58 research outputs found
Busting Bribery: Sustaining the Global Momentum of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
Describes multilateral efforts to fight corruption under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's proposed changes, and implications, including damage to U.S. business, global business environment, and government effectiveness
On the importance of observational data properties when assessing regional climate model performance of extreme precipitation
In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of climate studies
addressing changes in extreme precipitation. A common step in these studies
involves the assessment of the climate model performance. This is often
measured by comparing climate model output with observational data. In the
majority of such studies the characteristics and uncertainties of the
observational data are neglected.
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This study addresses the influence of using different observational data sets
to assess the climate model performance. Four different data sets covering
Denmark using different gauge systems and comprising both networks of point
measurements and gridded data sets are considered. Additionally, the
influence of using different performance indices and metrics is addressed. A
set of indices ranging from mean to extreme precipitation properties is
calculated for all the data sets. For each of the observational data sets, the
regional climate models (RCMs) are ranked according to their performance
using two different metrics. These are based on the error in representing
the indices and the spatial pattern.
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In comparison to the mean, extreme precipitation indices are highly
dependent on the spatial resolution of the observations. The spatial pattern
also shows differences between the observational data sets. These differences
have a clear impact on the ranking of the climate models, which is highly
dependent on the observational data set, the index and the metric used. The
results highlight the need to be aware of the properties of observational
data chosen in order to avoid overconfident and misleading conclusions with
respect to climate model performance
Improved description of terrestrial habitat types by including microbial communities as indicators
The role of law in global value chains: a research manifesto
Most scholars attribute the development and ubiquity of global value chains to economic forces, treating law as an exogenous factor, if at all. By contrast, we assert the centrality of legal regimes and private ordering mechanisms to the creation, structure, geography, distributive effects and governance of Global Value Chains (GVCs), and thereby seek to establish the study of law and GVCs as rich and important terrain for research in its own righ
The role of law in global value chains: a research manifesto
Most scholars attribute the development and ubiquity of global value chains to economic forces, treating law as an exogenous factor, if at all. By contrast, we assert the centrality of legal regimes and private ordering mechanisms to the creation, structure, geography, distributive effects and governance of Global Value Chains (GVCs), and thereby seek to establish the study of law and GVCs as rich and important terrain for research in its own righ
The role of law in global value chains: a research manifesto
Most scholars attribute the development and ubiquity of global value chains to economic forces, treating law as an exogenous factor, if at all. By contrast, we assert the centrality of legal regimes and private ordering mechanisms to the creation, structure, geography, distributive effects and governance of Global Value Chains (GVCs), and thereby seek to establish the study of law and GVCs as rich and important terrain for research in its own right. </div
Why Are Outcomes Different for Registry Patients Enrolled Prospectively and Retrospectively? Insights from the Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF).
Background: Retrospective and prospective observational studies are designed to reflect real-world evidence on clinical practice, but can yield conflicting results. The GARFIELD-AF Registry includes both methods of enrolment and allows analysis of differences in patient characteristics and outcomes that may result. Methods and Results: Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and ≥1 risk factor for stroke at diagnosis of AF were recruited either retrospectively (n = 5069) or prospectively (n = 5501) from 19 countries and then followed prospectively. The retrospectively enrolled cohort comprised patients with established AF (for a least 6, and up to 24 months before enrolment), who were identified retrospectively (and baseline and partial follow-up data were collected from the emedical records) and then followed prospectively between 0-18 months (such that the total time of follow-up was 24 months; data collection Dec-2009 and Oct-2010). In the prospectively enrolled cohort, patients with newly diagnosed AF (≤6 weeks after diagnosis) were recruited between Mar-2010 and Oct-2011 and were followed for 24 months after enrolment. Differences between the cohorts were observed in clinical characteristics, including type of AF, stroke prevention strategies, and event rates. More patients in the retrospectively identified cohort received vitamin K antagonists (62.1% vs. 53.2%) and fewer received non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (1.8% vs . 4.2%). All-cause mortality rates per 100 person-years during the prospective follow-up (starting the first study visit up to 1 year) were significantly lower in the retrospective than prospectively identified cohort (3.04 [95% CI 2.51 to 3.67] vs . 4.05 [95% CI 3.53 to 4.63]; p = 0.016). Conclusions: Interpretations of data from registries that aim to evaluate the characteristics and outcomes of patients with AF must take account of differences in registry design and the impact of recall bias and survivorship bias that is incurred with retrospective enrolment. Clinical Trial Registration: - URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier for GARFIELD-AF (NCT01090362)
Tumour-infiltrating CD8+ lymphocytes and colorectal cancer recurrence by tumour and nodal stage
Background
Intratumoural T-cell infiltrate intensity cortes wrelaith clinical outcome in stage II/III colorectal cancer (CRC). We aimed to determine whether this association varies across this heterogeneous group.
Methods
We performed a pooled analysis of 1804 CRCs from the QUASAR2 and VICTOR trials. Intratumoural CD8+ and CD3+ densities were quantified by immunohistochemistry in tissue microarray (TMA) cores, and their association with clinical outcome analysed by Cox regression. We validated our results using publicly available gene expression data in a pooled analysis of 1375 CRCs from seven independent series.
Results
In QUASAR2, intratumoural CD8+ was a stronger predictor of CRC recurrence than CD3+ and showed similar discriminative ability to both markers in combination. Pooled multivariable analysis of both trials showed increasing CD8+ density was associated with reduced recurrence risk independent of confounders including DNA mismatch repair deficiency, POLE mutation and chromosomal instability (multivariable hazard ratio [HR] for each two-fold increase = 0.92, 95%CI = 0.87–0.97, P = 3.6 × 10−3). This association was not uniform across risk strata defined by tumour and nodal stage: absent in low-risk (pT3,N0) cases (HR = 1.03, 95%CI = 0.87–1.21, P = 0.75), modest in intermediate-risk (pT4,N0 or pT1-3,N1-2) cases (HR = 0.92, 95%CI = 0.86–1.0, P = 0.046) and strong in high-risk (pT4,N1-2) cases (HR = 0.87, 95%CI = 0.79–0.97, P = 9.4 × 10−3); PINTERACTION = 0.090. Analysis of tumour CD8A expression in the independent validation cohort revealed similar variation in prognostic value across risk strata (PINTERACTION = 0.048).
Conclusions
The prognostic value of intratumoural CD8+ cell infiltration in stage II/III CRC varies across tumour and nodal risk strata.
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