Going the Extra Mile: Successful Transfer of Latino/Latina Students from Two-Year Institutions to Four-Year

The purpose of this qualitative dissertation was to provide insight as to the experiences of Latino/a students at community colleges preparing to transfer as compared with those from Latino/a students who had already transferred. The Latino/a population is one of the fastest growing minority populations in the United States yet despite the growth experienced by this population in the United States, particularly in states such as California and Texas, accessing equitable higher education opportunities and achieving educational success have both been a tremendous challenge to this culture (Perez & Ceja, 2010). Eight Latino/a students preparing for transfer from two different community colleges were interviewed twice based on two semi-structured protocols. Eight Latino/a transfer students from two different universities were also interviewed with these protocols, producing a total of thirty-two interviews. The transcriptions from both phases and groups of students were then coded following the methodology of Moustakas (1994) and compared to a persistence framework (Swail, Redd, & Perna, 2003). This framework was altered to reflect new emerging themes and the Latino/a students’ stories and quotations. The findings produced many themes which matched the cognitive, institutional, and social forces of the Swail et al. (2003) framework but four new themes emerged from the interviews that were not associated with previous research. These themes including belonging, civic commitments, cultural identity intersections, and mentor influences will prove to be an important part of the understanding of Latino/a transfer issues for scholars, administrators, and students of higher education

Should UI Eligibility Be Expanded to Low-Earning Workers? Evidence on Employment, Transfer Receipt, and Income from Administrative Data

Recent efforts to expand unemployment insurance (UI) eligibility are expected to increase low-earning workers’ access to UI. Although the expansion’s aim is to smooth the income and consumption of previously ineligible workers, it is possible that UI benefits simply displace other sources of income. Standard economic models predict that UI delays reemployment, thereby reducing wage income. Additionally, low-earning workers are often eligible for benefits from means-tested programs, which may decrease with UI benefits. In this paper, we estimate the impact of UI eligibility on employment, means-tested program participation, and income after job loss using a unique individual-level administrative data set from the state of Michigan. To identify a causal effect, we implement a fuzzy regression discontinuity design around the minimum earnings threshold for UI eligibility. Our main finding is that while UI eligibility increases jobless durations by up to 25 percent and temporarily lowers receipt of cash assistance (TANF) by 63 percent, the net impact on total income is still positive and large. In the quarter immediately following job loss, UI-eligible workers have 46-61 percent higher incomes than ineligibles

Targeted molecular-genetic imaging and ligand-directed therapy in aggressive variant prostate cancer

Aggressive variant prostate cancers (AVPC) are a clinically defined group of tumors of heterogeneous morphologies, characterized by poor patient survival and for which limited diagnostic and treatment options are currently available. We show that the cell surface 78-kDa glucose-regulated protein (GRP78), a receptor that binds to phage-display-selected ligands, such as the SNTRVAP motif, is a candidate target in AVPC. We report the presence and accessibility of this receptor in clinical specimens from index patients. We also demonstrate that human AVPC cells displaying GRP78 on their surface could be effectively targeted both in vitro and in vivo by SNTRVAP, which also enabled specific delivery of siRNA species to tumor xenografts in mice. Finally, we evaluated ligand-directed strategies based on SNTRVAP-displaying adeno-associated virus/phage (AAVP) particles in mice bearing MDA-PCa-118b, a patient-derived xenograft (PDX) of castration-resistant prostate cancer bone metastasis that we exploited as a model of AVPC. For theranostic (a merging of the terms therapeutic and diagnostic) studies, GRP78-targeting AAVP particles served to deliver the human Herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase type-1 (HSVtk) gene, which has a dual function as a molecular-genetic sensor/reporter and a cell suicide-inducing transgene. We observed specific and simultaneous PET imaging and treatment of tumors in this preclinical model of AVPC. Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of GPR78-targeting, ligand-directed theranostics for translational applications in AVPC

Social Security and Divorce Decisions

People who have divorced are entitled to Social Security spousal benefits if their marriages lasted at least ten years. This paper uses 1985–1995 Vital Statistics data and the 2008–2011 American Community Surveys to analyze how this rule affects divorce decisions. I find evidence that the ten-year rule results in a small increase in divorces for the general population; however, the effects vary greatly by age. Divorce decisions change very little for people under the age of 35. For people 55 and older, however, divorces increase by approximately 20 percent around the ten-year cutoff, which leads to an increase in the likelihood of being divorced of 11.7 percent at ten years of marriage. For people between the ages of 35 and 55, who account for over half of divorces, the likelihood of being divorced increases by almost 6 percent as marriages cross the ten-year mark. This heterogeneity across ages likely exists because older people are more focused on retirement and have less time to remarry. These results indicate many people delay divorcing because they need Social Security benefits

The immunobiology of primary sclerosing cholangitis

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a chronic cholestatic liver disease histologically characterized by the presence of intrahepatic and/or extrahepatic biliary duct concentric, obliterative fibrosis, eventually leading to cirrhosis. Approximately 75% of patients with PSC have inflammatory bowel disease. The male predominance of PSC, the lack of a defined, pathogenic autoantigen, and the potential role of the innate immune system suggest that it may be due to dysregulation of immunity rather than a classic autoimmune disease. However, PSC is associated with several classic autoimmune diseases, and the strongest genetic link to PSC identified to date is with the human leukocyte antigen DRB01*03 haplotype. The precise immunopathogenesis of PSC is largely unknown but likely involves activation of the innate immune system by bacterial components delivered to the liver via the portal vein. Induction of adhesion molecules and chemokines leads to the recruitment of intestinal lymphocytes. Bile duct injury results from the sustained inflammation and production of inflammatory cytokines. Biliary strictures may cause further damage as a result of bile stasis and recurrent secondary bacterial cholangitis. Currently, there is no effective therapy for PSC and developing a rational therapeutic strategy demands a better understanding of the disease