The Mix Between Pay-as-you-go and Funded Pensions and What Demography Has to Do with it

A model is presented that explains the mix between funded and unfunded pension systems. It turns out that total pension and the relative shares of the two systems may be explained and are determined by the population growth rate, technological growth, the time-preference discount rate, that relative risk aversion, the production function, and the political representation of the old. A fall in the population growth rate, even to negative values, will imply a reduction of the interest rate and an increase in the capital-output ratio. Whether the pension system will shift to more or less funding depends on the political weight of the elderly. If the elderly succeed in getting more weight in the political process if their population share increases, which is likely when the population shrinks, the accent on the PAYG- system will increase. A fall in the population growth rate will result in a reduction of average welfare. This reduction is more severe, the larger the political power of the elderly.old-age pensions, pay-as-you-go, intergenerational transfers, retirement benefits

The Mix Between Pay-as-you-go and Funded Pensions and What Demography Has to Do with it

A model is presented that explains the mix between funded and unfunded pension systems. It turns out that total pension and the relative shares of the two systems may be explained and are determined by the population growth rate, technological growth, the time-preference discount rate, that relative risk aversion, the production function, and the political representation of the old. A fall in the population growth rate, even to negative values, will imply a reduction of the interest rate and an increase in the capital-output ratio. Whether the pension system will shift to more or less funding depends on the political weight of the elderly. If the elderly succeed in getting more weight in the political process if their population share increases, which is likely when the population shrinks, the accent on the PAYG- system will increase. A fall in the population growth rate will result in a reduction of average welfare. This reduction is more severe, the larger the political power of the elderly

First characterization of infectious cDNA clones of Olive mild mosaic virus

Full-length cDNA clones of an Olive mild mosaic virus (OMMV) isolate were constructed in order to find infectious cDNA clones. The sequencing of three individual full-length clones revealed some differences between them. In vitro transcription of these clones was performed and the effect of spontaneous mutations in the biological behaviour of the in vitro transcripts was evaluated by symptomatology, RNA accumulation and virus replication in inoculated plants. In vitro synthesized RNA from one of these clones was found to mimic the wild-type OMMV, making it useful in future studies on protein structure and function by site directed mutagenesis of individual genes. This is the first report on constructing full-length cDNA clones of OMMV from which infectious RNAs can be transcribed in vitro

Multiplex RT-PCR for detection and identification of three necroviruses that infect olive trees

An optimized multiplex RT-PCR assay was developed to discriminate three necrovirus (Olive latent virus 1 (OLV-1), Tobacco necrosis virus D (TNV-D) and Olive mild mosaic virus (OMMV)) that infect olive trees. An olive orchard consisting of 54 trees of cv. "Galega vulgar" in the south of Portugal was surveyed. dsRNA fraction was used as template and revealed the 3 viruses, singly or in multiple infections, present in 17 out of 54 trees in the orchard. OMMV was the most frequent occurring in 15 trees, followed by OLV-1 in 12 and TNV-D in 4 plants. The results obtained showed that necrovirus- specific dsRNAs do exist in infected tissues in amounts below the resolution permitted by gel electrophoresis analysis and that the developed multiplex PCR based assay is of much higher sensitivity. The design of the specific primers described enabled, for the first time, to discriminate between OMMV and TNV-D by means of RT-PCR assays, an indispensable tool in identification, epidemiology and survey studie

Biological and Molecular Characterization of Olive latent virus 1

Olive latent virus 1 (OLV-1) belongs to the Necrovirus genus, Tombusviridae family and is pathogenic to olive, citrus and tulip plants. It is easily mechanically transmissible to indicator plants causing necrotic lesions and can be transmitted through the soil into the plant roots in the absence of biological vectors. Infected cells contain virus aggregates, inclusions made up of excess of viral coded peptides and extensive vesiculation in the cytoplasm. The virions are isometric with ca. 30 nm, possess a monopartite single-stranded positive-sense RNA genome sized 3700 nt with 5 open reading frames (ORFs) and small inter cistronic regions. ORF 1 encodes a polypeptide with a molecular weight of 23 kDa and the read through of its amber stop codon results in ORF 1 RT that encodes the virus RNA dependent RNA polymerase with 82 kDa. ORF2 and ORF3 encode two small peptides, with 8 kDa and 6 kDa, respectively, which appear to be involved in the virus cell-to-cell movement. ORF 4 is located in the 3′-terminal and encodes a protein with 30 kDa identified as the viral coat protein. The complete genomic sequences of two well characterized OLV-1 isolates (obtained from citrus and olive) are similar, revealing an overall nucleotide sequence identity of 95%. The electrophoretic profile of the dsRNAs recovered from infected tissues exhibits three major species with ca. 3.7, 1.5, and 1.3 kbp. Application of molecular techniques based on PCR and on dot blot hybridization has been successfully used for routine diagnosis of OLV-1 infections

A degenerate pair of primers for simultaneous detection of four alphaand betanecroviruses

The high infection levels due to Olive latent virus 1 (OLV-1), Olive mild mosaic virus (OMMV) (alphanecrovirus) and Tobacco necrosis virus D (TNV-D) (betanecrovirus) in Portuguese olive orchards prompted us to develop a rapid PCR-based assay for the simultaneous detection of these viruses aimed at the sanitary selection and marketing of plant material in compliance with European Union regulations. A pair of degenerate oligonucleotide primers, parRdRp5 and parCoat3 was designed based on conserved regions located in the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and coat protein (CP) genes of these viruses and one other alphanecrovirus, Tobacco necrosis virus A. Its use in RT-PCR assays generated a product of ca. 2000 bp for the 4 viral species tested. These primers were compared with virus specific primers in multiplex RT-PCR, and identical results were obtained. Its application to dsRNA extracted from 54 olive field growing trees originated the expected ca. 2000 bp amplicon in 17 trees. The virus identity was determined by sequencing the cloned RT-PCR products. No TNV-A was found. The RT-PCR assay using the degenerate primers described in this study were shown to be reliable in detecting any of the above-mentioned alpha- and betanecroviruses, and it is as sensitive as that which uses virus specific primers in multiplex assays. Therefore, this assay is well suited for the rapid screen of virus-free plant material in selection and improvement crop programmes. Additionally, it has the potential to reveal virus diversity and the presence of new viruses, provided the RT-PCR generated amplicon is further sequenced

Complete nucleotide sequence of an Olive latent virus 1 isolate from olive trees

Olive latent virus 1 (OLV-1) is a necrovirus belonging to the familyTombusviridae. It is a small icosahedral plant virus, which encapsidates a single stranded positivesense RNA. This virus was first isolated from symptomless olive trees in Italy [7] and afterwards in Jordan and Portugal [10, 4]. OLV-1 was also isolated from symptomatic hosts, such as citrus trees in Turkey [11] and tulips in Japan [9]. Up to now, only one complete genome sequence of an OLV-1 citrus isolate has been determined [8]. This report describes the first full genomic sequence of an OLV-1 isolated from olive trees

Insulin therapy modulates mitochondrial dynamics and biogenesis, autophagy and tau protein phosphorylation in the brain of type 1 diabetic rats

AbstractThe main purpose of this study was to examine whether streptozotocin (STZ)-induced type 1 diabetes (T1D) and insulin (INS) treatment affect mitochondrial function, fission/fusion and biogenesis, autophagy and tau protein phosphorylation in cerebral cortex from diabetic rats treated or not with INS. No significant alterations were observed in mitochondrial function as well as pyruvate levels, despite the significant increase in glucose levels observed in INS-treated diabetic rats. A significant increase in DRP1 protein phosphorylated at Ser616 residue was observed in the brain cortex of STZ rats. Also an increase in NRF2 protein levels and in the number of copies of mtDNA were observed in STZ diabetic rats, these alterations being normalized by INS. A slight decrease in LC3-II levels was observed in INS-treated rats when compared to STZ diabetic animals. An increase in tau protein phosphorylation at Ser396 residue was observed in STZ diabetic rats while INS treatment partially reversed that effect. Accordingly, a modest reduction in the activation of GSK3β and a significant increase in the activity of phosphatase 2A were found in INS-treated rats when compared to STZ diabetic animals. No significant alterations were observed in caspases 9 and 3 activity and synaptophysin and PSD95 levels. Altogether our results show that mitochondrial alterations induced by T1D seem to involve compensation mechanisms since no significant changes in mitochondrial function and synaptic integrity were observed in diabetic animals. In addition, INS treatment is able to normalize the alterations induced by T1D supporting the importance of INS signaling in the brain

Safflower seeds in the diet of feedlot lambs improved fat carcass, colour, and fatty acid profile of the meat

The aim of this study was to evaluate intake, performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality of lambs fed finishing diets containing 0%, 7.5% and 15% safflower seeds (Carthamus tinctorius) as a replacement for corn and soybean meal. Thirty-six male lambs with mean bodyweight of 17.9 ± 1.8 kg were randomly assigned to one of three treatments: C0: no safflower seeds, C7.5: 7.5%safflower seeds in diet (DM basis), and C15: 15% safflower seeds in diet (DM basis). The lambs were fed in pens of two and thus there were six replicates per treatment. Performance and carcass characteristics were not affected by including safflower seeds in their diet. Animals fed 7.5% safflower seeds had greater dry matter intake. There was a linear effect of increasing the redness (a*) of meat with the amount of safflower, where a mean of 15.77 was found for lambs that received the C15 diet. With increasing levels of safflower, the concentration of fatty acids C14:0, C17:0, and C22:1 increased. However, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA, C18:2) was reduced in lambs fed C15. A concentration of 0.461 g/100 g meat was observed for animals that consumed C7.5. Thus, lambs fed a diet containing 7.5% safflower had the greatest dry matter intake, carcass fat, and concentration of conjugated linoleic acid in their meat, and enhanced meat colour.Key words: conjugated linoleic acid, human health, lipid supplementation, oilseed