A tumor-specific cellular environment at the brain invasion border of adamantinomatous craniopharyngiomas.

Craniopharyngiomas (CP) are benign epithelial tumors of the sellar region and can be clinicopathologically distinguished into adamantinomatous (adaCP) and papillary (papCP) variants. Both subtypes are classified according to the World Health Organization grade I, but their irregular digitate brain infiltration makes any complete surgical resection difficult to obtain. Herein, we characterized the cellular interface between the tumor and the surrounding brain tissue in 48 CP (41 adaCP and seven papCP) compared to non-neuroepithelial tumors, i.e., 12 cavernous hemangiomas, 10 meningiomas, and 14 metastases using antibodies directed against glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP), vimentin, nestin, microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) splice variants, and tenascin-C. We identified a specific cell population characterized by the coexpression of nestin, MAP2, and GFAP within the invasion niche of the adamantinomatous subtype. This was especially prominent along the finger-like protrusions. A similar population of presumably astroglial precursors was not visible in other lesions under study, which characterize them as distinct histopathological feature of adaCP. Furthermore, the outer tumor cell layer of adaCP showed a distinct expression of MAP2, a novel finding helpful in the differential diagnosis of epithelial tumors in the sellar region. Our data support the hypothesis that adaCP, unlike other non-neuroepithelial tumors of the central nervous system, create a tumor-specific cellular environment at the tumor-brain junction. Whether this facilitates the characteristic infiltrative growth pattern or is the consequence of an activated Wnt signaling pathway, detectable in 90% of these tumors, will need further consideration.

Cross-border banking in Europe: An empirical investigation

This paper investigates bilateral trade in banking services within the European Union. The attention has been addressed to two main issues. First, to test the bank's motivations for setting up the different forms of overseas offices, and secondly, to assess the importance of barriers to entry across national European banking systems. Empirical results confirm the existence of different motivations for establishing representative offices, branches and subsidiaries in foreign locations. In addition, evidence has been achieved about the importance of non-regulatory barriers that could make difficult the existence of a single European market for banking services.

Toarcian radiolaria from Mt. Mangart (Slovenian-Italian border) and their paleoecological implications

Diverse and well-preserved Toarcian radiolarians have been recovered from a succession of organic-rich shale with intercalations of siliceous limestone. The succession is located at the Slovenian-Italian border in the Julian Alps and was deposited on a subsided block pertaining to the south Tethyan passive continental margin. Twenty spumellarian and 17 nassellarian genera were found in total. Thirty-six taxa were identified to species level and one new species, Bistarkum mangartense n. sp., is described. The assemblages show a high predominance of spumellarians over nassellarians. Spongy spumellarians, especially Orbiculiforma ?, are markedly abundant. Pantanelliidae are generally rare but reach a pronounced peak of 13% in one stratigraphic level. Among nassellarians, Parahsuum is the most abundant but members belonging to Syringocapsidae are scarce to absent. In addition to paleolatitude and water column depth, ecological conditions accompanying the early Toarcian global anoxic event may have to a considerable extent determined the specific taxonomic composition of these radiolarian faunas. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

European integration, FDI and the internal geography of trade : evidence from Western European border regions

In this paper we use a gravity model to study the trade performance of French and Spanishborder regions relatively to non-border regions, over the past two decades. We find that,controlling for their size, proximity and location characteristics, border regions trade onaverage between 62% and 193% more with their neighbouring country than other regions,and twice as much if they are endowed with good cross border transport infrastructures.Despite European integration, however, this trade outperformance has fallen for the mostperipheral regions within the EU. We show that this trend was linked in part to a shift in the propensity of foreign investors to move their affiliates from the regions near their home market to the regions bordering the EU core.

European integration, FDI and the internal geography of trade : evidence from Western European border regions

In this paper we use a gravity model to study the trade performance of French and Spanishborder regions relatively to non-border regions, over the past two decades. We find that,controlling for their size, proximity and location characteristics, border regions trade onaverage between 62% and 193% more with their neighbouring country than other regions,and twice as much if they are endowed with good cross border transport infrastructures.Despite European integration, however, this trade outperformance has fallen for the mostperipheral regions within the EU. We show that this trend was linked in part to a shift in the propensity of foreign investors to move their affiliates from the regions near their home market to the regions bordering the EU core.

Road Safety Audit for IA 150/US 52 from I-380 to the Minnesota Border, 2009

On June 9, 2009, the Northeast Iowa Highway 150/52 Coalition met with the Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) in Cedar Falls, Iowa to discuss concerns regarding roadway conditions and safety which has become a concern because of the potential economic development in the area. In response to the issues raised by the coalition, the Iowa DOT requested that a road safety audit be conducted on the corridor to identify where low-cost improvements could be beneficially applied to address safety concerns.

A global view of cross-border migration

This paper evaluates the global welfare impact of observed levels of migration using a quantitativemulti-sector model of the world economy calibrated to aggregate and firm-level data.Our framework features cross-country labor productivity differences, international trade, remittances,and a heterogeneous workforce. We compare welfare under the observed levels ofmigration to a no-migration counterfactual. In the long run, natives in countries that receiveda lot of migration -such as Canada or Australia- are better o due to greater product varietyavailable in consumption and as intermediate inputs. In the short run the impact of migrationon average welfare in these countries is close to zero, while the skilled and unskilled nativestend to experience welfare changes of opposite signs. The remaining natives in countries withlarge emigration flows -such as Jamaica or El Salvador- are also better off due to migration,but for a different reason: remittances. The welfare impact of observed levels of migration issubstantial, at about 5 to 10% for the main receiving countries and about 10% in countries withlarge incoming remittances. Our results are robust to accounting for imperfect transferabilityof skills, selection into migration, and imperfect substitution between natives and immigrants.

Cross-Border Innovation Support Platform for the SMEs: The Case of St. Petersburg Corridor Region

Työssä tutkitaan eri mekanismeja rajojen ylittävään innovaatioiden edistämiseen pienten ja keskisuurten yritysten näkökulmasta. Case ympäristönä on Kaakkois-Suomen ja Luoteis-Venäjän alueeli Pietarin Corridor. Tavoitteena on löytää tarkemmat määritykset ja rajauksetnäille mekanismeille. Teoriassa muodostettiin viitekehys rajojen ylittävälle innovaatioiden edistämismallille. Mallin pohjalta toteutettiinhaastattelututkimus, joka suoritettiin case-ympäristössä. Haastattelujoukko koostui yritysten edustajista, tutkimus-henkilöstöstä sekä julkisista toimijoista. Innovaatiojärjestelmä oli avoin uusille toimintamenetelmille.Menetelmien toteuttamistapa kuitenkin jakoi mielipiteitä. Toimijoiden välille tarvitaan parempaa yhteistyötä ja tämän kautta selkeämpää kommunikointia yritysten suuntaan. Innovaatioiden edistämiseen ehdotetaan Innovation Relay Centre tyyppisen toiminnan laajentamista Corridorin alueelle sekä sen käyttämän teknologioiden välittämismallin sekä kansainvälisen verkoston hyödyntämistä. Edistämisen tukena tulisi käyttää innovaatiotietokanta-työkalua.