A note on comonotonicity and positivity of the control components of decoupled quadratic FBSDE

In this small note we are concerned with the solution of Forward-Backward Stochastic Differential Equations (FBSDE) with drivers that grow quadratically in the control component (quadratic growth FBSDE or qgFBSDE). The main theorem is a comparison result that allows comparing componentwise the signs of the control processes of two different qgFBSDE. As a byproduct one obtains conditions that allow establishing the positivity of the control process.Comment: accepted for publicatio

Beyond the Economic Gaze: Childbearing during and after recessions in the Nordic countries

Abstract: During the 2010s, fertility rates fell across the Nordic region. The onset of thesedeclines seems linked to the Great Recession of 2008–2009 but their continuation cannot easilybe linked to subsequent economic change. The 1990s, too, brought episodes of economic crisesto the Nordic region that were followed by different degrees of fertility decline. In this study,we provide an empirical overview of parity-, age- and education-specific fertility developmentsin the five Nordic countries in the wake of the economic recessions in 2008 and the early 1990s,respectively. We demonstrate a high degree of heterogeneity in fertility developments acrosscountries after 1990, whereas after 2008, the trends are much more similar across the fivecountries. Likewise, the educational differences in birth hazards that characterized thedevelopments after 1990 were much smaller in the initial years after 2008–2009. This reversalfrom heterogeneity to homogeneity in the fertility response to recessions calls for an expansionof theories on the cyclicality of fertility in relation to uncertainty and economic and socialchange. In our discussion, we consider the role of a set of factors that also incorporates the state,crisis management, and perceptions of economic and welfare uncertainty.</p

Beyond the Economic Gaze: Childbearing during and after recessions in the Nordic countries

Abstract: During the 2010s, fertility rates fell across the Nordic region. The onset of thesedeclines seems linked to the Great Recession of 2008–2009 but their continuation cannot easilybe linked to subsequent economic change. The 1990s, too, brought episodes of economic crisesto the Nordic region that were followed by different degrees of fertility decline. In this study,we provide an empirical overview of parity-, age- and education-specific fertility developmentsin the five Nordic countries in the wake of the economic recessions in 2008 and the early 1990s,respectively. We demonstrate a high degree of heterogeneity in fertility developments acrosscountries after 1990, whereas after 2008, the trends are much more similar across the fivecountries. Likewise, the educational differences in birth hazards that characterized thedevelopments after 1990 were much smaller in the initial years after 2008–2009. This reversalfrom heterogeneity to homogeneity in the fertility response to recessions calls for an expansionof theories on the cyclicality of fertility in relation to uncertainty and economic and socialchange. In our discussion, we consider the role of a set of factors that also incorporates the state,crisis management, and perceptions of economic and welfare uncertainty.</p

Beyond the Economic Gaze: Childbearing during and after recessions in the Nordic countries

During the 2010s, fertility rates fell across the Nordic region. The onset of these declines seems linked to the Great Recession of 2008–2009, but their continuation cannot easily be linked to subsequent economic change. The 1990s, too, brought episodes of economic crises to the Nordic region that were followed by different degrees of fertility decline. In this study, we provide an empirical overview of parity-, age- and education-specific fertility developments in the five Nordic countries in the wake of the economic recessions in 2008 and the early 1990s, respectively. We demonstrate a high degree of heterogeneity in fertility developments across countries after 1990, whereas after 2008, the trends are much more similar across the five countries. Likewise, the educational differences in birth hazards that characterized the developments after 1990 were much smaller in the initial years after 2008–2009. This reversal from heterogeneity to homogeneity in the fertility response to recessions calls for an expansion of theories on the cyclicality of fertility in relation to uncertainty and economic and social change. In our discussion, we consider the role of a set of factors that also incorporates the state, crisis management, and perceptions of economic and welfare uncertainty.</p

Head-To-Head Comparison of PET and Perfusion Weighted MRI Techniques to Distinguish Treatment Related Abnormalities from Tumor Progression in Glioma

The post-treatment imaging surveillance of gliomas is challenged by distinguishing tumor progression (TP) from treatment-related abnormalities (TRA). Sophisticated imaging techniques, such as perfusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI PWI) and positron-emission tomography (PET) with a variety of radiotracers, have been suggested as being more reliable than standard imaging for distinguishing TP from TRA. However, it remains unclear if any technique holds diagnostic superiority. This meta-analysis provides a head-to-head comparison of the diagnostic accuracy of the aforementioned imaging techniques. Systematic literature searches on the use of PWI and PET imaging techniques were carried out in PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials.gov and the reference lists of relevant papers. After the extraction of data on imaging technique specifications and diagnostic accuracy, a meta-analysis was carried out. The quality of the included papers was assessed using the QUADAS-2 checklist. Nineteen articles, totaling 697 treated patients with glioma (431 males; mean age ± standard deviation 50.5 ± 5.1 years) were included. The investigated PWI techniques included dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC), dynamic contrast enhancement (DCE) and arterial spin labeling (ASL). The PET-tracers studied concerned [S-methyl- 11C]methionine, 2-deoxy-2-[ 18F]fluoro-D-glucose ([ 18F]FDG), O-(2-[ 18F]fluoroethyl)-L-tyrosine ([ 18F]FET) and 6-[ 18F]-fluoro-3,4-dihydroxy-L-phenylalanine ([ 18F]FDOPA). The meta-analysis of all data showed no diagnostic superior imaging technique. The included literature showed a low risk of bias. As no technique was found to be diagnostically superior, the local level of expertise is hypothesized to be the most important factor for diagnostically accurate results in post-treatment glioma patients regarding the distinction of TRA from TP

Measurement of the ratios of branching fractions R(D∗)\mathcal{R}(D^{*}) and R(D0)\mathcal{R}(D^{0})

The ratios of branching fractions $\mathcal{R}(D^{*})\equiv\mathcal{B}(\bar{B}\to D^{*}\tau^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\tau})/\mathcal{B}(\bar{B}\to D^{*}\mu^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\mu})$ and $\mathcal{R}(D^{0})\equiv\mathcal{B}(B^{-}\to D^{0}\tau^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\tau})/\mathcal{B}(B^{-}\to D^{0}\mu^{-}\bar{\nu}_{\mu})$ are measured, assuming isospin symmetry, using a sample of proton-proton collision data corresponding to 3.0 fb${ }^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity recorded by the LHCb experiment during 2011 and 2012. The tau lepton is identified in the decay mode $\tau^{-}\to\mu^{-}\nu_{\tau}\bar{\nu}_{\mu}$. The measured values are $\mathcal{R}(D^{*})=0.281\pm0.018\pm0.024$ and $\mathcal{R}(D^{0})=0.441\pm0.060\pm0.066$, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The correlation between these measurements is $\rho=-0.43$. Results are consistent with the current average of these quantities and are at a combined 1.9 standard deviations from the predictions based on lepton flavor universality in the Standard Model.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-039.html (LHCb public pages

DNA Glycosylases Involved in Base Excision Repair May Be Associated with Cancer Risk in BRCA1 and BRCA2 Mutation Carriers

Peer reviewe