A socio-ecological model of agency: The role of structure and agency in shaping education and employment transitions in England

This study examines the role of structural and agentic resources in shaping school-to-work transitions in England. We ask to what extent are young people able to steer the course of their lives despite the constraining forces of social structure, and how satisfied are they with their lives following the completion of compulsory schooling. Drawing on data from the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England we use sequence analysis of monthly activity data to identify differences in the timing and sequencing of education and employment transitions. We identified six distinct pathways, differentiating between an academic track, three pathways involving further education and training, as well as a work-focused transition and a group of young people who were over a long period not in education or training (NEET). The findings suggest that not all young people are inclined to follow an academic track and instead select into pathways involving vocational training or further education, enabling them to experience competence and life satisfaction. For others (about one in 10), however, the lack of socioeconomic and psycho-social resources is too overwhelming and they encounter long-term experience of NEET or are not able to transform their educational credentials into employment opportunities. The findings highlight that in addition to considering structural constraints it is important to conceptualise the role of the agent for a better understanding of variations in youth transitions

A Unified Framework Integrating Parent-of-Origin Effects for Association Study

Genetic imprinting is the most well-known cause for parent-of-origin effect (POE) whereby a gene is differentially expressed depending on the parental origin of the same alleles. Genetic imprinting is related to several human disorders, including diabetes, breast cancer, alcoholism, and obesity. This phenomenon has been shown to be important for normal embryonic development in mammals. Traditional association approaches ignore this important genetic phenomenon. In this study, we generalize the natural and orthogonal interactions (NOIA) framework to allow for estimation of both main allelic effects and POEs. We develop a statistical (Stat-POE) model that has the orthogonal estimates of parameters including the POEs. We conducted simulation studies for both quantitative and qualitative traits to evaluate the performance of the statistical and functional models with different levels of POEs. Our results showed that the newly proposed Stat-POE model, which ensures orthogonality of variance components if Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) or equal minor and major allele frequencies is satisfied, had greater power for detecting the main allelic additive effect than a Func-POE model, which codes according to allelic substitutions, for both quantitative and qualitative traits. The power for detecting the POE was the same for the Stat- POE and Func-POE models under HWE for quantitative traits

MRI Parameters Of Alzheimer's Disease in an Arab Population of Wadi Ara, Israel

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings are reported from 15 individuals in an Arab–Israeli community who were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The quantitative parameters that were used for MRI analyses included gradings (0–3) and linear measurements of different brain structures. Generalized tissue loss was assessed by combined measurements of the ventricles (ventricular score, VS) and sulcal grading and width (SG, SW, respectively). Loss of brain tissue in specific regions of interest, eg, temporal lobes, basal ganglia, and midbrain, was evaluated by precise measurements. We observed abnormal tissue characteristics, expressed as high intensity foci in white matter on T2W sequences, as well as tissue loss, both generalized and focal. Most notable were changes involving the head of the caudate nuclei, the midbrain, and to a lesser degree, medial temporal structures.National Institute of Aging (UO1-AG17173); National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R37-AA07112, K05-AA00219); US Department of Veterans Affair