To create an inclusive environment in nursing education, challenges to incorporating change must be addressed including institutional racism, power differences, privilege, and implicit biases ...(O'Connor et al.). This article discusses barriers that interfere with the implementation of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within schools of nursing and offers strategies for building a culture of inclusivity at academic institutions.
This article is based on factual, researched, and firsthand information.
Administrators and stakeholders need to determine how DEI is incorporated into their institution's mission, vision, and values. Forming a DEI council that consists of equal representation from faculty, staff, and students will foster inclusiveness to incorporate DEI initiatives within schools of nursing and will allow outcomes to be measured.
Barriers should be identified and removed to make schools of nursing a safe and inclusive zone for faculty, staff, and students.
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While World Health Organization (WHO) grading of meningioma stratifies patients according to recurrence risk overall, there is substantial within‐grade heterogeneity with respect to recurrence‐free ...survival (RFS). Most meningiomas are graded according to mitotic counts per unit area on hematoxylin and eosin sections, a method potentially confounded by tumor cellularity, as well as potential limitations of accurate mitotic figure detection on routine histology. To refine mitotic figure assessment, we evaluated 363 meningiomas with phospho‐histone H3 (Ser10) and determined the mitotic index (number of mitoses per 1000 tumor cells). The median mitotic indices among WHO grade I (n = 268), grade II (n = 84) and grade III (n = 11) tumors were 1, 4 and 12. Classification and regression tree analysis to categorize cut‐offs identified three subgroups defined by mitotic indices of 0–2, 3–4 and ≥5, which on univariate analysis were associated with RFS (P < 0.01). In multivariate analysis, mitotic index subgrouped in this manner was significantly associated with RFS (P < 0.01) after adjustment for Simpson grade, WHO grade and MIB‐1 index. Mitotic index was then examined within individual WHO grade, showing that for grade I and grade II meningiomas, mitotic index can add additional information to RFS risk. The results suggest that the use of a robust mitotic marker in meningioma could refine risk stratification.
Meningioma is the most common primary brain tumor and carries a substantial risk of local recurrence. Methylation profiles of meningioma and their clinical implications are not well understood. We ...hypothesized that aggressive meningiomas have unique DNA methylation patterns that could be used to better stratify patient management. Samples (
n
= 140) were profiled using the Illumina HumanMethylation450BeadChip. Unsupervised modeling on a training set (
n
= 89) identified 2 molecular methylation subgroups of meningioma (MM) with significantly different recurrence-free survival (RFS) times between the groups: a prognostically unfavorable subgroup (MM-UNFAV) and a prognostically favorable subgroup (MM-FAV). This finding was validated in the remaining 51 samples and led to a baseline meningioma methylation classifier (bMMC) defined by 283 CpG loci (283-bMMC). To further optimize a recurrence predictor, probes subsumed within the baseline classifier were subject to additional modeling using a similar training/validation approach, leading to a 64-CpG loci meningioma methylation predictor (64-MMP). After adjustment for relevant clinical variables WHO grade, mitotic index, Simpson grade, sex, location, and copy number aberrations (CNAs) multivariable analyses for RFS showed that the baseline methylation classifier was not significant (
p
= 0.0793). The methylation predictor, however, was significantly associated with tumor recurrence (
p
< 0.0001). CNAs were extracted from the 450k intensity profiles. Tumor samples in the MM-UNFAV subgroup showed an overall higher proportion of CNAs compared to the MM-FAV subgroup tumors and the CNAs were complex in nature. CNAs in the MM-UNFAV subgroup included recurrent losses of 1p, 6q, 14q and 18q, and gain of 1q, all of which were previously identified as indicators of poor outcome. In conclusion, our analyses demonstrate robust DNA methylation signatures in meningioma that correlate with CNAs and stratify patients by recurrence risk.
The use of genetic and genomic technology to infer ancestry is commonplace in a variety of contexts, particularly in biomedical research and for direct-to-consumer genetic testing. In 2013 and 2015, ...two roundtables engaged a diverse group of stakeholders toward the development of guidelines for inferring genetic ancestry in academia and industry. This report shares the stakeholder groups’ work and provides an analysis of, commentary on, and views from the groundbreaking and sustained dialogue. We describe the engagement processes and the stakeholder groups’ resulting statements and proposed guidelines. The guidelines focus on five key areas: application of genetic ancestry inference, assumptions and confidence/laboratory and statistical methods, terminology and population identifiers, impact on individuals and groups, and communication or translation of genetic ancestry inferences. We delineate the terms and limitations of the guidelines and discuss their critical role in advancing the development and implementation of best practices for inferring genetic ancestry and reporting the results. These efforts should inform both governmental regulation and self-regulation.
Two roundtables engaging a diverse group of stakeholders enabled the development of guidelines for inferring genetic ancestry in academia and industry. This report describes the engagement process and the resulting guidelines, which can inform continued improvement of practices and assist ongoing scholarly, industry, and policy discussions.
Different mutants of Cowpea Mosaic Virus (CPMV) have been used as scaffolds to bind 2 and 5 nm gold nanoparticles through gold−sulfur bond formation at specific locations on the virus to produce ...patterns of specific interparticle distances. TEM images confirm that the bound gold particles produce patterns of gold nanoparticles that correlate well with models built from the known locations of the inserted cysteine groups on the capsid. These results demonstrate that it is possible to use CPMV mutants as nanoscale scaffolds to place gold nanoparticles at fixed interparticle distances.
Exquisite control over positioning nanoscale components on a protein scaffold allows bottom‐up self‐assembly of nanodevices. Using cowpea mosaic virus, modified to express cysteine residues on the ...capsid exterior, gold nanoparticles were attached to the viral scaffold to produce specific interparticle distances (see picture). The nanoparticles were then interconnected using thiol‐terminated conjugated organic molecules that act as “molecular wires”, resulting in a 3D spherical conductive network, which is only 30 nm in diameter.
Herstory as an Important Force in Bioethics Sodeke, Stephen; Fletcher, Faith E.; Brown, Virginia A. ...
The Hastings Center report,
March‐April 2022, 2022-Mar, 2022-03-00, 20220301, Volume:
52, Issue:
S1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
This tribute celebrates the life and work of Marian Gray Secundy (1938–2002), who was the first director of the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care, a passionate advocate for ...health equity, a visionary scholar, and a skilled editor and collaborator. Within the tribute are several short remembrances in which individuals describe their association with Secundy to honor her as a leader, friend, scholar, advocate, and teacher in bioethics.
Previous studies have shown that MDM2 SNP309 and p53 codon 72 have modifier effects on germline P53 mutations, but those studies relied on case-only studies with small sample sizes. The impact of ...MDM4 polymorphism on tumor onset in germline mutation carriers has not previously been studied.
We analyzed 213 p53 germline mutation carriers including 168(78.9%) affected with cancer and 174 who had genotypic data. We analyzed time to first cancer using Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards methods, comparing risks according to polymorphism genotypes. For MDM2 SNP309, a significant difference of 9.0 years in the average age of cancer diagnosis was observed between GG/GT and TT carriers (18.6 versus 27.6 years, P = 0.0087). The hazards ratio was 1.58 (P = 0.03) comparing risks among individuals with GG/GT to risk among TT, but this effect was only significant in females (HR = 1.60, P = 0.02). Compared to other genotypes, P53 codon 72 PP homozygotes had a 2.24 times (P = 0.03) higher rate for time to develop cancer. We observed a multiplicative joint effect of MDM2 and p53 codon72 polymorphism on risk. The MDM4 polymorphism had no significant effects.
Our results suggest that the MDM2 SNP309 G allele is associated with cancer risk in p53 germline mutation carriers and accelerates time to cancer onset with a pronounced effect in females. A multiplicative joint effect exists between the MDM2 SNP309 G allele and the p53 codon 72 G allele in the risk of cancer development. Our results further define cancer risk in carriers of germline p53 mutations.
Assembling and interconnecting the building blocks of nanoscale devices and being able to electronically address or measure responses at the molecular level remains an important challenge for ...nanotechnology. Here we show the usefulness of bottom-up self-assembly for building electronic nanosensors from multiple components that have been designed to interact in a controlled manner. Cowpea mosaic virus was used as a scaffold to control the positions of gold nanoparticles. The nanoparticles were then interconnected using thiol-terminated conjugated organic molecules, resulting in a three-dimensional conductive network. Biotin molecules were attached to the virus scaffold using linkers to act as molecular receptors. We demonstrated that binding avidin to the biotin receptors on the self-assembled nanosensors causes a significant change in the network conductance that is dependent on the charge of the avidin protein.
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