Towards the Greater Good? EU Commissioners’ Nationality and Budget Allocation in the European Union

We analyse whether there is a relationship between EU Commissioners’ national origin and political outcomes. For this purpose, we argue that examining the Commissioner for Agriculture allows the most precise empirical identification: there is a specific budget for agriculture which accounts for the largest share of the overall EU budget and gives significant leeway to the Commissioner. On average, providing the Commissioners is associated with increases in the share of the overall EU budget that is allocated to their country of origin of about one percentage point. This increase corresponds to half a billion Euro per year, a significant change in particular for smaller member states. Alternative explanations are considered using country-specific time trends, examining pre- and post-treatment trends and modeling endogenous treatment-selection. There are no significant differences in trend behavior between treated and non-treated countries both before and after providing the Commissioner. We demonstrate that our results are not driven by individual countries and show that selection-on-unobservables would have to be implausibly high to account for the estimated coefficient

Trial-by-Trial Adjustments of Cognitive Control Following Errors and Response Conflict are Altered in Pediatric Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Background: Impairments of cognitive control have been theorized to drive the repetitive thoughts and behaviors of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) from early in the course of illness. However, it remains unclear whether altered trial-by-trial adjustments of cognitive control characterize young patients. To test this hypothesis, we determined whether trial-by-trial adjustments of cognitive control are altered in children with OCD, relative to healthy controls. Methods: Forty-eight patients with pediatric OCD and 48 healthy youth performed the Multi-Source Interference Task. Two types of trial-by-trial adjustments of cognitive control were examined: post-error slowing (i.e., slower responses after errors than after correct trials) and post-conflict adaptation (i.e., faster responses in high-conflict incongruent trials that are preceded by other high-conflict incongruent trials, relative to low-conflict congruent trials). Results: While healthy youth exhibited both post-error slowing and post-conflict adaptation, patients with pediatric OCD failed to exhibit either of these effects. Further analyses revealed that patients with low symptom severity showed a reversal of the post-conflict adaptation effect, whereas patients with high symptom severity did not show any post-conflict adaptation. Conclusion: Two types of trial-by-trial adjustments of cognitive control are altered in pediatric OCD. These abnormalities may serve as early markers of the illness

Nanostructured Lipid Carriers Loaded with Dexamethasone Prevent Inflammatory Responses in Primary Non-Parenchymal Liver Cells

Liver inflammation represents a major clinical problem in a wide range of pathologies. Among the strategies to prevent liver failure, dexamethasone (DXM) has been widely used to suppress inflammatory responses. The use of nanocarriers for encapsulation and sustained release of glucocorticoids to liver cells could provide a solution to prevent severe side effects associated with systemic delivery as the conventional treatment regime. Here we describe a nanostructured lipid carrier developed to efficiently encapsulate and release DXM. This nano-formulation proved to be stable over time, did not interact in vitro with plasma opsonins, and was well tolerated by primary non-parenchymal liver cells (NPCs). Released DXM preserved its pharmacological activity, as evidenced by inducing robust anti-inflammatory responses in NPCs. Taken together, nanostructured lipid carriers may constitute a reliable platform for the delivery of DXM to treat pathologies associated with chronic liver inflammation.Fil: Medina Montano, Carolina. Johannes Gutenberg Universitat Mainz; AlemaniaFil: Rivero Berti, Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Fermentaciones Industriales. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Fermentaciones Industriales; ArgentinaFil: Gambaro, Rocío Celeste. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Limeres, María José. Johannes Gutenberg Universitat Mainz; AlemaniaFil: Svensson, Malin. Johannes Gutenberg Universitat Mainz; AlemaniaFil: Padula, Gisel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Chain, Cecilia Yamil. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Cisneros, José Sebastián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Castro, Guillermo Raul. Laboratorio Max Planck de Biologia Estructural, Quimica y Biofisica Molecular de Rosario ; Centro de Estudios Interdisciplinarios ; Universidad Nacional de Rosario; . Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Grabbe, Stephan. Johannes Gutenberg Universitat Mainz; AlemaniaFil: Bros, Matthias. Johannes Gutenberg Universitat Mainz; AlemaniaFil: Gehring, Stephan. Johannes Gutenberg Universitat Mainz; AlemaniaFil: Islan, German Abel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Fermentaciones Industriales. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Fermentaciones Industriales; ArgentinaFil: Cacicedo, Maximiliano Luis. Johannes Gutenberg Universitat Mainz; Alemania. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Fermentaciones Industriales. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Fermentaciones Industriales; Argentin

Chronic medication does not affect hyperactive error responses in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) show an increased error-related negativity (ERN), yet previous studies have not controlled for medication use, which may be important given evidence linking performance monitoring to neurotransmitter systems targeted by treatment, such as serotonin. In an examination of 19 unmedicated OCD patients, 19 medicated OCD patients, 19 medicated patient controls without OCD, and 21 unmedicated healthy controls, we found greater ERNs in OCD patients than in controls, irrespective of medication use. Severity of generalized anxiety and depression was associated with ERN amplitude in controls but not patients. These data confirm previous findings of an exaggerated error response in OCD, further showing that it cannot be attributed to medication. The absence in patients of a relationship between ERN amplitude and anxiety/depression, as was found in controls, suggests that elevated error signals in OCD may be disorder-specific.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79361/1/j.1469-8986.2010.00988.x.pd

Efficacy of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis (BB-12), B. infantis and Lactobacillus acidophilus (La-5) probiotics to prevent gut dysbiosis in preterm infants of 28+0–32+6 weeks of gestation: a randomised, placebocontrolled, double-blind, multicentre trial: the PRIMAL Clinical Study Protocol

Introduction The healthy ‘eubiosis’ microbiome in infancy is regarded as the microbiome derived from term, vaginally delivered, antibiotic free, breastfed infants at 4–6 months. Dysbiosis is regarded as a deviation from a healthy state with reduced microbial diversity and deficient capacity to control drug-resistant organisms. Preterm infants are highly sensitive to early gut dysbiosis. Latter has been associated with sepsis and necrotising enterocolitis, but may also contribute to long-term health problems. Probiotics hold promise to reduce the risk for adverse short-term outcomes but the evidence from clinical trials remains inconclusive and none has directly assessed the effects of probiotics on the microbiome at high resolution. Methods and analysis A randomised, double blind, placebo-controlled study has been designed to assess the safety and efficacy of the probiotic mix of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis, B. infantis and Lactobacillus acidophilus in the prevention of gut dysbiosis in preterm infants between 28+0 and 32+6 weeks of gestation. The study is conducted in 18 German neonatal intensive care units. Between April 2018 and March 2020, 654 preterm infants of 28+0–32+6 weeks of gestation will be randomised in the first 48 hours of life to 28 days of once daily treatment with either probiotics or placebo. The efficacy endpoint is the prevention of gut dysbiosis at day 30 of life. A compound definition of gut dysbosis is used: (1) colonisation with multidrug-resistant organisms or gram-negative bacteria with high epidemic potential or (2) a significant deviation of the gut microbiota composition as compared with healthy term infants. Dysbiosis is determined by (1) conventional microbiological culture and (2) phylogenetic microbiome analysis by high-throughput 16S rRNA and metagenome sequencing. Persistence of dysbiosis will be assessed at 12-month follow-up visits. Side effects and adverse events related to the intervention will be recorded. Key secondary endpoint(s) are putative consequences of dysbiosis. A subgroup of infants will be thoroughly phenotyped for immune parameters using chipcytometry. Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval was obtained in all participating sites. Results of the trial will be published in peer-review journals, at scientific meetings, on the website (www.primal-study.de) and via social media of parent organisations. Trial registration number DRKS00013197; Pre-results

How a co-actor’s task affects monitoring of own errors: evidence from a social event-related potential study

Efficient flexible behavior requires continuous monitoring of performance for possible deviations from the intended goal of an action. This also holds for joint action. When jointly performing a task, one needs to not only know the other’s goals and intentions but also generate behavioral adjustments that are dependent on the other person’s task. Previous studies have shown that in joint action people not only represent their own task but also the task of their co-actor. The current study investigated whether these so-called shared representations affect error monitoring as reflected in the response-locked error-related negativity (Ne/ERN) following own errors. Sixteen pairs of participants performed a social go/no-go task, while EEG and behavioral data were obtained. Responses were compatible or incompatible relative to the go/no-go action of the co-actor. Erroneous responses on no-go stimuli were examined. The results demonstrated increased Ne/ERN amplitudes and longer reaction times following errors on compatible compared to incompatible no-go stimuli. Thus, Ne/ERNs were larger after errors on trials that did not require a response from the co-actor either compared to errors on trials that did require a response from the co-actor. As the task of the other person is the only difference between these two types of errors, these findings show that people also represent their co-actor’s task during error monitoring in joint action. An extension of existing models on performance monitoring in individual action is put forward to explain the current findings in joint action. Importantly, we propose that inclusion of a co-actor’s task in performance monitoring may facilitate adaptive behavior in social interactions enabling fast anticipatory and corrective actions

Correlation of expression of BP1, a homeobox gene, with estrogen receptor status in breast cancer

BACKGROUND: BP1 is a novel homeobox gene cloned in our laboratory. Our previous studies in leukemia demonstrated that BP1 has oncogenic properties, including as a modulator of cell survival. Here BP1 expression was examined in breast cancer, and the relationship between BP1 expression and clinicopathological data was determined. METHODS: Total RNA was isolated from cell lines, tumors, and matched normal adjacent tissue or tissue from autopsy. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was performed to evaluate BP1 expression. Statistical analysis was accomplished with SAS. RESULTS: Analysis of 46 invasive ductal breast tumors demonstrated BP1 expression in 80% of them, compared with a lack of expression in six normal breast tissues and low-level expression in one normal breast tissue. Remarkably, 100% of tumors that were negative for the estrogen receptor (ER) were BP1-positive, whereas 73% of ER-positive tumors expressed BP1 (P = 0.03). BP1 expression was also associated with race: 89% of the tumors of African American women were BP1-positive, whereas 57% of those from Caucasian women expressed BP1 (P = 0.04). However, there was no significant difference in BP1 expression between grades I, II, and III tumors. Interestingly, BP1 mRNA expression was correlated with the ability of malignant cell lines to cause breast cancer in mice. CONCLUSION: Because BP1 is expressed abnormally in breast tumors, it could provide a useful target for therapy, particularly in patients with ER-negative tumors. The frequent expression of BP1 in all tumor grades suggests that activation of BP1 is an early event