Preferences and Biases in Educational Choices and Labor Market Expectations: Shrinking the Black Box of Gender

Standard observed characteristics explain only part of the differences between men and women in education choices and labor market trajectories. Using an experiment to derive students' levels of overconfidence, and preferences for competitiveness and risk, this paper investigates whether these behavioral biases and preferences explain gender differences in college major choices and expected future earnings. In a sample of high ability undergraduates, we find that competitiveness and overconfidence, but not risk aversion, is systematically related with expectations about future earnings: individuals who are overconfident and overly competitive have significantly higher earnings expectations. Moreover, gender differences in overconfidence and competitiveness explain about 18% of the gender gap in earnings expectations. These experimental measures explain as much of the gender gap in earnings expectations as a rich set of control variables, including test scores and family background, and they are poorly proxied by these same control variables, underscoring that they represent independent variation. While expected earnings are related to college major choices, the experimental measures are not related with college major choice

H2S biosynthesis and catabolism: new insights from molecular studies

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has profound biological effects within living organisms and is now increasingly being considered alongside other gaseous signalling molecules, such as nitric oxide (NO) and carbon monoxide (CO). Conventional use of pharmacological and molecular approaches has spawned a rapidly growing research field that has identified H2S as playing a functional role in cell-signalling and post-translational modifications. Recently, a number of laboratories have reported the use of siRNA methodologies and genetic mouse models to mimic the loss of function of genes involved in the biosynthesis and degradation of H2S within tissues. Studies utilising these systems are revealing new insights into the biology of H2S within the cardiovascular system, inflammatory disease, and in cell signalling. In light of this work, the current review will describe recent advances in H2S research made possible by the use of molecular approaches and genetic mouse models with perturbed capacities to generate or detoxify physiological levels of H2S gas within tissue

Population Aging, Migration Spillovers, and the Decline in Interstate Migration

Interstate migration in the United States has declined by 50 percent since the mid-1980s. This paper studies the role of the aging population in this long-run decline. We argue that demographic changes trigger a general equilibrium effect in the labor market, which affects the migration rate of all workers. We document that an increase in the share of middle-aged workers (those ages 40 to 60) in the working-age population in one state causes a large fall in the migration rate of all workers in that state, regardless of their age. To understand this finding, we develop an equilibrium search model of many locations populated by workers whose moving costs differ. Firms prefer hiring local workers with high moving costs as they command lower wages due to their lower outside option. An increase in the share of middle-aged workers causes firms to recruit more from the local labor market instead of hiring from other locations, which increases the local job-finding rate and reduces everyon's migration rate ("migration spillovers"). Our model reproduces remarkably well several cross-sectional facts between population flows and the age structure of the labor force. Our quantitative analysis suggests that population aging accounts for about half of the observed decline, of which 75 percent is attributable to the general equilibrium effect

Profound Chemopreventative Effects of a Hydrogen Sulfide-Releasing NSAID in the APC(Min/+) Mouse Model of Intestinal Tumorigenesis

Canadian Institutes of Health Research grant to JL

The assessment of the impacts of a marble waste site on water and sediment quality in a river system

About 35,000 tons/year of marble waste is discarded into the Fetrek River bed, which stretches from north to south over an alluvial aquifer and feeds the groundwater. The marble waste mixes with the natural flow of the river and is carried away to the alluvial plain that provides drinking water for the residential areas downstream. Based on the analysis in this study, the electrical conductivity values are measured to be between 810-2040 mu S/cm in the Fetrek River, and 619-1230 mu S/cm in the ground water. Similarly, the pH values range from 7.20 to 8.78 both in surface and ground water. According to the Piper diagram, both the surface and the groundwater belong to Ca-SO4 and Ca-HCO3 groups. The analysis further revealed the presence of a number of trace metals, such as Fe, Al, As and Pb, which violate the currently effective Drinking Water Quality Standards in Turkey. The computed saturation indices demonstrate oversaturation levels with respect to calcite and dolomite minerals in Fetrek River and groundwater within the immediate vicinity of the marble waste disposal site. According to the irrigation water quality criteria, the Fetrek River and regional groundwater belong to Class III type irrigation water. From a similar perspective, the calcium contents of Fetrek River sediments are also remarkably high around the marble waste site and decreases gradually as a function of distance. Finally, the pollution index parameter is used to specify the level of pollution in the soil. Some samples collected from the vicinity of the waste disposal site had a pollution index value greater than 1, which represents high levels of contamination

Vitamin B12 levels in familial Mediterranean fever patients treated with colchicine

Objectives. Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an autosomal recessive autoinflammatory disease characterised by paroxysmal attacks of serosal inflammation. Colchicine is highly effective in preventing these attacks but it may also disrupt the intestinal absorption of vitamin B12. We hypothesised that patients treated with colchicine for a prolonged period could develop deficiency of the vitamin