Longitudinal nonresponse in the Current Population Survey (CPS)

Es wurde eine Datenbank mit Längsschnittdaten aufgebaut, die aus sieben vollständigen "Kohorten" bestand, von denen jede über eine Periode von fast zwei Jahren in allen acht Monaten in der CPS-Stichprobe war. Verglichen wurden Fälle vollständiger und teilweiser Beantwortung. Haushalte mit vollständiger Beantwortung lagen eher in ländlichen Gebieten, nicht im Westen der USA, umfassten mehr Personen und wurden von den Hauseigentümern selbst bewohnt. Mitglieder dieser Haushalte waren eher verheiratet, Kinder, Weiße, nicht spanischstämmig, über 65 Jahre alt und beantworteten mit höherer Wahrscheinlichkeit eine Frage nach dem Familieneinkommen. Personen in Haushalten mit teilweiser Beantwortung wiesen in den ersten vier Stichprobenmonaten (MIS) ein höheres Beschäftigungsniveau und in MIS 1 eine höhere Arbeitslosenquote auf als Personen in Haushalten mit vollständiger Beantwortung. (ICEÜbers)"A longitudinal database was created consisting of seven complete 'cohorts' who were in the CPS sample all eight months over nearly a 2 year period. Comparisons were made among complete respondents and partial respondents. Households that were complete respondents were relatively more likely than households that were partial respondents to be located in rural areas and in any region of the country except the west, and to have more persons living there, and to be occupied by owners. Members of complete respondent households were relatively more likely than members of partial respondent households to be a married couple, children, white, non-Hispanic, over 65 years of age, and were relatively more likely to answer a question an total family income. Persons in partial respondent households had a higher level of employment in the first four months-in-sample (MIS) and a higher unemployment rate in MIS 1 than persons in complete respondent households." (author's abstract

The impact of nonresponse on the unemployment rate in the Current Population Survey (CPS)

Gegenstand der Untersuchung sind CPS-Daten für alle Monate zwischen Januar 1994 und Juni 1997. Dabei wurden auch Antwortverweigerung und -ausfälle untersucht, um den Wechsel von Personen von der Nicht-Beteiligung zur Beteiligung am CPS und die Auswirkungen auf die Schätzung des Erwerbspersonenpotenzials zu untersuchen. Personen, die sich in einem Monat nicht am CPS beteiligten, wiesen höhere Quoten bei Arbeitslosigkeit, Erwerbsbeteiligung und Beschäftigung auf als Befragte, die sich in zwei aufeinander folgenden Monaten an der Umfrage beteiligten. Es traten auch - wenn auch in geringem Umfang - signifikante positive Korrelationen zwischen den Unterschieden in den Arbeitslosenquoten und der Antwortverweigerung insgesamt im Rahmen des CPS zu Tage. Zudem wurden Unterschiede hinsichtlich bestimmter Merkmale der Erwerbstätigkeit zwischen Antwortverweigerern und Nichtangetroffenen sichtbar. (ICEÜbers)"In the present research authors matched CPS data from all consecutive months from January, 1994 to June, 1997 and conducted an analysis similar to a gross flows analysis that included nonrespondents to examine the 'flow' of persons from respondent to nonrespondent status in the CPS and the resulting effect an labor force estimates. Persons who were nonrespondents to the CPS one month had higher rates of unemployment, labor force participation, and employment than those who were respondents both months. There were also moderate, but significant positive correlations between the differences an unemployment rates and the overall level of nonresponse in the CPS. There were also some differences in labor force characteristics between refusals and noncontacts." (author's abstract

Site-Specific Effects of Swimming on Bone Density in Female Collegiate Swimmers

International Journal of Exercise Science 13(1): 249-259, 2020. While swimming provides numerous cardiovascular and overall health benefits, past research suggests it provides no constructive benefits to bone strength and density at dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) measured hip and lumbar spine sites when compared to sedentary individuals. However, little research has focused on skeletal sites stressed by muscle forces during swimming such as the humerus, hip, and radius. The purpose of this study was to investigatesite-specific bone strength adaptations among female collegiate swimmers compared to sedentary controls. Bone geometry and strength were assessed by DXA and peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT) in ten female collegiate swimmers and ten sedentary controls (\u3c150 minutes/week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity) ages 18-23 years. There were no significant differences between groups in the DXA-derived outcomes. Among pQCT-measured sites, the control group had a 14.8% greater bone cortical area and 6.1% greater cortical volumetric density compared to swimmers (both p\u3c0.05) at the proximal tibia (66%) site. Hip structural analysis was also performed to observe the strength and loading power at the narrowest part of the proximal femur, but no significant differences were found between groups. With no significant bone density or strength differences between groups at the humerus, radius, or distal tibia sites, this research suggests that swimming may not have osteogenic benefits, even at site-specific locations commonly stressed during the sport. For overall health, these results suggest that swimming should be supplemented with weight-bearing and resistance exercises to preserve bone strength and prevent deterioration of bone as one ages

Regulation of p53 Stability and Apoptosis by a ROR Agonist

Activation of p53 function leading to cell-cycle arrest and/or apoptosis is a promising strategy for development of anticancer therapeutic agents. Here, we describe a novel mechanism for stabilization of p53 protein expression via activation of the orphan nuclear receptor, RORa. We demonstrate that treatment of cancer cells with a newly described synthetic ROR agonist, SR1078, leads to p53 stabilization and induction of apoptosis. These data suggest that synthetic ROR agonists may hold utility in the treatment of cancer

Success Counteracting Tobacco Company Interference in Thailand: An Example of FCTC Implementation for Low- and Middle-income Countries

Transnational tobacco companies (TTCs) interfere regularly in policymaking in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control provides mechanisms and guidance for dealing with TTC interference, but many countries still face ‘how to’ challenges of implementation. For more than two decades, Thailand’s public health community has been developing a system for identifying and counteracting strategies TTCs use to derail, delay and undermine tobacco control policymaking. Consequently, Thailand has already implemented most of the FCTC guidelines for counteracting TTC interference. In this study, our aims are to describe strategies TTCs have used in Thailand to interfere in policymaking, and to examine how the public health community in Thailand has counteracted TTC interference. We analyzed information reported by three groups with a stake in tobacco control policies: Thai tobacco control advocates, TTCs, and international tobacco control experts. To identify TTC viewpoints and strategies, we also extracted information from internal tobacco industry documents. We synthesized these data and identified six core strategies TTCs use to interfere in tobacco control policymaking: (1) doing business with ‘two faces’, (2) seeking to influence people in high places, (3) ‘buying’ advocates in grassroots organizations, (4) putting up a deceptive front, (5) intimidation, and (6) undermining controls on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship. We present three case examples showing where TTCs have employed multiple interference strategies simultaneously, and showing how Thai tobacco control advocates have successfully counteracted those strategies by: (1) conducting vigilant surveillance, (2) excluding tobacco companies from policymaking, (3) restricting tobacco company sales, (4) sustaining pressure, and (5) dedicating resources to the effective enforcement of regulations. Policy implications from this study are that tobacco control advocates in LMICs may be able to develop countermeasures similar to those we identified in Thailand based on FCTC guidelines to limit TTC interference

Encouraging Physical Activity Among Retirement Community Residents - The Role of Campus Commitment, Programming, Staffing, Promotion, Financing and Accreditation

Despite the well-established benefits of physical activity for older adults, seniors ages 75 and above are among the most sedentary of Americans. Continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) seem ideal settings for creating physical activity promoting environments. We report on results of a nationally representative sample survey of CCRCs that are members of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging. Campuses with more physical activity opportunities on campus or in the outside community, more physical activity-related staff, better physical activity facilities and activities, more types of sources to finance the costs of physical activity, and more channels to promote physical activity tend to have more physically active residents. Campuses in which management places more importance on encouraging physical activity among residents also have more physically active residents.This project was funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Economic Evaluation of a Catheter‐Associated Urinary Tract Infection Prevention Program in Nursing Homes

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143771/1/jgs15316_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143771/2/jgs15316.pd

Ligand and Receptor Dynamics Contribute to the Mechanism of Graded PPARγ Agonism

SummaryLigand binding to proteins is not a static process, but rather involves a number of complex dynamic transitions. A flexible ligand can change conformation upon binding its target. The conformation and dynamics of a protein can change to facilitate ligand binding. The conformation of the ligand, however, is generally presumed to have one primary binding mode, shifting the protein conformational ensemble from one state to another. We report solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies that reveal peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) modulators can sample multiple binding modes manifesting in multiple receptor conformations in slow conformational exchange. Our NMR, hydrogen/deuterium exchange and docking studies reveal that ligand-induced receptor stabilization and binding mode occupancy correlate with the graded agonist response of the ligand. Our results suggest that ligand and receptor dynamics affect the graded transcriptional output of PPARγ modulators

The X-ray structure of human calbindin-D28K: an improved model

Calbindin-D28K is a widely expressed calcium-buffering cytoplasmic protein that is involved in many physiological processes. It has been shown to interact with other proteins, suggesting a role as a calcium sensor. Many of the targets of calbindin-D28K are of therapeutic interest: for example, inositol monophosphatase, the putative target of lithium therapy in bipolar disorder. Presented here is the first crystal structure of human calbindin-D28K. There are significant deviations in the tertiary structure when compared with the NMR structure of rat calbindin-D28K (PDB entry 2g9b), despite 98% sequence identity. Smallangle X-ray scattering (SAXS) indicates that the crystal structure better predicts the properties of calbindin-D28K in solution compared with the NMR structure. Here, the first direct visualization of the calcium-binding properties of calbindinD28K is presented. Four of the six EF-hands that make up the secondary structure of the protein contain a calcium-binding site. Two distinct conformations of the N-terminal EF-hand calcium-binding site were identified using long-wavelength calcium single-wavelength anomalous dispersion (SAD). This flexible region has previously been recognized as a protein–protein interaction interface. SAXS data collected in both the presence and absence of calcium indicate that there are no large structural differences in the globular structure of calbindin-D28K between the calcium-loaded and unloaded proteins