Suitability Checks and Household Investments in Structured Products

The suitability of complex financial products for household investors is an important issue in light of consumer financial protection. The U.S. Dodd-Frank Act, for instance, mandates that distributors check suitability when selling structured products to retail investors. However, little empirical evidence exists on such transactions. Using data from Hong Kong, we find that investors purchase 8% more structured products, on average, when the suitability is not checked. The effect of suitability checks is more pronounced for less financially literate investors. Moreover, investors tend to buy products with lower risk-adjusted returns when product suitability is not checked.postprin

Attenuation of ischemic liver injury by monoclonal anti-endothelin antibody, awETN40

Background: Enhanced production of endothelin-1 (ET1), vasoconstrictive 21 amino acids produced by endothelial cells during ischemia and after reperfusion of the liver, is known to cause sinusoidal constriction and microcirculatory disturbances, which lead to severe tissue damage. Using a 2- hour hepatic vascular exclusion model in dogs, we tested our hypothesis that neutralization of ET-1 by monoclonal anti-ET-1 and anti-ET-2 antibody (AwETN40) abates vascular dysfunction and ameliorates ischemia/reperfusion injury of the liver. Study Design: After skeletonization, the liver was made totally ischemic by cross-clamping the portal vein, the hepatic artery, and the vena cava (above and below the liver). Venovenous bypass was used to decompress splanchnic and inferior systemic congestion. AwETN40, 5 mg/kg, was administered intravenously 10 minutes before ischemia (treatment group, n = 5). Nontreated animals were used as controls (control group, n = 10). Animal survival, hepatic tissue blood flow, liver function tests; total bile acid, high-energy phosphate, ET-1 levels, and liver histopathology were studied. Results: Treatment with AwETN40 improved 2-week animal survival from 30% to 100%. Hepatic tissue blood flow after reperfusion was significantly higher in the treatment group. The treatment significantly attenuated liver enzyme release, total bile acid, and changes in adenine nucleotides. Immunoreactive ET-1 levels in the hepatic venous blood of the control group showed a significant increase and remained high for up to 24 hours after reperfusion. Histopathologic alterations were significantly lessened in the treatment group. Conclusions: These results indicate that ET-1 is involved in ischemia/reperfusion injury of the liver, which can be ameliorated by the monoclonal anti-ET-1 and antiET-2 antibody AwETN40

Measurement of residual stresses in dissimilar friction stir-welded aluminium and copper plates using the contour method

The longitudinal residual stresses in the friction stir-welded plates of 5A06 aluminium and pure copper were determined using the contour method. The results revealed the presence of high tensile and compressive residual stresses on the aluminium and copper sides, respectively. The residual stresses were detected on the weld zone as well as the thermo-mechanically affected zone (TMAZ) of the aluminium plate. In contrast, the compressive residual stresses in the copper plate had a much narrower width along the weld line. Peak tensile stresses up to 240 MPa were found in the TMAZ of the aluminium plate

Modulation of the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) by bacterial metalloproteases and protease inhibitors

The serralysin family of metalloproteases is associated with the virulence of multiple gram-negative human pathogens, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Serratia marcescens. The serralysin proteases share highly conserved catalytic domains and show evolutionary similarity to the mammalian matrix metalloproteases. Our previous studies demonstrated that alkaline protease (AP) from Pseudomonas aeruginosa is capable of activating the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC), leading to an increase in sodium absorption in airway epithelia. The serralysin proteases are often co-expressed with endogenous, intracellular or periplasmic inhibitors, which putatively protect the bacterium from unwanted or unregulated protease activities. To evaluate the potential use of these small protein inhibitors in regulating the serralysin induced activation of ENaC, proteases from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Serratia marcescens were purified for characterization along with a high affinity inhibitor from Pseudomonas. Both proteases showed activity against in vitro substrates and could be blocked by near stoichiometric concentrations of the inhibitor. In addition, both proteases were capable of activating ENaC when added to the apical surfaces of multiple epithelial cells with similar slow activation kinetics. The high-affinity periplasmic inhibitor from Pseudomonas effectively blocked this activation. These data suggest that multiple metalloproteases are capable of activating ENaC. Further, the endogenous, periplasmic bacterial inhibitors may be useful for modulating the downstream effects of the serralysin virulence factors under physiological conditions. © 2014 Butterworth et al

Infrared divergences and harmonic anomalies in the two-loop superstring effective action

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits any use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are creditedArticle funded by SCOAP3. This research is partially supported by STFC (Grant ST/L000415/1, String theory, gauge theory & duality

Overexpression of mitochondrial sirtuins alters glycolysis and mitochondrial function in HEK293 cells

SIRT3, SIRT4, and SIRT5 are mitochondrial deacylases that impact multiple facets of energy metabolism and mitochondrial function. SIRT3 activates several mitochondrial enzymes, SIRT4 represses its targets, and SIRT5 has been shown to both activate and repress mitochondrial enzymes. To gain insight into the relative effects of the mitochondrial sirtuins in governing mitochondrial energy metabolism, SIRT3, SIRT4, and SIRT5 overexpressing HEK293 cells were directly compared. When grown under standard cell culture conditions (25 mM glucose) all three sirtuins induced increases in mitochondrial respiration, glycolysis, and glucose oxidation, but with no change in growth rate or in steady-state ATP concentration. Increased proton leak, as evidenced by oxygen consumption in the presence of oligomycin, appeared to explain much of the increase in basal oxygen utilization. Growth in 5 mM glucose normalized the elevations in basal oxygen consumption, proton leak, and glycolysis in all sirtuin over-expressing cells. While the above effects were common to all three mitochondrial sirtuins, some differences between the SIRT3, SIRT4, and SIRT5 expressing cells were noted. Only SIRT3 overexpression affected fatty acid metabolism, and only SIRT4 overexpression altered superoxide levels and mitochondrial membrane potential. We conclude that all three mitochondrial sirtuins can promote increased mitochondrial respiration and cellular metabolism. SIRT3, SIRT4, and SIRT5 appear to respond to excess glucose by inducing a coordinated increase of glycolysis and respiration, with the excess energy dissipated via proton leak. © 2014 Barbi de Moura et al

Sulfur-Modulated Tin Sites Enable Highly Selective Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 to Formate

Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2RR) to formate provides an avenue to the synthesis of value-added carbon-based fuels and feedstocks powered using renewable electricity. Here, we hypothesized that the presence of sulfur atoms in the catalyst surface could promote undercoordinated sites, and thereby improve the electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formate. We explored, using density functional theory, how the incorporation of sulfur into tin may favor formate generation. We used atomic layer deposition of SnSx followed by a reduction process to synthesize sulfur-modulated tin (Sn(S)) catalysts. X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) studies reveal higher oxidation states in Sn(S) compared with that of tin in Sn nanoparticles. Sn(S)/Au accelerates CO2RR at geometric current densities of 55 mA cm−2 at −0.75 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode with a Faradaic efficiency of 93%. Furthermore, Sn(S) catalysts show excellent stability without deactivation (<2% productivity change) following more than 40 hours of operation. With rapid advances in the efficient and cost-effective conversion of sunlight to electrical power, the development of storage technologies for renewable energy is even more urgent. Using renewable electricity to convert CO2 into formate simultaneously addresses the need for storage of intermittent renewable energy sources and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We report an increase of greater than 4-fold in the current density (hence the rate of reaction) in formate electrosynthesis compared with relevant controls. Our catalysts also show excellent stability without deactivation (<2% productivity change) following more than 40 hours of operation. The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2RR) offers a compelling route to energy storage and high-value chemical manufacture. The presence of sulfur atoms in catalyst surfaces promotes undercoordinated sites, thereby improving the electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formate. The resulting sulfur-modulated tin catalysts accelerate CO2RR at geometric current densities of 55 mA cm−2 at −0.75 V versus RHE with a Faradaic efficiency of 93%