C4I Culture Assessment and Transition

Assessing Culture at UCHC: A Survey If you were working at UCHC in the spring of 2005, you may remember a survey that was mailed to your home asking for your thoughts and feelings about the “culture” at UCHC. The survey included questions about our culture: Job satisfaction, employee working conditions, diversity, and the quality/safety of the care we deliver to our patients. The survey was funded by the Connecticut Health Foundation and sponsored by the Office of Diversity Programs and C4I.

Investigating the Diversity of Radial Glia Fates in the Rat Neocortex

Radial Glia (RG) are a mitotically active population of cells which reside within the ventricular zone at the lateral ventricle and give rise to the pyramidal neurons and astrocytes of the neocortex. Through cellular divisions, RG produce two daughter cells, one which resides in the ventricular zone and becomes another RG while the other is an immature progenitor which migrates away from the ventricle and populates the growing cortex. RG have been found to be a heterogeneous population of cells which express different surface antigens and genetic promoters which may influence the cellular fate of their progeny. In this study we have investigated the progenitor profiles of two promoters, nestin (a neural intermediate filament) and GLAST (astrocyte specific glutamate transporter) within the RG. In-utero electroporation was used to transfect reporter plasmids under the control of promoter driven Cre-Recombinase into the RG lining the lateral ventricle during mid-neurogensesis (E14). It was found that there was a large amount of overlap between the nestin and GLAST expressing populations of RG, however, there was still a small subset of cells which exclusively expressed GLAST. This prompted us to investigate the lineage of these two promoters using the PiggyBac transposon system which uses promoter driven episomal plasmids to incorporate a reporter gene into the genome of the transfected cells, allowing use to trace their full progeny. Our data shows that nestin expressing RG generate mostly neurons and few astrocytes while the GLAST expressing RG generate a greater proportion of astrocytes to neurons.

Economic Reforms and Pro-Poor Growth: Lessons for Africa and other Developing Regions and Economies in Transition

The paper discusses the meaning and measurement of pro-poor growth and also reviews evidence of pro-poor growth (or the lack of it) in a large cross-section of countries and time periods. The emerging story is that many episodes of growth are not pro-poor and also that although economic reforms have had positive effects in those countries that have been steadfast in implementing market reforms, the overall impact on growth has been small for many countries and in most cases not pro-poor. I present a general theory of pro-poor growth that includes ten principles that should be incorporated in all economic reforms that seek to generate pro-poor growth. These principles highlight the importance of understanding the poor, their economic activities, capabilities, constraints that impede their participation in markets and also an appreciation of linkages within sectors and regions. It is argued that pro-poor reforms cannot have the intended impact unless there are significant changes in the institutions of governance. Finally, the principles presented underscore the fact that pro-poor growth policies cannot be sustained without workable partnerships between markets and states in the ever changing and complex processes of social and economic development.

Transition Zones of Forested Inland Wetlands in Northeastern Connecticut

Inland wetlands are valuable natural resources intimately associated with the hydrologic cycle. This study was designed to (1) investigate vegetation distribution and selected physical and chemical properties of wetland and bordering upland soils and the interface between the two, and (2) provide the ground truth necessary for the identification and delineation of deciduous wetland forests using false-color infrared (FCIR) imagery.

Economic Growth, Longevity, and the Epidemiological Transition

This paper integrates investments in health to a standard growth model where physical and human capital investments are the combined engines of growth. It shows the existence of two distinct health regimes separated by an 'Epidemiological Transition'. The various patterns of the transition identified in the epidemiological literature can be mapped into the model. The model also leads to the important hypothesis that the epidemiological transition may induce an economy to switch to a modern growth regime.