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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (26 results)

  • Article
UCR Honors Capstones 2020-2021 (2021)
    Cover page: Production of 80,000 Mt/year of 99.9 weight% Cumene
    • Thesis
    • Peer Reviewed
    UC Irvine Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2017)

    As the United States experiences another increase in anti-immigrant laws and targeted enforcement practices of the undocumented community, immigrant rights organizations are responding with mobilization strategies as forms of resistance. Through interviews and observations with immigrant rights advocates in Los Angeles, I identified six mobilization strategies. These include: (1) educational and awareness campaigns; (2) counter surveillance; (3) legal representation efforts; (4) non-violent protest and demonstrations; (5) the New Sanctuary Movement and Sanctuary Cities; and (6) “Get Out the Vote” campaigns. Each of these strategies responds to a specific form of repression and illustrates how immigrant rights groups respond to U.S. immigration agencies’ efforts to reinforce power relations, fear and panic, deception, surveillance, lack of fair and due process, threats to the unity and solidarity among immigrant rights groups, and other harmful effects. These mobilization efforts reveal how advocates and organizations challenge the institutions by establishing leaders and advocates from this community. Also, these strategies reveal the particular sort of power relationship within which migrants and immigrant rights organizations are struggling. The variation among these six strategies demonstrates how mobilization strategies are fluid and changing based on the challenges migrants face at a specific time and place. As a result, advocates in these organizations were found to focus on these six strategies to contest immigration related legal violence and migrant illegality efforts in Los Angeles in 2016. Further analysis could focus on how legal violence and migrant illegality shape the experiences of the undocumented community in the post-2016 election.

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    Cover page: Mobilization Strategies within The Immigrant Rights Movement in Los Angeles
    • Thesis
    • Peer Reviewed
    UC Irvine Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2021)

    This dissertation examines how U.S. immigration laws and enforcement practices have impacted the lives of Salvadoran immigrant and deported men and their families. Based on the experiences of 40 Salvadoran immigrant men and 40 Salvadoran deported men, I found that they experienced the effects of the U.S. immigration enforcement regime in several distinct and interrelated ways. First, as Salvadoran immigrants arrived to the U.S. many faced inclusionary and exclusionary immigration laws. While some Salvadoran immigrants benefited from immigration laws, many Salvadoran immigrants have been disproportionately targeted due to their ethnic identity, gender, and working class background. Secondly, Salvadoran immigrant and deported men faced immigration laws and enforcement actions that affected their ability to fulfill their fathering roles and responsibilities as they were criminalized and deported from the U.S. Thirdly, Salvadoran immigrant and deported men shared that their children experienced the negative spill over effects of immigration laws and enforcement practices in their lives in the form of multigenerational punishments. These punishments manifested in the form of social, economic, emotional, and physical consequences. Similarly, Salvadoran immigrant and deported men shared that their romantic partners experienced the harmful effects of immigration laws and policies in the form of intragenerational punishments. These punishments manifested in the form of physical, emotional, and immigration consequences. Fourth, as Salvadoran immigrant men migrated to the U.S. and deported men returned to El Salvador many struggled with their membership and sense of belonging. Salvadoran immigrant and deported men specifically shared how they navigated different exclusionary practices by U.S. and Salvadoran governments, institutions, laws and policies, employers, and everyday people. In response, many engaged in constructing alternative forms of membership and belonging. Lastly, Salvadoran immigrant and deported men shared their understandings of laws, how they positioned themselves to laws, and how they responded to these harmful laws and enforcement actions in the form of resistance and mobilization strategies. This study ultimately demonstrates how immigrant fathers and their families navigate their lives and relationships under the U.S. immigration enforcement regime. Future studies may find that these experiences relate to other immigrant and deported fathers in the United States and abroad.

      Cover page: The Impact of the United States Immigration Enforcement Regime on Salvadoran Immigrant Fathers in the United States and Deported Fathers in El Salvador
      • Article
      • Peer Reviewed
      UC San Francisco Previously Published Works (2021)
      The ATG8 family proteins are critical players in autophagy, a cytoprotective process that mediates degradation of cytosolic cargo. During autophagy, ATG8s conjugate to autophagosome membranes to facilitate cargo recruitment, autophagosome biogenesis, transport, and fusion with lysosomes, for cargo degradation. In addition to these canonical functions, recent reports demonstrate that ATG8s are also delivered to single-membrane organelles, which leads to highly divergent degradative or secretory fates, vesicle maturation, and cargo specification. The association of ATG8s with different vesicles involves complex regulatory mechanisms still to be fully elucidated. Whether individual ATG8 family members play unique canonical or non-canonical roles, also remains unclear. This review summarizes the many open molecular questions regarding ATG8s that are only beginning to be unraveled.
        Cover page: Beyond Autophagy: The Expanding Roles of ATG8 Proteins
        • Article
        • Peer Reviewed
        Dermatology Online Journal, Volume 18, Issue 11 (2012)
          • Article
          • Peer Reviewed
          UC San Diego Previously Published Works (2019)

          Background

          The cholinergic system has an important role in mood regulation. Cholinesterase inhibitor pesticides (e.g. organophosphates) appear to increase depression and anxiety symptoms in the few existing animal and human studies. Human studies have not described such associations using biomarkers of exposure and studies among children are needed.

          Methods

          We studied 529 adolescents (ages 11-17y) in agricultural communities in the Ecuadorian Andes (ESPINA study). Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity was measured in a finger-stick sample. Anxiety and depression symptoms were assessed using the CDI-2 and MASC-2 (greater scores reflect greater internalizing symptoms). Models adjusted for age, gender, hemoglobin, income among others.

          Results

          The median age was 14.38y and 51% were female. The mean (SD) of the following parameters were: AChE 3.7 U/mL (0.55), depression T-score 53.0 (9.4) and anxiety T-score: 57.6 (9.8). Lower AChE activity (reflecting greater cholinesterase inhibitor exposure) was associated with higher depression symptoms (difference per SD decrease of AChE [β [95% CI:]]: 1.09 [0.02, 2.16]), was stronger among girls (β = 1.61) than boys (β = 0.69), and among younger (<14.38y, β = 1.61) vs. older children (β = 0.57). The associations were strongest among girls <14.38y (β = 3.30 [0.54, 6.05], OR for elevated symptoms per SD decrease in AChE = 2.58 [1.26, 5.27]). No associations were observed with anxiety scores. Analyses of AChE change between 2008 and 2016 concurred with these findings.

          Discussion

          We observed associations between a biomarker of pesticide exposure and children's depression symptoms. Lower AChE activity may create risk for depression in teenagers, particularly among girls during early adolescence.
            Cover page: Associations of acetylcholinesterase activity with depression and anxiety symptoms among adolescents growing up near pesticide spray sites.
            • Article
            • Peer Reviewed
            UC San Diego Previously Published Works (2017)

            Purpose of review

            The article aims to systematize and disseminate the main contributions of indigenous ancestral wisdom in the agroecological production of food, especially in Latin America. For this purpose, it is necessary to ask whether such knowledge can be accepted by academia research groups and international forums as a valid alternative that could contribute to overcome the world's nutritional problems.

            Recent findings

            Although no new findings are being made, the validity of ancestral knowledge and agroecology is recognized by scientific research, and by international forums organized by agencies of the United Nations. These recommend that governments should implement them in their policies of development, and in the allocation of funds to support these initiatives. Agroecology and ancestral knowledge are being adopted by a growing number of organizations, indigenous peoples and social groups in various parts of the world, as development alternatives that respond to local needs and worldviews. Its productive potential is progressively being recognized at an international level as a model that contributes to improve the condition of people regarding nutritional food.
              Cover page: Agroecology and Health: Lessons from Indigenous Populations
              • Article
              • Peer Reviewed
              UC San Diego Previously Published Works (2020)
              BACKGROUND: Off-target drift of pesticides from farms increases the risk of pesticide exposure of people living nearby. Cholinesterase inhibitors (i.e. organophosphates and carbamates) are frequently used in agriculture and inhibit acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity. Greenhouse agriculture is an important production method, but it is unknown how far pesticide drift from greenhouses can extend and expose people living nearby. METHODS: This study included 1156 observations from 3 exams (2008, Apr, 2016 and Jul-Oct 2016) of 623 children aged 4-to-17 years living in agricultural communities in Ecuador. AChE, a physiological marker of cholinesterase inhibitor exposure, was measured in blood. Geographic positioning of greenhouses and homes were obtained using GPS receivers and satellite imagery. Distances between homes and the nearest greenhouse edge, and areas of greenhouse crops within various buffer zones around homes were calculated. Repeated-measures regression adjusted for hemoglobin and other covariates estimated change in AChE relative to distance from greenhouses. RESULTS: The pooled mean (SD) of AChE activity was 3.58 U/mL (0.60). The median (25th-75th %tile) residential distance to crops was 334 m (123, 648) and crop area within 500 m of homes (non-zero values only) was 18,482 m2 (7115, 61,841). Residential proximity to greenhouse crops was associated with lower AChE activity among children living within 275 m of crops (AChE difference per 100 m of proximity [95% CI] = -0.10 U/mL [-0.20, -0.006]). Lower AChE activity was associated with greater crop area within 500 m of homes (AChE difference per 1000 m2 [95% CI] = -0.026 U/mL [-0.040, -0.012]) and especially within 150 m (-0.037 U/mL [-0.065, -0.007]). CONCLUSIONS: Residential proximity to floricultural greenhouses, especially within 275 m, was associated with lower AChE activity among children, reflecting greater cholinesterase inhibitor exposure from pesticide drift. Analyses of residential proximity and crop areas near homes yielded complementary findings. Mitigation of off-target drift of pesticides from crops onto nearby homes is recommended.
                Cover page: Residential proximity to greenhouse crops and pesticide exposure (via acetylcholinesterase activity) assessed from childhood through adolescence.
                • Article
                • Peer Reviewed
                UC San Diego Previously Published Works (2018)
                BACKGROUND:Pesticide drift from agricultural plantations increases the chemical exposure potential of people living nearby. Some studies have described positive associations between pesticide exposures and blood pressure (BP) in adults, whereas limited evidence in children suggests negative associations. This study characterized the association between home proximity to plantations and BP among children living in a flower-growing county in Ecuador. METHODS:We included 310 4-9-year-old children living in Pedro Moncayo County, Ecuador as part of The ESPINA study. We calculated age, gender and height-specific BP z-scores. Geographic coordinates of homes and flower plantations were collected using GPS receivers and satellite imagery. Exposure-outcome associations were analyzed using linear regression. RESULTS:The mean home distance to the nearest flower plantation was 449 m (SD: 347) and the median plantation area within 150 m of participants' homes was 989 m2 (25th-75Th percentile: 492-3164) among those with non-zero values. Children living closer to plantations had lower AChE activity. Systolic BP z-score increased with greater residential proximity to plantations (0.24 SD per 1000 m [95% CI: 0.01, 0.47]) and with greater areas of flower plantations within 150 m of homes (0.03 SD per 1000 m2 [0.00, 0.06]), after adjusting for socio-economic, anthropometric and other factors. Further adjustment for acetylcholinesterase and hemoglobin strengthened these associations. CONCLUSIONS:Proximity of homes to flower plantations and greater plantation areas within 150 m from homes were associated with higher systolic BP, independent of cholinesterase activity. This suggests that non-cholinesterase inhibitor pesticide drift from agricultural plantations may be sufficient to induce physiologic changes on children living nearby.
                  Cover page: Home proximity to flower plantations and higher systolic blood pressure among children
                  • Article
                  • Peer Reviewed
                  UC Irvine Previously Published Works (2016)
                  BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Infections are common after intracerebral hemorrhage, but little is known about the risk of serious infection requiring readmission after hospital discharge. METHODS: To determine if infections are prevalent in patients readmitted within 30 days of discharge, we performed a retrospective cohort study of patients discharged from nonfederal acute care hospitals in California with a primary diagnosis of intracerebral hemorrhage between 2006 and 2010. We excluded patients who died during the index admission, were discharged against medical advice, or were not California residents. Our main outcome was 30-day unplanned readmission with primary infection-related International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification code. RESULTS: There were 24 540 index intracerebral hemorrhage visits from 2006 to 2010. Unplanned readmissions occurred in 14.5% (n=3550) of index patients. Of 3550 readmissions, 777 (22%) had an infection-related primary diagnosis code. When evaluating primary and all secondary diagnosis codes, infection was associated with 1826 (51%) of readmissions. Other common diagnoses associated with readmission included stroke-related codes (n=840, 23.7%) and aspiration pneumonitis (n=154, 4.3%). The most common infection-related primary diagnosis codes were septicemia (n=420, 11.8%), pneumonia (n=124, 3.5%), urinary tract infection (n=141, 4.0%), and gastrointestinal infection (n=42, 1.2%). Patients with a primary infection-related International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification code on readmission had higher in-hospital mortality compared with other types of readmission (15.6% versus 8.0%, P<0.001). After controlling for other predictors of mortality, primary infection-related readmissions remained associated with in-hospital mortality (relative risk, 1.7; 95% confidence interval, 1.3-2.2). CONCLUSIONS: Infections are associated with a majority of 30-day readmissions after intracerebral hemorrhage and increased mortality. Efforts should be made to reduce infection-related complications after hospital discharge.
                    Cover page: Majority of 30-Day Readmissions After Intracerebral Hemorrhage Are Related to Infections.
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