The Impact of Tax and Expenditure Policies on Income Disttribution: Evidence from a Large Panel of Countries

This paper focuses is on the potential role that taxation and public expenditure policies play in general in affecting income distribution. We find that progressive personal income taxes and corporate in-come taxes reduce income inequality. However, the effect of corporate income taxes seems to be eroded away in open or globalized economies. We also find that general consumption taxes, excise taxes and customs duties have a negative impact on income distribution. On the expenditure side, we find that higher shares of GDP on social welfare, education, health and housing public expenditures have a positive impact on income distribution

The Impact of Tax and Expenditure Policies on Income Distribution: Evidence from a Large Panel of Countries

The main focus of this paper is on the potential role that taxation and public expenditure policies play in general in affecting income distribution. We find that progressive personal income taxes and corporate income taxes reduce income inequality. The effect of corporate income taxes seems to be eroded away in open or globalized economies. We also generally find that general consumption taxes, excise taxes and customs duties have a negative impact on income distribution. On the expenditure side, we find that higher shares of GDP on social welfare, education, health and housing public expenditures have a positive impact on income distribution

Maturity Assesment: A Case of Micro and Small Service Enterprises

High percentages of Micro and Small-sized enterprises (MSEs) perish in their initials years of business. That is why various efforts have been made to know their operation and improve it. However those proposals of improvement are mostly based in reductionist diagnostics that limit the understanding of their business processes. This paper presents an integral diagnostic of MSEs, specifically in the service sector in the north of Mexico, through which the maturity level of its processes is determined. The design was descriptive exploratory with a quantitative approach. A rubric-type instrument was applied, which was designed to perform an integral diagnosis and measure the maturity level of the processes in 140 companies. The results indicate that the maturity levels of the business processes in the service sector are mostly craft-like. The elements with the lowest maturity levels include service assessment as part of management, the capacity to design new services/processes, evaluation and selection of suppliers, and improvements to the purchasing process that can assure an appropriate level of service. The need to implement improvement projects in areas related to planning, monitoring, control and information support systems were also detected. The main contribution of this work is having defined the service sector of the municipality where the organizations under study are located, which will help entrepreneurs in the sector, to improve their knowledge on the area in which they operate; researchers decide to make more contributions to the sector; and clients obtain information about the business they purchase from

Eficacia de programas de intervención para el desarrollo de habilidades psicológicas en jóvenes con discapacidad mental

Se muestra el desempeño de personas adolescentes y adultas con daño cerebral, después de haber participado en programas de intervención para el desarrollo de habilidades psicológicas, que permitan promover su integración social e independencia personal. El estudio se llevó acabo aplicando la escala de Rogers y D?Eugenio, la evaluación psicológica breve en español (neuropsi) y el test guestáltico visomotor de Bender

GB3.0: a platform for plant bio-design that connects functional DNA elements with associated biological data

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Nucleic Acids Research following peer review. The version of record Vázquez-Vilar, M.; Quijano-Rubio, A.; Fernandez Del Carmen, MA.; Sarrion-Perdigones, A.; Ochoa-Fernández, R.; Ziarsolo Areitioaurtena, P.; Blanca Postigo, JM.... (2017). GB3.0: a platform for plant bio-design that connects functional DNA elements with associated biological data. Nucleic Acids Research. 45(4):2196-2209. doi:10.1093/nar/gkw1326 is available online at: http://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkw1326.[EN] Modular DNA assembly simplifies multigene engineering in Plant Synthetic Biology. Furthermore, the recent adoption of a common syntax to facilitate the exchange of plant DNA parts (phytobricks) is a promising strategy to speed up genetic engineering. Following this lead, here, we present a platform for plant biodesign that incorporates functional descriptions of phytobricks obtained under pre-defined experimental conditions, and systematically registers the resulting information as metadata for documentation. To facilitate the handling of functional descriptions, we developed a new version (v3.0) of the GoldenBraid (GB) webtool that integrates the experimental data and displays it in the form of datasheets. We report the use of the Luciferase/Renilla (Luc/Ren) transient agroinfiltration assay in Nicotiana benthamiana as a standard to estimate relative transcriptional activities conferred by regulatory phytobricks, and show the consistency and reproducibility of this method in the characterization of a synthetic phytobrick based on the CaMV35S promoter. Furthermore, we illustrate the potential for combinatorial optimization and incremental innovation of the GB3.0 platform in two separate examples, (i) the development of a collection of orthogonal transcriptional regulators based on phiC31 integrase and (ii) the design of a small genetic circuit that connects a glucocorticoid switch to a MYB/bHLH transcriptional activation module.Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [BIO2013-42193-R and BIO2016-78601-R projects to A.G. and D.O.]. Funding for open access charge: Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [BIO2013-42193-R and BIO2016-78601-R projects to A.G. and D.O.].Vázquez-Vilar, M.; Quijano-Rubio, A.; Fernández Del Carmen, MA.; Sarrion-Perdigones, A.; Ochoa-Fernández, R.; Ziarsolo Areitioaurtena, P.; Blanca Postigo, JM.... (2017). GB3.0: a platform for plant bio-design that connects functional DNA elements with associated biological data. 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Global DNA hypermethylation-associated cancer chemotherapy resistance and its reversion with the demethylating agent hydralazine

BACKGROUND: The development of resistance to cytotoxic chemotherapy continues to be a major obstacle for successful anticancer therapy. It has been shown that cells exposed to toxic concentrations of commonly used cancer chemotherapy agents develop DNA hypermetylation. Hence, demethylating agents could play a role in overcoming drug resistance. METHODS: MCF-7 cells were rendered adriamycin-resistant by weekly treatment with adriamycin. Wild-type and the resulting MCF-7/Adr cells were analyzed for global DNA methylation. DNA methyltransferase activity and DNA methyltransferase (dnmt) gene expression were also determined. MCF-7/Adr cells were then subjected to antisense targeting of dnmt1, -3a, and -b genes and to treatment with the DNA methylation inhibitor hydralazine to investigate whether DNA demethylation restores sensitivity to adriamycin. RESULTS: MCF-7/Adr cells exhibited the multi-drug resistant phenotype as demonstrated by adriamycin resistance, mdr1 gene over-expression, decreased intracellular accumulation of adriamycin, and cross-resistance to paclitaxel. The mdr phenotype was accompanied by global DNA hypermetylation, over-expression of dnmt genes, and increased DNA methyltransferase activity as compared with wild-type MCF-7 cells. DNA demethylation through antisense targeting of dnmts or hydralazine restored adriamycin sensitivity of MCF-7/Adr cells to a greater extent than verapamil, a known inhibitor of mdr protein, suggesting that DNA demethylation interferes with the epigenetic reprogramming that participates in the drug-resistant phenotype. CONCLUSION: We provide evidence that DNA hypermethylation is at least partly responsible for development of the multidrug-resistant phenotype in the MCF-7/Adr model and that hydralazine, a known DNA demethylating agent, can revert the resistant phenotype

Understanding perirhinal contributions to perception and memory: Evidence through the lens of selective perirhinal damage

© 2019 Elsevier Ltd Although a memory systems view of the medial temporal lobe (MTL) has been widely influential in understanding how memory processes are implemented, a large body of work across humans and animals has converged on the idea that the MTL can support various other decisions, beyond those involving memory. Specifically, recent work suggests that perception of and memory for visual representations may interact in order to support ongoing cognition. However, given considerations involving lesion profiles in neuropsychological investigations and the correlational nature of fMRI, the precise nature of representations supported by the MTL are not well understood in humans. In the present investigation, three patients with highly specific lesions to MTL were administered a task that taxed perceptual and mnemonic judgments with highly similar face stimuli. A striking double dissociation was observed such that I.R., a patient with a cyst localized to right posterior PRc, displayed a significant impairment in perceptual discriminations, whereas patient A.N., an individual with a lesion in right posterior parahippocampal cortex and the tail of the right hippocampus, and S.D., an individual with bilateral hippocampal damage, did not display impaired performance on the perceptual task. A.N. and S.D. did, however, show impairments in memory performance, whereas patient I.R. did not. These results causally implicate right PRc in successful perceptual oddity judgments, however they suggest that representations supported by PRc are not necessary for correct mnemonic judgments, even in situations of high featural overlap

Vejez y vulnerabilidad. Retratos de casos y perfiles de estudio en contextos diversos: grandes regiones, localidades rurales y territorios migrantes

México está inmerso en una acelerada transición demográfica, es el séptimo lugar entre los países con envejecimiento acelerado en Latinoamérica, con 9.7% de adultos mayores de 60 años (CONAPO, 2013). La investigación en nuestro país en torno a los sectores envejecidos tiene ya más de un cuarto de siglo, y ha contribuido al desarrollo de los estudios sobre este grupo de la población bajo las tendencias no sólo locales y regionales, sino también internacionales; respondiendo a las necesidades sociales que se modifican a través de la historia.Desde el área de especialización de cada autor, se pone particular atención en las condiciones de la vida cotidiana y las estrategias que se generan para enfrentar y reducir la vulnerabilidad, así como en los retos que se afrontarán por e l tendiente proceso de envejecimiento de la población, principalmente en los ámbitos socioculturales y de salud.Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Méxic

The acquisition of professional skills through service-learning the development of professional skills in the students of the Degree in Early Childhood Education

This experience raises the potential of Service-Learning as a methodology that favors the development of professional skills in the students of the Degree in Early Childhood Education at SAFA University Center (dependent on the University of Jaen). ICT materials and resources have been developed following Universal Design for Learning which promotes an inclusive education making the curriculum accessible to all. The objectives refer to the understanding of inclusive education in real contexts, the search, selection and development of ICT resources and materials following the UDL perspective, as well as promoting reflection on the role of TEPs to promote inclusive education in preschool classrooms. ApS practices have allowed us to get in touch with the real educational context to be able to adjust the materials and resources to students needs. The e-portfolio has allowed us to evaluate the learning of prospect teachers involved. In conclusion, it is shown that the SL methodology favors inclusive education using ICT resources to break down barriers and offer the opportunity to learn to all students.Esta experiencia plantea la potencialidad del Aprendizaje Servicio como metodología que favorece el desarrollo de competencias profesionales en el alumnado del Grado en Educación Infantil del Centro Universitario SAFA (adscrito a la Universidad de Jaén). Se han elaborado materiales y recursos TIC basándose en el planteamiento del Diseño Universal de Aprendizaje que han posibilitado llevar a cabo una educación inclusiva con niños y niñas de infantil haciendo accesible el currículo a todos y todas. Los objetivos que se plantean hacen referencia a la comprensión de la educación inclusiva en contextos reales, la búsqueda, selección y elaboración de recursos y materiales TIC desde la perspectiva del DUA así como potenciar la reflexión sobre el papel de las TEP para potenciar la educación inclusiva en las aulas de infantil. Las prácticas de ApS han permitido conocer el contexto real para poder ajustar los materiales y recursos a las necesidades del alumnado. El e-portafolio nos ha permitido evaluar los aprendizajes de los estudiantes de Magisterio implicados. En conclusión, se pone de manifiesto que la metodología de ApS favorece la educación inclusiva utilizando los recursos TIC para romper las barreras y ofrecer la oportunidad de aprender a todo el alumnado

A phase I study of hydralazine to demethylate and reactivate the expression of tumor suppressor genes

BACKGROUND: The antihypertensive compound hydralazine is a known demethylating agent. This phase I study evaluated the tolerability and its effects upon DNA methylation and gene reactivation in patients with untreated cervical cancer. METHODS: Hydralazine was administered to cohorts of 4 patients at the following dose levels: I) 50 mg/day, II) 75 mg/day, III) 100 mg/day and IV) 150 mg/day. Tumor biopsies and peripheral blood samples were taken the day before and after treatment. The genes APC, MGMT; ER, GSTP1, DAPK, RARβ, FHIT and p16 were evaluated pre and post-treatment for DNA promoter methylation and gene expression by MSP (Methylation-Specific PCR) and RT-PCR respectively in each of the tumor samples. Methylation of the imprinted H19 gene and the "normally methylated" sequence clone 1.2 was also analyzed. Global DNA methylation was analyzed by capillary electrophoresis and cytosine extension assay. Toxicity was evaluated using the NCI Common Toxicity Criteria. RESULTS: Hydralazine was well tolerated. Toxicities were mild being the most common nausea, dizziness, fatigue, headache and palpitations. Overall, 70% of the pretreatment samples and all the patients had at least one methylated gene. Rates of demethylation at the different dose levels were as follows: 50 mg/day, 40%; 75 mg/day, 52%, 100 mg/day, 43%, and 150 mg/day, 32%. Gene expression analysis showed only 12 informative cases, of these 9 (75%) re-expressed the gene. There was neither change in the methylation status of H19 and clone 1.2 nor changes in global DNA methylation. CONCLUSION: Hydralazine at doses between 50 and 150 mg/day is well tolerated and effective to demethylate and reactivate the expression of tumor suppressor genes without affecting global DNA methylatio