Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 347-356).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2006. / Title from title screen (viewed Nov. 1, 2006). PDF text: 140 p. ; 536 kilobytes. Includes bibliographical references (p. 137-140).

Thesis (Ed.D)--Teachers College, Columbia University. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: William C. Sayres. Dissertation Committee: Celia Alvarez. Bibliography: leaves 115-119.

Racial inequalities in health are well documented in the literature, specifically with respect to Blacks and Whites in the United States (U.S.) These stark racial differences in health may be explained by the weathering hypothesis, whereby Blacks experience earlier deterioration of health resulting from cumulative stress from living in a race-conscious society. Despite the abundance of research on the weathering hypothesis to account for racial disparities, few research studies have attempted to empirically test this theory as it relates to cardio-metabolic disease disparities. Using nationally representative data from the National Survey of American Life (NSAL) and the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R), the weathering hypothesis was examined in the context of cardio-metabolic disease disparities among a U.S. sample of Whites, African-Americans and Caribbean Blacks. This dissertation was organized into three main papers: The first paper (“Application of the Weathering Hypothesis: A Systematic Review of the Research”) is a systematic review of the existing literature that empirically tests the weathering hypothesis, which informed the methods in papers 2 and 3 of this dissertation. The second paper (“Cardio-Metabolic Disease Disparities: Comparisons between Caribbean Blacks, African-Americans and Whites to Test the Weathering Hypothesis”) tests the weathering hypothesis as an explanation for health disparities compared with other potential explanations (e.g. minority stress, socioeconomic status, health behaviors and genetics). The third paper (“Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Cardio-metabolic Disease: The Role of Racial Group Identification and Discrimination-Specific Coping”) assesses whether and to what extent racial socialization factors (racial identity and coping strategies) affect racial disparities in cardio-metabolic disease, as well as influence the effect of racial discrimination on cardio-metabolic disease. The systematic review informs future studies of the weathering hypothesis as a comprehensive framework for understanding racial disparities in health outcomes, but highlights the need for additional studies examining the impact of weathering on health outcomes other than birth outcomes. In paper 2, the results showed some support for the weathering hypothesis, but the patterns were not fully consistent with the predictions of this hypothesis. The results in paper 3 revealed racial differences in racial socialization factors (racial identity and coping strategies), but these factors did not explain racial/ethnic disparities in cardio-metabolic disease. Future studies should examine the effect of structural racism on racial disparities in cardio-metabolic disease as another test of the weathering hypothesis.

Thesis (M.A.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2009. / Directed by Stephen Sills; submitted to the Dept. of Sociology. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed May 13, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 96-100).

The purpose of this unique critical ethnographic case study is to examine how the development of African Diaspora Literacy informed the African identity of students who identify as Black or African descendants and contribute to the journey toward complete liberation of African descendants worldwide by teaching Black students how to (re)member (Dillard, 2012). To address the problem of some Afro Caribbean American students holding negative, deficit perceptions of all associated with Africa including themselves, I posed the question: In what ways and to what extent does engagement in the Advanced Placement Seminar with African Diaspora Content influence five African-descended high school students’ perception of Africa, the African diaspora, and themselves as African descendants? Homogeneous, convenience sampling was used to identify five African-descended high school students enrolled in the AP Seminar at a College Board-certified predominantly Black high school in a major U.S. urban city. Qualitative data were collected through observations, student-created artifacts, an end-of-course survey, and semi-structured individual and group interviews between Fall 2017 and Spring 2019. African Diaspora Literacy served as the theoretical framework for analysis. Findings suggest that students’ perceptions of Africa, the African diaspora and themselves as African descendants were positively influenced by their 2-year participation in an AP Seminar implemented with a comprehensive, Sankofan, African-centered, pedagogical approach of (re)membering. This informed and strengthened students’ African identity to the extent that their intrinsic motivation to learn more about their African and diaspora heritage positively influenced some of their family members and schoolmates.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2006. / Title from title screen (site viewed on Nov. 2, 2006). PDF text: 140 p. ; 9.21Mb. UMI publication number: AAT 3214109. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm, microfiche and paper format.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2006. / "UMI Number: 3214109." Abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

Understanding the effect of the environment on human health has benefited from progress made in measuring the exposome. High resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) has made it possible to measure small molecules across a large dynamic range, allowing researchers to study the role of low abundance environmental toxicants in causing human disease, including examining their effects on biochemistry. Alzheimer’s disease is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease in the world. While aging is the largest risk factor of the disease, evidence of risk factors for dementias show that lifestyle choices and the environment may modify disease onset and alter the projected prevalence. Observational epidemiological studies have linked exposure to the persistent pesticide dichlorodiphenytrichloroethane (DDT) with increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In Chapter 2, using an aging cohort based in Washington Heights and Inwood in Northern Manhattan, I investigated systemic biochemical changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Small molecules in plasma were measured in 59 AD cases and 60 healthy participants of African American, Caribbean Hispanic, and non-Hispanic white ancestry using untargeted liquid-chromatography–based ultra-high-resolution mass spectrometry. Metabolite differences between AD and healthy, the different ethnic groups and apolipoprotein E gene (APOE) ε allele status were analyzed. Untargeted network analysis identified pathways enriched by AD-associated metabolites. Then, in Chapter 3, using the genetically tractable nematode model Caenorhabditis elegans, I investigated whether DDT can exacerbate AD-related pathology. DDT is a persistent organic pollutant which, despite its ban in 1972, can be detected in the blood of most people in the U.S. I investigated whether DDT can exacerbate AD-related pathology using a transgenic C. elegans strain that expresses a mutant tau protein fragment that is prone to aggregation, as well as a mutant strain expressing a non-aggregating form of tau protein. DDT restricted the growth in all strains; however, the restriction was more severe in the aggregating tau transgenic strain. Further, I found that DDT exacerbates the inhibitory effects of aggregating tau protein on basal mitochondrial respiration, and increases the amount of time the worms spent curled/coiled. High-resolution metabolomics in the whole worm suggests that DDT reduces levels of several amino acids but increases levels of uric acid and adenosylselenohomocysteine. Surprisingly, developmental exposure to DDT blunts the lifespan reduction caused by aggregating tau protein suggesting a mitohormetic effect of the “double-hit” from DDT and aggregating tau protein or an antagonistic effect which could ultimately turn on lifespan extension pathways. Our data suggest that exposure to DDT likely exacerbates the mitochondrial inhibitory effects of aggregating tau protein in C. elegans. DDT may mimic some of the mitochondrial inhibitory effects induced by increased tau protein aggregation, suggesting that the genetic and environmental insult converge on a common mitochondrial inhibitory pathway, which has been associated with AD in several other studies. Finally, in Chapter 4, I determined changes in global metabolism associated with aggregating tau protein in both C. elegans and humans. We performed high-resolution metabolomic analysis on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma obtained from patients of AD and mild cognitive impairment, and cognitively normal controls. Using a transgenic strain of C. elegans which expresses aggregating tau protein in all neurons, I studied the effect of aggregating tau protein on metabolism using high-resolution metabolomic analysis in the whole worm. In the population study, I found >300 features associated (p < 0.05) with phosphorylated tau levels in CSF. Metabolic pathway enrichment identified alterations in fatty acid and amino acid metabolism. Worms expressing aggregating tau showed >900 features altered. Pathway enrichment suggested alterations in glycerophospholipid, fatty acid and amino acid metabolism pathways. To determine which metabolic features are altered in both species, I analyzed annotated features for overlap. Five metabolites were concordant between human plasma and C. elegans, and four concordant between human CSF and C. elegans. Thus, in this analysis I provide evidence in support of using C. elegans to study changes in global metabolism associated with Alzheimer’s disease. In conclusion, using liquid and gas-based chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry, we can measure levels of endogenous and exogenously derived small molecules in different biological matrices. By using the appropriate study design, we can identify candidate molecules and biochemical pathways associated with environmental exposures or disease in human populations. These candidates can be followed up by exposing an appropriate C. elegans strain: transgenic strains, mutant strains, or strains that are susceptible to RNAi based knockdown. Given their short life cycle and being amenable to high-throughput behavioral assays, they can readily provide functional and molecular readouts of the perturbation. The findings can provide leads for relevant policy around environmental exposures, understanding mechanisms of toxicity and disease, and identifying potential therapeutic targets.

This ethnographic study investigates conditions in which groups often found to be at odds with each can instead form mutually productive and supportive relationships. As an Anglophone West Indian immigrant man myself, I am personally interested in how members of my group find success in the US and fit into the larger US African descendant sphere of Black people. As a clergyman, I am professionally interested in how different Black ethnic groups find ways to get along and even appreciate each others’ differences, as part of a larger whole. Since much of my working life is keyed to creating conditions for a positive climate in which people can be the best of themselves, I hypothesized that in the right environment groups known to be suspicious of and stereotype each other, and even engage in outright conflict, could reach a workable resolution over time. That of Afro Caribbeans and Southern African Americans presented an exemplary case. To investigate whether this positive outcome was possible in the right conditions, I selected St Albans, Queens, 1965-present, as a site to conduct research that would help me learn a) how Anglophone Afro Caribbean immigrants made successful places for themselves in the US and the neighborhood; b) from their point of view, found paths to acceptance and even mutual appreciation of African Americans of Southern migrant backgrounds; and c) test whether particular characteristics of a neighborhood environment offer support for mutual acceptance and appreciation, without either group having to give up what it culturally values. The study found that because of several factors St. Albans indeed promoted a context which fostered getting along, and even getting along well. These included sufficient employment and housing opportunities, similarities in income and middle class status, numerous churches that reinforced positive values, and the fact that the racial tensions characteristic of many parts of the US were not prevalent in the daily life of the neighborhood.