association of Medical Editors, and World Health Organization (WHO). These international best practices guidelines cover various ethical issues related to integrity in research, authorship, conflicts of interest, and so on

Transhumanism in India: Past, Present and the Future

The Indian subcontinent has a particularly rich cultural heritage, which has a certain level of natural compatibility with the transhumanist ... Chapter 56: Transhumanism in India: Past, Present and the Future 56.1 Transhumanism in Ancient India

Um roteiro-memória-reflexão sobre os catorze anos de prática médica e teatral comunitária: do Hospício do Engenho de Dentro ao Teatro-Clínica Dyonises

En un guion de escritura autobiográfica performativa, contamos las historias que nos llevaron a desarrollar la experiencia en teatro y psiquiatría transcultural en el hospital psiquiátrico público más antiguo de Brasil. Esta experiencia tuvo la contribución de maestros de la ciencia y el arte brasileños hasta la constitución del Teatro-Clínica de DyoNises y del Hotel de la Locura, además de la colaboración metodológica de autores brasileños e internacionales.Num roteiro de escrita performativa autobiográfica, relatamos as histórias que nos levaram a desenvolver experiência de teatro e psiquiatria transcultural no mais antigo hospício público brasileiro. Essa experiência teve a contribuição de mestres da ciência e da arte brasileiras até a constituição do Teatro-Clínica DyoNises e do Hotel da Loucura, além da colaboração metodológica de autores brasileiros e internacionais.In a performative autobiographical writing script, we tell the stories that led us to develop experience in transcultural theater and psychiatry in the oldest public asylum in Brazil. This experience had the contributions of Brazilian masters of science and art until the constitution of the TheaterClinic of DyoNises and the Madness Hotel, in addition to the methodological collaboration of Brazilian and international authors

The Ino80 chromatin-remodeling complex restores chromatin structure during UV DNA damage repair

Ino80 facilitates restoration of nucleosome structure during NER-mediated repair of UV-induced lesions