Highly variable social organisation of colonies in the ant Formica cinerea.

Social organisation of colonies was examined in the ant Formica cinerea by estimating the coefficient of genetic relatedness among worker nest mates. The estimates based on microsatellite genotypes at three loci ranged from values close to zero to 0.61 across the populations studied in Finland. These results showed that a fundamental feature of colonies, the number of reproductive queens, varied greatly among the populations. Colonies in some populations had a single queen, whereas the nests could have a high number number of queens in other populations. There was a weak but non-significant correlation between the genetic and metric distance of nests within two populations with intermediate level of relatedness. Differentiation among nearby populations (within the dispersal distance of individuals) in one locality indicated limited dispersal or founder effects. This could occur when females are philopatric and stay in the natal polygynous colony which expands by building a network of nest galleries within a single habitat patch.

Exhaustion of bacteria-specific CD4 T cells and microbial translocation in common variable immunodeficiency disorders.

In the present study, we have investigated the functional profile of CD4 T cells from patients with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID), including production of cytokines and proliferation in response to bacteria and virus-derived antigens. We show that the functional impairment of CD4 T cells, including the reduced capacity to proliferate and to produce IFN-γ and IL-2, was restricted to bacteria-specific and not virus-specific CD4 T cells. High levels of endotoxins were found in the plasma of patients with CVID, suggesting that CD4 T cell dysfunction might be caused by bacterial translocation. Of note, endotoxemia was associated with significantly higher expression of programmed death 1 (PD-1) on CD4 T cells. The blockade of the PD-1-PD-L1/2 axis in vitro restored CD4 T cell proliferation capacity, thus indicating that PD-1 signaling negatively regulates CD4 T cell functions. Finally, we showed that intravenous immunoglobulin G (IVIG) treatment significantly reduced endotoxemia and the percentage of PD-1(+) CD4 T cells, and restored bacteria-specific CD4 T cell cytokine production and proliferation. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates that the CD4 T cell exhaustion and functional impairment observed in CVID patients is associated with bacterial translocation and that IVIG treatment resolves bacterial translocation and restores CD4 T cell functions.

Life-Cycle Effects on Household Expenditures: A Latent-Variable Approach

Using data from the Spanish household budget survey, we investigate life- cycle effects on several product expenditures. A latent-variable model approach is adopted to evaluate the impact of income on expenditures, controlling for the number of members in the family. Two latent factors underlying repeated measures of monetary and non-monetary income are used as explanatory variables in the expenditure regression equations, thus avoiding possible bias associated to the measurement error in income. The proposed methodology also takes care of the case in which product expenditures exhibit a pattern of infrequent purchases. Multiple-group analysis is used to assess the variation of key parameters of the model across various household life-cycle typologies. The analysis discloses significant life-cycle effects on the mean levels of expenditures; it also detects significant life-cycle effects on the way expenditures are affected by income and family size. Asymptotic robust methods are used to account for possible non-normality of the data.

Pneumopathie interstitielle granulomato-lymphocytaire dans l'immunodéficience commune variable [Granulomatous lymphocytic interstitial lung disease in common variable immunodeficiency].

Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is the most frequent primary immune deficiency. Recurrent infections are classical consequences of CVID, but their impact has been largely reduced by immunoglobulin replacement. CVID is also associated with various inflammatory and autoimmune manifestations resulting from abnormal cellular immunity. The lungs are especially affected by a recently described entity called granulomatous lymphocytic interstitial lung disease (GLILD). GLILD currently constitutes an important cause of morbidity and mortality in these patients. It is distinct from bronchiectasis secondary to recurrent infections, and presents similarities but also striking differences with sarcoidosis.

Lyfe-cycle effects on household expenditures: A latent-variable approach

Using data from the Spanish household budget survey, we investigate life-cycle effects on several product expenditures. A latent-variable model approach is adopted to evaluate the impact of income on expenditures, controlling for the number of members in the family. Two latent factors underlying repeated measures of monetary and non-monetary income are used as explanatory variables in the expenditure regression equations, thus avoiding possible bias associated to the measurement error in income. The proposed methodology also takes care of the case in which product expenditures exhibit a pattern of infrequent purchases. Multiple-group analysis is used to assess the variation of key parameters of the model across various household life-cycle typologies. The analysis discloses significant life-cycle effects on the mean levels of expenditures; it also detects significant life-cycle effects on the way expenditures are affected by income and family size. Asymptotic robust methods are used to account for possible non-normality of the data.

Variable Kernel estimates: On the impossibility of tuning the parameters

For the standard kernel density estimate, it is known that one can tune the bandwidth such that the expected L1 error is within a constant factor of the optimal L1 error (obtained when one is allowed to choose the bandwidth with knowledge of the density). In this paper, we pose the same problem for variable bandwidth kernel estimates where the bandwidths are allowed to depend upon the location. We show in particular that for positive kernels on the real line, for any data-based bandwidth, there exists a densityfor which the ratio of expected L1 error over optimal L1 error tends to infinity. Thus, the problem of tuning the variable bandwidth in an optimal manner is ``too hard''. Moreover, from the class of counterexamples exhibited in the paper, it appears thatplacing conditions on the densities (monotonicity, convexity, smoothness) does not help.

Testing financing constraints on firm investment using variable capital

We consider a dynamic multifactor model of investment with financing imperfections,adjustment costs and fixed and variable capital. We use the model to derive a test offinancing constraints based on a reduced form variable capital equation. Simulation resultsshow that this test correctly identifies financially constrained firms even when the estimationof firms investment opportunities is very noisy. In addition, the test is well specified inthe presence of both concave and convex adjustment costs of fixed capital. We confirmempirically the validity of this test on a sample of small Italian manufacturing companies.

Granulomatosis-associated common variable immunodeficiency disorder: a case-control study versus sarcoidosis.

The aim of the present study was to investigate to what extent interstitial lung disease (ILD) in common variable immunodeficiency disorder (CVID)-associated granulomatous disease (GD) is similar to pulmonary sarcoidosis 20 patients with CVID/GD were included in a retrospective study conducted by the Groupe Sarcoïdose Francophone. Medical records were centralised. Patients were compared with 60 controls with sarcoidosis. Clinical examination showed more frequent crackles in patients than controls (45% versus 1.7%, respectively; p<0.001). On thoracic computed tomography scans, nodules (often multiple and with smooth margins), air bronchograms and halo signs were more frequent in patients than controls (80% versus 42%, respectively; p=0.004) as well as bronchiectasis (65% versus 23%, respectively; p<0.001). The micronodule distribution was perilymphatic in 100% of controls and in 42% of patients (p<0.001). Bronchoalveolar lavage analysis showed lower T-cell CD4/CD8 ratios in patients than in controls (mean±sd 1.6±1.1 versus 5.3±4, respectively; p<0.01). On pathological analysis, nodules and consolidations corresponded to granulomatous lesions with or without lymphocytic disorders in most cases. Mortality was higher in patients than controls (30% versus 0%, respectively) and resulted from common variable immunodeficiency complications. ILD in CVID/GD presents a specific clinical picture and evolution that are markedly different from those of sarcoidosis.

Variable phenotypic expressivity in a Swiss family with autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa due to a T494M mutation in the PRPF3 gene.

PURPOSE: To characterize the clinical, psychophysical, and electrophysiological phenotypes in a five-generation Swiss family with dominantly inherited retinitis pigmentosa caused by a T494M mutation in the Precursor mRNA-Processing factor 3 (PRPF3) gene, and to relate the phenotype to the underlying genetic mutation. METHODS: Eleven affected patients were ascertained for phenotypic and genotypic characterization. Ophthalmologic evaluations included color vision testing, Goldmann perimetry, and digital fundus photography. Some patients had autofluorescence imaging, Optical Coherence Tomography, and ISCEV-standard full-field electroretinography. All affected patients had genetic testing. RESULTS: The age of onset of night blindness and the severity of the progression of the disease varied between members of the family. Some patients reported early onset of night blindness at age three, with subsequent severe deterioration of visual acuity, which was 0.4 in the best eye after their fifties. The second group of patients had a later onset of night blindness, in the mid-twenties, with a milder disease progression and a visual acuity of 0.8 at age 70. Fundus autofluorescence imaging and electrophysiological and visual field abnormalities also showed some degree of varying phenotypes. The autofluorescence imaging showed a large high-density ring bilaterally. Myopia (range: -0.75 to -8) was found in 10/11 affected subjects. Fundus findings showed areas of atrophy along the arcades. A T494M change was found in exon 11 of the PRPF3 gene. The change segregates with the disease in the family. CONCLUSIONS: A mutation in the PRPF3 gene is rare compared to other genes causing autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (ADRP). Although a T494M change has been reported, the family in our study is the first with variable expressivity. Mutations in the PRPF3 gene can cause a variable ADRP phenotype, unlike in the previously described Danish, English, and Japanese families. Our report, based on one of the largest affected pedigree, provides a better understanding as to the phenotype/genotype description of ADRP caused by a PRPF3 mutation.

Service Quality Analysis in the Five Stars Resort Hotels of Cape Verde

The objective of this study was the identification of the attributes and dimensions of service quality affecting the service performance of the five stars resort hotels located in the Cape Verde Islands. The reason boosting the initiative to do this research was the paramount role of the resort hotels in the development of the travel and tourism sector in Cape Verde, and the impact that today this sector has had in the economy of that country. The research opens with a literature review on the service quality theory in the hotel industry, starting from the middle of the 1980s with the classic model of service quality and SERVQUAL instrument to the analysis of recent models of service quality measurement in the hotel industry, as it is an example the scale of items developed in 2003 in the Lodging Quality Index (LQI). Furthermore, the study elaborates an analysis on the importance of the travel and tourism activities in the Cape Verde Islands, and it evidences the enormous importance of those activities in the performance of the Cape Verdean hotel industry. In sequence the study analyzes in details the hotel industry of Cape Verde and it identifies the market size of the five stars resort hotels and their current operators in that market. Moreover, the research develops with an online questionnaire elaborated and sent through the platforms of travel websites and communities to the guests whom have experienced the service of the five stars resort hotels located in the Cape Verde Islands. The scope of the questionnaire was to assess the attributes and dimensions of service quality in the five stars resort hotels of Cape Verde. The results of the questionnaire were in sequence analyzed through descriptive and applied statistics, using Microsoft Excel and the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Content validity analysis, factor analysis, and reliability analysis of the factors were made to purify an initial scale of 47 items of service quality. An instrument with three dimensions covering twenty four attributes of service quality assessment in the five stars resort hotels of Cape Verde was finally created. The three dimensions found were: staff competence; food and entertainment; and physical facilities. This study on the service in the five stars resort hotels of Cape Verde ends with brief comments on the status of service quality according to the identified dimensions and their attributes. In the conclusion, the study summarizes the whole work and gives some directions for future research.

UBVRI photoelectric photometry of nearby stars. II.

A second set of UBVRI photometry results for nearby stars of Gliese's (1969) catalog and its supplements, including in this case some multiple systems, are presented. Most of the observations were carried out between July 1984 and December 1985 at Calar Alto with the 1.23-m Centro Astronomico Hispano-Aleman telescope and the 1.52-m Observatorio Astronomico Nacional telescope. The number of observations of program and standard stars for the six runs and the final results for 60 stars are presented.

uvbyHbeta photometry of main sequence A type stars.

We present Stroemgren uvby and Hbeta_ photometry for a set of 575 northern main sequence A type stars, most of them belonging to the Hipparcos Input Catalogue, with V from 5mag to 10mag and with known radial velocities. These observations enlarge the catalogue we began to compile some years ago to more than 1500 stars. Our catalogue includes kinematic and astrophysical data for each star. Our future goal is to perform an accurate analysis of the kinematical behaviour of these stars in the solar neighbourhood.

CP2 stars as viewed by the uvby Hbeta system

A new statistical parallax method using the Maximum Likelihood principle is presented, allowing the simultaneous determination of a luminosity calibration, kinematic characteristics and spatial distribution of a given sample. This method has been developed for the exploitation of the Hipparcos data and presents several improvements with respect to the previous ones: the effects of the selection of the sample, the observational errors, the galactic rotation and the interstellar absorption are taken into account as an intrinsic part of the formulation (as opposed to external corrections). Furthermore, the method is able to identify and characterize physically distinct groups in inhomogeneous samples, thus avoiding biases due to unidentified components. Moreover, the implementation used by the authors is based on the extensive use of numerical methods, so avoiding the need for simplification of the equations and thus the bias they could introduce. Several examples of application using simulated samples are presented, to be followed by applications to real samples in forthcoming articles.

Detection of moving groups among early type stars

Our procedure to detect moving groups in the solar neighbourhood (Chen et al., 1997) in the four-dimensional space of the stellar velocity components and age has been improved. The method, which takes advantadge of non-parametric estimators of density distribution to avoid any a priori knowledge of the kinematic properties of these stellar groups, now includes the effect of observational errors on the process to select moving group stars, uses a better estimation of the density distribution of the total sample and field stars, and classifies moving group stars using all the available information. It is applied here to an accurately selected sample of early-type stars with known radial velocities and Strömgren photometry. Astrometric data are taken from the HIPPARCOS catalogue (ESA, 1997), which results in an important decrease in the observational errors with respect to ground-based data, and ensures the uniformity of the observed data. Both the improvement of our method and the use of precise astrometric data have allowed us not only to confirm the existence of classical moving groups, but also to detect finer structures that in several cases can be related to kinematic properties of nearby open clusters or associations.