Does education protect families' well-being in times of crisis? Measurement issues and empirical findings from IT-SILC data

This study analyses the relationship between education and material well-being from a longitudinal perspective using the European Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) data collected in Italy in four waves (2009-2012). It has two main aims: (i) to measure household material well-being on the basis of householders' responses to multiple survey items (addressed to gather information on the household availability of material resources) by advancing indexes, which can account for global and relative divergences in households' material well-being across survey waves; (ii) to assess how education and other sociodemographic characteristics affect absolute well-being and its variation (i.e. relative well-being) in the time span considered. Both aims are pursued, combining measuring and explanatory modelling approaches. That is, the use of the Multilevel Item Response Theory model allows to measure the global household material well-being and its yearly variation (i.e. relative material well-being) in the four waves. Meanwhile, the use of a multivariate (and multivariate multilevel) regression model allows to assess the effects of education and other sociodemographic characteristics on both components (absolute and relative well-being), controlling for the relevant sources of heterogeneity in the data. The value added to using the proposed methodologies with the main findings and economic implications are discussed

Composition of families and subjective economic well-being: an application to Italian context

Using Italian data on Income and Living Conditions for the year 2005, the paper explores empirically whether the determinants of subjective economic well-being (SEW) differ (or not) in four representative typologies of households. By means of a Partial Proportional Ordered Logit Model the subjective economic well-being \u2013 proxied by the capacity of households to make ends meet \u2013 has been explored. Results highlight the variables acting on SEW, common to each typology, are related both to economic status (specifically, the capacity to pay taxes and to afford housing, clothes and holiday expenditures) and to socio-demographic status (specifically, the work-status and the highest level of education). A more in depth analysis, by level of education, shows the economic precariousness of some specific typologies, namely families with one person, with two or more children, and those whose respondent has a very low level of education

2P15-p16.1 microdeletions encompassing and proximal to BCL11A are associated with elevated HbF in addition to neurologic impairment

Elevated fetal hemoglobin (HbF) ameliorates the clinical severity of hemoglobinopathies such as β-thalassemia and sickle cell anemia. Currently, the only curative approach for individuals under chronic transfusion/chelation support therapy is allogeneic stem cell transplantation. However, recent analyses of heritable variations in HbF levels have provided a new therapeutic target for HbF reactivation: the transcriptional repressor BCL11A. Erythroid-specific BCL11A abrogation is now actively being sought as a therapeutic avenue, but the specific impact of such disruption in humans remains to be determined. Although single nucleotide polymorphisms in BCL11A erythroid regulatory elements have been reported, coding mutations are scarcer. It is thus of great interest that patients have recently been described with microdeletions encompassing BCL11A. These patients display neurodevelopmental abnormalities, but whether they show increased HbF has not been reported. We have examined the hematological phenotype, HbF levels, and erythroid BCL11A expression in 3 such patients. Haploinsufficiency of BCL11A induces only partial developmental g-globin silencing. Of greater interest is that a patient with a downstream deletion exhibits reduced BCL11A expression and increased HbF. Novel erythroid-specific regulatory elements in this region may be required for normal erythroid BCL11A expression, whereas loss of separate elements in the developing brain may explain the neurological phenotype

Nonsense-mediated decay mechanism is a possible modifying factor of clinical outcome in nonsense cd39 beta thalassemia genotype

Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is a surveillance system to prevent the synthesis of non-functional proteins. In β-thalassemia, NMD may have a role in clinical outcome. An example of premature translation stop codons appearing for the first time is the β-globin cd39 mutation; when homozygous, this results in a severe phenotype. The aim of this study was to determine whether the homozygous nonsense cd39 may have a milder phenotype in comparison with IVS1,nt110/cd39 genotype. Genotypes have been identified from a cohort of 568 patients affected by β-thalassemia. These genotypes were compared with those found in 577 affected fetuses detected among 2292 prenatal diagnoses. The nine most common genotypes, each with an incidence rate of 1.5% or over, and together accounting for 80% of genotype frequencies, underwent statistical analysis. Genotype prevalence was calculated within the overall group. Results are expressed as proportions with 95% confidence intervals; P≤0.05 was considered statistically significant. A binomial distribution was assumed for each group; z-tests were used to compare genotype frequencies observed in the patient group with frequencies in the affected fetus group. In the absence of selecting factors, prevalence of these two genotypes was compared between a cohort of 568 β-thalassemia patients (PTS) and 577 affected fetuses (FOET) detected during the same period. IVS1,nt110/cd39 was significantly more prevalent in FOET than PTS (P<0.0001), while there was no significant difference in prevalence of cd39/cd39 in FOET compared with PTS (P=0.524). These results suggest a cd39 genotype NMD mechanism may be associated with improved clinical outcomes in thalassemia major

Risk propensity in the foreign direct investment location decision of emerging multinationals

A distinguishing feature of emerging economy multinationals is their apparent tolerance for host country institutional risk. Employing behavioral decision theory and quasi-experimental data, we find that managers’ domestic experience satisfaction increases their relative risk propensity regarding controllable risk (legally protectable loss), but decreases their tendency to accept non-controllable risk (e.g., political instability). In contrast, firms’ potential slack reduces relative risk propensity regarding controllable risk, yet amplifies the tendency to take non-controllable risk. We suggest that these counterbalancing effects might help explain observation that risk-taking in FDI location decisions is influenced by firm experience and context. The study provides a new understanding of why firms exhibit heterogeneous responses to host country risks, and the varying effects of institutions