Sequential innovations with unobservable follow-on investments

We consider a cumulative innovation process in which a follow-on innovator invests in R&D activities that influence both the expected commercial value as well as the novelty of its innovation. When the second innovator investments are not servable,licensing of the first innovation never occurs efficiently, and, at the equilibrium, the follow-on innovator either underinvests or overinvests. We show that a large patent breadth may be harmful for the first innovator too, and therefore Pareto-dominated;as long as the undervinvestment problem becomes more pronounced, the value generated by the follow-on innovator reduces, and so do the licensing revenues of the first inventor.sequential innovation, patents, licensing, intellectual property

Access Regulation, Entry, and Investment in Telecommunications

This paper presents a model of competition between an incumbent and an entrant firm in telecommunications. The entrant has the option to enter the market with or without having preliminary invested in its own infrastructure; in case of facility based entry, the entrant has also the option to invest in the provision of enhanced services. In case of resale based entry the entrant needs access to the incumbent network. Unlike the rival, the incumbent has always the option to upgrade the existing network to provide advanced services. We study the impact of access regulation on the type of entry and on firms' investments. Without regulation, we find that the incumbent sets the access charge to prevent resale based entry and this overstimulates rival's investment that may turn out to be socially inefficient. Access regulation may discourage welfare enhancing investments, thus also inducing a socially inefficient outcome. We extend the model to account for negotiated interconnection in case of facilities based entry.telecommunications; ladder of investment; access regulation; interconnection

Dhea as marker of good surgical homeostasis

The serum DHEA concentration can represent a valuable indicator of an "equilibrated" metabolic condition

Alcohol mixed with energy drinks and arrhythmias

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Sex differences in adherence to guidelines in aspirin prescription in a population of low-risk cardiovascular patients

Aspirin is widely used in low risk patients with cardiovascular disease to prevent thrombosis, despite the increasing risk of bleeding. We evaluated the adherence to guidelines in aspirin prescription in 2095 patients (960 men (45.8%) and 1135 women (54.2%), mean age 58 ± 12 years) affected by minor rectal hemorrhage

Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia in Cardiac Surgery Patients

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Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and sepsis

We retrospectively analyzed data from 600 post-cardiac surgery patients in order to evaluate the incremental value of performing 4Ts Test and EuroSCORE test for prediction of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia

The association between tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and metastatic course in neuroendocrine neoplasms.

A moderate lymphocytic infiltration was found in about 25% of these well-differentiated neoplasms, all of which had no distant metastases to liver or pulmonary hilar lymph nodes during a follow-up period >10 years; mild or absent lymphocytic infiltrates have been observed in those cases with metastatic spread, discovered synchronously or after follow-up of 10 years (P < .05)

The "Hepatic core": how to reach it

The "hepatic core" has to be considered a zone inside the hepatic parenchyma where different liver segments converge