Volatility clustering in land markets

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the volatility clustering in the return of land markets through both theoretical and empirical approaches.Design/methodology/approach– Using extensive monthly panel data at the provincial level from 1986 to 2013, the authors identify the existence of time-correlated and time-varying returns in Canadian land markets.Findings– Consistent with the proposed theory, volatility clustering in land markets tends to be observed in more populated areas.Originality/value– The result has significant implications for portfolio management, economic theory and government policy by revealing the systematic pattern of volatility clustering in land markets.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Emerald via http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/PM-02-2014-000

Oncogenic role of clusterin overexpression in multistage colorectal tumorigenesis and progression

Aim: To investigate the expression pattern of clusterin in colorectal adenoma-carcinoma-metastasis series, and to explore the potential role of clustelin in multistage colorectal tumorigenesis and progression. Methods: A colorectal carcinoma (CRC)-tissue microarray (TMA), which contained 85 advanced CRCs including 43 cases of Dukes B, 21 of Dukes C and 21 of Dukes D tumors, were used for assessing the expression of clusterin (clone 41D) and tumor cell apoptotic index (AI) by immunohistochemistry and TUNEL assay, respectively. Moreover the potential correlation of clusterin expression with the patient's clinical-pathological features were also examined. Results: The positive staining of clusterin in different colorectal tissues was primarily a cytoplasmic pattern. Cytoplasmic overexpression of clusterin was detected in none of the normal colorectal mucosa, 17% of the adenomas, 46% of the primary CRCs, and 57% of the CRC metastatic lesions. In addition, a significant positive correlation between overexpression of clusterin and advanced clinical (Dukes) stage was observed (P<0.01). Overexpression of cytoplasmic clusterin in CRCs was inversely correlated with tumor apoptotic index (P<0.01), indicating the anti-apoptotic function of cytoplasmic clusterin in CRCs. Conclusion: These data suggests that overexpression of cytoplasmic clusterin might be involved in the tumorigenesis and/or progression of CRCs. The anti-apoptotic function of cytoplasmic clusterin may be responsible, at least in part, for the development and biologically aggressive behavior of CRC. © 2005 The WJG Press and Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.published_or_final_versio

Structure of hadron resonances with a nearby zero of the amplitude

We discuss the relation between the analytic structure of the scattering amplitude and the origin of an eigenstate represented by a pole of the amplitude.If the eigenstate is not dynamically generated by the interaction in the channel of interest, the residue of the pole vanishes in the zero coupling limit. Based on the topological nature of the phase of the scattering amplitude, we show that the pole must encounter with the Castillejo-Dalitz-Dyson (CDD) zero in this limit. It is concluded that the dynamical component of the eigenstate is small if a CDD zero exists near the eigenstate pole. We show that the line shape of the resonance is distorted from the Breit-Wigner form as an observable consequence of the nearby CDD zero. Finally, studying the positions of poles and CDD zeros of the KbarN-piSigma amplitude, we discuss the origin of the eigenstates in the Lambda(1405) region.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, v2: published versio

SWATH-MS Quantitative analysis of proteins in the rice inferior and superior spikelets during grain filling

published_or_final_versio

WNT signalling in prostate cancer

Genome sequencing and gene expression analyses of prostate tumours have highlighted the potential importance of genetic and epigenetic changes observed in WNT signalling pathway components in prostate tumours-particularly in the development of castration-resistant prostate cancer. WNT signalling is also important in the prostate tumour microenvironment, in which WNT proteins secreted by the tumour stroma promote resistance to therapy, and in prostate cancer stem or progenitor cells, in which WNT-β-catenin signals promote self-renewal or expansion. Preclinical studies have demonstrated the potential of inhibitors that target WNT receptor complexes at the cell membrane or that block the interaction of β-catenin with lymphoid enhancer-binding factor 1 and the androgen receptor, in preventing prostate cancer progression. Some WNT signalling inhibitors are in phase I trials, but they have yet to be tested in patients with prostate cancer

Surface Morphology Evolution Mechanisms of InGaN/GaN Multiple Quantum Wells with Mixture N2/H2-Grown GaN Barrier

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.Surface morphology evolution mechanisms of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) during GaN barrier growth with different hydrogen (H2) percentages have been systematically studied. Ga surface-diffusion rate, stress relaxation, and H2 etching effect are found to be the main affecting factors of the surface evolution. As the percentage of H2 increases from 0 to 6.25%, Ga surface-diffusion rate and the etch effect are gradually enhanced, which is beneficial to obtaining a smooth surface with low pits density. As the H2 proportion further increases, stress relaxation and H2 over- etching effect begin to be the dominant factors, which degrade surface quality. Furthermore, the effects of surface evolution on the interface and optical properties of InGaN/GaN MQWs are also profoundly discussed. The comprehensive study on the surface evolution mechanisms herein provides both technical and theoretical support for the fabrication of high-quality InGaN/GaN heterostructures.Peer reviewe

Distinct stem cells subpopulations isolated from human adipose tissue exhibit different chondrogenic and osteogenic differentiation potential

Recently adipose tissue has become a research topic also for the searching for an alternative stem cells source to use in cell based therapies such as tissue engineer. In fact Adipose Stem Cells (ASCs) exhibit an important differentiation potential for several cell lineages such as chondrogenic, osteogenic, myogenic, adipogenic and endothelial cells. ASCs populations isolated using standard methodologies (i.e., based on their adherence ability) are very heterogeneous but very few studies have analysed this aspect. Consequently, several questions are still pending, as for example, on what regard the existence/ or not of distinct ASCs subpopulations. The present study is originally aimed at isolating selected ASCs subpopulations, and to analyse their behaviour towards the heterogeneous population regarding the expression of stem cell markers and also regarding their osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation potential. Human Adipose derived Stem Cells (hASCs) subpopulations were isolated using immunomagnetic beads coated with several different antibodies (CD29, CD44, CD49d, CD73, CD90, CD 105, Stro-1 and p75) and were characterized by Real Time RT-PCR in order to assess the expression of mesenchymal stem cells markers (CD44, CD73, Stro-1, CD105 and CD90) as well as known markers of the chondrogenic (Sox 9, Collagen II) and osteogenic lineage (Osteopontin, Osteocalcin). The obtained results underline the complexity of the ASCs population demonstrating that it is composed of several subpopulations, which express different levels of ASCs markers and exhibit distinctive differentiation potentials. Furthermore, the results obtained clearly evidence of the advantages of using selected populations in cell-based therapies, such as bone and cartilage regenerative medicine approaches.EU funded Marie Curie Actions Alea Jacta Est for a PhD fellowship. This work was carried out under the scope of the European NoE EXPERTISSUES (NMP3-CT-2004-500283)

Sequence variation in TgROP7 gene among Toxoplasma gondii isolates from different hosts and geographical regions

Toxoplasma gondii can infect a wide range of hosts including mammals and birds, causing toxoplasmosis which is one of the most common parasitic zoonoses worldwide. The present study examined sequence variation in rhoptry 7 (ROP7) gene among different T. gondii isolates from different hosts and geographical localities. Phylogenetic analysis of the examined T. gondii isolates was conducted using the maximum likelihood (ML) method. Sequence analysis revealed that 60 nucleotide positions were variable in the ROP7 gene sequences among the 19 examined T. gondii isolates, corresponding to sequence variations of 0 to 1.7%, which occurred at the first, second and third codons. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that sequence variation in ROP7 gene was low among the examined T. gondii isolates from different hosts and geographical localities, and that the ROP7 sequence was not suitable as genetic marker for the differentiation of T. gondii isolates. The results of the present study suggest that ROP7 gene may be a suitable vaccine candidate.Key words: Sequence variation, rhoptry 7 (ROP7) gene, Toxoplasma gondii, toxoplasmosis, phylogenetic analysis

Improved measurement of the reactor antineutrino flux and spectrum at Daya Bay

published_or_final_versio

Dual coding with STDP in a spiking recurrent neural network model of the hippocampus.

The firing rate of single neurons in the mammalian hippocampus has been demonstrated to encode for a range of spatial and non-spatial stimuli. It has also been demonstrated that phase of firing, with respect to the theta oscillation that dominates the hippocampal EEG during stereotype learning behaviour, correlates with an animal's spatial location. These findings have led to the hypothesis that the hippocampus operates using a dual (rate and temporal) coding system. To investigate the phenomenon of dual coding in the hippocampus, we examine a spiking recurrent network model with theta coded neural dynamics and an STDP rule that mediates rate-coded Hebbian learning when pre- and post-synaptic firing is stochastic. We demonstrate that this plasticity rule can generate both symmetric and asymmetric connections between neurons that fire at concurrent or successive theta phase, respectively, and subsequently produce both pattern completion and sequence prediction from partial cues. This unifies previously disparate auto- and hetero-associative network models of hippocampal function and provides them with a firmer basis in modern neurobiology. Furthermore, the encoding and reactivation of activity in mutually exciting Hebbian cell assemblies demonstrated here is believed to represent a fundamental mechanism of cognitive processing in the brain