Comparisons of Mortality and Pre-discharge Respiratory Outcomes in Small-for-gestational-age and Appropriate-for-gestational-age Premature Infants.

BACKGROUND: There are differences in the literature regarding outcomes of premature small-for-gestational-age (SGA) and appropriate-for gestational-age (AGA) infants, possibly due to failure to take into account gestational age at birth. OBJECTIVE: To compare mortality and respiratory morbidity of SGA and AGA premature newborn infants. DESIGN/METHODS: A retrospective study was done of the 2,487 infants born without congenital anomalies at RESULTS: Controlling for GA, premature SGA infants were at a higher risk for mortality (Odds ratio 3.1, P = 0.001) and at lower risk of respiratory distress syndrome (OR = 0.71, p = 0.02) than AGA infants. However multivariate logistic regression modeling found that the odds of having respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) varied between SGA and AGA infants by GA. There was no change in RDS risk in SGA infants at GA 32 wk (OR = 0.41, 95% CI 0.27 - 0.63; p < 0.01). After controlling for GA, SGA infants were observed to be at a significantly higher risk for developing chronic lung disease as compared to AGA infants (OR = 2.2, 95% CI = 1.2 - 3.9, P = 0.01). There was no significant difference between SGA and AGA infants in total days on ventilator. Among infants who survived, mean length of hospital stay was significantly higher in SGA infants born between 26-36 wks GA than AGA infants. CONCLUSIONS: Premature SGA infants have significantly higher mortality, significantly higher risk of developing chronic lung disease and longer hospital stay as compared to premature AGA infants. Even the reduced risk of RDS in infants born at >/=32 wk GA, (conferred possibly by intra-uterine stress leading to accelerated lung maturation) appears to be of transient effect and is counterbalanced by adverse effects of poor intrauterine growth on long term pulmonary outcomes such as chronic lung disease.

Sequential Pre-Marital Investment Games: Implications for Unemployment

Agents on the same side of a two-sided matching market (such as the marriage or labor market) compete with each other by making self-enhancing investments to improve their worth in the eyes of potential partners. Because these expenditures generally occur prior to matching, this activity has come to be known in recent literature (Peters, 2007) as pre-marital investment. This paper builds on that literature by considering the case of sequential pre-marital investment, analyzing a matching game in which one side of the market invests first, followed by the other. Interpreting the first group of agents as workers and the other group as firms, the paper provides a new perspective on the incentive structure that is inherent in labor markets. It also demonstrates that a positive rate of unemployment can exist even in the absence of matching frictions. Policy implications follow, as the prevailing set of equilibria can be altered by restricting entry into the workforce, providing unemployment insurance, or subsidizing pre-marital investment.

Mortgage Lending in Chicago and Los Angeles: A Paired Testing Study of the Pre-Application Process

This paper analyzes data from a recently completed study of discrimination against African-American and Hispanic homebuyers when they visit mortgage lending institutions in two major metropolitan markets to make pre-application inquiries. It represents the first application of paired testing to rigorously measure discrimination in the mortgage lending process. The paired tests isolated significant levels of differential treatment on the basis of race and ethnicity in Chicago with African Americans and Hispanics receiving less information and assistance than comparable whites. Adverse treatment of African-Americans and Hispanics is also observed in Los Angeles for specific treatments, but the overall pattern of treatment observed did not differ statistically from equal treatment. Multivariate analyses for Chicago indicate that large lenders treat minorities more favorably than small lenders and that lenders with substantial numbers of applications from African-Americans treat African Americans more favorably than lenders with predominantly white application pools.

Learning about Self Far From Home: A Pre-service Teacher’s Intercultural Development During an International Program

Preparing teachers to effectively teach culturally diverse students, teacher educators advocate for the use of cross-cultural field experiences, including international study abroad programs. This paper reports on a qualitative case study of two pre-service teachers’ intercultural development during a semester-long teacher education study abroad program in London, England. Findings indicate that international experiences provide a catalyst to move pre-service teachers forward in their intercultural development. Implications include the need for multicultural teacher educators to take a developmental approach to pre-service teacher education informed by theories of intercultural development and cultural learning developed within intercultural communications.

Motivation and Learning in Mathematics Pre-service Teachers

Based on a review of literature of conceptual and procedural knowledge in relation to intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, the purpose of this study was to test the relationship between conceptual and procedural knowledge and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Thirty-eight education students with a mathematics focus (elementary or secondary) in their junior, senior, or fifth year completed a survey with a Likert scale measuring their preference to learning (conceptual or procedural) and their motivation type (intrinsic or extrinsic). Findings showed that secondary mathematics focused students were more likely to prefer learning mathematics conceptually than elementary mathematics focused students. However, secondary and elementary mathematics focused students showed an equal preference for learning mathematics procedurally and sequentially. Elementary and secondary students reported similar intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Extrinsically motivated students preferred procedural learning more than conceptual learning. While there was no statistically significant preference with intrinsically motivated students, there was a trend favoring preference of conceptual learning over procedural learning. These results tend to support the hypothesis that mathematics focused students who prefer conceptual learning are more intrinsically motivated, and mathematics focused students who prefer procedural learning are more extrinsically motivated.