The factors that influenced the decision to enter into a $1 billion fundraising campaign by two public higher education institutions

The purpose of this study was to explore the factors that influenced the decision to enter into a $1 billion fundraising campaign by two public higher education institutions. The research was guided by two questions: What factors influenced the decision to enter into a$1 billion or more fundraising campaign in each of the two public higher education institutions? Were there factors shared by both institutions, and were differences apparent? Data were collected from 14 in-depth interviews with presidents, vice presidents for development, fundraising volunteers, fundraising campaign consultants, and other members of the staff who were familiar with the factors that entered into the decision to set the fundraising campaign goal at $1 billion at the University of Tennessee and the University of Maryland College Park. Four key factors common to both institutions emerged: Volunteers serving in fundraising roles for the university were very influential, volunteers serving in fundraising roles also served on the boards of oversight and used this position to influence the acceptance of the$1 billion campaign, prior fundraising success encouraged volunteers serving in fundraising roles to push for the $1 billion fundraising goal, and volunteer and administrative leadership ignored the$800 million recommendation of their consultant’s feasibility study. Fundraising volunteers appeared to have had considerably more influence at these institutions than any other single factor in entering into a $1 billion fundraising campaign. The findings are discussed in chapter 6, as are a discussion, methodological considerations, and recommendations for future research

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

Food Stamp Program Costs and Error Rates, 1989-200

Evidence is strong that, beginning in 1995, an increase in reported certification-related costs per Food Stamp Program (FSP) household contributed to reduced error rates. This report presents the results of a study of trends in FSP administrative costs and errors from 1989 to 2001. It describes the trends and composition of FSP administrative costs. It also presents a multivariate regression analysis of the relationship of reported certification costs to FSP error rates (including overpayments, underpayments, and incorrect eligibility decisions). The report presents alternative models that relate a composite case error rate to certification effort per FSP household, caseload characteristics, the implementation of welfare reform, and short certification periods. The results imply that, in the period after the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, States on average had to spend more effort on certification-related activities than in previous years to achieve a given level of accuracy. The models predict that, if a State's FSP certification budget is fixed and the number of FSP households increases, the effort per FSP household will fall and error rates will rise, all other things equal

Food Stamp Program Certification Costs and Errors, 1989-2005: Final Report

Preventing and detecting certification errors in the Food Stamp Program (FSP) is a major policy concern. In 2005, the cost of overpayments was $1.29 billion, about 4.5 percent of the$28.6 billion in benefits issued. This report examines the State-level relationships between FSP certification error rates and certification expenditures, program policies, caseload characteristics, and economic conditions. The results show that, during the study period of 1989- 2005, a 10-percent increase in certification “effort”—about $35 per participating household—would reduce an index of certification errors by 2 percent (0.3 percentage points out of a mean of 15.1 percent). The effect of certification effort was significantly smaller between 1997 and 2002, when States were implementing welfare reform. Key simplification policies authorized by the 2002 Farm Bill were estimated to jointly reduce the error index by 4.4 percentage points

Genetic and Pharmacological Modulation of the Steroid Sulfatase Axis Improves Response Control; Comparison with Drugs Used in ADHD

Maladaptive response control is a feature of many neuropsychiatric conditions, including Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). As ADHD is more commonly diagnosed in males than females, a pathogenic role for sex-linked genes has been suggested. Deletion or point mutation of the X-linked STS gene, encoding the enzyme steroid sulfatase influences risk for ADHD. We examined whether deletion of the Sts gene in the 39,XY*O mouse model, or pharmacological manipulation of the steroid sulfatase axis, via administration of the enzyme substrate dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate or the enzyme inhibitor COUMATE, influenced behavior in a novel murine analogue of the stop-signal reaction time task used to detect inhibitory deficits in individuals with ADHD. Unexpectedly, both the genetic and pharmacological treatments resulted in enhanced response control, manifest as highly specific effects in the ability to cancel a pre-potent action. For all three manipulations, the effect size was comparable to that seen with the commonly used ADHD therapeutics methylphenidate and atomoxetine. Hence, converging genetic and pharmacological evidence indicate that the steroid sulfatase axis is involved in inhibitory processes and can be manipulated to give rise to improvements in response control. Whilst the precise neurobiological mechanism(s) underlying the effects remain to be established, there is the potential for exploiting this pathway in the treatment of disorders where failures in behavioral inhibition are prominent

Antibody and lectin target podoplanin to inhibit oral squamous carcinoma cell migration and viability by distinct mechanisms

Podoplanin (PDPN) is a unique transmembrane receptor that promotes tumor cell motility. Indeed, PDPN may serve as a chemotherapeutic target for primary and metastatic cancer cells, particularly oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cells that cause most oral cancers. Here, we studied how a monoclonal antibody (NZ-1) and lectin (MASL) that target PDPN affect human OSCC cell motility and viability. Both reagents inhibited the migration of PDPN expressing OSCC cells at nanomolar concentrations before inhibiting cell viability at micromolar concentrations. In addition, both reagents induced mitochondrial membrane permeability transition to kill OSCC cells that express PDPN by caspase independent nonapoptotic necrosis. Furthermore, MASL displayed a surprisingly robust ability to target PDPN on OSCC cells within minutes of exposure, and significantly inhibited human OSCC dissemination in zebrafish embryos. Moreover, we report that human OSCC cells formed tumors that expressed PDPN in mice, and induced PDPN expression in infiltrating host murine cancer associated fibroblasts. Taken together, these data suggest that antibodies and lectins may be utilized to combat OSCC and other cancers that express PDPN.Funding Agencies|Osteopathic Heritage Foundation; Northarvest Bean Growers Association; New Jersey Health Foundation; Sentrimed; Platform for Drug Discovery, Informatics, and Structural Life Science from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan; Regional Innovation Strategy Support Program from MEXT of Japan; MEXT of Japan</p

Hellish Falls: Faustus’s Dismemberment, Phaeton’s Limbs and Other Renaissance Aviation Disasters – Part I

With its aerial voyages and ominous allusions to the failed aviators Icarus, Lucifer and Simon Magus, Doctor Faustus presents an uncanny commentary on the Renaissance dream of flight. This article uncovers Marlowe’s infatuation with human flight as the ultimate act of physical, intellectual and spiritual trangression. So the grisly addition to the B-text, in which a group of scholars examine—like a forensics team at a crash site—the carnage of Faustus’s “mangled limbs”, is more than a lurid flourish. Mangled limbs are splattered all over the annals of pre-modern aviation. While implicating the play in Renaissance aeronautics, this study of Faustus also has some eye-opening implications for theatre history. Faustus was penned at a time when on-stage ascents and descents became increasingly feasible, and Marlowe’s Icarian muse may have spurred the Admiral’s Men to interpolate more spectacular flying effects, taking advantage of the throne, pulleys and dragons recorded in Henslowe’s Diary. The revisions to Faustus not only showcase the flight-simulation capabilities of the Admiral’s playhouses but also associate Marlowe’s conjuror with other presumptuous aeronauts in the company’s repertoire. In particular, Part II of this essay (to be published in a forthcoming issue of English Studies) will argue that Faustus’s “hellish fall” and dismemberment mirrors that of Phaeton, the titular protagonist of a lost play performed by the Admiral’s Men in 1598. While reading the fall of these characters as a literal enactment of de casibus tragedy, Part II concludes that the increasingly sophisticated aerial stunts reflect a technological optimism about transhuman flight that undercuts the Chorus’s warning not to “practice more than heavenly power permits”