Obeticholic acid for the treatment of primary biliary cholangitis in adult patients: clinical utility and patient selection.

Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), previously known as primary biliary "cirrhosis", is a rare autoimmune liver disease characterized by the hallmark autoantibodies to mitochondrial antigens and immune-mediated destruction of small bile duct epithelial cells leading to cholestasis and cirrhosis. Surprisingly, while immune modulators have not been effective in the treatment of PBC, supplementation with the hydrophilic bile acid (BA) ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) has been demonstrated to slow the disease progression. However, a significant minority of PBC patients do not have a complete response to UDCA and remain at risk of continued disease progression. Although the mechanisms of action are not well understood, UDCA provided proof of concept for BA therapy in PBC. Obeticholic acid (OCA), a novel derivative of the human BA chenodeoxycholic acid, is a potent agonist of the nuclear hormone receptor farnesoid X receptor, which regulates BA synthesis and transport. A series of clinical trials of OCA in PBC, primarily in combination with UDCA, have established that OCA leads to significant reductions in serum alkaline phosphatase that are predicted to lead to improved clinical outcomes, while dose-dependent pruritus has been the most common adverse effect. On the basis of these studies, OCA was given conditional approval by the US Food and Drug Administration with plans to establish the long-term clinical efficacy of OCA in patients with advanced PBC

Displaced workers, early leavers, and re-employment wages

When receiving information about an imminent plant closure or mass layoffs, workers search for new jobs. This has been the premise of advance notice legislation, but has been difficult to verify using survey data. In this paper, we lay out a search model that takes explicitly into account the information flow prior to a mass layoff. Using universal wage data files that allow us to identify individuals working with healthy and displacing firms both at the time of displacement as well as any other time period, we test the predictions of the model on re-employment wages. Controlling for worker quality and unobservable firm characteristics, workers leaving a "distressed" firm have higher re-employment wages than workers who stay with the distressed firm until displacement.Displaced workers, search theory, advance notice, linked firm-worker data sets

Domestic Violence, Employment, and Divorce

Conventional wisdom suggests abused women get caught in a ‘cycle of violence’ and are unable or unwilling to leave their spouses. We estimate a model of domestic violence to determine who abuses, who is abused, and how women respond to abuse via employment and divorce. In contrast to conventional wisdom, abused women are 1.7 to 5.7 times more likely to divorce. Employment before abuse occurs is found to be a significant deterrent. For men, witnessing violence as a child is a strong predictor of abusive behavior: re-socializing men from violent homes lowers abuse rates by 26 to 48 percent.Domestic violence, divorce, marriage, employment

Equilibrium Job Search and Gender Wage Differentials in the UK

The role of gender differences in labour market behaviour in determining the UK male-female wage differential is examined using the British Household Panel Study and the general equilibrium job search framework of Bowlus (1997). We find that search behaviour explains 30-35% of the gender wage differential. This is similar to US findings. Despite more generous maternity policies, females in the UK are more likely to exit to non-participation. Finally, we find the level of search friction is lower in the UK than in the US due to low job destruction rates in the UK.labour force participation ; search models ; gender wage differentials

Human Capital Prices, Productivity and Growth

Separate identification of the price and quantity of human capital has important implications for understanding key issues in economics. Price and quantity series are derived for four education levels. The price series are highly correlated and they exhibit a strong secular trend. Three resulting implications are explored: the rising college premium is found to be driven more by relative quantity than relative price changes, life-cycle wage profiles are readily interpretable as reflecting optimal human capital investment paths using the estimated price series, and adjusting the labor input for quality increases dramatically reduces the contribution of MFP to growth.Human Capital, Productivity and Growth

Equilibrium Job Search and Gender Wage Differentials in the UK

The role of gender differences in labour market behaviour in determining the UK male-female wage differential is examined using the British Household Panel Study and the general equilibrium job search framework of Bowlus(1997). We find that search behaviour explains 30-35% of the gender wage differential. This is similar to US findings. Despite more generous maternity policies, females in the UK are more likely to exit to non-participation. Finally, we find the level of search friction is lower in the UK than in the US due to low job destruction rates in the UK.

Domestic Violence, Employment and Divorce

Using unique, representative data on domestic violence, we document several stylized facts on abuse: the average characteristics of abused wives and abusive husbands are markedly different than the characteristics of individuals in non-violent marriages, the vast majority of violent marriages end in divorce, and employment rates are lower for women who experience abuse. We then construct a sequential model of employment, marriage and abuse. The results indicate abuse is the primary factor in the decision to divorce and witnessing violence as a child is a strong predictor of becoming an abusive spouse. Policy experiments suggest men are more responsive to policies designed to increase the costs of abuse than women are to policies reducing the cost of leaving violent marriages and policies designed to reduce the inter-generational effects of domestic violence may be promising strategies for preventing abuse.Domestic Violence, Abuse, Employment, Marriage, Divorce

Strange New World

The trip between Egypt and Jerusalem had taken hours already, the environmental shielding on his sand skimmer shone a faint orange, the barren wastes flying by below were scattered with husks of tanks and bones, scorch marks still clinging to a battle field no one wanted to remember. ~excerpt from the short stor

Understanding the Role of Student Narrative in the Reinstatement from Suspension Process

Retention and persistence are concerns that are not soon going away for institutions of higher education. Students returning from suspension will continue to be a focus for institutions as they aim to graduate all admitted students. Yet, institutions still want more precise mechanisms that help them identify students who will be academically successful upon return from suspension and know what kind of support those students will need to be successful. Decades of research were unable to find objective criteria that administrators can depend on for making reinstatement decisions. Thus, suggesting further research is necessary to review subjective criteria in this process, namely through practices highlighted by narrative theory. A growing arm of research connecting the importance of this theory to academic advising practice provides a foundation for understanding how narrative theory can impact such an important process as reinstatement from suspension. The research aims to discover how student narrative is perceived as having an impact on reinstatement from suspension decisions. Further, this research seeks to understand whether reviewing student narrative, written and oral, through a narrative theory lens, can provide insight into future student success. A qualitative approach will provide an opportunity to engage those intimately involved in this process to understand their perceptions and interpretations of the importance of student narrative