► Are there immigrant background peer effects in compulsory schools in Italy 2010? ► The share of immigrant origin students has a weak effect on child learning outcomes. ► Heterogeneous effects ...according to nativity and social background. ► Small and negative effect on children of disadvantaged backgrounds. ► Negligible effect on high status natives.
This article provides an empirical assessment of the effect of the concentration of students of immigrant origin on student learning, in Italian primary and lower secondary schools. I draw on the data of a national standardized learning assessment administered in 2010 to the entire student population at selected grades. The main threat to identification is given by the endogeneity of school characteristics, due to the fact that families choose their children’s schools. To circumvent this problem I exploit the within-school random variability observed in the share of immigrant students across classes. I estimate peer effects allowing for heterogeneous effects between native and immigrant background children, and among natives, between children of different socio-economic background. The main finding is that the proportion of children of immigrant origin has a weak negative effect on child learning outcomes. This negative effect is somewhat larger for children of immigrant and low socioeconomic background, while it is negligible or even positive for high social origin native children.
One of the most important epigraphical finds of ancient Idumea, which has led scholars to believe that a Sidonian/Phoenician community was present in Marisa during the Hellenistic period ...(fourth–second centuries BCE), is the well-known inscription uncovered at the site in 1905, reading “Apollophanes son of Sesmaios, Chief of the Sidonians at Marisa.” This inscription was discovered in a large, lavishly painted tomb in the city’s necropolis, allegedly supporting a presence of a Sidonian/Phoenician community in Marisa. Following a comprehensive examination of the material culture from Marisa vis-à-vis that of other Phoenician sites, this commonly-held assumption is put to question. Phoenician pottery, very common in Phoenician cities of the Hellenistic period, such as ‘Akko and Ashqelon, is absent from Marisa, and the Greek onomasticon of Hellenistic Marisa also lacks Phoenician names and includes mainly Idumean and Greek names common in the East. Also, the numismatic evidence from Marisa does not seem to support a Sidonian presence. In this paper I argue that the term ‘Sidonians’ in the Hellenistic context at Marisa implies an instrumental context rather than an ethnic one.
Glycosylation is among the most common post-translational modifications that proteins undergo that may affect many of their activities. It may also modify the underlying energy landscape of ...glycoproteins in a way that their altered biophysical characteristics are linked to their bioactivity. Yet, the capability of glycosylation to modify thermodynamic and kinetic properties varies greatly between glycoproteins. Deciphering the ‘glycosylation code’ that dictates the interplay between the nature of the carbohydrates or the proteins and the biophysical properties of the glycosylated proteins is essential. In this article, we discuss how the size, number, and structure of glycans, as well as the attachment sites, may modulate the folding of glycoproteins. Understanding the cross-talks between the protein and the attached glycans at the molecular level may assist in tailoring the biophysical properties of proteins in general.
This paper discusses the hitherto undocumented wh-ever constructions in contemporary American Hasidic Yiddish. Employment of these Germanic constructions in both written and spoken American Hasidic ...Yiddish raises the question of their origin and the possibility that several Germanic varieties have influenced this seemingly new pattern. Specifically, these constructions might have originated from German-ized Yiddish varieties and past contact with Judeo-German, and then gradually become entrenched in American Hasidic Yiddish through contact with English. The paper uses this particular construction to offer some more general reflections on the possibility of historical impact of German on American Hasidic Yiddish during the formation of Hasidic Yiddish varieties in Williamsburg (New York) in the 1950s.*
The use of nanoparticles as anticancer drug carriers has been studied for over 50 years. These nanoparticles that can carry drugs are now termed “nanomedicines”. Since the approval of the first FDA ...“nanodrug”, DOXIL in 1995, tremendous efforts have been made to develop hundreds of nanomedicines based on different materials. The development of drug nanocarriers (NCs) for cancer therapy is especially challenging and requires multidisciplinary approach. Not only is the translation from a lab scale production of the NCs to clinical scale a challenge, but tumor biology and its unique physiology also possess challenges that need to be overcome with cleverer approaches. Yet, with all the efforts made to develop new strategies to deliver drugs (including small molecules and biologics) for cancer therapy, the number of new NCs that are reaching clinical trials is extremely low. Here we discuss the reasons most of the NCs loaded with anticancer drugs are not likely to reach the clinic and emphasize the importance of understanding tumor physiology and heterogeneity, the use of predictive animal models, and the importance of sharing data as key denominators for potential successful translation of NCs from a bench scale into clinical modality for cancer care.
Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) provide an essential tool to investigate early human development, study disease pathogenesis, and examine therapeutic interventions. Adenomatous polyposis coli ...(APC) is a negative regulator of Wnt/β‐catenin signaling, implicated in the majority of sporadic colorectal cancers and in the autosomal dominant inherited syndrome familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). Studies into the role of Wnt/β‐catenin signaling in hESCs arrived at conflicting results, due at least in part to variations in culture conditions and the use of external inhibitors and agonists. Here, we directly targeted APC in hESCs carrying a germline APC mutation, derived from affected blastocysts following preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for FAP, in order to answer open questions regarding the role of APC in regulating pluripotency and differentiation potential of hESCs. Using clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR associated protein 9 (Cas9), we generated second hit APC mutations in FAP‐hESCs. Despite high CRISPR/Cas9 targeting efficiency and the successful isolation of many clones, none of the isolated clones carried a loss of function mutation in the wild‐type (WT) APC allele. Using a fluorescent β‐catenin reporter and analysis of mutated‐allele frequencies in the APC locus, we show that APC double mutant hESCs robustly activate Wnt/β‐catenin signaling that results in rapid differentiation to endodermal and mesodermal lineages. Here, we provide direct evidence for a strict requirement for constant β‐catenin degradation through the APC destruction complex in order to maintain pluripotency, highlighting a fundamental role for APC in self‐renewal of hESCs. Stem Cells 2019;37:1505–1515
Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) ‐human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) carrying a germline adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) mutation infected with a Wnt/β‐catenin signaling reporter were subjected to (CRISPR/Cas9) in order to generate APC “second‐hit” mutations. APC targeting resulted in robust Wnt/β‐catenin signaling activation, loss of pluripotency, and mesendodermal differentiation, indicating that APC has a critical role in the maintenance of hESC self‐renewal.
T cells dynamically interact with multiple, distinct cellular subsets to determine effector and memory differentiation. Here, we developed a platform to quantify cell location in three dimensions to ...determine the spatial requirements that direct T cell fate. After viral infection, we demonstrated that CD8
effector T cell differentiation is associated with positioning at the lymph node periphery. This was instructed by CXCR3 signaling since, in its absence, T cells are confined to the lymph node center and alternatively differentiate into stem-like memory cell precursors. By mapping the cellular sources of CXCR3 ligands, we demonstrated that CXCL9 and CXCL10 are expressed by spatially distinct dendritic and stromal cell subsets. Unlike effector cells, retention of stem-like memory precursors in the paracortex is associated with CCR7 expression. Finally, we demonstrated that T cell location can be tuned, through deficiency in CXCL10 or type I interferon signaling, to promote effector or stem-like memory fates.
This paper reports the results of a study aimed at exploring the advantages of dynamic visualization for the development of better understanding of molecular processes. We designed a ...technology-enhanced curriculum module in which high school chemistry students conduct virtual experiments with dynamic molecular visualizations of solid, liquid, and gas. They interact with the visualizations and carry out inquiry activities to make and refine connections between observable phenomena and atomic level processes related to phase change. The explanations proposed by 300 pairs of students in response to pre/post-assessment items have been analyzed using a scale for measuring the level of molecular reasoning. Results indicate that from pretest to posttest, students make progress in their level of molecular reasoning and are better able to connect intermolecular forces and phase change in their explanations. The paper presents the results through the lens of improvement patterns and the metaphor of the "ladder of molecular reasoning," and discusses how this adds to our understanding of the benefits of interacting with dynamic molecular visualizations.
Lipid-based nanoparticles (LNPs) hold great promise as delivery vectors in the treatment of cancer, inflammation, and infections and are already used in clinical practice. Numerous strategies based ...on LNPs are being developed to carry drugs into specific target sites. The common denominator for all of these LNPs-based platforms is to improve the payloads' pharmacokinetics, biodistribution, stability and therapeutic benefit, and to reduce to minimal adverse effects. In addition, the delivery system must be biocompatible and non-toxic and avoid undesirable interactions with the immune system. In order to achieve optimal benefits from these delivery strategies, interactions with the immune system must be thoroughly investigated. This report will center on the interactions of LNPs with different subsets of leukocytes and will detail representative examples of suppression or activation of the immune system by these carriers. By understanding the interactions of LNPs with the innate and the adaptive arms of the immune system it might be possible to attain improved therapeutic benefits and to avoid immune toxicity.
Display omitted
PDF
