Production Technology and Competitiveness In the Hungarian Manufacturing Industry

Following the big transformations of the 1990s, enterprise structure and technological level seem to have become stabilised in Hungary. Under these circumstances it is especially interesting to identify the elements responsible for competitiveness in general, and the role technology plays in development in particular, according to managers experienced in production and marketing. This empirical study – based on in-depth interviews and field research – summarises characteristics of the technological level in the sectors examined, role of technology and labour in production, effects of foreign direct investment, relations between competition and firm-level factors determining competitiveness, and concludes by summing up those most frequently mentioned proposals that should be incorporated into economic policy according to managers. Main findings indicate that more qualified, more intensive and cheaper labour can be substituted for high technology. The competitiveness of an enterprise is not determined by technology alone, but rather by a combination of technology, the parameters of available labour and the costs of investment increasing productivity. The insufficiency of inter-company relations, together with a shortage of available assets necessary for investment constitute the major threat undermining the competitiveness of enterprises in present-day Hungary

Correlation of Atrial Natriuretic Peptide and Cyclic Guanosine Monophosphate Plasma Concentrations in Patients with Heart Disorders During Rest and Exercise

Peer Reviewe

MafA and MafB Regulate Genes Critical to β-Cells in a Unique Temporal Manner

OBJECTIVE-Several transcription factors are essential to pancreatic islet beta-cell development, proliferation, and activity, including MafA and MafB. However, MafA and MafB are distinct from others in regard to temporal and islet cell expression pattern, with beta-cells affected by MafB only during development and exclusively by MafA in the adult. Our aim was to define the functional relationship between these closely related activators to the beta-cell. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS-The distribution of MafA and MafB in the beta-cell population was determined immunohistochemically at various developmental and perinatal stages in mice. To identify genes regulated by MafB, microarray profiling was performed on wild-type and MafB(-/-) pancreata at embryonic day 18.5, with candidates evaluated by quantitative RT-PCR and in situ hybridization. The potential role of MafA in the expression of verified targets was next analyzed in adult islets of a pancreas-wide MafA mutant (termed MafA(Delta Panc)). RESULTS-MafB was produced in a larger fraction of beta-cells than MafA during development and found to regulate potential effectors of glucose sensing, hormone processing, vesicle formation, and insulin secretion. Notably, expression from many of these genes was compromised in MafA(Delta Panc) islets, suggesting that MafA is required to sustain expression in adults. CONCLUSIONS-Our results provide insight into the sequential manner by which MafA and MafB regulate islet beta-cell formation and maturation. Diabetes 59:2530-2539, 201

Método para revestimento de painéis de fibras de madeira de média densidade (MDF) com filmes finos de nanocelulose.

O desenvolvimento de novas tecnologias para proporcionar propriedades e características de caráter prático mais relevantes à madeira sólida e produtos à base de madeira dos materiais tem sido amplamente discutido no meio industrial e acadêmico. A proteção desses materiais contra danos físicos e mecânicos, bem como a mitigação de problemas de cunho ambiental são essenciais para prolongar a sua vida útil e ampliar o seu valor agregado no mercado. Nesse contexto, ressalta-se a importância dos painéis de fibras de madeira de média densidade (MDF) no setor florestal e madeireiro, com produção global estimada em 101 milhões de m3 no ano de 2013, segundo a FAOSTAT (2017). Apesar de os painéis MDF apresentarem excelentes características de trabalhabilidade e alta resistência biológica contra fungos, a utilização de resina ureia-formaldeído (UF) durante o seu processo de fabricação resulta em um dos desafios mais críticos enfrentados pelas indústrias do setor. Desde o processo de fabricação, bem como durante a vida útil dos painéis MDF aplicados em produtos de uso interno, há emissão de formaldeído, o qual é um gás incolor responsável por problemas ambientais e danos à saúde humana (INTERNATIONAL AGENCY FOR RESEARCH ON CANCER, 2006; De Groot et al., 2010).O desenvolvimento de novas tecnologias para proporcionar propriedades e características de caráter prático mais relevantes à madeira sólida e produtos à base de madeira dos materiais tem sido amplamente discutido no meio industrial e acadêmico. A proteção desses materiais contra danos físicos e mecânicos, bem como a mitigação de problemas de cunho ambiental são essenciais para prolongar a sua vida útil e ampliar o seu valor agregado no mercado. Nesse contexto, ressalta-se a importância dos painéis de fibras de madeira de média densidade (MDF) no setor florestal e madeireiro, com produção global estimada em 101 milhões de m3 no ano de 2013, segundo a FAOSTAT (2017). Apesar de os painéis MDF apresentarem excelentes características de trabalhabilidade e alta resistência biológica contra fungos, a utilização de resina ureia-formaldeído (UF) durante o seu processo de fabricação resulta em um dos desafios mais críticos enfrentados pelas indústrias do setor. Desde o processo de fabricação, bem como durante a vida útil dos painéis MDF aplicados em produtos de uso interno, há emissão de formaldeído, o qual é um gás incolor responsável por problemas ambientais e danos à saúde humana (INTERNATIONAL AGENCY FOR RESEARCH ON CANCER, 2006; De Groot et al., 2010).bitstream/item/218328/1/CT-460-1871-final.pd

The Threat of Capital Drain: A Rationale for Public Banks?

This paper yields a rationale for why subsidized public banks may be desirable from a regional perspective in a financially integrated economy. We present a model with credit rationing and heterogeneous regions in which public banks prevent a capital drain from poorer to richer regions by subsidizing local depositors, for example, through a public guarantee. Under some conditions, cooperative banks can perform the same function without any subsidization; however, they may be crowded out by public banks. We also discuss the impact of the political structure on the emergence of public banks in a political-economy setting and the role of interregional mobility

Mapping the Cord Blood Transcriptome of Pregnancies Affected by Early Maternal Anemia to Identify Signatures of Fetal Programming

Context Anemia during early pregnancy (EP) is common in developing countries and is associated with adverse health consequences for both mothers and children. Offspring of women with EP anemia often have low birth weight, which increases risk for cardiometabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes (T2D), later in life. Objective We aimed to elucidate mechanisms underlying developmental programming of adult cardiometabolic disease, including epigenetic and transcriptional alterations potentially detectable in umbilical cord blood (UCB) at time of birth. Methods We leveraged global transcriptome- and accompanying epigenome-wide changes in 48 UCB from newborns of EP anemic Tanzanian mothers and 50 controls to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in UCB exposed to maternal EP anemia. DEGs were assessed for association with neonatal anthropometry and cord insulin levels. These genes were further studied in expression data from human fetal pancreas and adult islets to understand their role in beta-cell development and/or function. Results The expression of 137 genes was altered in UCB of newborns exposed to maternal EP anemia. These putative signatures of fetal programming, which included the birth weight locus LCORL, were potentially mediated by epigenetic changes in 27 genes and associated with neonatal anthropometry. Among the DEGs were P2RX7, PIK3C2B, and NUMBL, which potentially influence beta-cell development. Insulin levels were lower in EP anemia-exposed UCB, supporting the notion of developmental programming of pancreatic beta-cell dysfunction and subsequently increased risk of T2D in offspring of mothers with EP anemia. Conclusions Our data provide proof-of-concept on distinct transcriptional and epigenetic changes detectable in UCB from newborns exposed to maternal EP anemia.Peer reviewe

Modulation of plant root growth by nitrogen source-defined regulation of polar auxin transport

Availability of the essential macronutrient nitrogen in soil plays a critical role in plant growth, development, and impacts agricultural productivity. Plants have evolved different strategies for sensing and responding to heterogeneous nitrogen distribution. Modulation of root system architecture, including primary root growth and branching, is among the most essential plant adaptions to ensure adequate nitrogen acquisition. However, the immediate molecular pathways coordinating the adjustment of root growth in response to distinct nitrogen sources, such as nitrate or ammonium, are poorly understood. Here, we show that growth as manifested by cell division and elongation is synchronized by coordinated auxin flux between two adjacent outer tissue layers of the root. This coordination is achieved by nitrate‐dependent dephosphorylation of the PIN2 auxin efflux carrier at a previously uncharacterized phosphorylation site, leading to subsequent PIN2 lateralization and thereby regulating auxin flow between adjacent tissues. A dynamic computer model based on our experimental data successfully recapitulates experimental observations. Our study provides mechanistic insights broadening our understanding of root growth mechanisms in dynamic environments

Life-long impairment of glucose homeostasis upon prenatal exposure to psychostimulants

Maternal drug abuse during pregnancy is a rapidly escalating societal problem. Psychostimulants, including amphetamine, cocaine, and methamphetamine, are amongst the illicit drugs most commonly consumed by pregnant women. Neuropharmacology concepts posit that psychostimulants affect monoamine signaling in the nervous system by their affinities to neurotransmitter reuptake and vesicular transporters to heighten neurotransmitter availability extracellularly. Exacerbated dopamine signaling is particularly considered as a key determinant of psychostimulant action. Much less is known about possible adverse effects of these drugs on peripheral organs, and if in utero exposure induces lifelong pathologies. Here, we addressed this question by combining human RNA-seq data with cellular and mouse models of neuroendocrine development. We show that episodic maternal exposure to psychostimulants during pregnancy coincident with the intrauterine specification of pancreatic beta cells permanently impairs their ability of insulin production, leading to glucose intolerance in adult female but not male offspring. We link psychostimulant action specifically to serotonin signaling and implicate the sex-specific epigenetic reprogramming of serotonin-related gene regulatory networks upstream from the transcription factor Pet1/Fev as determinants of reduced insulin production.Peer reviewe

Pancreatic Transcription Factors Containing Protein Transduction Domains Drive Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells towards Endocrine Pancreas

Protein transduction domains (PTDs), such as the HIV1-TAT peptide, have been previously used to promote the uptake of proteins into a range of cell types, including stem cells. Here we generated pancreatic transcription factors containing PTD sequences and administered these to endoderm enriched mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells under conditions that were designed to mimic the pattern of expression of these factors in the developing pancreas. The ES cells were first cultured as embryoid bodies and treated with Activin A and Bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) to promote formation of definitive endoderm. Cells were subsequently plated as a monolayer and treated with different combinations of the modified recombinant transcription factors Pdx1 and MafA. The results demonstrate that each transcription factor was efficiently taken up by the cells, where they were localized in the nuclei. RT-qPCR was used to measure the expression levels of pancreatic markers. After the addition of Pdx1 alone for a period of five days, followed by the combination of Pdx1 and TAT-MafA in a second phase, up-regulation of insulin 1, insulin 2, Pdx1, Glut2, Pax4 and Nkx6.1 was observed. As assessed by immunocytochemistry, double positive insulin and Pdx1 cells were detected in the differentiated cultures. Although the pattern of pancreatic markers expression in these cultures was comparable to that of a mouse transformed β-cell line (MIN-6) and human islets, the expression levels of insulin observed in the differentiated ES cell cultures were several orders of magnitude lower. This suggests that, although PTD-TFs may prove useful in studying the role of exogenous TFs in the differentiation of ES cells towards islets and other pancreatic lineages, the amount of insulin generated is well below that required for therapeutically useful cells