Draws on Benedict Anderson's (eg, 1991) work on nationalism to examine ethnic identity creation in the Cuban exile community in Miami, FL. Focus is on the activities & discourse of Cuban American ...nationalists & reproduction of nationalist identity in Miami's urban politics & cultural landscape. It is shown how Cuban exiles have constructed a nation in exile built on a hybridized ethnic identity. The basis of this imagined community is described as symbols of shared sacrifices, a sense of alienation from Miami's Anglo community, internal political struggles, & military valor. The work of the Cuban American National Foundation, a powerful lobby group, in raising the profile of Miami's Cuban exiles to an international level is discussed. It is concluded that, while confirming Anderson's work on the importance of shared experiences & struggles for control in identity formation, Miami's Cubans have more in common with traditional nationalist groups than Anderson allows. 34 References. T. Arnold
The objective of this study was to characterize commercially-available cotton fabrics to determine their suitability as materials for construction of cloth masks for personal and public use to reduce ...infectious disease spread. The study focused on cottons because of their widespread availability, moderate performance and they are recommended for inclusion in home-made masks by international health authorities. Fifty-two cottons were analyzed by electron microscopy to determine fabric characteristics and fabric weights. Sixteen fabrics were selected to test for breathability and to construct 2-ply cotton masks of a standard design to use in quantitative fit testing on a human participant. Cotton mask fitted filtration efficiencies (FFEs) for 0.02-1 μm ambient and aerosolized sodium chloride particles ranged from 40 to 66% compared with the mean medical mask FFE of 55±2%. Pressure differentials across 2-ply materials ranged from 0.57 to > 12 mm H2O/cm2 on samples of equal surface area with 6 of 16 materials exceeding the recommended medical mask limit. Models were calibrated to predict 2-ply cotton mask FFEs and differential pressures for each fabric based on pore characteristics and fabric weight. Models indicated cotton fabrics from 6 of 9 consumer categories can produce cloth masks with adequate breathability and FFEs equivalent to a medical mask: T-shirt, fashion fabric, mass-market quilting cotton, home décor fabric, bed sheets and high-quality quilting cotton. Masks from one cloth mask and the medical mask were re-tested with a mask fitter to distinguish filtration from leakage. The fabric and medical masks had 3.7% and 41.8% leakage, respectively. These results indicate a well fitted 2-ply cotton mask with overhead ties can perform similarly to a disposable 3-ply medical mask on ear loops due primarily to the superior fit of the cloth mask which compensates for its lower material filtration efficiency.
A wastewater surveillance program targeting a university residence hall was implemented during the spring semester 2021 as a proactive measure to avoid an outbreak of COVID-19 on campus. Over a ...period of 7 weeks from early February through late March 2021, wastewater originating from the residence hall was collected as grab samples 3 times per week. During this time, there was no detection of SARS-CoV-2 by reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) in the residence hall wastewater stream. Aiming to obtain a sample more representative of the residence hall community, a decision was made to use passive samplers beginning in late March onwards. Adopting a Moore swab approach, SARS-CoV-2 was detected in wastewater samples just 2 days after passive samplers were deployed. These samples also tested positive for the B.1.1.7 (Alpha) variant of concern (VOC) using RT-qPCR. The positive result triggered a public health case-finding response, including a mobile testing unit deployed to the residence hall the following day, with testing of nearly 200 students and staff, which identified two laboratory-confirmed cases of Alpha variant COVID-19. These individuals were relocated to a separate quarantine facility, averting an outbreak on campus. Aggregating wastewater and clinical data, the campus wastewater surveillance program has yielded the first estimates of fecal shedding rates of the Alpha VOC of SARS-CoV-2 in individuals from a nonclinical setting. IMPORTANCE Among early adopters of wastewater monitoring for SARS-CoV-2 have been colleges and universities throughout North America, many of whom are using this approach to monitor congregate living facilities for early evidence of COVID-19 infection as an integral component of campus screening programs. Yet, while there have been numerous examples where wastewater monitoring on a university campus has detected evidence for infection among community members, there are few examples where this monitoring triggered a public health response that may have averted an actual outbreak. This report details a wastewater-testing program targeting a residence hall on a university campus during spring 2021, when there was mounting concern globally over the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, reported to be more transmissible than the wild-type Wuhan strain. In this communication, we present a clear example of how wastewater monitoring resulted in actionable responses by university administration and public health, which averted an outbreak of COVID-19 on a university campus.
Tuberin is a member of a large protein complex, Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC), and acts as a sensor for nutrient status regulating protein synthesis and cell cycle progression. Mutations in the ...Tuberin gene, TSC2, permits the formation of tumors that can lead to developmental defects in many organ systems, including the central nervous system. Tuberin is expressed in the brain throughout development and levels of Tuberin have been found to decrease during neuronal differentiation in cell lines in vitro. Our current work investigates the levels of Tuberin at two stages of embryonic development in vivo, and we study the mRNA and protein levels during a time course using immortalized cell lines in vitro. Our results show that total Tuberin levels are tightly regulated through developmental stages in the embryonic brain. At a cell biology level, we show that Tuberin levels are higher when cells are cultured as neurospheres, and knockdown of Tuberin results in a reduction in the number of neurospheres. This functional data supports the hypothesis that Tuberin is an important regulator of stemness and the reduction of Tuberin levels might support functional differentiation in the central nervous system. Understanding how Tuberin expression is regulated throughout neural development is essential to fully comprehend the role of this protein in several developmental and neural pathologies.
•Tuberin protein levels are tightly regulated through embryonic development.•Tuberin protein and mRNA levels decrease as cells undergo neuronal differentiation.•Depletion of Tuberin impairs neurosphere formation.•Tuberin is implicated in the maintenance of stemness in the developing brain.
Extraordinary advances in medicine and public health have contributed to increasing life expectancy worldwide. However, health span—“healthy aging”—has paradoxically lagged to parallel this increase. ...Consequently, aging‐associated illnesses, such as Alzheimer's disease and aging frailty, are having a growing impact on patients, their families, and entire health‐care systems. Typically, such disorders have been treated as isolated disease entities. However, the inextricable links between aging‐associated disorders and the aging process itself have become increasingly recognized, leading to formation of the field of geroscience. The geroscience concept is that treating the aging process itself should lead to treatment and prevention of aging‐related disorders. However, the aging process is complex, dictated by highly interrelated pleiotropic processes. As such, therapeutics with pleiotropic mechanisms of action (either alone, or as part of combinatorial strategies) will be required for preventing and treating both aging and related disorders. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have multiple mechanisms of action that make these highly promising geroscience therapeutic candidates. These cells have a high safety profile for clinical use, are amenable to allogeneic use since tissue‐type matching is not required, and can have sustained activity after transplantation. Herein, we review preclinical and clinical data supporting the utility of allogeneic MSCs as a geroscience therapeutic candidate.
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