Student Loan Debt for Community College Transfer Students and How Debt Information Letters Impact Future Borrowing Decisions

There has been a proliferation of student loan debt over the past decade. The indebtedness that students incur while attending college reduces their discretionary income once they enter repayment after graduation. For graduates, there is an opportunity cost along with personal and professional life decisions being made based on this debt. For example, some students are choosing the enter the workforce after obtaining their undergraduate degree instead of pursuing a graduate degree. The purpose of this study was to examine the decisions that currently enrolled undergraduate students are making about obtaining student loans based on information supplied to them about their current indebtedness. This study utilized a quantitative, cross sectional research design that looked at students who were given a letter that detailed their current outstanding loan debt. The study then reviewed what decisions the student made about securing future federal subsidized and unsubsidized student loan amounts, and if they decided to decrease their borrowing amounts. A paired sample t-test was used to determine if there was a statistical difference between what students borrowed. The results of this study concluded that students borrowed less as a percentage of their total available loan funds after receiving the informational debt letter. Furthermore, this study showed the importance of educating students about their current level of indebtedness before they secure future student loans

Comparison of Pitching Moments Produced by Plain Flaps and by Spoilers and Some Aerodynamic Characteristics of an NACA 23012 Airfoil with Various Types of Aileron

Sectional characteristics of airfoil having retractable slotted flap with plain, slot-lip, or retractable ailerons are presented for a large range of aileron deflections. The analysis indicated that pitching moments produced by spoilers were less positive than those produced by plain flaps of equal effectiveness, also that pitching moments created by the spoiler increased less with the Mach number than similar moments produced by plain flaps. Positive values of pitching moment decreased as devices were located nearer airfoil leading edge

Using Established Medical Criteria to Define Disability: A Proposal to Amend the Americans with Disabilities Act

Part II of this Article traces the legislative history of the coverage provision of the ADA and of its predecessor statute, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. It also explores the conceptual underpinnings of the statutory scheme of attempting to cover only individuals with severe disabilities. Part III analyzes the major cases involving coverage under the ADA, including the trilogy of 1999 Supreme Court cases. It traces the consequences of the Court’s decisions as reflected in the subsequent lower court decisions and their devastating effects on individuals with disabilities. Part IV contains a proposed amendment to the ADA to clarify the definition of “individual with disabilities.” Under the amendment, Congress would authorize the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), after notice and comment rulemaking, to publish medical standards for determining when the most common physical and mental impairments are severe enough to be covered under the ADA. The ADA would presumptively cover an individual whose condition meets the criteria; it would presumptively not cover an individual whose condition does not meet the criteria. Either party could rebut the presumption with clear and convincing evidence that, in light of the particular individual’s overall medical condition, the impairment was or was not a substantial limitation of a major life activity. This approach provides greater certainty to all parties and saves time and money in litigation. Part V provides a demonstration of the feasibility and utility of this approach. After selecting several of the impairments most commonly at issue in ADA cases, the Article reviews the medical literature for each condition. It then distills the medical criteria already used in the clinical setting to distinguish mild or moderate medical conditions from ones that constitute a substantial limitation of a major life activity. Only the latter conditions would be presumptively covered under the proposed amendment of the ADA. Besides the practical advantages of the amendment, it is consistent with the original intent of the ADA: prohibiting discrimination against individuals with substantially limiting disabilities without imposing an undue burden on employers, government entities, and providers of public accommodations. Although the Article focuses on employment, the definition of disability applies to all of the titles of the ADA

Appendix 4: Search strategies

OBJECTIVE: To systematically review all meta-analyses that included outpatient sub-analyses or network meta-analyses with medications treatment comparisons in order to study the clinical benefits of these deimplemented medications in the outpatient setting

Initiating change at the local level: Delivery of Educational Services to Students with Moderate to Severe Handicapping Conditions

This article describes program initiat1ves undertaken by a rural educational cooperative In an effort to bridge the gap between current best practices and local educational program opportunities for school-aged students with moderate, severe, and profound handicapping conditions. It compares previous program characteristics with current practices in areas such educational placement, student groupings, curriculum, community-based Instruction, therapeutic services, end post-school preparation. Factors which influenced major program changes are discussed

The Contribution of Transcriptomics to Biomarker Development in Systemic Vasculitis and SLE.

A small but increasing number of gene expression based biomarkers are becoming available for routine clinical use, principally in oncology and transplantation. These underscore the potential of gene expression arrays and RNA sequencing for biomarker development, but this potential has not yet been fully realized and most candidates do not progress beyond the initial report. The first part of this review examines the process of gene expression- based biomarker development, highlighting how systematic biases and confounding can significantly skew study outcomes. Adequate validation in an independent cohort remains the single best means of protecting against these concerns. The second part considers gene-expression based biomarkers in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and systemic vasculitis. The type 1 interferon inducible gene signature remains by far the most studied in autoimmune rheumatic disease. While initially presented as an objective, blood-based biomarker of active SLE, subsequent research has shown that it is not specific to SLE and that its association with disease activity is considerably more nuanced than first thought. Nonetheless, it is currently under evaluation in ongoing trials of anti-interferon therapy. Other candidate markers of note include a prognostic CD8+ T-cell gene signature validated in SLE and ANCA-associated vasculitis, and a disease activity biomarker for SLE derived from modules of tightly correlated genes.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Bentham Science via http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/138161282166615031313025

CycleTrak: A novel system for the semi-automated analysis of cell cycle dynamics

AbstractCell proliferation is crucial to tissue growth and form during embryogenesis, yet dynamic tracking of cell cycle progression and cell position presents a challenging roadblock. We have developed a fluorescent cell cycle indicator and single cell analysis method, called CycleTrak, which allows for better spatiotemporal resolution and quantification of cell cycle phase and cell position than current methods. Our method was developed on the basis of the existing Fucci method. CycleTrak uses a single lentiviral vector that integrates mKO2-hCdt1 (30/120), and a nuclear-localized eGFP reporter. The single vector and nuclear localized fluorescence signals simplify delivery into cells and allow for rapid, automated cell tracking and cell cycle phase readout in single and subpopulations of cells. We validated CycleTrak performance in metastatic melanoma cells and identified novel cell cycle dynamics in vitro and in vivo after transplantation and 3D confocal time-lapse imaging in a living chick embryo

Projecting the COVID-19 Weekly Deaths and Hospitalizations for Jefferson County, Kentucky

Introduction: The trends in the numbers of active hospitalizations and fatalities caused by the COVID-19 in Jefferson County, Kentucky, were projected over the period May 7 to August 20, 2020. Methods: The projections provided in this report are from a susceptible-exposed-infectious-recovered (SEIR) model. The model was calibrated using the COVID-19 transmission dynamics parameters from relevant literature and clinical dynamics parameters from the county’s data. The model was used for measuring the impact of public health policy interventions designed to contain the infection. The policy was modeled by its intervention day and impact on the transmission of the virus such that the resulted fatalities resembled those observed in Jefferson County. Results: By May 6, 2020, there were 1,557 cases and 109 COVID-19 deaths in Jefferson County. The average age of deceased individuals was 76.5 years―76% of them had a previous medical condition, and 28% were African American. Among the hospitalized, 53% were admitted to the ICU, and 43% used a ventilator. The model’s status quo scenario, which produced the observed fatalities in the county, was identified assuming that the transmission of the virus was reduced by 70% with a policy intervention on April 7. Projections based on the status quo showed 91 active hospitalizations and 147 total fatalities, on average, on May 14. By June 4, the average number of active hospitalizations were projected to decrease to 61, but total fatalities to increase to 195, assuming a 70% reduction in transmission of the virus was maintained since the implementation of the policy intervention. By late August, the average number of active hospitalizations and total fatalities were projected to be 12 and 269, respectively. Conclusion: Had the county practiced weaker containment strategies, it would have been on an upward path with increased hospitalization and fatality trends. Therefore, decreasing the current social distancing measures without efforts regarding testing, isolating, and contact tracing can move the county to an unstable status. Had Jefferson County practiced stronger containment strategies, it could more safely plan open in early June. Still taking newer and even more effective measures can make a manageable early-June opening more likely