The Guarantees of Freedom

Hayek (1960) distinguishes the institutions of English freedom, which guarantee the independence of judges from political interference in the administration of justice, from those of American freedom, which allow judges to restrain law-making powers of the sovereign through constitutional review. We create a data base of constitutional rules in 71 countries that reflect these institutions of English and American freedom, and ask whether these rules predict economic and political freedom in a cross-section of countries. We find that the English institutions of judicial independence are strong predictors of economic freedom and weaker predictors of political freedom. The American institutions of checks and balances are strong predictors of political but not of economic freedom. Judicial independence explains half of the positive effect of common law legal origin on measures of economic freedom.

The Guarantees of Freedom

Hayek (1960) distinguishes the institutions of English freedom, which guarantee the independence of judges from political interference in the administration of justice, from those of American freedom, which allow judges to restrain law-making powers of the sovereign through constitutional review. We create a data base of constitutional rules in 71 countries that reflect these institutions of English and American freedom, and ask whether these rules predict economic and political freedom in a cross-section of countries. We find that the English institutions of judicial independence are strong predictors of economic freedom and weaker predictors of political freedom. The American institutions of checks and balances are strong predictors of political but not of economic freedom. Judicial independence explains half of the positive effect of common law legal origin on measures of economic freedom.

Translating Glucose Variability Metrics into the Clinic via Continuous Glucose Monitoring: A Graphical User Interface for Diabetes Evaluation (CGM-GUIDE)

Background: Several metrics of glucose variability have been proposed to date, but an integrated approach that provides a complete and consistent assessment of glycemic variation is missing. As a consequence, and because of the tedious coding necessary during quantification, most investigators and clinicians have not yet adopted the use of multiple glucose variability metrics to evaluate glycemic variation. Methods: We compiled the most extensively used statistical techniques and glucose variability metrics, with adjustable hyper- and hypoglycemic limits and metric parameters, to create a user-friendly Continuous Glucose Monitoring Graphical User Interface for Diabetes Evaluation (CGM-GUIDE-). In addition, we introduce and demonstrate a novel transition density profile that emphasizes the dynamics of transitions between defined glucose states. Results: Our combined dashboard of numerical statistics and graphical plots support the task of providing an integrated approach to describing glycemic variability. We integrated existing metrics, such as SD, area under the curve, and mean amplitude of glycemic excursion, with novel metrics such as the slopes across critical transitions and the transition density profile to assess the severity and frequency of glucose transitions per day as they move between critical glycemic zones. Conclusions: By presenting the above-mentioned metrics and graphics in a concise aggregate format, CGM-GUIDE provides an easy to use tool to compare quantitative measures of glucose variability. This tool can be used by researchers and clinicians to develop new algorithms of insulin delivery for patients with diabetes and to better explore the link between glucose variability and chronic diabetes complications.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90437/1/dia-2E2011-2E0099.pd

Correlations between isospin dynamics and Intermediate Mass Fragments emission time scales: a probe for the symmetry energy in asymmetric nuclear matter

We show new data from the $^{64}$Ni+$^{124}$Sn and $^{58}$Ni+$^{112}$Sn reactions studied in direct kinematics with the CHIMERA detector at INFN-LNS and compared with the reverse kinematics reactions at the same incident beam energy (35 A MeV). Analyzing the data with the method of relative velocity correlations, fragments coming from statistical decay of an excited projectile-like (PLF) or target-like (TLF) fragments are discriminated from the ones coming from dynamical emission in the early stages of the reaction. By comparing data of the reverse kinematics experiment with a stochastic mean field (SMF) + GEMINI calculations our results show that observables from neck fragmentation mechanism add valuable constraints on the density dependence of symmetry energy. An indication is found for a moderately stiff symmetry energy potential term of EOS.Comment: Talk given by E. De Filippo at the 11th International Conference on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (NN2012), San Antonio, Texas, USA, May 27-June 1, 2012. To appear in the NN2012 Proceedings in Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS

Kinematical coincidence method in transfer reactions

A new method to extract high resolution angular distributions from kinematical coincidence measurements in binary reactions is presented. Kinematic is used to extract the center of mass angular distribution from the measured energy spectrum of light particles. Results obtained in the case of 10Be+p-->9Be+d reaction measured with the CHIMERA detector are shown. An angular resolution of few degrees in the center of mass is obtained.Comment: 6 Page 10 Figures submitted to Nuclear Instruments and Methods

Squatting, a posture test for studying cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy in diabetes.

Cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (CAN) is a frequent complication of diabetes mellitus, which is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. It involves both the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems, and may be diagnosed by classical dynamic tests with measurements of heart rate (HR) and/or arterial blood pressure (BP). An original squat test (1-min standing, 1-min squatting, 1-min standing) was used with continuous monitoring of HR and BP, using a Finapres((R)) device. This active test imposes greater postural stress than the passive head-up tilt test, and provokes large changes in BP and HR that can be analyzed to derive indices of CAN. In healthy subjects, squatting is associated with BP increases and HR decreases (abolished by atropine: SqTv index), whereas the squat-stand transition is accompanied by a deep but transient drop in BP associated with sympathetic-driven tachycardia (abolished by propranolol: SqTs index). In diabetic patients with CAN, BP increases are accentuated during squatting whereas reflex bradycardia is reduced. When standing from squatting position, the fall in BP tends to be more pronounced and orthostatic hypotension more prolonged, while reflex tachycardia is markedly dampened. The baroreflex gain, similar to that calculated during pharmacological testing with vasodilator/vasopressor agents, can be derived by plotting pulse intervals (R-R) against systolic BP levels during the biphasic response following the squat-stand transition. The slope, which represents baroreflex sensitivity, is significantly reduced in patients with CAN. This discriminatory index allows study of the natural history of CAN in a large cohort of diabetic patients.Peer reviewe

Who Watches the Watchmen? An Appraisal of Benchmarks for Multiple Sequence Alignment

Multiple sequence alignment (MSA) is a fundamental and ubiquitous technique in bioinformatics used to infer related residues among biological sequences. Thus alignment accuracy is crucial to a vast range of analyses, often in ways difficult to assess in those analyses. To compare the performance of different aligners and help detect systematic errors in alignments, a number of benchmarking strategies have been pursued. Here we present an overview of the main strategies--based on simulation, consistency, protein structure, and phylogeny--and discuss their different advantages and associated risks. We outline a set of desirable characteristics for effective benchmarking, and evaluate each strategy in light of them. We conclude that there is currently no universally applicable means of benchmarking MSA, and that developers and users of alignment tools should base their choice of benchmark depending on the context of application--with a keen awareness of the assumptions underlying each benchmarking strategy.Comment: Revie

Caspase 3 Targeted Cargo Delivery in Apoptotic Cells Using Capped Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles

[EN] Excessive apoptotic cell death is at the origin of several pathologies, such as degenerative disorders, stroke or ischemia-reperfusion damage. In this context, strategies to improve inhibition of apoptosis and other types of cell death are of interest and may represent a pharmacological opportunity for the treatment of cell-death-related disorders. In this scenario new peptide-containing delivery systems (solids S1-P1and S1-P2) are described based on meso-porous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) loaded with a dye and capped with the KKGDEVDKKARDEVDK (P1) peptide that contains two repeats of the DEVD target sequence that are selectively hydrolyzed by caspase3 (C3). This enzyme plays a central role in the execution-phase of apoptosis. HeLa cells electroporated with S1 P1are able to deliver the cargo in the presence of staurosporin (STS), which induces apoptosis with the consequent activation of the cytoplasmic C3 enzyme. Moreover, the nanoparticles S1-P2,containing both a cell-penetrating TAT peptide and P1 also entered in HeLa cells and delivered the cargo preferentially in cells treated with the apoptosis inducer cisplatin.We thank the Spanish Government (Project MAT2012-38429-C04 and SAF2010-15512) and the Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEOII/2014/061) for support. C.T. is grateful to the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for her PhD fellowship. L.M. thanks the Generalitat Valenciana (VALI+D program), Nice city council ("Aides Individuelles aux Jeunes Chercheurs - 2011") and Fondation de la Recherche Medicale for her postdoctoral contracts. C.C. thanks the Generalitat Valenciana for their postdoctoral contract VALI+D. We thank the confocal microscopy service, Alberto Hernandez from CIPF confocal microscopy service for their technical support.De La Torre Paredes, C.; Mondragón Martínez, L.; Coll Merino, MC.; García-Fernández, A.; Sancenón Galarza, F.; Martínez-Máñez, R.; Amorós, P.... (2015). 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