A clear understanding of choline metabolism is important in our goal to modify demyelination and remyelination in multiple sclerosis. To develop a technique capable of measuring metabolic changes in the brain, we have studied the incorporation of a phosphonium analogue of choline (P-choline) in tissue extracts of rats. After feeding adult rats a choline-deficient diet supplemented with P-choline, the analogue was not detectable by in vivo volume-localized 1H spectroscopy. However, in vitro 31P measurements of brain extracts revealed an 11% incorporation of P-choline into phosphatidylcholine. We report that P-choline incorporates preferentially into the lipid pool over the lipid precursor pool and we provide evidence that the choline peak resolved by in vivo 1H spectroscopy is only composed of small molecular weight choline-containing compounds.

This chapter will examine standards of whiteness that are embedded in current organizational cultures and how these standards impact Black women (BW) in the workplace; particularly after the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and the racial reckoning of 2020. The authors widen the perspective beyond the confines of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as a role, to discuss cultural issues that universally diminish the power of BW, and that DEI practitioners should inherently be charged to recognize, name, and be empowered to eradicate. The work introduces microdevaluation as a construct encompassing an array of racial aggressions often experienced by BW in public settings. The authors further examine the effects on innovation caused by the lack of inclusion of the voice of the BW within organizations. The chapter ends by providing recommendations that organizations and institutions must adapt in order to transform and achieve equity for BW and reap the benefits afforded by diversity and inclusion.