On the characterisation and measurement of the welfare effects of income mobility from an ex-ante perspective

The paper employs a rank-dependent formulation of the social welfare function with time-separable utilities to evaluate the economic consequences of income mobility from an ex-ante perspective. The resultant class of measures can be decomposed not only in terms of structural and exchange mobility but also in terms of vertical and horizontal mobility, thereby encompassing two of the main approaches in the literature. We illustrate our measurement framework by comparing mobility in the USA and Germany using data from the Cross-National Equivalent File 1980-2005. We find that the pattern of income mobility in the USA was both less pro-poor and more horizontally inequitable than in Germany, but that the latter did not translate into higher levels of exchange mobility given higher levels of absolute inequality and the vertical stance of the growth process.

Climbing to the top? Foreign Direct Investment and Property Rights.

This paper operates at the interface of the literature on the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on host countries, and the literature on the determinants of institutional quality. We argue that FDI contributes to economic development by improving institutional quality in the host country and we attempt to test this proposition using a large panel data set of 70 developing countries during the period 1981 and 2005, and we show that FDI inflows have a positive and highly significant impact on property rights. The result appears to be very robust and is and not affected by model specification, different control variables, or a particular estimation technique. As far as we are aware this is the first paper to empirically test the FDI – property rights linkage.

Short-Run Strategies For Attracting Foreign Direct Investment

This paper empirically investigates the effectiveness and feasibility of two FDI policies, fiscal incentives and deregulation, aimed at improving the attractiveness of a country in the short run. Using disaggregated data on sales by US MNEs’ foreign affiliates in 43 developed and developing countries over the 1982-1994 period, results show that the provision of fiscal incentives or the deregulation of the labour market would exert a positive impact on total FDI. Given the drawbacks frequently associated with the use of incentive packages, economy-wide policies which ease firing procedures and reduce severance payments would certainly be the best policy option. This paper also highlights the different aggregation and omitted variable biases that have affected results of previous studies and provides some support to recent theoretical models of FDI by showing that third country effects and spatial interdependence influence respectively the location of export-platform FDI and vertical FDI.

Measurement of 13CO2 in expired air as an index of compliance to a high carbohydrate diet naturally enriched in 13C.

The aim of this study was to determine whether breath 13CO2 measurements could be used to assess the compliance to a diet containing carbohydrates naturally enriched in 13C. The study was divided into two periods: Period 1 (baseline of 4 days) with low 13C/12C ratio carbohydrates. Period 2 (5 days) isocaloric diet with a high 13C/12C ratio (corn, cane sugar, pineapple, millet) carbohydrates. Measurements were made of respiratory gas exchange by indirect calorimetry, urinary nitrogen excretion and breath 13CO2 every morning in post-absorptive conditions, both in resting state and during a 45-min low intensity exercise (walking on a treadmill). The subjects were 10 healthy lean women (BMI 20.4 +/- 1.7 kg/m2, % body fat 24.4 +/- 1.3%), the 13C enrichment of oxidized carbohydrate and breath 13CO2 were compared to the enrichment of exogenous dietary carbohydrates. At rest the enrichment of oxidized carbohydrate increased significantly after one day of 13C carbohydrate enriched diet and reached a steady value (103 +/- 16%) similar to the enrichment of exogenous carbohydrates. During exercise, the 13C enrichment of oxidized carbohydrate remained significantly lower (68 +/- 17%) than that of dietary carbohydrates. The compliance to a diet with a high content of carbohydrates naturally enriched in 13C may be assessed from the measurement of breath 13CO2 enrichment combined with respiratory gas exchange in resting, postabsorptive conditions.

Short-Run Strategies For Attracting Foreign Direct Investment

This paper empirically investigates the effectiveness and feasibility of two FDI policies, fiscal incentives and deregulation, aimed at improving the attractiveness of a country in the short run. Using disaggregated data on sales by US MNEs’ foreign affiliates in 43 developed and developing countries over the 1982-1994 period, results show that the provision of fiscal incentives or the deregulation of the labour market would exert a positive impact on total FDI. Given the drawbacks frequently associated with the use of incentive packages, economy-wide policies which ease firing procedures and reduce severance payments would certainly be the best policy option. This paper also highlights the different aggregation and omitted variable biases that have affected results of previous studies and provides some support to recent theoretical models of FDI by showing that third country effects and spatial interdependence influence respectively the location of export-platform FDI and vertical FDI.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry for direct bacterial identification from positive blood culture pellets.

An ammonium chloride erythrocyte-lysing procedure was used to prepare a bacterial pellet from positive blood cultures for direct matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry analysis. Identification was obtained for 78.7% of the pellets tested. Moreover, 99% of the MALDI-TOF identifications were congruent at the species level when considering valid scores. This fast and accurate method is promising.

Evidence against a direct role of klotho in insulin resistance.

The klotho gene may be involved in the aging process. Klotho is a coactivator of FGF23, a regulator of phosphate and vitamin D metabolism. It has also been reported to be downregulated in insulin resistance syndromes and paradoxically to directly inhibit IGF-1 and insulin signaling. Our aim was to study klotho's regulation and effects on insulin and IGF-1 signaling to unravel this paradox. We studied klotho tissue distribution and expression by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting in obese Zucker rats and high-fat fed Wistar rats, two models of insulin resistance. Klotho was expressed in kidneys but at much lower levels (<1.5%) in liver, muscle, brain, and adipose tissue. There were no significant differences between insulin resistant and control animals. We next produced human recombinant soluble klotho protein (KLEC) and studied its effects on insulin and IGF-1 signaling in cultured cells. In HEK293 cells, FGF23 signaling (judged by FRS2-alpha and ERK1/2 phosphorylation) was activated by conditioned media from KLEC-producing cells (CM-KLEC); however, IGF-1 signaling was unaffected. CM-KLEC did not inhibit IGF-1 and insulin signaling in L6 and Hep G2 cells, as judged by Akt and ERK1/2 phosphorylation. We conclude that decreased klotho expression is not a general feature of rodent models of insulin resistance. Further, the soluble klotho protein does not inhibit IGF-1 and/or insulin signaling in HEK293, L6, and HepG2 cells, arguing against a direct role of klotho in insulin signaling. However, the hypothesis that klotho indirectly regulates insulin sensitivity via FGF23 activation remains to be investigated.

Income stratification and the measurement of interdistributional inequality between multiple groups

This paper proposes a new class of stratification indices that measure interdistributional inequality between multiple groups. The class is based on a conceptualisation of stratification as a process that results in a hierarchical ordering of groups and therefore seeks to capture not only the extent to which groups form well-defined strata in the income distribution but also the scale of the resultant differences in income standards between them, where these two factors play the same role as identification and alienation respectively in the measurement of polarisation. The properties of the class as a whole are investigated as well as those of selected members of it: zeroth and first power indices may be interpreted as measuring the overall incidence and depth of stratification respectively, while higher power indices members are directly sensitive to the severity of stratification between groups. An illustrative application provides an empirical analysis of global income stratification by regions in 1993.

Measurement of parent satisfaction in french-speaking PICUs: a need for translation and cultural adaptation of the empathic questionnaire

Background and aims: Family-centred care is an expected standard in PICU and parent reported outcomes are rarely measured. The Dutch validated EMPATHIC questionnaire provides accurate measures of parental perceptions of family-centred care in PICU. A French version would provide an important resource for quality control and benchmarking with other PICUs. The study aimed to translate and to assess the French cultural adaptation of the EMPATHIC questionnaire. Methods: In September 2012, following approval from the developer, translation and cultural adaptation were performed using a structured method (Wild et al. 2005). This included forward-backward translation and reconciliation by an official translator, harmonization assessed by the research team, and cognitive debriefing with the target users' population. In this last step, a convenience sample of parents with PICU experience assessed the comprehensibility and cultural relevance of the 65-item French EMPATHIC questionnaire. The PICUs in Lausanne, Switzerland and Lille, France participated. Results: Seventeen parents, including 13 French native and 4 French as second language speakers, tested the cognitive equivalence and cultural relevance of the French EMPATHIC questionnaire. The mean agreement for comprehensibility of all 65 items reached 90.2%. Three items fell below the cut-off 80% agreement and were revised for inclusion in the final French version. Conclusions: The translation and the cultural adaptation permitted to highlight a few cultural differences that did not interfere with the main construct of the EMPATHIC questionnaire. Reliability and validity testing with a new sample of parents is needed to strengthen the psychometric properties of the French EMPATHIC questionnaire.

Vitamin D has a direct immunomodulatory effect on CD8+ T cells of patients with early multiple sclerosis and healthy control subjects.

Little is known on a putative effect of vitamin D on CD8+ T cells. Yet, these cells are involved in the immmunopathogenesis of MS. We assessed the cytokine profile of EBV-specific CD8+ T cells of 10 early MS patients and 10 healthy control subjects with or without 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) and found that, with 1,25(OH)(2)D(3), these cells secreted less IFN-γ and TNF-α and more IL-5 and TGF-β. CD4+ T cell depletion or even culture with CD8+ T cells only did not abolish the immunomodulatory effect of 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) on CD8+ T cells, suggesting that 1,25(OH)(2)D(3) can act directly on CD8+ T cells.

Direct analysis of peptide binding to cell-associated MHC class I molecules.

Exogenously added synthetic peptides can mimic endogenously produced antigenic peptides recognized on target cells by MHC class I-restricted cytolytic T lymphocytes. While it is assumed that exogenous peptides associate with class I molecules on the target cell surface, direct binding of peptides to cell-associated class I molecules has been difficult to demonstrate. Using a newly developed binding assay based on photoaffinity labeling, we have investigated the interaction of two antigenic peptides, known to be recognized in the context of H-2Kd or H-2Db, respectively, with 20 distinct class I alleles on living cells. None of the class I alleles tested, with the exception of H-2Kd or H-2Db, bound either of the peptides, thus demonstrating the exquisite specificity of peptide binding to class I molecules. Moreover, peptide binding to cell-associated H-2Kd was drastically reduced when metabolic energy, de novo protein synthesis or protein egress from the endoplasmic reticulum was inhibited. It is thus likely that exogenously added peptides do not associate with the bulk of class I molecules expressed at the cell surface, but rather bind to short-lived molecules devoid of endogenous peptides.

Fatty acids and eicosanoids regulate gene expression through direct interactions with peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors alpha and gamma.

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) alpha and gamma are key regulators of lipid homeostasis and are activated by a structurally diverse group of compounds including fatty acids, eicosanoids, and hypolipidemic drugs such as fibrates and thiazolidinediones. While thiazolidinediones and 15-deoxy-Delta12, 14-prostaglandin J2 have been shown to bind to PPARgamma, it has remained unclear whether other activators mediate their effects through direct interactions with the PPARs or via indirect mechanisms. Here, we describe a novel fibrate, designated GW2331, that is a high-affinity ligand for both PPARalpha and PPARgamma. Using GW2331 as a radioligand in competition binding assays, we show that certain mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids bind directly to PPARalpha and PPARgamma at physiological concentrations, and that the eicosanoids 8(S)-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid and 15-deoxy-Delta12,14-prostaglandin J2 can function as subtype-selective ligands for PPARalpha and PPARgamma, respectively. These data provide evidence that PPARs serve as physiological sensors of lipid levels and suggest a molecular mechanism whereby dietary fatty acids can modulate lipid homeostasis.