Enhancing Self-Awareness: A Practical Strategy to Train Culturally Responsive Social Work Students.

A primary goal of social justice educators is to engage students in a process of self-discovery, with the goal of helping them recognize their own biases, develop empathy, and become better prepared for culturally responsive practice. While social work educators are mandated with the important task of training future social workers in culturally responsive practice with diverse populations, practical strategies on how to do so are scant. This article introduces a teaching exercise, the Ethnic Roots Assignment, which has been shown qualitatively to aid students in developing self-awareness, a key component of culturally competent social work practice.

Exploring the Relationship between Self-Awareness and Student Commitment and Understanding of Culturally Responsive Social Work Practice.

This study explores the relationship between self-awareness and social work students' commitment and understanding of culturally responsive social work practice. Data consisted of assigned papers (N = 23), submitted by graduate social work students, which asked them to describe their ethnic/racial background and ancestors' process of assimilation, and to reflect on their ethnic and racial identity as a means toward increased self-awareness and future culturally responsive practice. Content analysis revealed 11 themes, including students' enlightenment of their privilege, experiences of cultural loss, and acknowledgment of biases as integral parts of culturally responsive practice.

Enzyme-assisted synthesis and structural characterization of pure benzodiazepine glucuronide epimers.

The three hydroxybenzodiazepines oxazepam, temazepam, and lorazepam used for their anxiolytic, sedative, and anticonvulsant properties are metabolized by glucuronidation, which is the predominant pathway in the clearance mechanism of exogenous and endogenous substances during phase II metabolism. The aim of this study was the synthesis of benzodiazepine-O-glucuronides as analytical reference substances. All benzodiazepines are prescribed clinically as racemic formulations.

Keeping families engaged: the effects of home-based family therapy enhanced with experiential activities.

Engagement of high-risk adolescents and their families in treatment is a considerable challenge for service providers and agencies. Despite its importance, little research has been conducted that explores this important treatment process. To address this gap, a test of an innovative method to improve engagement in family therapy was undertaken.

Quality improvement and accreditation: what might it look like?

Following the 2006 release of the Exploring Accreditation Project report on the desirability and feasibility of establishing a national voluntary public health accreditation program, the Public Health Accreditation Board was established. Since that time, standards, measures, and an assessment process have been developed. Beta testing of the full accreditation cycle is underway.

Breaking the code: Ca2+ sensors in plant signalling.

Ca2+ ions play a vital role as second messengers in plant cells during various developmental processes and in response to environmental stimuli. Plants have evolved a diversity of unique proteins that bind Ca2+ using the evolutionarily conserved EF-hand motif. The currently held hypothesis is that these proteins function as Ca2+ sensors by undergoing conformational changes in response to Ca2+-binding that facilitate their regulation of target proteins and thereby co-ordinate various signalling pathways.

Endocannabinoid signaling is required for development and critical period plasticity of the whisker map in somatosensory cortex.

Type 1 cannabinoid (CB1) receptors mediate widespread synaptic plasticity, but how this contributes to systems-level plasticity and development in vivo is unclear. We tested whether CB1 signaling is required for development and plasticity of the whisker map in rat somatosensory cortex. Treatment with the CB1 antagonist AM251 during an early critical period for layer (L) 2/3 development (beginning postnatal day [P] 12-16) disrupted whisker map development, leading to inappropriate whisker tuning in L2/3 column edges and a blurred map.

A comparison of addiction and transience among street youth: Los Angeles, California, Austin, Texas, and St. Louis, Missouri.

The purpose of this study was to compare measures of addiction and transience among street youth in three disparate urban areas: Los Angeles, California; Austin, Texas; and St. Louis, Missouri. Street youth from Los Angeles (n = 50), Austin (n = 50) and St.

Development of a markerless genetic exchange system for Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough and its use in generating a strain with increased transformation efficiency.

In recent years, the genetic manipulation of the sulfate-reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough has seen enormous progress. In spite of this progress, the current marker exchange deletion method does not allow for easy selection of multiple sequential gene deletions in a single strain because of the limited number of selectable markers available in D. vulgaris.

Organ recipients suffering from undifferentiated neuroendocrine small-cell carcinoma of donor origin: a case report.

Background: Transmission of donor-derived cancer by organ transplantation is rare, but the risk has been increasing due to the aging donor pool. Undifferentiated neuroendocrine small-cell carcinoma is an aggressive tumor with the tendency to spread. Herein we have demonstrated different approaches to treat organ recipients with transmitted tumors.

Donor CD4 T cells convert mixed to full donor T-cell chimerism and replenish the CD52-positive T-cell pool after alemtuzumab-based T-cell-depleted allo-transplantation.

Donor lymphocyte infusions (DLI) are used to resolve mixed T-cell chimerism (TCC) after allo-SCT despite a substantial risk of GVHD. We analyzed the impact of prophylactic CD8-depleted (CD8(depl)) DLI in 20 recipients of anti-CD52 alemtuzumab in vivo T-cell-depleted allografts with declining donor TCC after day +60. A total of 13 patients received CD8(depl) DLI and 7 patients did not.

Is employment associated with reduced recidivism?: the complex relationship between employment and crime.

This article explores the association between employment and recidivism for parolees released from Texas prisons. Along with determining whether obtaining employment on release from prison is associated with decreased odds of reincarceration, this article analyzes whether obtaining employment is associated with increased time to reincarceration. Proportional hazard models were used to examine the effect of employment on reincarceration over time.

Differential binding of Co(II) and Zn(II) to metallo-beta-lactamase Bla2 from Bacillus anthracis.

In an effort to probe the structure, mechanism, and biochemical properties of metallo-beta-lactamase Bla2 from Bacillus anthracis, the enzyme was overexpressed, purified, and characterized. Metal analyses demonstrated that recombinant Bla2 tightly binds 1 equiv of Zn(II). Steady-state kinetic studies showed that mono-Zn(II) Bla2 (1Zn-Bla2) is active, while di-Zn(II) Bla2 (ZnZn-Bla2) was unstable.

Dendritic calcium channels and their activation by synaptic signals in auditory coincidence detector neurons.

The avian nucleus laminaris (NL) encodes the azimuthal location of low-frequency sound sources by detecting the coincidence of binaural signals. Accurate coincidence detection requires precise developmental regulation of the lengths of the fine, bitufted dendrites that characterize neurons in NL. Such regulation has been suggested to be driven by local, synaptically mediated, dendritic signals such as Ca(2+).

CTLA-4 CT60 polymorphism in thyroid and polyglandular autoimmunity.

Autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITDs) frequently occur together with other endocrine autoimmune conditions, denominated as polyglandular autoimmunity (PGA). The cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4) gene was recently associated with AITD and PGA, and the CTLA-4 protein is a strong inhibitor of T-cells.The tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is a proinflammatory cytokine.

Study of cellulases from a newly isolated thermophilic and cellulolytic Brevibacillus sp. strain JXL.

A potentially novel aerobic, thermophilic, and cellulolytic bacterium designated as Brevibacillus sp. strain JXL was isolated from swine waste. Strain JXL can utilize a broad range of carbohydrates including: cellulose, carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), xylan, cellobiose, glucose, and xylose.

Adenovirus-mediated delivery of short hairpin RNA (shRNA) mediates efficient gene silencing in terminally differentiated cardiac myocytes.

RNA interference (RNAi) represents the most frequently utilized technique to analyze proteins by loss of function assays. Protein synthesis is impaired by sequence-specific degradation of mRNA, which is triggered by short (19-28 nt) silencing RNAs (siRNA). Efficient gene silencing using RNAi has been demonstrated in numerous cell lines and primary cultured cells.

Overexpression of the malate-aspartate NADH shuttle member Aralar1 in the clonal beta-cell line BRIN-BD11 enhances amino-acid-stimulated insulin secretion and cell metabolism.

In the present study, we have investigated the effects of the transduction with recombinant adenovirus AdCA-Aralar1 (aspartate-glutamate carrier 1) on the metabolism, function and secretory properties of the glucose- and amino-acid-responsive clonal insulin-secreting cell line BRIN-BD11. Aralar1 overexpression increased long-term (24 h) and acute (20 min) glucose- and amino-acid-stimulated insulin secretion, cellular glucose metabolism, L-alanine and L-glutamine consumption, cellular ATP and glutamate concentrations, and stimulated glutamate release. However, cellular triacylglycerol and glycogen contents were decreased as was lactate production.

Axon initial segment Ca2+ channels influence action potential generation and timing.

Although action potentials are typically generated in the axon initial segment (AIS), the timing and pattern of action potentials are thought to depend on inward current originating in somatodendritic compartments. Using two-photon imaging, we show that T- and R-type voltage-gated Ca(2+) channels are colocalized with Na(+) channels in the AIS of dorsal cochlear nucleus interneurons and that activation of these Ca(2+) channels is essential to the generation and timing of action potential bursts known as complex spikes. During complex spikes, where Na(+)-mediated spikelets fire atop slower depolarizing conductances, selective block of AIS Ca(2+) channels delays spike timing and raises spike threshold.

Gibberellin biosynthesis in bacteria: separate ent-copalyl diphosphate and ent-kaurene synthases in Bradyrhizobium japonicum.

Gibberellins are ent-kaurene-derived diterpenoid phytohormones produced by plants, fungi, and bacteria. The distinct gibberellin biosynthetic pathways in plants and fungi are known, but not that in bacteria. Plants typically use two diterpene synthases to form ent-kaurene, while fungi use only a single bifunctional diterpene synthase.

The protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 22 C1858T polymorphism is a joint susceptibility locus for immunthyroiditis and autoimmune diabetes.

Background: The lymphoid tyrosine phosphatase (LYP) encoded by the protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 22 (PTPN22) gene is a strong inhibitor of T cells. The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) C1858T within the PTPN22 gene was recently associated with autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) and type I diabetes (T1D). The purpose of this study was to examine the joint association of this polymorphism with the co-occurrence of AITD and T1D.

New alleles and mutational events at 14 STR loci from different German populations.

The molecular origin of DNA mutations and the mutation rates were analyzed at 14 short tandem repeat (STR) loci with samples from trio cases derived from 10 different German population samples. STR loci comprised of D2S1360, D3S1744, D4S2366, D5S2500, D6S474, D7S1517, D8S1132, D10S2325, D12S391, D18S51, D19S246, D20S480, D21S226, and D22S689. In a total of 488 meioses, 16 isolated genetic inconsistencies in 8 different STRs were observed, whereas no mutations were found at the other loci.

Fidelity of complex spike-mediated synaptic transmission between inhibitory interneurons.

Complex spikes are high-frequency bursts of Na+ spikes, often riding on a slower Ca2+-dependent waveform. Although complex spikes may propagate into axons, given their unusual shape it is not clear how reliably these bursts reach nerve terminals, whether their spikes are efficiently transmitted as a cluster of postsynaptic responses, or what function is served by such a concentrated postsynaptic signal. We examined these questions by recording from synaptically coupled pairs of cartwheel cells, neurons which fire complex spikes and form an inhibitory network in the dorsal cochlear nucleus.

Runaway and pregnant: risk factors associated with pregnancy in a national sample of runaway/homeless female adolescents.

Purpose: Homeless youth are at particularly high risk for teen pregnancy; research indicates as many as 20% of homeless young women become pregnant. These pregnant and homeless teens lack financial resources and adequate health care, resulting in increased risk for low-birth-weight babies and high infant mortality. This study investigated individual and family-level predictors of teen pregnancy among a national sample of runaway/homeless youth in order to better understand the needs of this vulnerable population.

G protein-activated (GIRK) current in rat ventricular myocytes is masked by constitutive inward rectifier current (I(K1)).

Inwardly-rectifying K+ channel subunits are not homogenously expressed in different cardiac tissues. In ventricular myocytes (VM) the background current-voltage relation is dominated by I(K1), carried by channels composed of Kir2.x subunits, which is less important in atrial myocytes (AM).