Social Capital and the Transition to College for Asian Americans

Asian Americans are generally perceived to be disproportionately enrolled in four-year postsecondary education institutions despite evidence of Asian Americans being concentrated at both two-year and four-year postsecondary education institutions. This perception of Asian Americans has contributed to limited attention to Asian Americans’ transition to college. To better understand the transition to college for Asian Americans, this study explored if social capital is related to four-year college enrollment and the highest level of educational expectation. Whites were included in the study for comparative purposes. The main research question focuses on the extent demographic characteristics, access to, and mobilization of social capital from the social networks of family, peers, and school predict enrollment in a four-year postsecondary education institution. This study also examined the strongest predictors for the highest level of education expected three years after completion of high school. Lin’s Network Theory of Social Capital served as the theoretical framework. The data came from the public-use file of the High School Longitudinal Studies of 2009 (HSLS:09). Logistic regression and discriminant function analysis were employed in the analyses. Balanced Repeated Replication variance estimation and replicate weights were used to able to generalize from the Asian American subpopulation sample size of 1,952 to a nationally representative Asian American sample size of 142,405 and from the White subpopulation sample size of 12,082 to a nationally representative White sample size of over 2.1 million. The results suggest that socioeconomic status partly explains the educational enrollment patterns of Asian Americans and Whites. Asian Americans and Whites from the highest socioeconomic status are more likely to enroll in a four-year postsecondary than Asian Americans and Whites from the lowest socioeconomic status. Socioeconomic status also partly explains the highest level of education Asian Americans and Whites expected three years after completing high school. In general, Asian Americans and Whites from higher socioeconomic status have higher educational expectations. The results also suggest that access to social capital is a significant predictor of four-year college enrollment. However, access to the form of social capital matters, particularly for Asian Americans. Access to family social capital in the form of congruent degree expectations, where parents and students share the same educational expectations of the student earning at least a bachelor’s degree, increased the odds of a four-year college enrollment for both Asian Americans and Whites. However, it was the only form of social capital that was significant in explaining the four-year college enrollment for Asian Americans. The forms of social capital that were significant in explaining four-year college enrollment for Whites, specifically access to family social capital in the form of family involvement, access to peer social capital, and access to school social capital were not significant predictors for Asian Americans. The findings suggest that the student-parent relationship is important in the transition to college, especially so for Asian Americans. Additionally, the combination of the findings suggests that practices and policies that take socioeconomic status into account and are racially and culturally informed are important in supporting Asian Americans in the transition to college

Academic Needs and Family Factors in the Education of Southeast Asian American Students: Dismantling the Model Minority Myth

The model minority myth is a powerful force in schools. Many teachers believe that Asian American students do not need academic interventions. The purpose of this study was to examine the student achievement of almost a million seventh-grade students from California. The research compared the performance of Southeast Asian Americans, Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese students, on reading and math on the CAT/6 standardized assessment with African American and White American students. Cambodian American and Laotian American students performed significantly lower than their White American peers and compared similarly to their African American peers. Vietnamese American students also scored lower than their White American counterparts on reading. In addition, the study examined the influence of parent education levels, free/reduced lunch status, and ethnicity on academic achievement. A huge achievement gap continues to plague many Southeast Asian American students

Two first-in-human studies of xentuzumab, a humanised insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-neutralising antibody, in patients with advanced solid tumours

BACKGROUND: Xentuzumab, an insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1/IGF-2-neutralising antibody, binds IGF-1 and IGF-2, inhibiting their growth-promoting signalling. Two first-in-human trials assessed the maximum-tolerated/relevant biological dose (MTD/RBD), safety, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and activity of xentuzumab in advanced/metastatic solid cancers. METHODS: These phase 1, open-label trials comprised dose-finding (part I; 3 + 3 design) and expansion cohorts (part II; selected tumours; RBD [weekly dosing]). Primary endpoints were MTD/RBD. RESULTS: Study 1280.1 involved 61 patients (part I: xentuzumab 10–1800 mg weekly, n = 48; part II: 1000 mg weekly, n = 13); study 1280.2, 64 patients (part I: 10–3600 mg three-weekly, n = 33; part II: 1000 mg weekly, n = 31). One dose-limiting toxicity occurred; the MTD was not reached for either schedule. Adverse events were generally grade 1/2, mostly gastrointestinal. Xentuzumab showed dose-proportional pharmacokinetics. Total plasma IGF-1 increased dose dependently, plateauing at ~1000 mg/week; at ≥450 mg/week, IGF bioactivity was almost undetectable. Two partial responses occurred (poorly differentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma and peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumour). Integration of biomarker and response data by Bayesian Logistic Regression Modeling (BLRM) confirmed the RBD. CONCLUSIONS: Xentuzumab was well tolerated; MTD was not reached. RBD was 1000 mg weekly, confirmed by BLRM. Xentuzumab showed preliminary anti-tumour activity

Chikungunya Virus Neutralization Antigens and Direct Cell-to-Cell Transmission Are Revealed by Human Antibody-Escape Mutants

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an alphavirus responsible for numerous epidemics throughout Africa and Asia, causing infectious arthritis and reportedly linked with fatal infections in newborns and elderly. Previous studies in animal models indicate that humoral immunity can protect against CHIKV infection, but despite the potential efficacy of B-cell-driven intervention strategies, there are no virus-specific vaccines or therapies currently available. In addition, CHIKV has been reported to elicit long-lasting virus-specific IgM in humans, and to establish long-term persistence in non-human primates, suggesting that the virus might evade immune defenses to establish chronic infections in man. However, the mechanisms of immune evasion potentially employed by CHIKV remain uncharacterized. We previously described two human monoclonal antibodies that potently neutralize CHIKV infection. In the current report, we have characterized CHIKV mutants that escape antibody-dependent neutralization to identify the CHIKV E2 domain B and fusion loop “groove” as the primary determinants of CHIKV interaction with these antibodies. Furthermore, for the first time, we have also demonstrated direct CHIKV cell-to-cell transmission, as a mechanism that involves the E2 domain A and that is associated with viral resistance to antibody-dependent neutralization. Identification of CHIKV sub-domains that are associated with human protective immunity, will pave the way for the development of CHIKV-specific sub-domain vaccination strategies. Moreover, the clear demonstration of CHIKV cell-to-cell transmission and its possible role in the establishment of CHIKV persistence, will also inform the development of future anti-viral interventions. These data shed new light on CHIKV-host interactions that will help to combat human CHIKV infection and inform future studies of CHIKV pathogenesis

Predicting Academic Performance: A Systematic Literature Review

The ability to predict student performance in a course or program creates opportunities to improve educational outcomes. With effective performance prediction approaches, instructors can allocate resources and instruction more accurately. Research in this area seeks to identify features that can be used to make predictions, to identify algorithms that can improve predictions, and to quantify aspects of student performance. Moreover, research in predicting student performance seeks to determine interrelated features and to identify the underlying reasons why certain features work better than others. This working group report presents a systematic literature review of work in the area of predicting student performance. Our analysis shows a clearly increasing amount of research in this area, as well as an increasing variety of techniques used. At the same time, the review uncovered a number of issues with research quality that drives a need for the community to provide more detailed reporting of methods and results and to increase efforts to validate and replicate work.Peer reviewe

The Changing Landscape for Stroke\ua0Prevention in AF: Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2

Background GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a prospective, global registry program describing antithrombotic treatment patterns in patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation at risk of stroke. Phase 2 began when dabigatran, the first non\u2013vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), became available. Objectives This study sought to describe phase 2 baseline data and compare these with the pre-NOAC era collected during phase 1. Methods During phase 2, 15,641 consenting patients were enrolled (November 2011 to December 2014); 15,092 were eligible. This pre-specified cross-sectional analysis describes eligible patients\u2019 baseline characteristics. Atrial fibrillation disease characteristics, medical outcomes, and concomitant diseases and medications were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Of the total patients, 45.5% were female; median age was 71 (interquartile range: 64, 78) years. Patients were from Europe (47.1%), North America (22.5%), Asia (20.3%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East/Africa (4.0%). Most had high stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc [Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age  6575 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke, Vascular disease, Age 65 to 74 years, Sex category] score  652; 86.1%); 13.9% had moderate risk (CHA2DS2-VASc = 1). Overall, 79.9% received oral anticoagulants, of whom 47.6% received NOAC and 32.3% vitamin K antagonists (VKA); 12.1% received antiplatelet agents; 7.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. For comparison, the proportion of phase 1 patients (of N = 1,063 all eligible) prescribed VKA was 32.8%, acetylsalicylic acid 41.7%, and no therapy 20.2%. In Europe in phase 2, treatment with NOAC was more common than VKA (52.3% and 37.8%, respectively); 6.0% of patients received antiplatelet treatment; and 3.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. In North America, 52.1%, 26.2%, and 14.0% of patients received NOAC, VKA, and antiplatelet drugs, respectively; 7.5% received no antithrombotic treatment. NOAC use was less common in Asia (27.7%), where 27.5% of patients received VKA, 25.0% antiplatelet drugs, and 19.8% no antithrombotic treatment. Conclusions The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in Asia and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701

CCDC 1477873: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.,Related Article: Ling-Kang Liu, Yi-Jing Lu, Norman Lu, Ting-You Li, Jia-Yu Huang, Chia-Her Lin, Yuh-Sheng Wen, Colin D. McMillen, Joseph S. Thrasher|2018|J.Fluorine Chem.|206|29|doi:10.1016/j.jfluchem.2017.12.00

CCDC 1477874: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

An entry from the Cambridge Structural Database, the world’s repository for small molecule crystal structures. The entry contains experimental data from a crystal diffraction study. The deposited dataset for this entry is freely available from the CCDC and typically includes 3D coordinates, cell parameters, space group, experimental conditions and quality measures.,Related Article: Ling-Kang Liu, Yi-Jing Lu, Norman Lu, Ting-You Li, Jia-Yu Huang, Chia-Her Lin, Yuh-Sheng Wen, Colin D. McMillen, Joseph S. Thrasher|2018|J.Fluorine Chem.|206|29|doi:10.1016/j.jfluchem.2017.12.00

Adrenal Crisis Mimicking COVID-19 Encephalopathy in a Teenager with Craniopharyngioma

There is an increasing number of reported cases with neurological manifestations of COVID-19 in children. Symptoms include headache, general malaise, ageusia, seizure and alterations in consciousness. The differential diagnosis includes several potentially lethal conditions including encephalopathy, encephalitis, intracranial hemorrhage, thrombosis and adrenal crisis. We report the case of a 17-year-old boy with a positive antigen test of COVID-19 who presented with fever for one day, altered mental status and seizure, subsequently diagnosed with adrenal insufficiency. He had a history of panhypopituitarism secondary to a suprasellar craniopharyngioma treated with surgical resection; he was treated with regular hormone replacement therapy. After prompt administration of intravenous hydrocortisone, his mental status returned to normal within four hours. He recovered without neurologic complications. Adrenal insufficiency can present with neurological manifestations mimicking COVID-19 encephalopathy. Prompt recognition and treatment of adrenal insufficiency, especially in patients with brain tumors, Addison’s disease or those recently treated with corticosteroids, can rapidly improve the clinical condition and prevent long-term consequences