Inkonsistens mellom finans- og pengepolitikken?

Artikkelen er gjengitt med tillatelse fra Samfunnsøkonomenes Forening.En realappresiering av norske kroner er en nødvendig følge av økt bruk av oljeinntekter. Forutsetningen for pengepolitikken var at denne realappresieringen kunne skje i form av høyere inflasjon enn hos våre handelspartnere. At Norges Bank har en annen vurdering av behovet for realappresiering kan bidra til å forklare hvorfor vi det siste året opplevd en kraftig styrking av krona,som – på toppen av høy lønnsvekst – nå truer konkurranseutsatt virksomhet i vid forstand

Virkningsberegninger på KVARTS

Statistisk sentralbyrås makroøkonometriske kvartalsmodell KVARTS er konstruert med tanke på å fange opp de sentrale mekanismer i norsk økonomi som er viktige for konjunktur- og politikkanalyser på kort og mellomlang sikt. I denne rapporten belyses viktige trekk ved norsk økonomi gjennom virkningsberegninger på KVARTS. Modellens adferdsrelasjoner er tallfestet på bakgrunn av historiske observasjoner av de relevante økonomiske størrelsene gjennom de siste 15-25 årene, og rapporten dokumenterer hovedstrukturen i modellen slik den forelå sommeren 2004 - og dermed vår oppfatning av hvordan norsk økonomi fungerte på samme tidspunkt. Fokuset i denne rapporten er lagt på både sentrale aggregerte størrelser og på et relativt detaljert næringsnivå. Det rapporteres resultater på opptil 16 års sikt, og dette forholdsvis langsiktige perspektivet har medført at selve kvartalsdimensjonen har blitt undertrykt. Et av målene med arbeidet bak denne rapporten har vært å undersøke hvordan valutakursen påvirker norsk økonomi. Vår viktigste erfaring med denne er at nominelle sjokk forsterkes gjennom en pris-lønnsvalutakurs- spiral, som via realrenten forplanter seg videre i realøkonomien. Og at denne spiralen kan dempes, eventuelt motvirkes ved passende renteresponser

Innate secretory antibodies protect against natural Salmonella typhimurium infection

The production of IgA is induced in an antigen-unspecific manner by commensal flora. These secretory antibodies (SAbs) may bind multiple antigens and are thought to eliminate commensal bacteria and self-antigens to avoid systemic recognition. In this study, we addressed the role of “innate” SAbs, i.e., those that are continuously produced in normal individuals, in protection against infection of the gastrointestinal tract. We used polymeric immunoglobulin receptor (pIgR−/−) knock-out mice, which are unable to bind and actively transport dimeric IgA and pentameric IgM to the mucosae, and examined the role of innate SAbs in protection against the invasive pathogen Salmonella typhimurium. In vitro experiments suggested that innate IgA in pIgR−/− serum bound S. typhimurium in a cross-reactive manner which inhibited epithelial cell invasion. Using a “natural” infection model, we demonstrated that pIgR−/− mice are profoundly sensitive to infection with S. typhimurium via the fecal-oral route and, moreover, shed more bacteria that readily infected other animals. These results imply an important evolutionary role for innate SAbs in protecting both the individual and the herd against infections, and suggest that the major role of SAbs may be to prevent the spread of microbial pathogens throughout the population, rather than protection of local mucosal surfaces

Influence of obesity-related risk factors in the aetiology of glioma

BACKGROUND: Obesity and related factors have been implicated as possible aetiological factors for the development of glioma in epidemiological observation studies. We used genetic markers in a Mendelian randomisation framework to examine whether obesity-related traits influence glioma risk. This methodology reduces bias from confounding and is not affected by reverse causation. METHODS: Genetic instruments were identified for 10 key obesity-related risk factors, and their association with glioma risk was evaluated using data from a genome-wide association study of 12,488 glioma patients and 18,169 controls. The estimated odds ratio of glioma associated with each of the genetically defined obesity-related traits was used to infer evidence for a causal relationship. RESULTS: No convincing association with glioma risk was seen for genetic instruments for body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, lipids, type-2 diabetes, hyperglycaemia or insulin resistance. Similarly, we found no evidence to support a relationship between obesity-related traits with subtypes of glioma-glioblastoma (GBM) or non-GBM tumours. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides no evidence to implicate obesity-related factors as causes of glioma

Protein-altering germline mutations implicate novel genes related to lung cancer development

Few germline mutations are known to affect lung cancer risk. We performed analyses of rare variants from 39,146 individuals of European ancestry and investigated gene expression levels in 7,773 samples. We find a large-effect association with an ATM L2307F (rs56009889) mutation in adenocarcinoma for discovery (adjusted Odds Ratio = 8.82, P = 1.18 × 10−15) and replication (adjusted OR = 2.93, P = 2.22 × 10−3) that is more pronounced in females (adjusted OR = 6.81 and 3.19 and for discovery and replication). We observe an excess loss of heterozygosity in lung tumors among ATM L2307F allele carriers. L2307F is more frequent (4%) among Ashkenazi Jewish populations. We also observe an association in discovery (adjusted OR = 2.61, P = 7.98 × 10−22) and replication datasets (adjusted OR = 1.55, P = 0.06) with a loss-of-function mutation, Q4X (rs150665432) of an uncharacterized gene, KIAA0930. Our findings implicate germline genetic variants in ATM with lung cancer susceptibility and suggest KIAA0930 as a novel candidate gene for lung cancer risk

Large-scale association analysis identifies new lung cancer susceptibility loci and heterogeneity in genetic susceptibility across histological subtypes.

Although several lung cancer susceptibility loci have been identified, much of the heritability for lung cancer remains unexplained. Here 14,803 cases and 12,262 controls of European descent were genotyped on the OncoArray and combined with existing data for an aggregated genome-wide association study (GWAS) analysis of lung cancer in 29,266 cases and 56,450 controls. We identified 18 susceptibility loci achieving genome-wide significance, including 10 new loci. The new loci highlight the striking heterogeneity in genetic susceptibility across the histological subtypes of lung cancer, with four loci associated with lung cancer overall and six loci associated with lung adenocarcinoma. Gene expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis in 1,425 normal lung tissue samples highlights RNASET2, SECISBP2L and NRG1 as candidate genes. Other loci include genes such as a cholinergic nicotinic receptor, CHRNA2, and the telomere-related genes OFBC1 and RTEL1. Further exploration of the target genes will continue to provide new insights into the etiology of lung cancer

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

Inkonsistens mellom finans- og pengepolitikken?

En realappresiering av norske kroner er en nødvendig følge av økt bruk av oljeinntekter. Forutsetningen for pengepolitikken var at denne realappresieringen kunne skje i form av høyere inflasjon enn hos våre handelspartnere. At Norges Bank har en annen vurdering av behovet for realappresiering kan bidra til å forklare hvorfor vi det siste året opplevd en kraftig styrking av krona,som – på toppen av høy lønnsvekst – nå truer konkurranseutsatt virksomhet i vid forstand