Dietary Quality and Comorbidities of Adults at Medical Risk for Diabetes

Background and aims: The current study evaluates following a special diet with diet quality and comorbidities (hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and obesity) in four racial/ethnic groups diagnosed with prediabetes or “at risk for diabetes”. Methods and results: This is a cross-sectional analysis of data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES), 2007- 2008 and 2009-2010. Sample weights were used to achieve a representative sample. Data were available for N = 2666 adults, aged ≥20 years (508 Mexican American, 294, Other Hispanic, 616 Black non-Hispanic, and 1248 White non-Hispanic) who were medically diagnosed with either prediabetes or “at risk for diabetes”. Those reporting following a special diet had greater odds of meeting saturated fat guidelines (

The association of depression and perceived stress with beta cell function between African and Haitian Americans with and without type 2 diabetes

Background: Diabetes and diabetes-related complications are major causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Depressive symptoms and perceived stress have been identified as possible risk factors for beta cell dysfunction and diabetes. The purpose of this study was to assess associations between depression symptoms and perceived stress with beta cell function between African and Haitian Americans with and without type 2 diabetes. Participants and Methods: Informed consent and data were available for 462 participants (231 African Americans and 231 Haitian Americans) for this cross-sectional study. A demographic questionnaire developed by the Primary Investigator was used to collect information regarding age, gender, smoking, and ethnicity. Diabetes status was determined by self-report and confirmed by fasting blood glucose. Anthropometrics (weight, and height and waist circumference) and vital signs (blood pressure) were taken. Blood samples were drawn after 8 10 hours over-night fasting to measure lipid panel, fasting plasma glucose and serum insulin concentrations. The homeostatic model assessment, version 2 (HOMA2) computer model was used to calculate beta cell function. Depression was assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and stress levels were assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Results: Moderate to severe depressive symptoms were more likely for persons with diabetes (p = 0.030). There were no differences in perceived stress between ethnicity and diabetes status (p = 0.283). General linear models for participants with and without type 2 diabetes using beta cell function as the dependent variable showed no association with depressive symptoms and perceived stress; however, Haitian Americans had significantly lower beta cell function than African Americans both with and without diabetes and adjusting for age, gender, waist circumference and smoking. Further research is needed to compare these risk factors in other race/ethnic groups.

Ethnicity and reaccumulation : an ecological analysis

This study looks at the process of reaccumulation of resources in Miami following Hurricane Andrew. Emphasis is on differences between four major ethnic groups: Anglos, African- Americans, Cubans and non-Cuban Hispanics. Secondary data is used to analyze measures of housing recovery on a census block group level. Results indicate that, while there are ethnic consequences on a block groups level, support for enclave hypotheses are equivocal.

Diabetes Self-management Behaviors, Medical Care, Glycemic Control, and Self-rated Health in US Men by Race/Ethnicity

Men, particularly minorities, have higher rates of diabetes as compared with their counterparts. Ongoing diabetes self-management education and support by specialists are essential components to prevent the risk of complications such as kidney disease, cardiovascular diseases, and neurological impairments. Diabetes self-management behaviors, in particular, as diet and physical activity, have been associated with glycemic control in the literature. Recommended medical care for diabetes may differ by race/ethnicity. This study examined data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, 2007 to 2010 for men with diabetes (N = 646) from four racial/ethnic groups: Mexican Americans, other Hispanics, non-Hispanic Blacks, and non-Hispanic Whites. Men with adequate dietary fiber intake had higher odds of glycemic control (odds ratio = 4.31, confidence interval [1.82, 10.20]), independent of race/ethnicity. There were racial/ethnic differences in reporting seeing a diabetes specialist. Non-Hispanic Blacks had the highest odds of reporting ever seeing a diabetes specialist (84.9%) followed by White non-Hispanics (74.7%), whereas Hispanics reported the lowest proportions (55.2% Mexican Americans and 62.1% other Hispanics). Men seeing a diabetes specialist had the lowest odds of glycemic control (odds ratio = 0.54, confidence interval [0.30, 0.96]). The results of this study suggest that diabetes education counseling may be selectively given to patients who are not in glycemic control. These findings indicate the need for examining referral systems and quality of diabetes care. Future studies should assess the effectiveness of patient-centered medical care provided by a diabetes specialist with consideration of sociodemographics, in particular, race/ethnicity and gender.

Retention and special education referral practices before and after the implementation of high-stakes testing

The rewards and sanctions associated with high-stakes testing may induce educators to participate in practices that will ensure the elimination of the scores of low-achieving students from the testing pool. Two ways in which scores may be eliminated is through retention or referral to special education. This study examined the use of these practices at 179 elementary schools in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the 4th largest school district in the country. Between- and within-subjects designs were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance to compare retention and referral to special education practices over a five-year period of time, two years prior to and two years after the implementation of Florida's high-stakes test, the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, FCAT. Significant main effects for referral and retention over time were demonstrated. The use of retention steadily increased over the first three years, with its usage maintained during the fourth year. While the use of referral actually decreased from the first to second years, a significant change occurred after the implementation of the FCAT. Examination of the use of these practices according to student and school characteristics revealed significant differences. Increases in the use of referral across time was significant for Black, non-Hispanic and Hispanic students, all limited English proficiency population categories, medium and low socioeconomic status category schools, all grade levels, and for schools with accountability grades of A, C, D and F with the most striking absolute increase occurring for F schools. Increases in the use of retention across time were significant for all ethnic groups, limited English proficiency categories, and socioeconomic status categories, for grades kindergarten through four and by gender. Significant increases occurred for schools with accountability performance grades of C, D and F; however the most dramatic increase occurred for the F schools. A direct relationship between performance category grade of school and their use of retention was demonstrated. The results suggest that schools changed their use of referral and retention in response to the implementation of the FCAT.

The utility of an integrated qualitative/quantitative data analytic strategy (IQ-DAS) to evaluate the impact of youth development interventions on positive qualitative change in the life course

This study reports one of the first controlled studies to examine the impact of a school based positive youth development program (Lerner, Fisher, & Weinberg, 2000) on promoting qualitative change in life course experiences as a positive intervention outcome. The study built on a recently proposed relational developmental methodological metanarrative (Overton, 1998) and advances in use of qualitative research methods (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000). The study investigated the use the Life Course Interview (Clausen, 1998) and an integrated qualitative and quantitative data analytic strategy (IQDAS) to provide empirical documentation of the impact the Changing Lives Program on qualitative change in positive identity in a multicultural population of troubled youth in an alternative public high school. The psychosocial life course intervention approach used in this study draws its developmental framework from both psychosocial developmental theory (Erikson, 1968) and life course theory (Elder, 1998) and its intervention strategies from the transformative pedagogy of Freire's (1983/1970). Using the 22 participants in the Intervention Condition and the 10 participants in the Control Condition, RMANOVAs found significantly more positive qualitative change in personal identity for program participants relative to the non-intervention control condition. In addition, the 2X2X2X3 mixed design RMANOVA in which Time (pre, post) was the repeated factor and Condition (Intervention versus Control), Gender, and Ethnicity the between group factors, also found significant interactions for the Time by Gender and Time by Ethnicity. Moreover, the directionality of the basic pattern of change was positive for participants of both genders and all three ethnic groups. The pattern of the moderation effects also indicated a marked tendency for participants in the intervention group to characterize their sense of self as more secure and less negative at the end of the their first semester in the intervention, that was stable across both genders and all three ethnicities. The basic differential pattern of an increase in the intervention condition of a positive characterization of sense of self relative to both pre test and relative to the directionality of the movement of the non-intervention controls, was stable across both genders and all three ethnic groups.

The acculturation of middle income Hispanic households

Research on the consumer behavior of the Hispanic population has recently attracted the attention of marketing practitioners as well as researchers. This study's purpose was to develop a model and scales to examine the acculturation process of Hispanic consumers with income levels of $35,000 and above, and its effects on their consumer behavior. The proposed model defined acculturation as a bilinear and multidimensional change process, measuring consumers' selective change process in four dimensions: language preference, Hispanic identification, American identification, and familism. A national sample of 653 consumers was analyzed. The scales developed for testing the model showed good to high internal consistency and adequate concurrent validity. According to the results, consumers' contact with Hispanic and Anglo acculturation agents generates change or reinforces consumers' language preferences. Language preference fully mediates the effects of the agents on consumers' American identification and familism; however, the effects of the acculturation agents on Hispanic identification are only partially mediated by individuals' language preference change. It was proposed that the acculturation process would have an effect on consumers' brand loyalty, attitudes towards high quality and prestigious brands, purchase frequency, and savings allocation for their children. Given the lack of significant differences between Hispanic and Anglo consumers and among Hispanic generations, only savings allocation for children's future was studied intensively. According to these results, Hispanic consumers' savings for their children is affected by consumers' language preference through their ethnic identification and familism. No moderating effects were found for consumers' gender, age, and country of origin, suggesting that individual differences do not affect consumers' acculturation process. Additionally, the effects of familism were tested among ethnic groups. The results suggest not only that familism discriminates among Hispanic and Anglo consumers, but also is a significant predictor of consumers' brand loyalty, brand quality attitudes, and savings allocation. Three acculturation segments were obtained through cluster analysis: bicultural, high acculturation, and low acculturation groups, supporting the biculturalism proposition.

Intra-racial relations among blacks in the United States: dissimilarities, partnerships, and common identities

In the wake of a steadily increasing diversity in ethnicity among Blacks in the United States, efforts need to be made to analyze and understand the dynamics of the relations among the various Black ethnic groups in the United States. This thesis explores the present state of relations among these groups by utilizing an extensive literature review on the topic in conjunction with in-depth interviews. What is of particular interest here are the differing and similar intergroup perspectives on self-identity, as well as any cultural similarities and dissimilarities that exist. We find that the cultural dissimilarities create barriers to harmonious relations among the groups, while particular ideologies such as Pan-Africanism and Black nationalism provide the basis for strong unified fronts and partnerships for those who embrace them.

Território para viver: dinâmicas territoriais da comunidade quilombola de Acauã, Poço Branco, Rio Grande do Norte

In the late 1980s, the quilombola (or maroon) communities emerged on the Brazilian public scene. They established themselves as new collective subjects and ethnic groups, in a historical moment of sensitive political changes in several social conflicts and struggles, both in Brazil and in Latin America. Because of their socio-cultural and historical singularities, these communities have self-identified in the same collective expression and have organized in search of recognition and respect for their rights. Quilombo communities and other self-labeled as "traditional communities" seek to reaffirm their differences in opposition to a conscious colonizer cultural project and re-signify their memories and traditions, that serve as reference in the construction of alternative production projects and community organization. One of the distinguishing characteristics of this quilombola political emergence process is the territorial nature of the struggles, manifested in at least two directions: on the one hand, the struggle for legal and formal recognition of a given space, i.e., the regularization and titling of occupied territories, considering that the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 recognizes the right of these communities to the final possession of the traditional lands. On the other hand, the struggle for recognition of their territoriality in a broader sense, not necessarily restricted to the demarcated area, but as the recognition of a culture and its own way of life, that originated historically in these territories. The current accomplishments and challenges of the Brazilian quilombola communities are well exemplified by the quilombo of Acauã, in the Poço Branco municipality of Rio Grande do Norte. The last fifteen years have been marked by important changes in this community, which has gained visibility and has emerged as a new political player. Acauã identified itself as quilombola community in 2004, the same year that it formalized its political structure, through the creation of the Association of Residents of Quilombo Acauã (AMQA, in Portuguese). Also in 2004, it requested to the National Institute of Colonization and Land Reform (INCRA, in Portuguese) the opening of the process for regularization and titling of quilombo territory, which is at an advanced stage, but so far without definitive resolution. This study aims to understand the process of territorialization (struggle for territorial claim) played in the last fifteen years by the community of Acauã.

HIP HOP COMO PROCESSO COMUNICACIONAL E SOCIABILIDADE PARA JOVENS INDÍGENAS DE DOURADOS – MS

Estudo sobre o Hip Hop como processo comunicacional e sociabilidade entre jovens indígenas de Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, para verificar quais os principais objetivos da prática do movimento Hip Hop, compreender se serve como comunicação, contribui para o fortalecimento da língua guarani ou gera novas tensões sociais na reserva. Para tanto, foi analisado aspectos históricos do movimento, passando pelos Estudos Culturais, e como Movimento Social, dando início à discussão de uma voz alternativa por meio do Hip Hop. Do ponto de vista metodológico, trata-se de um de estudo de caso, com representantes dos grupos de jovens Brô Mc's e Jovens Conscientes, das reservas Jaguapirú e Bororó, das etnias Guarani-Kaiowá de Dourados (MS). Foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas junto a jovens que participaram das oficinas de hip hop, das lideranças indígenas e professores. A investigação é complementada pela pesquisa bibliográfica, documental e análises das letras de rap em confrontação com as visões da imprensa, a partir da análise dos jornais Diário MS e O Progresso. Os resultados apontam que os jovens se apropriam de uma cultura global para transformar o ambiente local com objetivo de preservar a língua guarani, uma alternativa para o conhecimento, logo para não seguirem caminhos como o das drogas. Negociando falas sobre sua realidade, dentro e fora da reserva, já que nos meios de comunicação locais há pouco espaço para a voz dos indígenas e dentro da reserva ainda há contestação do movimento em um contexto político, na tentativa de atingir uma cultura “pura”, devido à preocupação dos mais velhos com a perda de território.

A SENSIBILIDADE CULTURAL DO ADVENTISMO COMO MODELO MISSIOLÓGICO EM GRANDES CENTROS URBANOS: UMA ANÁLISE DE IGREJAS ADVENTISTAS ÉTNICAS NA CIDADE DE SÃO PAULO

Esta pesquisa objetiva analisar o desenvolvimento da missão adventista na cidade de São Paulo em busca de um modelo missiológico para centros urbanos. São Paulo, uma das maiores metrópoles do mundo tem uma formação cultural plural, não apenas pelas forças atuantes da modernização, secularização, globalização e pós-modernidade. A composição da população da cidade possui uma gênese étnica plural. Além da matriz autóctone indígena, do colonizador branco europeu e dos escravos africanos, desde o início do século XIX chegaram outros imigrantes, europeus e asiáticos. Nas primeiras décadas do século XX, o Brasil foi o país que mais recebeu imigrantes em todo o mundo. Estima-se que nos anos de 1920, apenas um terço da população na cidade de São Paulo fosse de brasileiros, o restante era composto por imigrantes. A inserção do adventismo em São Paulo se deu por missionários imigrantes que trabalharam primeiro com outros imigrantes antes de evangelizar e desenvolver a missão adventista com os brasileiros nacionais. De alguma forma, esse início deixou marcas na missão adventista paulistana. São Paulo é hoje a cidade com o maior número total de adventistas no mundo e a única com Igrejas Adventistas étnicas que atendem cinco grupos étnicos distintos: japoneses, coreanos, judeus, árabes e bolivianos/peruanos. Esta pesquisa busca investigar a formação de uma sensibilidade cultural no adventismo paulistano que lhe permitiu dialogar com a pluralidade cultural da metrópole paulistana

Women carrying Puerto Rican flag in NY

Inscriptions: Verso: [stamped] Credit must be given to Leinwand from Monkmeyer Press Photo Service].

Greek festival in Brooklyn, NY

Inscriptions: Verso: [stamped] Photograph by Freda Leinwand. [463 West Street, Studio 229G, New York, NY 10014].

Coffee shop in Little Italy

Inscriptions: Verso: [stamped] Photograph by Freda Leinwand. [463 West Street, Studio 229G, New York, NY 10014].

St. Anthony festival on Sullivan Street in NY

Inscriptions: Verso: [stamped] Photograph by Freda Leinwand. [463 West Street, Studio 229G, New York, NY 10014].