Special Economic Zones and WTO Compliance: Evidence from the Dominican Republic

Special economic zones (SEZ), one of the most important instruments of industrial policy used in developing countries, often impose export share requirements (ESR). That is, firms located in SEZ are required to export more than a certain share of their output to enjoy a wide array of incentives -apractice prohibited by the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures. In this paper we exploit the staggered removal of ESR across products and over time in the SEZ of the Dominican Republic -a reform driven by external commitments to comply with WTO disciplines on subsidies- to evaluate how ESR effect export performance at the product- and firm-level. Using customs data on international trade transactions from the period 2006 to 2014, we find that making the Dominican SEZ regime WTO-compliant made SEZ more attractive locations for exporters to be based in. The reform, however, did not have a significant effect on the country's exports nor on the share of export value originating from SEZ

Deep-sea hydrothermal vent sediments reveal diverse fungi with antibacterial activities

Relatively little is known about the diversity of fungi in deep-sea, hydrothermal sediments. Less thoroughly explored environments are likely untapped reservoirs of unique biodiversity with the potential to augment our current arsenal of microbial compounds with biomedical and/or industrial applications. In this study, we applied traditional culture-based methods to examine a subset of the morphological and phylogenetic diversity of filamentous fungi and yeasts present in 11 hydrothermally influenced sediment samples collected from eight sites on the seafloor of Guaymas Basin, Mexico. A total of 12 unique isolates affiliating with Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were obtained and taxonomically identified on the basis of morphological features and analyses of marker genes including actin, β-tubulin, small subunit ribosomal DNA (18S rRNA), internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and large subunit ribosomal DNA (26S rRNA) D1/D2 domain sequences (depending on taxon). A total of 11 isolates possess congeners previously detected in, or recovered from, deep-sea environments. A total of seven isolates exhibited antibacterial activity against human bacterial pathogens Staphylococcus aureus ATCC-35556 and/or Escherichia coli ATCC-25922. This first investigation suggests that hydrothermal environments may serve as promising reservoirs of much greater fungal diversity, some of which may produce biomedically useful metabolites

Fungi in the Marine Environment: Open Questions and Unsolved Problems.

Terrestrial fungi play critical roles in nutrient cycling and food webs and can shape macroorganism communities as parasites and mutualists. Although estimates for the number of fungal species on the planet range from 1.5 to over 5 million, likely fewer than 10% of fungi have been identified so far. To date, a relatively small percentage of described species are associated with marine environments, with ∼1,100 species retrieved exclusively from the marine environment. Nevertheless, fungi have been found in nearly every marine habitat explored, from the surface of the ocean to kilometers below ocean sediments. Fungi are hypothesized to contribute to phytoplankton population cycles and the biological carbon pump and are active in the chemistry of marine sediments. Many fungi have been identified as commensals or pathogens of marine animals (e.g., corals and sponges), plants, and algae. Despite their varied roles, remarkably little is known about the diversity of this major branch of eukaryotic life in marine ecosystems or their ecological functions. This perspective emerges from a Marine Fungi Workshop held in May 2018 at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. We present the state of knowledge as well as the multitude of open questions regarding the diversity and function of fungi in the marine biosphere and geochemical cycles

Glycine propionyl-L-carnitine increases plasma nitrate/nitrite in resistance trained men

We have recently demonstrated that oral intake of glycine propionyl-L-carnitine (GPLC) increases plasma nitrate/nitrite (NOx), a surrogate measure of nitric oxide production. However, these findings were observed at rest, and in previously sedentary subjects

Secondary Metabolites of Marine Microbes: From Natural Products Chemistry to Chemical Ecology

Marine natural products (MNPs) exhibit a wide range of pharmaceutically relevant bioactivities, including antibiotic, antiviral, anticancer, or anti-inflammatory properties. Besides marine macroorganisms such as sponges, algae, or corals, specifically marine bacteria and fungi have shown to produce novel secondary metabolites (SMs) with unique and diverse chemical structures that may hold the key for the development of novel drugs or drug leads. Apart from highlighting their potential benefit to humankind, this review is focusing on the manifold functions of SMs in the marine ecosystem. For example, potent MNPs have the ability to exile predators and competing organisms, act as attractants for mating purposes, or serve as dye for the expulsion or attraction of other organisms. A large compilation of literature on the role of MNPs in marine ecology is available, and several reviews evaluated the function of MNPs for the aforementioned topics. Therefore, we focused the second part of this review on the importance of bioactive compounds from crustose coralline algae (CCA) and their role during coral settlement, a topic that has received less attention. It has been shown that certain SMs derived from CCA and their associated bacteria are able to induce attachment and/or metamorphosis of many benthic invertebrate larvae, including globally threatened reef-building scleractinian corals. This review provides an overview on bioactivities of MNPs from marine microbes and their potential use in medicine as well as on the latest findings of the chemical ecology and settlement process of scleractinian corals and other invertebrate larvae

Introducing the scanning airp uff tonometer for biological studies

International audienc