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Critical race studies in international higher education remains on the margins. More so are analyses of Black subjects (nations, institutions, people, etc.) and/or knowledge traditions. In particular, there remains a dearth of research centering Black subjects as not only the unit of analysis, but also agents in the internationalization of higher education. These absences shape the way researchers approach the questions and problems of international higher education, perpetuating an archive of research that erases global Black experiences. The purpose of this article is to imagine a study of international higher education guided by Black studies. In conversation with two Black studies analytics--McKittrick's Black Unvisibility and the inquiries shaping Hartman's Critical Fabulation--I narratively and creatively explore the Black subject possibilities therein.

Abstract A Kinase Interacting Protein 1 (AKIP1) is a signalling adaptor that promotes mitochondrial respiration and attenuates mitochondrial oxidative stress in cultured cardiomyocytes. We sought to determine whether AKIP1 influences mitochondrial function and the mitochondrial adaptation in response to exercise in vivo. We assessed mitochondrial respiratory capacity, as well as electron microscopy and mitochondrial targeted-proteomics in hearts from mice with cardiomyocyte-specific overexpression of AKIP1 (AKIP1-TG) and their wild type (WT) littermates. These parameters were also assessed after four weeks of voluntary wheel running. In contrast to our previous in vitro study, respiratory capacity measured as state 3 respiration on palmitoyl carnitine was significantly lower in AKIP1-TG compared to WT mice, whereas state 3 respiration on pyruvate remained unaltered. Similar findings were observed for maximal respiration, after addition of FCCP. Mitochondrial DNA damage and oxidative stress markers were not elevated in AKIP1-TG mice and gross mitochondrial morphology was similar. Mitochondrial targeted-proteomics did reveal reductions in mitochondrial proteins involved in energy metabolism. Exercise performance was comparable between genotypes, whereas exercise-induced cardiac hypertrophy was significantly increased in AKIP1-TG mice. After exercise, mitochondrial state 3 respiration on pyruvate substrates was significantly lower in AKIP1-TG compared with WT mice, while respiration on palmitoyl carnitine was not further decreased. This was associated with increased mitochondrial fission on electron microscopy, and the activation of pathways associated with mitochondrial fission and mitophagy. This study suggests that AKIP1 regulates the mitochondrial proteome involved in energy metabolism and promotes mitochondrial turnover after exercise. Future studies are required to unravel the mechanistic underpinnings and whether the mitochondrial changes are required for the AKIP1-induced physiological cardiac growth.

Abstract Developing stable and efficient electrocatalysts is vital for boosting oxygen evolution reaction (OER) rates in sustainable hydrogen production. High-entropy oxides (HEOs) consist of five or more metal cations, providing opportunities to tune their catalytic properties toward high OER efficiency. This work combines theoretical and experimental studies to scrutinize the OER activity and stability for spinel-type HEOs. Density functional theory confirms that randomly mixed metal sites show thermodynamic stability, with intermediate adsorption energies displaying wider distributions due to mixing-induced equatorial strain in active metal-oxygen bonds. The rapid sol-flame method is employed to synthesize HEO, comprising five 3d-transition metal cations, which exhibits superior OER activity and durability under alkaline conditions, outperforming lower-entropy oxides, even with partial surface oxidations. The study highlights that the enhanced activity of HEO is primarily attributed to the mixing of multiple elements, leading to strain effects near the active site, as well as surface composition and coverage.

Amid growing debates about globalization of higher education (HE) reproducing inequalities, an analysis of race as the organizing influence underlying this global phenomenon remains absent. This conceptual essay argues that our understanding of globalization of HE would benefit from an intersectional understanding of critical Whiteness studies and temporal studies to help racialize and further temporalize this phenomenon. It introduces "Whiteness as futurity" framework and its three components: Whiteness as (a) aspiration; (b) investment; and (c) malleability. Drawing on this framework, it provides a critical race temporal account of globalization of HE by critically examining two contemporary global HE trends, namely: (a) the global diffusion of liberal education; and (b) the growing use of global university rankings (GURs). It argues that "Whiteness as futurity" colonizes (or orients) global subjects' (nation-states', policy makers', institutions', and individuals') imaginaries and reinforces the asymmetrical movements, networks, and untethered economies underpinning global HE. The article concludes that educators should consider seriously the insights of Whiteness studies in reconceptualizing globalization of HE.

Abstract A Kinase Interacting Protein 1 (AKIP1) is a signalling adaptor that promotes physiological hypertrophy in vitro. The purpose of this study is to determine if AKIP1 promotes physiological cardiomyocyte hypertrophy in vivo. Therefore, adult male mice with cardiomyocyte-specific overexpression of AKIP1 (AKIP1-TG) and wild type (WT) littermates were caged individually for four weeks in the presence or absence of a running wheel. Exercise performance, heart weight to tibia length (HW/TL), MRI, histology, and left ventricular (LV) molecular markers were evaluated. While exercise parameters were comparable between genotypes, exercise-induced cardiac hypertrophy was augmented in AKIP1-TG vs. WT mice as evidenced by an increase in HW/TL by weighing scale and in LV mass on MRI. AKIP1-induced hypertrophy was predominantly determined by an increase in cardiomyocyte length, which was associated with reductions in p90 ribosomal S6 kinase 3 (RSK3), increments of phosphatase 2A catalytic subunit (PP2Ac) and dephosphorylation of serum response factor (SRF). With electron microscopy, we detected clusters of AKIP1 protein in the cardiomyocyte nucleus, which can potentially influence signalosome formation and predispose a switch in transcription upon exercise. Mechanistically, AKIP1 promoted exercise-induced activation of protein kinase B (Akt), downregulation of CCAAT Enhancer Binding Protein Beta (C/EBPβ) and de-repression of Cbp/p300 interacting transactivator with Glu/Asp rich carboxy-terminal domain 4 (CITED4). Concludingly, we identified AKIP1 as a novel regulator of cardiomyocyte elongation and physiological cardiac remodelling with activation of the RSK3-PP2Ac-SRF and Akt-C/EBPβ-CITED4 pathway. These findings suggest that AKIP1 may serve as a nodal point for physiological reprogramming of cardiac remodelling.

Drawing on the global interdisciplinary literature on decolonizing curriculum and pedagogy (DCP) in higher education, we critically examined the idea of decolonizing in the context of disciplines and universities around the world. Based on a critical analysis of 207 articles and book chapters published in English and centering a geopolitics of knowledge frame, we present three themes: (a) decolonizing meaning(s), (b) actualizing decolonization, and (c) challenges to actualizing, all related to DCP. We observed three major meanings of decolonization and four ways to actualize DCP that were associated with geographical, disciplinary, institutional, and/or stakeholder contexts. We argue that while there are similarities within the literature, ultimately the meanings, actualizations, and challenges of DCP are contextual, which has political and epistemological consequences. We end by offering directions for education research on DCP, revealing the possibility for a field or discipline of decolonial studies.

This article illuminates our spiritual journey, as Black and Brown scholars, to globalize and further temporalize the discussion of whiteness in the field of higher education. By employing the spiritual ontoepistemologies of communities of color, we recount our journey in developing a critical race temporal heuristic, "Whiteness as Futurity" (Shahjahan & Edwards, 2022). We illuminate the three lessons we learned on this path: (1) trust in multiple ways of knowing, (2) spiritual healing in collaboration, and (3) community within interdependence. Our lessons highlight the complexities and potential of collaboration on conceptual research for Black and Brown people. We argue that spiritually and communally-informed scholarly practice creates the necessary psychic space to locate nuanced analyses of whiteness not readily available with traditional analytics while also supporting humanized ways of being for scholars.

We present an end-to-end computational system for autonomous materials discovery. The system aims for cost-effective optimization in large, high-dimensional search spaces of materials by adopting a sequential, agent-based approach to deciding which experiments to carry out. In choosing next experiments, agents can make use of past knowledge, surrogate models, logic, thermodynamic or other physical constructs, heuristic rules, and different exploration-exploitation strategies. We show a series of examples for (i) how the discovery campaigns for finding materials satisfying a relative stability objective can be simulated to design new agents, and (ii) how those agents can be deployed in real discovery campaigns to control experiments run externally, such as the cloud-based density functional theory simulations in this work. In a sample set of 16 campaigns covering a range of binary and ternary chemistries including metal oxides, phosphides, sulfides and alloys, this autonomous platform found 383 new stable or nearly stable materials with no intervention by the researchers.

The discovery of high-performing and stable materials for sustainable energy applications is a pressing goal in catalysis and materials science. Understanding the relationship between a material's structure and functionality is an important step in the process, such that viable polymorphs for a given chemical composition need to be identified. Machine-learning-based surrogate models have the potential to accelerate the search for polymorphs that target specific applications. Herein, we report a readily generalizable active-learning (AL) accelerated algorithm for identification of electrochemically stable iridium oxide polymorphs of IrO2 and IrO3. The search is coupled to a subsequent analysis of the electrochemical stability of the discovered structures for the acidic oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Structural candidates are generated by identifying all 956 structurally unique AB2 and AB3 prototypes in existing materials databases (more than 38000). Next, using an active learning approach, we find 196 IrO2 polymorphs within the thermodynamic amorphous synthesizability limit and reaffirm the global stability of the rutile structure. We find 75 synthesizable IrO3 polymorphs and report a previously unknown FeF3-type structure as the most stable, termed α-IrO3. To test the algorithms performance, we compare to a random search of the candidate space and report at least a 2-fold increase in the rate of discovery. Additionally, the AL approach can acquire the most stable polymorphs of IrO2 and IrO3 with fewer than 30 density functional theory optimizations. Analysis of the structural properties of the discovered polymorphs reveals that octahedral local coordination environments are preferred for nearly all low-energy structures. Subsequent Pourbaix Ir-H2O analysis shows that α-IrO3 is the globally stable solid phase under acidic OER conditions and supersedes the stability of rutile IrO2. Calculation of theoretical OER surface activities reveal ideal weaker binding of the OER intermediates on α-IrO3 than on any other considered iridium oxide. We emphasize that the proposed AL algorithm can be easily generalized to search for any binary metal oxide structure with a defined stoichiometry.

Abstract Background Overweight and obesity rates are increasing worldwide, particularly among people with a low socioeconomic status (SES). Care–physical activity (care–PA) initiatives may improve participants’ lifestyles and thereby lower overweight and obesity rates. A two-year care–PA initiative specifically developed for citizens with a low SES, X-Fittt 2.0, was offered free of charge to participants, and included 12 weeks of intensive guidance and sports sessions, and 21 months of aftercare. Here, we study the impact of X-Fittt 2.0 on health, quality of life (QoL) and societal participation using a mixed-methods design. Methods Questionnaires and body measurements were taken from 208 participants at the start of X-Fittt 2.0 (t0) and after 12 weeks (t1), one year (t2) and two to three years (t3). We also held 17 group discussions (t1, n = 71) and 68 semi-structured interviews (t2 and t3). Continuous variables were analysed using a linear mixed-model analysis (corrected for gender, age at t0, height, education level and employment status at the different time points), while we used descriptive statistics for the categorical variables. Qualitative data were analysed using a thematic analysis. Results Body weight was significantly lower at all three post-initiative time points compared with the baseline, with a maximum of 3.8 kg difference at t2. Body Mass Index, waist circumference, blood pressure and self-perceived health only significantly improved during the first 12 weeks. A positive trend regarding paid work was observed, while social visits decreased. The latter might be explained by the COVID-19 pandemic, as lockdowns limited social life. Furthermore, participants reported increased PA (including sports) and a few stopped smoking or drinking alcohol. Participants mentioned feeling healthier, fitter and more energetic. Additionally, participants’ self-esteem and stress levels improved, stimulating them to become more socially active. However, the participants also mentioned barriers to being physically active, such as a lack of money or time, or physical or mental health problems. Conclusions X-Fittt 2.0 improved the health, QoL and societal participation of the participants. Future initiatives should take into account the aforementioned barriers, and consider a longer intervention period for more sustainable results. More complete data are needed to confirm the findings.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a leading cause of the cancer-related deaths worldwide. Thus, developing novel and targeted therapies for inhibiting CRC progression and metastasis is urgent. Several studies, including ours, have reported a causal role for an upregulated claudin-1 expression in promoting CRC metastasis through the activation of the Src and β-catenin-signaling. In murine models of colon tumorigenesis, claudin-1 overexpression promotes oncogenic properties such as transformation and invasiveness. Conversely, the downregulation of claudin-1 inhibits colon tumorigenesis. Despite being a desirable target for cancer treatment, there are currently no known claudin-1 inhibitors with antitumor efficacy. Using a rigorous analytical design and implementing in- vitro and in-vivo testing and a brief medicinal chemistry campaign, we identified a claudin-1-specific inhibitor and named it I-6. Despite its high potency, I-6 was rapidly cleared in human liver microsomes. We, therefore, synthesized I-6 analogs and discovered a novel small molecule, PDS-0330. We determined that PDS0330 inhibits claudin-1-dependent CRC progression without exhibiting toxicity in in-vitro and in-vivo models of CRC and that it binds directly and specifically to claudin-1 with micromolar affinity. Further analyses revealed that PDS-0330 exhibits antitumor and chemosensitizer activities with favorable pharmacokinetic properties by inhibiting the association with metastatic oncogene Src. Overall, our data propose that PDS-0330 interferes with claudin-1/Src association to inhibit CRC progression and metastasis. Our findings are of direct clinical relevance and may open new therapeutic opportunities in colon cancer treatment and/or management by targeting claudin-1.

A concerted attempt to offer a temporal lens (the way we make sense of and relate to time changes) underlying decolonizing pedagogy and curriculum (DCP) remains absent. Drawing on student resistance as an entry point, we offer a temporal account of DCP by unearthing the entanglements between past, present, and future underlying DCP enactments. We explore timescapes shaping DCP from three specific temporal perspectives on student resistance: a) student orientations to the past, b) student perspectives on present allocations of time and c) student orientations to the future. We argue that to deliver DCP effectively, educators need to engage the temporal aspects of DCP, particularly students' temporal assemblages receiving and engaging with DCP. We suggest that future DCP research and enactments require probing the entangled timescapes underlying HE institutions, disciplines, classrooms, students' lives, and past/future aspirations.

While university-based study abroad programs have become a core component of multicultural education, I argue that in many ways the dominant model of study abroad is rooted in a white masculinist episteme predicated on anthropological consumption of the "Other" without, and largely opposed to, meaningful examinations of the self. The present study is a critical exploration of a study abroad program created by Black women for students of African descent. Through two conceptual frameworks--Black Atlantic Consciousness and Womanism--I note the ways in which the study abroad program departed sharply from traditional programming found at historically white institutions. Utilizing narrative thematic case study analysis, findings reveal both the program designers' goals and intentions for this study abroad program, as well as the ways those goals translated into pedagogical and curricular praxis. Three subthemes comprise the larger theme related to goals and intentions: self-awareness and communal awareness, African diasporic gendered identity, and deconstruction with student support. Four subthemes organize the theme curricular and pedagogical praxis: spiritually detoxing experiences, Afrocentric role-playing and storytelling/making, integration of counseling and emotional support resources, and institutional subversion. The article concludes with reflections on and implications for culturally relevant study abroad programming.

Bariatric surgery is globally stigmatized. There's a lack of international comparative research on public perceptions of this procedure, and existing studies often overlook public perceptions of individuals undergoing it. Our cross-sectional survey investigated attitudes toward obesity, bariatric surgery, and individuals undergoing it in the Netherlands, France, and the United Kingdom. Of 1807 respondents, the UK displayed more negative attitudes, possibly due to differing beliefs on personal responsibility or national perspectives on obesity treatment. Surprisingly, respondents had positive attitudes toward bariatric surgery patients despite prevailing negative attitudes toward obesity. Perceptions of personal responsibility significantly impacted attitudes toward these patients. Our study challenges the idea of universally negative attitudes toward bariatric surgery and its patients, underlining the importance of understanding these differences to tackle stigma. Further research on cultural, social, and individual influences is essential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heart failure (HF) remains a disease with immense global health burden. During the development of HF, the myocardium and therefore cardiac metabolism undergoes specific changes, with decreased long-chain fatty acid oxidation and increased anaerobic glycolysis, diminishing the overall energy yield. Based on the dogma that the failing heart is oxygen-deprived and on the fact that carbohydrates are more oxygen-efficient than FA, metabolic HF drugs have so far aimed to stimulate glucose oxidation or inhibit FA oxidation. Unfortunately, these treatments have failed to provide meaningful clinical benefits. We believe it is time to rethink the concept that fat is harmful to the failing heart. In this review we discuss accumulating evidence that short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) may be an effective fuel for the failing heart. In contrast to long-chain fatty acids, SCFAs are readily taken up and oxidized by the heart and could serve as a nutraceutical treatment strategy. In addition, we discuss how SCFAs activate pathways that increase long chain fatty acid oxidation, which could help increase the overall energy availability. Another potential beneficial effect we discuss lies within the anti-inflammatory effect of SCFAs, which has shown to inhibit cardiac fibrosis – a key pathological process in the development of HF.

Recording of body weights of dairy calves may assist producers in monitoring the health status of calves and making feed-related management decisions. Traditional methods of weighing calves can be time-consuming and labor-intensive. The objective of this study was to evaluate a forefront weight scale on stalls attached to an automated calf milk feeder system to determine the accuracy for measuring the calf body weights of Holstein and crossbred dairy calves. The study was conducted at the University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center, Morris, MN, dairy. Eighty-eight Holstein and crossbred calves were fed either 8 L/d or ad libitum milk from September 2019 to February 2020 and March 2020 to July 2020. Crossbred calves were Grazecross crossbreds composted of Jersey, Viking Red, and Normande, ProCross crossbreds composed of Holstein, Montbéliarde, and Viking Red, Limousin-sired crossbred dairy × beef bull calves, and Limousin-sired crossbred dairy × beef heifer calves. The Limousin-sired calves were from Holstein or crossbred dams. Calves were introduced to the Holm & Laue Calf Expert and Hygiene Station automatic calf feeder (Holm & Laue GmbH & Co. KG, Westerrönfeld, Germany) at 5 days of age and were weaned at 56 d. Forefront weight scales were attached to four hygiene station feeding stalls on the automated calf milk feeder, and calves were required to place both front hooves on the scale to access milk. The calf weights from the automated milk feeder were compared to the gold standard calibrated electronic scale (Avery Weigh-Tronix LLC, Fairmont, MN scale). Calves were weighed once per week using the electronic scale, and those weights were compared to the most recent weight recorded by the forefront scale. The associations of the weights from the automated milk feeder scale and the electronic scale were determined with Pearson correlations (PROC CORR of SAS) and Bland–Altman plots (PROC SGPLOT of SAS). Furthermore, PROC GLM of SAS was used to regress the electronic scale body weight on the forefront weight scale body weight for each calf. A total of 600 weight observations were used for statistical analysis. The Pearson correlation of the electronic scale compared to the forefront weight scale was high (0.991), and the concordance correlation coefficient was high (0.987). Correlations for individual calves ranged from 0.852 to 0.999 and were classified as high. Correlations of the electronic scale and forefront weight scale for breed groups ranged from 0.990 to 0.994. The slope of the regression line was 0.9153, and the 95% confidence interval was between 0.906 and 0.925. A mean bias of 0.529 kg was observed from the Bland–Altman plots. The results suggest that there is potential for the forefront weight scale to be used on automated calf milk feeders to accurately record the body weights of calves and support management decision-making, identify sick calves, and help producers determine the proper dosage of medications for calves based on body weight.