Determinants of total factor productivity in Visegrad Group Nuts-2 regions

This article attempts to estimate the total factor productivity (TFP) for 35 NUTS-2 regions of the Visegrad Group countries and to identify its determinants. The TFP values are estimated on the basis of the Cobb-Douglas production function, with the assumption of regional differences in productivity. The parameters of the productivity function were analysed with panel data, using a fixed effects model. There are many economic variables that influence the TFP level. Some of them are highly correlated, and therefore the factor analysis was applied to extract the common factors – the latent variables that capture the common variance among those observed variables that have similar patterns of responses. This statistical procedure uses an orthogonal transformation to convert a set of observations of possibly correlated variables into a set of values of linearly uncorrelated variables called principal components. Each component is interpreted using the contributions of variables to the respective component. I estimated a dynamic panel data model describing TFP formation by regions. An attempt was made to incorporate the common factors among the model’s explanatory variables. One of them, representing the effects of research activity, proved to be significant

Laajennettu tuottajavastuu kierrätysyhteiskunnan edistäjänä

Työssä selvitettiin laajennetun tuottajavastuun haasteita ja mahdollisuuksia kierrätysyhteiskunnan edistäjänä. Tuottajavastuuta tarkasteltiin erityisesti sähkö- ja elektroniikkatuotteiden kannalta. Työssä haastateltiin Teknologiateollisuus ry:n jäsenyritysten edustajia (Nokia Oyj, KONE Oyj, ABB Oy Drives, AGCO Power Oy, Kuusakoski Oy ja Konecranes Oyj). Nokia ja AGCO Power valmistavat jätelain piiriin kuuluvia sähkö- ja elektroniikkatuotteita. Akkujen ja paristojen tuottajavastuun piiriin kuuluvat Nokia, Konecranes, ABB Oy Drives ja KONE. Pakkausjätteiden tuottajavastuun piiriin kuuluvat kaikki kuusi yritystä. Lisäksi haastateltiin Benny Hasensonia (EK), Ari Ekroosia (Helsingin yliopisto), Tarja-Riitta Blaubergia (Ympäristöministeriö) ja Teemu Virtasta (Pirkanmaan ELY -keskus). Laajennettu tuottajavastuu on ympäristönsuojelustrategia, jonka tavoitteena on vähentää tuotteen kokonaisympäristövaikutuksia tekemällä tuotteen valmistaja vastuulliseksi tuotteen koko elinkaaresta ja erityisesti takaisinotosta, kierrätyksestä ja loppukäsittelystä. Yrityksillä ei ole tarkkaa käsitystä laajennetusta tuottajavastuusta. Työssä kävi myös ilmi, että yritysten odotukset tuottajavastuun tulevaisuudesta ovat osin ristiriitaisia. Osa haastatelluista oletti tuottajavastuun laajenevan tulevaisuudessa ja osa taas sen suppenevan. Lähtökohtana on, että tuotteiden elinkaaren loppuosasta huolehtiminen maksaa yrityksille. Nykyään jätteillä on markkinat. Ristiriita aiheuttaa ongelmia tuottajavastuun ja vapaiden markkinoiden välillä.Yhtä mieltä haastatellut olivat kuitenkin jätealan jatkuvasti muuttuvan lainsäädännön haastavuudesta ja materiaalitehokkuuden merkityksen kasvamisesta. Lisätietoja haastateltavat kaipasivat siihen mm. kuka saa omistaa jätteen, määritelmistä kuljetustapoihin ja rajauksiin, verkkokaupan roolista sekä etusijajärjestyksen toteutumisesta

Comparison of assembly algorithms for improving rate of metatranscriptomic functional annotation

BACKGROUND: Microbiome-wide gene expression profiling through high-throughput RNA sequencing (‘metatranscriptomics’) offers a powerful means to functionally interrogate complex microbial communities. Key to successful exploitation of these datasets is the ability to confidently match relatively short sequence reads to known bacterial transcripts. In the absence of reference genomes, such annotation efforts may be enhanced by assembling reads into longer contiguous sequences (‘contigs’), prior to database search strategies. Since reads from homologous transcripts may derive from several species, represented at different abundance levels, it is not clear how well current assembly pipelines perform for metatranscriptomic datasets. Here we evaluate the performance of four currently employed assemblers including de novo transcriptome assemblers - Trinity and Oases; the metagenomic assembler - Metavelvet; and the recently developed metatranscriptomic assembler IDBA-MT. RESULTS: We evaluated the performance of the assemblers on a previously published dataset of single-end RNA sequence reads derived from the large intestine of an inbred non-obese diabetic mouse model of type 1 diabetes. We found that Trinity performed best as judged by contigs assembled, reads assigned to contigs, and number of reads that could be annotated to a known bacterial transcript. Only 15.5% of RNA sequence reads could be annotated to a known transcript in contrast to 50.3% with Trinity assembly. Paired-end reads generated from the same mouse samples resulted in modest performance gains. A database search estimated that the assemblies are unlikely to erroneously merge multiple unrelated genes sharing a region of similarity (<2% of contigs). A simulated dataset based on ten species confirmed these findings. A more complex simulated dataset based on 72 species found that greater assembly errors were introduced than is expected by sequencing quality. Through the detailed evaluation of assembly performance, the insights provided by this study will help drive the design of future metatranscriptomic analyses. CONCLUSION: Assembly of metatranscriptome datasets greatly improved read annotation. Of the four assemblers evaluated, Trinity provided the best performance. For more complex datasets, reads generated from transcripts sharing considerable sequence similarity can be a source of significant assembly error, suggesting a need to collate reads on the basis of common taxonomic origin prior to assembly

Retrospective analysis of the diagnostic effectiveness of the sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in vulvar cancer

Objectives: Inguinal lymphadenectomy used in the treatment of vulvar cancer often results in complications, such aslymphoedema or abnormal wound healing. Aim of this study was assessment of the diagnostic effectiveness of the sentinellymph node biopsy (SLNB) procedure in patients treated due to vulvar cancer.Material and methods: Eighty-four patients diagnosed with squamous cell vulvar carcinoma (FIGO I-IV) underwentpreoperative lymphoscintigraphy with technetium 99 to map sentinel lymph node. During surgery sentinel lymph nodeswere identified and resected, followed by complete bilateral groin lymphadenectomy.Results: Sentinel lymph nodes were mapped with lymphoscintigraphy and biopsied in 84.3% and 90.1% of patients, respectively.False negative predictive value (FNPV) was 9.1% and false negative rate (FNR) was recorded in 16.7% of cases. Patientsin advanced stages (FIGO III and IV) had significantly lower rate of lymphatic mapping compared to those in stage I and II(OR = 0.148, p = 0.022). Detection of sentinel lymph node in lymphoscintigraphy for tumor grade 2 and 3 was nearly eighttimes lower than for grade 1 cancers, however without statistical significance (OR = 0.126, p = 0.058).Conclusions: The use of SLNB should be limited to vulvar cancer patients in early clinical stages

Contemporary principles of diagnostic and therapeutic management in cervical and ovarian neuroendocrine tumors

Enhancing knowledge about neuroendocrine neoplasms causes the need to improve management of these tumors. Althoughthese tumors are rare in clinical practice, their biological diversity makes both diagnostics and therapy a challengefor contemporary oncology. The article discusses the latest developments in the diagnostic procedures and methods oftreatment of the cervical and ovarian neuroendocrine tumors. Algorithms are presented to understand the differences intherapeutic management in these malignancies

Prognosis of the patients suffered from uterine carcinosarcoma from rural and urban areas

Objectives: Uterine carcinosarcoma is a very aggressive neoplasm. Patients’ median age at diagnosis ranges from 62 to 67 years. The aim of this study was to compare treatment results and prognostic factors for residents of urban and rural areas suffering from uterine carcinosarcoma. Material and methods: Clinical outcomes of 58 uterine carcinosarcoma patients treated in one institution were assessed: 25 residents of rural and 33 of urban areas. All the patients were treated by using surgery followed by chemotherapy (48 pts) or radiotherapy (10 pts). Standard chemotherapy regimen comprised of paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 and carboplatin on day one at area under curve (AUC) six every 21 days. Radiotherapy was performed by combined treatment – tele and brachytherapy. External beam pelvic radiation therapy (EBRT) once a day, five days a week with a daily fraction size of 1.8 Gy over five weeks at cumulative dose 50.4 Gy was the first part of adjuvant treatment. High-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy at dose 22.5 Gy was the second part of radiotherapy. Results: A strong correlation between tumor diameter and the presence of lymph node metastasis was observed. Tumor size greater then 4.5 cm correlated with presence of node involvement and this parameter was statistically significant (p = 0.015). There was no significant correlation between other analyzed clinical factors and overall survival. In the period 2004 – 2010 43.5% (10/23) and 50% (14/28) of rural and urban residents, respectively, died due to carcinosarcoma progression. Conclusion: Uterine carcinosarcoma patients in rural and urban areas seem to have similar outcomes.

Analysis of incidence and overall survival of patients with vulvar cancer in Poland in 2008–2016 — implications for cancer registries

Objectives: To analyze the incidence and overall survival rate of patients with vulvar cancer in Poland, based on the reporting data from the National Health Fund.Material and methods: The incidence of vulvar cancer in Poland in 2008–2016 (9-year follow-up period) by voivodship and the number of patients undergoing combined hospital treatment were analyzed. For the group of patients treated systemically, overall survival (OS) probability was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier estimation method.Results: In the period 2008–2016 in Poland, the diagnosis of malignant neoplasm of the vulva (C51% group) was made in 29,702 patients. The mean annual prevalence rate per 100,000 inhabitants was 8.3 ± 1.2 for Poland. The largest numbers of patients were reported in Mazowieckie and Slaskie voivodeships and the lowest in Opolskie and Podlaskie voivodeships. The median overall survival of patients treated with the combined method in 2008–2016 in Poland was 64.7 months (95% Cl: 58.0–70.0). One-year survival rate was observed in 77.6% of patients, 2-year in 64.4%, 3-year in 58%, over 5 years — 54.22%.Conclusions: In the years 2008–2016 in Poland, based on the data reported to the National Health Fund, the incidence of vulvar cancer was 4 times higher than the statistics of the National Cancer Registry, the WHO or the USA, which indicates either substantive or reporting errors. In Poland, 54% of patients treated with the combined therapy survive over 5 years which is a much lower result compared to highly developed countries

Generation and analysis of a mouse intestinal metatranscriptome through Illumina based RNA-sequencing

With the advent of high through-put sequencing (HTS), the emerging science of metagenomics is transforming our understanding of the relationships of microbial communities with their environments. While metagenomics aims to catalogue the genes present in a sample through assessing which genes are actively expressed, metatranscriptomics can provide a mechanistic understanding of community inter-relationships. To achieve these goals, several challenges need to be addressed from sample preparation to sequence processing, statistical analysis and functional annotation. Here we use an inbred non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse model in which germ-free animals were colonized with a defined mixture of eight commensal bacteria, to explore methods of RNA extraction and to develop a pipeline for the generation and analysis of metatranscriptomic data. Applying the Illumina HTS platform, we sequenced 12 NOD cecal samples prepared using multiple RNA-extraction protocols. The absence of a complete set of reference genomes necessitated a peptide-based search strategy. Up to 16% of sequence reads could be matched to a known bacterial gene. Phylogenetic analysis of the mapped ORFs revealed a distribution consistent with ribosomal RNA, the majority from Bacteroides or Clostridium species. To place these HTS data within a systems context, we mapped the relative abundance of corresponding Escherichia coli homologs onto metabolic and protein-protein interaction networks. These maps identified bacterial processes with components that were well-represented in the datasets. In summary this study highlights the potential of exploiting the economy of HTS platforms for metatranscriptomics