Never shall I forget

the deep sorrows of those inside my house.

This qualitative study focuses on teachers of dually-identified students (English Language Learners with learning disabilities). The study investigates teachers’ expectations and perceptions of dually-identified students and how these perceptions impact teachers’ instructional decisions and practices. Nineteen teachers from two Los Angeles area schools were interviewed as part of this study. There is a limited body of research that focuses on teachers of dually-identified students. However, there is a large body of research that supports the hypotheses that teacher perceptions and expectations impact the academic success of students. Beginning with Rosenthal and Jacobsen (1968) work on the Pygmalion Effect, there has been much research on how teachers’ expectations impact student achievement.

The research study consisted of interviews with 19 middle school and high school teachers. The synthesis of the data led to several significant findings. Most notably, that teachers hold similar academic expectations for dually-identified students as they do for all other students. Based on interviews, teachers perceived that holding dually-identified students to the same academic expectations as other students was holding students to “high standards”. The study findings suggest that school leaders must invest in providing teachers and school staff targeted professional development on the unique learning needs of dually-identified students. Other recommendations include prioritizing teacher collaboration time at school sites, so teachers may share best practices and learn from their colleagues.

This dissertation utilizes textual analysis of media representations of Latinidad and girl culture in order to demonstrate the multiple subjectivities Latinxs inhabit as well as highlight the power relations structured by race, gender, class and sexuality embedded in the mass media. This analysis considers the challenges young Latinas face when negotiating their identities with, through and against the oppressive images of the mass media. Drawing on the work of Chicana/Latina feminist educators, I term this pedagogical project Transformative Critical Media Literacy, defined as learning how to critically read images produced and put forth by the mass media and recognize them as representations of institutionalized oppression so as not to internalize and perpetuate the oppressive messages. TfCML can facilitate a process by which media viewers can imagine ways to transform the oppressive image to one of empowerment and liberation. TfCML is made up of methods that draw from Latinx media studies, Chicana/Latina feminist epistemology and pedagogy; and theatre studies methods as articulated by Augusto Boal and his Theatre of the Oppressed. TfCML offers Latinxs a space to negotiate their own process of identity while developing a critically conscious relationship with the mass media and hopefully become invested in social transformation and liberation.

The opportunistic human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa utilizes a type III secretion system to deliver virulence factors that disrupt host cell processes and host innate immunity. Four type III-secreted toxins have been identified in this bacterium: ExoS, ExoT, ExoU and ExoY. ExoT is a bifunctional enzyme whose N-terminus encodes a GTPase activating protein with activity towards Rho, Rac, and Cdc42 while the C-terminus encodes an ADP ribosyl transferase with activity towards Crk. ExoT inhibits bacterial internalization into host cells, disrupts the actin cytoskeleton, and blocks wound repair. We previously showed that ExoT is degraded in a proteasomal dependent manner and that in vivo resistance against this toxin is Cbl-b-dependent. Though Cbl-b is known to influence actin cytoskeleton and neutrophil infiltration into LPS treated host tissues, we show that Cbl-b is not necessary for phagocytosis of P. aeruginosa by macrophages or neutrophil infiltration into P. aeruginosa infected host tissues. In addition, we demostrate that ExoT lysine residues 49 and 74 control its proteasomal dependent degradation in the host cytoplasm. We further demonstrate by host cell rounding assays and an acute pneumonia mouse model that mutating these lysine residues to arginine increases the virulence of P. aeruginosa. Interestingly, mutating lysine 49 and 74 did not alter the virulence of P. aeruginosa in cbl-b-/- mice, which suggests that Cbl-b-mediated protection of the host against P. aeruginosa must depend on the targeting of these two lysine residues in the toxin. Although mutation of lysine 49 to arginine is able to increase toxin secretion rate into the medium, we found that mutations in both lysine 49 and 74 are necessary for increased levels of translocated toxin in the host cytoplasm. Collectively, these data demonstrate that ExoT lysine residues at positions 49 and 74 play a key role in toxin degradation by the host proteasome, which leads to an alteration of ExoT-mediated virulence of P. aeruginosa. Our findings also suggest that Cbl-b targets these residues through either ubiquitination or another yet unidentified molecular process. Experiments are underway to determine whether Cbl-b is able to polyubiquitinate the mutant toxin as it does on wild type ExoT.

Introduction: To assess if families presenting to a pediatric emergency department (PED) with multiple children as patients require interventions at the same rate as families presenting with a single child.

Methods: This is a retrospective chart review looking at PED encounters for families presenting with single children versus multiple children as patients. Patients presenting with siblings were retrospectively selected from the electronic tracking board, and we randomly selected age/gender matched single-patient controls from a comparable time period. The primary outcome was a comparison of visit acuity between families presenting with single versus multiple children, with the hypothesis that families presenting with multiple children as patients would require less utilization of services (as a surrogate for acuity). Admission, intravenous fluid administration (IVF), planned observation, subspecialty consultation, performance of procedures, laboratories and radiographs, administration of prescription medications, and prescription medications for home were all recorded and compared via chi-squared comparison. We considered 5 interventions (admission, subspecialty consultation, performance of procedures, IVF administration, and observation > 6 hours) “critical interventions” and compared them separately.

Results: In our sample of 83 patients from 41 families registering multiple children and 248 singleton controls, we found a significant difference in the percentage of patients requiring critical interventions (4.8% versus 32.5%, P < 0.0001).

Conclusion: Families presenting with multiple children concurrently to an ED require critical interventions at a much lower rate than children presenting as single patients. Many of these families could be well-served at an urgent care or primary care provider. [West J Emerg Med. 2013;14(5):525–528.]