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Critical Articulations of Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation engages scholarly essays, poems, and creative writings that examine the meanings of race, gender, and sexual orientation as interlocking systems of oppression. Each chapter in this volume critically, yet creatively, interrogates the notion of identity as socially constructed, yet interconnected and shaped by cultural associations, expanding on the idea that we as individuals live in an identity matrix—our self-concept, experiences, and interpretations originate or are developed from the culture in which we are embedded. The shaping of an individual’s identity, communication, and worldview can be read, shaped, and understood through life, art, popular culture, mass media, and cross-cultural interactions, among other things. The aptness of this work lies in its ability to provide a meaningful and creative space to analyze identity and identity politics, highlighting the complexities of identity formation in the twenty-first century.

Negotiating Group Identity in the Research Process: Are You In or Are You Out?focuses on researcher identity and the role it plays in conducting research, whether as a member of the culture being studied (i.e., an insider) or as an outsider to that culture.

Using ethnography of communication, this study explored connections between communication and community within a predominately Latino group living with HIV/AIDS in a residential support facility. In-depth investigation of this particular case revealed rich data in relation to connections between communication and community. Data was gathered through ethnographic case study approaches, which were progressively focused throughout a two and one-half year period of data collection. Research methods used in data collection involved the following five qualitative techniques: participant observation, interviewing, identification and interviewing of key informants, review of archival information and documentation about the case, and the recording of fieldnotes. In addition to looking more broadly at connections between communication and community, this study explored common cultural experience as a key factor in understanding communication as it related to community or a sense of community within the context of the particular group studied. In addition, the study generated insights into ways in which media use served to foster community or a sense of community within the particular social context. Key findings in the study revealed that cultural experience was the commonality that made most fragile the possibilities for establishing community or a sense of community. It was discovered that the media use, more often than not, became a way to separate rather than connect people in the particular health context studied.

p53 activation is a primary mechanism underlying pathological responses to DNA damaging agents such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Our recent animal studies showed that low dose arsenic (LDA)-induced transient p53 inhibition selectively protected normal tissues from chemotherapy-induced toxicity. Study objectives were to: 1) define the lowest safe dose of arsenic trioxide that transiently blocks p53 activation in patients and 2) assess the potential of LDA to decrease hematological toxicity from chemotherapy. Patients scheduled to receive minimum 4 cycles of myelosuppressive chemotherapy were eligible. For objective 1, dose escalation of LDA started at 0.005 mg/kg/day for 3 days. This dose satisfied objective 1 and was administered before chemotherapy cycles 2, 4, and 6 for objective 2. p53 level in peripheral lymphocytes was measured on day 1 of each cycle by ELISA assay. Chemotherapy cycles 1, 3, and 5 served as the baseline for the subsequent cycles of 2, 4, and 6 respectively. If p53 level for the subsequent cycle was lower (or higher) than the baseline cycle, p53 was defined as “suppressed” (or “activated”) for the pair of cycles. Repeated measures linear models of CBC in terms of day, cycle, p53 activity and interaction terms were used. Twenty-six patients treated with 3 week cycle regimens form the base of analyses. The mean white blood cell, hemoglobin and absolute neutrophil counts were significantly higher in the “suppressed” relative to the “activated” group. These data support the proof of principle that suppression of p53 could lead to protection of bone marrow in patients receiving chemotherapy. This trial is registered in ClinicalTrials.gov. Identifier: NCT01428128. •p53 activation is a major pathway for pathological response to DNA damaging agents.•This p53 pathway is independent of tumor suppressor pathway of p53.•Suppression of this pathway selectively protects normal tissue, not cancer, in vivo.•We found arsenic dose that temporarily and reversibly suppresses this pathway in man.•Successful suppression of p53 leads to protection of bone marrow from chemotherapy.