Grx5 is a mitochondrial glutaredoxin required for the activity of iron/sulfur enzymes

Yeast cells contain a family of three monothiol glutaredoxins: Grx3, 4, and 5. Absence of Grx5 leads to constitutive oxidative damage, exacerbating that caused by external oxidants. Phenotypic defects associated with the absence of Grx5 are suppressed by overexpression ofSSQ1 and ISA2, two genes involved in the synthesis and assembly of iron/sulfur clusters into proteins. Grx5 localizes at the mitochondrial matrix, like other proteins involved in the synthesis of these clusters, and the mature form lacks the first 29 amino acids of the translation product. Absence of Grx5 causes: 1) iron accumulation in the cell, which in turn could promote oxidative damage, and 2) inactivation of enzymes requiring iron/sulfur clusters for their activity. Reduction of iron levels in grx5 null mutants does not restore the activity of iron/sulfur enzymes, and cell growth defects are not suppressed in anaerobiosis or in the presence of disulfide reductants. Hence, Grx5 forms part of the mitochondrial machinery involved in the synthesis and assembly of iron/sulfur centers.

Grx5 glutaredoxin plays a central role in protection against protein oxidative damage in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Glutaredoxins are members of a superfamily of thiol disulfide oxidoreductases involved in maintaining the redox state of target proteins. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, two glutaredoxins (Grx1 and Grx2) containing a cysteine pair at the active site had been characterized as protecting yeast cells against oxidative damage. In this work, another subfamily of yeast glutaredoxins (Grx3, Grx4, and Grx5) that differs from the first in containing a single cysteine residue at the putative active site is described. This trait is also characteristic for a number of glutaredoxins from bacteria to humans, with which the Grx3/4/5 group has extensive homology over two regions. Mutants lacking Grx5 are partially deficient in growth in rich and minimal media and also highly sensitive to oxidative damage caused by menadione and hydrogen peroxide. A significant increase in total protein carbonyl content is constitutively observed in grx5cells, and a number of specific proteins, including transketolase, appear to be highly oxidized in this mutant. The synthetic lethality of the grx5 and grx2 mutations on one hand and ofgrx5 with the grx3 grx4 combination on the other points to a complex functional relationship among yeast glutaredoxins, with Grx5 playing a specially important role in protection against oxidative stress both during ordinary growth conditions and after externally induced damage. Grx5-deficient mutants are also sensitive to osmotic stress, which indicates a relationship between the two types of stress in yeast cells.

Kuivumiskutistuman yhteys massaseosten ominaisuuksien synergiseen käyttäytymiseen

Diplomityön tavoitteena oli selvittää kuivumiskutistuman yhteyttä massojen synergiseen käyttäytymiseen. Kirjallisuusosassa on pohdittu kuitujen, kuitujen koostumuksen ja massaseosten ominaisuuksien vaikutusta kuivumiskutistumiseen. Lisäksi on pohdittu erilaisten kuivatustapojen vaikutusta kuivumiskutistuman suuruuteen ja SC-paperin mekaanisiin ominaisuuksiin. Kokeellisessa osassa valmistettiin kiertovedellä seosarkkeja. Massoina seoksissa käytettiin hioketta, TMP:tä ja kahta eri valmistajan sellua, jotka molemmat koostuivat kuusesta ja männystä. Seosarkkeja kuivattiin vapaasti, estetysti ja siten, että arkkia vedettiin konesuunnassa 2 % ja siten, että arkin annettiin kutistua konesuunnassa 2 %. Vapaasti kutistuneista arkeista mitattiin kuivumiskutistuma, käyttäen mahdollisimman tarkkaa menetelmää, jotta saatiin selville kunkin massaseoksen ja puhtaan massan kutistumapotentiaali. Kokeellisen osan mittaustulosten perusteella työssä pohdittiin kuivumiskutistumisen yhteyttä massojen synergiseen käyttäytymiseen. Tuloksista käy ilmi, että kuivumiskutistumalla on yhteys massaseosten synergiseen käyttäytymiseen. Kuivumiskutistuma vaikuttaa eniten selluilla, joilla on suurin kutistumispotentiaali. Arkin kuivuessa, kuitujen kutistuessa, rikkoutuu arkissa jo syntyneitä sidoksia heikentäen mm. vetolujuutta. Sidoksien rikkoutuminen ilmenee selvästi valonsironnan kasvamisena, mutta myös palstautumislujuuden huonontumisena, joka kertoo sidosten vähentymisestä. Selluosuuden kasvattaminen vaikuttaa useimpien arkin ominaisuuksia huonontaen ja siis synergiaa huonontaen. Puhtaita massoja vertaillessa puhtailla selluilla on useimpien ominaisuuksien kohdalla huonoimmat suhteellisesti saavutetut lujuudet, joten selluista ei saada kaikkea lujuuspotentiaalia, mikä taas näkyy selvästi selluosuuden kasvaessa suurempana poikkeamina additiivisesti lasketuista lujuuksista. Mekaanisilla massoilla, joilla on pienempi kuivumiskutistuma, ei vaikutus ole niin voimakas kuin selluilla ja puhtaat mekaaniset massat säilyttävätkin ominaisuutensa paremmin kuin sellut.

Causality and Contagion in EMU Sovereign Debt Markets

This paper contributes to the literature by applying the Granger causality approach and endogenous breakpoint test to offer an operational definition of contagion to examine European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) countries public debt behaviour. A database of yields on 10-year government bonds issued by 11 EMU countries covering fourteen years of monetary union is used. The main results suggest that the 41 new causality patterns, which appeared for the first time in the crisis period, and the intensification of causality recorded in 70% of the cases, provide clear evidence of contagion in the aftermath of the current euro debt crisis.

Causality and Contagion in EMU Sovereign Debt Markets

This paper contributes to the literature by applying the Granger causality approach and endogenous breakpoint test to offer an operational definition of contagion to examine European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) countries public debt behaviour. A database of yields on 10-year government bonds issued by 11 EMU countries covering fourteen years of monetary union is used. The main results suggest that the 41 new causality patterns, which appeared for the first time in the crisis period, and the intensification of causality recorded in 70% of the cases, provide clear evidence of contagion in the aftermath of the current euro debt crisis.

Pk - yrityksen vakuustarpeet ja niiden vaikutus yrityksen kasvuun

Yritystoiminnan alkuvaiheessa vakuuksia sitoutuu usein investointien ja käyttöpääoman rahoittamiseen vieraalla pääomalla. Tilaustyyppistä tuotantoa harjoittavien yritysten vakuusresursseja sitoutuu usein myös toimitussopimusten edellyttämiin vastuusitoumuksiin. Näin vakuustarpeet saattavat kasvaa liiketoiminnan kasvaessa. Pk - yrityksille vakuuspula tulee ongelmaksi silloin, jos yrityksen vakuustarpeet ylittävät yrityksen omaisuuden vakuusarvon. Tämä taas vaikeuttaa yrityksen kasvupyrkimyksiä, jos sen tulorahoitus ei riitä liiketoiminnan kasvattamiseen. Tämän pro gradu - tutkielman tavoitteena oli selvittää, miten toimitussopimuksien ja vieraan pääoman edellyttämät vakuustarpeet vaikuttavat pk - yrityksen kasvuun. Toimitussopimusten ja vieraan pääoman edellyttämien vakuustarpeiden vaikutusta pk - yrityksen kasvuun tarkasteltiin Finnvera Oyj:n asiakkaina olevien koneita ja laitteita valmistavien pk - yritysten kohdalta. Hypoteesina esitettiin, että vakuustarpeet vaikeuttavat pk - yrityksen kasvua. Lisäksi tutkielmassa kartoitettiin esimerkkien avulla erilaisia toimitus- ja hankintasopimustyyppejä ja käytiin läpi sopimuksen sisältöä ja syntytapaa. Tutkielmassa tarkasteltiin esimerkkien avulla lähemmin metalliteollisuudessa käytettyjä toimitussopimuksia. Edellisten lisäksi tutkielmassa käsiteltiin tarkemmin toimituksiin liittyviä vakuuksia, lähinnä takauksia. Tutkielman viitekehyksen tavoitteena, kirjallisuus ja artikkelikatsauksen avulla, oli hahmottaa sitä kontekstia, johon toimitussopimusten ja vieraan pääoman edellyttämät vakuudet liittyvät. Tutkielma oli laadultaan survey - tutkimus. Yrityksen kasvua tarkasteltiin mm. tilinpäätöksistä saatujen tunnuslukujen avulla. Yrityksiin lähetettiin kyselylomake, jonka avulla haettiin vastauksia yrityksen käyttämistä toimitussopimuksista, vakuuksista, yrityksen kasvusta ja tulevaisuuden näkymistä. Toimitussopimuksissa käytettiin usein yksilöllisesti laadittuja sopimuksia, vakiosopimuksia tai näiden yhdistelmiä. Tutkielman tuloksena saatiin selville, että vakuustarpeet eivät ole yrityksille suurin kasvun este. Yritykset näkivät suurimpina kasvun esteinä omarahoituksen puutteen, työvoiman kustannukset ja työvoiman saatavuuden sekä kireän kilpailutilanteen

A Reappraisal of the Allocation Puzzle through the Portfolio Approach

Paradoxically, high-growth, high-investment developing countries tend to experience capital outflows. This paper shows that this allocation puzzle can be explained simply by introducing uninsurable idiosyncratic investment risk in the neoclassical growth model with international trade in bonds, and by taking into account not only TFP catch-up, but also the capital wedge, that is, the distortions on the return to capital. The model fits the two following facts, documented on a sample of 67 countries between 1980 and 2003: (i) TFP growth is positively correlated with capital outflows in a sample including creditor countries; (ii) the long-run level of capital per efficient unit of labor is positively correlated with capital outflows. Consistently, we show that the capital flows predicted by the model are positively correlated with the actual ones in this sample once the capital wedge is accounted for. The fact that Asia dominates global imbalances can be explained by its relatively low capital wedge.

Strategisten asiakassuhteiden johtaminen - Case: Heath Comm Oy

Tutkielman tavoitteena oli selvittää, miten yritys voi luoda itselleen ja asiakkailleen kilpailuetua johtamalla systemaattisesti asiakassuhteitaan nopeasti muuttuvassa ympäristössä. Pyrkimyksenä oli kartoittaa käytännön tekijöitä, joilla yritys voi luoda asiakkailleen ja tuotteidensa loppukäyttäjille lisäarvoa tunnistamalla sopivimmat asiakkaat ja pyrkimällä pitkiin liikesuhteisiin. Tutkielman teoreettisen osan lähdeaineistona käytettiin pääosin avainasiakasajatteluun, liikesuhteisiin ja niiden johtamiseen sekä asiakkaiden analysointiin liittyvää kirjallisuutta ja artikkeleita. Empiirisen tutkimuksen aineisto kerättiin haastattelemalla toimeksiantajayrityksen asiakkaita, johtohenkilöitä ja myynnin henkilökuntaa. Tutkimuksen lähdeaineistoa täydensi tutkijan oma työkokemus. Empiirinen tutkimus oli laadullinen case-analyysi. Asiakashaastattelujen perusteella muodostettiin käsitys pitkäaikaisiin liikesuhteisiin ja niiden johtamiseen vaikuttavista tekijöistä kohdetoimialalla. Yrityksen sisäisten keskustelujen avulla muodostettiin puolestaan käsitys yrityksen nykytoiminnasta. Vertailun pohjalta esitettiin portfolio-malli yrityksen asiakassuhteiden analysointiin sekä asiakkaan hoitosuunnitelma. Lisäksi esitettiin yleisiä toimenpide-ehdotuksia teorian ja asiakashaastattelujen pohjalta. Asiakkaan saamaan arvoon vaikuttavat tuotteiden käytettävyys ja toimintavarmuus, kommunikaation ja palvelun laatu, toimittajan riittävä asiantuntemus sekä toimitusten nopeus ja luotettavuus. Asiakkaat arvostavat erityisesti vilkasta ja avointa tiedon välitystä. Yritysten väliset sidokset voidaan nähdä asiakasosuutta kasvattavina voimina

Classical line shapes based on analytical solutions of bimolecular trajectories in collision induced emission. II. Reactive collisions

The classical theory of collision induced emission (CIE) from pairs of dissimilar rare gas atoms was developed in Paper I [D. Reguera and G. Birnbaum, J. Chem. Phys. 125, 184304 (2006)] from a knowledge of the straight line collision trajectory and the assumption that the magnitude of the dipole could be represented by an exponential function of the inter-nuclear distance. This theory is extended here to deal with other functional forms of the induced dipole as revealed by ab initio calculations. Accurate analytical expression for the CIE can be obtained by least square fitting of the ab initio values of the dipole as a function of inter-atomic separation using a sum of exponentials and then proceeding as in Paper I. However, we also show how the multi-exponential fit can be replaced by a simpler fit using only two analytic functions. Our analysis is applied to the polar molecules HF and HBr. Unlike the rare gas atoms considered previously, these atomic pairs form stable bound diatomic molecules. We show that, interestingly, the spectra of these reactive molecules are characterized by the presence of multiple peaks. We also discuss the CIE arising from half collisions in excited electronic states, which in principle could be probed in photo-dissociation experiments.

Characterization of hepatic fatty acids in mice with reduced liver fat by ultra-short echo time (1)H-MRS at 14.1 T in vivo.

Alterations in the hepatic lipid content (HLC) and fatty acid composition are associated with disruptions in whole body metabolism, both in humans and in rodent models, and can be non-invasively assessed by (1)H-MRS in vivo. We used (1)H-MRS to characterize the hepatic fatty-acyl chains of healthy mice and to follow changes caused by streptozotocin (STZ) injection. Using STEAM at 14.1 T with an ultra-short TE of 2.8 ms, confounding effects from T2 relaxation and J-coupling were avoided, allowing for accurate estimations of the contribution of unsaturated (UFA), saturated (SFA), mono-unsaturated (MUFA) and poly-unsaturated (PUFA) fatty-acyl chains, number of double bonds, PU bonds and mean chain length. Compared with in vivo (1) H-MRS, high resolution NMR performed in vitro in hepatic lipid extracts reported longer fatty-acyl chains (18 versus 15 carbons) with a lower contribution from UFA (61 ± 1% versus 80 ± 5%) but a higher number of PU bonds per UFA (1.39 ± 0.03 versus 0.58 ± 0.08), driven by the presence of membrane species in the extracts. STZ injection caused a decrease of HLC (from 1.7 ± 0.3% to 0.7 ± 0.1%), an increase in the contribution of SFA (from 21 ± 2% to 45 ± 6%) and a reduction of the mean length (from 15 to 13 carbons) of cytosolic fatty-acyl chains. In addition, SFAs were also likely to have increased in membrane lipids of STZ-induced diabetic mice, along with a decrease of the mean chain length. These studies show the applicability of (1)H-MRS in vivo to monitor changes in the composition of the hepatic fatty-acyl chains in mice even when they exhibit reduced HLC, pointing to the value of this methodology to evaluate lipid-lowering interventions in the scope of metabolic disorders.

Facing Structural Disadvantage: The Role of Ingroup Connectedness

This thesis focuses on the social-psychological factors that help coping with structural disadvantage, and specifically on the role of cohesive ingroups and the sense of connectedness and efficacy they entail in this process. It aims to complement existing group-based models of coping that are grounded in a categorization perspective to groups and consequently focus exclusively on the large-scale categories made salient in intergroup contexts of comparisons. The dissertation accomplishes this aim through a reconsideration of between-persons relational interdependence as a sufficient and independent antecedent of a sense of groupness, and the benefits that a sense of group connectedness in one's direct environment, regardless of the categorical or relational basis of groupness, might have in the everyday struggles of disadvantaged group members. The three empirical papers aim to validate this approach, outlined in the first theoretical introduction, by testing derived hypotheses. They are based on data collected with youth populations (15-30) from three institutions in French-speaking Switzerland within the context of a larger project on youth transitions. Methods of data collection are paper-pencil questionnaires and in-depth interviews with a selected sub-sample of participants. The key argument of the first paper is that members of socially disadvantaged categories face higher barriers to their life project and that a general sense of connectedness, either based on categorical identities or other proximal groups and relations, mitigates the feeling of powerlessness associated with this experience. The second paper develops and tests a model that defines individual needs satisfaction as antecedent of self-group bonds and the efficacy beliefs derived from these intragroup bonds as the mechanism underlining the role of ingroups in coping. The third paper highlights the complexities that might be associated with the construction of a sense of groupness directly from intergroup comparisons and categorization-based disadvantage, and points out a more subtle understanding of the processes underling the emergence of groupness out of the situation of structural disadvantage. Overall, the findings confirm the central role of ingroups in coping with structural disadvantage and the importance of an understanding of groupness and its role that goes beyond the dominant focus on intergroup contexts and categorization processes.

Beyond Value-at-Risk : GlueVaR Distortion Risk Measures

We propose a new family of risk measures, called GlueVaR, within the class of distortion risk measures. Analytical closed-form expressions are shown for the most frequently used distribution functions in financial and insurance applications. The relationship between Glue-VaR, Value-at-Risk (VaR) and Tail Value-at-Risk (TVaR) is explained. Tail-subadditivity is investigated and it is shown that some GlueVaR risk measures satisfy this property. An interpretation in terms of risk attitudes is provided and a discussion is given on the applicability in non-financial problems such as health, safety, environmental or catastrophic risk management

Dollarization and the relationship between EMBI and fundamentals Latin American countries

This paper presents empirical evidence on the interrelationship that exists between the evolution of the Emerging Markets Bonds Index (EMBI) and some macroeconomic variables in seven Latin American countries; two of them (Ecuador and Panama), full dollarized. We make use of a Cointegrated Vector framework to analyze the short run effects from 2001 to 2009. The results suggest that EMBI is more stable in dollarized countries and that its evolution influences economic activity in non-dollarized economies; suggesting that investors confidence might be higher in dollarized countries where real and financial economic evolution are less tied than in non-dollarized ones.

Dollarization and the relationship between EMBI and fundamentals Latin American countries

This paper presents empirical evidence on the interrelationship that exists between the evolution of the Emerging Markets Bonds Index (EMBI) and some macroeconomic variables in seven Latin American countries; two of them (Ecuador and Panama), full dollarized. We make use of a Cointegrated Vector framework to analyze the short run effects from 2001 to 2009. The results suggest that EMBI is more stable in dollarized countries and that its evolution influences economic activity in non-dollarized economies; suggesting that investors confidence might be higher in dollarized countries where real and financial economic evolution are less tied than in non-dollarized ones.

The use of flexible quantile-based measures in risk assessment

A new family of distortion risk measures -GlueVaR- is proposed in Belles- Sampera et al. -2013- to procure a risk assessment lying between those provided by common quantile-based risk measures. GlueVaR risk measures may be expressed as a combination of these standard risk measures. We show here that this relationship may be used to obtain approximations of GlueVaR measures for general skewed distribution functions using the Cornish-Fisher expansion. A subfamily of GlueVaR measures satisfies the tail-subadditivity property. An example of risk measurement based on real insurance claim data is presented, where implications of tail-subadditivity in the aggregation of risks are illustrated.