615 research outputs found
Milwaukee Parental Choice Program: Descriptive Report on Participating Schools 2010–11
This report is the fifth in a series of annual reports produced by the School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP) that will provide descriptive information about the schools participating in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP)
The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program: Descriptive Report on Participating Schools 2009 – 2010
This report is the fourth in a series of annual reports produced by the School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP) that will provide descriptive information about the schools participating in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP)
The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program: Descriptive Report on Participating Schools
This report is the second in a series of annual reports produced by the School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP) that will provide descriptive information about the private schools participating in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP), the oldest and largest urban school voucher program in the U. S. The MPCP was launched in the fall of 1990 with seven participating schools enrolling 341 students
Milwaukee Longitudinal School Choice Evaluation: Annual School Testing Summary Report
With the passage of 2005 Wisconsin Act 125, private schools participating in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) are now required to administer a nationally normed standardized test annually in reading, mathematics, and science to their MPCP (a.k.a. “Choice”) students enrolled in the 4th, 8th, and 10th grades. The law further directs Choice schools to submit copies of the scores from those tests to the School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP) for processing and reporting to the Legislative Audit Bureau. During the 2006-07 school year, MPCP schools administered either nationally normed tests, such as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, or the criterion referenced Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examinations (WKCE). The School Choice Demonstration Project received 5,194 nationally normed scores from 66 schools and 1,231 WKCE scores from 40 schools
The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program: Baseline Descriptive Report on Participating Schools
The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) began as the nation’s first urban school voucher initiative in the fall of 1990. Initially, seven secular schools were authorized to enroll the 341 students who first participated in the program. By the 2006-07 academic year, a total of 17,749 voucher students were attending one of the 122 private secular and religious schools that participated in the MPCP or “Choice” program for the entire year
Family Voices on Parental School Choice in Milwaukee: What can we learn from low-income families?
This report, designed as one component of the comprehensive evaluation of the Milwaukee school system being conducted by the School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP), is based on focus group conversations with low-income families whose children attend Milwaukee public and private schools. The report seeks to elucidate the demand side of school choice from the perspective of the end users. More specifically, it describes the experiences of low-income families and uses their insights to better understand the strengths and limitations of their attempts to exercise parental school choice. Among its distinguishing characteristics, Milwaukee has the first publicly funded means-tested voucher program in the United States. Coupled with traditional public schools and a robust charter school community, Milwaukee provides an unprecedented set of school options to its residents. Equally as important, Milwaukee provides those interested in urban education reform with a unique opportunity to learn from a city at a relatively advanced phase of school reform
Comparative analysis of homology models of the Ah receptor ligand binding domain: Verification of structure-function predictions by site-directed mutagenesis of a nonfunctional receptor
The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is a ligand-dependent transcription factor that mediates the biological and toxic effects of a wide variety of structurally diverse chemicals, including the toxic environmental contaminant 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). While significant interspecies differences in AHR ligand binding specificity, selectivity, and response have been observed, the structural determinants responsible for those differences have not been determined, and homology models of the AHR ligand-binding domain (LBD) are available for only a few species. Here we describe the development and comparative analysis of homology models of the LBD of 16 AHRs from 12 mammalian and nonmammalian species and identify the specific residues contained within their ligand binding cavities. The ligand-binding cavity of the fish AHR exhibits differences from those of mammalian and avian AHRs, suggesting a slightly different TCDD binding mode. Comparison of the internal cavity in the LBD model of zebrafish (zf) AHR2, which binds TCDD with high affinity, to that of zfAHR1a, which does not bind TCDD, revealed that the latter has a dramatically shortened binding cavity due to the side chains of three residues (Tyr296, Thr386, and His388) that reduce the amount of internal space available to TCDD. Mutagenesis of two of these residues in zfAHR1a to those present in zfAHR2 (Y296H and T386A) restored the ability of zfAHR1a to bind TCDD and to exhibit TCDD-dependent binding to DNA. These results demonstrate the importance of these two amino acids and highlight the predictive potential of comparative analysis of homology models from diverse species. The availability of these AHR LBD homology models will facilitate in-depth comparative studies of AHR ligand binding and ligand-dependent AHR activation and provide a novel avenue for examining species-specific differences in AHR responsiveness. © 2013 American Chemical Society
Ethical climate and intention to leave among critical care clinicians : an observational study in 68 intensive care units across Europe and the United States
PurposeApart from organizational issues, quality of inter-professional collaboration during ethical decision-making may affect the intention to leave one's job. To determine whether ethical climate is associated with the intention to leave after adjustment for country, ICU and clinicians characteristics.MethodsPerceptions of the ethical climate among clinicians working in 68 adult ICUs in 12 European countries and the US were measured using a self-assessment questionnaire, together with job characteristics and intent to leave as a sub-analysis of the Dispropricus study. The validated ethical decision-making climate questionnaire included seven factors: not avoiding decision-making at end-of-life (EOL), mutual respect within the interdisciplinary team, open interdisciplinary reflection, ethical awareness, self-reflective physician leadership, active decision-making at end-of-life by physicians, and involvement of nurses in EOL. Hierarchical mixed effect models were used to assess associations between these factors, and the intent to leave in clinicians within ICUs, within the different countries.ResultsOf 3610 nurses and 1137 physicians providing ICU bedside care, 63.1% and 62.9% participated, respectively. Of 2992 participating clinicians, 782 (26.1%) had intent to leave, of which 27% nurses, 24% junior and 22.7% senior physicians. After adjustment for country, ICU and clinicians characteristics, mutual respect OR 0.77 (95% CI 0.66- 0.90), open interdisciplinary reflection (OR 0.73 [95% CI 0.62-0.86]) and not avoiding EOL decisions (OR 0.87 [95% CI 0.77-0.98]) were all associated with a lower intent to leave.ConclusionThis is the first large multicenter study showing an independent association between clinicians' intent to leave and the quality of the ethical climate in the ICU. Interventions to reduce intent to leave may be most effective when they focus on improving mutual respect, interdisciplinary reflection and active decision-making at EOL
High-Dose Mannose-Binding Lectin Therapy for Ebola Virus Infection
Mannose-binding lectin (MBL) targets diverse microorganisms for phagocytosis and complement-mediated lysis by binding specific surface glycans. Although recombinant human MBL (rhMBL) trials have focused on reconstitution therapy, safety studies have identified no barriers to its use at higher levels. Ebola viruses cause fatal hemorrhagic fevers for which no treatment exists and that are feared as potential biothreat agents. We found that mice whose rhMBL serum concentrations were increased ≥7-fold above average human levels survived otherwise fatal Ebola virus infections and became immune to virus rechallenge. Because Ebola glycoproteins potentially model other glycosylated viruses, rhMBL may offer a novel broad-spectrum antiviral approach
Class A Orphans (version 2020.5) in the IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology Database
Table 1 lists a number of putative GPCRs identified by NC-IUPHAR [194], for which preliminary evidence for an endogenous ligand has been published, or for which there exists a potential link to a disease, or disorder. These GPCRs have recently been reviewed in detail [150]. The GPCRs in Table 1 are all Class A, rhodopsin-like GPCRs. Class A orphan GPCRs not listed in Table 1 are putative GPCRs with as-yet unidentified endogenous ligands.Table 1: Class A orphan GPCRs with putative endogenous ligands
GPR3
GPR4
GPR6
GPR12
GPR15
GPR17
GPR20
GPR22
GPR26
GPR31
GPR34
GPR35
GPR37
GPR39
GPR50
GPR63
GRP65
GPR68
GPR75
GPR84
GPR87
GPR88
GPR132
GPR149
GPR161
GPR183
LGR4
LGR5
LGR6
MAS1
MRGPRD
MRGPRX1
MRGPRX2
P2RY10
TAAR2
In addition the orphan receptors GPR18, GPR55 and GPR119 which are reported to respond to endogenous agents analogous to the endogenous cannabinoid ligands have been grouped together (GPR18, GPR55 and GPR119)
- …