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Early interventionists may frequently encounter ethical dilemmas due to the complex nature of early intervention (EI) service delivery (e.g., EI system infrastructure and building and sustaining collaborative relationships within the system). Therefore, the purpose of this research study was to explore the experiences of EI professionals related to ethical dilemmas. We used a sequential mixed methods design to first survey professionals about their experiences with ethical dilemmas (n = 427). Then, we interviewed a smaller sample (n = 45) to learn about early interventionists (EIs) experiences with ethics, including their constructed meanings of ethical dilemmas, the types of ethical dilemmas they have experienced, and their experiences and processes navigating ethical dilemmas. Results show that EI professionals define ethical dilemmas differently, which influences what they view as a dilemma and how they problem solve. Additionally, professionals identified the need for support and guidelines related to ethical dilemmas.

Within its short history as an institution and as a site of multilayered display and examination, the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) has presented critical opportunities for the consideration of Native American art and material culture. Because NMAI is located at an important intersection between its audience of Native and non-Native individuals; its responsibility to Native communities and Native history; and its place within the Smithsonian Institution, it must strive toward complex, multifaceted goals and acknowledge Native and non-Native interests. To demonstrate these complexities, I examine one of NMAI’s recent exhibit projects, Listening to Our Ancestors: The Art of Native Life along the North Pacific Coast, in an effort to tease out the aesthetic and cultural composition of Native objects as perceived and promoted by Native and non-Native museum staff and Native community consultants. I review the operating philosophy and mission of NMAI and follow with a discussion of the object selection and presentation involved in Listening to Our Ancestors, an exhibit of which I was a museum-based cocurator and on which I have an intimate working perspective. I aim to add to our understanding of the different approaches to visualizing and displaying culture through this firsthand account of exhibit development and display at NMAI.

This essay centers the lived experiences of protagonist Dr. Eva Grace as a bisexual Black female Assistant Professor navigating identity politics and power dynamics at a traditionally and predominantly White institution. Theoretically anchored by Black feminist thought coupled with critical race theory's composite counterstorytelling as method, Dr. Grace's pre-tenure experiences reflect the mundane nature of systemic oppressions in the everyday lives of multiplicatively, marginalized faculty. Accompanying Dr. Grace during an ordinary work week reveals the complexity of: resisting the imposition of domination; experiencing uncertainty, fear, and frustration; establishing work/life balance; and exhaustion--all in the context of working in academia and pursuing promotion and tenure as a first-generation degree earner in her family.

Driven by critical race theory, this essay employs composite counterstorytelling to narrate the experiences of black male faculty on traditionally white campuses. Situated at the intersections of race and gender, our composite counterstory is richly informed by 11 interviews with black male faculty alongside critical race scholarship that documents the omnipresence of black misandric ideology. Through our protagonist Dr Timesnow, a black male Assistant Professor, we reflect on how his daily experiences incite racial battle fatigue, feed into imposter syndrome, and circumvent an inclusive campus community.

In the article the editors expound the implication of the onsite decision by the National Communication Association (NCA) staff leadership to censor Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb's speech at the 2023 NCA convention on the value of academic freedom. Topics include the efforts of the editors being the first Black women editors of the journal to cultivate original scholarship, the political saga endured by Dr. Claudine Gay of Harvard University, and the move by the journal to publish Muhtaseb's speech.

Today, more than ever before, college educators are being asked to address diversity issues and to teach in ways that foster self-reflexivity and social consciousness. As the world becomes increasingly diverse at the intersections of age, gender, sexual orientation, class, region, religion, race, ethnicity, ability, and nationality, students need to be equipped with the knowledge and skills to engage in communication across multiple identity differences. To do so requires ample opportunities to learn about oppression and how the lived experiences of those who represent marginalized groups are affected by the systemic nature of dominant ideologies. Unfortunately, a wealth of research reveals that many students today are unaware of how systemic privilege and oppression affect their lives and the lives of others. This lack of awareness calls for prismatic diversity activities to help students unpack issues of oppression from a social justice perspective. Privilege Monopoly explores how forces of oppression are produced and reproduced in everyday life at micro and macro levels of society. The pre-game discussion, game, and debriefing sessions provide students with a rich opportunity to engage in learning and critical dialogue that highlight the intricate ways systemic oppression influences interactions and relationships. (Contains 2 notes.)

This study uses qualitative data from student Web logs (blogs) that were required for a graduate social work course addressing issues of privilege to examine the learning journey trajectory for students in a master's of social work program who participated in a single-identity caucus examining heterosexual privilege. The study includes reflections on the impact of the course on students' lives and social work practice that were gathered approximately 6 months after students had completed the course. What emerged was a five-stage learning journey that spans the resistance and redefinition phases of social identity development. (Contains 1 table.)

Due to their political power, the largest social media platforms are often compared to governments. Consequently, their unaccountability to the public has prompted widespread concern. This article examines two prominent responses in academic and policy debates, here characterised as the multistakeholderist and rule of law responses. The former aims to increase civil society influence in platform governance. The latter argues platforms should follow similar rule of law principles to public institutions. Neither response offers meaningful democratic accountability. Their 'tech exceptionalist' view of platforms as state-like entities focuses on regulating existing concentrations of power instead of structural reforms, and they largely overlook the role of state regulation in constituting corporate power. Neither considers substantially reforming today's privatised, highly-concentrated social media market. Consequently, they at best offer partial and unequal accountability. Instead, the article advocates reforms guided by an ideal of economic democracy, aiming to redistribute ownership and control of digital infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the journal is presented which discusses the state of Black women, Black girls and the media and affirms the motto "Lifting as we climb" by the National Association of Colored Women (NACW).

An introduction is presented in which the author discusses articles within the issue on topics including misinformation, disinformation and propaganda, media policy, nation-state censorship and surveillance capitalism, and interpersonal and family communication.

As cases of COVID-19 began to increase in Ontario, Canada, throughout 2020, early evidence from surveillance and media highlighted disproportionately higher rates of COVID-19 infection, hospitalization and mortality among racialized and low-income populations. This disproportionate impact on underserved populations calls for a shift in approach away from what has traditionally occurred in health protection, that is the use of a universal approach which assumes everyone is affected and benefits equally from the same type and intensity of interventions. In this article, public health agencies are, therefore, being called to consider moving away from using a purely universal approach, often used in the control of communicable diseases, and apply a more tailored approach and use principles of health equity and proportionate universalism to reduce COVID-19 cases and their impacts among underserved groups and address health inequities exacerbated by the pandemic. We highlight examples from York Region Public Health, one of the largest health units in Ontario, to demonstrate areas of possible impact of this paradigm shift. It is clear that with a health equity lens applied to the pandemic response, the impact of COVID-19 can be further reduced and health inequities that predated the global pandemic can improve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to question the dominance of human rights as the primary normative framework for European social media regulation, and academic research in this field. Analysing EU legislation and recent ECJ cases, it shows that issues like discriminatory content moderation, profiling, and promotion of stereotypes cannot adequately be addressed within a human rights framework. The centrality of individual rights in the EU legal regime not only fails to address collective issues, like platforms' influence on culture and social norms, but cannot even offer effective, equal protection to individuals. In policy debates, the depoliticised and individualistic language of human rights can legitimise corporate activities and downplay important questions about the political economy of this privatised, highly-concentrated, advertiser-funded industry. The paper also considers interpretations of human rights as structural conditions or collective values, and argues that they cannot fully overcome the limitations discussed here. Given the entrenched role of fundamental rights in EU law, critics of social media cannot avoid relying on them. However, academics should also seek to develop more explicitly political critiques, based on alternative normative visions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper critically assesses the regulation of social media recommendations in the EU's 2022 Digital Services Act (DSA), drawing on Sarah Banet-Weiser's economies of visibility theory. Banet-Weiser calls attention not only to injustices in the distribution of visibility between users, but also to the political implications of organising online media as an economy, in which individuals compete for visibility in a market structured by corporate platforms. DSA provisions on recommendations focus on enhancing user choice, protecting creators' market access, and encouraging technocratic responses to particular negative externalities, such as promotion of disinformation. Ultimately, then, the DSA aims to enhance the functioning of existing economies of visibility, rather than more fundamentally reforming a social media market in which visibility is allocated based on commercial value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bernese mountain dogs (BMDs), have an overall cancer incidence of 50%, half of which is comprised of an otherwise rare tumor, histiocytic sarcoma (HS). While recent studies have identified driver mutations in the MAPK pathway, identification of key predisposing genes has been elusive. Studies have identified several loci to be associated with predisposition to HS in BMDs, including near the MTAP/CDKN2A region, but no causative coding variant has been identified. Here we report the presence of a coding polymorphism in the gene encoding FANCG, near the MTAP/CDKN2A locus. This variant is in a conserved region of the protein and appears to be specific to BMDs. Canine fibroblasts derived from dogs homozygous for this variant are hypersensitive to cisplatin. We show this canine FANCG variant and a previously defined hypomorphic FANCG allele in humans impart similar defects in DNA repair. However, our data also indicate that this variant is neither necessary nor sufficient for the development of HS. Furthermore, BMDs homozygous for this FANCG allele display none of the characteristic phenotypes associated with Fanconi anemia (FA) such as anemia, short stature, infertility, or an earlier age of onset for HS. This is similar to findings in FA deficient mice, which do not develop overt FA without secondary genetic mutations that exacerbate the FA deficit. In sum, our data suggest that dogs with deficits in the FA pathway are, like mice, innately resistant to the development of FA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction There is growing interest to adopt pharmacogenetic (PGx) testing in psychiatric medicine, despite mixed views regarding its clinical utility. Nevertheless, providers are utilizing PGx testing among patients with mental health disorders. This study sought to assess genotyped patients' perspectives and experiences with psychiatric PGx testing. Methods Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted among patients with depression who had undergone psychiatric PGx testing. The audio-recorded interviews were transcribed and analyzed inductively and deductively for salient themes. Results Twenty patients (100% Caucasian, 60% female, mean age 39±18 years) were interviewed. The majority of the PGx tests were provider-initiated for patients who failed multiple pharmacotherapies (50%) and/or had medication intolerances (45%). Patients' pre-testing expectations ranged from hopefulness to indifference to skepticism. Their post-testing experiences varied from optimism to disappointment, with the perceived value of the test influenced by the results and cost of the test. Discussion Genotyped patients had mixed perspectives, expectations, and experiences with psychiatric PGx testing. Their perceived value of the test was influenced by the test outcomes and its cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critics and scholars alike hail Black Panther (2018) as a celebratory cinematic response to decades of racial injustice in Hollywood while also calling attention to popular culture's limited means to transform structural oppressions. Our Introduction to this themed issue explores the provocative tensions—between jubilation/disappointment, progress/retrogression, and reality/fantasy—that surround Black Panther. These tensions have animated the Black Panther franchise since its inception and continue to shape the character's cinematic rendering. Our interpretation of Black Panther as reformist yet simultaneously pernicious cinema is framed by paradoxical ideation not only as the core narrative device for the film and its comic antecedents, but also as the central feature of its mediated context—first as a product of Marvel Comics and now the Walt Disney Company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I theorize Rowan "Eli" Pope's performance of Black masculinity on Scandal as a portrayal of what Iton terms the "black fantastic" (Iton, 2008. In search of the Black fantastic: Politics and popular culture in the post civil-rights era. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, p. 16). As a Black fantastic character, Rowan represents a material improvement in televised representations of Black masculinity; however, his character is theorized as paradoxical because he remains always already entrapped by the Black male as beast caricature. Although Rowan's storylines and monologues do indeed refuse absolute foreclosure into the caricature—thereby signifying progressively deviant Black fantastic sensibilities (Iton, 2008)—ultimately his mitigated emancipation is dependent upon White male characters opposed to his own autonomy. As White male characters who lie, swindle, and murder, Fitzgerald Grant, Cyrus Beene, and Jake Ballard offer the primary assurance through scripted parallels that Rowan's evil is not inherent to his Black masculinity. Ergo, I argue that Rowan simultaneously transforms and stagnates the television landscape by challenging and legitimizing the Black male as beast caricature. While the steadily increasing visibility of Black fantastic characters across multiple media genres is commendable, ideologically catering to Whiteness does not reflect innovative twenty-first-century television. Rather, such practices are tired and cliché—even in Shondaland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on use of anti-intellectual, post-truth logics to discredit allegations of sexual violence to illustrate by U.S. President Donald Trump and how feminist communication scholars can craft accessible, culturally responsive, and societally pertinent work. It mentions corroborated allegations of sexual violence in 2016 U.S. presidential election and candidate Hillary Clinton on conspiratorial media.

Germany's 2017 NetzDG law is an example of 'new school speech regulation' (Balkin, 2014), which restricts speech by coercing intermediaries into censoring users, rather than coercing speakers directly. It is the first such measure which specifically targets hate speech on social media, by requiring large platforms to operate complaints procedures which ensure illegal content is rapidly removed. Numerous other countries have since adopted similar regulations, indicating that states increasingly turn to new school speech regulation as a regulatory strategy to tackle hate speech on social media. This paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of new school speech regulation in as a regulatory strategy to address online hate speech, taking NetzDG as a case study. A review of relevant empirical literature shows that many features of social media platforms actively promote or encourage hate speech. Key factors include algorithmic recommendations, which frequently promote hateful ideologies; social affordances which let users encourage or disseminate hate speech by others; anonymous, impersonal environments; and the absence of media 'gatekeepers'. In mandating faster content deletion, NetzDG only addresses the last of these, ignoring other relevant factors. Moreover, reliance on individual user complaints to trigger platforms' obligations means hate speech will often escape deletion. Interviews with relevant civil society organisations confirm these flaws of the NetzDG model. From their perspectives, NetzDG has had little impact on the prevalence or visibility of online hate speech, and its reporting mechanisms fail to help affected communities. NetzDG represents an incremental, narrow approach to a complex sociotechnical problem which requires more fundamental regulatory reform. In this regard, it shows the limitations of censorship-based new school speech regulation. Rules which assert state authority by prescribing censorship of narrowly-defined content categories are ill-suited to large-scale, networked, algorithmically-curated social media, where other governance mechanisms influence user behaviour more than content deletion. The paper advocates a more systemic and preventive regulatory approach. Platforms should be required to take public interest considerations into account in all design and governance processes, aiming to shape platform environments to actively discourage users from posting or viewing hate speech, rather than simply deleting it afterwards. • Germany's 2017 NetzDG law is taken as a case study of 'new school speech regulation'. • The paper demonstrates that this is not an effective way of regulating online hate speech. • Removing 'illegal content' ignores platform features which promote hate speech. • Advocates a more systemic and preventive approach to hate speech regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Help is argued to influence understandings of racial histories, racial in/equality, and interracial coalitions from a pedagogical stance invested in the re/production of white dominance. This essay mobilizes strategic whiteness to map the representational strategies utilized to secure the superiority of whiteness and further the momentum of “post-racial” ideology. Facilitated via white female characters, The Help'scinematic centralization of whiteness and redemption of white racists are illuminated as manifestations of strategic whiteness that operate at the expense of black women. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Intervening in popular discourse that hailsPrecious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire(Daniels & Fletcher, 2009) solely as “inspirational” (Lumenick, 2009), this essay illuminates how the film continues the tradition of glaring at the Black female body through the White gaze. To deconstruct representations of protagonist Claireece Precious Jones and the storyline, I draw upon Black feminist thought (Collins, 2009) as a Black feminist spectator (hooks, 1992) to expose how the dominant gaze shapes and shades our understandings of Black femininity. At the intersections of racism, sexism, and classism, this essay interrogates the film's: multiple fantasy scenes that allow Precious to “escape” her reality momentarily, appeals to light/Whiteness personified by the characters that come to her aid, and promulgation of “post-” (Squires et al., 2010, p. 210) ideology. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In a short period of time, open design went from an unknown notion to a buzzword in the Dutch design world. this development is usually attributed to the proliferation of bottom-up activities fostered by a typically open Dutch society. However, although open design is commonly associated with grassroots, bottom-up activities, in the Netherlands, the most visible effort at widespread dissemination of these ideals has been the result of a highly centralized effort largely supported by government funding. Why were the government and cultural organizations interested in fostering open design practices? And what type of open practices has this top-down model engendered? Advancing from a constructivist approach, we examine how this discourse has been formed by the convergence of actors with distinct agendas, and position it in relation to its cultural and economic contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the highlights of a panel discussion "Black Women, Tenure and the Politics of "Talking Back" during the National Communication Association. The panel featured a diverse group of African-American female Assistant, Associate and Full professors who voiced the politics of earning tenure at both research and teaching institutions. The panel paid close attention to the politics of inclusion and exclusion, balancing responsibilities to service, teaching and research and making sense of who they are as scholars. Aside from the author, participants included Dr. Nickesia Gordon, Dr. Marnel Niles Goins and Dr. Eddah Mbula Mutua.

The article presents the author's insights on social consciousness and the struggle against oppression. She mentions the election of U.S. President Barack Obama as a mark of the new era of social justice. The author says that there is an opportunity to change the indifference toward oppression and points out that the oppressive realities experienced by many do not reflect the best of what people can do. The ways on how the author has come to understand privilege and marginalization are explored.

The impact of switching from other inhaled corticosteroids to fluticasone propionate was studied in patients with severe oral-steroid-dependent asthma over a 1-year period. In this open-label prospective study, patients on maintenance doses of oral and inhaled steroids were referred to a national asthma treatment center and were switched from their previous inhaled corticosteroid to fluticasone propionate 880 µg BID. Compared with data collected from the year prior to enrollment, treatment with fluticasone propionate resulted in significant improvements in pulmonary function, oral steroid requirements, and health resource utilization. In addition, five patients were completely weaned off oral steroids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sex-determining region Y-box 2 (SOX2) is a transcription factor with a central role in embryologic development. SOX2 is also an oncogene in several cancer types. Prior work by our group has shown SOX2 activity associates with cell cycle dysregulation in early-stage bladder cancer. The present study was thus undertaken to broadly investigate SOX2 in bladder cancer, with emphasis on associations with tumor stage, clinical outcomes, and tumorigenicity. Gene expression was quantified by immunohistochemistry in an established tissue microarray (n=303 cystectomy specimens, all stages) and whole tissue sections of noninvasive papillary urothelial carcinoma (n=25). Gene expression by RNA sequencing was evaluated in non-muscle invasive and muscle-invasive cohorts from publicly available repositories. By immunohistochemistry, SOX2 was expressed in 40% of whole tissue sections of noninvasive papillary carcinoma, which correlated with SOX2 expression by RNA sequencing (r=0.6, P=0.001, Spearman correlation). Expression tended to be focal (median H-score =6). SOX2 was expressed in only 9% of TMA cases, consistent with focal expression. SOX2 expression was substantially higher in muscle-invasive compared with noninvasive papillary urothelial carcinoma by RNA sequencing (P<0.001, Wilcoxon rank sum test). SOX2 expression associated with stage progression in lamina-propria invasive cancers (hazard ratio =2, P=0.05, Cox model, binary, RNA sequencing) but not noninvasive papillary cancers (P=0.5, Cox model, binary, RNA sequencing). SOX2 expression did not associate with overall survival in muscle-invasive carcinoma. Activity of SOX2 in bladder cancer was tested in vivo using murine allografts created with MB49 cells that express human SOX2 (MB49-SOX). MB49-SOX allografts expressed this protein focally by immunohistochemistry, much like human tumors. Compared with controls, MB49 allografts demonstrated larger tumor size (P=0.03, Wilcoxon rank sum test) and higher tumor burden in mesenteric metastases (P=0.009, Wilcoxon rank sum test). Though SOX2 expression is focal within tumors, it may drive tumorigenesis, increase growth rate, and promote aggressive features of bladder cancer, particularly stage progression of early-stage disease., Competing Interests: None., (AJCEU Copyright © 2024.)

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery is one of the most commonly performed bariatric procedures for weight loss in humans. However, this procedure is not risk-free, and patients may experience complications that include small bowel obstruction, gastrointestinal bleeding, chronic diarrhea, ulcers, malnutrition, and anemia. In particular, anemia is a recognized long-term complication and can be severe. Rats have been used as a model to study the effects of gastric bypass surgeries. They can experience similar complications as people, but the development of severe anemia has not previously been reported in rats. We observed 2 cases of severe anemia in female Sprague-Dawley rats after RYGB surgery. These cases prompted us to further investigate the frequency and severity of anemia after RYGB in rats. Blood work and necropsies were performed on 9 additional female Sprague-Dawley rats (5 with RYGB, 4 with sham surgery). In these 9 rats, only one had signs of clinical anemia. These 3 anemic rats displayed moderate to severe pallor of the eyes and ears. Necropsy findings in anemic RYGB rats included pale internal organs and eccentric heart enlargement, which led to a significantly higher heart:body weight ratio in RYGB rats as compared with sham controls. Anemic rats had either a macrocytic normochromic anemia, consistent with vitamin B 12 or folate deficiency, or microcytic hypochromic anemia, indicative of iron deficiency. Researchers who perform RYGB surgery in rats should be aware of the potential complication of severe anemia. Plans for the diagnosis and management of this complication and the development of criteria for humane endpoints for severe anemia are recommended as a refinement to these studies.

The intestinal microbiota of an organism can significantly alter outcome data in otherwise identical experiments. Occasionally, animals may require sedation or anesthesia for scientific or health-related purposes, and certain anesthetics, such as ketamine, can profoundly affect the gastrointestinal system. While many factors can alter the gut microbiome (GM), the effects of anesthetics on the composition or diversity of the GM have not been established. The goal of the current study was to determine whether daily administration of ketamine would significantly alter the microbiome of CD1 mice. To achieve this goal, female CD1 mice received daily injections of ketamine HCl (100 mg/kg) or the equivalent volume of 0.9% saline for 10 consecutive days. Fecal samples were collected before the first administration and 24 h after the final dose of either ketamine or saline. Samples were analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing to identify changes between groups in diversity or composition of GM. The study found no significant changes to the GM after serial ketamine administration when treated mice were housed with controls. Therefore, ketamine administration is unlikely to alter the GM of a CD1 mouse and should not serve be a confounding factor in reproducibility of research.

Background: The use of synchronous telemental health for therapy group is a relatively new area of exploration. While telegroups have demonstrated they can be helpful in providing psychoeducation, there is less known about whether synchronous remote groups can develop group cohesion and whether patients can receive the benefit of a supportive group setting., Methods: A pilot study was conducted comparing group cohesion between patients who participated in a dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) group via video teleconferencing (VTC) and patients who participated in an in-person group., Results: Findings indicate that while both groups felt equally connected to the facilitator, there were significant differences between the online and in-person groups on the group cohesion scale. Those in the online group did not feel as connected to other group members as those in the in-person group. Qualitative statements indicate that while an in-person group may have been preferable, the convenience of the online group outweighed any negative effects. Attendance was significantly better in the online group, suggesting that use of this technology may help to overcome barriers preventing treatment participation. The focus of this study was on group cohesion and changes in psychiatric symptoms were not evaluated., Conclusions: The use of telemental health for group therapy appears to be a viable alternative to traditional in-person groups, especially when no other treatment options are available. However, facilitators may need to take extra steps to build group cohesion when members are participating remotely., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (2020 mHealth. All rights reserved.)