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Despite recent calls, research on ISL has focused almost exclusively on learning outcomes for global North students. We know comparatively less about how ISL programs may impact the knowledge and perceptions of student participants from host countries in the global South. We examine learning outcomes for Kenyan students who interact with visiting students from a U.S. university. Using an original survey and a case-control design, we compare the responses of students from an ISL partner school with those of students in a nearby control school to explore how program participation influences ideas about global citizenship, viewpoints about the United States, and feelings of relative deprivation. Results point to the complexity of ISL programs and their impact on host country participants. On the one hand, we find that ISL partner students show higher levels of global citizenship than control group students. On the other hand, ISL partner students are more likely than the control group to agree with unrealistically positive views of the United States and report greater feelings of relative deprivation. We apply Allport's intergroup contact theory to interpret these findings and reflect on future directions.

Background: Interventions that promote healthy lifestyles are critical for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's disease related dementias (AD/ADRD). However, knowledge of the best practices for implementing AD/ADRD prevention in healthcare settings remains limited. Objective: We aimed to qualitatively identify barriers and facilitators to implementing a clinical trial of a novel lifestyle intervention (My Healthy Brain) in our medical center for older patients with subjective cognitive decline who are at-risk for AD/ADRD. Methods: We conducted focus groups with 26 healthcare professionals (e.g., physicians, psychology, nursing) from 5 clinics that treat older patients (e.g., memory care, psychiatry). Our qualitative analysis integrated two implementation frameworks to systematically capture barriers and facilitators to AD/ADRD prevention (Consolidated Framework for Implementation Science Research) that impact implementation outcomes of acceptability, appropriateness, and feasibility (Proctor's framework). Results: We found widespread support for an RCT of My Healthy Brain and AD/ADRD prevention. Participants identified barriers related to patients (stigma, technological skills), providers (dismissiveness of "worried well," doubting capacity for behavior change), clinics (limited time and resources), and the larger healthcare system (underemphasis on prevention). Implementation strategies guided by Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change (ERIC) included: developing tailored materials, training staff, obtaining buy-in from leadership, addressing stigmatized language and practices, identifying "champions," and integrating with workflows and resources. Conclusions: The results will inform our recruitment, enrollment, and retention procedures to implement the first randomized clinical trial of My Healthy Brain. Our study provides a blueprint for addressing multi-level barriers to the implementation of AD/ADRD prevention for older patients in medical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-sectional scholarship demonstrates the importance of the U.S. racial structure in precipitating dramatic racial divisions in serious crime across neighborhoods. Yet, we know much less about the degree and sources of racial disparities in how neighborhood crime changes over time, despite considerable evolution in the components of the racial order. We articulate a dynamic racial structural perspective that centers the unfolding nature of residential segregation in producing and altering racially structured socioeconomic realities. We contend that these racialized structural inequalities, in turn, lead neighborhoods on unequal paths of crime change. We assess this perspective with new panel data (circa 2000 and 2010) from the National Neighborhood Crime Study for 7,875 census tracts across 75 cities. Despite considerable socioeconomic upheaval and demographic change during the first decade of the 2000s, we find substantial disparities in neighborhood violence and burglary change that indicate the reproduction of the ethno-racial divide. Furthermore, our dynamic racial structural model explains much of these inequalities in crime change. A dynamic racial structure perspective lays a foundation for understanding the consequences of the evolving U.S. racial structure for unequal exposure to crime across neighborhoods over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inactivating mutations and the duplication of methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2), respectively, mediate Rett syndrome (RTT) and MECP2 duplication syndrome. These disorders underscore the conceptual dose-dependent risk posed by MECP2 gene therapy for mosaic RTT patients. Recently, a miRNA-Responsive Autoregulatory Element (miRARE) mitigated the dose-dependent toxicity posed by self-complementary adeno-associated viral vector serotype 9 (AAV9) miniMECP2 gene therapy (scAAV9/miniMECP2-myc) in mice. Here, we report an efficacy assessment for the human-ready version of this regulated gene therapy (TSHA-102) in male Mecp2−/y knockout (KO) mice after intracerebroventricular (ICV) administration at postnatal day 2 (P2) and after intrathecal (IT) administration at P7, P14 (±immunosuppression), and P28 (±immunosuppression). We also report qPCR studies on KO mice treated at P7-P35; protein analyses in KO mice treated at P38; and a survival safety study in female adult Mecp2−/+ mice. In KO mice, TSHA-102 improved respiration, weight, and survival across multiple doses and treatment ages. TSHA-102 significantly improved the front average stance and swing times relative to the front average stride time after P14 administration of the highest dose for that treatment age. Viral genomic DNA and miniMECP2 mRNA were present in the CNS. MiniMeCP2 protein expression was higher in the KO spinal cord compared to the brain. In female mice, TSHA-102 permitted survivals that were similar to those of vehicle-treated controls. In all, these pivotal data helped to support the regulatory approval to initiate a clinical trial for TSHA-102 in RTT patients (clinical trial identifier number NCT05606614). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context.--In the early 1900s, it was common practice to retain, prepare, and display instructive pathologic specimens to teach pathology to medical trainees and practitioners; these collections were called medical museums. Maude Abbott, MD, established her reputation by developing expertise in all aspects of medical museum work. She was a founder of the International Association of Medical Museums (later renamed the International Academy of Pathology) and became an internationally renowned expert on congenital heart disease. Her involvement in the Canadian Medical War Museum (CMWM) is less well known. Objective.--To explore Abbott's role in the development of the CMWM during and after World War I and to trace its history. Design.--Available primary and secondary historical sources were reviewed. Results.--Instructive pathologic specimens derived from Canadian soldiers dying during World War I were shipped to the Royal College of Surgeons in London, which served as a clearinghouse for museum specimens from Dominion forces. The Canadian specimens were repatriated to Canada, prepared by Abbott, and displayed at several medical meetings. Abbott, because she was a woman, could not enlist and so she reported to a series of enlisted physicians with no expertise in museology. Plans for a permanent CMWM building in Ottawa eventually failed and Abbott maintained the collection at McGill (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) until her death in 1940. We trace the CMWM after her death. Conclusions.--Sadly, after Abbott had meticulously prepared these precious teaching specimens so that their previous owners' ultimate sacrifice would continue to help their military brethren, the relics were bureaucratically lost. doi: 10.5858/arpa.2017-0425-HP, Maude Abbott, MD (1869-1940) (Figure 1) is one of the best known Canadian physicians of the 20th century. (1-5) In addition to having important and well-known roles in the founding [...]