A Demand And Supply Analysis Of The Confluence Of Student Loan Stakeholder Interests

This paper addresses the question of why the student loan crisis has arisen through the use of a demand and supply model.  The model serves as a framework for analyzing the student-borrower motivations (the demand side), the bank-lender motivations (the supply side), externalities that motivate government support for student loans, and the perverse incentives government regulations spawn for educational institutions and lenders.  Analysis of the model reveals that the crisis is driven by students’ desire to increase their socioeconomic standing, by banks’ search for profits in a climate of decreasing risk, and by the government’s efforts to lessen the impact of externalities

La nave dei folli: la modifica dello stereotipo del malato mentale nell’adolescente

L’intervento si colloca in due ambiti: 1) la riabilitazione psichiatrica; 2) l’educazione alla diversità. Si è affrontato il problema della modifica dello stereotipo del malato mentale presso un gruppo di adolescenti frequentanti l’ultimo anno di un istituto superiore della periferia di Roma. Il problema è nato proprio dalla presenza degli utenti del Centro diurno nella scuola con richiesta da parte del personale docente di non fare incontrare studenti e utenti. Il rischio evidente del perdurare dell’ emarginazione si è trasformato, grazie all’aiuto del preside, in un’ occasione di incontro tra utenti e studenti conformemente con la “Mission” del centro diurno e l’ottica di educazione alla diversità per la scuola. L’intervento si poggia sulla concezione di riabilitazione proposta dall’APA. La riabilitazione si propone di conseguire anche una meta culturale caratterizzata dalla accettazione e dal riconoscimento dei più deboli attraverso una azione sul tessuto sociale che contrasti sia l’atteggiamento pietistico che quello emarginante. A questo livello si pone la specificità pedagogica dell’intervento che vede.1) la riabilitazione porsi entro il raggio d’azione di una pedagogia per l’inclusione che vede la scuola come microcosmo sociale all’interno del quale attuare la formazione di una piccola comunità competente. 2) La scuola sensibile al progetto di apertura alla diversità vede nell’avvicinamento alla radicale alterità della follia, una necessità fondamentale e un obbligo a favore della conoscenza e comprensione dell’altro diverso da sé per assicurargli pari dignità di cittadinanza. Si è voluto preparare un incontro tra due “culture”: quello dei “sani” e quello dei “folli” che rappresentasse un’esperienza di crescita reciproca e di annullamento di barriere fra i due gruppi, con una particolare attenzione ai processi intrapsichici che sono alla base del processo di emarginazione. Il costrutto mentale che si è inteso modificare era la costruzione dello stereotipo che per sua natura si presenta rigido, difficilmente modificabile e basato su pochi elementi. L’istruzione (dare informazioni) e la crescita empatica (modificazione degli aspetti emotivi) sono stati il focus della formazione orientata ad accrescere la curiosità piuttosto che la paura nei confronti della malattia mentale, attraverso la conoscenza della complessità e drammaticità dei vissuti dei malati, che ridimensionasse, esplicitandoli, gli atteggiamenti di paura e rifiuto. L’ipotesi formulata prevedeva che questi elementi avrebbero modificato lo stereotipo, nel senso di un allargamento-arricchimento degli attributi e di una maggiore elasticità-indeterminatezza attraverso una modificazione cognitiva e degli aspetti emotivi. Rivolta a quest’ultimo aspetto è stata l’organizzazione di un cineforum. Tale metodologia costituisce tuttora una delle attività formative più collaudate all’interno della scuola. Gli strumenti per la rilevazione dei dati sono stati: un tema a carattere fantastico sulla malattia mentale i cui contenuti sono stati analizzati con il software SPSS: questo strumento mirava a suscitare gli aspetti fantasmatici dell’incontro con il folle e a valutare gli atteggiamenti in merito a: emozioni, atteggiamenti cognitivi e tendenza all’azione: ad integrazione di questo strumento per sua natura poco strutturato, ma utilizzato perché inserito nella quotidianità della vita scolastica, e quindi accettato dai ragazzi, è stata affiancata la somministrazione di una Adjective check list (Acl) avente come stimolo il malato mentale. La metodologia ha visto due somministrazioni prima e dopo l’intervento formativo. I risultati hanno confermato gli esiti ipotizzati.Among the most invisible, of exclusions, are the mentally ill. This form of exclusion varies from society to society. In this cultural and historical context, the mentally ill emerge as “loser”. The question becomes how to minimize the cultural and social stigmata of mentally illness. This study illustrates a small investigation to educate the sensibility of young people by introducing them to the problems of perception which they hold by stereotyping the mentally ill. Internationally, similar results emphasise the importance of giving correct information which in itself tends to change stereotypes. The form which this research took was to arrange that a group of young people met the clients of public rehabilitation centre in Rome. The first step in the research was to prepare the young people to meet members of this centre who were all schizophrenics. This preparation was by showing films about mental disease; by discussing the interpretation of the films; and by offering to the young people precise, and correct, information on hallucination and delirium. Two instruments were used to measure the change in stereotypes. The first , was an Adjective Check List, and the second was the analysis of essays written by the young people. These essays were subjected to a content analysis. The results were clear. They will be indicated in the full paper

Hepatitis C virus production requires apolipoprotein A-I and affects its association with nascent low-density lipoproteins

Background/aims The life cycle of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is intimately linked to the lipid metabolism of the host. In particular, HCV exploits the metabolic machinery of the lipoproteins in several steps of its life cycle such as circulation in the bloodstream, cell attachment and entry, assembly and release of viral particles. However, the details of how HCV interacts with and influences the metabolism of the host lipoproteins are not well understood. A study was undertaken to investigate whether HCV directly affects the protein composition of host circulating lipoproteins. Methods A proteomic analysis of circulating very low-, low- and high-density lipoproteins (VLDL, LDL and HDL), isolated from either in-treatment naive HCV-infected patients or healthy donors (HD), was performed using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and tandem mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/TOF). The results obtained were further investigated using in vitro models of HCV infection and replication. Results A decreased level of apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) was found in the LDL fractions of HCV-infected patients. This result was confirmed by western blot and ELISA analysis. HCV cellular models (JFH1 HCV cell culture system (HCVcc) and HCV subgenomic replicons) showed that the decreased apoA-I/LDL association originates from hepatic biogenesis rather than lipoprotein catabolism occurring in the circulation, and is not due to a downregulation of the apoA-I protein concentration. The sole non-structural viral proteins were sufficient to impair the apoA-I/LDL association. Functional evidence was obtained for involvement of apoA-I in the viral life cycle such as RNA replication and virion production. The specific siRNA-mediated downregulation of apoA-I led to a reduction in both HCV RNA and viral particle levels in culture. Conclusions This study shows that HCV induces lipoprotein structural modification and that its replication and production are linked to the host lipoprotein metabolism, suggesting apoA-I as a new possible target for antiviral therapy

The stable repression of mesenchymal program is required for hepatocyte identity: A novel role for hepatocyte nuclear factor 4\uce\ub1

The concept that cellular terminal differentiation is stably maintained once development is complete has been questioned by numerous observations showing that differentiated epithelium may undergo an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) program. EMT and the reverse process, mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET), are typical events of development, tissue repair, and tumor progression. In this study, we aimed to clarify the molecular mechanisms underlying these phenotypic conversions in hepatocytes. Hepatocyte nuclear factor 4\uce\ub1 (HNF4\uce\ub1) was overexpressed in different hepatocyte cell lines and the resulting gene expression profile was determined by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. HNF4\uce\ub1 recruitment on promoters of both mesenchymal and EMT regulator genes was determined by way of electrophoretic mobility shift assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation. The effect of HNF4\uce\ub1 depletion was assessed in silenced cells and in the context of the whole liver of HNF4 knockout animals. Our results identified key EMT regulators and mesenchymal genes as new targets of HNF4\uce\ub1. HNF4\uce\ub1, in cooperation with its target HNF1\uce\ub1, directly inhibits transcription of the EMT master regulatory genes Snail, Slug, and HMGA2 and of several mesenchymal markers. HNF4\uce\ub1-mediated repression of EMT genes induces MET in hepatomas, and its silencing triggers the mesenchymal program in differentiated hepatocytes both in cell culture and in the whole liver. Conclusion: The pivotal role of HNF4\uce\ub1 in the induction and maintenance of hepatocyte differentiation should also be ascribed to its capacity to continuously repress the mesenchymal program; thus, both HNF4\uce\ub1 activator and repressor functions are necessary for the identity of hepatocytes. Copyright \uc2\ua9 2011 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases

Ultra-luminous quasars at redshift z>4.5z>4.5 from SkyMapper

The most luminous quasars at high redshift harbour the fastest-growing and most massive black holes in the early Universe. They are exceedingly rare and hard to find. Here, we present our search for the most luminous quasars in the redshift range from $z=4.5$ to $5$ using data from SkyMapper, Gaia and WISE. We use colours to select likely high-redshift quasars and reduce the stellar contamination of the candidate set with parallax and proper motion data. In $\sim$12,500~deg$^2$ of Southern sky, we find 92 candidates brighter than $R_p=18.2$. Spectroscopic follow-up has revealed 21 quasars at $z\ge 4$ (16 of which are within $z=[4.5,5]$), as well as several red quasars, BAL quasars and objects with unusual spectra, which we tentatively label OFeLoBALQSOs at redshifts of $z\approx 1$ to $2$. This work lifts the number of known bright $z\ge 4.5$ quasars in the Southern hemisphere from 10 to 26 and brings the total number of quasars known at $R_p<18.2$ and $z\ge 4.5$ to 42.Comment: Submitted to MNRAS, 10 page

PEN: a low energy test of lepton universality

Allowed charged $\pi$ meson decays are characterized by simple dynamics, few available decay channels, mainly into leptons, and extremely well controlled radiative and loop corrections. In that sense, pion decays represent a veritable triumph of the standard model (SM) of elementary particles and interactions. This relative theoretical simplicity makes charged pion decays a sensitive means for testing the underlying symmetries and the universality of weak fermion couplings, as well as for studying pion structure and chiral dynamics. Even after considerable recent improvements, experimental precision is lagging far behind that of the theoretical description for pion decays. We review the current state of experimental study of the pion electronic decay $\pi^+ \to e^+\nu_e(\gamma)$, or $\pi_{e2(\gamma)}$, where the $(\gamma)$ indicates inclusion and explicit treatment of radiative decay events. We briefly review the limits on non-SM processes arising from the present level of experimental precision in $\pi_{e2(\gamma)}$ decays. Focusing on the PEN experiment at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Switzerland, we examine the prospects for further improvement in the near term.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures; paper presented at the XIII International Conference on Heavy Quarks and Leptons, 22-27 May 2016, Blacksburg, Virginia, US

The stable repression of mesenchymal program is required for hepatocyte identity: A novel role for hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α

The concept that cellular terminal differentiation is stably maintained once development is complete has been questioned by numerous observations showing that differentiated epithelium may undergo an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) program. EMT and the reverse process, mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET), are typical events of development, tissue repair, and tumor progression. In this study, we aimed to clarify the molecular mechanisms underlying these phenotypic conversions in hepatocytes. Hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α (HNF4α) was overexpressed in different hepatocyte cell lines and the resulting gene expression profile was determined by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. HNF4α recruitment on promoters of both mesenchymal and EMT regulator genes was determined by way of electrophoretic mobility shift assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation. The effect of HNF4α depletion was assessed in silenced cells and in the context of the whole liver of HNF4 knockout animals. Our results identified key EMT regulators and mesenchymal genes as new targets of HNF4α. HNF4α, in cooperation with its target HNF1α, directly inhibits transcription of the EMT master regulatory genes Snail, Slug, and HMGA2 and of several mesenchymal markers. HNF4α-mediated repression of EMT genes induces MET in hepatomas, and its silencing triggers the mesenchymal program in differentiated hepatocytes both in cell culture and in the whole liver. Conclusion: The pivotal role of HNF4α in the induction and maintenance of hepatocyte differentiation should also be ascribed to its capacity to continuously repress the mesenchymal program; thus, both HNF4α activator and repressor functions are necessary for the identity of hepatocytes. Copyright © 2011 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases