Children's Reports of Parental Socioeconomic Status

An important class of applications of measurement error or constrained factor analytic models consists of comparing models for several populations. In such cases it is appropriate to make explicit statistical tests of model similarity across groups and to constrain some model parameters to be equal across groups using a priori substantive information. This article discusses a statistical model devel oped by Jöreskog for these purposes. The model is applied to children's and parents' reports of parental socioeconomic statuses for several grade levels.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68918/2/10.1177_004912418000900204.pd

Housing crowding effects on children’s wellbeing

The degree to which children grow up in crowded housing is a neglected but potentially important aspect of social inequality. Poor living conditions can serve as a mechanism of social stratification, affecting children’s wellbeing and resulting in the intergenerational transmission of social inequality. This paper reports an investigation of housing crowding on children’s academic achievement, behavior, and health in the U.S. and Los Angeles, a city with atypically high levels of crowding. We use data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics’ Child Development Supplement and the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey to explore the effect of living in a crowded home on an array of child wellbeing indicators. We find that several dimensions of children’s wellbeing suffer when exposed to crowded living conditions, particularly in Los Angeles, even after controlling for socioeconomic status. The negative effects on children raised in crowded homes can persist throughout life, affecting their future socioeconomic status and adult wellbeing

All-Trans Retinoic Acid Directs Urothelial Specification of Murine Embryonic Stem Cells via GATA4/6 Signaling Mechanisms

The urinary bladder and associated tract are lined by the urothelium, a transitional epithelium that acts as a specialized permeability barrier that protects the underlying tissue from urine via expression of a highly specific group of proteins known as the uroplakins (UP). To date, our understanding of the developmental processes responsible for urothelial differentiation has been hampered due to the lack of suitable models. In this study, we describe a novel in vitro cell culture system for derivation of urothelial cells from murine embryonic stem cells (ESCs) following cultivation on collagen matrices in the presence all trans retinoic acid (RA). Upon stimulation with micromolar concentrations of RA, ESCs significantly downregulated the pluripotency factor OCT-4 but markedly upregulated UP1A, UP1B, UP2, UP3A, and UP3B mRNA levels in comparison to naïve ESCs and spontaneously differentiating controls. Pan-UP protein expression was associated with both p63- and cytokeratin 20-positive cells in discrete aggregating populations of ESCs following 9 and 14 days of RA stimulation. Analysis of endodermal transcription factors such as GATA4 and GATA6 revealed significant upregulation and nuclear enrichment in RA-treated UP2-GFP+ populations. GATA4−/− and GATA6−/− transgenic ESC lines revealed substantial attenuation of RA-mediated UP expression in comparison to wild type controls. In addition, EMSA analysis revealed that RA treatment induced formation of transcriptional complexes containing GATA4/6 on both UP1B and UP2 promoter fragments containing putative GATA factor binding sites. Collectively, these data suggest that RA mediates ESC specification toward a urothelial lineage via GATA4/6–dependent processes

Achieving the Middle Ground in an Age of Concentrated Extremes: Mixed Middle-Income Neighborhoods and Emerging Adulthood

This paper focuses on stability and change in “mixed middle-income” neighborhoods. We first analyze variation across nearly two decades for all neighborhoods in the U.S. and the Chicago area. We then analyze a new longitudinal study of almost 700 Chicago adolescents over an 18-year span, including their neighborhood income experiences during the transition to young adulthood. The concentration of income extremes is highly persistent among neighborhoods, whereas mixed middle-income neighborhoods are more fluid. Persistence dominates among individuals too, although Latino-Americans are much more likely than African-Americans or whites to be exposed to mixed middle-income neighborhoods in the first place and to transition into them over time, adjusting for immigrant status, education, income, and residential mobility. The results enhance our knowledge of the course of income inequality at the neighborhood level, and the endurance of concentrated extremes suggests that policies seeking to promote mixed-income neighborhoods face greater odds than commonly thought.Sociolog

Evaluation of Silk Biomaterials in Combination with Extracellular Matrix Coatings for Bladder Tissue Engineering with Primary and Pluripotent Cells

Silk-based biomaterials in combination with extracellular matrix (ECM) coatings were assessed as templates for cell-seeded bladder tissue engineering approaches. Two structurally diverse groups of silk scaffolds were produced by a gel spinning process and consisted of either smooth, compact multi-laminates (Group 1) or rough, porous lamellar-like sheets (Group 2). Scaffolds alone or coated with collagen types I or IV or fibronectin were assessed independently for their ability to support attachment, proliferation, and differentiation of primary cell lines including human bladder smooth muscle cells (SMC) and urothelial cells as well as pluripotent cell populations, such as murine embryonic stem cells (ESC) and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. AlamarBlue evaluations revealed that fibronectin-coated Group 2 scaffolds promoted the highest degree of primary SMC and urothelial cell attachment in comparison to uncoated Group 2 controls and all Group 1 scaffold variants. Real time RT-PCR and immunohistochemical (IHC) analyses demonstrated that both fibronectin-coated silk groups were permissive for SMC contractile differentiation as determined by significant upregulation of α-actin and SM22α mRNA and protein expression levels following TGFβ1 stimulation. Prominent expression of epithelial differentiation markers, cytokeratins, was observed in urothelial cells cultured on both control and fibronectin-coated groups following IHC analysis. Evaluation of silk matrices for ESC and iPS cell attachment by alamarBlue showed that fibronectin-coated Group 2 scaffolds promoted the highest levels in comparison to all other scaffold formulations. In addition, real time RT-PCR and IHC analyses showed that fibronectin-coated Group 2 scaffolds facilitated ESC and iPS cell differentiation toward both urothelial and smooth muscle lineages in response to all trans retinoic acid as assessed by induction of uroplakin and contractile gene and protein expression. These results demonstrate that silk scaffolds support primary and pluripotent cell responses pertinent to bladder tissue engineering and that scaffold morphology and fibronectin coatings influence these processes

Banking in Africa : opportunities and challenges in volatile times

This paper surveys existing literature and data to take stock of the current state of banking systems across Sub-Saharan Africa. It documents different dimensions of the development of the banking systems in the region and compares Africa’s banking systems to those of comparable low- and lower-middle income countries outside the region. The paper also discusses the progress in policies and institutions underpinning financial deepening and the results of specific innovations to reach traditionally unbanked segments of the population, such as innovative branch expansion programs, mobile banking, and new financial products. In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the paper discusses government support for financial systems and banking sector performance during crises. Overall, the survey shows a picture of achievements and challenges, with progress along some fronts but other challenges persisting even as new ones arise, including the turning of the global financial cycle in 2022/23 and increasing geopolitical tensions

Program Notes: The Newsletter of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of America, volume 2, number 3

Convention Issue: Report from the President, They Showed Us in Missouri: A Personal View, Membership News,Regional News and Views: Celtic Writers, New Plays Down South, Bay Area New Play Development, LMDA Responds to McNally, Profiles in Dramaturgy: Richard Pettengill, American Developmental Theater, On the Western Front, New Play Venues in New York City, and Poses and Postures in the Southeast. Issue editors: Richard E. Kramer, Jeffery Lawson, and Laurence Maslonhttps://soundideas.pugetsound.edu/lmdareview/1004/thumbnail.jp

Protecting and connecting landscapes stabilizes populations of the endangered savannah elephant

DATA AND MATERIALS AVAILABILITY : All compiled population survey data are stored in Dryad (DOI: 10.5061/dryad.s1rn8pkf9). The sources of these data may be found in the Supplementary Materials. All data are available in the main text or the Supplementary Materials.SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL 1 : Supplementary Text; Figs. S1 to S14; Legends for tables S1 to S10; Tables S11 to S15; References.SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL 2 : Tables S1 to S10.The influence of protected areas on the growth of African savannah elephant populations is inadequately known. Across southern Africa, elephant numbers grew at 0.16% annually for the past quarter century. Locally, much depends on metapopulation dynamics-the size and connections of individual populations. Population numbers in large, connected, and strictly protected areas typically increased, were less variable from year to year, and suffered less from poaching. Conversely, populations in buffer areas that are less protected but still connected have more variation in growth from year to year. Buffer areas also differed more in their growth rates, likely due to more threats and dispersal opportunities in the face of such dangers. Isolated populations showed consistently high growth due to a lack of emigration. This suggests that "fortress" conservation generally maintains high growth, while anthropogenic-driven source-sink dynamics within connected conservation clusters drive stability in core areas and variability in buffers.Funded by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (ifaw) and supported by the University of Pretoria.https://www.science.org/journal/sciadvhj2024Zoology and EntomologySDG-15:Life on lan

Demographic responses of an insular elephant population to removal as a management intervention

Disturbances that change population structure may evoke transient dynamics that can be assessed within a demographic resilience framework. Conservation management interventions are conceptually disturbances that can be evaluated through such a framework to inform management actions and goals. The Main Camp in Addo Elephant National Park in South Africa presents a case study. Here management reduced the size of the elephant (Loxodonta africana) population by 26%. We compared population growth, modelled trends, constructed life tables and parameterized population projection matrices from data collected before, during and after the interventions. The interventions reduced population size and density, but co-occurring droughts may have reduced subsequent population growth and stage-specific survival. Transient dynamics followed the interventions and droughts and were associated with an unstable stage structure. The effect of adult survival on modelled asymptotic growth (its elasticity) was greater than a change in fertility. However, lowered juvenile survival contributed most to changes in transient growth. Management plans for elephant populations should consider the length of transients induced by interventions and environmental disturbances such as droughts. Our approach can benefit the assessment of population responses of elephants to disturbances such as poaching and persistent droughts elsewhere in Africa.The international fund for animal welfare (ifaw) funds and supported by the University of Pretoria.http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/csp2am2023Zoology and Entomolog