Change in Percentage of Families Offered Coverage at Work, 1998-2005

Uses data from the National Health Interview Survey to measure changes between 1998 and 2005 in the percentage of families with working adults that have at least one offer of health insurance through an employer

Bringing the States Back in: Institutional Determinants of State Level Immigration Policies

The devolution of immigration policy to the 50 states has resulted in the enactment of more than 1,500 state-level immigration since 2005. For the record 42 million immigrants living in the U.S., these laws have had tremendous consequences related to healthcare utilization and access, community relations with law enforcement, family dissolution, and the exacerbation of income inequalities. While the legislative arena has shifted to the states, our understanding of immigration policymaking remains unclear due to inconsistent and omitted predictors of immigration policy, subjective coding of immigration laws, and statistical modeling that does not take into account changes in key independent variables. Using data primarily from the Census Bureau’s American Factfinder, the Current Population Survey, and the National Council of State Legislatures, and other sources this research refines the quantitative determinants of immigration policy while using time-series analysis to highlight the factors linked to laws designed to integrate or exclude immigrations in the 50 states. Once empirical analysis is conducted, I delve into the details of state level immigration policymaking by interviewing state level bureaucrats within state health departments to determine the role that they, their data analysis, and the research play when it comes to influencing legislators and shaping immigration policy. This mixed methods approach combining statistical modeling and key informant interviews provides important findings that give a clear picture on why state institutional arrangements are crucial for understating immigration policy at the state level

The Role of Educational Attainment in Migration Probability and Destination Selection for the Metropolitan Rust Belt, 1980-2000

The U.S. has undergone macroeconomic changes over the latter course of the twentieth century. As a result, migration patterns have shifted toward the fast-growing southern and western portions of the nation. My research measures the impact of deindustrialization and educational selection on out-migration from the metropolitan Rust Belt for 1980, 1990, and 2000. Analysis on destination selection using multinomial regression analysis is then conducted to determine whether education trumps social capital for long-distance migration. Findings indicate that more severely deindustrializing metropolitan areas have greater out-migration in 1980 and 1990 but less so for 2000, with positive educational selection for each year. Multinomial results indicate that education does not attenuate social capital for interregional migration destination. The rise of the service economy may indicate the increasing importance of social capital for individuals leaving the Rust Belt for other regions

Accountants' incessant insecurity: focusing on the identities of CPAs hired in the South Korean public service

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand how and why accountants who moved from accounting firms to public service adapted their identities to reduce insecurity. The literature on accountant identity highlights insecurity caused by promotion criterion to partnership, which requires accountants to win new work for their employers and leads to overtime, as a serious problem which has permeated the accounting profession. However, there have been few studies that explore whether accountants who moved to the public service, where they have stronger job security and can enjoy work-life balance, have resolved the insecurity problem, although a neoliberalism turn accompanied by New Public Management-style reforms has increased the number of accountants in public service. Therefore, the authors of the current study aim to fill this gap in the literature by exploring the identity transitions of South Korean (hereafter Korean) accountants who joined the public service. Design/methodology/approach: The authors theorise the nature of the process of identity adaptation with conceptual tools from Pierre Bourdieu, such as habitus and capital, and examine whether the accountants took a “vision-of-division” or a “di-vision” strategy in the public service to secure their identity. For this purpose, the authors interviewed accountants and their non-accountant colleagues, and investigated other written sources, such as newspaper articles and business cards. Findings: The authors found that Korean accountants in Big-4 firms dealt with the same insecurity issues as accountants in western countries and perceived public service as an attractive alternative to remove this insecurity. However, accountants who joined the public service found themselves confronted with different types of problems, such as accounting/costing work being regarded as demeaning, which made their identity insecure. Therefore, some accountants took a di-vision strategy that makes the difference between themselves and typical public servants less visible by avoiding accounting/costing work, using bureaucratic designations and de-emphasising their accounting credentials. Accountants took this strategy because the symbolic value of their accountancy qualifications grew weaker over time, due to the increase in the number of qualified accountants, and because the public service field valued bureaucratic habitus and capital more highly than those of the accountants. Originality/value: From a methodological aspect, the authors collected participants’ business cards and analysed which designations/credentials they chose in order to create a certain perception. This analysis helped the authors understand how accountants work on their identity by de-emphasising accounting credentials to secure their identity in an organisational field. In a theoretical dimension, the current study argues that the symbolic capital of accounting credentials is dependent on the organisational and social context in line with Bourdieu, and, contrary to Bourdieu, on the supply and demand in the professional labour market

Beyond the accounting profession: a professionalisation project in the South Korean public sector accounting field

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how an accounting association and its key members define, control, and claim their knowledge; adopt a closure and/or openness policy to enhance their status/influence; and respond to structural/institutional forces from international organisations and/or the state in a particular historical context, such as a globalised/neo-liberalised setting. Design/methodology/approach: The authors draw on Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical tools (field, capital, habitus, and doxa) to understand how public sector accrual accounting was defined, and how the Korean Association for Government Accounting was formed and represented as a group with public sector accounting expertise. The research context was the implementation of accrual accounting in South Korea between 1997/1998, when the Asian financial crisis broke out, and 2006/2007, when accrual accounting was enforced by legislation. The authors interviewed social actors recognised as public sector accounting experts, in addition to examining related documents such as articles in academic journals, newsletters, invitations, membership forms, newspaper articles, and curricula vitae. Findings: The authors found that the key founders of KAGA included some public administration professors, who advocated public sector accrual accounting via civil society groups immediately after Korea applied to the International Monetary Fund for bailout loans and a new government was formed in 1997/1998. In conjunction with public servants, they defined and designed public sector accrual accounting as a measure of public sector reform and as a part of the broader government budget process, rather than as an accounting initiative. They also co-opted accounting professors and CPA-qualified accountants through their personal connections, based on shared educational backgrounds, to represent the association as a public sector accounting experts’ group. Originality/value: These findings suggest that the study of the accounting profession cannot be restricted to a focus on professional accounting associations and that accounting knowledge can be acquired by non-accountants. Therefore, the authors argue that the relationship between accounting knowledge, institutional forms, and key actors’ strategies is rich and multifaceted

The Establishment of International Mechanisms for Enforcing Provisional Orders and Final Judgments Arising From Securities Law Violations

In the 1980s and early 1990s, securities regulators have made substantial progress in developing cooperative relationships to reduce the value of international borders as barriers to the detection and prosecution of securities fraud, but there needs to be an establishment of international mechanisms for enforcing provisional orders and final judgments. The development of mechanisms pursuant to which regulators can assist each other in freezing assets and recovering illicit profits is discussed

A case of perinephric abscess in a child with diabetes mellitus: A rare manifestation of group B Streptococcal infection

Perinephric abscess is an uncommon infection in children, but it is usually caused by Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus mirabilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is an uncommon cause of perinephric abscess or serious bacterial infections beyond the neonatal period. Comorbid conditions such as diabetes mellitus and immunosuppression can increase the risk of GBS invasive disease. We describe a 10-year-old female who presented with 1-month of right-sided flank pain and swelling with ultrasound showing large (>3 cm) right perinephric and subcutaneous abscesses. She was additionally diagnosed with new onset type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) during admission. Abscess cultures obtained after placement of two percutaneous drains and the initiation of broad-spectrum intravenous antibiotics grew beta-hemolytic GBS. Here, we present to our knowledge, the first known documented case of GBS perinephric abscess in a school-aged child with DM. Much of the knowledge of perinephric abscess management is extrapolated from adults, therefore making optimal treatment in the pediatric population challenging. We propose that GBS be considered in the etiology of perinephric abscess in children with DM and other immunosuppressing conditions. In addition, percutaneous drainage of larger abscesses (>3 cm) in conjunction with antibiotic therapy is a reasonable management strategy

Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Access to Care among Children: How Does Medicaid Do in Closing the Gaps?

While Medicaid and the Children\u27s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) have become increasingly important sources of health coverage for low-income children in all racial and ethnic groups, the program plays an especially large role for children of color, who are more likely than white children to be low-income. In 2007, Medicaid and CHIP covered nearly one in five white children, but roughly two in five African American and Hispanic children. As policymakers engaged in health reform consider the merits of public and private approaches to expanding coverage, this report provides an assessment of Medicaid\u27s relative impact on racial and ethnic disparities in access. The analysis compared health care access for white, African American and Hispanic children who were privately insured, uninsured, or enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP. Key findings include: Racial and ethnic disparities in access to care were no more likely among children enrolled in Medicaid than among privately insured children. Insurance coverage – both private and Medicaid – often improved access for children in each racial and ethnic group, but generally did not significantly narrow racial and ethnic disparities in their access to health care. This report analyzes data for more than 15,000 children from the 2003 and 2004 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, a nationally representative household survey conducted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

MP20, the second most abundant lens membrane protein and member of the tetraspanin superfamily, joins the list of ligands of galectin-3

BACKGROUND: Although MP20 is the second most highly expressed membrane protein in the lens its function remains an enigma. Putative functions for MP20 have recently been inferred from its assignment to the tetraspanin superfamily of integral membrane proteins. Members of this family have been shown to be involved in cellular proliferation, differentiation, migration, and adhesion. In this study, we show that MP20 associates with galectin-3, a known adhesion modulator. RESULTS: MP20 and galectin-3 co-localized in selected areas of the lens fiber cell plasma membrane. Individually, these proteins purified with apparent molecular masses of 60 kDa and 22 kDa, respectively. A 104 kDa complex was formed in vitro upon mixing the purified proteins. A 102 kDa complex of MP20 and galectin-3 could also be isolated from detergent-solubilized native fiber cell membranes. Binding between MP20 and galectin-3 was disrupted by lactose suggesting the lectin site was involved in the interaction. CONCLUSIONS: MP20 adds to a growing list of ligands of galectin-3 and appears to be the first representative of the tetraspanin superfamily identified to possess this specificity

Application of multiplexed ion mobility spectrometry towards the identification of host protein signatures of treatment effect in pulmonary tuberculosis.

RationaleThe monitoring of TB treatments in clinical practice and clinical trials relies on traditional sputum-based culture status indicators at specific time points. Accurate, predictive, blood-based protein markers would provide a simpler and more informative view of patient health and response to treatment.ObjectiveWe utilized sensitive, high throughput multiplexed ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) to characterize the serum proteome of TB patients at the start of and at 8 weeks of rifamycin-based treatment. We sought to identify treatment specific signatures within patients as well as correlate the proteome signatures to various clinical markers of treatment efficacy.MethodsSerum samples were collected from 289 subjects enrolled in CDC TB Trials Consortium Study 29 at time of enrollment and at the end of the intensive phase (after 40 doses of TB treatment). Serum proteins were immunoaffinity-depleted of high abundant components, digested to peptides and analyzed for data acquisition utilizing a unique liquid chromatography IM-MS platform (LC-IM-MS). Linear mixed models were utilized to identify serum protein changes in the host response to antibiotic treatment as well as correlations with culture status end points.ResultsA total of 10,137 peptides corresponding to 872 proteins were identified, quantified, and used for statistical analysis across the longitudinal patient cohort. In response to TB treatment, 244 proteins were significantly altered. Pathway/network comparisons helped visualize the interconnected proteins, identifying up regulated (lipid transport, coagulation cascade, endopeptidase activity) and down regulated (acute phase) processes and pathways in addition to other cross regulated networks (inflammation, cell adhesion, extracellular matrix). Detection of possible lung injury serum proteins such as HPSE, significantly downregulated upon treatment. Analyses of microbiologic data over time identified a core set of serum proteins (TTHY, AFAM, CRP, RET4, SAA1, PGRP2) which change in response to treatment and also strongly correlate with culture status. A similar set of proteins at baseline were found to be predictive of week 6 and 8 culture status.ConclusionA comprehensive host serum protein dataset reflective of TB treatment effect is defined. A repeating set of serum proteins (TTHY, AFAM, CRP, RET4, SAA1, PGRP2, among others) were found to change significantly in response to treatment, to strongly correlate with culture status, and at baseline to be predictive of future culture conversion. If validated in cohorts with long term follow-up to capture failure and relapse of TB, these protein markers could be developed for monitoring of treatment in clinical trials and in patient care