Tax Interactions among Belgian Municipalities: Does Language Matter?

This paper tests the existence of strategic interactions among municipalities using a panel of Belgian local tax rates from 1985 to 2004. A special emphasis is put on the role of the language spoken in the various municipalities. Our results first confirm previous findings for Belgium suggesting that municipalities interact with each other over the two main local tax rates, the local surcharge on the (labour) income tax rate and the local surcharge on the property tax. Using tools of spatial econometrics and an original methodology for specifying weights matrices, we find out that municipalities are sensitive to tax rates set by their close neighbours only. We also reject the hypothesis that the language does not matter: in the within model and for the local income tax rate, the intensity of interactions is shown to be lower between municipalities speaking different languages than between municipalities speaking the same language. That observation is particularly relevant for today Belgium and might be viewed as a contribution to the ongoing debate on the regionalisation or partial decentralization of some taxes.tax interactions, panel data, spatial econometrics, local tax rates, tax competition, yardstick competition

Cardiorespiratory Temporal Causal Links and the Differences by Sport or Lack Thereof

Fitness level, fatigue and adaptation are important factors for determining the optimal training schedule and predicting future performance. We think that adding analysis of the mutual relationships between cardiac and respiratory activity enables better athlete profiling and feedback for improving training. Therefore, the main objectives were (1) to apply several methods for temporal causality analysis to cardiorespiratory data; (2) to establish causal links between the signals; and (3) to determine how parameterized connections differed across various subgroups. One hundred elite athletes (31 female) and a control group of 20 healthy students (6 female) took part in the study. All were asked to follow a protocol comprising two 5-min sessions of free breathing - once supine, once standing. The data were collected using Pneumonitor 2. Respiratory-related curves were obtained through impedance pneumography, along with a single-lead ECG. Several signals (e.g., tidal volume, instantaneous respiratory rate, and instantaneous heart rate) were derived and stored as: (1) raw data down-sampled to 25Hz; (2) further down-sampled to 2.5Hz; and (3) beat-by-beat sequences. Granger causality frameworks (pairwise-conditional, spectral or extended), along with Time Series Models with Independent Noise (TiMINo), were studied. The connections enabling the best distinctions were found using recursive feature elimination with a random forest kernel. Temporal causal links are the most evident between tidal volume and instantaneous heart rate signals. Predictions of the “effect” variable were improved by adding preceding “cause” samples, by medians of 20.3% for supine and 14.2% for standing body positions. Parameterized causal link structures and directions distinguish athletes from non-athletes with 83.3% accuracy on average. They may also be used to supplement standard analysis and enable classification into groups exhibiting different static and dynamic components during performance. Physiological markers of training may be extended to include cardiorespiratory data, and causality analysis may improve the resolution of training profiling and the precision of outcome prediction

Development and validation of an LC method for the determination of six corticosteroids, salicylic acid and parabens in different pharmaceutical formulations

peer reviewedaudience: researcher, professional, student, popularizationMise au point de méthodes d’analyse en vue de l’étude de stabilité des principes actifs dans des formes dermopharmaceutiques dans le cadre de l’établissement d’un Nouveau Formulaire Thérapeutique valid

PathwayExplorer: web service for visualizing high-throughput expression data on biological pathways

While generation of high-throughput expression data is becoming routine, the fast, easy, and systematic presentation and analysis of these data in a biological context is still an obstacle. To address this need, we have developed PathwayExplorer, which maps expression profiles of genes or proteins simultaneously onto major, currently available regulatory, metabolic and cellular pathways from KEGG, BioCarta and GenMAPP. PathwayExplorer is a platform-independent web server application with an optional standalone Java application using a SOAP (simple object access protocol) interface. Mapped pathways are ranked for the easy selection of the pathway of interest, displaying all available genes of this pathway with their expression profiles in a selectable and intuitive color code. Pathway maps produced can be downloaded as PNG, JPG or as high-resolution vector graphics SVG. The web service is freely available at ; the standalone client can be downloaded at

PAC 1 Receptor Activation by PACAP-38 Mediates Ca 2؉ Release from a cAMP-dependent Pool in Human Fetal Adrenal Gland Chromaffin Cells* Downloaded from

International audiencePrevious studies have shown that human fetal adre-nal gland from 17-to 20-week-old fetuses expressed pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) receptors, which were localized on chromaf-fin cells. The aim of the present study was to identify PACAP receptor isoforms and to determine whether PACAP can affect intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca 2؉ ] i) and catecholamine secretion. Using primary cultures and specific stimulation of chromaffin cells, we demonstrate that PACAP-38 induced an increase in [Ca 2؉ ] i that was blocked by PACAP (6-38), was independent of external Ca 2؉ , and originated from thapsi-gargin-insensitive internal stores. The PACAP-triggered Ca 2؉ increase was not affected by inhibition of PLC␤ (preincubation with U-73122) or by pretreatment of cells with Xestospongin C, indicating that the inosi-tol 1,4,5-triphosphate-sensitive stores were not mobilized. However, forskolin (FSK), which raises cytosolic cAMP, induced an increase in Ca 2؉ similar to that recorded with PACAP-38. Blockage of PKA by H-89 or (R p)-cAMPS suppressed both PACAP-38 and FSK calcium responses. The effect of PACAP-38 was also abolished by emptying the caffeine/ryanodine-sensitive Ca 2؉ stores. Furthermore, treatment of cells with or-thovanadate (100 M) impaired Ca 2؉ reloading of PACAP-sensitive stores indicating that PACAP-38 can mobilize Ca 2؉ from secretory vesicles. Moreover, PACAP induced catecholamine secretion by chromaf-fin cells. It is concluded that PACAP-38, through the PAC 1 receptor, acts as a neurotransmitter in human fetal chromaffin cells inducing catecholamine secretion , through nonclassical, recently described, ryano-dine/caffeine-sensitive pools, involving a cAMP-and PKA-dependent phosphorylation mechanism. Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide is a 38-residue ␣-amidated neuropeptide (PACAP-38) 1 originally isolated from the ovine hypothalamus for its ability to stimulate cAMP formation in rat anterior pituitary cells. Processing of PACAP-38 can generate a 27-amino acid amidated peptide (PACAP-27) that exhibits 68% sequence identity with vasoac-tive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), thus identifying PACAP as a member of the VIP/secretin/glucagon superfamily of regulatory peptides (1, 2). The effects of PACAP are mediated through interaction with two types of high affinity receptors: type I receptors are selectively activated by PACAP, whereas type II receptors bind PACAP and VIP with similar affinity (3). Three isoforms of PACAP receptors have now been cloned and designated as PACAP-specific receptor I (PAC 1-R) (4, 5) and VIP/PACAP mutual receptors 1 and 2 (VPAC 1-R and VPAC 2-R) (6, 7). Both PAC 1-R (type 1 receptors) and VPAC 1-R/VPAC 2-R (type 2 receptors) belong to the seven-transmembrane domain, G-protein coupled receptor family, and are all positively coupled to adenylyl cyclase (2). Eight isoforms of PAC 1-R, resulting from alternative splicing, have been characterized to date. These variants display differential signal transduction properties with regard to adenylyl cyclase and phospholipase C (PLC) stimulation (1, 2). In addition to these classical signaling pathways , PACAP has been found to stimulate a Ca 2ϩ-calmodulin nitric oxide synthase (8) and mitogen-activated protein kinase activity (9). These various transduction mechanisms are involved in the neurotrophic activities exerted by PACAP (i.e. inhibition of apoptosis and stimulation of neurite outgrowth) during development (9-11). PACAP and its receptors are actively expressed in the adre-nal medulla (12-14). In particular, we have previously demonstrated the occurrence of PACAP-38 (15) and PACAP binding sites (16) in chromaffin cells from 16-to 20-week-old fetal human adrenal glands. Activation of these receptors by PACAP-38 causes stimulation of cAMP production and induces a modest increase in inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate (IP 3) formation (16), suggesting a role for the neuropeptide in the developin

A DYNAMOMETRIC METHOD FOR THE EVALUATION OF HIKING IN LASER BOATS

This study aimed to develop a dynamometric method for the evaluation of hiking in Laser boats. The boat’s and sailor’s centres of mass, the hiking distance and the hiking moment were calculated from the ground reaction force, acquired by two force plates located under the boat hoof. Three sailors performed different hiking positions varying their hip and knee angles. Pearson’s coefficient was used to verify the correlation between the measures obtained through the dynamometric method and a kinematic method. A very high correlation was observed between the methods (r=0.99) and the mean error was approximately 1% for both hiking distance and moment. Thus, the new method seems to be valid and efficient since it measured the variables in a fast and precise way, facilitating the analysis and assisting sailors and coaches on decision taking