The functional HERG variant 897T is associated with Conn's adenoma

none8SARZANI R; PIETRUCCI F; CORINALDESI C; FRANCIONI M; LETIZIA C; D'ERASMO E; P. DESSI'-FULGHERI; RAPPELLI ASarzani, Riccardo; Pietrucci, F; Corinaldesi, C; Francioni, M; Letizia, C; D'Erasmo, E; DESSI' FULGHERI, Paolo Lorenzo; Rappelli, Alessandr

Contractual Execution, Strategic Incompleteness and Venture Capital

Contractual execution generates hard information, available to the contracting parties, even when contracts are secretly executed. Building on this simple observation, the paper shows that incomplete contracts can be preferred to complete contracts. This is because (i) execution of incomplete contracts reveals less information to outside parties, giving rise to strategic gains; (ii) secretly executed complete contracts could not do better, given the possible strategic uses of the hard information generated by execution of the contract. The key effects at work are explored in the case of financial contracts for innovative start-up companies, providing a rationale for the observed differences in the extent to which venture capital contracts include a variety of contingencies, and for how this varies across industries and geographically.

How early can myocardial iron overload occur in Beta thalassemia major?

BACKGROUND: Myocardial siderosis is the most common cause of death in patients with beta thalassemia major(TM). This study aimed at investigating the occurrence, prevalence and severity of cardiac iron overload in a young Chinese population with beta TM. METHODS AND RESULTS: We analyzed T2* cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and serum ferritin (SF) in 201 beta TM patients. The median age was 9 years old. Patients received an average of 13 units of blood per year. The median SF level was 4536 ng/ml and 165 patients (82.1%) had SF>2500 ng/ml. Myocardial iron overload was detected in 68 patients (33.8%) and severe myocardial iron overload was detected in 26 patients (12.6%). Twenty-two patients ≤10 years old had myocardial iron overload, three of whom were only 6 years old. No myocardial iron overload was detected under the age of 6 years. Median LVEF was 64% (measured by CMR in 175 patients). Five of 6 patients with a LVEF<56% and 8 of 10 patients with cardiac disease had myocardial iron overload. CONCLUSIONS: The TM patients under follow-up at this regional centre in China patients are younger than other reported cohorts, more poorly-chelated, and have a high burden of iron overload. Myocardial siderosis occurred in patients younger than previously reported, and was strongly associated with impaired LVEF and cardiac disease. For such poorly-chelated TM patients, our data shows that the first assessment of cardiac T2* should be performed as early as 6 years old

High speed fluttering skids with elastic suspensions

In a recent project, named SEALAB, a novel marine vehicle has been developed. Its main characteristic is the presence of special skid surfaces surfing over rough water. A suspension system controls the vertical motion of the skid, softening the sequential impacts and vibrations induced by the water, similarly to a wheeled vehicle in off-road trials. The hull-skid-suspension set is modeled by prototypical equations. The system undergoes special regimes when the vessel speed at sea is varied. In particular, for some combinations of the forward speed and sea-state, the skid still maintains the contact with the water. In other navigation conditions the skid indeed jumps out the water with a complete different average transmitted force and vibration characteristics of the hull. This paper presents a theory that outlines these phenomena identifying conditions that lead to the jumping skid condition