Social norms and household time allocation

Economic theories of the household predict that increases in female relative human capital lead to decreases in female housework time. However, longitudinal and cross-sectional evidence seems to contradict this implication. Women's share of home time fails to decrease despite increases in women's relative earnings. The literature has proposed social norms on the household division of labor as an alternative explanation. We use the 2002-2003 Spanish Time Use Survey (STUS) to explore the presence of social norms associated with the household division of housework and childcare. First, we observe that wives who earn more than their husbands still do more than 50% of the housework and childcare. Second, we find that a woman's relative share of housework decreases as her relative earnings increase, but only up to the point where she earns the same as her husband. Finally, independently of the definition of childcare, the relative time devoted to childcare does not vary with spouses' relative earnings. All these findings suggest that social norms may be an important factor in the division of household time.Household production; intrahousehold allocation; time allocation; social norms;

The diversification-performance relationship in Spanish firms : does the CEO´S behaviour style matter?

The agency-stewardship theoretical framework posits that CEOs may choose to act as agents or as stewards. CEOs as agents are economically rational individuals driven by self-interest, whereas CEOs as stewards are self-actualizing individuals that behave pro-organizationally. Our study extends this framework to analyze whether the CEO´s behavior style affects the diversification-performance relationship. After applying Heckman´s method on a sample of Spanish firms, our results verify that diversification affects positively on firm performance and such effect is significantly strong when this strategy is managed and implemented by a CEO inclined to behave as steward.peer-reviewe

How important is the European economic and monetary union in the foreign trade with the EU-27 countries? Empirical evidence from Spain

This paper analyzes the effect of the European Economic and Monetary Union on export flows from a Spanish region (Castilla y Leon) to the EU-27 countries during the last years Applying static panel data estimation technique, this study finds that exporter and importer incomes, exporter population, distance, and a common land border are the main explanatory factors of exports from this Spanish region. Moreover, the EU membership of the importer country only caused positive and significant effects between 1994 and 1996, whereas the EMU membership reduced export flows from Castilla y Leon to the European countries during the whole period.peer-reviewe

Patterns of brain atrophy in dysexecutive amnestic mild cognitive impairment raise confidence about prodromal AD dementia

Background: Prediction models aimed at detecting risk of progression from Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) dementia increase their accuracy when impaired executive functions enter the analysis. This suggests that impaired executive functions in MCI are likely linked to the prodromal stages of AD dementia. Neuroimaging assessment of such patients would allow exploring if they show AD related patterns of brain atrophy. We hypothesized that AD sensitive brain regions would show discrimination between dysexecutive amnestic MCI (maMIC) and healthy controls. Method: We analysed 32 healthy controls and 23 MCI patients. Patients were divided in single domain amnestic MCI, multidomain amnestic MCI (i.e., with the dysexecutive component), and non-amnestic MCI. Brain volume data entered regression models to analyse which brain regions predict group membership (control vs maMCI). Stepwise lineal regression model was then conducted to identify the brain regions with better prediction power. Results: Four variables were able to predict group membership in simple lineal regression models: entorhinal cortex, lingual gyrus and parahippocampal gyrus in the left hemisphere and fusiform gyrus in the right hemisphere. The entorhinal cortex provided the most accurate model (F(1, 42) = 14.19, p=0.001, R2=0.24). Linear regression models were run with performance on executive function tasks including tests of switching, planning, verbal fluency and working memory. The most accurate model returned Letters and Numbers and categories fluency (F(2, 44) = 21.35, p=0.000, R2=0.48) suggesting that working memory and category generation are the functions contributing to the dysexecutive profiles observed in maMCI patients. Conclusion: Dysexecutive profiles in multidomain amnestic MCI together with neuroimaging volumetric analysis increase the probability of identifying the prodromal stages of AD dementia

Error Detection and Mitigation of Data-Intensive Microprocessor Applications Using SIMD and Trace Monitoring

This article proposes a software error mitigation approach that uses the single instruction multiple data (SIMD) coprocessor to accelerate computation over redundant data. In addition, an external IP connected to the microprocessor's trace interface is used to detect errors that are difficult to cover with software-implemented techniques. The proposed approach has been implemented in an ARM microprocessor, and an irradiation campaign with neutrons has been carried out at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Experimental results demonstrate the high error coverage (more than 99.9%) of the proposed approach. The neutron cross section of errors that were not corrected nor detected was reduced by more than three orders of magnitude

The Use of Microprocessor Trace Infrastructures for Radiation-Induced Fault Diagnosis

This work proposes a methodology to diagnoseradiation-induced faults in a microprocessor using the hardwaretrace infrastructure. The diagnosis capabilities of this approachare demonstrated for an ARM microprocessor under neutronand proton irradiation campaigns. The experimental resultsdemonstrate that the execution status in the precise moment thatthe error occurred can be reconstructed, so that error diagnosiscan be achieved

High-throughput mass spectrometry analysis of N -glycans and protein markers after FUT8 knockdown in the syngeneic SW480/SW620 colorectal cancer cell model

Disruption of the glycosylation machinery is a common feature in many types of cancer, and colorectal cancer (CRC) is no exception. Core fucosylation is mediated by the enzyme fucosyltransferase 8 (FucT-8), which catalyzes the addition of α1,6-l-fucose to the innermost GlcNAc residue of N-glycans. We and others have documented the involvement of FucT-8 and core-fucosylated proteins in CRC progression, in which we addressed core fucosylation in the syngeneic CRC model formed by SW480 and SW620 tumor cell lines from the perspective of alterations in their N-glycosylation profile and protein expression as an effect of the knockdown of the FUT8 gene that encodes FucT-8. Using label-free, semiquantitative mass spectrometry (MS) analysis, we found noticeable differences in N-glycosylation patterns in FUT8-knockdown cells, affecting core fucosylation and sialylation, the Hex/HexNAc ratio, and antennarity. Furthermore, stable isotopic labeling of amino acids in cell culture (SILAC)-based proteomic screening detected the alteration of species involved in protein folding, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and Golgi post-translational stabilization, epithelial polarity, and cellular response to damage and therapy. This data is available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD050012. Overall, the results obtained merit further investigation to validate their feasibility as biomarkers of progression and malignization in CRC, as well as their potential usefulness in clinical practiceXunta de Galicia | Ref. CN 2011/024Xunta de Galicia | Ref. GRC 2014/019Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte | Ref. FPU12/03662Universidade de Vigo/CISUGInstituto de Salud Carlos III | Ref. PT13/000

Inhibition of α(1,6)fucosyltransferase: effects on cell proliferation, migration, and adhesion in an SW480/SW620 syngeneic colorectal cancer model

The present study explored the impact of inhibiting α(1,6)fucosylation (core fucosylation) on the functional phenotype of a cellular model of colorectal cancer (CRC) malignization formed by the syngeneic SW480 and SW620 CRC lines. Expression of the FUT8 gene encoding α(1,6)fucosyltransferase was inhibited in tumor line SW480 by a combination of shRNA-based antisense knockdown and Lens culinaris agglutinin (LCA) selection. LCA-resistant clones were subsequently assayed in vitro for proliferation, migration, and adhesion. The α(1,6)FT-inhibited SW480 cells showed enhanced proliferation in adherent conditions, unlike their α(1,6)FT-depleted SW620 counterparts, which displayed reduced proliferation. Under non-adherent conditions, α(1,6)FT-inhibited SW480 cells also showed greater growth capacity than their respective non-targeted control (NTC) cells. However, cell migration decreased in SW480 after FUT8 knockdown, while adhesion to EA.hy926 cells was significantly enhanced. The reported results indicate that the FUT8 knockdown strategy with subsequent selection for LCA-resistant clones was effective in greatly reducing α(1,6)FT expression in SW480 and SW620 CRC lines. In addition, α(1,6)FT impairment affected the proliferation, migration, and adhesion of α(1,6)FT-deficient clones SW480 and SW620 in a tumor stage-dependent manner, suggesting that core fucosylation has a dynamic role in the evolution of CRC.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia | Ref. AP-FPU12/03662Xunta de Galicia | Ref. GRC 2014/019Xunta de Galicia | Ref. CN 2011/02

Deciphering Strawberry Ripening by Tissue Specific Gene Regulatory Networks

During ripening, fruits undergo a number of metabolic and physiological changes leading to softening and improvement of characters such as flavor and palatability. Insights into transcriptome changes during strawberry fruit ripening have been reported, but always using either complete fruits in the analysis or separating achenes and the fleshy part (receptacle). However, the receptacle is composed of heterogeneous cell types, each of them with different characteristics and functions. Hence, transcriptomic studies performed so far may have lost important regulatory elements which expression is low but important in a specific cell-type specific. In our study, we use Laser Capture Microdissection (LCM) technique for the isolation of cells from specific tissue types such as the epidermis, vascular bundles, cortex, and pith. Transcriptome profiling of these tissue types was performed by RNAseq. A gene co-expression analysis was performed by Weighted Correlation Network Analysis (WGCNA). Ontology analysis of each module showed wax biosynthesis as the main biological pathway enriched at the red epidermis specific module. In order to elucidate the putative regulatory elements that control the synthesis of waxes in this tissue, a Gene Regulatory Network (GRN) was generated using GENIST (de Luis Balaguer, 2017). As a result, we have identified a set of transcription factors that might regulate the expression of eceriferum genes and a fatty acid elongase necessary for wax biosynthesis in ripe epidermis. Ultimately, our results open the possibility of implementing novel targeted breeding approaches. Moreover, this work shows that LCM followed by RNAseq is a powerful tool that can be used to clarify the regulatory scenario of tissue-specific biological processes during strawberry ripening.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Core fucosylation mediated by the FucT-8 enzyme affects TRAIL-induced apoptosis and sensitivity to chemotherapy in human SW480 and SW620 colorectal cancer cells

Epithelial cells can undergo apoptosis by manipulating the balance between pro-survival and apoptotic signals. In this work, we show that TRAIL-induced apoptosis can be differentially regulated by the expression of α(1,6)fucosyltransferase (FucT-8), the only enzyme in mammals that transfers the α(1,6)fucose residue to the pentasaccharide core of complex N-glycans. Specifically, in the cellular model of colorectal cancer (CRC) progression formed using the human syngeneic lines SW480 and SW620, knockdown of the FucT-8-encoding FUT8 gene significantly enhanced TRAIL-induced apoptosis in SW480 cells. However, FUT8 repression did not affect SW620 cells, which suggests that core fucosylation differentiates TRAIL-sensitive premetastatic SW480 cells from TRAIL-resistant metastatic SW620 cells. In this regard, we provide evidence that phosphorylation of ERK1/2 kinases can dynamically regulate TRAIL-dependent apoptosis and that core fucosylation can control the ERK/MAPK pro-survival pathway in which SW480 and SW620 cells participate. Moreover, the depletion of core fucosylation sensitises primary tumour SW480 cells to the combination of TRAIL and low doses of 5-FU, oxaliplatin, irinotecan, or mitomycin C. In contrast, a combination of TRAIL and oxaliplatin, irinotecan, or bevacizumab reinforces resistance of FUT8-knockdown metastatic SW620 cells to apoptosis. Consequently, FucT-8 could be a plausible target for increasing apoptosis and drug response in early CRC.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia | Ref. AP-FPU12/03662Xunta de Galicia | Ref. Contrato-Programa de Consolidación de Unidades de Investigación Competitivas, CN 2011/024Xunta de Galicia | Ref. Contrato-Programa de Consolidación de Grupos de Referencia Competitiva, GRC 2014/01