African Blacks Research Articles

Social Determinants of Perceived Discrimination among Black Youth: Intersection of Ethnicity and Gender.

Most of the existing sociological and epidemiological literature has focused on the protective effects of high socioeconomic status (SES) on population health through reducing exposure to risk factors and increasing human and material resources that can mitigate adversities. Recent studies, however, have documented poor mental health of high SES Blacks, particularly African American males and Caribbean Black females. The literature also shows a link between perceived discrimination and poor mental health. To better understand the extra costs of upward social mobility for minority populations, this study explored ethnic by gender variations in the associations between SES indicators and perceived discrimination in an ethnically diverse national sample of Black youth. This study included 810 African American and 360 Caribbean Black youth who were sampled in the National Survey of American Life—Adolescent supplement (NSAL-A). Three SES indicators (financial hardship, family income, and income to needs ratio) were the independent variables. The dependent variable was perceived (daily) discrimination. Age was the covariate. Ethnicity and gender were the focal moderators. Linear regressions were used for data analysis in the pooled sample and also based on the intersection of ethnicity and gender. Considerable gender by ethnicity variations were found in the patterns of the associations between SES indicators and perceived discrimination. Financial hardship was a risk factor for perceived discrimination in African American males only. High family income and income to needs ratio were associated with high (but not low) perceived discrimination in African American males and Caribbean Black females. SES indicators were not associated with perceived discrimination for African American females or Caribbean Black males. When it comes to Black youth, high SES is not always protective. Whether SES reduces or increases perceived discrimination among Black youth depends on the intersection of ethnicity by gender. Additional research is needed to understand why and how high SES increases exposure and vulnerability to discrimination for some groups of Black youth.

Teacher-Based Racial Discrimination: The Role of Racial Pride and Religiosity Among African American and Caribbean Black Adolescents

This study explored the extent to which private regard and religiosity beliefs serve as protective factors for school bonding among African American and Caribbean black adolescents who experience racial discrimination in school. Findings are drawn from a nationally representative sample of (n = 810) African American and (n = 360) Caribbean black adolescents (52% girls) aged 13–17 (Mage = 15, SD = 1.42) years. Results suggest that perceiving racial discrimination from teachers was associated with lower levels of school bonding for African American and Caribbean black adolescents. For African American adolescents, perceiving more racial discrimination from teachers and reporting lower private regard beliefs was associated with less school bonding. The findings for Caribbean black adolescents revealed that endorsing moderate levels of religiosity and perceiving higher rates of teacher discrimination was associated with less school bonding. The developmental significance and implications for future research are discussed.

Interest of SAAG in Etiological Diagnosis of Ascites in African Black

Purpose: To show the interest of the serum-ascites concentration gradient in albumin (SAAG) in the etiological diagnosis of ascites in African black. Materiel and Methods: This was a monocentric observational and analytical study performed on patients over 15 years old and hospitalized in the Hepato-Gastroenterology department of Cocody from January 1st, 2010 to March 31st, 2017 for ascites. The cytology and chemistry of the ascites fluid and the protidogram were performed. The main outcome measure was the prediction of portal hypertension (PHT) or non-portal hypertension related causes of ascites from SAAG. Results: The hospital prevalence of ascites was 11%. There were 82 women (46.9%) and 93 men (53.1%) with a sex ratio (M/F) of 1.1. SAAG was low in 68.6% of cases and high in 31.4% of cases. The most common etiologies were post-viral cirrhosis (74%), HCC (16.60%) and peritoneal tuberculosis (13.7%) respectively. In the case of high SAAG, 91% of ascites related to PHT were observed, but also 77.5% of a low SAAG corresponded to ascites related to PHT (p = 0.024) with Se = 35% Sp = 84% and accuracy = 44%. All patients with peritoneal tuberculosis had a SAAG low of less than 1.1 g/dl significantly (p = 0.002). SAAG had a diagnostic performance of 89% in peritoneal tuberculosis at the cutoff value of ?1.24 g/dl (AUROC = 0.91, Se = 96%, Sp = 86%) while in post viral hepatitis cirrhosis at a threshold of 0.58 g/dl the diagnostic performance was 60% (AUROC = 0.69, Se = 53%, Sp = 79%). Conclusion: The simple technical SAAG, allowing to distinguish the ascites linked to the PHT and the ascites not bound to the PHT, can be used like a method of diagnosis of the etiologies of the ascites especially in the peritoneal tuberculosis in the African countries low income.

Learning from Black Theology

Black Theology had a profound effect on the religious, especially Christian scene in South Africa in the late 1960, 1970s and 1980s. The traditional stance was that clergy should not get involved in politics. What Black Theology in fact enabled clergy to understand, was that the Gospel was not primarily about the forgiveness of sins but about setting the oppressed free. Thus, politics was at the heart of the work of the clergy in South Africa. Black Theology also had a radical understanding of God. While the need for Black Theology may be less critical in post-Apartheid South Africa, there are major lessons to be learned from how it constructed the Gospel message in the then current context of the oppression and exploitation of the oppressed South African blacks. (This article is an edited version of my honorary doctorate presentation at Rhodes University in 2012.)

The Specter of the Blackamoor: Figuring Africa and the Orient

The Specter of the BlackamoorFiguring Africa and the Orient Ella Shohat To speak of the Blackamoor figure is to speak of several intertwined imaginaries, especially along the East/West and North/South double geographical axis. A hybrid of the African Black and the Muslim Moor, the Blackamoor figure condenses representations often conceptualized in isolation within the compartmentalized cartographies of the various Area Studies. Scrutiny of the Blackamoor, in this sense, helps shed light on forgotten discursive continuities as well as on historical connectivities across continents and oceans; in this case, those operating along the winding Mediterranean shores of Europe, Africa, and Asia. Manufactured in European workshops, the Blackamoor can on one level be analyzed as part of an ornamental art that reflects various aesthetic tendencies while also reflecting the taste of its producers and consumers. On another level, the Blackamoor can be examined critically, as a stereotypical imaging of the racialized and gendered Black body. Here, however, I will pose a different set of questions: Can the putatively reassuring and domesticated Blackamoor also be viewed as a visual manifestation of an ongoing European anxiety about its "others?" Might this image of Blackamoor docility testify indirectly to a doubly repressed fear toward the neighboring continents of Africa and Asia? Could the apparent civility of the ornamental Blackamoor mask anxieties about racial mixing, cultural syncretism, and intellectual influence? exotica as historical erasure As a cross between the iconographies of "the Black" and "the Moor," this phantasmatic figure acts as a recurrent reminder of the geographical proximity between the shores of Europe and Africa to the South, and Asia to the East, thus evoking the Western trope of "the-barbarians-at-the-gate," whether the gate be that of Vienna, or the straits of Gibraltar, or the Dardanelles. (Centuries after the Inquisition and the Expulsion of the Moors, the new immigrant barbarians from the South clamor at the gates of Fortress Europe.) As polished icons in domestic metropolitan spaces, Blackamoor statues have a fraught relation to Europe's own self-definition, especially in the wake of colonialism and its "civilizing mission." Conceived together [End Page 158] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. Acton Collection, XLII.B.1.1-2 © New York University, The Acton Photograph Archive, Villa La Pietra, Florence. within a shared Eurocentric vision, Africa and Asia were often housed under the same academic umbrella within post-Enlightenment Orientalist scholarship—evidenced, for example, in the very institutionalization of the University of London's "School of Oriental and African Studies." The worlds associated with Africa and Asia, meanwhile, had been sharing a long history grounded in trade exchange and cultural traffic. Until the 1869 digging of the Suez Canal—which connected the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea and to the Indian Ocean, and facilitated the navigation of the maritime route to the "The Jewel in the Crown"—the continents of Africa and Asia had formed part of a geographical continuum. Associated with the grandeur of the Suez Canal-opening era, Giuseppe Verdi's Aïda was first performed at the newly built Khedivial Opera House in Cairo in 1871 as a celebration of progress and the new imperial world order. Inspired by archeological discoveries, Aïda's scenario, written by the French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, told a story of ancient Egyptians who capture and enslave an Ethiopian princess, Aïda.1 In this instance of the modern staging of the archaic, the Romantic investment in civilizational origins was merged with the triumphant march of science through twinned and parallel forms of digging—the past-oriented diggings of archeology and the future-oriented diggings practiced by engineering. Conducted [End Page 159] by colonial powers, the forward-looking canal project in fact resurrected prior endeavors traced back all the way to antiquity. An historically earlier digging of another "Suez canal," connecting the Nile to the Bitter Lakes and these to the Red Sea, occurred already in seventh century BC on the orders of Pharaoh Necho II and was later completed by Darius I of Persia.2 Egyptologists often saw themselves as rescuing ancient civilization from the neglect of contemporary Egyptians, deemed unaware of the value of antiquity's treasures on...

Introducción de los esclavos negros africanos en el reino de Guatemala y provincias de San Salvador y Honduras

El Salvador no tiene Historia Moderna, por falta de la memoria histórica. Muy poco se ha escrito e investigado sobre la introducción de africanos en Guatemala, El Salvador y Honduras, el tema fue tratado por los historiadores de la Universidad Tecnológica de El Salvador. En la edad media y principios del siglo XVI, se conocía el tráfico y venta de esclavos en Sevilla. Lisboa y Sevilla se disputaban el comercio de esclavos, adquiridos en las gradas de la Catedral de Sevilla, cuyo mercado de Cádiz, Sevilla y Lisboa, se disputaban dicho comercio humano por el Atlántico.Mi investigación sobre la historia de edad moderna, siglo XVI, de El Salvador, me ha permitido encontrar en la memoria histórica de los castellanos que introdujeron los primeros negros africanos en Guatemala, San Salvador y Honduras. En las primeras décadas del siglo XVI, esclavizaron a los indígenas de las comunidades que habían sometido utilizándolos en la explotación minera y búsqueda de oro en las minas y ríos, como en actividades agrícolas. A partir de 1546 se introducen los esclavos negros en la zona de los Izalcos y otros pueblos de Cuscatlán, El puerto de Acajutla, por el comercio del cacao y los comerciantes de Villa de la Trinidad y encomenderos de los pueblos de Izalcos en 1560 introdujeron los primeros negros africanos para realizar trabajos en sus encomiendas.Revista de Museología "Kóot" No.8 2017: 82-175

Discrimination Increases Suicidal Ideation in Black Adolescents Regardless of Ethnicity and Gender.

Background: Discrimination is a common experience for Blacks across various developmental periods. Although much is known about the effect of discrimination on suicidal ideation of adults, less is known about the same association in Black youth. Aim: We examined the association between discrimination and suicidal ideation in a national sample of Black youth. We also explored gender and ethnic differences in this association. Methods: We used data from the National Survey of American Life-Adolescents (NSAL-A), 2003–2004. In total, 1170 Black adolescents entered the study. This number was composed of 810 African American and 360 Caribbean Black youth (aged 13 to 17 years). Demographic and socioeconomic factors were controls, perceived discrimination was the predictor, and lifetime suicidal ideation was the outcome. Logistic regression was used to test the association between perceived discrimination and suicidal ideation in the pooled sample, as well as based on ethnicity and gender. Results: In the pooled sample of Black youth, higher perceived discrimination was associated with higher odds of suicidal ideation (Odds Ratio (OR) = 1.09; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 1.02−1.17). This association was significant net of age, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status. We did not find interactions between perceived discrimination and ethnicity or gender on suicidal ideation. Perceived discrimination was associated with suicidal ideation in African Americans (CI = 1.09; 95% CI = 1.01−1.17) and Caribbean Blacks (CI = 1.16; 95% CI = 1.03−1.32), males (CI = 1.11; 95% CI = 1.00−1.25), and females (CI = 1.08; 95% CI = 1.00−1.16). Conclusion: Discrimination jeopardizes the mental health of Black youth. In a universal pattern, discrimination is associated with suicidal ideation in Black youth. More research is needed on this topic.

Évaluation de la sensibilisation à 3 trophallergènes courants chez les enfants suivis pour asthme et ou rhinite allergique en Afrique subsaharienne : étude comparée du prick-test et du dosage des IgEs à Cotonou, Bénin

IntroductionThe aim of this study was to assess sensitization to three food allergens in children followed for asthma and/or allergic rhinitis in African blacks in Benin. MethodsSkin prick-tests and REAST tests for IgE using 3 common food allergens — egg white, cow's milk and peanut — were carried out in children aged 3 to 15 years followed for asthma and/or allergic rhinitis. Positive results for the two methods were compared. ResultsOf the 130 children initially included, 11 were excluded for ineligibility for the prick-test. The study was conducted in 119 (91.5%) children who underwent both tests. The mean age was 7±1 years and the sex ratio (M/F) was 1.6. The most common association was rhinitis and asthma, seen in 66 (55.5%) children. The sensitization frequency with the prick-test and assay was 4.2% vs. 20% for egg white, 4.2% vs. 16.2% for milk and 3.4% vs. 0.0% for peanuts. ConclusionSensitization to egg white was the most common, followed by milk and peanut sensitization. A divergence was noted between prick-tests and REAST assay in the evaluation of sensitization for these food allergens.

Conservation in gene encoding Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen Rv2660 and a high predicted population coverage of H56 multistage vaccine in South Africa

H56/AERAS-456+IC31 (H56), composed of two early secretion proteins, Ag85B and ESAT-6, and a latency associated protein, Rv2660, and the IC31 Intercell adjuvant, is a new fusion subunit vaccine candidate designed to induce immunity against both new infection and reactivation of latent tuberculosis infection. Efficacy of subunit vaccines may be affected by the diversity of vaccine antigens among clinical strains and the extent of recognition by the diverse HLA molecules in the recipient population. Although a previous study showed the conservative nature of Ag85B- and ESAT-6-encoding genes, genetic diversity of Rv2660c that encodes RV2660 is largely unknown. The population coverage of H56 as a whole yet remains to be assessed. The present study was conducted to address these important knowledge gaps. DNA sequence analysis of Rv2660c found no variation among 83 of the 84 investigated clinical strains belonging to four genetic lineages. H56 was predicted to have as high as 99.6% population coverage in the South Africa population using the Immune Epitope Database (IEDB) Population Coverage Tool. Further comparison of H56 population coverage between South African Blacks and Caucasians based on the phenotypic frequencies of binding MHC Class I and Class II supertype alleles found that all of the nine MHC-I and six of eight MHC-II human leukocyte antigen (HLA) supertype alleles analyzed were significantly differentially expressed between the two subpopulations. This finding suggests the presence of race-specific functional binding motifs of MHC-I and MHC-II HLA alleles, which, in turn, highlights the importance of including diverse populations in vaccine clinical evaluation. In conclusion, H56 vaccine is predicted to have a promising population coverage in South Africa; this study demonstrates the utility of integrating comparative genomics and bioinformatics in bridging animal and clinical studies of novel TB vaccines.

A taste of “Brownies”: Shifting color lines among Indian diasporas in southern Europe

AbstractWhile India is known for its enduring caste system and mounting racist attitudes, its diasporas resettled in Western countries are enmeshed in other (anti)racist discourses and practices. Seeing racialization as a process of translation, which is rampant in transnational migrations, this paper considers the racial experiences of Punjabis in northern Italy: a dense immigrant area, haunted by its colonial past, ongoing internal racism and current southern European rightist xenophobia. With a historical gaze, and based on my multisite research conducted between India and Italy in 2012–2014, I address everyday racial dynamics crossing geopolitical borders and other social boundaries (gender, ethnicity, class and religion). Ethnographic work with Italian Punjabis reveals a knot of racialized/racializing relations enacted in a super-diverse milieu: within and between the immigrant communities and the host society. Despite multicultural rhetoric, besides a demotion of African Blacks under a certain white...

Victimization and Perpetration of Intimate Partner Violence among Female and Male Youth and Adults in South Africa

OBJECTIVE: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a huge public health problem. The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence and influence of sociodemographic and health characteristics on IPV victimization and perpetration among women and men 15 years and older in South Africa.MATERIALS & METHODS: Data based on the South African national population-based survey in 2012 for 15916 (8532 women and 7384 men) aged 15 years and older who were in an intimate partner relationship were analysed. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression was conducted to assess the association between sociodemographic factors, health variables and IPV victimization and perpetration.RESULTS: Among women, 8.5% had experienced any form of IPV in the past 12 months, and 3.5% of the women had engaged in IPV perpetration in the past 12 months. Among men, 5.0% had experienced any form of IPV in past 12 months, and 4.4% of the men had engaged in IPV perpetration in the past 12 months. In multivariable logistic regression analysis among women, younger age, being African Black, having psychological distress, having been a victim of violent crime and having had multiple sexual partners were associated with IPV victimization in the past 12 months, while younger age, psychological distress, hazardous or harmful alcohol use, and having had multiple sexual partners was associated with IPV perpetration in the past 12 months. In multivariable logistic regression analysis among men, younger age, psychological distress, hazardous or harmful alcohol use, and having been a victim of violence crime was associated with IPV victimization in the past 12 months, while younger age, poor health status, psychological distress, hazardous or harmful alcohol use, and illicit drug use was associated with IPV perpetration in the past 12 months.CONCLUSION: Past 12-month prevalence of IPV victimization and perpetration among women and men was significant. IPV gender commonalities and differences in risk factors, such as psychological distress, substance use, crime victimization and sexual risk behaviour, may inform strategies of violence prevention programmes.

Social stress, obesity, and depression among women: clarifying the role of physical activity

ABSTRACTObjective: This study examined the role of stress in the association among physical activity, obesity, and depression among women. The extent to which physical activity moderated these relationships was also examined.Design: Data from the National Survey of American Life (N = 3235) and multivariable regression analyses were used to examine the effects of chronic stress, material hardship, racial discrimination, and physical activity on obesity and depression among African American, Caribbean Black and White women.Results: Stress was not related to body mass index (BMI) for African American or White women, but chronic stress was associated with higher BMI for Caribbean Black women. Stress was associated with depressive symptoms, but there was variation by the type of stressor under consideration. Physical activity was associated with fewer depressive symptoms and lower BMI, but the relationships varied by type of stressor and race/ethnicity. Physical activity moderated the effect of chronic stress on depressive symptoms and BMI, but only for African American women who reported high levels of chronic stress. Among White women, physical activity moderated the effect of racial discrimination on BMI for those who reported experiencing both high and low levels of discrimination.Conclusion: This study was the first to document physical activity as a moderator in the relationship among stress, depression, and obesity using a nationally representative sample of racially/ethnically diverse women. Findings provide insight into the role of stress in relation to depression and obesity while highlighting heterogeneity among Black Americans.

Blackness as Burden? The Lived Experience of Black Africans in Australia

Skin color is broadly accepted as a conspicuous marker of difference and racial belonging. Yet while the body is understood as a given, it is also socially inscribed: heavily sexualized, gendered, and even “colored.” This article is about African bodies that are colored Black. It critically discusses the experiences of black embodiment for African diaspora bodies that are coded “black” and inscribed with blackness in Australia. The article is written from a black African experience perspective to call into question current distorted and problem-centered narratives of African Blackness in Australia. Adopting standpoint theory and critical race theory’s unique voice of color thesis as conceptual framework for making sense of focus group data with black African migrants living in New South Wales and Victoria, the article’s main contention is that black African embodiment is experienced as a (symbolic and material) burden; what we call the “the burden of Blackness.” We discuss four dimensions of this burden: problematic stereotypes and social constructions, the paradox of in/visibility, burden of racial “two-ness,” and burden of minimization.

Discrimination-related Anger, Religion, and Distress: Differences between African Americans and Caribbean Black Americans

The Charleston Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC) survivors’ forgiveness of the racially motivated shootings prompted our research of the association between religion, discrimination-related anger, and psychological distress among black Americans. Using the first representative national sample of Caribbean black Americans, the National Survey of American Life, we examine if discrimination-related anger produces more psychological distress for African Americans than Caribbean black Americans and if religious emotional support lowers distress from discrimination-related anger. Our findings show discrimination-related anger is associated with less distress for Caribbean black Americans than African Americans. Religious emotional support is associated with lower levels of distress and buffers the mental health of later generation Caribbean black Americans who report anger. African Americans reporting discrimination without anger show lower levels of psychological distress than their counterparts who experience anger. Thus, we have partial support that mercy towards one’s transgressor, illustrated by the Charleston Emanuel AMEC survivors, may benefit mental health.

Comparing Associations Between Perceived Puberty, Same-Race Friends and Same-Race Peers, and Psychosocial Outcomes Among African American and Caribbean Black Girls

Despite indications that adolescent peer relations is a mediator of associations between early pubertal timing and psychosocial problems, extant studies have not explicitly examined race or ethnic-...

Genetic African Ancestry Is Associated With Central Corneal Thickness and Intraocular Pressure in Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma.

To unravel the relationship between African ancestry, central corneal thickness (CCT), and intraocular pressure (IOP) by estimating the genetic African ancestry (GAA) proportion in primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) patients and controls from an admixed South African Colored (SAC) and a South African Black (SAB) population. In this case-control study, 268 POAG patients and 137 controls were recruited from a university clinic in Cape Town, South Africa. All participants were genotyped on the Illumina HumanOmniExpress beadchip or HumanOmni2.5Exome beadchip. ADMIXTURE was used to infer participant's GAA among 86,632 SNPs. Linear and logistic regression models were used to assess the relation between GAA, POAG, CCT, and IOP. The median proportion of GAA was 60% in the study population. GAA was significantly associated with thinner CCT (P < 0.001) and IOP (P = 0.034) in POAG patients. The effect of GAA on CCT was marginally different among POAG patients versus controls (P = 0.066). In POAG patients, the CCT was significantly thinner compared to controls after adjusting for age and sex (P = 0.016). In a stratified analysis in participants with >60% GAA, CCT was not associated with POAG (P = 0.550). This study demonstrated that a higher proportion of GAA was associated with a thinner CCT and a higher IOP in POAG patients. Remarkably, at higher proportions of GAA, the difference in CCT between POAG and controls was reduced. This suggests that thinner CCT is not associated with POAG in Africans.

Low Family Support and Risk of Obesity among Black Youth: Role of Gender and Ethnicity.

Most studies on the role of family environment in developing risk of obesity among youth have focused on parenting behaviors that are directly involved in energy balance in regional, non-representative White samples. Using a national sample of ethnically diverse Black youth, the current study tested the association between low family support and risk of obesity. We also tested the heterogeneity of this association based on gender, ethnicity, and their intersection. We used data from the National Survey of American Life-Adolescent Supplement (NSAL-A), a national survey of Black adolescents in the United States. The study enrolled 1170 African American and Caribbean Black 13–17 year old youth. Obesity was defined based on the cutoff points of body mass index (BMI) appropriate for age and gender of youth. Family support was measured using a five-item measure that captured emotional and tangible social support. Age, gender, and ethnicity were also measured. Logistic regressions were utilized in the pooled sample, and also based on gender, ethnicity, and their intersection, to test the link between low family support and risk for obesity. Results: In the pooled sample, low family support was not associated with an increased risk of obesity (OR = 1.35, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 0.96–1.89). The association between low family support and risk of obesity was, however, significant among African American females (OR = 1.60, 95% CI = 1.01–2.55). There was no association for African American males (OR = 1.26, 95% CI = 0.82–1.92), Caribbean Black males (OR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.01–54.85), and Caribbean Black females (OR = 0.78, 95% CI = 0.42–1.44). In conclusion, policies and programs that enable African American families to provide additional family support may prevent obesity among African American female youth. Future research should test the efficacy of promoting family support as a tool for preventing obesity among African American female youth.

Worldwide population variation in pelvic sexual dimorphism: A validation and recalibration of the Klales et al. method

Sex estimation is an integral aspect of biological anthropology. Correctly estimating sex is the first step to many subsequent analyses, such as estimating living stature or age-at-death. Klales et al. (2012) [6] provided a revised version of the Phenice (1969) [3] method that expanded the original three traits (ventral arc, subpubic concavity/contour, and medial aspect of the ischio-pubic ramus) into five character states to capture varying degrees of expression within each trait. The Klales et al. (2012) [6] method also provided associated probabilities with each sex classification, which is of particular importance in forensic anthropology. However, the external validity of this method must be tested prior to applying the method to different populations from which the method was developed. A total of 1915 innominates from four diverse geographic populations: (1) U.S. Blacks and Whites; (2) South African Blacks and Whites; (3) Thai; and (4) unidentified Hispanic border crossers were scored in accordance with Klales et al. (2012) [6]. Trait scores for each innominate were entered into the equation provided by Klales et al. (2012) [6] for external validation. Additionally, recalibration equations were calculated with logistic regression for each population and for a pooled global sample. Validation accuracies ranged from 87.5% to 95.6% and recalibration equation accuracies ranged from 89.6% to 98% total correct. Pooling all samples and using Klales’ et al. (2012) [6] equations achieved an overall validation accuracy of 93.5%. The global recalibration model achieved 95.9% classification accuracy and can be employed in diverse worldwide populations for accurate sex estimation without the need for population specific equations.

Classroom Conversations in the Study of Race and the Disruption of Social and Educational Inequalities: A Review of Research

This review of research examines classroom conversations about race with a theoretical framing oriented to understanding how such conversations may disrupt social and educational inequalities. The review covers research on how classroom conversations on race contribute to students’ and educators’ understandings of a racialized society, their construction of and reflection on relationships among students, as well as to their learning of academic content knowledge. The review considers research across grades P–12, as well as conversations in teacher education, with a specific focus on the U.S. context. Limiting the review to the U.S. context is done not to obfuscate conceptions of race and inequalities globally, but to elucidate how race becomes manifested in unique ways in the United States—often positioning African Americans and Blackness as the “fundamental other.” The review offers a social, historical, and political discussion that contextualizes how classroom conversations, and their omission, are not conversations only relegated to the classroom, but are part of a larger dialogue within the broader society.

Risk factor assessment in South African Black patients presenting with acute myocardial infarction at R.K. Khan Hospital, Durban

Objective: To assess various risk factors in Black South African patients presenting with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) to the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) at R.K. Khan Hospital, Durban, South Africa. Methods and results: The study population was recruited from consecutive patients from a multi-ethnic background with a diagnosis of AMI over a 4 year period (2008 - 2012). Only patients who were of Black South African origin (n=94) were eligible for analysis. Demographic data stored in an electronic database were extracted from all patients. The mean age of the participants was 54.3 ± 11.0 years of whom 85% were males. The majority presented with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) (83%) whilst 17% had Non ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). Smoking (48%) and hypertension (46%) were the most commonly observed risk factors. Thirty six percent of patients developed one or more major adverse cardiac events (MACE). Recurrence of infarction and death occurred more frequently in females compared to males (14% vs. 2%, p=0.04). No signifi cant difference in MACE was found between patients who were human immunodefi ciency virus (HIV) positive (18%) compared to those who were HIV negative (82%). Metabolic syndrome, as defi ned by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria, was found in 35 (45%) of patients. The number of patients presenting with hypertension and diabetes was signifi - cantly higher in our study compared to the INTERHEART Africa study (73% vs. 50%, p<0.01; and 40% vs. 24%, p<0.01). Conclusion: South African Blacks have multiple risk factors, similar to other ethnic groups in the country, which contribute to the development of AMI. Recurrence of infarction and death occurred more frequently in females compared to males. In addition to conventional risk factors for CAD, an increased heart rate, STEMI, obesity, family history of cerebrovascular disease and hyperuricaemia are strongly associated with the presence of MACE.