The Effects of Children's Time Use and Home and Neighborhood Quality on their Body Weight and Cognitive/Behavioral Development

We estimate a directional distance function to assess the impacts of multiple time-varying parent and child inputs on a cluster of jointly produced child outcomes for children aged 7 to 13 years. The directional distance function specification avoids several well-known empirical problems associated with analysis of household production data, namely, the need to aggregate inputs and outputs, assume separability among inputs and outputs, or estimate reduced form equations. Using a balanced panel of families from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Sample for 1996 to 2000, we assess the marginal contributions of home and neighborhood environmental quality and children's time allocations, on their math and reading performance, behavior problems, and body mass index. We also measure productivity growth, technical change, efficiency change, and technical efficiency for production of child outcomes. Our results indicate significant jointness among good and bad child outcomes. Significant improvements in children's good outcomes and reductions in bad outcomes are also associated with a better home and parent perceived neighborhood environment, Head Start participation, and increased family time spent together during meals. Children's productivity growth is found to be highest at age 8 years and diminishes thereafter.Health Economics and Policy, Labor and Human Capital,

Model Human β Thalassemic Erythrocytes: Effect of Unpaired Purified α-Hemoglobin Chains on Normal Erythrocytes

β thalassemias arise from genetic defects that interfere with the synthesis of the β hemoglobin chain and the subsequent production of the normal α2β2 hemoglobin tetramer. As a consequence of this decreased β-chain synthesis, unpaired α-hemoglobin chains are found within the red blood cell (RBC). The unstable α-chains are associated with a number of cellular defects, including: membrane-bound globin; membrane thiol oxidation; altered cytoskeletal proteins; decreased cellular and membrane deformability; and increased susceptibility to both endogenous and exogenous oxidants. Surprisingly, while significant injury to human thalassemic RBC arise from the unpaired α-chains, the underlying intra-RBC mechanisms are not easily studied in patient samples or in mouse models. To better study the fate of excess α-chains in human RBC, the model β Thalassemic cell was developed. Model human β thalassemic RBC is made by entrapping purified human α-chains within normal RBC via osmotic lysis and resealing. This human model allows for the systematic examination of the mechanisms underlying the α-chain mediated damage in the β thalassemic RBC. Studies utilizing the model β thalassemic RBC have demonstrated that the α-chains give rise to an iron and glutathione-dependent, self-amplifying and self-propagating oxidative reaction

Biological Modulation of the Treg:Teff Ratio: From Immunosuppression to Immunoactivation

T cell-mediated immunomodulation can be, in simple terms, defined as altering the normal Treg:Teff ratio. Immunosuppression skews the net Treg:Teff ratio toward the ‘tolerogenic’ Treg component, while immunoactivation skews the response toward the ‘proinflammatory’ Teff component. In the treatment of autoimmune diseases, achieving an immunosuppressive state is a desirable goal in order to prevent ongoing injury by activated Teff cells. In contrast, an innate, or induced, immunosuppressive state can be deleterious and prevent pathogen-induced disease while allow for the progression of cancer. Indeed, a current goal of cancer therapy is attenuating an existing endogenous immunosuppressive state that prevents effective T cell-mediated immunorecognition of cancer cells. Thus, the biological modulation of the Treg:Teff ratio provides a unique approach for treating both autoimmune diseases and cancers. Using a biomanufacturing system, miRNA-enriched immunotherapeutic has been generated that either induce (TA1) or overcome (IA1) an immunosuppressive state. As will be shown, these therapeutics show efficacy both in vitro and in vivo in the prevention of autoimmune Type 1 diabetes and in enhancing the ability of resting immune cells to recognize and inhibit cancer cell growth. The successful development of these cost-effective, and easily biomanufactured, secretome-based therapeutics may prove useful in treating both autoimmune diseases and cancer

Bringing sensory anthropology to consumer research

Purpose Multisensory stimulation is integral to experiential consumption. However, a gap persists between recognition of the importance of multisensory stimulation and the research techniques used to study the effects of such stimulation on consumption experiences. This article draws on sensory anthropology to narrow the gap. Design/methodology/approach Sensory anthropology has the potential to help consumer researchers understand multisensory stimulation and its effect on consumption experiences. To highlight this potential, ethnographic fieldwork is reported for two related experiential settings: yacht racing and adventure racing. Findings It is shown how consumer researchers can apply concepts and data collection techniques from sensory anthropology to derive powerful insights into consumption experiences. A set of guidelines and examples is derived from the embodied concepts associated with sensory anthropology, namely, kinaesthetic schema, bodily mimesis, the mindful body and local biology. These concepts are used to comprehend how consumers experience sensations phenomenologically, understand them culturally and re-enact them socially. Practical implications By acknowledging and engaging the senses, researchers can acquire embodied information that would not be evident from the conventional interview, survey or experimental data. Sensory anthropology adds to what is known from psychological, social and cultural sources to enable organisations to differentiate their offerings by means of the senses and sensory expressions, not only in yacht and adventure racing but potentially in many other experiential settings, such as travel, shopping, entertainment and immersive gaming. Originality/value This article offers distinct and original methodological insights for consumer researchers by focusing on concepts and data collection techniques that assist the study of experiential consumption from an embodied and corporeal perspective

Total ozone changes in the 1987 Antarctic ozone hole

The development of the Antarctic ozone minimum was observed in 1987 with the Nimbus 7 Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) instrument. In the first half of August the near-polar (60 and 70 deg S) ozone levels were similar to those of recent years. By September, however, the ozone at 70 and 80 deg S was clearly lower than any previous year including 1985, the prior record low year. The levels continued to decrease throughout September until October 5 when a new record low of 109 DU was established at a point near the South Pole. This value is 29 DU less than the lowest observed in 1985 and 48 DU less than the 1986 low. The zonal mean total ozone at 60 deg S remained constant throughout the time of ozone hole formation. The ozone decline was punctuated by local minima formed away from the polar night boundary at about 75 deg S. The first of these, on August 15 to 17, formed just east of the Palmer Peninsula and appears to be a mountain wave. The second major minimum formed on September 5 to 7 again downwind of the Palmer Peninsula. This event was larger in scale than the August minimum and initiated the decline of ozone across the polar region. The 1987 ozone hole was nearly circular and pole centered for its entire life. In previous years the hole was perturbed by intrusions of the circumpolar maximum into the polar regions, thus causing the hole to be elliptical. The 1987 hole also remained in place until the end of November, a few days longer than in 1985, and this persistence resulted in the latest time for recovery to normal values yet observed

Assessing the Vascular Deformability of Erythrocytes and Leukocytes: From Micropipettes to Microfluidics

Among the most crucial rheological characteristics of blood cells within the vasculature is their ability to undergo the shape change (i.e., deform). The significance of cellular deformability is readily apparent based solely on the disparate mean size of human erythrocytes (~8 μm) and leukocytes (10–25 μm) compared to the minimum luminal size of capillaries (4–5 μm) and splenic interendothelial clefts (0.5–1.0 μm) they must transit. Changes in the deformability of either cell will result in their premature mechanical clearance as well as an enhanced possibility of intravascular lysis. In this chapter, we will demonstrate how microfluidic devices can be used to examine the vascular deformability of erythrocytes and agranular leukocytes. Moreover, we will compare microfluidic assays with previous studies utilizing micropipettes, ektacytometry and micropore cell transit times. As will be discussed, microfluidics-based devices offer a low-cost, high throughput alternative to these previous, and now rather ancient, technologies