La proposition du Conseil fédéral pour le nouveau droit du bail à loyer: une analyse économique

This paper critically analyses the proposed law for regulating the rental housing market. The swiss tenants have made mostly negative experiences with the rate of return regulation practiced in the last 20 years. Nevertheless, the new law does not address these problems. If the new proposed law were to be enacted, it would probably lead to a significant rise in real rents in the near future. The shortcomings of the proposal are such that it has to be completely revised. We advocate a laissez-faire solution for the contracting of new leases combined with indexation on the CPI for on-going leases. Such a measure would permit a market evolution satisfying both landlords and tenants

Robotic Rehabilitation and Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Children With Bilateral Cerebral Palsy

AimTo identify challenges of combining robotic upper extremity rehabilitation with tDCS in children with upper extremity bilateral cerebral palsy (CP) by assessing feasibility, tolerability and safety.MethodsThis was an unblinded, open-label, pilot clinical trial. Participants completed 10 × 1 h sessions of robotic rehabilitation combined with motor cortex anodal tDCS. Feasibility, acceptability and practicality, were assessed including the number of participants completing the protocol, factors limiting participation, time required for sessions, and completion of functional assessments and tolerability scales. To assess safety, standardized clinical and robotic measures of sensorimotor function were performed. The trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04233710).ResultsEight children were recruited (mean age 8y ± 1.8y, range 6–11 years) and 5 completed the intervention. There were no serious adverse events. One child developed focal seizures 6 weeks after the trial that were deemed to be unrelated. Barriers to completion included time and scheduling demands and patient factors, specifically cognitive/behavioral impairments and dyskinesia. No decline in clinical function was appreciated.ConclusionsRobotic upper extremity rehabilitation combined with tDCS may be feasible in children with bilateral CP. Careful participant selection, family engagement, and protocol adaptations are recommended to better understand the feasibility and tolerability of future trials

Expression of the neuropathy-associated MTMR2 gene rescues MTM1-associated myopathy

Myotubularins (MTMs) are active or dead phosphoinositides phosphatases defining a large protein family conserved through evolution and implicated in different neuromuscular diseases. Loss-of-function mutations in MTM1 cause the severe congenital myopathy called myotubular myopathy (or X-linked centronuclear myopathy) while mutations in the MTM1-related protein MTMR2 cause a recessive Charcot-Marie-Tooth peripheral neuropathy. Here we aimed to determine the functional specificity and redundancy of MTM1 and MTMR2, and to assess their abilities to compensate for a potential therapeutic strategy. Using molecular investigations and heterologous expression of human MTMs in yeast cells and in Mtm1 knockout mice, we characterized several naturally occurring MTMR2 isoforms with different activities. We identified the N-terminal domain as responsible for functional differences between MTM1 and MTMR2. An N-terminal extension observed in MTMR2 is absent in MTM1, and only the short MTMR2 isoform lacking this N-terminal extension behaved similarly to MTM1 in yeast and mice. Moreover, adeno-associated virus-mediated exogenous expression of several MTMR2 isoforms ameliorates the myopathic phenotype owing to MTM1 loss, with increased muscle force, reduced myofiber atrophy, and reduction of the intracellular disorganization hallmarks associated with myotubular myopathy. Noteworthy, the short MTMR2 isoform provided a better rescue when compared with the long MTMR2 isoform. In conclusion, these results point to the molecular basis for MTMs functional specificity. They also provide the proof-of-concept that expression of the neuropathy-associated MTMR2 gene improves the MTM1-associated myopathy, thus identifying MTMR2 as a novel therapeutic target for myotubular myopathy

Protecting labor rights in preferential trade agreements: the role of trade unions, left governments, and skilled labor

This paper investigates variation in the design of labor provisions in preferential trade agreements (PTAs) by focusing on the power of trade unions, the role of government partisanship, and the relative strength of skilled labor. We expect strong trade unions and left-leaning governments to be associated with more, and more far-reaching labor provisions in PTAs. We also expect the strength of skilled workers relative to the strength of unskilled workers to negatively correlate with the depth of labor provisions in PTAs. In addition, the effect of trade unions should be conditional on both the presence of left government and democracy. We test these hypotheses relying on an original dataset of labor provisions included in 483 PTAs signed between 1990 and 2016. This dataset covers 140 different labor provisions that relate to six overarching dimensions. The quantitative analysis finds support for the expectations concerning the influence of trade unions and the role of a country’s skill profile

A Model of Regulation in the Rental Housing Market

This paper develops a theoretical model to study the effects of regulation on the rental housing market. Our model emphasises the following specific features of the housing market: product heterogeneity and search costs play a central role, switching (moving) costs are substantial, and the possibilities to price discriminate are important. We show that with short-term rental contracts rents will increase at the time of renegotiation as a result of the ?hold-up? problem. Tenancy rent control which limits the owners? possibilities to increase rents for a certain number of years leads to lower equilibrium rents and higher social welfare. Our model strongly suggests that a policy which consists of indexing rents may be socially preferable to short-term contracts