The Regional Concentration of Industries and the Performance of Firms: A Multilevel Approach

This paper presents the results of a study whose objective was to understand how location within industrial concentrations, like clusters or industrial districts, affects the financial performance of firms. In its theoretical framework, this paper attempts to introduce the reasons behind the alleged superior performance of firms located in these concentrations, the base of the hypothesis formulated in this study. Analysis from a three-level hierarchical linear model applied to a sample of 509 companies located in the state of São Paulo found no evidence that industrial concentrations provide firms with superior performance, contradicting expectations generated by the theory. The decomposition of the variance of performance indicated that the location of the firms and the form with which a city interacts with an industry exerts significant influence on how they will perform. In short, location matters to the future of firms. This finding underlines the need to understand how characteristics of cities or regions can promote or retard the performance of firms

Integration of new and revised chronological data to constrain the terrace evolution of the Danube River (Gerecse Hills, Pannonian Basin)

Terrace ages deduced from diverse geochronological records yielded inconsistent data in the Danube valley in Hungary. The problem of discrepancies in the different chronological datasets has to be resolved before the Quaternary tectonic and climatic processes leading to valley incision and terrace formation may be properly evaluated. To establish a more robust chronology of the Danube valley in Hungary, new cosmogenic nuclide- (⁠10Be depth profiles, ⁠26Al/⁠10Be burial durations and burial depth profile) and luminescence-based (pIRIR⁠290) terrace ages were acquired and compared to revised paleontological and published U/Th and magnetostratigraphic data. All the applied geo-chronometers led to concordant terrace ages, with the exception of the U/Th method applied on travertine deposits covering terraces. U/Th ages predating the last interglacial manifest a bias towards younger ages, and so they were ignored in relation to the quantification of terrace ages. As a result, terrace ages from the Late Pliocene to Late Pleistocene were settled. With regard to data from the Middle Pleistocene onwards, the combination of diverse methodologies led to a tighter bracketing of terrace ages than would be possible using a single dating method. The modelling of cosmogenic ⁠26Al and ⁠10Be concentrations enabled to derive surface denudation rates and their combination with paleontological data also allowed us to decide between diverse landscape evolution scenarios

Statistical analysis of plasma filaments in the island divertor of Wendelstein 7-X

Plasma filaments have been measured with alkali beam emission spectroscopy in the plasma edge, divertor island, and scrape-off layer of Wendelstein 7-X. Due to the high intensity of a 1–2 kHz plasma mode, a new, correlation based conditional averaging algorithm was used to search for filaments in the signals. With that method, effects of different magnetic configurations and density levels on filament properties are observed. In configurations where the islands are small and do not play an important role for the connection length topology, filaments behave similar to tokamaks. In contrast, in configurations with larger magnetic islands and more complex connection length profiles, filaments behave quite differently, for instance they may or may not appear in the inner side of the divertor island depending on the plasma parameters. Coupling between the filaments and lower frequency events are also showed. The role of filaments in the global and local particle transport is briefly discussed

Growth, cell division and sporulation in mycobacteria

Bacteria have the ability to adapt to different growth conditions and to survive in various environments. They have also the capacity to enter into dormant states and some bacteria form spores when exposed to stresses such as starvation and oxygen deprivation. Sporulation has been demonstrated in a number of different bacteria but Mycobacterium spp. have been considered to be non-sporulating bacteria. We recently provided evidence that Mycobacterium marinum and likely also Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette–Guérin can form spores. Mycobacterial spores were detected in old cultures and our findings suggest that sporulation might be an adaptation of lifestyle for mycobacteria under stress. Here we will discuss our current understanding of growth, cell division, and sporulation in mycobacteria

Biomarkers of Therapeutic Response in the IL-23 Pathway in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

OBJECTIVES: Interleukin-23 (IL-23) has emerged as a new therapeutic target for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). As biomarkers of disease state and treatment efficacy are becoming increasingly important in drug development, we sought to identify efficacy biomarkers for anti-IL-23 therapy in Crohn's disease (CD). METHODS: Candidate IL-23 biomarkers, downstream of IL-23 signaling, were identified using shotgun proteomic analysis of feces and colon lavages obtained from a short-term mouse IBD model (anti-CD40 Rag2(-/-)) treated preventively with monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to the IL-23 receptor (IL-23R). The biomarkers were then measured in an IBD T-cell transfer model treated therapeutically with a mAb to IL-23 (p19), confirming their association with IBD. To assess the clinical relevance of these markers, we assessed their concentrations in clinical serum, colon tissue, and feces from CD patients. RESULTS: We identified 57 proteins up or downregulated in diseased animals that returned to control values when the mice were treated with mAbs to IL-23R. Among those, S100A8, S100A9, regenerating protein 3β (REG), REG3γ, lipocalin 2 (LCN2), deleted in malignant tumor 1 (DMBT1), and macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) mRNA levels correlated with disease score and dose titration of mAbs to IL-23R or IL-23(p19). All biomarkers, except DMBT1, were also downregulated after therapeutic administration of mAbs to IL-23(p19) in a T-cell transfer IBD mouse model. In sera from CD patients, we confirmed a significant upregulation of S100A8/A9 (43%), MIF (138%), pancreatitis-associated protein (PAP, human homolog of REG3β/γ; 49%), LCN2 (520%), and CCL20 (1280%), compared with control samples, as well as a significant upregulation of S100A8/A9 (887%), PAP (401%), and LCN2 (783%) in human feces from CD patients compared with normal controls. CONCLUSIONS: These studies identify multiple protein biomarkers downstream of IL-23 that could be valuable tools to assess the efficacy of this new therapeutic agent.Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology (2012) 3, e10; doi:10.1038/ctg.2012.2; published online 16 February 2012

pcaGoPromoter - An R Package for Biological and Regulatory Interpretation of Principal Components in Genome-Wide Gene Expression Data

Analyzing data obtained from genome-wide gene expression experiments is challenging due to the quantity of variables, the need for multivariate analyses, and the demands of managing large amounts of data. Here we present the R package pcaGoPromoter, which facilitates the interpretation of genome-wide expression data and overcomes the aforementioned problems. In the first step, principal component analysis (PCA) is applied to survey any differences between experiments and possible groupings. The next step is the interpretation of the principal components with respect to both biological function and regulation by predicted transcription factor binding sites. The robustness of the results is evaluated using cross-validation, and illustrative plots of PCA scores and gene ontology terms are available. pcaGoPromoter works with any platform that uses gene symbols or Entrez IDs as probe identifiers. In addition, support for several popular Affymetrix GeneChip platforms is provided. To illustrate the features of the pcaGoPromoter package a serum stimulation experiment was performed and the genome-wide gene expression in the resulting samples was profiled using the Affymetrix Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 chip. Array data were analyzed using pcaGoPromoter package tools, resulting in a clear separation of the experiments into three groups: controls, serum only and serum with inhibitor. Functional annotation of the axes in the PCA score plot showed the expected serum-promoted biological processes, e.g., cell cycle progression and the predicted involvement of expected transcription factors, including E2F. In addition, unexpected results, e.g., cholesterol synthesis in serum-depleted cells and NF-κB activation in inhibitor treated cells, were noted. In summary, the pcaGoPromoter R package provides a collection of tools for analyzing gene expression data. These tools give an overview of the input data via PCA, functional interpretation by gene ontology terms (biological processes), and an indication of the involvement of possible transcription factors