title: Fear and loathing on the sport field: Masculinities, social transformation and creative teaching strategies

authors: Pringle, Richard

subjects: education

abstract: The apparent links between sport and masculinities has generated critical concern from a number of educationalists, feminists and sport sociologists. These concerns have inspired the development of various pedagogical strategies for transforming understandings and practices of gender within educational settings. This paper reviews the connections between sport and masculinities, and contributes to the development of a critical pedagogy by illustrating how the creative arts can be used within tertiary educational settings to raise awareness of the gendering influence of sport. I detail how I drew on Foucauldian theorizing and the work of Laurel Richardson to develop a teaching strategy, involving the use of dance and a 'collective story', to promote marginalised knowledge and stir political emotions. I present a shortened version of the collective story and discuss its impact on tertiary students. I conclude by encouraging other educators to draw on the creative arts as tools for promoting discussion, legitmating the voice of the 'other' and to encourage an empathetic response.

text: Fear and loathing on the sport field: Masculinities, social transformation and creative teaching strategies The apparent links between sport and masculinities has generated critical concern from a number of educationalists, feminists and sport sociologists. These concerns have inspired the development of various pedagogical strategies for transforming understandings and practices of gender within educational settings. This paper reviews the connections between sport and masculinities, and contributes to the development of a critical pedagogy by illustrating how the creative arts can be used within tertiary educational settings to raise awareness of the gendering influence of sport. I detail how I drew on Foucauldian theorizing and the work of Laurel Richardson to develop a teaching strategy, involving the use of dance and a 'collective story', to promote marginalised knowledge and stir political emotions. I present a shortened version of the collective story and discuss its impact on tertiary students. I conclude by encouraging other educators to draw on the creative arts as tools for promoting discussion, legitmating the voice of the 'other' and to encourage an empathetic response.

year: 2007

title: DNA methylation-associated colonic mucosal immune and defense responses in treatment-naïve pediatric ulcerative colitis

authors: Harris, R. Alan

subjects: Machine learning

abstract: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are emerging globally, indicating that environmental factors may be important in their pathogenesis. Colonic mucosal epigenetic changes, such as DNA methylation, can occur in response to the environment and have been implicated in IBD pathology. However, mucosal DNA methylation has not been examined in treatment-naïve patients. We studied DNA methylation in untreated, left sided colonic biopsy specimens using the Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip array. We analyzed 22 control (C) patients, 15 untreated Crohn’s disease (CD) patients, and 9 untreated ulcerative colitis (UC) patients from two cohorts. Samples obtained at the time of clinical remission from two of the treatment-naïve UC patients were also included into the analysis. UC-specific gene expression was interrogated in a subset of adjacent samples (5 C and 5 UC) using the Affymetrix GeneChip PrimeView Human Gene Expression Arrays. Only treatment-naïve UC separated from control. One-hundred-and-twenty genes with significant expression change in UC (> 2-fold, P &lt; 0.05) were associated with differentially methylated regions (DMRs). Epigenetically associated gene expression changes (including gene expression changes in the IFITM1, ITGB2, S100A9, SLPI, SAA1, and STAT3 genes) were linked to colonic mucosal immune and defense responses. These findings underscore the relationship between epigenetic changes and inflammation in pediatric treatment-naïve UC and may have potential etiologic, diagnostic, and therapeutic relevance for IBD.

text: DNA methylation-associated colonic mucosal immune and defense responses in treatment-naïve pediatric ulcerative colitis Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are emerging globally, indicating that environmental factors may be important in their pathogenesis. Colonic mucosal epigenetic changes, such as DNA methylation, can occur in response to the environment and have been implicated in IBD pathology. However, mucosal DNA methylation has not been examined in treatment-naïve patients. We studied DNA methylation in untreated, left sided colonic biopsy specimens using the Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip array. We analyzed 22 control (C) patients, 15 untreated Crohn’s disease (CD) patients, and 9 untreated ulcerative colitis (UC) patients from two cohorts. Samples obtained at the time of clinical remission from two of the treatment-naïve UC patients were also included into the analysis. UC-specific gene expression was interrogated in a subset of adjacent samples (5 C and 5 UC) using the Affymetrix GeneChip PrimeView Human Gene Expression Arrays. Only treatment-naïve UC separated from control. One-hundred-and-twenty genes with significant expression change in UC (> 2-fold, P &lt; 0.05) were associated with differentially methylated regions (DMRs). Epigenetically associated gene expression changes (including gene expression changes in the IFITM1, ITGB2, S100A9, SLPI, SAA1, and STAT3 genes) were linked to colonic mucosal immune and defense responses. These findings underscore the relationship between epigenetic changes and inflammation in pediatric treatment-naïve UC and may have potential etiologic, diagnostic, and therapeutic relevance for IBD.

year: 2014

title: Does within-treatment change on dynamic risk factors and psychopathology predict recidivism for men graduating from Tai Aroha?

authors: Tanner Dempsey, Arden

subjects: dynamic risk factors

abstract: Dynamic risk factors are modifiable aspects of justice-involved people and their environment that can change over time and are associated with criminal behaviour. Because they are considered changeable, they are therefore typically the focus of rehabilitative treatment (Bonta & Andrews, 2024). Research shows that correctional rehabilitation that targets dynamic risk factors effectively reduces recidivism, and psychometric tools assessing these factors generally show improvements during treatment. However, there is a missing link; current research lacks consistent evidence linking changes on dynamic risk factors during treatment to recidivism. Relatedly, there are few studies assessing within-treatment changes in psychopathology and how they may affect recidivism, though they are commonly assessed alongside dynamic risk factors in correctional settings. 
This study, involving 164 people with violent offence convictions who completed the Tai Aroha community treatment programme, aimed to address this missing link. A battery of tests measured pre- and post-programme included dynamic risk factor measures, the Anger Disorders Scale (ADS), Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS), Criminal Attitudes to Violence Scale (CAVS), and the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-III and IV) which is designed to assess personality and clinical psychopathology. Standardised residual change scores were used to account for variance in pre-treatment scores, and Cox regression hazard ratios to test prediction of general and violent recidivism.
Most subscales for dynamic risk factor measures and the MCMI-III and IV showed substantial improvements during treatment, however, this did not translate to predicting the probability of recidivism. While several hazard ratios indicated effects in a positive direction, none were significant when adjusted for multiple comparisons, and controlling for actuarial risk did not improve predictive accuracy. There was some evidence of increased socially desirable responding which increased at the end of treatment, this included responses on the MCMI-III and IV consistent with the “Normal Quartet.” Interpretations of these findings and both theoretical and empirical implications are discussed.

text: Does within-treatment change on dynamic risk factors and psychopathology predict recidivism for men graduating from Tai Aroha? Dynamic risk factors are modifiable aspects of justice-involved people and their environment that can change over time and are associated with criminal behaviour. Because they are considered changeable, they are therefore typically the focus of rehabilitative treatment (Bonta & Andrews, 2024). Research shows that correctional rehabilitation that targets dynamic risk factors effectively reduces recidivism, and psychometric tools assessing these factors generally show improvements during treatment. However, there is a missing link; current research lacks consistent evidence linking changes on dynamic risk factors during treatment to recidivism. Relatedly, there are few studies assessing within-treatment changes in psychopathology and how they may affect recidivism, though they are commonly assessed alongside dynamic risk factors in correctional settings. 
This study, involving 164 people with violent offence convictions who completed the Tai Aroha community treatment programme, aimed to address this missing link. A battery of tests measured pre- and post-programme included dynamic risk factor measures, the Anger Disorders Scale (ADS), Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS), Criminal Attitudes to Violence Scale (CAVS), and the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-III and IV) which is designed to assess personality and clinical psychopathology. Standardised residual change scores were used to account for variance in pre-treatment scores, and Cox regression hazard ratios to test prediction of general and violent recidivism.
Most subscales for dynamic risk factor measures and the MCMI-III and IV showed substantial improvements during treatment, however, this did not translate to predicting the probability of recidivism. While several hazard ratios indicated effects in a positive direction, none were significant when adjusted for multiple comparisons, and controlling for actuarial risk did not improve predictive accuracy. There was some evidence of increased socially desirable responding which increased at the end of treatment, this included responses on the MCMI-III and IV consistent with the “Normal Quartet.” Interpretations of these findings and both theoretical and empirical implications are discussed.

year: 2024-01-23