The wisdom of the crowd when acquiring information is costly

We consider a sequential investment process that is characteristic of crowdfunding platforms, among other contexts. Investors wish to avoid the cost of information acquisition and thus prefer to rely on information acquired by previous investors. This may lead to a phenomenon similar to an information cascade. We characterize the optimal policy that balances between the incentive to acquire information and the optimal investment decision. The policy is based on time-varying transparency levels such that it may be worthwhile to conceal some information in some periods

APPLICATION EMULATOR FOR VEHICLES

The infotainment system (e.g., infotainment system) of a vehicle (e.g., an automobile, a motorcycle, a bus, a recreational vehicle (RV), a semi-trailer truck, a tractor or other type of farm equipment, train, a plane, a boat, a helicopter, a personal transport vehicle, etc.) may execute an application (e.g., a media application, a messaging application, a navigation application, etc.) originally developed for a different type of computing device, such as a smartphone, a tablet, a smartwatch, etc. To run the application, the infotainment system may load the files of the application into an emulator module (e.g., a virtual environment simulating the computing device for which the application was originally designed). The infotainment system may modify display values and other parameters within the emulator module to match the form factor and specifications of a display in the vehicle. In this way, the techniques may offer seamless integration as well as an expanded application ecosystem, significantly improving the user experience

Plasma endotrophin, reflecting tissue fibrosis, is associated with graft failure and mortality in KTR:results from two prospective cohort studies

BACKGROUND: Fibrosis is a suggested cause of graft failure and mortality among kidney transplant recipients (KTR). Accumulating evidence suggests that collagen type VI is tightly linked to fibrosis, and may be a marker of systemic fibrosis and ageing. We studied whether plasma endotrophin, a pro-collagen type VI fragment, is associated with graft failure and mortality among KTR.METHODS: In cohort A, we measured plasma endotrophin in 690 prevalent KTR ≥ 1 year after transplantation (cohort A, 57% male, age 53 ± 13y). The non-overlapping cohort B included 500 incident KTR with serial endotrophin measurements before and after kidney transplantation, to assess trajectories and intra-individual variation of endotrophin.RESULTS: In cohort A, endotrophin was higher in KTR compared to healthy controls. Concentrations were positively associated with female sex, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, markers of inflammation and kidney injury. Importantly, endotrophin was associated with graft failure (HR per doubling: 1.87; 95%CI: 1.07 to 3.28) and mortality (HR per doubling: 2.59; 95%CI: 1.73 to 3.87) independent of potential confounders. Data from cohort B showed that endotrophin concentrations strongly decrease after transplantation, and remain stable during post-transplantation follow-up (intra-individual coefficient of variation: 5.0% [3.7%-7.6%]).CONCLUSIONS: Plasma endotrophin is strongly associated with graft failure and mortality among KTR. These findings suggest a key role of abnormal extracellular matrix turnover and fibrosis in graft and patient prognosis among KTR, and highlight the need for (interventional) studies targeting the pro-fibrotic state of KTR. The intra-individual stability after transplantation indicates potential use of endotrophin as a biomarker and outcome measure of fibrosis.</p

Neighborhood effects and parental involvement in the intergenerational transmission of education

We analyze the intergenerational transmission of education focusing on the interplay between family and neighborhood effects. We develop a theoretical model suggesting that both neighborhood quality and parental effort are of importance for the education attained by children. This model proposes a mechanism explaining why and how they are of importance, distinguishing between high- and low-educated parents. We then bring this model to the data using a longitudinal data set in Britain. The available information on social housing in big cities allows us to identify the role of neighbourhood in educational outcomes. We find that the better is the quality of the neighborhood, the higher is the parents’ involvement in their children’s education. A novel finding with respect to previous US studies is that family is of importance for children with highlyeducated parents while it is the community that is crucial for the educational achievement of children from low-educated families

Pretransplant endotrophin predicts delayed graft function after kidney transplantation

Delayed graft function after kidney transplantation is common and increases morbidity and health care costs. There is evidence that endotrophin, a specific fragment of pro-collagen type VI, promotes the inflammatory response in kidney diseases. We tested the hypothesis that pretransplant endotrophin in kidney transplant recipients may be associated with the risk of delayed graft function. Pretransplant plasma endotrophin was assessed using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in three independent cohorts with 806 kidney transplant recipients. The primary outcome was delayed graft function, i.e., the necessity of at least one dialysis session within one-week posttransplant. In the discovery cohort median pretransplant plasma endotrophin was higher in 32 recipients (12%) who showed delayed graft function when compared to 225 recipients without delayed graft function (58.4 ng/mL [IQR 33.4–69.0]; N = 32; vs. 39.5 ng/mL [IQR 30.6–54.5]; N = 225; P = 0.009). Multivariable logistic regression, fully adjusted for confounders showed, that pretransplant plasma endotrophin as a continuous variable was independently associated with delayed graft function in both validation cohorts, odds ratio 2.09 [95% CI 1.30–3.36] and 2.06 [95% CI 1.43–2.97]. Pretransplant plasma endotrophin, a potentially modifiable factor, was independently associated with increased risk of delayed graft function and may be a new avenue for therapeutic interventions

Heritable rather than age-related environmental and stochastic factors dominate variation in DNA methylation of the human IGF2/H19 locus.

Epigenetic variation may significantly contribute to the risk of common disease. Currently, little is known about the extent and causes of epigenetic variation. Here, we investigated the contribution of heritable influences and the combined effect of environmental and stochastic factors to variation in DNA methylation of the IGF2/H19 locus. Moreover, we tested whether this locus was subject to age-related degeneration of epigenetic patterns as was previously suggested for global methylation. We measured methylation of the H19 and IGF2 differentially methylated regions (DMRs) in 196 adolescent and 176 middle-aged twins using a recently developed mass spectrometry-based method. We observed substantial variation in DNA methylation across individuals, underscoring that DNA methylation is a quantitative trait. Analysis of data in monozygotic and dizygotic twins revealed that a significant part of this variation could be attributed to heritable factors. The heritability of methylation of individual CpG sites varied between 20 and 74% for the H19 DMR and was even higher, between 57 and 97%, for the IGF2 DMR. Remarkably, the combined influence of environmental and stochastic factors on DNA methylation was not greater in middle-age than in adolescence, suggesting a limited role for age-related degeneration of methylation patterns at this locus. Single nucleotide polymorphisms in the IGF2/H19 locus were significantly associated with DNA methylation of the IGF2 DMR (P = 0.004). A preliminary analysis suggested an association between H19 DMR methylation and body size (P < 0.05). Our study shows that variation in DNA methylation of the IGF2/H19 locus is mainly determined by heritable factors and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in cis, rather than the cumulative effect of environmental and stochastic factors occurring with age. © 2007 Oxford University Press

The Cell Adhesion Molecule “CAR” and Sialic Acid on Human Erythrocytes Influence Adenovirus In Vivo Biodistribution

Although it has been known for 50 years that adenoviruses (Ads) interact with erythrocytes ex vivo, the molecular and structural basis for this interaction, which has been serendipitously exploited for diagnostic tests, is unknown. In this study, we characterized the interaction between erythrocytes and unrelated Ad serotypes, human 5 (HAd5) and 37 (HAd37), and canine 2 (CAV-2). While these serotypes agglutinate human erythrocytes, they use different receptors, have different tropisms and/or infect different species. Using molecular, biochemical, structural and transgenic animal-based analyses, we found that the primary erythrocyte interaction domain for HAd37 is its sialic acid binding site, while CAV-2 binding depends on at least three factors: electrostatic interactions, sialic acid binding and, unexpectedly, binding to the coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor (CAR) on human erythrocytes. We show that the presence of CAR on erythrocytes leads to prolonged in vivo blood half-life and significantly reduced liver infection when a CAR-tropic Ad is injected intravenously. This study provides i) a molecular and structural rationale for Ad–erythrocyte interactions, ii) a basis to improve vector-mediated gene transfer and iii) a mechanism that may explain the biodistribution and pathogenic inconsistencies found between human and animal models

The association between physical activity and neck and low back pain: a systematic review

The effect of physical activity on neck and low back pain is still controversial. No systematic review has been conducted on the association between daily physical activity and neck and low back pain. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between physical activity and the incidence/prevalence of neck and low back pain. Publications were systematically searched from 1980 to June 2009 in several databases. The following key words were used: neck pain, back pain, physical activity, leisure time activity, daily activity, everyday activity, lifestyle activity, sedentary, and physical inactivity. A hand search of relevant journals was also carried out. Relevant studies were retrieved and assessed for methodological quality by two independent reviewers. The strength of the evidence was based on methodological quality and consistency of the results. Seventeen studies were included in this review, of which 13 were rated as high-quality studies. Of high-quality studies, there was limited evidence for no association between physical activity and neck pain in workers and strong evidence for no association in school children. Conflicting evidence was found for the association between physical activity and low back pain in both general population and school children. Literature with respect to the effect of physical activity on neck and low back pain was too heterogeneous and more research is needed before any final conclusion can be reached