The German-Czech border region after the fall of the Iron Curtain: Effects on the labour market : an empirical study using the IAB Employment Sample (IABS)

"Using the IAB Employment Sample (IABS) covering 1980-2001 we investigate what impact the fall of the Iron Curtain has had on the skill structure of employment and wages in the western German districts neighbouring the Czech Republic. The introduction of free trade in this region, which has one of the world's largest spatial wage differentials, can be seen as a natural experiment. We presume that changes in skill and wage structures are particularly apparent in the regions situated immediately on the open border. Distinguishing three skill categories we obtain unexpected results. Though we observe a general shift from low-skilled jobs towards skilled jobs and a convergence trend of border regions towards the national average, we do not find a special effect for the period after the opening of the border, neither concerning the skill structure nor the wage differentials." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))Grenzgebiet, Qualifikationsstruktur, Lohnhöhe, osteuropäischer Transformationsprozess - Auswirkungen, IAB-Beschäftigtenstichprobe, Bayern, Tschechische Republik, Bundesrepublik Deutschland

The German-Czech Border Region after the Fall of the Iron Curtain : Effects on the Labour Market

Using the IAB Employment Sample (IABS) covering 1980-2001 we investigate what impact the fall of the Iron Curtain has had on the skill structure of employment and wages in the western German districts neighbouring the Czech Republic. The introduction of free trade in this region, which has one of the world´s largest spatial wage differentials, can be seen as a natural experiment. We presume that changes in skill and wage structures are particularly apparent in the regions situated immediately on the open border. Distinguishing three skill categories we obtain unexpected results. Though we observe a general shift from low-skilled jobs towards skilled jobs and a convergence trend of border regions towards the national average, we do not find a special effect for the period after the opening of the border, neither concerning the skill structure nor the wage differentials. -- Unter Verwendung von Daten der IAB-Regionalstichprobe (IABS) untersuchen wir, ob nach dem Fall des Eisernen Vorhangs Qualifizierungstrends und Lohnentwicklung in den bayerischen Grenzregionen zu Tschechien signifikante Unterschiede im Vergleich mit der Entwicklung auf aggregierter staatlicher Ebene aufweisen. Der Trend zu höherer Qualifizierung sowie der Trend zu höheren relativen Löhnen für besser Qualifizierte sollten dort überdurchschnittlich messbar sein. Unsere Resultate können einen speziellen Grenzöffnungseffekt jedoch weder bei der Qualifikationsstruktur noch bei der relativen Lohnentwicklung in der Grenzregion feststellen.border regions,international trade,employment,wage inequality

The German-Czech border region after the fall of the Iron Curtain: effects on the labour market ; an empirical study using the IAB Employment Sample (IABS)

Unter Verwendung der Daten der IAB-Beschäftigtenstichprobe der Jahre 1980-2001 wird untersucht, welchen Einfluss das Fallen des Eisernen Vorhangs auf die Qualifikationsstruktur der Beschäftigten und die Löhne in den westdeutschen Gebieten hatte, die an die Tschechische Republik grenzen. Die Einführung des freien Handels in dieser Region, die eine der weltweit größten regionalen Lohndifferentiale aufweist, kann als natürliches Experiment betrachtet werden. Die Autoren vermuten, dass der Wandel in den Qualifikations- und Lohnstrukturen besonders in den Regionen stattfand, die unmittelbar an der nun offenen Grenze lagen. Bei der Betrachtung dreier Qualifikationsstufen erhalten die Autoren unerwartete Resultate. Obwohl sie eine generelle Verlagerung von niedrig qualifizierten Jobs zu qualifizierten Jobs und einen Konvergenztrend von Grenzregionen gegenüber der gesamten Nation beobachten, finden sie keine speziellen Effekte für die Periode nach der Grenzöffnung im Hinblick auf die Qualifikationsstruktur und die Lohndifferenzierung. (IAB)"Using the IAB Employment Sample (IABS) covering 1980-2001 we investigate what impact the fall of the Iron Curtain has had on the skill structure of employment and wages in the western German districts neighbouring the Czech Republic. The introduction of free trade in this region, which has one of the world's largest spatial wage differentials, can be seen as a natural experiment. We presume that changes in skill and wage structures are particularly apparent in the regions situated immediately on the open border. Distinguishing three skill categories we obtain unexpected results. Though we observe a general shift from low-skilled jobs towards skilled jobs and a convergence trend of border regions towards the national average, we do not find a special effect for the period after the opening of the border, neither concerning the skill structure nor the wage differentials." (author's abstract

Selective TEMPO-oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes in alternative organic solvents

Hinzmann A, Stricker M, Busch J, Glinski S, Oike K, Gröger H. Selective TEMPO-oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes in alternative organic solvents. European Journal of Organic Chemistry. 2020;(16):2399-2408.The TEMPO‐catalyzed oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes has emerged to one of the most widely applied methodologies for such transformations. Advantages are the utilization of sodium hypochlorite, a component of household bleach, as an oxidation agent and the use of water as a co‐solvent. However, a major drawback of this method is the often occurring strict limitation to use dichloromethane as an organic solvent in a biphasic reaction medium with water. Previous studies show that dichloromethane cannot easily be substituted because a decrease of selectivity or inhibition of the reaction is observed by using alternative organic solvents. Thus, up to now, only a few examples are known in which after a tedious optimization of the reaction dichloromethane could be replaced. In order to overcome the current limitations, we were interested in finding a TEMPO‐oxidation method in alternative organic solvents, which is applicable for various alcohol oxidations. As a result, we found a method for N‐oxyl radical‐catalyzed oxidation using sodium hypochlorite as an oxidation agent in nitriles as an organic solvent component instead of dichloromethane. Besides the oxidation of aromatic primary alcohols also aliphatic primary alcohols, secondary alcohols as well as dialcohols were successfully converted when using this method, showing high selectivity towards the carbonyl compound and low amounts of the acid side‐product

Comparison of cardiac, hepatic, and renal effects of arginine vasopressin and noradrenaline during porcine fecal peritonitis: a randomized controlled trial

INTRODUCTION: Infusing arginine vasopressin (AVP) in vasodilatory shock usually decreases cardiac output and thus systemic oxygen transport. It is still a matter of debate whether this vasoconstriction impedes visceral organ blood flow and thereby causes organ dysfunction and injury. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis whether low-dose AVP is safe with respect to liver, kidney, and heart function and organ injury during resuscitated septic shock. METHODS: After intraperitoneal inoculation of autologous feces, 24 anesthetized, mechanically ventilated, and instrumented pigs were randomly assigned to noradrenaline alone (increments of 0.05 microg/kg/min until maximal heart rate of 160 beats/min; n = 12) or AVP (1 to 5 ng/kg/min; supplemented by noradrenaline if the maximal AVP dosage failed to maintain mean blood pressure; n = 12) to treat sepsis-associated hypotension. Parameters of systemic and regional hemodynamics (ultrasound flow probes on the portal vein and hepatic artery), oxygen transport, metabolism (endogenous glucose production and whole body glucose oxidation derived from blood glucose isotope and expiratory 13CO2/12CO2 enrichment during 1,2,3,4,5,6-13C6-glucose infusion), visceral organ function (blood transaminase activities, bilirubin and creatinine concentrations, creatinine clearance, fractional Na+ excretion), nitric oxide (exhaled NO and blood nitrate + nitrite levels) and cytokine production (interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha blood levels), and myocardial function (left ventricular dp/dtmax and dp/dtmin) and injury (troponin I blood levels) were measured before and 12, 18, and 24 hours after peritonitis induction. Immediate post mortem liver and kidney biopsies were analysed for histomorphology (hematoxylin eosin staining) and apoptosis (TUNEL staining). RESULTS: AVP decreased heart rate and cardiac output without otherwise affecting heart function and significantly decreased troponin I blood levels. AVP increased the rate of direct, aerobic glucose oxidation and reduced hyperlactatemia, which coincided with less severe kidney dysfunction and liver injury, attenuated systemic inflammation, and decreased kidney tubular apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS: During well-resuscitated septic shock low-dose AVP appears to be safe with respect to myocardial function and heart injury and reduces kidney and liver damage. It remains to be elucidated whether this is due to the treatment per se and/or to the decreased exogenous catecholamine requirements

CAAP48, a New Sepsis Biomarker, Induces Hepatic Dysfunction in an in vitro Liver-on-Chip Model

Sepsis is a leading cause of mortality in the critically ill, characterized by life-threatening organ dysfunctions due to dysregulation of the host response to infection. Using mass spectrometry, we identified a C-terminal fragment of alpha-1-antitrypsin, designated CAAP48, as a new sepsis biomarker that actively participates in the pathophysiology of sepsis. It is well-known that liver dysfunction is an early event in sepsis-associated multi-organ failure, thus we analyzed the pathophysiological function of CAAP48 in a microfluidic-supported in vitro liver-on-chip model. Hepatocytes were stimulated with synthetic CAAP48 and several control peptides. CAAP48-treatment resulted in an accumulation of the hepatocyte-specific intracellular enzymes aspartate- and alanine-transaminase and impaired the activity of the hepatic multidrug resistant-associated protein 2 and cytochrome P450 3A4. Moreover, CAAP48 reduced hepatic expression of the multidrug resistant-associated protein 2 and disrupted the endothelial structural integrity as demonstrated by reduced expression of VE-cadherin, F-actin and alteration of the tight junction protein zonula occludens-1, which resulted in a loss of the endothelial barrier function. Furthermore, CAAP48 induced the release of adhesion molecules and pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines. Our results show that CAAP48 triggers inflammation-related endothelial barrier disruption as well as hepatocellular dysfunction in a liver-on-chip model emulating the pathophysiological conditions of inflammation. Besides its function as new sepsis biomarker, CAAP48 thus might play an important role in the development of liver dysfunction as a consequence of the dysregulated host immune-inflammatory response in sepsis

Interaction of the hydrogen sulfide system with the oxytocin system in the injured mouse heart

Both the hydrogen sulfide/cystathionine-γ-lyase (H2S/CSE) and oxytocin/oxytocin receptor (OT/OTR) systems have been reported to be cardioprotective. H2S can stimulate OT release, thereby affecting blood volume and pressure regulation. Systemic hyper-inflammation after blunt chest trauma is enhanced in cigarette smoke (CS)-exposed CSE−/− mice compared to wildtype (WT). CS increases myometrial OTR expression, but to this point, no data are available on the effects CS exposure on the cardiac OT/OTR system. Since a contusion of the thorax (Txt) can cause myocardial injury, the aim of this post hoc study was to investigate the effects of CSE−/− and exogenous administration of GYY4137 (a slow release H2S releasing compound) on OTR expression in the heart, after acute on chronic disease, of CS exposed mice undergoing Txt.Methods: This study is a post hoc analysis of material obtained in wild type (WT) homozygous CSE−/− mice after 2-3 weeks of CS exposure and subsequent anesthesia, blast wave-induced TxT, and surgical instrumentation for mechanical ventilation (MV) and hemodynamic monitoring. CSE−/− animals received a 50 μg/g GYY4137-bolus after TxT. After 4h of MV, animals were exsanguinated and organs were harvested. The heart was cut transversally, formalin-fixed, and paraffin- embedded. Immunohistochemistry for OTR, arginine-vasopressin-receptor (AVPR), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was performed with naïve animals as native controls.Results: CSE−/− was associated with hypertension and lower blood glucose levels, partially and significantly restored by GYY4137 treatment, respectively. Myocardial OTR expression was reduced upon injury, and this was aggravated in CSE−/−. Exogenous H2S administration restored myocardial protein expression to WT levels.Conclusions: This study suggests that cardiac CSE regulates cardiac OTR expression, and this effect might play a role in the regulation of cardiovascular function

Porcine blood cell and brain tissue energy metabolism: Effects of “early life stress”

Background: Early Life Stress (ELS) may exert long-lasting biological effects, e.g., on PBMC energy metabolism and mitochondrial respiration. Data on its effect on brain tissue mitochondrial respiration is scarce, and it is unclear whether blood cell mitochondrial activity mirrors that of brain tissue. This study investigated blood immune cell and brain tissue mitochondrial respiratory activity in a porcine ELS model.Methods: This prospective randomized, controlled, animal investigation comprised 12 German Large White swine of either sex, which were weaned at PND (postnatal day) 28–35 (control) or PND21 (ELS). At 20–24 weeks, animals were anesthetized, mechanically ventilated and surgically instrumented. We determined serum hormone, cytokine, and “brain injury marker” levels, superoxide anion (O2•¯) formation and mitochondrial respiration in isolated immune cells and immediate post mortem frontal cortex brain tissue.Results: ELS animals presented with higher glucose levels, lower mean arterial pressure. Most determined serum factors did not differ. In male controls, TNFα and IL-10 levels were both higher than in female controls as well as, no matter the gender in ELS animals. MAP-2, GFAP, and NSE were also higher in male controls than in the other three groups. Neither PBMC routine respiration and brain tissue oxidative phosphorylation nor maximal electron transfer capacity in the uncoupled state (ETC) showed any difference between ELS and controls. There was no significant relation between brain tissue and PBMC, ETC, or brain tissue, ETC, and PBMC bioenergetic health index. Whole blood O2•¯ concentrations and PBMC O2•¯ production were comparable between groups. However, granulocyte O2•¯ production after stimulation with E. coli was lower in the ELS group, and this effect was sex-specific: increased O2•¯ production increased upon stimulation in all control animals, which was abolished in the female ELS swine.Conclusion: This study provides evidence that ELS i) may, gender-specifically, affect the immune response to general anesthesia as well as O2•¯ radical production at sexual maturity, ii) has limited effects on brain and peripheral blood immune cell mitochondrial respiratory activity, and iii) mitochondrial respiratory activity of peripheral blood immune cells and brain tissue do not correlate