Almost two decades after Delgado Bernal’s theorization of pedagogies of the home, this article examines pedagogies of the home of four Chicana/o college-educated families to understand the role of ...parent engagement not only in the college choice processes but also in college completion and graduate school enrollment. Using Chicana feminisms to inform educational oral histories, four Chicana/o parent-child dyads were interviewed. The findings suggest that among Chicana/o college-educated families the (re)making of home, (re)covering tensions, and (re)claiming and (re)learning of cultural knowledge were the pedagogies of the home that were embraced by two successive generations of college completers. Complexities, contradictions, and nuances among Chicana/o college-educated families add to the theorization of pedagogies of the home.
Since its appearance, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), the causal agent of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), represents a global problem for human health that ...involves the host lipid homeostasis. Regarding, lipid rafts are functional membrane microdomains with highly and tightly packed lipid molecules. These regions enriched in sphingolipids and cholesterol recruit and concentrate several receptors and molecules involved in pathogen recognition and cellular signaling. Cholesterol-rich lipid rafts have multiple functions for viral replication; however, their role in SARS-CoV-2 infection remains unclear. In this review, we discussed the novel evidence on the cholesterol-rich lipid rafts as a platform for SARS-CoV-2 entry, where receptors such as the angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE-2), heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs), human Toll-like receptors (TLRs), transmembrane serine proteases (TMPRSS), CD-147 and HDL-scavenger receptor B type 1 (SR-B1) are recruited for their interaction with the viral spike protein. FDA-approved drugs such as statins, metformin, hydroxychloroquine, and cyclodextrins (methyl-β-cyclodextrin) can disrupt cholesterol-rich lipid rafts to regulate key molecules in the immune signaling pathways triggered by SARS-CoV-2 infection. Taken together, better knowledge on cholesterol-rich lipid rafts in the SARS-CoV-2-host interactions will provide valuable insights into pathogenesis and the identification of novel therapeutic targets.
While the genre of "testimonio" has deep roots in oral cultures and in Latin American human rights struggles, the publication and subsequent adoption of "This Bridge Called My Back" and, more ...recently, "Telling to Live: Latina Feminist Testimonios" by Chicanas and Latinas, have demonstrated the power of "testimonio" as a genre that exposes brutality, disrupts silencing, and builds solidarity among women of color. In this article, the authors map the "testimonio" genre with a focus on the ways in which Chicana/Latina scholars have contributed to and reshaped it. They begin with a discussion of the contours of the genre including its political purpose. The authors then take up both the methodology and pedagogy of "testimonio." Throughout, they discuss how scholars using "testimonio" in this issue have unveiled new approaches to understanding and addressing issues of inequity in the field of education. (Contains 3 notes.)
The author employs a testimonio to partake in the instructive and cathartic tradition of sharing experiences, mistakes, and (mis)understandings of parenting children of color. In doing so, she draws ...from her experiences growing up in a Mexican American family and her experiences of mothering three Brown sons as a Chicana activist-scholar. She grounds her parenting in a critical race feminista praxis and subsequently addresses testimonio as her methodology and pedagogy. She then shares brief snapshots of how she was parented and how she has parented looking for the transformative ruptures and healing possibilities in the experiences.
The study of host-parasite interactions has increased considerably in the last decades, with many studies focusing on the identification of parasite molecules (i.e. surface or excretory/secretory ...proteins (ESP)) as potential targets for new specific treatments and/or diagnostic tools. In parallel, in the last few years there have been significant advances in the field of extracellular vesicles research. Among these vesicles, exosomes of endocytic origin, with a characteristic size ranging from 30-100 nm, carry several atypical secreted proteins in different organisms, including parasitic protozoa. Here, we present experimental evidence for the existence of exosome-like vesicles in parasitic helminths, specifically the trematodes Echinostoma caproni and Fasciola hepatica. These microvesicles are actively released by the parasites and are taken up by host cells. Trematode extracellular vesicles contain most of the proteins previously identified as components of ESP, as confirmed by proteomic, immunogold labeling and electron microscopy studies. In addition to parasitic proteins, we also identify host proteins in these structures. The existence of extracellular vesicles explains the secretion of atypical proteins in trematodes, and the demonstration of their uptake by host cells suggests an important role for these structures in host-parasite communication, as described for other infectious agents.
Guided by Chicana/Latina scholars that have written explicitly about the methodology of feminista pláticas, this article positions feminista pláticas as a methodological disruption in educational ...research. We argue that embodied knowledge is a necessary part of a feminista plática methodology; it centers our bodymindspirit and the power of vulnerability in the research process. Through a discussion of emotions, language, and the relationship between feminista pláticas and testimonio, we illustrate how this methodology can be used to heal from and resist traditional research approaches that are rooted in whiteness, colonial logics, and white supremacy. A feminista plática methodology creates a space where we can be our most authentic selves and work with and for our collaborators. We conclude with a discussion on positionality and areas that merit further examination in a feminista plática methodology.
The severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) quickly progresses with unfavorable outcomes due to the host immune response and metabolism alteration. Hence, we hypothesized that leukocyte ...glucose index (LGI) is a biomarker for severe COVID-19. This study involved 109 patients and the usefulness of LGI was evaluated and compared with other risk factors to predict COVID 19 severity. LGI was identified as an independent risk factor (odds ratio OR = 1.727, 95% confidence interval CI: 1.026-3.048, P = 0.041), with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.749 (95% CI: 0.642-0.857, P < 0.0001). Interestingly, LGI was a potential risk factor (OR = 2.694, 95% CI: 1.575-5.283, P
< 0.05) for severe COVID-19 in female but not in male patients. In addition, LGI proved to be a strong predictor of the severity in patients with diabetes (AUC = 0.915 (95% CI: 0.830-1), sensitivity = 0.833, and specificity = 0.931). The AUC of LGI, together with the respiratory rate (LGI + RR), showed a considerable improvement (AUC = 0.894, 95% CI: 0.835-0.954) compared to the other biochemical and respiratory parameters analyzed. Together, these findings indicate that LGI could potentially be used as a biomarker of severity in COVID-19 patients.
In this article, we engaged in pláticas to write about the methodology of pláticas. We show the use of this method by theorizing the pláticas. Our pláticas helped us reveal how we have experienced ...epistemicide and apartheid of knowledge blocked by epistemological racism in academia. We emphasized how the marginalization and invalidation in academia of this method happens and continues to happen especially in the social sciences. We demonstrate how this method has not been absent, but rather it has not been legitimized in academia. We also show how our refusal to employ dominant epistemologies allows us to move toward transformative qualitative inquiries.
This epilogue serves as a concluding article to the Special Issue, "Critical Race Feminista Methodologies in Educational Research." The co-editors of the special issue, Lindsay Pérez Huber, Verónica ...N. Vélez and Maria C. Malagón have joined with Daniel Solórzano and Dolores Delgado Bernal to reflect on the methodological origins, ruptures, and futures of Critical Race Feminista Methodologies. We engage in these reflections through an intergenerational epilogue across three generations of scholars who have worked collectively to (re)imagine our research processes, and specifically our qualitative methodologies with and for Communities of Color.
The complexity of the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease) has led to the quest of empirically drug therapies, combining immunosuppressant agents, ...biological therapy and modulators of the microbiota. Helminth parasites have been proposed as an alternative treatment of these diseases based on the hygiene hypothesis, but ethical and medical problems arise. Recent reports have proved the utility of parasite materials, mainly excretory/secretory products as therapeutic agents. The identification of extracellular vesicles on those secreted products opens a new field of investigation, since they exert potent immunomodulating effects. To assess the effect of extracellular vesicles produced by helminth parasites to treat ulcerative colitis, we have analyzed whether extracellular vesicles produced by the parasitic helminth
can prevent colitis induced by chemical agents in a mouse model. Adult parasites were cultured
and secreted extracellular vesicles were purified and used for immunizing both wild type C57BL/6 and RAG1
mice. Control and immunized mice groups were treated with dextran sulfate sodium 7 days after last immunization to promote experimental colitis. The severity of colitis was assessed by disease activity index and histopathological scores. Mucosal cytokine expression was evaluated by ELISA. The activation of NF-kB, COX-2, and MAPK were evaluated by immunoblotting. Administration of extracellular vesicles from
ameliorates the pathological symptoms reducing the amount of pro-inflammatory cytokines and interfering with both MAPK and NF-kB pathways. Interestingly, the observed effects do not seem to be mediated by T-cells. Our results indicate that extracellular vesicles from parasitic helminths can modulate immune responses in dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis, exerting a protective effect that should be mediated by other cells distinct from B- and T-lymphocytes.
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