1,257 research outputs found
Financial Literacy and Retirement Preparedness: Evidence and Implications for Financial Education Programs.
No full textEconomists are beginning to investigate the causes and consequences of financial illiteracy to better understand why retirement planning is lacking and why so many households arrive close to retirement with little or no wealth. Our review reveals that many households are unfamiliar with even the most basic economic concepts needed to make saving and investment decisions. Such financial illiteracy is widespread: the young and older people in the United States and other countries appear woefully under-informed about basic financial computations, with serious implications for saving, retirement planning, mortgages, and other decisions. In response, governments and several nonprofit organizations have undertaken initiatives to enhance financial literacy. The experience of other countries, including a saving campaign in Japan as well as the Swedish pension privatization program, offers insights into possible roles for financial literacy and saving programs.Social Security Administrationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/49374/1/wp144.pd
Inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase: A target for immunosuppression.
No full textGuanine nucleotides are essential for many cellular functions. Therefore inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), the rate limiting enzyme for the de novo synthesis of guanine nucleotides, has been a target for the development of anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and immunosuppressive agents. These studies were undertaken to examine the importance of guanine nucleotides and IMPDH activity for T cell activation. Mizoribine and mycophenolic acid are two IMPDH inhibitors that inhibit T cell activation by causing a dose-dependent depletion of guanine nucleotides. Mizoribine does not interfere with early gene expression but causes a block in the transition of cells from G1 to S phase of the cell cycle. 6-mercaptopurine causes depletion of both guanine and adenine nucleotides, but the effect on adenine nucleotides appears to be more important for inhibitory activity. In contrast, azathioprine inhibits T lymphocyte proliferation by a mechanism independent of the depletion of guanine nucleotides. The activation of T cells results in a 6-fold elevation in total cellular guanine ribonucleotide pools and a concomitant 15-fold increase in specific IMPDH enzymatic activity. IMPDH activity in human cells is the result of two different proteins, type I and type II. The expression of both type I (3 kb) and type II (2 kb) IMPDH mRNA is induced approximately 10-fold by 24 to 48 hours following stimulation of purified T lymphocytes. In addition a second, 4 kb, IMPDH type I mRNA is expressed in stimulated T cells as a result of alternate splicing of the 5\sp\prime and/or 3\sp\prime untranslated regions. Southern blot analysis of human genomic DNA demonstrates that type I IMPDH has multiple processed pseudogenes, whereas type II is a single-copy gene. Rat, mouse, dog, cow, and chicken have single copy genes for both type I and type II IMPDH. Therefore, IMPDH I and II are highly conserved and IMPDH activity is the result of the expression of both genes in mammals. IMPDH activity is essential for T cell activation and consequently is a promising target for new immunosuppressive agents.PhDPharmacologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/103742/1/9409671.pdfDescription of 9409671.pdf : Restricted to UM users only
Financial Literacy and Retirement Planning in the United States
No full textWe examine financial literacy in the United States using the new National Financial Capability Study, wherein we demonstrate that financial literacy is particularly low among the young, women, and the less-educated. Moreover, Hispanics and African-Americans score the least well on financial literacy concepts. Interestingly, all groups rate themselves as rather well-informed about financial matters, notwithstanding their actual performance on the key literacy questions. Finally, we show that people who score higher on the financial literacy questions are also much more likely to plan for retirement, which is likely to leave them better positioned for old-age. Our results will inform those seeking to target financial literacy programs to those in most need.
Financial literacy among the young: evidence and implications for consumer policy
No full textWe examined financial literacy among the young using the most recent wave of the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. We showed that financial literacy is low; fewer than one-third of young adults possess basic knowledge of interest rates, inflation, and risk diversification. Financial literacy was strongly related to sociodemographic characteristics and family financial sophistication. Specifically, a college-educated male whose parents had stocks and retirement savings was about 45 percentage points more likely to know about risk diversification than a female with less than a high school education whose parents were not wealthy. These findings have implications for consumer policy. JEL Classification: D9
Adenosine deaminase and deoxycytidine kinase gene expression.
No full textOverexpression of adenosine deaminase (ADA) in red blood cells is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by a marked, tissue-specific increase in levels of structurally normal ADA mRNA and enzymatic activity in the erythrocytes of affected individuals, leading to ATP depletion and hemolytic anemia. We determined that, in one family, the disorder is closely linked to the ADA gene, a finding most consistent with the hypothesis that ADA overexpression in this family results from a cis-acting mutation in the vicinity of the ADA gene. To investigate the nature of this cis mutation, we identified and cloned representatives of both the normal and mutant alleles. We examined relative reporter gene activity with constructs containing 10.6 kb of 5\sp\prime flanking sequence and 12.3 kb of the first intron of the ADA gene from both alleles. No differences in reporter gene activity were found in transient transfection experiments of erythroleukemia cell lines or in the erythrocytes of transgenic mice carrying these two human alleles. These results indicate that the cis mutation responsible for ADA overexpression in this family does not reside in sequences contained within the clones or that detection of this phenotype requires an interaction of a proximal mutation with more distal DNA elements. Deoxycytidine kinase (dCK) phosphorylates a number of 2\sp\prime-deoxyribonucleosides and nucleoside analogs that are important in the chemotherapy of leukemias, and has higher activity in the thymus than in any other tissue. In a second study, we examined the dCK promoter for basal and possible T-cell-specific function and transcription factor binding. Three transcription factors were found to interact with this promoter. Sp1 binds to two GC boxes, activating at the 5\sp\prime site but repressing at the 3\sp\prime site. MLTF/USF activates transcription through the E box, while E2F activates through the E2F site, but binds weakly to this site in vitro and does not appear to mediate cell cycle-specific expression of dCK in vivo. No significant differences in promoter activity or transcription factor binding were observed between Jurkat T and Raji B lymphoblasts. The promoter of the dCK gene is thus regulated by a number of ubiquitously expressed transcription factors. DCK expression in cultured lymphoblast cell lines appears to be more than merely a function of the T- or B-lineage derivation.PhDBiological SciencesCellular biologyGeneticsMolecular biologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/130181/2/9712139.pd
Financial Literacy and Planning: Implications for Retirement Wellbeing
No full textRelatively little is known about why people fail to plan for retirement and whether planning and information costs might affect retirement saving patterns. This paper reports on a purpose-built survey module on planning and financial literacy for the Health and Retirement Study which measures how people make financial plans, collect the information needed to make these plans, and implement the plans. We show that financial illiteracy is widespread among older Americans, particularly women, minorities, and the least educated. We also find that the financially savvy are more likely to plan and to succeed in their planning, and they rely on formal methods such as retirement calculators, retirement seminars, and financial experts, instead of family/relatives or co-workers. These results have implications for targeted financial education efforts.
Beverly Lewis House – Setting up a safe house for women with learning disabilities who have experienced abuse
No full textIn dem Beitrag wird über ein Frauenhaus in London (Großbritannien) berichtet, in dem ausschließlich Frauen mit Lernschwierigkeiten Zuflucht vor Mißbrauch finden und in dem sie ggf. frühere Mißbrauchserfahrungen aufarbeiten können. Beverly Lewis House, das von der Autorin geleitet wird, ist in seiner Form einzigartig. Der Beitrag gibt einen Einblick in die Bedeutung und in die Strukturen eines solchen Hauses. Dazu werden sechs Bereiche beschrieben, die wichtig sind, um ein Frauenhaus speziell für Frauen mit Lernschwierigkeiten in die Wirklichkeit umzusetzen: die Architektur und die Strukturen des Hauses, die Finanzierung, das Team, die Angebote des Hauses, wie ein therapeutisches Umfeld geschaffen wird und wie es für die Frauen weitergeht. Außerdem wird darauf eingegangen, wie die Mitarbeiterinnen mit Verhaltensweisen der Frauen umgehen, die in Folge der Mißbrauchserfahrungen bei ihnen aufgetreten sind, wie zum Beispiel Eßstörungen, selbstverletzende Verhaltensweisen oder Depressionen. Der Beitrag ist weitgehend in "einfacher Sprache" geschrieben, damit die Informationen auch für Menschen mit Lernschwierigkeiten zugänglich sind.This contribution introduces a battered women shelter in London, Great Britain which exclusively provides refuge to women with learning disabilities who experienced sexualized violence. In the case of sexual abuse in early childhood psychotherapy is provided. Beverly Lewis House is the only institution of its kind and is lead by the author of this article. The contribution gives an insight into the significance and the structures of such an institution. Six components will be described that are important for implementing a battered women shelter specified on serving women with a learning disability: the architecture and the structures of the institution, the funding, the team, the variety of offers, the establishment of a therapeutic climate and the further progress of the women after leaving the Beverly Lewis House. Furthermore, the staff are being instructed how to deal with behaviours resulting from abuse experiences such as eating disorders, self-harming behaviour and depressions. The contribution is predominantly written in "simple language" in order to make it accessible to people with learning disabilities.unknownunknow
Paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic reconstruction of a Pleistocene catena using paleopedology and geochemistry of lake margin paleo-Vertisols, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
No full textOlduvai Gorge, Tanzania (3°S) contains a rich record of Pleistocene paleoclimates and paleoenvironments, as well as an abundance of paleontological and archaeological data. The 2.2 Ma of volcaniclastic infill can be divided into time-slices using dated tuffs. Until ~1.75 Ma the sediments were deposited in a semi-arid, closed rift basin that contained a shallow saline-alkaline lake that fluctuated periodically with climate, depositing sediment on the lake margin. Four trenches that range in thickness from 2 to 2.5 m in a ~1 km transect of the lake margin flat were described and sampled. This ~20 ka time-slice between Ng’eju Tuff and Tuff IF (~1.785 Ma) contains both stacked and cumulative paleosols that are interpreted as a heterogeneous paleocatena. Closer to the lake, these paleosols are thinner, vertically stacked, and separated by thin tuffs or tufa. Further from the lake margin, there is additional volcaniclastic input, and the paleosols are thicker and cumulative. Macroscale and micromorphological features identify these clay-rich paleosols as paleo-Vertisols. Abundant pedogenic slickensides and a variety of ped shapes were observed in the field as well as micro-ped structures and stress cutans in thin section. Although weakly developed, these paleo-Vertisols also have distinct horizons defined by soil color changes, differing ped shapes, and bulk geochemistry. Eighty samples from the paleosols and parent materials were analyzed for bulk geochemistry of major, rare, and trace elements. Geochemical proxies reveal a climosequence not definitively identifiable in the field or in the micromorphology. Molecular weathering ratios show increased weathering, and mass-balance calculations indicate greater translocations (positive and negative) through time. It is likely that lower soil moisture due to a drier climate created better-drained conditions allowing for increased pedogenesis. Mg oxides and zeolites precipitating in rhizoliths are further evidence for changing redox conditions and water chemistry, likely due to increased aridity. The drying trend in this climosequence is consistent with faunal, stable isotope, and lithostratigraphic records within Olduvai Gorge and with marine dust records from northern Africa. The paleocatena identified within this time-slice also provides additional paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic data, coinciding with the first hominin migrations out of Africa at ~1.8 Ma.M.S.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vitaby Emily Jane Beverl
Financial Literacy among the Young: Evidence and Implications for Consumer Policy
No full textWe examined financial literacy among the young using data from the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. We showed that financial literacy is low among the young; fewer than one-third of young adults possess basic knowledge of interest rates, inflation, and risk diversification. Financial literacy is strongly related to sociodemographic characteristics and family financial sophistication. Specifically, a college-educated male whose parents had stocks and retirement savings is about 50 percentage points more likely to know about risk diversification than a female with less than a high school education whose parents were not wealthy. These findings have implications for consumer policy.
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