Inappropriate or chronic detection of self nucleic acids by the innate immune system underlies many human autoimmune diseases. We discuss here an unexpected source of endogenous immunostimulatory nucleic acids: the reverse-transcribed cDNA of endogenous retroelements. The interplay between innate immune sensing and clearance of retroelement cDNA has important implications for the understanding of immune responses to infectious retroviruses such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Furthermore, the detection of cDNA by the innate immune system reveals an evolutionary tradeoff: selection for a vigorous, sensitive response to infectious retroviruses may predispose the inappropriate detection of endogenous retroelements. We propose that this tradeoff has placed unique constraints on the sensitivity of the DNA-activated antiviral response, with implications for the interactions of DNA viruses and retroviruses with their hosts. Finally, we discuss how better understanding of the intersection of retroelement biology and innate immunity can guide the way to novel therapies for specific autoimmune diseases.

/pdf/the-enemy-within-endogenous-retroelements-and-autoimmune-ybly7f2bv3.pdf

The enemy within: endogenous retroelements and autoimmune disease

The results of a critical survey of research on educational effectiveness, performed to assess the current state of knowledge regarding the determinants of educational outcomes, are reported. An input-output approach was used to analyze the relationship between the amounts of various resources provided to students and the educational outcomes. Other approaches used were the process approach, the organizational approach, the evaluation approach, and the experimental approach. It was found that school resources are ,'r.)t consistently important, and that the role of peer-group influences is complex. Major implications of the research include the following; (1) Research has not identified a variant of the existing system ,chat is consistently related to students' educational outcomes; (2) Increasing expenditures on traditional educational practices is not likely to improve educational outcomes substantially; and (3) There seem to be opportunities for significant reduction of redirection of educational expenditures without deterioration in educational outcomes. (For related document, see ED 058 473.) (Author/CR)

/pdf/how-effective-is-schooling-a-critical-review-and-synthesis-13pbrvgpfd.pdf

How Effective Is Schooling? A Critical Review and Synthesis of Research Findings.

https://www.cell.com/neuron/pdf/S0896-6273(00)81185-X.pdf

Modification of Glial–Neuronal Cell Interactions Prevents Photoreceptor Apoptosis during Light-Induced Retinal Degeneration

The history of American education has been primarily an urban history. School reform movements of the mid-19th century were targeted at the particular problems brought on by the Industrial Revolution. Early 20th-century school administrators, and later progressive educators, defined the majority of America’s educational problems in terms of school-based occupational and community living skills that city dwellers needed in modern America. Finally, school reforms of the 1950s–80s have been targeted primarily at such concerns as the plight of minorities in inner cities, national defense needs, and now occupational skills necessary to compete internationally. Such reforms have had the net effect of continuing the century-long bias of much educational policy, scholarship, and research toward urban-based issues and concerns. On the other hand, a variety of research and policy initiatives have emerged in rural America, typically sponsored by state departments of education in primarily rural regions of the countr...

The Status of American Rural Education Research: An Integrated Review and Commentary:

Do school inputs matter? Regression analysis of Michigan Assessment Survey Program data (1971) shows inputs are productive, but only under our new criteria. Many previous economic studies have concluded that school inputs do not matter because mean school output is often uncorrelated with input variations. But if every student's performance matters to a school, then productive inputs affect the entire distribution of student performances. If that distribution can be characterized by its mean and variance, then inputs are productive if either moment is affected. One cannot, however, tell how much these distributional effects depend on technology and how much on tastes of school authorities

Joan Solomon

Papers

Death at an Early Age

The price of change

Passing the Acid Test

With a Little Help From a Friend

Transcription for Cancer