Job satisfaction of experienced Lay Catholic school teachers

More than 19,000 students are enrolled in the 81 Catholic schools of the Archdiocese of Omaha which serves Omaha and 23 counties of northeast Nebraska. These 19,000 students and 81 schools comprise the third largest school system in Nebraska. More than 70% of these students are enrolled in the 42 schools in metropolitan Omaha, that is, Douglas and Sarpy Counties

Bevölkerungspolitik und Armut

Meine Arbeit vergleicht die unterschiedlichen Herangehensweisen von römisch katholischer Kirche (bzw. Vatikan), Familienplanungsinstituten und Staaten an Bevölkerungspolitik und Armut. Theoretische Konzepte, z.B. Amartya Sens Ansatz der fehlenden Verwirklichungschancen, ein Exkurs ins Thema Ethik und Bevölkerungspolitik sowie die Millennium Development Goals und Mikrokredite der Grameen Bank als mögliche Wege der Armutsbekämpfung, begleiten die Definitionen der Begriffe. Danach folgt die separate Darstellung der Herangehensweisen. Erstens jene (offizielle) der Kirche anhand der päpstlichen Enzykliken, die aus ihren hohen Moralvorstellungen heraus am konservativen Bild der Jungfräulichkeit vor der Ehe, Nicht-Verhütung, bis hin zur Sexualfeindlichkeit hängt, andererseits uneingeschränkt „Ja“ sagt zu ungeborenem Leben, verantwortungsvoller Elternschaft, Solidarität gegenüber Armen. Zweitens jene der lobbystarken Familienplanungsinstitute - untereinander agierende finanzstarke Stiftungen, UN-Organisationen und auch Geldgeber wie Weltbank oder Internationaler Währungsfonds - die vordergründig der Armutsbekämpfung und reproduktiven Gesundheit wegen agieren und hintergründig weniger humane Motive und beinharte Geschäftsstrategien verfolgen. Sowohl in China mit seiner extremen Ein-Kind-Politik, und in Indien, wo sich die Bevölkerung seit den 70ern gegen drastische Familienplanungsmethoden wehrt, als auch in Deutschland, das mit dem neuen Kindergeld die besser gebildeten/verdienenden zum Kinderkriegen bekommen wollte, wird Bevölkerungspolitik, die die gezielte Steuerung der Kinderzahl bestimmter Bevölkerungsgruppen zum Ziel hat, versucht und zumindest per Gesetz Armut bekämpft. Tatsächlich gelingt das dort am besten, wo Frauen eine möglichst hohe Ausbildung genießen und Verwirklichungschancen im Sinne von Freiheiten bestehen. Die Verwendung von Verhütungsmitteln ist zweitrangig neben dem Vorhandensein einer ausreichenden, leistbaren Basisgesundheitsversorgung

Ibn Rushd / Averroes

Wenn man sich den Konflikt aufgrund der möglichen oder nicht möglichen Vereinbarkeit von Philosophie und Theologie und den Ursprung der Welt im Mittelalter anhand von Ibn Rushd ansieht, stellt man sich die Frage, ob die Auseinandersetzungen eigentlich bis heute gelöst wurden? Können wir bei diesen beiden Fragen von der einen oder anderen allgemeingültigen Antwort ausgehen? Mein Schluss lautet für beide Fragen und umgelegt auf Europa/Österreich/mein erreichbares Umfeld: Nein. Während z.B. im Studium der katholischen Theologie an der Uni Wien Philosophievorlesungen en masse vorgesehen sind, erklärten mir Zeugen Jehovas, dass die Bibel Philosophie und Religion als nicht vereinbar ansieht

Entrepreneurship and economic development: a comparative study of ten states

Call number: LD2668 .T4 AGEC 1989 V63Master of ScienceAgricultural Economic

Toll-like receptor signaling in thymic epithelium controls monocyte-derived dendritic cell recruitment and Treg generation

The development of thymic regulatory T cells (Treg) is mediated by Aire-regulated self-antigen presentation on medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs) and dendritic cells (DCs), but the cooperation between these cells is still poorly understood. Here we show that signaling through Toll-like receptors (TLR) expressed on mTECs regulates the production of specific chemokines and other genes associated with post-Aire mTEC development. Using single-cell RNA-sequencing, we identify a new thymic CD14(+)Sirp alpha (+) population of monocyte-derived dendritic cells (CD14(+)moDC) that are enriched in the thymic medulla and effectively acquire mTEC-derived antigens in response to the above chemokines. Consistently, the cellularity of CD14(+)moDC is diminished in mice with MyD88-deficient TECs, in which the frequency and functionality of thymic CD25(+)Foxp3(+) Tregs are decreased, leading to aggravated mouse experimental colitis. Thus, our findings describe a TLR-dependent function of mTECs for the recruitment of CD14(+)moDC, the generation of Tregs, and thereby the establishment of central tolerance. Immune tolerance is mediated by the deletion of autoreactive T cells via medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTEC) and dendritic cells (DC), and by the induction of regulatory T cells (Treg). Here the authors show that mTEC receiving toll-like receptor signaling control the recruitment of CD14(+)Sirp alpha (+) DC population that is capable of inducing Treg for establishing tolerance

miR-143 Overexpression Impairs Growth of Human Colon Carcinoma Xenografts in Mice with Induction of Apoptosis and Inhibition of Proliferation

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are aberrantly expressed in human cancer and involved in the (dys)regulation of cell survival, proliferation, differentiation and death. Specifically, miRNA-143 (miR-143) is down-regulated in human colon cancer. In the present study, we evaluated the role of miR-143 overexpression on the growth of human colon carcinoma cells xenografted in nude mice (immunodeficient mouse strain: N: NIH(s) II-nu/nu). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: HCT116 cells with stable miR-143 overexpression (Over-143) and control (Empty) cells were subcutaneously injected into the flanks of nude mice, and tumor growth was evaluated over time. Tumors arose ∼ 14 days after tumor cell implantation, and the experiment was ended at 40 days after implantation. miR-143 was confirmed to be significantly overexpressed in Over-143 versus Empty xenografts, by TaqMan® Real-time PCR (p<0.05). Importantly, Over-143 xenografts displayed slower tumor growth compared to Empty xenografts from 23 until 40 days in vivo (p<0.05), with final volumes of 928±338 and 2512±387 mm(3), respectively. Evaluation of apoptotic proteins showed that Over-143 versus Empty xenografts displayed reduced Bcl-2 levels, and increased caspase-3 activation and PARP cleavage (p<0.05). In addition, the incidence of apoptotic tumor cells, assessed by TUNEL, was increased in Over-143 versus Empty xenografts (p<0.01). Finally, Over-143 versus Empty xenografts displayed significantly reduced NF-κB activation and ERK5 levels and activation (p<0.05), as well as reduced proliferative index, evaluated by Ki-67 immunohistochemistry (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that reduced tumor volume in Over-143 versus Empty xenografts may result from increased apoptosis and decreased proliferation induced by miR-143. This reinforces the relevance of miR-143 in colon cancer, indicating an important role in the control of in vivo tumor progression, and suggesting that miR-143 may constitute a putative novel therapeutic tool for colon cancer treatment that warrants further investigation

Pharmacological targeting of NF-κB potentiates the effect of the topoisomerase inhibitor CPT-11 on colon cancer cells

NF-κB interferes with the effect of most anti-cancer drugs through induction of anti-apoptotic genes. Targeting NF-κB is therefore expected to potentiate conventional treatments in adjuvant strategies. Here we used a pharmacological inhibitor of the IKK2 kinase (AS602868) to block NF-κB activation. In human colon cancer cells, inhibition of NF-κB using 10 μM AS602868 induced a 30–50% growth inhibitory effect and strongly enhanced the action of SN-38, the topoisomerase I inhibitor and CPT-11 active metabolite. AS602868 also potentiated the cytotoxic effect of two other antineoplasic drugs: 5-fluorouracil and etoposide. In xenografts experiments, inhibition of NF-κB potentiated the antitumoural effect of CPT-11 in a dose-dependent manner. Eighty-five and 75% decreases in tumour size were observed when mice were treated with, respectively, 20 or 5 mg kg−1 AS602868 associated with 30 mg kg−1 CPT-11 compared to 47% with CPT-11 alone. Ex vivo tumour analyses as well as in vitro studies showed that AS602868 impaired CPT-11-induced NF-κB activation, and enhanced tumour cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. AS602868 also enhanced the apoptotic potential of TNFα on HT-29 cells. This study is the first demonstration that a pharmacological inhibitor of the IKK2 kinase can potentiate the therapeutic efficiency of antineoplasic drugs on solid tumours

Co-operative inhibitory effects of hydrogen peroxide and iodine against bacterial and yeast species.

BACKGROUND: Hydrogen peroxide and iodine are powerful antimicrobials widely used as antiseptics and disinfectants. Their antimicrobial properties are known to be enhanced by combining them with other compounds. We studied co-operative inhibitory activities (synergism, additive effects and modes of growth inhibition) of hydrogen peroxide and iodine used concurrently against 3 bacterial and 16 yeast species. RESULTS: Synergistic or additive inhibitory effects were shown for hydrogen peroxide and iodine mixtures against all 19 species used in the study. Both biocides were mostly cidal individually and in mixtures against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Both compounds manifested static inhibitory effects individually, but their mixtures were synergistically cidal for Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Escherihia coli. Cells of S. cerevisiae treated with hydrogen peroxide and iodine-hydrogen peroxide mixture produced increased numbers of respiratory deficient mutants indicating genotoxic effects. CONCLUSION: Iodine and hydrogen peroxide used concurrently interact synergistically or additively against a range of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms. The study provides an insight as to how these traditional antimicrobials could be used more effectively for disinfection and antisepsis. In addition, a simple approach is proposed for scoring genotoxicity of different biocides by using the budding yeast system