Studying abroad meets marginalization: Roma of Greece, autoethnography, and academic tourism

While Greece has historically hosted many minority groups in various relational statuses with the majority population, the Roma uniquely embody practical, psychological and metaphorical spaces that sets them apart from other excluded groups. This study explores the historico-social space that separates the Roma and contextualizes recent developments, including Covid-19, which further marginalizes the group. The transactional space that defines relations between Roma and non-Roma encompasses a 'gaze' that disenfranchises Gypsy cultural standing and reduces mutual understanding between mainstream and marginalized communities. This same transactional space is rife with misunderstanding that profits normative day-to-day relations between Roma and those in mainstream society. The paper explores perceptions of the Roma within the Greek social hierarchy, while suggesting study abroad programming, as part of academic tourism, can play a positive role in altering perceptions of minority groups.

The Associations of Prescription Drug Insurance and Cost-Sharing With Drug Use, Health Services Use, and Health - A Systematic Review of Canadian Studies

Objectives: In Canada, basic primary health coverage for physician and hospital services is provided without cost-sharing, while drug insurance is provided through a patchwork system of public and private plans that often have substantial cost-sharing, resulting in important inequities. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed the limit of Canada's drug insurance systems, as mass layoffs have resulted in millions losing employment-based drug coverage. Method(s): We conducted a systematic review to examine the association of prescription drug insurance and cost-sharing with drug use, health services use, and health, in Canada. We searched four electronic databases, two grey literature databases, five specialty journals and two working paper repositories. At least two reviewers independently screened articles for inclusion, extracted characteristics, and assessed risk of bias. Result(s): Results from 37 studies consistently demonstrated that the expansion and/or provision of drug insurance were associated with higher drug use, while increases in and higher levels of cost-sharing were associated with lower drug use. Although many studies found statistically significant associations between drug insurance or cost-sharing and health services use, the magnitudes of these associations were small and unlikely clinically meaningful. Among five studies that examined the association of drug insurance and cost-sharing with health, one found a statistically significant and clinically meaningful association. Lastly, we found little evidence that socioeconomic status or sex were effect modifiers;however, some evidence suggested that health modified the association between drug insurance and cost-sharing with drug use. Conclusion(s): Increased cost-sharing is likely to affect the use of essential and nonessential drugs. Universal pharmacare without cost-sharing may reduce health inequities as it may increase drug use among lower-income relative to higher-income populations. These findings may inform drug insurance policy in Canada, as well as other jurisdictions. Copyright © 2022

E-Learning During COVID-19: Social Sciences MA Programs vs Mathematics MS Program

Due to COVID-19, all courses at a regional comprehensive university in the southeastern United States transitioned online and were delivered remotely in the latter half of the spring semester of 2020. In this study, students' performance data from four graduate programs in social sciences and two graduate mathematics programs for the spring semesters of 2019, 2020, and 2021 were collected and analyzed. Different e-learning methods were used across the different fields represented in these graduate programs. This study shows that graduate students performed well and synchronous hybrid courses reduced or negated the negative impacts of the pandemic COVID-19 on student learning. The percentage of students receiving a "B-” or better did not change significantly over time (p = 0.796 for social sciences and p = 0.315 for mathematics), total enrollment increased over time (p < 0.001 for both social sciences and mathematics), and graduation rates remained constant for social sciences (p = 0.346) while there was a bolus of graduating students in spring 2020 for mathematics (p < 0.001). Based on this study, recommendations were made for teaching and learning in future graduate level courses. © 2022, Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education. All rights reserved.

The Met Office winter testbed 2020/2021: Experimenting with an on-demand 300-m ensemble in a real-time environment

The Met Office held a testbed over winter 2020/2021 where a new numerical weather prediction (NWP) sub-km ensemble was set up on-demand in response to interesting weather phenomena in the United Kingdom. The domain for the model was chosen in real time by a community of Met Office Research Scientists and Operational Meteorologists and over a 4-month period the ensemble was triggered for nine events. The purpose of the testbed was to investigate whether a real-time weather regime-based enhancement in NWP capability was feasible, to understand what benefits a testbed environment might give, and to explore the practicalities of running such an event. Case studies from the testbed demonstrated that forecast ensembles at 2.2 km and 300 m grid spacing were able to capture observed winter weather, with greater spatial detail apparent, especially over complex orography, in the 300-m model. Ensemble spread appeared less influenced by resolution, potentially due to the size of the domains tested or the weather regimes of the case studies. The testbed also showcased underutilized observations and additional radiosonde ascents were conducted. All the testbed meetings were conducted virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions, and decisions were made about when to trigger the event using an online message board. The winter 2020/2021 testbed provides ideas for how on-demand weather-dependent testbeds might be conducted in the future. However, several recommendations are made that would enhance testbed benefits further, including more dedicated resource, stronger technology and data visualization and greater participation from both academia and weather information users.

Digging Deeper with Data: Engineering Research Experiences for STEM Undergraduates and Teachers

It has become increasingly important for K-12 students to learn how to investigate patterns, correlations, and significance in data. The Berkeley Engineering Research Experiences for Teachers plus Data (BERET+D) pairs undergraduate pre-service teachers and experienced in-service science and mathematics teachers (PSTs and ISTs) to engage in engineering and data science research, exploring and analyzing data sets drawn from a variety of STEM fields and laboratories across the UC Berkeley campus. In addition to conducting independent summer research projects with guidance from university research faculty, the program provides opportunities for: (1) PSTs to develop data science-based lessons inspired by their research and aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), (2) ISTs to create data science-based curricula designed to inspire middle and high school students to see STEM classes as exciting and with real-life applications, and (3) ISTs to collaborate with and mentor PSTs preparing to enter K-12 STEM classrooms. Contributing towards broader impacts, CalTeach recruits a racially and socioeconomically diverse population of PSTs, and all ISTs were recruited from local public schools, in order to educate, prepare, and encourage more minority and female K-12 students to consider higher education and careers in STEM. During the first two summers of this project (2020-2021), participants completed over forty data-science related projects, developed over thirty K-12 data-science related lesson plans in math, science, and engineering, and created six classroom-ready and publicly accessible (teachengineering.org) curricular units showcasing data science. As an example of these curricular units, and as further evidence of the project's broader impact, one IST has developed an ongoing partnership between their classroom and a research laboratory on campus allowing high school physics students to learn data science techniques by analyzing and interpreting distant satellite signals collected by radio telescopes. Preliminary evaluation of this ongoing project revealed that participants viewed data science as important and essential in K-12 curriculum, that data analysis is a critical and useful skill for youth, and that data science aligns closely with the science and engineering practices called forth by NGSS. Though constrained by work-from-home restrictions due to COVID during the first two years, participants described their experience as positive and valuable, particularly in conceiving of ways to engage young learners with data-science through remote instruction. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022

Function Is More Reliable than Quantity to Follow Up the Humoral Response to the Receptor-Binding Domain of SARS-CoV-2-Spike Protein after Natural Infection or COVID-19 Vaccination.

Both the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and emergence of variants of concern have highlighted the need for functional antibody assays to monitor the humoral response over time. Antibodies directed against the spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2 are an important component of the neutralizing antibody response. In this work, we report that in a subset of patients-despite a decline in total S-specific antibodies-neutralizing antibody titers remain at a similar level for an average of 98 days in longitudinal sampling of a cohort of 59 Hispanic/Latino patients exposed to SARS-CoV-2. Our data suggest that 100% of seroconverting patients make detectable neutralizing antibody responses which can be quantified by a surrogate viral neutralization test. Examination of sera from ten out of the 59 subjects which received mRNA-based vaccination revealed that both IgG titers and neutralizing activity of sera were higher after vaccination compared to a cohort of 21 SARS-CoV-2 naïve subjects. One dose was sufficient for the induction of a neutralizing antibody, but two doses were necessary to reach 100% surrogate virus neutralization in subjects irrespective of previous SARS-CoV-2 natural infection status. Like the pattern observed after natural infection, the total anti-S antibodies titers declined after the second vaccine dose; however, neutralizing activity remained relatively constant for more than 80 days after the first vaccine dose. Furthermore, our data indicates that-compared with mRNA vaccination-natural infection induces a more robust humoral immune response in unexposed subjects. This work is an important contribution to understanding the natural immune response to the novel coronavirus in a population severely impacted by SARS-CoV-2. Furthermore, by comparing the dynamics of the immune response after the natural infection vs. the vaccination, these findings suggest that functional neutralizing antibody tests are more relevant indicators than the presence or absence of binding antibodies.

Obesity Enhances Disease Severity in Female Mice Following West Nile Virus Infection.

A rise in adiposity in the United States has resulted in more than 70% of adults being overweight or obese, and global obesity rates have tripled since 1975. Following the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, obesity was characterized as a risk factor that could predict severe infection outcomes to viral infection. Amidst the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, obesity has remained a significant risk factor for severe viral disease as obese patients have a higher likelihood for developing severe symptoms and requiring hospitalization. However, the mechanism by which obesity enhances viral disease is unknown. In this study, we utilized a diet-induced obesity mouse model of West Nile virus (WNV) infection, a flavivirus that cycles between birds and mosquitoes and incidentally infects both humans and mice. Likelihood for severe WNV disease is associated with risk factors such as diabetes that are comorbidities also linked to obesity. Utilizing this model, we showed that obesity-associated chronic inflammation increased viral disease severity as obese female mice displayed higher mortality rates and elevated viral titers in the central nervous system. In addition, our studies highlighted that obesity also dysregulates host acute adaptive immune responses, as obese female mice displayed significant dysfunction in neutralizing antibody function. These studies highlight that obesity-induced immunological dysfunction begins at early time points post infection and is sustained through memory phase, thus illuminating a potential for obesity to alter the differentiation landscape of adaptive immune cells.

mRNA induced expression of human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 in mice for the study of the adaptive immune response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

The novel human coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a pandemic. Critical to the rapid evaluation of vaccines and antivirals against SARS-CoV-2 is the development of tractable animal models to understand the adaptive immune response to the virus. To this end, the use of common laboratory strains of mice is hindered by significant divergence of the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), which is the receptor required for entry of SARS-CoV-2. In the current study, we designed and utilized an mRNA-based transfection system to induce expression of the hACE2 receptor in order to confer entry of SARS-CoV-2 in otherwise non-permissive cells. By employing this expression system in an in vivo setting, we were able to interrogate the adaptive immune response to SARS-CoV-2 in type 1 interferon receptor deficient mice. In doing so, we showed that the T cell response to SARS-CoV-2 is enhanced when hACE2 is expressed during infection. Moreover, we demonstrated that these responses are preserved in memory and are boosted upon secondary infection. Importantly, using this system, we functionally identified the CD4+ and CD8+ structural peptide epitopes targeted during SARS-CoV-2 infection in H2b restricted mice and confirmed their existence in an established model of SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis. We demonstrated that, identical to what has been seen in humans, the antigen-specific CD8+ T cells in mice primarily target peptides of the spike and membrane proteins, while the antigen-specific CD4+ T cells target peptides of the nucleocapsid, membrane, and spike proteins. As the focus of the immune response in mice is highly similar to that of the humans, the identification of functional murine SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell epitopes provided in this study will be critical for evaluation of vaccine efficacy in murine models of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

mRNA induced expression of human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 in mice for the study of the adaptive immune response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

The novel human coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a pandemic resulting in nearly 20 million infections across the globe, as of August 2020. Critical to the rapid evaluation of vaccines and antivirals is the development of tractable animal models of infection. The use of common laboratory strains of mice to this end is hindered by significant divergence of the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), which is the receptor required for entry of SARS-CoV-2. In the current study, we designed and utilized an mRNA-based transfection system to induce expression of the hACE2 receptor in order to confer entry of SARS-CoV-2 in otherwise non-permissive cells. By employing this expression system in an in vivo setting, we were able to interrogate the adaptive immune response to SARS-CoV-2 in type 1 interferon receptor deficient mice. In doing so, we showed that the T cell response to SARS-CoV-2 is enhanced when hACE2 is expressed during infection. Moreover, we demonstrated that these responses are preserved in memory and are boosted upon secondary infection. Interestingly, we did not observe an enhancement of SARS-CoV-2 specific antibody responses with hACE2 induction. Importantly, using this system, we functionally identified the CD4+ and CD8+ peptide epitopes targeted during SARS-CoV-2 infection in H2b restricted mice. Antigen-specific CD8+ T cells in mice of this MHC haplotype primarily target peptides of the spike and membrane proteins, while the antigen-specific CD4+ T cells target peptides of the nucleocapsid, membrane, and spike proteins. The functional identification of these T cell epitopes will be critical for evaluation of vaccine efficacy in murine models of SARS-CoV-2. The use of this tractable expression system has the potential to be used in other instances of emerging infections in which the rapid development of an animal model is hindered by a lack of host susceptibility factors.