The Dream Defaulted: Foreclosure, Crisis, and Hope in Baltimore, Maryland, and Detroit, Michigan

In the United States, the late 2000s were a time of crisis that tested many urban decision-makers. The recession that started in 2007 was defined by a severe crash in the housing market and the proliferation of mortgage foreclosures across the country. Foreclosures occurred in urban, suburban, and rural communities, but had a particularly devastating impact on larger, older cities and their low and moderate-income neighborhoods. These cities had been dealing with economic and population decline for half a century. In many of their urban neighborhoods, foreclosures affected as many as one in four households and added yet another challenge to improving the quality of life for residents. However, despite sharing historical characteristics of population and job decline and demographic change from majority white to majority black, some older, larger cities fared quite differently in the mortgage foreclosures crisis. For example, in 2007, the Baltimore metropolitan region in Maryland had a foreclosure rate of 0.7 percent compared to the Detroit metropolitan region in Michigan whose rate was 4.9 percent (RealtyTrac 2008). Since 1950, these cities have seen drastic declines in population, as well as rising unemployment rates as major industries have left the area. Both cities have been left with high rates of vacant properties, high poverty rates, and low housing values for most of the past few decades. Given these similarities, it is clear that the local economic environment cannot be the sole factor in determining the fate of cities like Baltimore and Detroit. The disparity in foreclosure rates points to the possible explanatory value of other differences, such as local political arrangements and how those affect the ability of networks of stakeholders, or governing coalitions, to prepare for and respond to the crisis. Cities and their decision-makers provide an isolated and contained environment within which to examine responses to crises. By using the foreclosure crisis as a test, my research on Baltimore and Detroit aims to uncover what kinds of governing coalitions and their resultant actions may have contributed to resiliency in these cities to withstand and address the mortgage foreclosure crisis. By examining the political histories of the governing coalitions in both cities, this dissertation argues that the greater involvement of community development interests in Baltimore contributed to a stronger community development sector overall. During the foreclosure crisis, stakeholders in Baltimore were able to launch a quicker response to the crisis and the housing market in that city remained more stable. In addition to making a contribution to the literature on urban development and governance, this research will address the contemporary situation of urban, low and moderate-income neighborhoods of color, many of which face on-going challenges from high crime rates, low public and private investment, low-quality services and loss of wealth. High mortgage foreclosure rates in such neighborhoods compound these problems and make it difficult for these communities, and the cities which contain them, to become and remain stable and sustainable. Understanding how local policies affect these processes could help urban governments promote greater neighborhood equity, growth and opportunity

Горшкоподібний посуд: етнокультурні взаємовпливи

The article brings complex comparative analitical study in Ukrainian and foreign types of pottery kitchenware with throwing light upon common and different features in forms and decorations of artefacts as well as with definitions of most characteristic notions that underline originality and nature of Ukrainian ceramics in the context of All-European culture

An 8-gene mRNA expression profile in circulating tumor cells predicts response to aromatase inhibitors in metastatic breast cancer patients

Background: Molecular characterization of circulating tumor cells (CTC) is promising for personalized medicine. We aimed to identify a CTC gene expression profile predicting outcome to first-line aromatase inhibitors in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients. Methods: CTCs were isolated from 78 MBC patients before treatment start. mRNA expression levels of 96 genes were measured by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. After applying predefined exclusion criteria based on lack of sufficient RNA quality and/or quantity, the data from 45 patients were used to construct a gene expression profile to predict poor responding patients, defined as disease progression or death <9 months, by a leave-one-out cross validation. Results: Of the 45 patients, 19 were clinically classified as poor responders. To identify them, the 75 % most variable genes were used to select genes differentially expressed between good and poor responders. An 8-gene CTC predictor was significantly associated with outcome (Hazard Ratio [HR] 4.40, 95 % Confidence Interval [CI]: 2.17-8.92, P < 0.001). This predictor identified poor responding patients with a sensitivity of 63 % and a positive predictive value of 75 %, while good responding patients were correctly predicted in 85 % of the cases. In multivariate Cox regression analysis, including CTC count at baseline, the 8-gene CTC predictor was the only factor independently associated with outcome (HR 4.59 [95 % CI: 2.11-9.56], P < 0.001). This 8-gene signature was not associated with outcome in a group of 71 MBC patients treated with systemic treatments other than AI. Conclusions: An 8-gene CTC predictor was identified which discriminates good and poor outcome to first-line aromatase inhibitors in MBC patients. Although results need to be validated, this study underscores the potential of molecular characterization of CTCs

Surface Ig variable domain glycosylation affects autoantigen binding and acts as threshold for human autoreactive B cell activation

The hallmark autoantibodies in rheumatoid arthritis are characterized by variable domain glycans (VDGs). Their abundant occurrence results from the selective introduction of N-linked glycosylation sites during somatic hypermutation, and their presence is predictive for disease development. However, the functional consequences of VDGs on autoreactive B cells remain elusive. Combining crystallography, glycobiology, and functional B cell assays allowed us to dissect key characteristics of VDGs on human B cell biology. Crystal structures showed that VDGs are positioned in the vicinity of the antigen-binding pocket, and dynamic modeling combined with binding assays elucidated their impact on binding. We found that VDG-expressing B cell receptors stay longer on the B cell surface and that VDGs enhance B cell activation. These results provide a rationale on how the acquisition of VDGs might contribute to the breach of tolerance of autoreactive B cells in a major human autoimmune disease.Medicinal Chemistr

Dysregulated Recruitment of the Histone Methyltransferase EZH2 to the Class II Transactivator (CIITA) Promoter IV in Breast Cancer Cells

One mechanism frequently utilized by tumor cells to escape immune system recognition and elimination is suppression of cell surface expression of Major Histocompatibility Class II (MHC II) molecules. Expression of MHC II is regulated primarily at the level of transcription by the Class II Transactivator, CIITA, and decreased CIITA expression is observed in multiple tumor types. We investigate here contributions of epigenetic modifications to transcriptional silencing of CIITA in variants of the human breast cancer cell line MDA MB 435. Significant increases in histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation upon IFN-γ stimulation correlate with reductions in transcription factor recruitment to the interferon-γ inducible CIITA promoter, CIITApIV, and with significantly increased CIITApIV occupancy by the histone methyltransferase enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2). Most compelling is evidence that decreased expression of EZH2 in MDA MB 435 variants results in significant increases in CIITA and HLA-DRA mRNA expression, even in the absence of interferon-γ stimulation, as well as increased cell surface expression of MHC II. Together, these data add mechanistic insight to prior observations of increased EZH2 expression and decreased CIITA expression in multiple tumor types

WebLab project

WebLab is an online academic tool used to improve education by providing a framework for teachers to supply a higher quantity and quality of assignments to students. Currently this system is being used in a variety of courses including the Concepts of Programming Languages course taught to bachelor students at the Delft University of Technology. As a tool is used more and more functionality must be added in order to meet the ever increasing demands. The goal of this project is just that, expand on the current system to provide support for a new set of features. Specifically two new courses want to start using WebLab. MySQL support is added to support the database part of the Web & Database Technology course so students can execute queries and test their code against the correct queries without seeing those queries. Java support is added to provide extra practice material for the Object-oriented Programming in Java course; students who are new to programming have a chance to practice with the material at their own pace without having to install a myriad of software packages. Aside from these main features other features including group support and random assignment collections are also included in this project. Finally, as with any other software engineering project we include our requirements analysis, system analysis, project process, and take an in depth look at the testing of such a diverse and complex system.Software Engineering Research GroupSoftware Computer TechnologyElectrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc

Antibodies and B cells recognising citrullinated proteins display a broad cross-reactivity towards other post-translational modifications

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