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This is a longitudinal qualitative study of Latina college students who were members of a Latina mentoring program at a 4-year Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) in Texas, where they made up the largest student population since 2013. Guided by Chicana feminist epistemology and intersectionality, we discuss educational experiences students had during high school as they considered their college path, when enrolling in an HSI, and during college. We explore the following research question: How did intersectional experiences shape the educational trajectory of Latina undergraduates enrolled at an HSI? We identify how multiple forms of oppression and social identities shaped the high school experiences of Latinas and learned how they found belonging at an HSI by finding spaces and individuals who validated their intersectionality. Through this study, we demonstrate why Latina student intersectionality--not only while in college but prior to enrolling as well--is important for researchers and educational leaders to consider.

It is well known that Black students have higher expectations for attending college than their White and non-White peers, yet consistently lag behind in degree attainment. It is important then that practitioners use differentiated approaches with and researchers offer disaggregated analyses of historically underrepresented racial/ethnic minoritized populations in the college advising process. Doing so could reveal systemic barriers to achievement and advancement that are specific, in this instance, to Black students. Since the role and practice of college advising is (or at least should be) informed by the extant literature, then a systematic review is an ideal avenue for scholarly inquiry, paying particular attention to how prior literature utilized anti-oppressive frameworks. This method allowed us to map current knowledge and strategies, as well as identify conceptual, methodological, and interpretive gaps in the current literature. Across our analysis, our findings reveal there is more work to be done, particularly focusing on representation, disaggregation, and application.

Freshwater mussels provide invaluable ecological services but are threatened by habitat alteration, poor water quality, invasive species, climate change, and contaminants, including contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). Contaminants of emerging concerns are well documented in aquatic environments, including the Great Lakes Basin, but limited information is available on how environmentally relevant mixtures affect freshwater mussel biology throughout their varied life stages. Our main goal was to assess mussels' reproductive output in response to exposure to agricultural and urban CEC mixtures during glochidial development through juvenile transformation and excystment focusing on how exposure duration and treatment affect: (1) the number of glochidia prematurely released by brooding females, (2) glochidial transformation through host‐fish excystment, and (3) the number of fully metamorphosed juveniles able to continue the lifecycle. Mussels and host fish were exposed to either a control water (CW), control ethanol (CE), agriculture CEC mixture (AM), or urban CEC mixture (UM) for 40 and 100 days. We found no effect from treatment or exposure duration on the number of glochidia prematurely released. Fewer partially and fully metamorphosed AM juveniles were observed during the 100‐day exposure, compared with the 40‐day. During the 40‐day exposure, CW produced more fully metamorphosed individuals compared with CE and UM, but during the 100‐day exposure AM produced more fully metamorphosed individuals compared with the CW. There was reduction in fully metamorphosed juveniles compared with partially metamorphosed for CE and UM during the 40‐day exposure, as well as in the CW during the 100‐day exposure. These results will be important for understanding how mussel populations are affected by CEC exposure. The experiments also yielded many insights for laboratory toxicology exposure studies. Environ Toxicol Chem 2024;43:1112–1125. © 2024 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC. This article has been contributed to by U.S. Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Care of transgender individuals is evolving, with increased use of exogenous androgens, and prolonged exposures may have implications for the risk of developing gynecologic malignancies in this population. BACKGROUND: Hormone therapy (HT) in transgender males requires monitoring. For amenorrheic transmasculine individuals on HT, episodes of abnormal vaginal bleeding should be assessed promptly. CASE: A 33-year-old transgender man on exogenous testosterone therapy for medical gender transition was found to have stage IV endometrioid endometrial adenocarcinoma. Surgical resection was performed for symptom control, and the patient was treated with palliative chemotherapy. The tumor was androgen receptor–negative, and, after a multidisciplinary discussion of the risks and benefits of continuing exogenous testosterone, testosterone therapy was restarted postoperatively. CONCLUSION: Long-term androgen use may have unknown implications for the development of malignancy, and treating reproductive organ cancer in transgender males may be complicated by the desire to continue androgen therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although anecdotally associated with local bears (Ursus arctos and U. thibetanus), the exact identity of 'hominid'-like creatures important to folklore and mythology in the Tibetan Plateau-Himalaya region is still surrounded by mystery. Recently, two purported yeti samples from the Himalayas showed genetic affinity with an ancient polar bear, suggesting they may be from previously unrecognized, possibly hybrid, bear species, but this preliminary finding has been under question. We conducted a comprehensive genetic survey of field-collected and museum specimens to explore their identity and ultimately infer the evolutionary history of bears in the region. Phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA sequences determined clade affinities of the purported yeti samples in this study, strongly supporting the biological basis of the yeti legend to be local, extant bears. Complete mitochondrial genomes were assembled for Himalayan brown bear (U. a. isabellinus) and black bear (U. t. laniger) for the first time. Our results demonstrate that the Himalayan brown bear is one of the first-branching clades within the brown bear lineage, while Tibetan brown bears diverged much later. The estimated times of divergence of the Tibetan Plateau and Himalayan bear lineages overlap with Middle to Late Pleistocene glaciation events, suggesting that extant bears in the region are likely descendants of populations that survived in local refugia during the Pleistocene glaciations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aging and physical inactivity are associated with an increased risk of developing metabolic syndrome (MetS). With the rising prevalence of MetS, it is important to determine the extent to which it affects cerebrovascular health. The primary purpose of this report is to examine the impact of MetS on cerebrovascular health (resting cerebral blood flow ( CBF) peak velocity ( [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To determine if total lifetime physical activity (PA) is associated with better cognitive functioning with aging and if cerebrovascular function mediates this association. A sample of 226 (52.2% female) community dwelling middle-aged and older adults (66.5±6.4 years) in the Brain in Motion Study, completed the Lifetime Total Physical Activity Questionnaire and underwent neuropsychological and cerebrovascular blood flow testing. Multiple robust linear regressions were used to model the associations between lifetime PA and global cognition after adjusting for age, sex, North American Adult Reading Test results (i.e., an estimate of premorbid intellectual ability), maximal aerobic capacity, body mass index and interactions between age, sex, and lifetime PA. Mediation analysis assessed the effect of cerebrovascular measures on the association between lifetime PA and global cognition. Post hoc analyses assessed past year PA and current fitness levels relation to global cognition and cerebrovascular measures. Better global cognitive performance was associated with higher lifetime PA (p=.045), recreational PA (p=.021), and vigorous intensity PA (p=.004), PA between the ages of 0 and 20 years (p=.036), and between the ages of 21 and 35 years (p<.0001). Cerebrovascular measures did not mediate the association between PA and global cognition scores (p>.5), but partially mediated the relation between current fitness and global cognition. This study revealed significant associations between higher levels of PA (i.e., total lifetime, recreational, vigorous PA, and past year) and better cognitive function in later life. Current fitness levels relation to cognitive function may be partially mediated through current cerebrovascular function. (JINS, 2015, 21, 816–830) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Olfactory marker protein (OMP) participates in the olfactory signal transduction pathway. This is evident from the behavioral and electrophysiological deficits of OMP-null mice, which can be reversed by intranasal infection of olfactory sensory neurons with an OMP-expressing adenovirus. Bex, brain expressed X-linked protein, has been identified as a protein that interacts with OMP. We have now further characterized the interaction of OMP and Bex1/2 by in vitro binding assays and by immuno-coprecipitation experiments. OMP is a 19 kDa protein but these immunoprecipitation studies have revealed the unexpected presence of a 38 kDa band in addition to the expected 19 kDa band. Furthermore, the 38 kDa form was preferentially co-immunoprecipitated with Bex from cell extracts. In-gel tryptic digestion, mass spectrometry, and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis indicate that the 38 kDa protein behaves as a covalently cross-linked OMP-homodimer. The 38 kDa band was also identified in western blots of olfactory epithelium demonstrating its presence in vivo. The stabilities and subcellular localizations of the OMP-monomer and -dimer were studied in transfected cells. These results demonstrated that the OMP-dimer is much less stable than the monomer, and that while the monomer is present both in the nuclear and cytosolic compartments, the dimer is preferentially located in a Triton X-100 insoluble cytoskeletal fraction. These novel observations led us to hypothesize that regulation of the level of the rapidly turning-over OMP-dimer and its interaction with Bex1/2 is critical for OMP function in sensory transduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]