US Deportations & the Spread of Violence

Existing literature on cross-national variation in violence has paid little attention to the transnational transmission of crime. One such channel are the forced returns of migrants with a criminal record in their countries of temporary residence. Responding to this research gap, we study the effect of US deportations of convicts on levels of violent crime in deportees’ countries of origin for a cross-country panel of up to 123 countries covering the years 2003 to 2015. We find a strong and robust effect of criminal deportations on homicide rates in countries of origin, that is to a large degree driven by deportations towards Latin America and the Caribbean. An additional inflow of ten deportees with a criminal history per 100,000 increases expected homicide rates by more than two. In addition to controlling for country-specific fixed effects, we provide evidence on a causal effect using an instrumental variable approach, that exploits spatial and time variation in migrant populations’ exposure to state level immigration policies in the U

Insuring Against Past Perils:The Politics of Post-Currency Crisis Foreign Exchange Reserve Accumulation

In the aftermath of financial crises, governments can use economic policy to minimize the risk of future recurrence. Yet not all do so. To explain this divergence in responses I develop a theory of economic policy choice after financial crises. I argue that past financial crises provide information to future governments about the political costs of financial crises. This subsequently informs the need to use economic policy to insure against such crises. Focusing on the accumulation of foreign exchange reserves after currency crises, I find that when past currency crises led to political changes future governments accumulate higher levels of reserves to prevent another crisis from occurring. This effect is stronger when political change occurred in situations where governments would not expect to be held accountable, and when reserve sales were shown to be effective in preventing political change. The theory and empirical results provide an answer as to why countries experiencing a similar form of financial crisis can, nevertheless, vary in their attempts to prevent future recurrence

Cloning, expression and purification of gene products involved in peptidoglycan synthesis for Chlamydia trachomatis

Chlamydiae are obligate intracellular bacterial pathogens with a unique biphasic life cycle that consists of an infectious but non-dividing form, called elementary bodies (EB), and a noninfectious but metabolically active form, called reticulate bodies (RB). Chlamydia has an unusual process of cell division of which still remains uncharacterized subject matter; in particular, the paradox of peptidoglycan (PG) synthesis. A paradox is a principle or proposition contrary to received opinion (18). Chlamydaal research has shown evidence in support of and against PG synthesis. The intention of this project incorporates clarification of the role of PG in Chlamydia, which would result in a greater understanding of chlamydaal cell division. The primary objective of my research was to clone, express, and purify the three genes targeted for PG synthesis in C. trachomatis: pbp3, ftsW, and p60. This project incorporates many molecular biology techniques such as designing primers, PCR, restriction digests, transformation, PCR screening, cell culture, sequencing, column purification, and Western blot analysis. Unfortunately, this project was weighed down with much experimental difficulty, which produced subjective results

Past, present and future of Focused Ultrasound as an adjunct or complement to DIPG/DMG therapy: A consensus of the 2021 FUSF DIPG meeting

Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), now known as Diffuse Midline Glioma (DMG) is a devastating pediatric brain tumor with limited treatment options and a very poor prognosis. Despite more than 250 clinical trials aimed to treat children diagnosed with DMG, no curative therapies currently exist for this patient population. A major obstacle has been the intact blood brain barrier (BBB) which prevents most therapeutics from crossing into the tumor bed. Focused Ultrasound (FUS) is an emerging, noninvasive medical technology which has been shown in both preclinical and clinical research to disrupt the blood brain barrier safely and temporarily. FUS blood brain barrier opening has been studied in combination with chemotherapies in preclinical DMG models, and this technology is now being investigated in clinical trials for the treatment of pediatric brain tumors. Focused ultrasound has additional mechanisms of action, including sonodynamic therapy and radiation sensitization, that hold promise as future DMG therapies as well. This paper, largely based off the proceedings from a workshop held by the Focused Ultrasound Foundation in October of 2021, summarizes the current state of the field of focused ultrasound for DIPG/DMG, including preclinical, technical, and clinical summaries in addition to recommended next steps for continued advancement of the game changing technology of Focused Ultrasound