Asian Development Bank Trade Finance Survey: Major Findings

Key Points: • A gap in trade finance is represented by unmet demand for lending and guarantees to support $1.6 trillion in trade,$425 billion of which is in developing Asia. • Availability of trade finance impacts economic growth and job creation. • According to the findings of the survey, an increase of 5% in availability of trade finance could result in an increase of 2% in production and 2% more jobs. • Trade finance programs of multilateral development banks help fill trade finance gaps, both globally and in Asian developing economies

Smoking affects gene expression in blood of patients with ischemic stroke.

ObjectiveThough cigarette smoking (CS) is a well-known risk factor for ischemic stroke (IS), there is no data on how CS affects the blood transcriptome in IS patients.MethodsWe recruited IS-current smokers (IS-SM), IS-never smokers (IS-NSM), control-smokers (C-SM), and control-never smokers (C-NSM). mRNA expression was assessed on HTA-2.0 microarrays and unique as well as commonly expressed genes identified for IS-SM versus IS-NSM and C-SM versus C-NSM.ResultsOne hundred and fifty-eight genes were differentially expressed in IS-SM versus IS-NSM; 100 genes were differentially expressed in C-SM versus C-NSM; and 10 genes were common to both IS-SM and C-SM (P < 0.01; |fold change| ≥ 1.2). Functional pathway analysis showed the 158 IS-SM-regulated genes were associated with T-cell receptor, cytokine-cytokine receptor, chemokine, adipocytokine, tight junction, Jak-STAT, ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis, and adherens junction signaling. IS-SM showed more altered genes and functional networks than C-SM.InterpretationWe propose some of the 10 genes that are elevated in both IS-SM and C-SM (GRP15, LRRN3, CLDND1, ICOS, GCNT4, VPS13A, DAP3, SNORA54, HIST1H1D, and SCARNA6) might contribute to increased risk of stroke in current smokers, and some genes expressed by blood leukocytes and platelets after stroke in smokers might contribute to worse stroke outcomes that occur in smokers

Ibn al-Mukhayem: esclusione e soggettività dei rifugiati palestinesi in Cisgiordania

‘The camp’ is a heterogeneity of forms of housing/confinement located in extremely various contexts and managed by dissimilar institutions. The refugee camps are a characteristic place of modernity and impure, exceeding the national order of things. The camp and its inhabitants are a chimera, living matter that escapes the representation of the real as rational: in fluid becoming, crossed by the bodies that shape it but a place where one lives in a state of liminality for uncertain time. The central question posed by the text revolves around the living conditions of the refugee camp in relation to the 'outside'. Through a comparative ethnography I will try to trace some lines of continuity and discontinuity between the 'inside' and the 'outside' of the space of a refugee camp in the West Bank, in relation to the existential conditions linked to land, expropriation, and living within which the possibilities of discourses, identities, techniques, knowledge and forms of politics are articulated and intersect.  ‘Il campo’ è un’eterogeneità di forme di alloggio/reclusione situate in contesti estremamente diversificati e gestiti da istituzioni dissimili tra loro. I campi sono un luogo caratteristico della modernità, eccedenza dell’ordine nazionale delle cose. Il campo e i suoi abitanti sono una chimera, materia viva che sfugge alla rappresentazione del reale in quanto razionale: in divenire fluido, attraversato dai corpi che lo plasmano ma luogo dove si vive in uno stato di liminalità per un tempo incerto. La domanda centrale che si pone il testo è quali siano le condizioni di vita del campo profughi in relazione al ‘fuori’. Attraverso un’etnografia comparata vengono tracciate alcune linee di continuità e discontinuità tra il ‘dentro’ e il ‘fuori’ dello spazio campo profughi in Cisgiordania, in relazione alle condizioni esistenziali legate alla terra, all’espropriazione e all’abitare entro le quali si articolano ed intersecano le possibilità dei discorsi, delle identità, delle tecniche, dei saperi e delle forme della politica

Role of poly [adp-ribose] polymerase 1 in activating the kirsten ras (Kras) gene in response to oxidative stress

In pancreatic Panc-1 cancer cells, an increase of oxidative stress enhances the level of 7,8-dihydro-8-oxoguanine (8OG) more in the KRAS promoter region containing G4 motifs than in non-G4 motif G-rich genomic regions. We found that H2O2 stimulates the recruitment to the KRAS promoter of poly [ADP-ribose] polymerase 1 (PARP-1), which efficiently binds to local G4 structures. Upon binding to G4 DNA, PARP-1 undergoes auto PARylation and thus becomes negatively charged. In our view this should favor the recruitment to the KRAS promoter of MAZ and hnRNP A1, as these two nuclear factors, because of their isoelectric points >7, are cationic in nature under physiological conditions. This is indeed supported by pulldown assays which showed that PARP-1, MAZ, and hnRNP A1 form a multiprotein complex with an oligonucleotide mimicking the KRAS G4 structure. Our data suggest that an increase of oxidative stress in Panc-1 cells activates a ROS-G4-PARP-1 axis that stimulates the transcription of KRAS. This mechanism is confirmed by the finding that when PARP-1 is silenced by siRNA or auto PARylation is inhibited by Veliparib, the expression of KRAS is downregulated. When Panc-1 cells are treated with H2O2 instead, a strong up-regulation of KRAS transcription is observed

Coupled-cluster approach to Coster-Kronig decay and Auger decay in hydrogen sulfide and argon

We perform ab initio simulations of the total and partial Auger decay widths of 1s^-1, 2s^-1, and 2p^-1 ionized hydrogen sulfide and 2s^-1 ionized argon with non-Hermitian quantum chemistry. We use coupled cluster theory with single and double substitutions (CCSD) and equation of motion CCSD (EOM-CCSD) and discuss the novel application of (equation of motion-) second order M{\o}ller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2). We find good agreement between the methods for the 1s^-1 hole of H2S, whereas for the other holes we can only use the EOM methods. We obtain very large decay widths of the 2s^-1-vacant states due to intense Coster-Kronig transitions with excellent agreement to experiments. The three 2p^-1 holes show completely different spectra because a decay channel is only significant when one of the final holes is spatially aligned with the initial hole. Lastly, we observe that triplet channels are much more important for the 2s^-1 and 2p^-1 holes than for the 1s^-1 hole, for which it is well known that triplet channels only contribute weakly to the total Auger intensity

The regulatory G4 motif of the Kirsten ras (KRAS) gene is sensitive to guanine oxidation: Implications on transcription

KRAS is one of the most mutated genes in human cancer. It is controlled by a G4 motif located upstream of the transcription start site. In this paper, we demonstrate that 8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG), being more abundant in G4 than in non-G4 regions, is a new player in the regulation of this oncogene. We designed oligonucleotides mimicking the KRAS G4-motif and found that 8-oxoG impacts folding and stability of the G-quadruplex. Dimethylsulphate-footprinting showed that the G-run carrying 8-oxoG is excluded from the G-tetrads and replaced by a redundant G-run in the KRAS G4-motif. Chromatin immunoprecipitation revealed that the base-excision repair protein OGG1 is recruited to the KRAS promoter when the level of 8-oxoG in the G4 region is raised by H2O2. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis evidenced that OGG1 removes 8-oxoG from the G4-motif in duplex, but when folded it binds to the G-quadruplex in a non-productive way. We also found that 8-oxoG enhances the recruitment to the KRAS promoter of MAZ and hnRNP A1, two nuclear factors essential for transcription. All this suggests that 8-oxoG in the promoter G4 region could have an epigenetic potential for the control of gene expression

Halogen and Hydrogen Bonding Benzothiophene Diol Derivatives: A Study Using ab initio Calculations and XRay Crystal Structure Measurements

The aim of this study is to describe and compare the supramolecular interactions, in the solid state, of chloro-, bromo-, and iodobenzothiophene diols. The compounds were obtained through organo-catalyzed reactions starting from 3-substituted halobenzothiophene carbaldehydes. Energies of the noncovalent interactions were obtained by density functional theory calculations. Bond distances and angles were found to be in accordance with those determined by X-ray structure analysis. anti-Bromobenzothiophene derivatives showed strong halogen ···p interactions between bromine and the heterocyclic phenyl ring, corresponding to an energy of 7.5 kcalmol1. syn- Bromo and syn-iodo derivatives appeared to be isostructural, showing X···O (carbonyl) interactions, p stacking, and formation of extended hydrogen bonding networks. In contrast, the chloro derivatives displayed no halogen bonding interaction

PRESSURIZED FLANGED JOINTS SUBJECTED TO BENDING CYCLIC LOADING - TESTS AND FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSES

ABSTRACT Temporary ground deformations produced by strong seismic activity can result in severe cyclic loading applied to piping, fittings and components such as flanges, elbows, tee joints etc. The integrity of the piping system in such condition is of critical importance for the safety of petro-chemical plants or refineries. Among various reasons of failures under earthquakes, the accumulation of plastic strains due to cyclic bending loading of pressurized piping sections containing bolted flanged joints, have to be carefully considered. This paper reports the results of the experimental full scale tests performed within the RFCS INDUSE Project [1] on PN40 and PN63 piping sections containing bolted flanged joints subjected to monotonic and cyclic bending load, in presence of internal pressure. On the basis of the experimental results, a FE model adopting Lemaitre-Chaboche nonlinear kinematic hardening rule for the pipe material has been developed, allowing to extend the results of the tests by performing a study on the main parameters affecting resistance of the joint