Obesity as a Barrier to the Transition from Welfare to Work

This paper utilizes a rich longitudinal data set -- the Women's Employment Study (WES) to investigate whether obesity, which is common among women of low socioeconomic status, is a barrier to employment and earnings for current and former welfare recipients. We find evidence that, among current and former welfare recipients, high body weight is a greater barrier to labor market success for white women than for African-American women. Among white women, we consistently find a negative correlation between weight and labor market outcomes such as employment, hours worked, and earnings. Among African American women, weight is not correlated with employment, hours worked, or earnings, but it is correlated with the percentage of months spent on welfare between interviews. We provide suggestive evidence that these differences between white and African-American women in the relationship between body weight and labor market outcomes are partly due to differential weight-based discrimination in employment.

Globular Cluster Calibration of the Peak Brightness of the Type Ia Supernova 1992A and the Value of Ho

We have determined the absolute magnitude at maximum light of SN 1992A by using the turn-over magnitude of the Globular Cluster Luminosity Function of its parent galaxy, NGC 1380. A recalibration of the peak of the turn-over magnitude of the Milky Way clusters using the latest HIPPARCOS results has been made with an assessment of the complete random and systematic error budget. The following results emerge: a distance to NGC 1380 of 18.6 +/- 1.4 Mpc, corresponding to (m-M)=31.35 +/- 0.16, and an absolute magnitude of SN 1992A at maximum of M_B(max)= -18.79 +/- 0.16. Taken at face value, SN 1992A seems to be more than half a magnitude fainter than the other SNeI-a for which accurate distances exist. We discuss the implications of this result and present possible explanations. We also discuss the Phillips'(1993) relationship between rate of decline and the absolute magnitude at maximum, on the basis of 9 SNeI-a, whose individual distances have been obtained with Cepheids and the Globular Cluster Luminosity Function. The new calibration of this relationship, applied to the most distant SNe of the Calan-Tololo survey, yields Ho=62 +/- 6 km/s/Mpc.Comment: 12 pages (MNRAS style, two columns, including 6 figures), accepted for publication in the MNRAS, a full resolution version of Fig.1 is available at http://www.ucolick.org/~mkissle

Government Royalties on Sales of Pharmaceutical and Other Biomedical Products Developed with Substantial Public Funding: Illustrated with the Technology Transfer of the Drug-Eluting Coronary Stent

This study develops a detailed description of the successful technology transfer of an invention—the drug-eluting coronary stent—originating in intramural research within the National Institutes of Health. The history of the commercialization of the invention is used to illustrate a new policy, proposed and explained in this study, for the payment to the government of royalties on the sales of biomedical products developed with substantial public funding provided through indirect as well as direct funding avenues. The proposed policy addresses concerns about the high prices that taxpayers as consumers pay for biomedical products that were developed with funding from the taxpayers as investors. The study explains the theoretical circumstances in which the policy would not adversely affect the appropriate level of R&D investment, and then uses the history of the drug-eluting coronary stent as an example where biomedical R&D is consistent with those circumstances

High Resolution mid-Infrared Imaging of SN 1987A

Using the Thermal-Region Camera and Spectrograph (T-ReCS) attached to the Gemini South 8m telescope, we have detected and resolved 10 micron emission at the position of the inner equatorial ring (ER) of supernova SN 1987A at day 6067. ``Hot spots'' similar to those found in the optical and near-IR are clearly present. The morphology of the 10 micron emission is globally similar to the morphology at other wavelengths from X-rays to radio. The observed mid-IR flux in the region of SN1987A is probably dominated by emission from dust in the ER. We have also detected the ER at 20 micron at a 4 sigma level. Assuming that thermal dust radiation is the origin of the mid-IR emission, we derive a dust temperature of 180^{+20}_{-10} K, and a dust mass of 1.- 8. 10^{-5} Mo for the ER. Our observations also show a weak detection of the central ejecta at 10 micron. We show that previous bolometric flux estimates (through day 2100) were not significantly contaminated by this newly discovered emission from the ER. If we assume that the energy input comes from radioactive decays only, our measurements together with the current theoretical models set a temperature of 90 leq T leq 100 K and a mass range of 10^{-4} - 2. 10^{-3} Mo for the dust in the ejecta. With such dust temperatures the estimated thermal emission is 9(+/-3) 10^{35} erg s^{-1} from the inner ring, and 1.5 (+/-0.5) 10^{36} erg s^{-1} from the ejecta. Finally, using SN 1987A as a template, we discuss the possible role of supernovae as major sources of dust in the Universe.Comment: aastex502, 14 pages, 4 figures; Accepted for publication in ApJ Content changed: new observations, Referee's comments and suggestion

/2 I I LINE{3sTRENGTH GRADIENTS AND DYNAMICS OF NGC 2663 AND NGC 5018

Europea1J- §l!uthern Ob"ervatoriJ .,trafle 2, ~Presented at the ESO/EIPC Workshop on "Structure, Dynamics and Chemical Evolution Df Early-Type Galaxies", Elba, Italy, 25-30 May 1992 ~ ABSTRACT Results of the analysis of long-slit spectra of NGC 2663 and NGC 5018 are presented. Mg 2 , FeS270 and FeS335 line-strength gradients have been derived for both galaxies, together with rotation velocity and velocity dispersion curves at many position angles. These measure ments extend to about 1.8 effective radii for NGC 2663, and to almost 3 effective radii for NGC 5018. NGC 2663 has a very steep velocity dispersion profile along the minor axis, and seems to have peculiar core kinematics; NGC 5018 shows a peculiarly fiat velocity rotation curve, and is a good candidate for hosting dark-matter. Both its velocity dispersion and its Mg 2 line-strength profiles show a strong decrease in the center, the latter possibly indicat ing the existence of a merger-driven younger population. In both galaxies, the slopes of the iron line-strengths versus the Mg 2 index are, in agreement with the general trend shown by ellipticals, steeper than the slope followed by galactic nuclei

The Promise of Systems Biology Approaches for Revealing Host Pathogen Interactions in Malaria.

Despite global eradication efforts over the past century, malaria remains a devastating public health burden, causing almost half a million deaths annually (WHO, 2016). A detailed understanding of the mechanisms that control malaria infection has been hindered by technical challenges of studying a complex parasite life cycle in multiple hosts. While many interventions targeting the parasite have been implemented, the complex biology o

The birth place of the type Ic Supernova 2007gr

We report our attempts to locate the progenitor of the peculiar type Ic SN 2007gr in HST pre-explosion images of the host galaxy, NGC 1058. Aligning adaptive optics Altair/NIRI imaging of SN 2007gr from the Gemini (North) Telescope with the pre-explosion HST WFPC2 images, we identify the SN position on the HST frames with an accuracy of 20 mas. Although nothing is detected at the SN position we show that it lies on the edge of a bright source, 134+/-23 mas (6.9 pc) from its nominal centre. Based on its luminosity we suggest that this object is possibly an unresolved, compact and coeval cluster and that the SN progenitor was a cluster member, although we note that model profile fitting favours a single bright star. We find two solutions for the age of this assumed cluster; 7-/+0.5 Myrs and 20-30 Myrs, with turn-off masses of 28+/-4 Msun and 12-9 Msun respectively. Pre-explosion ground-based K-band images marginally favour the younger cluster age/higher turn-off mass. Assuming the SN progenitor was a cluster member, the turn-off mass provides the best estimate for its initial mass. More detailed observations, after the SN has faded, should determine if the progenitor was indeed part of a cluster, and if so allow an age estimate to within ~2 Myrs thereby favouring either a high mass single star or lower mass interacting binary progenitor.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, resolution of fig 1. has been reduced, some revision based on referee's comments, Accepted ApJL 27 Nov 200

Usefulness of gene expression profiling of bronchoalveolar lavage cells in acute lung allograft rejection.

BackgroundChronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD) is the main limitation to long-term survival after lung transplantation. Because effective therapies are lacking, early identification and mitigation of risk factors is a pragmatic approach to improve outcomes. Acute cellular rejection (ACR) is the most pervasive risk factor for CLAD, but diagnosis requires transbronchial biopsy, which carries risks. We hypothesized that gene expression in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cell pellet (CP) could replace biopsy and inform on mechanisms of CLAD.MethodsWe performed RNA sequencing on BAL CPs from 219 lung transplant recipients with A-grade ACR (n = 61), lymphocytic bronchiolitis (n = 58), infection (n = 41), or no rejection/infection (n = 59). Differential gene expression was based on absolute fold difference >2.0 and Benjamini-adjusted p-value ≤0.05. We used the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery Bioinformatics Resource for pathway analyses. For classifier modeling, samples were randomly split into training (n = 154) and testing sets (n = 65). A logistic regression model using recursive feature elimination and 5-fold cross-validation was trained to optimize area under the curve (AUC).ResultsDifferential gene expression identified 72 genes. Enriched pathways included T-cell receptor signaling, natural killer cell-mediated cytotoxicity, and cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction. A 4-gene model (AUC = 0.72) and classification threshold defined in the training set exhibited fair performance in the testing set; accuracy was 76%, specificity 82%, and sensitivity 60%. In addition, classification as ACR was associated with worse CLAD-free survival (hazard ratio = 2.42; 95% confidence interval = 1.29-4.53).ConclusionsBAL CP gene expression during ACR is enriched for immune response pathways and shows promise as a diagnostic tool for ACR, especially ACR that is a precursor of CLAD