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The oral cavity contains a vast array of microbes that contribute to the balance between oral health and disease. In addition, oral bacteria can gain access to the circulation and contribute to other diseases and chronic conditions. There are a limited number of publications available regarding the comparative lipidomics of oral bacteria and fungi involved in the construction of oral biofilms, hence our decision to study the lipidomics of representative oral bacteria and a fungus. We performed high-resolution mass spectrometric analyses (<2.0 ppm mass error) of the lipidomes from five Gram-positive commensal bacteria: Streptococcus oralis, Streptococcus intermedius, Streptococcus mitis, Streptococcus sanguinis, and Streptococcus gordonii; five Gram-positive opportunistic bacteria: Streptococcus mutans, Staphylococcus epidermis, Streptococcus acidominimus, Actinomyces viscosus, and Nanosynbacter lyticus; seven Gram-negative opportunistic bacteria: Porphyromonas gingivalis. Prevotella brevis, Proteus vulgaris, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Veillonella parvula, Treponema denticola, and Alkermansia muciniphila; and one fungus: Candida albicans. Our mass spectrometric analytical platform allowed for a detailed evaluation of the many structural modifications made by microbes for the three major lipid scaffolds: glycerol, sphingosine and fatty acyls of hydroxy fatty acids (FAHFAs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education research increasingly conceptualizes how social interactions and contexts of public schools replicate practices found in prisons. Yet prison-schooling is often left out of education research. Concurrently, prison-schooling is where we educate a disproportionate amount of multiply marginalized youth, specifically disabled Girls of Color. The lack of attention to prison-schools has limited how teaching in youth carceral facilities can be examined for its challenges and supports of disabled Girls of Color. Centering the girls' words from class observations, field notes, and interviews, this study describes and intervenes in dehumanizing and (de)socializing mechanisms in prison-school education. We explore attempts and impacts of countering prison-school education through a sociocritical literacy course infused with an abolitionist praxis. We end with discussion on the limits of countering prison-school through courses alone, suggesting abolition across multiple scales instead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Coalition of Asian American Associations (CAAA) and Asian American Coalition for Education (AACE), two small but vocal groups of Asian Americans, have argued against affirmative action practices. One of their more prominent claims is that Asian American applicants who are not accepted and do not attend their first-choice colleges face a multitude of negative consequences, a claim that has become the impetus for the current U.S. Department of Justice's investigation into the college admissions process at a number of universities. This study empirically tests the claims made by CAAA and AACE with particular attention to the differences in Asian American student outcomes, relative to their college admissions and choice decisions. Our findings indicate a limited, if any, statistical difference between Asian American groups that attend differing choice institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how illness narratives are used in medical education and their implications for clinicians' thinking and care of patients. Ideally, collecting and reading illness narratives can enhance clinicians' sensitivity and contextual thinking. And yet these narratives have become part of institutionalizing cultural competency requirements in ways that tend to favor standardization. Stereotyping and reductionistic thinking can result from these pedagogic approaches and obscure structural inequities. We end by asking how we might best teach and read illness narratives to fulfill the ethical obligations of listening and asking more informative clinical interview questions that can better meet the needs of patients and the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Operating since 1994, the UCSD Moores Cancer Center's Asian Grocery Store-Based Cancer Education Program (the Program) is a proven and sustainable strategy for disseminating cancer and poison control information to Asian and Pacific Islander (API) communities. This paper describes the process taken to identify health topics that can be readily addressed within the Program's infrastructure and reports results of the pilot testing of the educational module that was developed by following that process. The development of each new module is guided by the Health Belief Model and the Tipping Point Model. The process starts with the selection of a health topic demonstrating pressing need and treatment options in the API community. Then, using the Pareto principle, reasonably modifiable risk factors are chosen to be addressed in the module. "Sticky messaging" for the modifiable risk factors is developed to package the health information as memorable and transmissible calls-to-action. Finally, grocery store outreaches were used to pilot test the new module to assess its effectiveness at facilitating health care information to API community members. By adhering to the steps described in this paper, the authors were able to: (1) select liver cancer as a pressing API health issue that could be positively impacted by the Program; (2) identify reasonably modifiable risk factors for the chosen health issue; (3) generate compelling call-to-action messages to decrease risk of exposure; and (4) demonstrate the cultural and linguistic alignment of the liver cancer control module. The development and testing of new health education modules follow a methodical process guided by scientific principles. Understanding and employing the elements of an existing evidence-based and sustainable health education program can increase the likelihood of success in addressing the health needs of the API community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In skeletal muscle, the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) phosphatase-1 (MKP-1) is a critical negative regulator of the MAPKs. Since the MAPKs have been reported to be both positive and negative for myogenesis, the physiological role of MKP-1 in skeletal muscle repair and regeneration has remained unclear. Here, we show that MKP-1 plays an essential role in adult regenerative myogenesis. In a cardiotoxin-induced muscle injury model, lack of MKP-1 impaired muscle regeneration. In mdx mice, MKP-1 deficiency reduced body weight, muscle mass, and muscle fiber cross-sectional area. In addition, MKP-1-deficient muscles exhibit exacerbated myopathy accompanied by increased inflammation. Lack of MKP-1 compromised myoblast proliferation and induced precocious differentiation, phenotypes that were rescued by pharmacological inhibition of p38α/Β MAPK. MKP-1 coordinates both myoblast proliferation and differentiation. Mechanistically, MyoD bound to the MKP-1 promoter and activated MKP-1 expression in proliferating myoblasts. Later, during myogenesis, MyoD uncoupled from the MKP-1 promoter leading to the down-regulation of MKP-1 and facilitation of promyogenic p38α/Β MAPK signaling. Hence, MKP-1 plays a critical role in muscle stem cells and in the immune response to coordinate muscle repair and regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Induction of immunologic tolerance is highly desirable in the treatment and prevention of allergy and other immune disease states in which the immune response to foreign or self antigens has become overactive. Indoleamine-2, 3-dioxygenase (IDO), an enzyme classically known for its role in the tryptophan degradation pathway, has recently emerged as an important immunomodulator of T-cell function and inducer of tolerance. The induced expression of IDO by dendritic cells may suppress T-cell responses and promote tolerance either through direct effects on T cells (mediated by tryptophan depletion or tryptophan metabolites) or through effects of IDO on the dendritic cell. In addition to the potential role of IDO in promoting tolerance in pregnancy, transplantation, and autoimmunity, its role in modulating allergic responses has more recently been investigated, raising the possibility that IDO and its metabolites may be novel targets for immunomodulation in allergy and asthma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population hand preferences are rare in nonhuman primates, but individual hand preferences are consistent over a lifetime and considered to reflect an individual's preference to use a particular hemisphere when engaged in a specific task. Previous findings in marmosets have indicated that left‐handed individuals tend to be more fearful than their right‐handed counterparts. Based on these findings, we tested the hypotheses that left‐handed marmosets are (a) more reactive to a social stressor and (b) are slower than right‐handed marmosets in acquiring a reversal learning task. We examined the hand preference of 27 male and female marmosets (ages of 4–7 years old) previously tested in a social separation task and a reversal learning task. Hand preference was determined via a simple reaching task. In the social separation task, monkeys were separated from their partner and the colony for a single 7‐hr session. Urinary cortisol levels and behavior were assessed at baseline, during the separation and 24 hr postseparation. Hand preferences were equally distributed between left (n = 10), right‐handed (n = 10), and ambidextrous (n = 7) individuals. The separation phase was associated with an increase in cortisol levels and behavioral changes that were similar across handedness groups. However, cortisol levels at baseline were positively correlated with right‐handedness, and this relationship was stronger in females than in males. In addition, the occurrence of social behaviors (pre‐ and postseparation) was positively correlated with right‐handedness in both sexes. Baseline cortisol levels did not correlate significantly with social behavior. Acquisition of the reversals was poorer in females than males but did not differ as a function of handedness. We conclude that (a) both stress reactivity and cognitive flexibility are similar across handedness groups and (b) left‐handers exhibit less social behavior and have lower basal cortisol levels than ambidextrous and right‐handed subjects. The underlying causes for these differences remain to be established. Research Highlights: We tested the hypothesis that left‐handed marmosets are more reactive to a social stressor and are slower than right‐handed marmosets in acquiring a reversal learning task.Neither cortisol levels during the social stressor or cognitive performance differed as a function of handedness.Basal cortisol was positively correlated with right‐handedness in females.Social interactions with a partner increased with right‐handedness in both sexes.Higher basal cortisol and female sex independently predicted poorer cognitive performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]