An Analysis of Private School Closings

We add to the small literature on private school supply by exploring exits of K-12 private schools. We find that the closure of private schools is not an infrequent event, and use national survey data from the National Center for Education Statistics to study closures of private schools. We assume that the probability of an exit is a function of excess supply of private schools over the demand, as well as the school's characteristics such as age, size, and religious affiliation. Our empirical results generally support the implications of the model. Working Paper 07-0

Screening for Diabetes and Pre-Diabetes With Proposed A1C-Based Diagnostic Criteria

OBJECTIVE — An International Expert Committee (IEC) and the American Diabetes Asso-ciation (ADA) proposed diagnostic criteria for diabetes and pre-diabetes based on A1C levels. We hypothesized that screening for diabetes and pre-diabetes with A1C measurements would differ from using oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS — We compared pre-diabetes, dysglycemia (diabetes or pre-diabetes), and diabetes identified by the proposed criteria (A1C 6.5 % for diabetes and 6.0–6.4 % [IEC] or 5.7–6.4 % [ADA] for high risk/pre-diabetes) with standard OGTT diagnoses in three datasets. Non-Hispanic white or black adults without known diabetes who had A1C and 75-g OGTT measurements were included from the prospective Screening for Impaired Glucose Tolerance study (n 1,581), and from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III (n 2014), and NHANES 2005–2006 (n 1,111). RESULTS — OGTTs revealed pre-diabetes in 35.8 % and diabetes in 5.2 % of combined study subjects. A1C provided receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve areas for diabetes of 0.79– 0.83, but ROC curve areas were 0.70 for dysglycemia or pre-diabetes. The proposed criteria missed 70 % of individuals with diabetes, 71–84 % with dysglycemia, and 82–94 % with pre

Diabetes Care in Black and White Veterans in the Southeastern U.S.

Abstract available at publisher's web site

Metabolic Profiling of Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded Tissues Discriminates Normal Colon from Colorectal Cancer

AbstractAccumulating evidence suggests that metabolic reprogramming has a critical role in carcinogenesis and tumor progression. The usefulness of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue material for metabolomics analysis as compared with fresh frozen tissue material remains unclear. LC/MS-MS–based metabolomics analysis was performed on 11 pairs of matched tumor and normal tissues in both FFPE and fresh frozen tissue materials from patients with colorectal carcinoma. Permutation t test was applied to identify metabolites with differential abundance between tumor and normal tissues. A total of 200 metabolites were detected in the FFPE samples and 536 in the fresh frozen samples. The preservation of metabolites in FFPE samples was diverse according to classes and chemical characteristics, ranging from 78% (energy) to 0% (peptides). Compared with the normal tissues, 34 (17%) and 174 (32%) metabolites were either accumulated or depleted in the tumor tissues derived from FFPE and fresh frozen samples, respectively. Among them, 15 metabolites were common in both FFPE and fresh frozen samples. Notably, branched chain amino acids were highly accumulated in tumor tissues. Using KEGG pathway analyses, glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism, arginine and proline, glycerophospholipid, and glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism pathways distinguishing tumor from normal tissues were found in both FFPE and fresh frozen samples. This study demonstrates that informative data of metabolic profiles can be retrieved from FFPE tissue materials.Abstract Accumulating evidence suggests that metabolic reprogramming has a critical role in carcinogenesis and tumor progression. The usefulness of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue material for metabolomics analysis as compared with fresh frozen tissue material remains unclear. LC/MS-MS–based metabolomics analysis was performed on 11 pairs of matched tumor and normal tissues in both FFPE and fresh frozen tissue materials from patients with colorectal carcinoma. Permutation t test was applied to identify metabolites with differential abundance between tumor and normal tissues. A total of 200 metabolites were detected in the FFPE samples and 536 in the fresh frozen samples. The preservation of metabolites in FFPE samples was diverse according to classes and chemical characteristics, ranging from 78% (energy) to 0% (peptides). Compared with the normal tissues, 34 (17%) and 174 (32%) metabolites were either accumulated or depleted in the tumor tissues derived from FFPE and fresh frozen samples, respectively. Among them, 15 metabolites were common in both FFPE and fresh frozen samples. Notably, branched chain amino acids were highly accumulated in tumor tissues. Using KEGG pathway analyses, glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism, arginine and proline, glycerophospholipid, and glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism pathways distinguishing tumor from normal tissues were found in both FFPE and fresh frozen samples. This study demonstrates that informative data of metabolic profiles can be retrieved from FFPE tissue materials

Tumor Long Interspersed Nucleotide Element-1 (LINE-1) Hypomethylation in Relation to Age of Colorectal Cancer Diagnosis and Prognosis

AbstractEvidence indicates the pathogenic role of epigenetic alterations in early-onset colorectal cancers diagnosed before age 50. However, features of colorectal cancers diagnosed at age 50–54 (hereafter referred to as “intermediate-onset”) remain less known. We hypothesized that tumor long interspersed nucleotide element-1 (LINE-1) hypomethylation might be increasingly more common with decreasing age of colorectal cancer diagnosis. In 1356 colorectal cancers, including 28 early-onset and 66 intermediate-onset cases, the tumor LINE-1 methylation level measured by bisulfite-PCR-pyrosequencing (scaled 0 to 100) showed a mean of 63.6 (standard deviation (SD) 10.1). The mean tumor LINE-1 methylation level decreased with decreasing age (mean 64.7 (SD 10.4) in age ≥70, 62.8 (SD 9.4) in age 55–69, 61.0 (SD 10.2) in age 50–54, and 58.9 (SD 12.0) in age p Ptrend = 0.0003). Multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (95% CI) for LINE-1 methylation levels of ≤45, 45–55, and 55–65 (vs. >65) were 2.33 (1.49–3.64), 1.39 (1.05–1.85), and 1.29 (1.02–1.63), respectively (Ptrend = 0.0005). In conclusion, tumor LINE-1 hypomethylation is increasingly more common with decreasing age of colorectal cancer diagnosis, suggesting a role of global DNA hypomethylation in colorectal cancer arising in younger adults.Abstract Evidence indicates the pathogenic role of epigenetic alterations in early-onset colorectal cancers diagnosed before age 50. However, features of colorectal cancers diagnosed at age 50–54 (hereafter referred to as “intermediate-onset”) remain less known. We hypothesized that tumor long interspersed nucleotide element-1 (LINE-1) hypomethylation might be increasingly more common with decreasing age of colorectal cancer diagnosis. In 1356 colorectal cancers, including 28 early-onset and 66 intermediate-onset cases, the tumor LINE-1 methylation level measured by bisulfite-PCR-pyrosequencing (scaled 0 to 100) showed a mean of 63.6 (standard deviation (SD) 10.1). The mean tumor LINE-1 methylation level decreased with decreasing age (mean 64.7 (SD 10.4) in age ≥70, 62.8 (SD 9.4) in age 55–69, 61.0 (SD 10.2) in age 50–54, and 58.9 (SD 12.0) in age 65) were 2.33 (1.49–3.64), 1.39 (1.05–1.85), and 1.29 (1.02–1.63), respectively (Ptrend = 0.0005). In conclusion, tumor LINE-1 hypomethylation is increasingly more common with decreasing age of colorectal cancer diagnosis, suggesting a role of global DNA hypomethylation in colorectal cancer arising in younger adults