Performance of foreign banks in developing countries: Evidence from sub-Saharan African banking markets

Do foreign banks perform better than domestic banks in host developing economies? Relying on financial statements and survey data I compare the performance of three different categories of foreign banks to the group of domestic banks in sub-Saharan Africa: global banks from developed countries, regional African banks and banks from non-African emerging economies. While emerging-market banks and global banks consistently outperform domestic banks, the difference is not significant for regional African banks. The higher performance of global banks and emerging-market banks is related to higher operational efficiency and lower cost of funding, while there is no strong evidence of segmentation by business segment in the loans market. Regional African banks, which started their foreign expansion more recently, are less able to generate interest income compared to domestic banks. These findings highlight the importance of taking into account foreign banks’ heterogeneity when assessing the impact of financial FDI on the host economy

REGENERAÇÃO DE PLANTAS DE TRIGO (Triticum aestivum L. cv CD104) A PARTIR DE EMBRIÕES MADUROS

The first step in the application of biotechnology techniques is the establishment of an efficient plant regeneration protocol. The genotype cv CD104 was cultivated in vitro to evaluate ability in calli induction and plantlets regeneration from mature embryos. Two types of explants were used: whole mature embryo (EI) and bi-sected mature embryo (ES). The explants were cultivated in MS medium with decreasing doses of growth regulator (2,4-D), in three distinct phases: induction (0; 1; 2; 4; 8 mg dm-3), maintenance (0; 0,5; 1; 2; 4 mg dm-3) and plant regeneration (0 mg dm-3). After induction, calli were evaluated every 21 days according to their responses of somatic embryogenesis: number of induced calli, calli size, number of germinated embryos, number of calli with green spots and number of regenerated plantlets. Besides the 8 mg dm-3 of 2,4-D produced the best responses in terms of calli induction, the concentration of 1 mg dm-3 showed the best results to the number of plantlets obtained and regenerative efficiency in both EI and ES. Regarding the type of explant, the ES had the best results in terms of ability in calli induction at all concentrations while the EI showed the best results obtained for plantlets regenerated and regenerative efficiency. O primeiro passo para a aplicação de técnicas biotecnológicas é o estabelecimento de um protocolo eficiente de regeneração in vitro. O genótipo de trigo cv CD104 foi cultivado in vitro com o objetivo de avaliar a competência para a formação de calos e regeneração de plantas a partir de embriões maduros. Foram utilizados como explantes: embrião maduro inteiro (EI) e embrião maduro sectado (ES). Os embriões maduros foram testados em meio MS com dosagens decrescentes de regulador de crescimento (2,4-D), em três fases distintas: indução (0; 1; 2; 4; 8 mg dm-3), manutenção (0; 0,5; 1; 2; 4 mg dm-3) e regeneração (0 mg dm-3). Após a fase de indução, os calos foram avaliados a cada 21 dias quanto suas respostas do número de calos totais formados; tamanho de calos; número de embriões germinados; número de pontuações verdes (embrióides) por calo, número de plântulas regeneradas e dos índices comparativos relacionados à embriogênese e regeneração. Embora a concentração de 8 mg dm-3  tenha resultado nas melhores respostas em termo de indução de calos, a concentração de 1 mg dm-3 apresentou as melhores respostas para o número de plântulas obtidas e para eficiência regenerativa em ambos, EI e ES. Em relação ao tipo de explante, o ES apresentou os melhores resultados para a capacidade de indução calos em todas as concentrações, e o EI apresentou os melhores resultados para razão entre plântulas obtidas e embriões maduros resgatados, e eficiência regenerativa.

Recent Asian origin of chytrid fungi causing global amphibian declines

Globalized infectious diseases are causing species declines worldwide, but their source often remains elusive. We used whole-genome sequencing to solve the spatiotemporal origins of the most devastating panzootic to date, caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, a proximate driver of global amphibian declines. We traced the source of B. dendrobatidis to the Korean peninsula, where one lineage, BdASIA-1, exhibits the genetic hallmarks of an ancestral population that seeded the panzootic. We date the emergence of this pathogen to the early 20th century, coinciding with the global expansion of commercial trade in amphibians, and we show that intercontinental transmission is ongoing. Our findings point to East Asia as a geographic hotspot for B. dendrobatidis biodiversity and the original source of these lineages that now parasitize amphibians worldwide

Development and worldwide use of non-lethal, and minimal population-level impact, protocols for the isolation of amphibian chytrid fungi

T.W.J.G., M.C.F., D.S.S., A.L., E.C., F.C.C., J.B., A.A.C., C.M., F.S., B.R.S., S.O., were supported through the Biodiversa project RACE: Risk Assessment of Chytridiomycosis to European Amphibian Biodiversity (NERC standard grant NE/K014455/1 and NE/E006701/1; ANR-08-BDVA-002-03). M.C.F., J.S., C.W., P.G. were supported by the Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2014-273), M.C.F., A.C., C.W. were supported by the Morris Animal Foundation. J.V. was supported by the Bolyai János Research Grant of the Hunagrian Academy of Sciences (BO/00597/14). F.G. and D.G. were supported by the Conservation Leadership Programme Future Conservationist Award. C.S.A. was supported by Fondecyt (No. 1181758). M.C.F. and A.C. were supported by. Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund Project (152510704). GMR held a doctoral scholarship (SFRH/BD/69194/2010) from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. L.F.T., C.L., L.P.R. K.R.Z., T.Y.J., T.S.J. were supported by São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP #2016/25358-3), the National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq #300896/2016–6) and a Catalyzing New International Collaborations grant from the United States NSF (OISE-1159513). C.S.A. was supported by Fondecyt (No. 1181758). T.M.D. was supported by the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. B.W. was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (2015R1D1A1A01057282).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Closing a gap in tropical forest biomass estimation: taking crown mass variation into account in pantropical allometries

Accurately monitoring tropical forest carbon stocks is a challenge that remains outstanding. Allometric models that consider tree diameter, height and wood density as predictors are currently used in most tropical forest carbon studies. In particular, a pantropical biomass model has been widely used for approximately a decade, and its most recent version will certainly constitute a reference model in the coming years. However, this reference model shows a systematic bias towards the largest trees. Because large trees are key drivers of forest carbon stocks and dynamics, understanding the origin and the consequences of this bias is of utmost concern. In this study, we compiled a unique tree mass data set of 673 trees destructively sampled in five tropical countries (101 trees > 100 cm in diameter) and an original data set of 130 forest plots (1 ha) from central Africa to quantify the prediction error of biomass allometric models at the individual and plot levels when explicitly taking crown mass variations into account or not doing so. We first showed that the proportion of crown to total tree aboveground biomass is highly variable among trees, ranging from 3 to 88 %. This proportion was constant on average for trees  1 Mg) and reduced the range of plot-level error (in %) from [−23; 16] to [0; 10]. The disproportionally higher allocation of large trees to crown mass may thus explain the bias observed recently in the reference pantropical model. This bias leads to far-from-negligible, but often overlooked, systematic errors at the plot level and may be easily corrected by taking a crown mass proxy for the largest trees in a stand into account, thus suggesting that the accuracy of forest carbon estimates can be significantly improved at a minimal cost.This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the author(s) and published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. The published article can be found at: http://www.biogeosciences.net

CCNE1 and survival of patients with tubo-ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma: An Ovarian Tumor Tissue Analysis consortium study

BACKGROUND: Cyclin E1 (CCNE1) is a potential predictive marker and therapeutic target in tubo-ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC). Smaller studies have revealed unfavorable associations for CCNE1 amplification and CCNE1 overexpression with survival, but to date no large-scale, histotype-specific validation has been performed. The hypothesis was that high-level amplification of CCNE1 and CCNE1 overexpression, as well as a combination of the two, are linked to shorter overall survival in HGSC. METHODS: Within the Ovarian Tumor Tissue Analysis consortium, amplification status and protein level in 3029 HGSC cases and mRNA expression in 2419 samples were investigated. RESULTS: High-level amplification (>8 copies by chromogenic in situ hybridization) was found in 8.6% of HGSC and overexpression (>60% with at least 5% demonstrating strong intensity by immunohistochemistry) was found in 22.4%. CCNE1 high-level amplification and overexpression both were linked to shorter overall survival in multivariate survival analysis adjusted for age and stage, with hazard stratification by study (hazard ratio [HR], 1.26; 95% CI, 1.08-1.47, p = .034, and HR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.05-1.32, p = .015, respectively). This was also true for cases with combined high-level amplification/overexpression (HR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.09-1.47, p = .033). CCNE1 mRNA expression was not associated with overall survival (HR, 1.00 per 1-SD increase; 95% CI, 0.94-1.06; p = .58). CCNE1 high-level amplification is mutually exclusive with the presence of germline BRCA1/2 pathogenic variants and shows an inverse association to RB1 loss. CONCLUSION: This study provides large-scale validation that CCNE1 high-level amplification is associated with shorter survival, supporting its utility as a prognostic biomarker in HGSC