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The United States is in the midst of a public health crisis, reeling from two serious pandemics: COVID-19 and systemic racism. Everyone is familiar with the impact of the virus. [...]

America is undergoing a reckoning as the pain, suffering and setbacks caused by years of systemic racism is coming into full view. This heightened awareness around racism, sparked by death and injustice, must result in the development of real pathways to eliminate systemic racism, or it will be a lost opportunity for our generation to do our part in--to paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.--bending the long arc of the moral universe toward justice. Higher education, like all other institutions in society, must do its share of bending the arc. Drawing from her experience as a scientist, professor and administrator, author Gilda A. Barabino believes there are a number of ways in which colleges and universities can advance and improve the lives of all students--and especially students of color. Even though higher education institutions are facing significant operational and financial challenges created by the COVID pandemic, nonetheless they must take action today to ensure that they are moving beyond words and demonstrations and taking real action to ensure that equity, diversity and opportunity exists and benefits young people of color--not only within their quads, residence halls and classrooms--but in the larger world as well.

This paper discusses conceptions of identity in relation to science education and presents material from a series of interviews and focus groups with graduate students in science and technology. Given difficulties in retention and levels of significant participation by minority students indicated by aggregate data, the issue of race, as it informs critical interactions at a majority research university, is explored in terms of its effects on identity formation. It is argued that we need to look at "real-time" science to see how subtle interactions affect minority graduate students. These interactions reveal how identity is established through the positioning inside or outside of the laboratory culture. Three themes were explored regarding the tensions of identity formation in the context of race and science education: (1) the issue of isolation, marginalization, and invisibility; (2) being valued through recognition of one's contributions to the community of scientists; and (3) reading race as an additional burden for minority students. Two participants' stories and their positioning as outsiders are explored in detail. The authors contrast building an identity as a scientist through one's educational experiences against being positioned as the "only one" representing his or her race at a primarily White institution. (Contains 1 table and 3 footnotes.)

Abnormal adhesion of sickle red blood cells (SS RBCs) to vascular endothelium may play an important role in vasoocclusion in sickle cell disease. Accruing evidence shows that endothelial [alpha]V[beta]3-integrin has an important role in SS RBC adhesion because of its ability to bind several adhesive proteins implicated in this interaction. In the present studies, we tested therapeutic efficacy of small-molecule cyclic pentapeptides for their ability to block [alpha]V[beta]3-mediated SS RBC adhesion by using two well-established assay systems, i.e., cultured human umbilical vein endothelial ceils (HUVEC) and artificially perfused mesocecum vasculature of the rat under flow conditions. We tested the efficacy of two RGD-containing cyclic pentapeptides, i.e., cRGDFV (EMD 66203) and cRGDF-ACHA (a-amino cyclohexyl carboxylic acid) (EMD 270179), based on their known ability to bind [alpha]V[beta]3. An inactive peptide, EMD 135981 (cR[beta]-ADFV) was used as control. Cyclization and the introduction of D-Phe (F) results in a marked increase in the ability of cyclic peptides to selectively bind [alpha]V[beta] receptors. In the mesocecum vasculature, both EMD 66203 and EMD 270179 ameliorated platelet-activating factor-induced enhanced SS RBC adhesion, postcapillary blockage, and significantly improved hemodynamic behavior. Infusion of a fluorescent derivative of EMD 66203 resulted in colocalization of the antagonist with vascular endothelium. Also, pretreatment of HUVEC with either [alpha]V[beta] antagonist resulted in a significant decrease in SS RBC adhesion. Because of their metabolic stability, the use of these cyclic [alpha]V[beta]3 antagonists may constitute a novel therapeutic strategy to block SS RBC adhesion and associated vasoocclusion under flow conditions. sickle cell disease; [alpha]V[beta]3-integrin; peripheral resistance unit; sickle erythrocytes

The COVID‐19 pandemic has forced many people, including those in the fields of science and engineering, to work from home. The new working environment caused by the pandemic is assumed to have a different impact on the amount of work that women and men can do from home. Particularly, if the major burden of child and other types of care is still predominantly on the shoulders of women. As such, a survey was conducted to assess the main issues that biomedical engineers, medical physicists (academics and professionals), and other similar professionals have been facing when working from home during the pandemic. A survey was created and disseminated worldwide. It originated from a committee of International Union for Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine (IUPESM; Women in Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering Task Group) and supported by the Union. The ethics clearance was received from Carleton University. The survey was deployed on the Survey Monkey platform and the results were analyzed using IBM SPSS software. The analyses mainly consisted of frequency of the demographic parameters and the cross‐tabulation of gender with all relevant variables describing the impact of work at home. A total of 921 responses from biomedical professions in 76 countries were received: 339 males, 573 females, and nine prefer‐not‐tosay/ other. Regarding marital/partnership status, 85% of males were married or in partnership, and 15% were single, whereas 72% of females were married or in partnership, and 26% were single. More women were working from home during the pandemic (68%) versus 50% of men. More men had access to an office at home (68%) versus 64% for women. The proportion of men spending more than 3 h on child care and schooling per day was 12%, while for women it was 22%; for household duties, 8% of men spent more than 3 h; for women, this was 12.5%. It is interesting to note that 44% of men spent between 1 and 3 h per day on household duties, while for women, it was 55%. The high number of survey responses can be considered excellent. It is interesting to note that men participate in childcare and household duties in a relatively high percentage; although this corresponds to less hours daily than for women. It is far more than can be found 2 and 3 decades ago. This may reflect the situation in the developed countries only—as majority of responses (75%) was received from these countries. It is evident that the burden of childcare and household duties will have a negative impact on the careers of women if the burden is not more similar for both sexes. It is important to recognize that a change in policies of organizations that hire them may be required to provide accommodation and compensation to minimize the negative impact on the professional status and career of men and women who work in STEM fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]