Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Life after Debt: Postgraduation Consequences of Federal Student Loans

We estimate the causal effect of student loans on post-graduation outcomes exploiting a kink in the formula determining the eligibility for need-based federal student loans. Using a nationally representative sample of students graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1993, we establish that student debt leads to lower earnings soon after graduation, an effect which dissipates over time. Surprisingly, the negative effect on earnings is driven by a decline in hours worked rather than the wage rate. Students with debt tend to be less ``choosy'' on the job market: they are more inclined to accept part-time jobs as well as jobs that are less related to their degree and offer limited career potential.
Medulloblastoma at the joint center for radiation therapy between 1968 and 1984. The influence of radiation dose on the patterns of failure and survival

In order to assess the efficacy of high‐dose irradiation to the posterior fossa and low‐dose irradiation to the spinal axis, we reviewed the results of 60 patients with biopsy‐proven medulloblastoma treated at the Joint Center for Radiation Therapy (JCRT) between 1968 and 1984. The 5‐ and 10‐year actuarial survival rates for all patients were 68% and 44%, respectively. The median time to recurrence was 19 months. Extent of surgery, age, and radiation dose to the posterior fossa all were of prognostic value. Complete or subtotal gross resection appeared to be a favorable prognostic indicator compared with biopsy only (P < 0.05), with a 69% versus 40% actuarial survival rate at 5 years, respectively. Infants 2 years of age or less had a diminished 5‐year actuarial survival rate of 48% (P < 0.05) compared with older age groups. The posterior fossa was the predominant site of recurrence and accounted for 78% of all failures. Local control in the posterior fossa was dose dependent. Seventy‐nine percent of the tumors that received 5000 cGy or greater were controlled versus only 33% of the tumors that received less than 5000 cGy (P < 0.02). There were no supratentorial failures, and there was only one isolated spinal cord failure. There were no solitary spinal failures in 24 patients who received a median dose of only 2400 cGy to the spinal axis. We concluded that low‐dose irradiation to the spine and whole brain may be indicated with maintenance of a posterior fossa dose of greater than 5000 cGy.
Compromised Energetics in the Adenylate Kinase AK1Gene Knockout Heart under Metabolic Stress*

Rapid exchange of high energy carrying molecules between intracellular compartments is essential in sustaining cellular energetic homeostasis. Adenylate kinase (AK)-catalyzed transfer of adenine nucleotide β- and γ-phosphoryls has been implicated in intracellular energy communication and nucleotide metabolism. To demonstrate the significance of this reaction in cardiac energetics, phosphotransfer dynamics were determined by [18O]phosphoryl oxygen analysis using31P NMR and mass spectrometry. In hearts with a null mutation of the AK1 gene, which encodes the major AK isoform, total AK activity and β-phosphoryl transfer was reduced by 94% and 36%, respectively. This was associated with up-regulation of phosphoryl flux through remaining minor AK isoforms and the glycolytic phosphotransfer enzyme, 3-phosphoglycerate kinase. In the absence of metabolic stress, deletion of AK1 did not translate into gross abnormalities in nucleotide levels, γ-ATP turnover rate or creatine kinase-catalyzed phosphotransfer. However, under hypoxia AK1-deficient hearts, compared with the wild type, had a blunted AK-catalyzed phosphotransfer response, lowered intracellular ATP levels, increased Pi/ATP ratio, and suppressed generation of adenosine. Thus, although lack of AK1 phosphotransfer can be compensated in the absence of metabolic challenge, under hypoxia AK1-knockout hearts display compromised energetics and impaired cardioprotective signaling. This study, therefore, provides first direct evidence that AK1 is essential in maintaining myocardial energetic homeostasis, in particular under metabolic stress.
Influence of Decadal Climate Variability on Growing Degree Day, Precipitation, and Drought in Crop-Growing Seasons

Knowledge on the impact of climate variability on the decadal timescale is important for policy makers and planners in order for them to make decisions in a range of sectors, including agriculture, water resources, energy, and infrastructure. This study estimates the effects of the ocean-related decadal climate variability (DCV) on growing degree day, precipitation, and drought in the crop-growing seasons of major crops in the United States. The empirical results illustrate that DCV phase combinations are associated with variations in growing degree day, precipitation, and drought across the country using county-level data from 1950 to 2015. There are spatially-differentiated effects on the climate of major production areas of corn, soybeans, and wheat. The annual oscillations in growing degree day, precipitation, and drought reach extreme severity in some DCV scenarios. The results would facilitate the adoption of coping mechanisms with the potential to develop climate risk resiliency for agricultural planning and policy.
Speak their Language: Designing Effective Messages to Improve Employees' Information Security Decision Making

Employee disinterest in information security remains one of the greatest impediments to effective information security management programs. How can organizations enhance the persuasiveness of the information security messages used to warn employees of threats and encourage employees to take speciﬁc actions to improve their security? We use fear appeal theory and the elaboration likelihood model to argue that security messages presented using more personally relevant language are more likely to induce employees to engage in the recommended protective security behaviors. Our strategy uses organization identiﬁcation theory to segment employees into two groups and then develops security messages that use language aligned with each of the two segments. We tested this strategy within a large U.S. organization, and found that employees were more likely to consider and act upon messages that used language aligned with their organizational identiﬁcation than messages using language not aligned. The effect size was large. Our results show that subtly changing less than a dozen words in the way a security message was presented without changing its substantive content (e.g., using “our” instead of “your”) has both signiﬁcant and meaningful effects on how employees think about and respond to it. [Submitted: August 27, 2017. Revised: February 25, 2018. Accepted
Who participates in conservation initiatives? Case studies in six rural communities of Mexico

Previous studies attempting to explain the factors that determine local participation in conservation initiatives have concluded that socio-political exclusion is the main barrier to being involved in such initiatives. Such studies have not differentiated between different types of conservation initiatives. In this paper, we contribute to the literature analyzing the socio-cultural correlates of participation, by differentiating between participation in three types of conservation schemes: protected areas, payment for environmental services, and community conservation. We use data obtained from six rural communities in Mexico, where different combinations of conservation schemes are found. Through linear regression analysis, we explore the relationship between participation and (1) the community of residence; (2) demographics; and (3) socioeconomic characteristics of individuals. Our results suggest that local participation in conservation strategies depends, to a large extent, on the socio-political context in which they are embedded and that the exclusion of women and young adults is clearly consistent.
Exercise Behavior of Ultramarathon Runners: Baseline Findings From the ULTRA Study

Abstract Hoffman, MD, and Krishnan, E. Exercise behavior of ultramarathon runners: baseline findings from the ULTRA Study. J Strength Cond Res 27(11): 2939–2945, 2013—Little is known about exercise habits of those who compete in foot races longer than the standard 42-km marathon distance. The purpose of this work was to describe the past-year and lifetime exercise patterns of a large cohort of ultramarathon runners. Information on exercise history was collected on 1,345 current and former ultramarathon runners as baseline data for participation in a longitudinal observational study. Median age at the first ultramarathon was 36 years, and the median number of years of regular running before the first ultramarathon was 7 (interquartile range, 3–15). Age at first ultramarathon did not change across the past several decades, but there was evidence of an inverse relationship (r = −0.13, p < 0.0001) between number of years of regular running before the first ultramarathon and calendar year. The active ultramarathon runners (n = 1,212) had a previous year median running distance of 3,347 km, which was minimally related to age (r = −0.068, p = 0.018), but mostly related to their longest ultramarathon competition of the year (p < 0.0001). Running injuries represented the most common reason for discontinuation of regular running, whereas work and family commitments were reported as the main reasons for not running an ultramarathon in the previous year among those who were regularly running and intending to run ultramarathons again. We conclude that runners tend to be well into adulthood and with several years of running experience before running their first ultramarathon, but 25% have only been regularly running for 3 years or less at the time of their first ultramarathon.
role of p38 mapk in breast cancer

Cancer refers to a group of diseases characterized by the presence of cells that divide uncontrollably and have the ability to spread to other tissues. During the past years, the protein kinase p38α has emerged as an important regulator of tumorigenesis that often functions as a tumor suppressor in normal epithelial cells. However, recent studies provided evidence for a function of p38α promoting tumor cell proliferation and survival in some cancer types. Moreover, p38α inhibition has been shown to cooperate with chemotherapeutic drugs such as cisplatin and sorafenib. Given that the role of p38α in cancer seems to be cell and context dependent, in this work we have addressed the function of p38α in the particular context of breast cancer progression. Using the Polyoma middle T mammary tumorigenesis model, we have found that p38α expression in epithelial cancer cells is essential for tumor cell survival. In order to analyze the underlying molecular mechanisms, we established cell lines from the PyMT-induced mammary tumors. We observed that p38α downregulation resulted in replication stress, elevated DNA damage, and increased chromosome missegregation, which correlated with decreased viability of the PyMT-expressing cancer cells. The defects in replication fork progression and the increased DNA damage led us to investigate the status of the DNA damage response in p38α-deficient cancer cells. We observed impaired single strand-DNA generation, ATR activation and RAD51 recruitment after DNA damage, indicating that homologous recombination DNA repair was defective in p38α deficient cells. Moreover, we identified CtIP, a key factor that promotes DNA-end resection in mammalian cells, as a p38α substrate. De-regulation of CtIP due to decreased p38α-mediated phosphorylation is likely to affect the DNA damage response and explain many of the observed phenotypes. Altogether, our results indicated that p38α was required for effective DNA damage response and repair, which in turn impinged on proper DNA replication and maintenance of chromosome stability in breast cancer epithelial cells. The above results suggested that targeting p38α could increase tumor cell sensitivity to chromosome instability-inducing agents such as taxanes. We confirmed this hypothesis using both PyMT-induced tumors and patient-derived xenografts, in which p38α inhibitors enhanced, accelerated or prolonged the anti-tumoral response observed with the taxanes alone. In summary, we describe a novel role of p38α in coordinating the DNA damage response and limiting chromosome instability in cancer cells, and propose the combination of p38α inhibitors and taxanes as a potential therapeutic option in breast cancer treatment.
Longitudinal Profiles of Eudaimonic Well-Being in Asian American Adolescents

Objective: The current study explores whether a well-known model (i.e., Ryff’s, 1989, conceptualization of psychological functioning) can be used to examine patterns of eudaimonic well-being among Asian Americans, who are rarely the focus of systematic investigations in positive psychology. Method: Hidden Markov modeling, a form of latent transition analysis, was used to analyze longitudinal data from adolescents (N = 180; 49% female; 75% U.S.-born). Results: After establishing measurement validity, analyses revealed 4 profiles of well-being: Flourishing (consistently high on all well-being dimensions), Functioning (consistently moderate), Hindered (consistently low), and Self-Driven Success (high on most dimensions, but moderate levels of positive relationships). The Functioning profile was the most prevalent, followed by relatively even distributions of the remaining profiles. Profiles substantially shifted from year to year, with the Functioning and Hindered groups exhibiting the most stability. Profiles reflecting more positive well-being (i.e., Flourishing, Self-Driven) were associated with ethnic and American centrality and regard, and interactive effects suggest compounding benefits of these identities. Conclusions: Psychological models of well-being appear malleable, and cultural identity can contribute to such fluctuations. Results also support the utility of a profile approach to continue examining qualities of positive well-being among Asian American youth.
Tissue examination to monitor antiangiogenic therapy: a phase I clinical trial with endostatin.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the angiogenesis inhibitor endostatin on blood vessels in tumors and wound sites. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN In a Phase I dose escalation study, cancer patients were treated with daily infusions of human recombinant endostatin. Tumor biopsies were obtained prior to and 8 weeks after initiation of treatment. Blood vessel formation in nonneoplastic tissue was evaluated by creating a skin wound site on the arm with a punch biopsy device. The wound site was sampled with a second biopsy after a 7-day interval. This sequential biopsy procedure was performed prior to and 3 weeks after initiation of endostatin treatment. Vascular density, endothelial cell kinetics, and blood vessel maturity were determined in tumor and skin wound samples. The ultrastructure of tumor blood vessels was examined by electron microscopy. RESULTS As expected, the tumors were of variable vascular density. Skin wounding induced a vascular granulation tissue containing a high percentage of proliferating endothelial cells. The proportion of immature blood vessels was high in tumors and in wound sites and low in normal skin. No statistically significant difference was detected between pretreatment and treatment samples of tumors and of skin wounds for any of the parameters tested. CONCLUSIONS Endostatin treatment was not associated with any recognizable vascular changes in tumor samples and did not perturb wound healing at the doses and the treatment schedule used.
Evaluation of Marek's disease field isolates by the “best fit” pathotyping assay

Although determination of the pathotype is central to the study of Marek's disease (MD) field isolates, methods are not standardized and results from different laboratories may not compare well with the original Avian Disease and Oncology Laboratory assay. This study was designed to investigate the validity of the “best fit” pathotyping assay, a simplified method recently described for testing of field isolates of MD virus (MDV). Twenty serotype 1 MDV strains were isolated from 12 breeder and commercial flocks in eight regions of the Russian Federation and were pathotyped by the best fit assay using vaccinated and non-vaccinated chickens from Schelkovo specific pathogen free breeders. Lesion responses induced by field isolates were compared with those induced by reference strains JM/102W, Md5, and 648A representing pathotypes v, vv and vv+, respectively. Based on comparison with reference strains, we determined the pathotype of eight isolates as vv+, 11 isolates as vv and one isolate as v. Lesion responses induced by the three reference strains consistently differentiated the respective pathotypes in non-vaccinated chickens and in chickens vaccinated with FC126 (serotype 3) alone or with a bivalent FC126 + 301B/1 vaccine (serotypes 3 and 2, respectively). Variation between reference strain responses in replicate trials was minimal. In some cases, calculation of the proportional distance between pairs of reference strains aided in the classification of field isolates. These results indicate that the “best fit” pathotyping assay can be conducted with local chicken strains and, in the absence of statistical analysis, provides pathotype designations that are consistent with those obtained by the Avian Disease and Oncology Laboratory method. In addition, the pathogenicity of Russian isolates appeared comparable with that of United States isolates.
β-Arrestin-dependent signaling and trafficking of 7-transmembrane receptors is reciprocally regulated by the deubiquitinase USP33 and the E3 ligase Mdm2

β-Arrestins are multifunctional adaptors that mediate the desensitization, internalization, and some signaling functions of seven-transmembrane receptors (7TMRs). Agonist-stimulated ubiquitination of β-arrestin2 mediated by the E3 ubiquitin ligase Mdm2 is critical for rapid β2-adrenergic receptor (β2AR) internalization. We now report the discovery that the deubiquitinating enzyme ubiquitin-specific protease 33 (USP33) binds β-arrestin2 and leads to the deubiquitination of β-arrestins. USP33 and Mdm2 function reciprocally and favor respectively the stability or lability of the receptor β-arrestin complex, thus regulating the longevity and subcellular localization of receptor signalosomes. Receptors such as the β2AR, previously shown to form loose complexes with β-arrestin (“class A”) promote a β-arrestin conformation conducive for binding to the deubiquitinase, whereas the vasopressin V2R, which forms tight β-arrestin complexes (“class B”), promotes a distinct β-arrestin conformation that favors dissociation of the enzyme. Thus, USP33–β-arrestin interaction is a key regulatory step in 7TMR trafficking and signal transmission from the activated receptors to downstream effectors.
Is Bridge Job Activity Overstated

Considerable prior research has shown that the majority of older Americans with career employment do not exit the labor force directly from that career job. Rather, most move first to another job late in life, before complete labor force withdrawal. These intermediate jobs have been labeled “bridge jobs” because they are assumed to be a bridge to complete retirement. One criticism of this research is that bridge job activity may be overstated because the definition of a bridge job in the existing literature does not require a change in occupation. For some, the “bridge job” may just be another in a series of job changes, and not a prelude to retirement. This paper investigates the extent to which bridge jobs involve a change in occupation or a switch to part-time status, both of which may signal the start of a retirement transition, as opposed to continued career employment, albeit with a different employer. We utilize the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally-representative longitudinal dataset of older Americans that began in 1992. Among HRS respondents who were on a full-time career job at the time of the first interview and who changed jobs in subsequent waves, 48 percent of the men and 39 percent of the women also changed the (2-digit) occupation at the time of their first transition. Further, when hours worked are also considered, about three quarters of men and women experienced a change in occupation and/or a switch from full-time to part-time status. When all transitions after the career job are included, 8 out of 10 men and women either changed occupations, reduced hours to part time, or both. Finally, an examination of those career workers who changed jobs within the same occupation and who continued to work full time reveals that they more resemble those who took bridge jobs than those who remained on their full-time career job. We conclude that the vast majority of career workers who changed jobs later in life did in fact do so as part of a retirement transition. Ignoring these subtleties does result in an overestimate of bridge job activity, but only a modest one.
Households’ Preferences for Attributes of Conditional Cash Transfer Programmes: A Choice Experiment in Ghana

Conditional cash transfer (CCT) is increasingly being integrated into poverty reduction strategies in developing countries. However, debate remains over key elements of CCT programme design. Using a discrete choice model, this article examines Ghanaian households’ preferences regarding key CCT programme design elements including conditionality, targeting, and payment method. The results revealed a preference for CCT designs that target beneficiaries with limited or no productive capacity and CCT designs that are conditional on beneficiaries either investing in children's human capital or performing communal service, relative to unconditional programmes. Also, direct bank deposit was revealed as the preferred payment mode relative to receipt of cash payments or use of mobile money systems.
Business models in tourism: a review and research agenda

Purpose Business models and the business model concept have become a fixture of scholarly and managerial attention. With a focus on how actors create, capture and disseminate value, business model research holds the promise to inform the tourism sector’s search for ways to innovate and change outdated business practices. Yet, the concept has inspired little research tackling the contingencies of the tourism context. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap in this review and research agenda on business models in tourism. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the authors review and synthesize contributions from publications in EBSCO, Emerald Insight, ProQuest and Science Direct databases, that make explicit use of the business model concept in tourism (anytime up to September 2016). We conceptualize the identified articles as a coherent body of knowledge on business models in tourism with the objective of identifying common themes that characterize existing contributions. Findings From the review of 28 qualified articles, the authors identify four emergent themes: sector-specific configurations, the role of different value types, design themes for consistency and regulatory contingencies. These themes inform three domains in which the authors present avenues for tourism-specific studies on business models, as well as their management and innovation that the authors position in relation to the general business model literature. Originality/value This review details how researchers across disciplines conceptualize the business model. Together with the identified directions for further research, this literature review thus establishes a common conceptual basis and stock of knowledge for the study of business models in tourism research.