The Building Blocks of International Ecological Footprint inequality: A Regression-Base Decomposition

This paper performs an empirical Decomposition of International Inequality in Ecological Footprint in order to quantify to what extent explanatory variables such as a country’s affluence, economic structure, demographic characteristics, climate and technology contributed to international differences in terms of natural resource consumption during the period 1993-2007. We use a Regression- Based Inequality Decomposition approach. As a result, the methodology extends qualitatively the results obtained in standard environmental impact regressions as it comprehends further social dimensions of the Sustainable Development concept, i.e. equity within generations. The results obtained point to prioritizing policies that take into account both future and present generations. Keywords: Ecological Footprint Inequality, Regression-Based Inequality Decomposition, Intragenerational equity, Sustainable development.

Multi-scale label interaction to improve object detection and segmentation

The project aims at advancing the state of the art in the use of context information for classification of image and video data. The use of context in the classification of images has been showed of great importance to improve the performance of actual object recognition systems. In our project we proposed the concept of Multi-scale Feature Labels as a general and compact method to exploit the local and global context. The feature extraction from the discriminative probability or classification confidence label field is of great novelty. Moreover the use of a multi-scale representation of the feature labels lead to a compact and efficient description of the context. The goal of the project has been also to provide a general-purpose method and prove its suitability in different image/video analysis problem. The two-year project generated 5 journal publications (plus 2 under submission), 10 conference publications (plus 2 under submission) and one patent (plus 1 pending). Of these publications, a relevant number make use of the main result of this project to improve the results in detection and/or segmentation of objects.

Intravaginal and subcutaneous immunization induced vaccine specific CD8 T cells and tumor regression in the bladder.

PURPOSE: Vaccines targeting tumor associated antigens are in development for bladder cancer. Most of these cancers are nonmuscle invasive at diagnosis and confined in the mucosa and submucosa. However, to our knowledge how vaccination may induce the regression of tumors at such mucosal sites has not been examined previously. We compared different immunization routes for the ability to induce vaccine specific antitumor CD8 T cells in the bladder and bladder tumor regression in mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the absence of a murine bladder tumor model expressing a tumor antigen relevant for human use we established an orthotopic model expressing the HPV-16 tumor antigen E7 as a model. We used an adjuvant E7 polypeptide to induce CD8 T cell mediated tumor regression. RESULTS: Subcutaneous and intravaginal but not intranasal vaccination induced a high number of TetE7(+)CD8(+) T cells in the bladder as well as bladder tumor regression. The entry of vaccine specific T cells in the bladder was not the only key since persistent regression of established bladder tumors by intravaginal or subcutaneous immunization was associated with tumor infiltration of total CD4 and CD8 T cells. This resulted in an increase in TetE7(+)CD8(+) T cells and a decrease in T regulatory cells, leading to an increased number of effector interferon-γ secreting vaccine specific CD8 T cells in the regressing bladder tumor. CONCLUSIONS: These data show that immunization routes should be tailored to each mucosal tumor site. Subcutaneous or intravaginal vaccination may be of additional value to treat patients with bladder cancer.

The Regulatory Choice between a Label and a Minimum-Quality Standard, 2005

This paper revisits the issue of the regulatory choice between a mandatory label and a minimum-quality standard. When the cost of regulation is relatively low, we show that the socially optimal choice depends on the producers’ cost structure for complying with regulation and improving quality. Under a marginal cost for improving quality, the mandatory labeling is sufficient for reaching the socially optimal level of quality. Under a fixed cost for improving quality, we show that each instrument or the combination of both instruments may emerge at the equilibrium.

Intravaginal TLR agonists increase local vaccine-specific CD8 T cells and human papillomavirus-associated genital-tumor regression in mice.

Human papillomaviruses (HPV)-related cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women worldwide. Despite active development, HPV E6/E7 oncogene-specific therapeutic vaccines have had limited clinical efficacy to date. Here, we report that intravaginal (IVAG) instillation of CpG-ODN (TLR9 agonist) or poly-(I:C) (TLR3 agonist) after subcutaneous E7 vaccination increased ∼fivefold the number of vaccine-specific interferon-γ-secreting CD8 T cells in the genital mucosa (GM) of mice, without affecting the E7-specific systemic response. The IVAG treatment locally increased both E7-specific and total CD8 T cells, but not CD4 T cells. This previously unreported selective recruitment of CD8 T cells from the periphery by IVAG CpG-ODN or poly-(I:C) was mediated by TLR9 and TLR3/melanoma differentiation-associated gene 5 signaling pathways, respectively. For CpG, this recruitment was associated with a higher proportion of GM-localized CD8 T cells expressing both CCR5 and CXCR3 chemokine receptors and E-selectin ligands. Most interestingly, IVAG CpG-ODN following vaccination led to complete regression of large genital HPV tumors in 75% of mice, instead of 20% with vaccination alone. These findings suggest that mucosal application of immunostimulatory molecules might substantially increase the effectiveness of parenterally administered vaccines.Mucosal Immunology advance online publication 12 September 2012; doi:10.1038/mi.2012.83.

Language Regression Associated With Autistic Regression and Electroencephalographic (EEG) Abnormalities: A Prospective Study.

We report a boy, referred at 25 months following a dramatic isolated language regression antedating autistic-like symptomatology. His sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) showed persistent focal epileptiform activity over the left parietal and vertex areas never associated with clinical seizures. He was started on adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) with a significant improvement in language, behavior, and in EEG discharges in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Later course was characterized by fluctuations/regressions in language and behavior abilities, in phase with recrudescence of EEG abnormalities prompting additional ACTH courses that led to remarkable decrease in EEG abnormalities, improvement in language, and to a lesser degree, in autistic behavior. The timely documentation of regression episodes suggesting an "atypical" autistic regression, striking therapy-induced improvement, fluctuation of symptomatology over time could be ascribed to recurrent and persisting EEG abnormalities.

U.S. Universities’ Net Returns from Patenting and Licensing: A Quantile Regression Analysis, September 2006

In line with the rights and incentives provided by the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, U.S. universities have increased their involvement in patenting and licensing activities through their own technology transfer offices. Only a few U.S. universities are obtaining large returns, however, whereas others are continuing with these activities despite negligible or negative returns. We assess the U.S. universities’ potential to generate returns from licensing activities by modeling and estimating quantiles of the distribution of net licensing returns conditional on some of their structural characteristics. We find limited prospects for public universities without a medical school everywhere in their distribution. Other groups of universities (private, and public with a medical school) can expect significant but still fairly modest returns only beyond the 0.9th quantile. These findings call into question the appropriateness of the revenue-generating motive for the aggressive rate of patenting and licensing by U.S. universities.

Long-term outcome after cognitive and behavioral regression in non-lesional epilepsy with CSWS

Purpose: To present the long-term outcome (LTO) of 10 adolescents and young adults with documented cognitive and behavioral regression as children due to non-lesional focal, mainly frontal epilepsy with continuous spike-waves during slow wave sleep (CSWS). Method: Past medical and EEG data of all patients were reviewed and neuropsychological tests exploring main cognitive functions were administered. Result: After a mean duration of follow-up of 15.6 years (range 8-23 years), none of the 10 patients had recovered fully, but four regained borderline to normal intelligence and were almost independent. Patients with prolonged global intellectual regression had the worst outcome, whereas those with more specific and short-lived deficits recovered best. The marked behavioral disorders that were so disturbing during the active period (AP) resolved in all but one patient. Executive functions were neither severely nor homogenously affected. Three patients with a frontal syndrome during the AP disclosed only mild residual executive and social cognition deficits. The main cognitive gains occurred shortly after the AP, but qualitative improvements continued to occur. LTO correlated best with duration of CSWS. Conclusion: Our findings emphasize that cognitive recovery after cessation of CSWS depends on the severity and duration of the initial regression. None of our patients had major executive and social cognition deficits with preserved intelligence as reported in adults with destructive lesions of the frontal lobes during childhood. Early recognition of epilepsy with CSWS and rapid introduction of effective therapy are crucial for a best possible outcome.

Fusion of data sets in multivariate linear regression with errors-in-variables

We consider the application of normal theory methods to the estimation and testing of a general type of multivariate regressionmodels with errors--in--variables, in the case where various data setsare merged into a single analysis and the observable variables deviatepossibly from normality. The various samples to be merged can differ on the set of observable variables available. We show that there is a convenient way to parameterize the model so that, despite the possiblenon--normality of the data, normal--theory methods yield correct inferencesfor the parameters of interest and for the goodness--of--fit test. Thetheory described encompasses both the functional and structural modelcases, and can be implemented using standard software for structuralequations models, such as LISREL, EQS, LISCOMP, among others. An illustration with Monte Carlo data is presented.

Constant coefficient tests for random coefficient regression

Random coefficient regression models have been applied in differentfields and they constitute a unifying setup for many statisticalproblems. The nonparametric study of this model started with Beranand Hall (1992) and it has become a fruitful framework. In thispaper we propose and study statistics for testing a basic hypothesisconcerning this model: the constancy of coefficients. The asymptoticbehavior of the statistics is investigated and bootstrapapproximations are used in order to determine the critical values ofthe test statistics. A simulation study illustrates the performanceof the proposals.

In vivo targeting of an anti-tumor antibody coupled to antigenic MHC class I complexes induces specific growth inhibition and regression of established syngeneic tumor grafts.

The concept of antibody-mediated targeting of antigenic MHC/peptide complexes on tumor cells in order to sensitize them to T-lymphocyte cytotoxicity represents an attractive new immunotherapy strategy. In vitro experiments have shown that an antibody chemically conjugated or fused to monomeric MHC/peptide can be oligomerized on the surface of tumor cells, rendering them susceptible to efficient lysis by MHC-peptide restricted specific T-cell clones. However, this strategy has not yet been tested entirely in vivo in immunocompetent animals. To this aim, we took advantage of OT-1 mice which have a transgenic T-cell receptor specific for the ovalbumin (ova) immunodominant peptide (257-264) expressed in the context of the MHC class I H-2K(b). We prepared and characterized conjugates between the Fab' fragment from a high-affinity monoclonal antibody to carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and the H-2K(b) /ova peptide complex. First, we showed in OT-1 mice that the grafting and growth of a syngeneic colon carcinoma line transfected with CEA could be specifically inhibited by systemic injections of the conjugate. Next, using CEA transgenic C57BL/6 mice adoptively transferred with OT-1 spleen cells and immunized with ovalbumin, we demonstrated that systemic injections of the anti-CEA-H-2K(b) /ova conjugate could induce specific growth inhibition and regression of well-established, palpable subcutaneous grafts from the syngeneic CEA-transfected colon carcinoma line. These results, obtained in a well-characterized syngeneic carcinoma model, demonstrate that the antibody-MHC/peptide strategy can function in vivo. Further preclinical experimental studies, using an anti-viral T-cell response, will be performed before this new form of immunotherapy can be considered for clinical use.