Educational Aspirations and Postsecondary Access and Choice

Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS: 88), this study examines educational aspirations and postsecondary access and choice by students in urban, suburban, and rural schools. In addition, this study raises issues with the methods in postsecondary educational research by using students in different grades (8th, 10th, and 12th grades) as baseline populations to compare educational outcomes. The results indicated that students in urban schools were comparatively disadvantaged in the early years in schooling in terms of postsecondary access but appeared to be enrolled in postsecondary institutions at similar percentages as their suburban counterparts, if they made it to later years in K-12 schooling. For those students in urban schools who went to college, higher percentages were enrolled in private institutions and four-year colleges. Students in rural schools were consistently disadvantaged in postsecondary aspirations and enrollment, compared to students in other schools

Predicting Student Sensitivity to Tuition and Financial Aid

Over the last two decades, a substantial body of research has examined student responsiveness to tuition increases and financial aid offers in postsecondary educational decisions (see, for example, Heller, 1997; Leslie and Brinkman, 1988). Another major research interest in higher education literature is student behavior in choosing a postsecondary educational institution (see, for example, Hossler, Braxton, and Coopersmith, 1989; Paulsen, 1990). As the costs of postsecondary education have risen, policy analysts and scholars have paid increasing attention to the impact of tuition costs and student financial aid on access to postsecondary education, college matriculation decisions, and subsequent student persistence in postsecondary education (McPherson and Shapiro, 1991, 1998; Mumper, 1996; St. John, 1990a, 1990b; St. John, Starkey, Paulsen and Mbaduagha, 1995; Weiler, 1996). Institutional policy-makers are concerned about student recruitment and enrollment on the one hand and institutional financial health on the other, while state and federal policy-makers are worried about the effective use of public funds to meet national interests such as access, choice, and attainment in postsecondary education. Policy analysts and higher education researchers have recently become concerned about whether students attend college and which schools students attend, because the postsecondary destinations of students are related to student educational attainment and career development (Hearn, 1988, 1991; Pascarella and Terenzini, 1991). Thus, from a social equity perspective, college tuition and financial aid have become serious policy issues. It is believed that the influence of perceived college tuition rates and financial aid availability becomes important during student college choice process and reaches the highest level in the senior year of high school (Hossler and Gallagher, 1987; Hossler, Schmit, and Vesper, 1999). However, not until the last few years has research on the impact of college tuition and financial aid been linked with models of student college choice. Savoca (1990) integrated price impact into her research on student application behaviors to college and concluded that this integration would result in estimating student price responsiveness more accurately. Meanwhile, recent research implies that tuition pricing and financial aid offers exert different impacts on student postsecondary participation decisions (St. John and Starkey, 1995). The purpose of this study is to identify the predictors of student sensitivity to college tuition and financial aid and to differentiate the impacts of these predictors on student price sensitivity in the student college choice process

Keeping Public Colleges Affordable: A Study of Persistence in Indiana\u27s Public Colleges and Universities

It is important for states to assess periodically the effects of student aid on persistence in the public systems of higher education. Recently, a workable persistence model has emerged that can be used for this purpose. This paper uses the model to examine the influence of student aid on persistence by full-time resident undergraduates enrolled in Indiana\u27s public system of higher education during the 1997-98 academic year. The analysis reveals that student financial aid was adequate, largely due to a substantial state investment in need-based grants

Persistence by Undergraduates in an Urban Public University: Understanding the Effects of Financial Aid

The decline in federal grants over the past two decades could be problematic for urban higher education because of the concentration of poverty in urban settings. This case study examines the effects of student aid on within-year persistence at an urban public university in the 1990s. The analyses indicate that aid packages remained adequate at this urban university. It appears that state and institutional grants play an increasingly important role in maintaining affordability in this new context of higher tuition and higher loans

H5N1 Influenza a Virus Replicates Productively in Pancreatic Cells and Induces Apoptosis and Pro-Inflammatory Cytokine Response

The inflammatory response and apoptosis have been proved to have a crucial role in the pathogenesis of the influenza A virus (IAV). Previous studies indicated that while IAV commonly causes pancreatitis and pancreatic damage in naturally and experimentally infected animals, the molecular mechanisms of the pathogenesis of IAV infection are less reported. In the present study, we showed for the first time that both avian-like (α-2,3-linked) and human-like (α-2,6-linked) sialic acid (SA) receptors were expressed by the mouse pancreatic cancer cell line PAN02 and the human pancreatic cancer cell line PANC-1. Using growth kinetics experiments, we also showed that PAN02 and PANC-1 cells supported the productive replication of the H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza while exhibited the limited replication of IAV subtypes H1N1 and H7N2 in vitro. The in vivo infection of H5N1 in pancreatic cells was confirmed by the histopathological and immunohistochemical staining of pancreas tissue from mice. Other than H1N1 and H7N2, severe damage and extensive positive signals were observed in pancreas of H5N1 infected mice. All three virus subtypes induced apoptosis but also triggered the infected PAN02 and PANC-1 cells to release pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines including interferon (IFN)-α, IFN-β, IFN-γ, chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 (CCL2), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and interleukin (IL)-6. Notably, the subtypes of H5N1 could significantly upregulate these cytokines and chemokines in both two cells when compared with H1N1 and H7N2. The present data provide further understanding of the pathogenesis of H5N1 IAV in pancreatic cells derived from humans and mammals and may also benefit the development of new treatment against H5N1 influenza virus infection

The E2 glycoprotein is necessary but not sufficient for the adaptation of classical swine fever virus lapinized vaccine C-strain to the rabbit

Classical swine fever virus (CSFV) C-strain was developed through hundreds of passages of a highly virulent CSFV in rabbits. To investigate the molecular basis for the adaptation of C-strain to the rabbit (ACR), a panel of chimeric viruses with the exchange of glycoproteins Erns, E1, and/or E2 between C-strain and the highly virulent Shimen strain and a number of mutant viruses with different amino acid substitutions in E2 protein were generated and evaluated in rabbits. Our results demonstrate that Shimen-based chimeras expressing Erns-E1-E2, Erns-E2 or E1-E2 but not Erns-E1, Erns, E1, or E2 of C-strain can replicate in rabbits, indicating that E2 in combination with either Erns or E1 confers the ACR. Notably, E2 and the amino acids P108 and T109 in Domain I of E2 are critical in ACR. Collectively, our data indicate that E2 is crucial in mediating the ACR, which requires synergistic contribution of Erns or E1

Phylogenetic and Pathotypical Analysis of Two Virulent Newcastle Disease Viruses Isolated from Domestic Ducks in China

Two velogenic Newcastle disease viruses (NDV) obtained from outbreaks in domestic ducks in China were characterized in this study. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that both strains clustered with the class II viruses, with one phylogenetically close to the genotype VII NDVs and the other closer to genotype IX. The deduced amino acid sequence of the cleavage site of the fusion (F) protein confirmed that both isolates contained the virulent motif 112RRQK/RRF117 at the cleavage site. The two NDVs had severe pathogenicity in fully susceptible chickens, resulting in 100% mortality. One of the isolates also demonstrated some pathogenicity in domestic ducks. The present study suggests that more than one genotype of NDV circulates in domestic ducks in China and viral transmission may occur among chickens and domestic ducks

The Antimicrobial Peptide Mastoparan X Protects Against Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 Infection, Inhibits Inflammation, and Enhances the Intestinal Epithelial Barrier

Escherichia coli can cause intestinal diseases in humans and livestock, destroy the intestinal barrier, exacerbate systemic inflammation, and seriously threaten human health and animal husbandry development. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the antimicrobial peptide mastoparan X (MPX) was effective against E. coli infection. BALB/c mice infected with E. coli by intraperitoneal injection, which represents a sepsis model. In this study, MPX exhibited no toxicity in IPEC-J2 cells and notably suppressed the levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), myeloperoxidase (MPO), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) released by E. coli. In addition, MPX improved the expression of ZO-1, occludin, and claudin and enhanced the wound healing of IPEC-J2 cells. The therapeutic effect of MPX was evaluated in a murine model, revealing that it protected mice from lethal E. coli infection. Furthermore, MPX increased the length of villi and reduced the infiltration of inflammatory cells into the jejunum. SEM and TEM analyses showed that MPX effectively ameliorated the jejunum damage caused by E. coli and increased the number and length of microvilli. In addition, MPX decreased the expression of IL-2, IL-6, TNF-α, p-p38, and p-p65 in the jejunum and colon. Moreover, MPX increased the expression of ZO-1, occludin, and MUC2 in the jejunum and colon, improved the function of the intestinal barrier, and promoted the absorption of nutrients. This study suggests that MPX is an effective therapeutic agent for E. coli infection and other intestinal diseases, laying the foundation for the development of new drugs for bacterial infections