Mesenchymal stem cells and their use as cell replacement therapy and disease modelling tool.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from adult somatic tissues may differentiate in vitro and in vivo into multiple mesodermal tissues including bone, cartilage, adipose tissue, tendon, ligament or even muscle. MSCs preferentially home to damaged tissues where they exert their therapeutic potential. A striking feature of the MSCs is their low inherent immunogenicity as they induce little, if any, proliferation of allogeneic lymphocytes and antigen-presenting cells. Instead, MSCs appear to be immunosuppressive in vitro. Their multilineage differentiation potential coupled to their immuno-privileged properties is being exploited worldwide for both autologous and allogeneic cell replacement strategies. Here, we introduce the readers to the biology of MSCs and the mechanisms underlying immune tolerance. We then outline potential cell replacement strategies and clinical applications based on the MSCs immunological properties. Ongoing clinical trials for graft-versus-host-disease, haematopoietic recovery after co-transplantation of MSCs along with haematopoietic stem cells and tissue repair are discussed. Finally, we review the emerging area based on the use of MSCs as a target cell subset for either spontaneous or induced neoplastic transformation and, for modelling non-haematological mesenchymal cancers such as sarcomas

Fiscal data revisions in Europe

Public deficit figures are subject to revisions, as most macroeconomic aggregates are. Nevertheless, in the case of Europe, the latter could be particularly worrisome given the role of fiscal data in the functioning of EU’s multilateral surveillance rules. Adherence to such rules is judged upon initial releases of data, in the framework of the so-called Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) Notifications. In addition, the lack of reliability of fiscal data may hinder the credibility of fiscal consolidation plans. In this paper we document the empirical properties of revisions to annual government deficit figures in Europe by exploiting the information contained in a pool of real-time vintages of data pertaining to fifteen EU countries over the period 1995-2008. We build up such real-time dataset from official publications. Our main findings are as follows: (i) preliminary deficit data releases are biased and non-efficient predictors of subsequent releases, with later vintages of data tending to show larger deficits on average; (ii) such systematic bias in deficit revisions is a general feature of the sample, and cannot solely be attributed to the behaviour of a small number of countries, even though the Greek case is clearly an outlier; (iii) Methodological improvements and clarifications stemming from Eurostat’s decisions that may lead to data revisions explain a significant share of the bias, providing some evidence of window dressing on the side of individual countries; (iv) expected real GDP growth, political cycles and the strength of fiscal rules also contribute to explain revision patterns; (v) nevertheless, if the systematic bias is excluded, revisions can be considered rational after two years. JEL Classification: E01, E21, E24, E31, E5, H600data revisions, fiscal statistics, news and noise, Rationality, real-time data

Flow injection determination of total catechins and procyanidins in white and red wines

An easily automatable flow-injection (FI) method for the determination of total catechins is reported. The method is based on the reaction of vanillin in acid medium to yield a coloured product with maximum absorption at 500 nm. After optimisation by the univariate and multivariate approaches as required, the linear range was established (between 10 and 90 mgL-1 and 10 and 250 mgL-1 for white and red wines, respectively). Then, the assessment of the proposed versus the reference method was studied in terms of repeatability (2.57 mgL-1), reproducibility (3.56 mgL-1) (no significant differences were found), detection and quantification limits (not far from those of the reference method and always sufficient for the determination of catechins in any type of wine), traceability (excellent correlation under all conditions) and sample throughput (23 samples h-1 for the proposed method versus 3 samples h-1 for the reference method)

Cifosis postraumática progresiva del raquis cervical en un adolescente

Se presenta un caso de cifosis cervical progresiva en un paciente adolescente de 14 años que fue remitido a nuestra unidad con siete meses de evolución, tras un antecedente de hiperflexión por zambullida. Clínicamente presentaba dolor, actitud antiálgica y limitación de la movilidad. El estudio radiográfico mostró una cifosis cervical C2-C4. Ante la progresión radiográfica de la cifosis (48º) y la limitación funcional, se decidió la estabilización quirúrgica por vía posterior, realizando una artrodesis C2-C4 utilizando el Halifax clamp y aporte de injerto antólogo. Tras dos años de seguimiento, el paciente se encuentra asintomático, con una cifosis residual de 18º (C2-C4), que no limita clínicamente la flexión y extensión completas.A 14-year-old boy with progressive cervical kyphosis is reported. The patient was remitted to our hospital 7 months after a diving accident. Clinically, he showed pain, antialgic position and limited mobility. The radiological study showed cervical kyphosis C2-C4. Due to kyphotic radiographic progression (48º) and functional limitation, surgical stabilization through a posterior approach was decide, performing C2-C4 arthrodesis with Halifax Clamp and bone graft. After two years of follow-up, the patient is asympthomatic with 18º remnant kyphosis that clinically does not limit full flexion and extension

Flow injection determination of readily assimilable nitrogen compounds during vinification

A flow injection method for the determination of readily assimilable nitrogen (r.a.n.), i.e. ammonium and aminated nitrogen, is reported. The difference in pH of the sample in the presence and absence of formaldehyde, which blocks the amino function, provides the value of r.a.n. by monitoring the changes in absorbance of bromothymol blue at 616 nm. The detection and quantification limits are 10 and 11.6 mg l-1, respectively; the reproducibility and repeatability are 3.94 mg l-1 and 1.35 mg l-1, respectively; and the sample throughput is 20 samples h-1. The method has been applied to the analysis of 120 samples of must and wine subjected to biological aging. The proposed method also provides good correlation with the reference method used in routine analysis, and it is faster and gives sufficient precision for wineries requirements

A Novel Strategy for Improving the Quality of Embedded Zerotree Wavelet Images Transmitted over Alamouti Coding Systems

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21501-8[Abstract] This work deals with the transmission of images, previously coded using the Embedded Zerotree Wavelet (EZW) transform, over wireless systems in which Space-Time Coding (STC) is used. It is shown how the system performance, measured in terms of Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), can be improved using bit allocation strategies that take into account the special structure of the EZW bitstream, where the bits firstly allocated are associated to the lowest frequency subbands, and therefore, an error–free transmission of such bits will be crucial to appropriately recover the transmitted image.Galicia. Consellería de Economía e Industria; 10TIC105003PRGalicia. Consellería de Economía e Industria; 09TIC008105PRMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación; TEC2010-19545-C04-01Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación; CSD2008-0001

Fiscal policy shocks in the euro area and the US: an empirical assessment

We analyse the impact of fiscal policy shocks in the euro area as a whole, using a newly available quarterly dataset of fiscal variables for the period 1981-2007. To allow for comparability with previous results on euro area countries and the US, we use a standard structural VAR framework, and study the impact of aggregated and disaggregated government spending and net taxes shocks. In addition, to frame euro area results, we apply the same methodology for the same sample period to US data. We also explore the sensitivity of the provided results to the inclusion of variables aiming at measuring “financial stress” (increases in risk) and “fiscal stress” (sustainability concerns). Analysing US and euro area data with a common methodology provides some interesting insights on the interpretation of fiscal policy shocks. JEL Classification: E62, H30euro area, Fiscal multipliers, Fiscal shocks, SVAR

Searching for galactic sources in the Swift GRB catalog

Since the early 1990s Gamma Ray Bursts have been accepted to be of extra-galactic origin due to the isotropic distribution observed by BATSE and the redshifts observed via absorption line spectroscopy. Nevertheless, upon further examination at least one case turned out to be of galactic origin. This particular event presented a Fast Rise, Exponential Decay (FRED) structure which leads us to believe that other FRED sources might also be Galactic. This study was set out to estimate the most probable degree of contamination by galactic sources that certain samples of FREDs have. In order to quantify the degree of anisotropy the average dipolar and quadripolar moments of each sample of GRBs with respect to the galactic plane were calculated. This was then compared to the probability distribution of simulated samples comprised of a combination of isotropically generated sources and galactic sources. We observe that the dipolar and quadripolar moments of the selected subsamples of FREDs are found more than two standard deviations outside those of random isotropically generated samples.The most probable degree of contamination by galactic sources for the FRED GRBs of the Swift catalog detected until February 2011 that do not have a known redshift is about 21 out of 77 sources which is roughly equal to 27%. Furthermore we observe, that by removing from this sample those bursts that may have any type of indirect redshift indicator and multiple peaks gives the most probable contamination increases up to 34% (17 out of 49 sources). It is probable that a high degree of contamination by galactic sources occurs among the single peak FREDs observed by Swift.Comment: Published to A&A, 4 pages, 5 figures, this arXiv version includes appended table with all the bursts considered in this stud