Sugar Hill Project: Harlem, New York

Sugar Hill is a new mixed-use development in Harlem’s historic Sugar Hill district that features affordable housing, a children’s museum, preschool, non-profit offices, and underground parking. Initiated by non-profit developer of supportive housing, Broadway Housing Communities (BHC), and generated by a tight budget as well as the exacting parameters of the site, the concept challenges the traditional typology of low cost housing and reflects Adjaye Associates’ commitment to a wider urban and cultural responsibility

Income Inequality and Health: A Multi-Country Analysis

This paper investigates the effect of income inequality on health status. A model of health status was specified in which the main variables were income level, income inequality, the level of savings and the level of education. The model was estimated using a panel data set for 44 countries covering six time periods. The results indicate that income inequality (measured by the Gini coefficient) has a significant effect on health status when we control for the levels of income, savings and education. The relationship is consistent regardless of the specification of health status and income. Thus, the study results provide some empirical support for the income inequality hypothesis

The effect of foreign direct investment on Indonesian economic growth, 1970-1996

This paper estimates the effects of foreign investment on Indonesia's economic growth for the period 1970 to 1996. Economic growth is measured by growth in gross domestic product (GDP) and gross domestic income (GNI), Two types of foreign investment are considered: foreign direct investment (FDI) and net private capital flows. Other determinants of economic growth included in the analysis are human capital and gross domestic savings. The results suggest that foreign direct investment, net private capital, human capital and gross domestic savings jointly influence economic growth. Foreign direct investment has a significant positive effect on economic growth, while net private capital has no significant effect. Human capital, proxied by the proportion of the population in the labour force and secondary school enrolments, and gross domestic savings, also exert a positive influence on economic growth. On the basis of the analysis, it is suggested that, to enhance the role of FDI in Indonesia's economic growth, the government should encourage the participation of foreign-owned enterprises (FOEs) in export-oriented industries and encourage the use of domestic inputs. There is also the need to enhance the quality of human capital through improved education and improved skills training

Diagnostic Potential of Imaging Modalities in the Assessment of Lower Urinary Tract Dysfunctions

Lower urinary tract dysfunction (LUTD) is common in both men and women, and the incidence and prevalence increases as people age. Commonly observed symptoms of LUTD include nocturia, urgency, urinary incontinence and frequency of voiding. Recognizing the key role accurate monitoring and evaluation of LUTD play in the day-to-day assessment of the condition, this chapter will explore the diagnostic capabilities of imaging modalities including MRI, ultrasound and fluoroscopy in assessing bladder wall thickness (BWT), detrusor wall thickness (DWT) and estimation of bladder weight both in real-time and static positions, and finally analyze their suitability as surrogates for bladder outlet obstruction (BOO) or detrusor overactivity (DO)

Private Returns on Education in Ghana: Estimating the Effects of Education on Employability in Ghana

The relevance of education for both individual and social development in Ghana and in many developing societies is generally acknowledged. Human capital theorists identify positive effects of education on labour market outcomes of individuals. It has been argued that educationenhances the skills and knowledge of individuals for better employment, higher productivity and improved wages. This paper draws on the latest and most comprehensive survey data in Ghana, the fifth round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS 5), to assess the effects of education on employability in Ghana. This paper argues that education has a positive effect on employability in Ghana. Analysis of the GLSS 5 data shows that in the Ghanaian labour market, individuals who have attained basic, secondary and tertiary education have higher probabilities of being employed than those with no education, ceteris paribus. However, thehighest private returns on education, in terms of employability is tertiary education. Hence optimal post primary education investment in Ghana is one with a high possibility for tertiary education

Individualism as Habitus: Reframing the Relationship between Income Inequality and Health

Public health literature has demonstrated a negative effect of income inequality on a number of health outcomes. Researchers have attempted to explain this phenomenon, drawing on psychosocial and neo-materialist explanations. This paper argues, however, that these approaches fail to recognize the crucial role of culture, focusing specifically on the cultural value of individualism. Through a review of the literature and Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice as a theoretical framework, I provide support for the proposition that an ideology based in individualism is the context within which income inequality, social fragmentation, material deprivation, and consequently poor health outcomes are produced. I further offer recommendations for continued research into the role of cultural determinants in the income inequality-health relationship

Chromatin immunoprecipitation-based analysis of gene regulatory networks operative in human embryonic stem cells

Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) followed by microarray-based (ChIP-Chip) or next-generation sequencing-based (ChIP-Seq) analysis has been established as a powerful and widely used method to investigate DNA-protein interactions relative to a genomic location in vivo. Here, we present a ChIP-Chip protocol, which utilizes an alternative, easier amplification protocol and when using high-quality ChIP-grade antibodies, will generate enough material for hybridization or sequencing with negligible enrichment bias due to amplification

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Crosstalk between age accumulated DNA-damage and the SIRT1-AKT-GSK3ß axis in urine derived renal progenitor cells

The aging process is manifested by a multitude of inter-linked biological processes. These processes contribute to genomic instability, telomere attrition, epigenetic alterations, loss of proteostasis, de-regulated nutrient-sensing, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence, stem cell exhaustion, and altered intercellular communication. The mammalian ortholog of the yeast silent information regulator (Sir2) SIRT1 is a NAD+-dependent class III histone deacetylase and has been recognized to be involved in many of the forementioned processes. Furthermore, the physiological activity of several Sirtuin family members has been connected to the regulation of life span of lower organisms (Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster) as well as mammals. In the present study, we provide evidence that SIX2-positive urine derived renal progenitor cells-UdRPCs isolated directly from human urine show typical hallmarks of aging. This includes the subsequent transcriptional downregulation of SIRT1 and its downstream targets AKT and GSK3ß with increased donor age. This transcriptional downregulation is accompanied by an increase in DNA damage and transcriptional levels of several cell cycle inhibitors such as P16. We provide evidence that the renal progenitor transcription factor SIX2 binds to the coding sequence of SIRT1. Furthermore, we show that the SIRT1 promoter region is methylation sensitive and becomes methylated during aging, dividing them into SIRT1-high and -low expressing UdRPCs. Our results highlight the importance of SIRT1 in DNA damage repair recognition in UdRPCs and the control of differentiation by regulating the activation of GSK3β through AKT