Medicaid Policy Changes in Mental Health Care and Their Effect on Mental Health Outcomes

In recent years, Medicaid has experienced a dramatic increase in spending on prescription drugs in general and psychotropic medications in particular. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of increased Medicaid spending on psychotropic drugs on improving the mental health and well-being of participants at the population level. Specifically, we study the effect on outcomes that are strongly correlated with mood disorders, including depression, and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity disorder, controlling for concomitant increases in Medicaid eligibility thresholds and expansion into managed care for mental health services. Knowledge of the effects of changes in the Medicaid program is crucial to policymakers as they consider implementing and expanding mental health services. Our results show that increased spending on antidepressants and stimulants are associated with improvements in some outcomes, but not in others.

THE SIDEWAYS EFFECT: A TEST FOR CHANGES IN THE DEMAND FOR MERLOT AND PINOT NOIR WINES

This paper examines the effect of the movie Sideways on US wine consumption. Specifically, we examine the effects of the movie on the consumption of Merlot, which is derided in the movie and the effect on Pinot Noir, which is praised. We examine the trends in consumption before and after the movie and perform statistical tests for structural changes in consumption. We also estimate demand functions for both Merlot and Pinot Noir and test for differences in their demands before and after the movie. Finally, we test for changes in consumption of each varietal by price point.Sideways, Chow Test, Demand Estimation, Demand and Price Analysis,

Performance of an ablator for Space Shuttle inorbit repair in an arc-plasma airstream

An ablator patch material performed well in an arc plasma environment simulating nominal Earth entry conditions for the Space Shuttle. Ablation tests using vacuum molded cones provided data to optimize the formulation of a two part polymer system for application under space conditions. The blunt cones were made using a Teflon mold and a state of the art caulking gun. Char stability of formulations with various amounts of catalyst and diluent were investigated. The char was found to be unstable in formulations with low amounts of catalyst and high amounts of diluent. The best polymer system determined by these tests was evaluated using a half tile patch in a multiple High Temperature Reusable surface Insulation tile model. It was demonstrated that this ablator could be applied in a space environment using a state of the art caulking gun, would maintain the outer mold line of the thermal protection system during entry, and would keep the bond line temperature at the aluminum tile interface below the design limit

What Do Business Climate Indexes Teach Us About State Policy and Economic Growth?

State business climate indexes capture state policies that might affect economic growth. State rankings in these indexes vary wildly, raising questions about what the indexes measure and which policies are important for growth. Indexes focused on productivity do not predict economic growth, while indexes emphasizing taxes and costs predict growth of employment, wages, and output. Analysis of sub-indexes of the tax-and-cost-related indexes point to two policy factors associated with faster growth: less spending on welfare and transfer payments; and more uniform and simpler corporate tax structures. But factors beyond the control of policy have a stronger relationship with economic growth.

How Do Youth with Mental Disorders Fare in the Juvenile Justice System?

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between mental health problems and justice outcomes. Several studies have documented that individuals with a variety of mental disorders are overrepresented in the justice system. This pattern could result if persons with mental disorders are more likely to commit crimes, or more likely to commit serious crimes, than persons without disorders. In addition, individuals with mental disorders may be more likely than those without disorders to be sanctioned conditional on committing a particular crime. The major public policy concern is around the latter possibility, which has been interpreted as the justice system being biased against those with mental disorders. In this paper we explore several channels through which mental health problems, measured as ADHD and depression, may lead to over-representation in the criminal justice system. Using a large sample of adolescents, our findings show that youth with ADHD fare worse in the juvenile justice system in terms of the probability of being arrested and the probability of conviction once arrested. We find that elevated ADHD symptoms during adolescence are associated with statistically significant and meaningful increases in the probability of arrest and conviction after controlling for preexisting factors and mechanisms that may arise from the disorder itself.

Sweet potato chlorotic stunt virus : Studies on viral synergism and suppression of RNA silencing

The studies presented in this thesis aimed to a better understanding of the molecular biology of Sweet potato chlorotic stunt virus (SPCSV, Crinivirus, Closteroviridae) and its role in the development of synergistic viral diseases. The emphasis was on the severe sweet potato virus disease (SPVD) that results from a synergistic interaction of SPCSV and Sweet potato feathery mottle virus (SPFMV, Potyvirus, Potyviridae). SPVD is the most important disease affecting sweetpotato. It is manifested as a significant increase in symptom severity and SPFMV titres. This is accompanied by a dramatic sweetpotato yield reduction. SPCSV titres remain little affected in the diseased plants. Viral synergistic interactions have been associated with the suppression of an adaptive general defence mechanism discovered in plants and known as RNA silencing. In the studies of this thesis two novel proteins (RNase3 and p22) identified in the genome of a Ugandan SPCSV isolate were shown to be involved in suppression of RNA silencing. RNase3 displayed a dsRNA-specific endonuclease activity that enhanced the RNA-silencing suppression activity of p22. Comparative analyses of criniviral genomes revealed variability in the gene content at the 3´end of the genomic RNA1. Molecular analyses of different isolates of SPCSV indicated a marked intraspecific heterogeneity in this region where the p22 and RNase3 genes are located. Isolates of the East African strain of SPCSV from Tanzania and Peru and an isolate from Israel were missing a 767-nt fragment that included the p22 gene. However, regardless of the absence of p22, all SPCSV isolates acted synergistically with SPFMV in co-infected sweetpotato, enhanced SPFMV titres and caused SPVD. These results showed that p22 is dispensable for development of SPVD. The role of RNase3 in SPVD was then studied by generating transgenic plants expressing the RNase3 protein. These plants had increased titres of SPFMV (ca. 600-fold higher in comparison with nontransgenic plants) 2-3 weeks after graft inoculation and displayed the characteristic SPVD symptoms. RNA silencing suppression (RSS) activity of RNase3 was detected in agroinfiltrated leaves of Nicotiana bethamiana. In vitro studies showed that RNase3 was able to cleave small interferring RNAs (siRNA) to products of ~14-nt. The data thus identified RNase3 as a suppressor of RNA silencing able to cleave siRNAs. RNase3 expression alone was sufficient for breaking down resistance to SPFMV in sweetpotato and for the development of SPVD. Similar RNase III-like genes exist in animal viruses which points out a novel and possibly more general mechanism of RSS by viruses. A reproducible method of sweetpotato transformation was used to target RNA silencing against the SPCSV polymerase region (RdRp) with an intron-spliced hairpin construct. Hence, engineered resistance to SPCSV was obtained. Ten out of 20 transgenic events challenged with SPCSV alone showed significantly reduced virus titres. This was however not sufficient to prevent SPVD upon coinfection with SPFMV. Immunity to SPCSV seems to be required to control SPVD and targeting of different SPCSV regions need to be assessed in further studies. Based on the identified key role of RNase3 in SPVD the possibility to design constructs that target this gene might prove more efficient in future studies.Ravintokasvien ryhmässä bataatin vuotuinen tuotantomäärä on viidenneksi suurin kehitysmaissa. Bataatti on kasvuoloiltaan vaatimaton mutta satoisa, joten sillä on erityisen keskeinen rooli omavaraistuotannossa kuivuina kausina ja nälänhädän uhatessa. Kiinan jälkeen merkittävin tuotantoalue on Itä-Afrikka, erityisesti Victoria-järven ympäristö, jossa Uganda on suurin tuottaja. Bataatin viljelyn merkittävin tautiongelma ovat virukset, joiden leviämistä käytössä olevat viljelymenetelmät ja virusalttiit lajikkeet edistävät. Bataatin kitukasvuviruksen (SPCSV) tartunta altistaa sinänsä melko viruskestävät itäafrikkalaiset bataattilajikkeet muiden virusten tartunnoille. Lisäksi sekainfektio aiheuttaa erityisen ankaria oireita, joiden takia sato voidaan menettää. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on selvittää, kuinka bataatin kitukasvuvirus estää viruskestävyyden ilmentymisen ja edistää muiden virusten tartuntoja. Lisäksi tutkitaan bataattien kestävyysmekanismeja, joilla sekainfektioiden aiheuttama ankara tauti voitaisiin estää

Phenolics, depsides and triterpenes from the chilean lichen pseudocyphellaria nudata (zahlbr.) D.J. Galloway

Indexación: ScieloThe lichen Pseudocyphellaria nudata is a species endemic to southern South América. From the lichen tallus, methyl orsellinate, 2-methoxy-3,6-dimethyl-4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, methyl-evernate, tenuiorin, hopan-6ß,22-diol and hopan-6α,76,22-triol were isolated and identified as the main lichen constituents. This is the first report of the occurrence of 2-methoxy-3,6-dimethyl-4-hydroxybenzaldehyde in lichens.http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=s0717-97072008000300017&nrm=is