Policy Rules, Regime Switches, and Trend Inflation: An Empirical Investigation for the U.S.

This paper estimates Taylor rules featuring instabilities in policy parameters, switches in policy shocks' volatility, and time-varying trend inflation using post-WWII U.S. data. The model embedding the stochastic target performs better in terms of data-fit and identification of the changes in the FOMC's chairmanships. Policy breaks are found not to be synchronized with variations in policy shocks' volatilities. Finally, we detect a negative correlation between systematic monetary policy aggressiveness and inflation gap persistence.

Landrace added value and accessibility in Europe: what a collection of case studies tells us

In the actual climate change scenario, in situ conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture can significantly contribute broadening the diversity of our food system as well as increasing its resilience; nevertheless, landrace cultivation has been dramatically reduced in the last decades all over Europe. One of the most effective approaches to counteract the loss of landrace diversity in situ is facilitating its use. Aims of this study were to (i) describe how in situ maintenance of landraces occurs in different agro-environmental conditions in Europe and (ii) identify the main factors influencing landrace added values and accessibility as means to increase their adoption by new farmers. To the purpose, a collection of 95 case studies of both garden and open field landraces maintained in situ was analysed. A first description was obtained by classifying the information into 18 purposely defined categories. Data on landraces added values and accessibility were further transformed into weighted variables; the derived quantitative scores were then used as dependent variables in univariate and multivariate analyses. Results showed that farmers alone are still the main actors maintaining landraces in situ across different European biogeographical regions, mainly carrying out their activity under organic or low-input conditions, often in marginal areas. Results of the multivariate analysis showed that (i) type of actor involved in the multiplication, (ii) the main use of the product and (iii) presence of promotion actions significantly affect garden landraces added value and accessibility; presence of promotion actions was the only factor affecting added value of open field entries. Evidence arising from this work can contribute to the establishment of a fruitful ground of discussion for future European policies and strategies to protect and increase landrace use

Policy rules, regime switches, and trend inflation: an empirical investigation for the United States

This paper estimates Taylor rules featuring instabilities in policy parameters and switches in policy shocksvolatility for the post-WWII U.S. economy. We contrast a rule embedding a fixed-inflation target with another featuring trend inflation, i.e. a time-varying inflation target. The rule embedding trend inflation turns out to be a) empirically superior according to a marginal likelihood-based comparison, and b) more able to pin down some relevant episodes of the post-WWII U.S. monetary policy history. Estimates conducted with Greenbook data confirm the empirical superiority of the rule featuring a time-varying inflation target. A comparison with recently published estimates of trend inflation is also conducte

Evidence that muscle cells do not express the histidine-rich glycoprotein associated with AMP deaminase but can internalise the plasma protein

Histidine-rich glycoprotein (HRG) is synthesized by liver and is present at relatively high concentration in the plasma of vertebrates. We have previously described the association of a HRG-like molecule to purified rabbit skeletal muscle AMP deaminase (AMPD). We also provided the first evidence for the presence of a HRG-like protein in human skeletal muscle where a positive correlation between HRG content and total determined AMPD activity has been shown. In the present paper we investigate the origin of skeletal muscle HRG. The screening of a human skeletal muscle cDNA expression library using an anti-HRG antibody failed to reveal any positive clone. The RT-PCR analysis, performed on human skeletal muscle RNA as well as on RNA from the rhabdomyosarcoma (RD) cell line, failed to show any mRNA specific for the plasma HRG or for the putative muscle variant. When the RD cells were incubated with human plasma HRG, a time-dependent increase of the HRG immunoreactivity was detected both at the plasma membrane level and intracellularly. The internalisation of HRG was inhibited by the addition of heparin. The above data strongly suggest that skeletal muscle cells do not synthesize the muscle variant of HRG but instead can actively internalise it from plasma

Implementation of the Water Framework Directive in Italy: state of the art and selected research issues

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) was implemented rather late in Italy. The actual implementation took place in 2006 with decree 152/2006 but the Directive was not completely effective until the beginning of 2009, when law 13/2009 provided for the implementation of river basin plans by basin authorities. The objective of this paper is to describe the implementation of the WFD in Italy and to discuss selected policy and research issues. The paper begins with an introduction highlighting the specificities of Italy in terms of water management. With regard to implementation, the general administrative setting, as well as the interpretation of WFD categories related to economic evaluations will be illustrated. Two major issues of particularly high relevance in the present debate are then discussed: a) the evaluation of environmental and resource costs; and b) water regulation in agriculture.Department of Agricultural Economics and Engineering, University of Bologna (Italy). Department of Statistics, University of Bologna (Italy)

ochratoxin a as possible factor trigging autism and its male prevalence via epigenetic mechanism

The role of dysbiosis causing leaky gut with xenobiotic production and absorption is increasingly demonstrated in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) pathogenesis. Among xenobiotics, we focused on ochratoxin A (one of the major food contaminating mycotoxin), that in vitro and in vivo exerts a male-specific neurotoxicity probably via microRNA modulation of a specific target gene. Among possible targets, we focused on neuroligin4X. Interestingly, this gene carries some single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) already correlated with the disease and with illegitimate microRNA binding sites and, being located on X-chromosome, could explain the male prevalence. In conclusion, we propose a possible gene–environment interaction triggering ASD explaining the epigenetic neurotoxic mechanism activated by ochratoxin A in genetically predisposed children. This mechanism offers a clue for male prevalence of the disease and may have an important impact on prevention and cure of ASD

Investigating the genetic basis of salt-tolerance in common bean: a genome-wide association study at the early vegetative stage

Salinity poses a significant challenge to global crop productivity, affecting approximately 20% of cultivated and 33% of irrigated farmland, and this issue is on the rise. Negative impact of salinity on plant development and metabolism leads to physiological and morphological alterations mainly due to high ion concentration in tissues and the reduced water and nutrients uptake. Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), a staple food crop accounting for a substantial portion of consumed grain legumes worldwide, is highly susceptible to salt stress resulting in noticeable reduction in dry matter gain in roots and shoots even at low salt concentrations. In this study we screened a common bean panel of diversity encompassing 192 homozygous genotypes for salt tolerance at seedling stage. Phenotypic data were leveraged to identify genomic regions involved in salt stress tolerance in the species through GWAS. We detected seven significant associations between shoot dry weight and SNP markers. The candidate genes, in linkage with the regions associated to salt tolerance or harbouring the detected SNP, showed strong homology with genes known to be involved in salt tolerance in Arabidopsis. Our findings provide valuable insights onto the genetic control of salt tolerance in common bean and represent a first contribution to address the challenge of salinity-induced yield losses in this species and poses the ground to eventually breed salt tolerant common bean varieties

Mortality effect of coronary calcification and phosphate binder choice in incident hemodialysis patients

The risk of death in hemodialysis patients treated with calcium-containing phosphate binders or sevelamer is not known. We assessed all-cause mortality in 127 patients new to hemodialysis assigned to calcium-containing binders or sevelamer after a median follow-up of 44 months from randomization. This was a predetermined secondary end point of a randomized clinical trial designed to assess progression of coronary artery calcium (CAC) scores in the two treatment arms. Thirty-four deaths occurred during the follow-up period: 23 in subjects randomized to calcium-containing phosphate binders and 11 in subjects randomized to sevelamer. Baseline CAC score was a significant predictor of mortality after adjustment for age, race, gender, and diabetes with increased mortality proportional to baseline score (P=0.002). Mortality was borderline significantly lower in subjects randomized to sevelamer (5.3/100 patient years, confidence interval (CI) (2.2–8.5) compared to those randomized to calcium-containing binders (10.6/100 patient years, CI 6.3–14.9) (P=0.05). The greater risk of death for patients treated with calcium-containing phosphate binders persisted after full multivariable adjustment (P=0.016, hazard ratio 3.1, CI 1.23–7.61). In subjects new to hemodialysis baseline CAC score was a significant predictor of all-cause mortality. Treatment with sevelamer was associated with a significant survival benefit as compared to the use of calcium-containing phosphate binders

Performance of the PADME calorimeter prototype at the DAΦ\PhiNE BTF

The PADME experiment at the DA$\Phi$NE Beam-Test Facility (BTF) aims at searching for invisible decays of the dark photon by measuring the final state missing mass in the process $e^+e^- \to \gamma+ A'$, with $A'$ undetected. The measurement requires the determination of the 4-momentum of the recoil photon, performed using a homogeneous, highly segmented BGO crystals calorimeter. We report the results of the test of a 5$\times$5 crystals prototype performed with an electron beam at the BTF in July 2016

Global burden of headache disorders in children and adolescents 2007–2017

Headache disorders are prevalent and disabling conditions impacting on people of all ages, including children and adolescents with substantial impact on their school activities and leisure time. Our study aims to report specific information on headaches in children and adolescents based on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, that provides estimates for incidence, prevalence, fatal and non-fatal outcomes. We relied on 2007 and 2017 GBD estimates for prevalence and Years Lived with Disability (YLDs) at the global level and in WHO regions. The results show that, migraine and tension-type headache (TTH) together account for 37.5% of all-cause prevalence and for 7% of all-cause YLDs. Over the past decade, prevalence rates showed a mild increase of TTH in all ages and of migraine alone for adolescents. The YLDs increased among females of all ages with some regional differences that might be connected to the unequal availability of effective acute and prophylactic treatments across world regions. GBD data support the need to promote public health policies and strategies including diagnosis, pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments that are expected to help reduce the disability and burden associated to migraine and TTH among children and adolescents