Social Security: Strengthen Not Dismantle

Social Security has benefited more than 55 million people. It has lifted about 14 million seniors and 6 million more people out of poverty without adding a penny to the federal budget. Social Security is increasingly becoming an important source of income for many people. Despite the projected shortfall, the program will continue to meet its obligations for the next two decades, and with minor adjustments, it can be on solid footing for the next 75 years. Cutting the benefits or privatizing may not be the best approach. This paper discusses the structure and function of Social Security and what can be done to strengthen the program

The Unfortunate Role of Farm Subsidies as a Stimulus for Inequality and Obesity

Governmental expenditures are directed at a particular objective, but their effects have consequences far beyond the named target of the expenditures. Specific farm subsidies, for example, encourage consumption of particular foods by reducing the costs of producing these foods. To what extent do these subsidies affect the American obesity epidemic? How do the subsidies create disparate negative effects on those in poverty? Exploring these questions stimulates us to take greater care when designing legislation to take a broader look at the stakeholders affected by any particular governmental expenditure

Educators’ Perceptions of Middle Level Education in a State without a Middle Level Teacher Credential

The Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) presents a framework of middle level education and defines five essential attributes and 18 characteristics of successful middle schools (Bishop & Harrison, 2021). Young adolescents’ unique cognitive, moral, socio-emotional, and identity development is at the center of this framework. Several empirical studies suggest that middle school teachers with specialized preparation performed better in many key areas than their counterparts with elementary or secondary licensure (Mertens et al., 2005; Ochanji et al., 2016). Despite researchers’ calls for specialized preparation of middle grades teachers. California does not offer a middle level teacher credential. The purpose of this exploratory survey study was to investigate the current state of middle level education in California

Educators\u27 Perceptions of Middle Level Education in a State Without a Middle Level Teacher Credential

Over forty U.S. states offer teacher licensing specifically in preparation for teaching middle grades students. California is not included in this number, nor do California teacher licenses (i.e., multiple subjects, single subject, and special education) require teacher preparation coursework specific to meeting the needs of early adolescents. This descriptive study presents results of an exploratory survey of California educators with middle grades experience (n=48) regarding their ability to identify essential attributes and characteristics of successful middle schools in California, their perceptions of young adolescents’ needs and responsive teaching practices, and their current opinions of middle level education in California. Findings indicate that survey respondents (1) moderately agree that middle schools in California represent the essential attributes and key characteristics of successful middle schools, (2) agree that middle level teachers’ practice is responsive to early adolescents’ developmental needs but does not emphasize student choice and community interaction, and (3) overwhelmingly agree that the overall state of middle level education in California is inadequate. These findings have implications for policymakers and teacher educators to think flexibly about middle level education and whether the needs of early adolescents are best served by the current conditions of teacher preparation in California

Seawi—a sea urchin piwi/argonaute family member is a component of MT-RNP complexes

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://rnajournal.cshlp.org/content/11/5/646.The piwi/argonaute family of proteins is involved in key developmental processes such as stem cell maintenance and axis specification through molecular mechanisms that may involve RNA silencing. Here we report on the cloning and characterization of the sea urchin piwi/argonaute family member seawi. Seawi is a major component of microtubule-ribonucleoprotein (MT-RNP) complexes isolated from two different species of sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus and Paracentrotus lividus. Seawi co-isolates with purified ribosomes, cosediments with 80S ribosomes in sucrose density gradients, and binds microtubules. Seawi possesses the RNA binding motif common to piwi family members and binds P. lividus bep4 mRNA, a transcript that co-isolates with MT-RNP complexes and whose translation product has been shown to play a role in patterning the animal–vegetal axis. Indirect immunofluorescence studies localized seawi to the cortex of unfertilized eggs within granule-like particles, the mitotic spindle during cell division, and the small micromeres where its levels were enriched during the early cleavage stage. Lastly, we discuss how seawi, as a piwi/argonaute family member, may play a fundamentally important role in sea urchin animal–vegetal axis formation and stem cell maintenance

PARP-1 improves leukemia outcomes by inducing parthanatos during chemotherapy.

Previous chemotherapy research has focused almost exclusively on apoptosis. Here, a standard frontline drug combination of cytarabine and idarubicin induces distinct features of caspase-independent, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP-1)-mediated programmed cell death "parthanatos" in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell lines (n = 3/10 tested), peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy human donors (n = 10/10 tested), and primary cell samples from patients with AML (n = 18/39 tested, French-American-British subtypes M4 and M5). A 3-fold improvement in survival rates is observed in the parthanatos-positive versus -negative patient groups (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.28-0.37, p = 0.002-0.046). Manipulation of PARP-1 activity in parthanatos-competent cells reveals higher drug sensitivity in cells that have basal PARP-1 levels as compared with those subjected to PARP-1 overexpression or suppression. The same trends are observed in RNA expression databases and support the conclusion that PARP-1 can have optimal levels for favorable chemotherapeutic responses

Think globally, measure locally: The MIREN standardized protocol for monitoring plant species distributions along elevation gradients

Climate change and other global change drivers threaten plant diversity in mountains worldwide. A widely documented response to such environmental modifications is for plant species to change their elevational ranges. Range shifts are often idiosyncratic and difficult to generalize, partly due to variation in sampling methods. There is thus a need for a standardized monitoring strategy that can be applied across mountain regions to assess distribution changes and community turnover of native and non-native plant species over space and time. Here, we present a conceptually intuitive and standardized protocol developed by the Mountain Invasion Research Network (MIREN) to systematically quantify global patterns of native and non-native species distributions along elevation gradients and shifts arising from interactive effects of climate change and human disturbance. Usually repeated every five years, surveys consist of 20 sample sites located at equal elevation increments along three replicate roads per sampling region. At each site, three plots extend from the side of a mountain road into surrounding natural vegetation. The protocol has been successfully used in 18 regions worldwide from 2007 to present. Analyses of one point in time already generated some salient results, and revealed region-specific elevational patterns of native plant species richness, but a globally consistent elevational decline in non-native species richness. Non-native plants were also more abundant directly adjacent to road edges, suggesting that disturbed roadsides serve as a vector for invasions into mountains. From the upcoming analyses of time series, even more exciting results can be expected, especially about range shifts. Implementing the protocol in more mountain regions globally would help to generate a more complete picture of how global change alters species distributions. This would inform conservation policy in mountain ecosystems, where some conservation policies remain poorly implemented.EEA BarilocheFil: Haider, Sylvia. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research; AlemaniaFil: Haider, Sylvia. Martin Luther University. Institute of Biology. Geobotany and Botanical Garden; AlemaniaFil: Lembrechts, Jonas Johan. University of Antwerp. Centre of Excellence Plants and Ecosystems (PLECO); BélgicaFil: McDougall, Keith. Department of Planning, Industry and Environment; AustraliaFil: Pauchard, Aníbal. Universidad de Concepción. Facultad de Ciencias Forestales. Laboratorio de Invasiones Biológicas; ChileFil: Pauchard, Aníbal. Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB); ChileFil: Alexander, Jake M. Institute of Integrative Biology; SuizaFil: Barros, Agustina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico. Instituto Argentino de Nivología y Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales (IANIGLA); ArgentinaFil: Cavieres, Lohengrin A. Universidad de Concepción. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanográficas. Departamento de Botánica; ChileFil: Cavieres, Lohengrin A. Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB); ChileFil: Rashid, Irfan. University of Kashmir. Department of Botany; IndiaFil: Rew, Lisa J. Montana State University. Department of Land Resource and Environmental Sciences; Estados UnidosFil: Aleksanyan, Alla. Institute of Botany aft. A.L. Takhtajyan NAS RA. Department of Geobotany and Plant Ecophysiology; ArmeniaFil: Aleksanyan, Alla. Armenian National Agrarian University. Chair of Biology and Biotechnologies; ArmeniaFil: Dimarco, Romina Daniela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche. Grupo de Ecología de Poblaciones de Insectos; ArgentinaFil: Dimarco, Romina Daniela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche. Grupo de Ecología de Poblaciones de Insectos; ArgentinaFil: Dimarco, Romina Daniela. University of Houston. Department of Biology and Biochemistry; Estados UnidosFil: Seipel, Tim. Montana State University. Department of Land Resource and Environmental Sciences; Estados Unido

The DLV System for Knowledge Representation and Reasoning

This paper presents the DLV system, which is widely considered the state-of-the-art implementation of disjunctive logic programming, and addresses several aspects. As for problem solving, we provide a formal definition of its kernel language, function-free disjunctive logic programs (also known as disjunctive datalog), extended by weak constraints, which are a powerful tool to express optimization problems. We then illustrate the usage of DLV as a tool for knowledge representation and reasoning, describing a new declarative programming methodology which allows one to encode complex problems (up to $\Delta^P_3$-complete problems) in a declarative fashion. On the foundational side, we provide a detailed analysis of the computational complexity of the language of DLV, and by deriving new complexity results we chart a complete picture of the complexity of this language and important fragments thereof. Furthermore, we illustrate the general architecture of the DLV system which has been influenced by these results. As for applications, we overview application front-ends which have been developed on top of DLV to solve specific knowledge representation tasks, and we briefly describe the main international projects investigating the potential of the system for industrial exploitation. Finally, we report about thorough experimentation and benchmarking, which has been carried out to assess the efficiency of the system. The experimental results confirm the solidity of DLV and highlight its potential for emerging application areas like knowledge management and information integration.Comment: 56 pages, 9 figures, 6 table

Consolidation with autologous stem cell transplantation in first remission is safe and effective in AML patients above 65 years.

The outcome of AML patients ≥65 years remains disappointing. Current post-induction strategies for elderly AML patients fit for intensive treatment involve additional cycles of chemotherapy or allogeneic transplantation. Consolidation with autologous transplantation (ASCT) is poorly studied in these patients. In this single-center retrospective analysis, we determined survival rates of AML patients ≥65 years undergoing busulfan/cyclophosphamide conditioning before ASCT in first remission between 2007 and 2015. We found elderly AML patients with ASCT to have longer progression-free survival (PFS; 16.3 vs. 5.1 months, P=0.0166) and overall survival (OS; n.r. vs. 8.2 months; P=0.0255) than elderly AML patients without ASCT consolidation. In addition, elderly AML patients undergoing ASCT had comparable PFS (P=0.9462) and OS (P=0.7867) as AML patients below 65 years receiving ASCT consolidation in CR1. Our data suggest that ASCT is an option in elderly fit AML patients who appear to benefit from autologous consolidation similarly to younger AML patients