Measuring Financial Literacy HUSTON, SANDRA J.
The Journal of consumer affairs,
06/2010, Letnik:
44, Številka:
2
Journal Article
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Financial literacy (or financial knowledge) is typically an input to model the need for financial education and explain variation in financial outcomes. Defining and appropriately measuring financial ...literacy is essential to understand educational impact as well as barriers to effective financial choice. This article summarizes the broad range of financial literacy measures used in research over the last decade. An overview of the meaning and measurement of financial literacy is presented to highlight current limitations and assist researchers in establishing standardized, commonly accepted financial literacy instruments.
Huston JM, Tracey KJ (Department of Surgery, Division of General Surgery, Trauma, Surgical Critical Care, and Burns, Stony Brook University Medical Center, Health Sciences Center, Stony Brook; and ...Laboratory of Biomedical Science, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset; NY, USA). The pulse of inflammation: heart rate variability, the cholinergic anti‐inflammatory pathway, and implications for therapy (Key Symposium). J Intern Med 2011; 269: 45–53.
. Biological therapeutics targeting TNF, IL‐1 and IL‐6 are widely used for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and a growing list of other syndromes, often with remarkable success. Now advances in neuroscience have collided with this therapeutic approach, perhaps rendering possible the development of nerve stimulators to inhibit cytokines. Action potentials transmitted in the vagus nerve culminate in the release of acetylcholine that blocks cytokine production by cells expressing acetylcholine receptors. The molecular mechanism of this cholinergic anti‐inflammatory pathway is attributable to signal transduction by the nicotinic alpha 7 acetylcholine receptor subunit, a regulator of the intracellular signals that control cytokine transcription and translation. Favourable preclinical data support the possibility that nerve stimulators may be added to the future therapeutic armamentarium, possibly replacing some drugs to inhibit cytokines.
Our aim was to noninvasively evaluate gliomas with MR elastography to characterize the relationship of tumor stiffness with tumor grade and mutations in the
(
) gene.
Tumor stiffness properties were ...prospectively quantified in 18 patients (mean age, 42 years; 6 women) with histologically proved gliomas using MR elastography from 2014 to 2016. Images were acquired on a 3T MR imaging unit with a vibration frequency of 60 Hz. Tumor stiffness was compared with unaffected contralateral white matter, across tumor grade, and by
-mutation status. The performance of the use of tumor stiffness to predict tumor grade and
mutation was evaluated with the Wilcoxon rank sum, 1-way ANOVA, and Tukey-Kramer tests.
Gliomas were softer than healthy brain parenchyma, 2.2 kPa compared with 3.3 kPa (
< .001), with grade IV tumors softer than grade II. Tumors with an
mutation were significantly stiffer than those with wild type
, 2.5 kPa versus 1.6 kPa, respectively (
= .007).
MR elastography demonstrated that not only were gliomas softer than normal brain but the degree of softening was directly correlated with tumor grade and
-mutation status. Noninvasive determination of tumor grade and
mutation may result in improved stratification of patients for different treatment options and the evaluation of novel therapeutics. This work reports on the emerging field of "mechanogenomics": the identification of genetic features such as
mutation using intrinsic biomechanical information.
Households age 60 and older bear increasing responsibility for managing retirement portfolios, and they hold the majority of financial assets in the United States. Cognitive aging studies find ...evidence of a decline in fluid and crystallized intelligence in old age that may impact the ability to manage money effectively. Using a large sample of older respondents, we test whether knowledge of basic concepts essential to effective financial choice declines after age 60. We find a consistent linear decline in financial literacy score after age 60. A nearly identical rate of decline among men, stockowners, older, and college-educated respondents indicates that cohort effects are not driving the results. Confidence in financial decision-making abilities does not decline with age. A separate analysis using data that include measures of cognitive ability suggests that a natural decline in both fluid and crystallized intelligence in old age contributes to falling financial literacy scores.
This paper was accepted by Brad Barber, finance.
A
bstract
The data taken in Run II at the Large Hadron Collider have started to probe Higgs boson production at high transverse momentum. Future data will provide a large sample of events with ...boosted Higgs boson topologies, allowing for a detailed understanding of electroweak Higgs boson plus two-jet production, and in particular the vector-boson fusion mode (VBF). We perform a detailed comparison of precision calculations for Higgs boson production in this channel, with particular emphasis on large Higgs boson transverse momenta, and on the jet radius dependence of the cross section. We study fixed-order predictions at next-to-leading order and next-to-next-to-leading order QCD, and compare the results to NLO plus parton shower (NLOPS) matched calculations. The impact of the NNLO corrections on the central predictions is mild, with inclusive scale uncertainties of the order of a few percent, which can increase with the imposition of kinematic cuts. We find good agreement between the fixed-order and matched calculations in non-Sudakov regions, and the various NLOPS predictions also agree well in the Sudakov regime. We analyze backgrounds to VBF Higgs boson production stemming from associated production, and from gluon-gluon fusion. At high Higgs boson transverse momenta, the ∆
y
jj
and/or
m
jj
cuts typically used to enhance the VBF signal over background lead to a reduced efficiency. We examine this effect as a function of the jet radius and using different definitions of the tagging jets. QCD radiative corrections increase for all Higgs production modes with increasing Higgs boson
p
T
, but the proportionately larger increase in the gluon fusion channel results in a decrease of the gluon-gluon fusion background to electroweak Higgs plus two jet production upon requiring exclusive two-jet topologies. We study this effect in detail and contrast in particular a central jet veto with a global jet multiplicity requirement.
This research investigates the relation between financial literacy and the cost of borrowing via credit cards and mortgage loans among US consumers. This is a departure from previous studies that ...have focused on levels of debt in relation to human capital, either financial knowledge or education. Data from the Consumer Finance Monthly (CFM) survey are used to specifically examine the effect of financial literacy on borrowing rates for credit cards and mortgages controlling for other human capital influences. The CFM is a national survey, rich in American consumer credit information, and includes a comprehensive instrument specifically designed to measure financial literacy. Results indicate that those who are financially literate are about twice as likely to have lower costs of borrowing for both credit cards and mortgage loans.
Abstract
In view of the promising advancements in technosignature science, the question of what constitutes a robust technosignature is rendered crucial. In this paper, we first delineate a Bayesian ...framework for ascertaining the reliability of potential technosignatures by availing ourselves of recent cognate research in biosignatures. We demonstrate that ideal technosignatures must not only have low risk of stemming from false positives but also evince sufficiently high prior probability of existence. Given the inherent difficulties with estimating the latter, we highlight a few alternative metrics drawn from diagnostic testing such as the Youden index that bypass the requirement of explicitly calculating the prior. We apply the models (Bayesian or otherwise) to a select few technosignature candidates and show that artificial electromagnetic signals, chlorofluorocarbons, and artifacts perform well on this front. While these results may be along expected lines, we suggest that identifying and developing suitable approaches to further evaluate technosignature candidates is of considerable importance.
Background:
The long-term prognosis and risk factors for quality of life and disability after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction remain unknown.
Hypothesis/Purpose:
Our objective was to ...identify patient-reported outcomes and patient-specific risk factors from a large prospective cohort at a minimum 10-year follow-up after ACL reconstruction. We hypothesized that meniscus and articular cartilage injuries, revision ACL reconstruction, subsequent knee surgery, and certain demographic characteristics would be significant risk factors for inferior outcomes at 10 years.
Study Design:
Therapeutic study; Level of evidence, 2.
Methods:
Unilateral ACL reconstruction procedures were identified and prospectively enrolled between 2002 and 2004 from 7 sites in the Multicenter Orthopaedic Outcomes Network (MOON). Patients preoperatively completed a series of validated outcome instruments, including the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC), Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS), and Marx activity rating scale. At the time of surgery, physicians documented all intra-articular abnormalities, treatment, and surgical techniques utilized. Patients were followed at 2, 6, and 10 years postoperatively and asked to complete the same outcome instruments that they completed at baseline. The incidence and details of any subsequent knee surgeries were also obtained. Multivariable regression analysis was used to identify significant predictors of the outcome.
Results:
A total of 1592 patients were enrolled (57% male; median age, 24 years). Ten-year follow-up was obtained on 83% (n = 1320) of the cohort. Both IKDC and KOOS scores significantly improved at 2 years and were maintained at 6 and 10 years. Conversely, Marx scores dropped markedly over time, from a median score of 12 points at baseline to 9 points at 2 years, 7 points at 6 years, and 6 points at 10 years. The patient-specific risk factors for inferior 10-year outcomes were lower baseline scores; higher body mass index; being a smoker at baseline; having a medial or lateral meniscus procedure performed before index ACL reconstruction; undergoing revision ACL reconstruction; undergoing lateral meniscectomy; grade 3 to 4 articular cartilage lesions in the medial, lateral, or patellofemoral compartments; and undergoing any subsequent ipsilateral knee surgery after index ACL reconstruction.
Conclusion:
Patients were able to perform sports-related functions and maintain a relatively high knee-related quality of life 10 years after ACL reconstruction, although activity levels significantly declined over time. Multivariable analysis identified several key modifiable risk factors that significantly influence the outcome.
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