Improving the Prevention of Environmental Risks with Convertible Bonds

In this paper, a manager borrows external funds in order to invest in production and also in prevention. The latter action must reduce the environmental risk driven by the activity of the firm. Prevention is observable neither by outside lenders nor by institutions such as environmental agencies for instance. In such a situation, we show that issuing convertible bonds - which permits the holder to exchange his bonds for a predetermined number of shares of the firm - from a limited liability firm could be a way to improve prevention compared to what can usually be done with standard debt. Such a relationship between the firm and the bank might be an alternative, or a complement, to the CERCLA legislation about extended liability which prevails in the United States and which is often discussed in Europe as a possible support of a more tightened European environmental legislation. We obtain an optimal convertible bond contract that induces more prevention and higher expected net revenues for the firm than standard debt. The expected social welfare is also improved. Finally, the economic implications of our findings are discussed.Moral Hazard, Environmental Risk, Limited Liability, Prevention, Convertible Bond.

Insurance and Financial Hedging of Oil Pollution Risks

The current international regime that regulates maritime oil transport calls for financial contributions by oil firms once an oil spill has occurred. Their percentage contribution to the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund depends only on their level of activity. In this paper, we show that this compensation regime would be more efficient if contributing oil companies adopted financial strategies to hedge against oil pollution risks. The optimal coverage contract is such that standard insurance is useful to manage small and medium oil spills, while investments on financial markets help to cover large oil spills, less frequent but much more catastrophic for society. We also show that the prevention of oil spills increases when insurance is combined with a financial hedging strategy. This positive effect on prevention is further enhanced if firms have the opportunity to send signals about their risk-reducing activities to potential investors.Oil spill, legislation, insurance, capital markets, prevention, catastrophe.

An Update on Breast Cancer Multigene Prognostic Tests—Emergent Clinical Biomarkers

Multigene signatures generate crucial prognostic information particularly useful for cancer patients where clinical parameters and traditional immunohistochemical markers alone lead to equivocal prognosis. Clinicians are now provided with molecular tools that assist in the outline of adjuvant therapies, namely helping decide on the extension of adjuvant endocrine therapy or on suppressing adjuvant chemotherapy in patients were toxic effects are particularly deleterious or when this treatment is fundamentally not needed. The importance of cancer multigene prognostic signatures is well elucidated in the guidelines for adjuvant systemic therapy in early-stage breast cancer and the guidelines on disease staging that are progressively integrating gene expression assays as classification biomarkers. In addition to the predictive and prognostic value, some genetic tests provide intrinsic subtyping classification. Herewith, we compare the molecular tests OncotypeDX, MammaPrint, Prosigna, EndoPredict, Breast Cancer Index, Mammostrat, and IHC4 and report the eligibility of each one in the suitable setting. Through to now, there is not a commercially available multigene test that makes recommendations regarding adjuvant treatment for HER-2 and triple negative breast cancers. Thus, these patients still receive adjuvant chemotherapy. Importantly, triple negative carcinomas are very heterogeneous regarding prognosis and new molecular signatures that decipher this very heterogeneous subgroup of breast cancer may improve the clinical management of the disease

Seasonal Patterns of Herbage Accumulation Dynamics in Marandu Palisadegrass Subjected to Intensities of Continuous Stocking Management

It is relatively well reported in the literature that pastures can have similar forage net accumulation when managed with contrasting structures. However, we hypothesized that the patterns of forage accumulation dynamics of pastures managed at different canopy heights is dependent on environmental conditions. The experimental treatments were four canopy heights (10, 20, 30, and 40 cm), allocated to experimental units according to a randomized complete block design with four replicates and evaluated throughout four contrasting environmental seasons (Summer, Autumn, Winter-Early Spring, and Late Spring). Under favourable growing conditions greater forage accumulation was observed in pastures maintained taller; on the contrary, under more stressful conditions, net forage accumulation rate reduced as canopy height increased. Such patterns of responses were related to compensations between tiller population density and tissue flows during summer and late spring and the reduced capacity of taller canopies to compensate lower population with greater growth rates during autumn and winter-early spring. Pastures subjected to intensities of continuous stocking management change their patterns of forage growth as they transitioned from favourable to more abiotic stressful conditions suggesting that warm-season perennial grasses demand seasonal adjustments in grazing heights in order to maximize herbage production

Subtle Morphological Changes in the Mandible of Tabby Mice Revealed by Micro-CT Imaging and Elliptical Fourier Quantification

X-linked hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (XLHED) is a genetic disorder due to a mutation of the EDA gene and is mainly characterized by an impaired formation of hair, teeth and sweat glands, and craniofacial dysmorphologies. Although tooth abnormalities in Tabby (Ta) mutant mice – the murine model of XLHED – have been extensively studied, characterization of the craniofacial complex, and more specifically the mandibular morphology has received less attention. From 3D micro-CT reconstructions of the left mandible, the mandibular outline observed in lateral view, was quantified using 2D elliptical Fourier analysis. Comparisons between Ta specimens and their wild-type controls were carried out showing significant shape differences between mouse strains enabling a clear distinction between hemizygous Ta specimens and the other mouse groups (WT and heterozygous EdaTa/+ specimens). Morphological differences associated with HED correspond not only to global mandibular features (restrained development of that bone along dorsoventral axis), but also to subtle aspects such as the marked backward projection of the coronoid process or the narrowing of the mandibular condylar neck. These modifications provide for the first time, evidence of a predominant effect of the Ta mutation on the mandibular morphology. These findings parallel the well described abnormalities of jugal tooth row and skeletal defects in Ta mice, and underline the role played by EDA-A in the reciprocal epithelial–mesenchymal interactions that are of critical importance in normal dental and craniofacial development

ASSESSORIA E PLANEJAMENTO AMBIENTAL E AGROPECUÁRIO: UMA POSSIBILIDADE DE TRABALHO PARA O EGRESSO DO CURSO DE AGRONOMIA

Neste artigo tem-se como objetivo apresentar o resultado obtido com o estágio Curricular Supervisionado III, do Curso de Agronomia da Universidade do Oeste de Santa Catarina  de São José do Cedro, na área de Assessoria e Planejamento Ambiental e agropecuário. Foi um período de relevada importância, pois levou a momentos de ação-reflexão-ação, relacionando conhecimentos teórico-práticos às práticas cotidianas no campo de estágio. Destaca-se que o estágio foi desenvolvido no período de 01 a 31 de outubro de 2014, na empresa Assessoria e Planejamento Ambiental e Agropecuário (Ambiter), localizada na cidade de Guaraciaba, SC. Objetivou-se, pois, conhecer o funcionamento dessa promissora empresa, que tem na sua essência um trabalho voltado à assessoria e ao planejamento ambiental e agropecuário, e, também, participar das atividades desenvolvidas tanto no escritório da empresa quanto a campo.Foram desenvolvidos trabalhos relacionados à topografia, ao licenciamento ambiental, a projeto de crédito rural e ao Cadastro Ambiental Rural (CAR), os quais foram de relevada importância à formação profissional do estagiário.Palavras-chave: Topografia. Licenciamento ambiental. Cadastro Ambiental Rural. Crédito rural

P-cadherin overexpression Is an indicator of clinical outcome in invasive breast carcinomas and is associated with CDH3 promoter hypomethylation

Purpose: P-cadherin overexpressionhas been reported in breast carcinomas,where itwas associated with proliferative high-grade histological tumors. This study aimed to analyze P-cadherin expression in invasive breast cancer and to correlate it with tumor markers, pathologic features, and patient survival. Another purpose was to evaluate the P-cadherin promoter methylation pattern as the molecularmechanismunderlying this gene regulation. Experimental Design: Using a series of invasive breast carcinomas, P-cadherin expressionwas evaluated and correlated with histologic grade, estrogen receptor, MIB-1, and p53 and c-erbB-2 expression. In order to assess whether P-cadherin expression was associated with changes in CDH3 promoter methylation, we studied the methylation status of a gene 5V-flanking region in these same carcinomas.This analysis was also done for normal tissue and for a breast cancer cell line treatedwith a demethylating agent. Results: P-cadherinexpression showeda strong correlationwithhighhistologic grade, increased proliferation, c-erbB-2 and p53 expression, lack of estrogen receptor, and poor patient survival. This overexpressioncanbe regulatedby gene promotermethylationbecause the 5-Aza-2V-deoxycytidine treatment ofMCF-7/AZ cells increased P-cadherinmRNA and proteinlevels. Additionally, we found that 71% of P- adherin-negative cases showed promoter methylation,whereas 65% of positive ones were unmethylated (P = 0.005). The normal P-cadherin-negative breast epithelial cells showed consistent CDH3 promotermethylation. Conclusions: P-cadherin expressionwas strongly associatedwith tumor aggressiveness, being a good indicator of clinical outcome. Moreover, the aberrant expression of P-cadherin in breast cancermight be regulated by gene promoter hypomethylation