A comparison of area level and unit level small area models in the presence of linkage errors

In Official Statistics, interest in data integration has grown enormously, but the effect of integration procedures on statistical analysis has not yet been sufficiently developed. Data integration is not an error-free procedure and linkage errors, as false links and missed links can invalidate standard estimates. Recently, increasing attention has been paid to the effect of linkage errors on the statistical analyses and on statistical predictions. Recently, methods to adjust the unit level small area estimators for linkage errors have been proposed when the domains are correctly specified. In this paper we compare the na¨ıve and the adjusted unit level estimators with the area level estimators that are not affected by the linkage errors. The comparison encourages the use of the adjusted unit level estimator

Binding Properties of a Dinuclear Zinc(II) Salen-Type Molecular Tweezer with a Flexible Spacer in the Formation of Lewis Acid-Base Adducts with Diamines

In this paper we report the binding properties, by combined 1H NMR, optical absorption, and fluorescence studies, of a molecular tweezer composed of two Zn(salen)-type Schiff-base units connected by a flexible spacer, towards a series of ditopic diamines having a strong Lewis basicity, with different chain length and rigidity. Except for the 1,2-diaminoethane, in all other cases the formation of stable 1:1 Lewis acid-base adducts with large binding constants is demonstrated. For α,ω-aliphatic diamines, binding constants progressively increase with the increasing length of the alkyl chain, thanks to the flexible nature of the spacer and the parallel decreased conformational strain upon binding. Stable adducts are also found even for short diamines with rigid molecular structures. Given their preorganized structure, these latter species are not subjected to loss of degrees of freedom. The binding characteristics of the tweezer have been exploited for the colorimetric and fluorometric selective and sensitive detection of piperazine

New perspectives to repair a broken heart

The aim of cardiac cell therapy is to restore at least in part the functionality of the diseased or injured myocardium by the use of stem/ progenitor cells. Recent clinical trials have shown the safety of cardiac cell therapy and encouraging efficacy results. A surprisingly wide range of non-myogenic cell types improves ventricular function, suggesting that benefits may result in part from mechanisms that are distinct from true myocardial regeneration. While clinical trials explore cells derived from skeletal muscle and bone marrow, basic researchers are investigating sources of new cardiomyogenic cells, such as resident myocardial progenitors and embryonic stem cells. In this commentary we briefly review the evolution of cell-based cardiac repair, some progress that has been made toward this goal, and future perspectives in the regeneration of cardiac tissue. © 2009 Bentham Science Publishers Ltd

When adjusting for the bias due to linkage errors: A sensitivity analysis

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The Missing Matter Problem: From the Dark Matter Search to Alternative Hypotheses

Dark matter is among the most important open problems in both astrophysics and particle physics. We review the status of art of dark matter search at theoretical and experimental level discussing also alternative hypotheses

Il Consiglio di Reggenza instituito in virtù della dichiarazione delle alte potenze alleate delli 25 scorso aprile a nome di S.M. il Re di Sardegna ai sudditi di S.M. in terraferma

1 manifesto : 1 stemma ; 44 cm Data di emanazione in calce: Torino gli 11 maggio 1814 Data di stampa presunta: 1814 (emanazione) Incipit del testo: La Divina provvidenza, che così visibilmente protesse le Armate delle Potenze Alleate .. Firmatari in calce: il marchese di S. Marzano presidente, il conte Alessandro di Saluzzo segr. gen In testa stemma sabaudo xilo

Physical and Functional Interaction of CARMA1 and CARMA3 with Iκ Kinase γ-NFκB Essential Modulator

CARMA proteins are scaffold molecules that contain a caspase recruitment domain and a membrane-associated guanylate kinase-like domain. CARMA1 plays a critical role in mediating activation of the NFkappaB transcription factor following antigen receptor stimulation of both B and T lymphocytes. However, the biochemical mechanism by which CARMA1 regulates activation of NFkappaB remains to be determined. Here we have shown that CARMA1 and CARMA3 physically associate with Ikappa kinase gamma/NFkappaB essential modulator (IkappaKgamma-NEMO) in lymphoid and non-lymphoid cells. CARMA1 participates to an inducible large molecular complex that contains IkappaKgamma/NEMO, Bcl10, and IkappaKalpha/beta kinases. Expression of the NEMO-binding region of CARMA3 exerts a dominant negative effect on Bcl10-mediated activation of NFkappaB. Thus, our results provide direct evidence for physical and functional interaction between CARMA and the IkappaK complex and offer a biochemical framework to understand the molecular activities controlled by CARMA-1, -2, and -3 and Bcl10

Prediction of the dose range for adverse neurological effects of amiodarone in patients from an in vitro toxicity test by in vitro–in vivo extrapolation

Amiodarone is an antiarrhythmic agent inducing adverse effects on the nervous system, among others. We applied physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling combined with benchmark dose modeling to predict, based on published in vitro data, the in vivo dose of amiodarone which may lead to adverse neurological effects in patients. We performed in vitro-in vivo extrapolation (IVIVE) from concentrations measured in the cell lysate of a rat brain 3D cell model using a validated human PBPK model. Among the observed in vitro effects, inhibition of choline acetyl transferase (ChAT) was selected as a marker for neurotoxicity. By reverse dosimetry, we transformed the in vitro concentration-effect relationship into in vivo effective human doses, using the calculated in vitro area under the curve (AUC) of amiodarone as the pharmacokinetic metric. The upper benchmark dose (BMDU) was calculated and compared with clinical doses eliciting neurological adverse effects in patients. The AUCs in the in vitro brain cell culture after 14-day repeated dosing of nominal concentration equal to 1.25 and 2.5 mu M amiodarone were 1.00 and 1.99 mu g*h/mL, respectively. The BMDU was 385.4 mg for intravenous converted to 593 mg for oral application using the bioavailability factor of 0.65 as reported in the literature. The predicted dose compares well with neurotoxic doses in patients supporting the hypothesis that impaired ChAT activity may be related to the molecular/cellular mechanisms of amiodarone neurotoxicity. Our study shows that predicting effects from in vitro data together with IVIVE can be used at the initial stage for the evaluation of potential adverse drug reactions and safety assessment in humans

Van Hove tuning of AV3Sb5 kagome metals under pressure and strain

From first-principles calculations, we investigate the structural and electronic properties of the kagome metals AV3Sb5 (A=Cs, K, Rb) under isotropic and anisotropic pressure. Charge-ordering patterns are found to be unanimously suppressed, while there is a significant rearrangement of p-type and m-type Van Hove point energies with respect to the Fermi level. Already for moderate tensile strain along the V plane and compressive strain normal to the V layer, we find that a Van Hove point can be shifted to the Fermi energy. Such a mechanism provides an invaluable tuning knob to alter the correlation profile in the kagome metal, and suggests itself for further experimental investigation. It might allow us to reconcile possible multidome superconductivity in kagome metals not only from phonons but also from the viewpoint of unconventional pairing