The Role of Partisan Politics on Support for Public Institutions of Higher Education

Over several decades, a greater share of the expense of earning a college degree has shifted to students and their families as appropriations to public institutions of higher education have declined as a percentage of the overall cost to educate a student. Tuition has greatly outpaced inflation during this period, while inflation-adjusted household income has remained relatively flat. Despite all the benefits that accrue to both the college graduate and society as a whole, for the less affluent, a college education is becoming increasingly difficult to attain. Many decide the financial barriers are simply too great and elect not to pursue a degree. Political partisanship influences spending on higher education at the state level; Republican lawmakers, in general, are less generous toward higher education than are Democrats. This study attempted to understand whether similar correlations exist between political preferences and support for higher education among adults who may influence policymaking through their voting behavior. A survey was administered to a non-random, convenience sample of adults in four states. Analysis of the data show that overall, liberal respondents who favor the Democratic party and preferred Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election are generally more supportive of higher education than are conservatives who support Donald Trump and the Republican party. Certain key issues, such as loan forgiveness or in-state tuition for undocumented students, were statistically correlated with level of support for higher education while other issues were not. Demographic factors such as age and hometown population also correlated with level of support. Contrary to expectations, significant differences were not seen between red states and blue states. Higher education advocates who wish to make a college education more accessible will need to craft messages that can influence voters across the political divide, especially those who remain distrustful of academia

The Role of Partisan Politics on Support for Public Institutions of Higher Education

Over several decades, a greater share of the expense of earning a college degree has shifted to students and their families as appropriations to public institutions of higher education have declined as a percentage of the overall cost to educate a student. Tuition has greatly outpaced inflation during this period, while inflation-adjusted household income has remained relatively flat. Despite all the benefits that accrue to both the college graduate and society as a whole, for the less affluent, a college education is becoming increasingly difficult to attain. Many decide the financial barriers are simply too great and elect not to pursue a degree. Political partisanship influences spending on higher education at the state level; Republican lawmakers, in general, are less generous toward higher education than are Democrats. This study attempted to understand whether similar correlations exist between political preferences and support for higher education among adults who may influence policymaking through their voting behavior. A survey was administered to a non-random, convenience sample of adults in four states. Analysis of the data show that overall, liberal respondents who favor the Democratic party and preferred Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election are generally more supportive of higher education than are conservatives who support Donald Trump and the Republican party. Certain key issues, such as loan forgiveness or in-state tuition for undocumented students, were statistically correlated with level of support for higher education while other issues were not. Demographic factors such as age and hometown population also correlated with level of support. Contrary to expectations, significant differences were not seen between red states and blue states. Higher education advocates who wish to make a college education more accessible will need to craft messages that can influence voters across the political divide, especially those who remain distrustful of academia

Investigating the transcriptome of Candida albicans in a dual-species Staphylococcus aureus biofilm model

Candida albicans is an opportunistic pathogen found throughout multiple body sites and is frequently co-isolated from infections of the respiratory tract and oral cavity with Staphylococcus aureus. Herein we present the first report of the effects that S. aureus elicits on the C. albicans transcriptome. Dual-species biofilms containing S. aureus and C. albicans mutants defective in ALS3 or ECE1 were optimised and characterised, followed by transcriptional profiling of C. albicans by RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq). Altered phenotypes in C. albicans mutants revealed specific interaction profiles between fungus and bacteria. The major adhesion and virulence proteins Als3 and Ece1, respectively, were found to have substantial effects on the Candida transcriptome in early and mature biofilms. Despite this, deletion of ECE1 did not adversely affect biofilm formation or the ability of S. aureus to interact with C. albicans hyphae. Upregulated genes in dual-species biofilms corresponded to multiple gene ontology terms, including those attributed to virulence, biofilm formation and protein binding such as ACE2 and multiple heat-shock protein genes. This shows that S. aureus pushes C. albicans towards a more virulent genotype, helping us to understand the driving forces behind the increased severity of C. albicans-S. aureus infections

Influence of Tigecycline on Expression of Virulence Factors in Biofilm-Associated Cells of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus▿

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections are complicated by the ability of the organism to grow in surface-adhered biofilms on a multitude of abiotic and biological surfaces. These multicellular communities are notoriously difficult to eradicate with antimicrobial therapy. Cells within the biofilm may be exposed to a sublethal concentration of the antimicrobial due to the metabolic and phenotypic diversity of the biofilm-associated cells or the protection offered by the biofilm structure. In the present study, the influence of a sublethal concentration of tigecycline on biofilms formed by an epidemic MRSA-16 isolate was investigated by transcriptome analysis. In the presence of the drug, 309 genes were upregulated and 213 genes were downregulated by more than twofold in comparison to the levels of gene regulation detected for the controls not grown in the presence of the drug. Microarray data were validated by real-time reverse transcription-PCR and phenotypic assays. Tigecycline altered the expression of a number of genes encoding proteins considered to be crucial for the virulence of S. aureus. These included the reduced expression of icaC, which is involved in polysaccharide intercellular adhesin production and biofilm development; the upregulation of fnbA, clfB, and cna, which encode adhesins which attach to human proteins; and the downregulation of the cap genes, which mediate the synthesis of the capsule polysaccharide. The expression of tst, which encodes toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 (TSST-1), was also significantly reduced; and an assay performed to quantify TSST-1 showed that the level of toxin production by cells treated with tigecycline decreased by 10-fold (P < 0.001) compared to the level of production by untreated control cells. This study suggests that tigecycline may reduce the expression of important virulence factors in S. aureus and supports further investigation to determine whether it could be a useful adjunct to therapy for the treatment of biofilm-mediated infections

Comprehensive Laboratory Evaluation of a Highly Specific Lateral Flow Assay for the Presumptive Identification of Bacillus anthracis

We conducted a comprehensive, multiphase laboratory evaluation of the Anthrax BioThreat Alert(®) test strip, a lateral flow immunoassay (LFA) for the rapid detection of Bacillus anthracis spores. The study, conducted at 2 sites, evaluated this assay for the detection of spores from the Ames and Sterne strains of B. anthracis, as well as those from an additional 22 strains. Phylogenetic near neighbors, environmental background organisms, white powders, and environmental samples were also tested. The Anthrax LFA demonstrated a limit of detection of about 10(6) spores/mL (ca. 1.5 × 10(5) spores/assay). In this study, overall sensitivity of the LFA was 99.3%, and the specificity was 98.6%. The results indicated that the specificity, sensitivity, limit of detection, dynamic range, and repeatability of the assay support its use in the field for the purpose of qualitatively evaluating suspicious white powders and environmental samples for the presumptive presence of B. anthracis spores

Comprehensive Laboratory Evaluation of a Highly Specific Lateral Flow Assay for the Presumptive Identification of Bacillus anthracis Spores in Suspicious White Powders and Environmental Samples

We conducted a comprehensive, multiphase laboratory evaluation of the Anthrax BioThreat Alert(®) test strip, a lateral flow immunoassay (LFA) for the rapid detection of Bacillus anthracis spores. The study, conducted at 2 sites, evaluated this assay for the detection of spores from the Ames and Sterne strains of B. anthracis, as well as those from an additional 22 strains. Phylogenetic near neighbors, environmental background organisms, white powders, and environmental samples were also tested. The Anthrax LFA demonstrated a limit of detection of about 10(6) spores/mL (ca. 1.5 × 10(5) spores/assay). In this study, overall sensitivity of the LFA was 99.3%, and the specificity was 98.6%. The results indicated that the specificity, sensitivity, limit of detection, dynamic range, and repeatability of the assay support its use in the field for the purpose of qualitatively evaluating suspicious white powders and environmental samples for the presumptive presence of B. anthracis spores