Seemingly competitive food retail regulations : who do they really help ?

The food distribution and retail sectors in Quebec are highly concentrated and integrated as large food distributors are also involved in food retailing. As such, they are competing with small grocery and convenience stores they sell inputs to. A review of the industry suggests that there are important economies of size in distribution, but that smaller stores offering convenience face a more inelastic demand. Concerns over the survival of smaller stores in Quebec have motivated two types of regulations. The first type aims at reducing the cost advantage of dominant retailers by restricting the number of employees that they are allowed to use during specific time periods. The second type restricts retail prices. We develop a simple model capturing the main features of the industry to ascertain the impact of these regulations on retail and wholesale prices. Our results suggest that these regulations reduce welfare and may induce both tighter margins and lower surplus for small retailers.

The immune system prevents recurrence of transplanted but not autochthonous antigenic tumors after oncogene inactivation therapy

Targeted oncogene inactivation by small molecule inhibitors can be very effective but tumor recurrence is a frequent problem in the clinic. Therapy by inactivation of the cancer-driving oncogene in transplanted tumors was shown to be augmented in the presence of T cells. However, these experiments did not take into account the long-term, usually tolerogenic, interaction of de novo malignancies with the immune system. Here, we employed mice, in which SV40 large T (Tag) and firefly luciferase (Luc) as fusion protein (TagLuc) could be regulated with the Tet-on system and upon activation resulted in tumors after a long latency. TagLuc inactivation induced profound tumor regression, demonstrating sustained oncogene addiction. While tumor relapse after TagLuc inactivation was prevented in immunocompetent mice bearing transplanted tumors, autochthonous tumors relapsed or recurred after therapy discontinuation indicating that the immune system that coevolved with the malignancy over an extended period of time lost the potency to mount an efficient anti-tumor immune response. By contrast, adoptively transferred CD8(+) T cells targeting the cancer-driving oncogene eradicated recurrent autochthonous tumors, highlighting a suitable therapy option in a clinically relevant model

Pressure electroosmotic dewatering with continuous removal of electrolysis products

Pressurised electroosmotic dewatering (PED) is usually implemented in classical filters with the electrodes making a direct contact with the material or the filter cloths. Thus, electrolysis products generated at the electrodes (gas, ions) tend to accumulate in the solid/liquid mixture being dewatered. This results in a non-uniform distribution of water content, porosity, electric field intensity, and particle zeta potential throughout the mixture, affecting progress of the PED process. This paper proposes a specific design of filter press to study PED in the absence of disturbances from electrolysis products. An experimental study was carried out on a gelatinous bentonite suspension at 8.5% w/w solid. The influence of the ionic conductivity of suspension (2-25 mS/cm), the current intensity (20-300 mA) and the pressure (2.5-15 bar) were investigated. In order to improve the energetic yield of PED, the conductivity and current intensity should be limited, as observed in earlier works. The pressure increase considerably aids the water removal and leads to better product dryness. For PED at 15 bar and 100 mA, the bentonite reached 40% w/w solid for 0.7 kWh/kg of water removed. This study emphasizes that to analyse PED precisely it is important to clarify the dependence of the electroosmotic flow rate on the porosity and pressure

Faith in the Republic: A Frances Lewis Law Center Conversation

This is a spontaneous conversation discussing Hauserwas’ singular political theology in response to Levinson and Tushnet’s constitutional jurisprudence. It developed into a highly interesting debate concerning constitutional faith. This conversation was recorded at Washington and Lee’s Law Center on December 11, 1987

Faith in the Republic: A Frances Lewis Law Center Conversation

This is a spontaneous conversation discussing Hauserwas’ singular political theology in response to Levinson and Tushnet’s constitutional jurisprudence. It developed into a highly interesting debate concerning constitutional faith. This conversation was recorded at Washington and Lee’s Law Center on December 11, 1987

Targeting intratumoral B cells with rituximab in addition to CHOP in angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma. A clinicobiological study of the GELA.

Background In angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, symptoms linked to B-lymphocyte activation are common, and variable numbers of CD20(+) large B-blasts, often infected by Epstein-Barr virus, are found in tumor tissues. We postulated that the disruption of putative B-T interactions and/or depletion of the Epstein-Barr virus reservoir by an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody (rituximab) could improve the clinical outcome produced by conventional chemotherapy. DESIGN AND METHODS: Twenty-five newly diagnosed patients were treated, in a phase II study, with eight cycles of rituximab + chemotherapy (R-CHOP21). Tumor infiltration, B-blasts and Epstein-Barr virus status in tumor tissue and peripheral blood were fully characterized at diagnosis and were correlated with clinical outcome. RESULTS: A complete response rate of 44% (95% CI, 24% to 65%) was observed. With a median follow-up of 24 months, the 2-year progression-free survival rate was 42% (95% CI, 22% to 61%) and overall survival rate was 62% (95% CI, 40% to 78%). The presence of Epstein-Barr virus DNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (14/21 patients) correlated with Epstein-Barr virus score in lymph nodes (P<0.004) and the detection of circulating tumor cells (P=0.0019). Despite peripheral Epstein-Barr virus clearance after treatment, the viral load at diagnosis (>100 copy/μg DNA) was associated with shorter progression-free survival (P=0.06). Conclusions We report here the results of the first clinical trial targeting both the neoplastic T cells and the microenvironment-associated CD20(+) B lymphocytes in angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, showing no clear benefit of adding rituximab to conventional chemotherapy. A strong relationship, not previously described, between circulating Epstein-Barr virus and circulating tumor cells is highlighted

MITF has a central role in regulating starvation-induced autophagy in melanoma.

The MITF transcription factor is a master regulator of melanocyte development and a critical factor in melanomagenesis. The related transcription factors TFEB and TFE3 regulate lysosomal activity and autophagy processes known to be important in melanoma. Here we show that MITF binds the CLEAR-box element in the promoters of lysosomal and autophagosomal genes in melanocytes and melanoma cells. The crystal structure of MITF bound to the CLEAR-box reveals how the palindromic nature of this motif induces symmetric MITF homodimer binding. In metastatic melanoma tumors and cell lines, MITF positively correlates with the expression of lysosomal and autophagosomal genes, which, interestingly, are different from the lysosomal and autophagosomal genes correlated with TFEB and TFE3. Depletion of MITF in melanoma cells and melanocytes attenuates the response to starvation-induced autophagy, whereas the overexpression of MITF in melanoma cells increases the number of autophagosomes but is not sufficient to induce autophagic flux. Our results suggest that MITF and the related factors TFEB and TFE3 have separate roles in regulating a starvation-induced autophagy response in melanoma. Understanding the normal and pathophysiological roles of MITF and related transcription factors may provide important clinical insights into melanoma therapy

Advanced optical imaging in living embryos

Developmental biology investigations have evolved from static studies of embryo anatomy and into dynamic studies of the genetic and cellular mechanisms responsible for shaping the embryo anatomy. With the advancement of fluorescent protein fusions, the ability to visualize and comprehend how thousands to millions of cells interact with one another to form tissues and organs in three dimensions (xyz) over time (t) is just beginning to be realized and exploited. In this review, we explore recent advances utilizing confocal and multi-photon time-lapse microscopy to capture gene expression, cell behavior, and embryo development. From choosing the appropriate fluorophore, to labeling strategy, to experimental set-up, and data pipeline handling, this review covers the various aspects related to acquiring and analyzing multi-dimensional data sets. These innovative techniques in multi-dimensional imaging and analysis can be applied across a number of fields in time and space including protein dynamics to cell biology to morphogenesis