Monetary policy and financial market evolution

Monetary policy ; Financial markets

Equity markets, transaction costs, and capital accumulation

There is a close, if imperfect, relationship between the effectiveness of an economy's capital markets and its level (or rate of growth) of real development. This may be because financial markets provide liquidity, promote the sharing of information, or permit agents to specialize. There is literature about how these functions help increase real activity, but surprisingly little literature predicting how the volume of activity in financial markets relates to the level or efficiency of an economy's productive activity. The authors address this question: how does the efficiency of an economy's equity market -- as measured by transaction costs -- affect its efficiency in producing physical capital and, through this channel, final goods and services? The answer: As the efficiency of an economy's capital markets increases (that is, as the transaction costs fall), the general effect is to cause agents to make longer-term -- hence, more transction-intensive -- investments. The result is a higher rate of return on savings and a change in its composition. These general equilibrium effects on the composition of savings cause agents to hold more of their wealth in the form of existing equity claims and to invest less in the initiation of new capital investments. As a result, a reduction in transaction costs can cause the capital stock either to rise or fall (under scenarios described in the paper). Further, a reduction in transaction costs will typically alter the composition of saving and investment, and any analysis of the consequences of such changes must take those effects into account.International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Trade and Regional Integration

A Beckwith–Wiedemann-associated CDKN1C mutation allows the identification of a novel nuclear localization signal in human p57Kip2

p57Kip2 protein is a member of the CIP/Kip family, mainly localized in the nucleus where it exerts its Cyclin/CDKs inhibitory function. In addition, the protein plays key roles in embryogenesis, differentiation, and carcinogenesis depending on its cellular localization and interactors. Mutations of CDKN1C, the gene encoding human p57Kip2, result in the development of different genetic diseases, including Beckwith–Wiedemann, IMAGe and Silver–Russell syndromes. We investigated a specific Beckwith–Wiedemann associated CDKN1C change (c.946 C>T) that results in the substitution of the C-terminal amino acid (arginine 316) with a tryptophan (R316W-p57Kip2). We found a clear redistribution of R316W-p57Kip2, in that while the wild-type p57Kip2 mostly occurs in the nucleus, the mutant form is also distributed in the cytoplasm. Transfection of two expression constructs encoding the p57Kip2 N-and C-terminal domain, respectively, allows the mapping of the nuclear localization signal(s) (NLSs) between residues 220–316. Moreover, by removing the basic RKRLR sequence at the protein C-terminus (from 312 to 316 residue), p57Kip2 was confined in the cytosol, implying that this sequence is absolutely required for nuclear entry. In conclusion, we identified an unreported p57Kip2 NLS and suggest that its absence or mutation might be of relevance in CDKN1C-associated human diseases determining significant changes of p57Kip2 localization/regulatory roles

An acetylcholinesterase biosensor for determination of low concentrations of Paraoxon and Dichlorvos

The characterization of an economic and ease-to-use carbon paste acetylcholinesterase (AChE) based biosensor to determine the concentration of pesticides Paraoxon and Dichlorvos is discussed. AChE hydrolyses acetylthiocholine (ATCh) in thiocoline (TC) and acetic acid (AA). When AChE is immobilized into a paste carbon working electrode kept at +410mV vs. Ag/AgCl electrode, the enzyme reaction rate using acetylthiocholine chloride (ATCl) as substrate is monitored as a current intensity. Because Paraoxon and Dichlorvos inhibit the AChE reaction, the decrease of the current intensity, at fixed ATCl concentration, is a measure of their concentration. Linear calibration curves for Paraoxon and Dichlorvos determination have been obtained. The detection limits resulted to be 0.86ppb and 4.2ppb for Paraoxon and Dichlorvos, respectively, while the extension of the linear range was up 23ppb for the former pesticide and up to 33ppb for the latter. Because the inhibited enzyme can be reactivated when immediately treated with an oxime, the biosensor reactivation has been studied when 1,1'-trimethylene bis 4-formylpyridinium bromide dioxime (TMB-4) and pyridine 2-aldoxime methiodide (2-PAM) were used. TMB-4 resulted more effective. The comparison with the behavior of similar AChE based biosensors is also presented

Unemployment, migration, and growth

Economic development is typically accompanied by a very pronounced migration of labor from rural to urban employment. This migration, in turn, is often associated with large scale urban underemployment. Both factors appear to play a very prominent role in the process of development. We consider a model in which rural-urban migration and urban underemployment are integrated into an otherwise conventional neoclassical growth model. Unemployment arises not from any exogenous rigidities, but from an adverse selection problem in labor markets. We demonstrate that, in the most natural case, rural-urban migration - and its associated underemployment - can be a source of multiple, asymptotically stable steady state equilibria, and hence of development traps. They also easily give rise to an indeterminacy of perfect foresight equilibrium, as well as to the existence of a large set of periodic equilibria displaying undamped oscillation. Many such equilibria display long periods of uninterrupted growth and rural-urban migration, punctuated by brief but severe recessions associated with net migration from urban to rural employment. Such equilibria are argued to be broadly consistent with historical U.S. experience.Unemployment

Graz. Rosarium

Rosarium am Opernrin

Primary Tumor Resection for Metastatic Colorectal, Gastric and Pancreatic Cancer Patients: In Search of Scientific Evidence to Inform Clinical Practice

The management of the primary tumor in metastatic colorectal, gastric and pancreatic cancer patients may be challenging. Indeed, primary tumor progression could be associated with severe symptoms, compromising the quality of life and the feasibility of effective systemic therapy, and might result in life-threatening complications. While retrospective series have suggested that surgery on the primary tumor may confer a survival advantage even in asymptomatic patients, randomized trials seem not to definitively support this hypothesis. We discuss the evidence for and against primary tumor resection for patients with metastatic gastrointestinal (colorectal, gastric and pancreatic) cancers treated with systemic therapies and put in context the pros and cons of the onco-surgical approach in the time of precision oncology. We also evaluate current ongoing trials on this topic, anticipating how these will influence both research and everyday practice

Short-wavelength four wave mixing experiments using single and two-color schemes at FERMI

The development of ultra-bright extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and X-ray free electron laser (FEL) sources has enabled the extension of wave-mixing approaches into the short wavelength regime. Such a class of experiments relies upon nonlinear interactions among multiple light pulses offering a unique tool for exploring the dynamics of ultrafast processes and correlations between selected excitations at relevant length and time scales adding elemental and site selectivity as well. Besides the availability of a suitable photon source, the implementation of wave mixing methodology requires efforts in developing the instrumental set-up. We have realized at the FERMI FEL two dedicated set-ups to handle multiple FEL beams with preselected parameters in a non-collinear fashion and control their interaction sequence at the target. These unique apparatuses, combined with the exceptional characteristics of the seeded FERMI FEL, have allowed us to make the first steps into this field and further advances are foreseen in the near future

Multigene panel testing increases the number of loci associated with gastric cancer predisposition

The main gene involved in gastric cancer (GC) predisposition is CDH1, the pathogenic variants of which are associated with diffuse-type gastric cancer (DGC) and lobular breast cancer (LBC). CDH1 only explains a fraction (10–50%) of patients suspected of DGC/LBC genetic predisposition. To identify novel susceptibility genes, thus improving the management of families at risk, we performed a multigene panel testing on selected patients. We searched for germline pathogenic variants in 94 cancer-related genes in 96 GC or LBC Italian patients with early-onset and/or family history of GC. We found CDH1 pathogenic variants in 10.4% of patients. In 11.5% of cases, we identified loss-of-function variants in BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, and ATM breast/ovarian cancer susceptibility genes, as well as in MSH2, PMS2, BMPR1A, PRF1, and BLM genes. In 78.1% of patients, we did not find any variants with clear-cut clinical significance; however, 37.3% of these cases harbored rare missense variants predicted to be damaging by bioinformatics tools. Multigene panel testing decreased the number of patients that would have otherwise remained genetically unexplained. Besides CDH1, our results demonstrated that GC pathogenic variants are distributed across a number of susceptibility genes and reinforced the emerging link between gastric and breast cancer predisposition.This research was supported by the Istituto Scientifico Romagnolo per lo Studio e la Cura dei Tumori (IRST) IRCCS, by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR)—Dipartimenti di Eccellenza Program (2018–2022)—Department of Biology and Biotechnology L. Spallanzani, University of Pavia, and by the Dunia Beam Erasmus Mundus project (fellowship to R.A.K.)

Nanoscale transient magnetization gratings excited and probed by femtosecond extreme ultraviolet pulses

We utilize coherent femtosecond extreme ultraviolet (EUV) pulses derived from a free electron laser (FEL) to generate transient periodic magnetization patterns with periods as short as 44 nm. Combining spatially periodic excitation with resonant probing at the dichroic M-edge of cobalt allows us to create and probe transient gratings of electronic and magnetic excitations in a CoGd alloy. In a demagnetized sample, we observe an electronic excitation with 50 fs rise time close to the FEL pulse duration and ~0.5 ps decay time within the range for the electron-phonon relaxation in metals. When the experiment is performed on a sample magnetized to saturation in an external field, we observe a magnetization grating, which appears on a sub-picosecond time scale as the sample is demagnetized at the maxima of the EUV intensity and then decays on the time scale of tens of picoseconds via thermal diffusion. The described approach opens prospects for studying dynamics of ultrafast magnetic phenomena on nanometer length scales