Real convergence in some emerging countries : a fractionally integrated approach

This article exanines the real convergence hypothesis in eleven emerging countries by means of fractionally integrated techniques. For this purpose, we examine the order of integration of the real GDP per capita series in Argentina. Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, India, Indonesia, Taiwan and South Korea as well as their differences with respect to the US and Japan. We find evidence of smaller degrees of integration in the differenced series only for sorne of the Latin American countries with respect to the US, and for ail the Asian countries with respect to both the US and Japan. However, we only find evidence of real convergence for the cases of Argentina and Chile with respect to the US, and Taiwan with respect to Japan. suggesting thus the possibility of different convergence clubs among both Latin American and Asian countries.Real convergence, Fractional integration

Oil dependence, quality of political institutions and economic growth: A panel VAR approach

This paper examines the resource curse hypothesis both within and between countries of different democratic footprint, based on a dynamic model that properly accounts for endogeneity issues. To achieve that, we apply a panel Vector Auto-Regressive (PVAR) approach along with panel impulse response functions to data on oil dependence variables, economic growth and several political institutional variables in 76 countries classified by different income groupings and level of development, over the period 1980–2012. Our results suggest that controlling for the quality of political institutions, and in particular the constraints to the executives, is important in rendering the resource curse hypothesis significant. Doing so, the resource curse hypothesis is documented mainly for developing economies and medium-high income countries. Specifically, when economies from the aforementioned groups are characterised by weak quality of political institutions, then oil dependence is not growth-enhancing

Robotic manipulation for the shoe-packaging process

[EN] This paper presents the integration of a robotic system in a human-centered environment, as it can be found in the shoe manufacturing industry. Fashion footwear is nowadays mainly handcrafted due to the big amount of small production tasks. Therefore, the introduction of intelligent robotic systems in this industry may contribute to automate and improve the manual production steps, such us polishing, cleaning, packaging, and visual inspection. Due to the high complexity of the manual tasks in shoe production, cooperative robotic systems (which can work in collaboration with humans) are required. Thus, the focus of the robot lays on grasping, collision detection, and avoidance, as well as on considering the human intervention to supervise the work being performed. For this research, the robot has been equipped with a Kinect camera and a wrist force/ torque sensor so that it is able to detect human interaction and the dynamic environment in order to modify the robot¿s behavior. To illustrate the applicability of the proposed approach, this work presents the experimental results obtained for two actual platforms, which are located at different research laboratories, that share similarities in their morphology, sensor equipment and actuation system.This work has been partly supported by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad of the Spanish Government (Key No.: 0201603139 of Invest in Spain program and Grant No. RTC-2016-5408-6) and by the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) of the German Government (Projekt-ID 54368155).Gracia Calandin, LI.; Perez-Vidal, C.; Mronga, D.; Paco, JD.; Azorin, J.; Gea, JD. (2017). Robotic manipulation for the shoe-packaging process. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology. 92(1-4):1053-1067. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-017-0212-6S10531067921-4Pedrocchi N, Villagrossi E, Cenati C, Tosatti LM (2017) Design of fuzzy logic controller of industrial robot for roughing the uppers of fashion shoes. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 77(5):939–953Hinojo-Perez JJ, Davia-Aracil M, Jimeno-Morenilla A, Sanchez-Romero L, Salas F (2016) Automation of the shoe last grading process according to international sizing systems. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 85(1):455–467Dura-Gil JV, Ballester-Fernandez A, Cavallaro M, Chiodi A, Ballarino A, von Arnim V., Brondi C, Stellmach D (2016) New technologies for customizing products for people with special necessities: project fashion-able. Int J Comput Integr Manuf. In Press, doi: 10.1080/0951192X.2016.1145803Jatta F, Zanoni L, Fassi I, Negri S (2004) A roughing/cementing robotic cell for custom made shoe manufacture. Int J Comput Integr Manuf 17(7):645–652Nemec B, Zlajpah L (2008) Robotic cell for custom finishing operations. Int J Comput Integr Manuf 21(1):33–42Molfino R, et al (2004) Modular, reconfigurable prehensor for grasping and handling limp materials in the shoe industry. 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Identification and control of a multiplace hyperbaric chamber

[EN] This work presents the automation of a multiplace hyperbaric chamber. It includes the system modeling, identification, controller calculation and system validation. With the proposed approach a good pressure profile tracking and repeatability are achieved. Moreover, the proposed automation includes the implementation of powerful treatment tools such as Pause and Alleviation procedures. The control system implemented is based on a special zero-pole cancellation regulator. Experimental results are provided to illustrate the behavior of the automated chamber. It is important to remark that the chamber automated in this work is being successfully used in a real hospital since 2015 treating more than 40 patients per day, five days a week.The authors would like to thanks MEDIBAROX (unit of the Perpetuo Socorro Hospital) and the "Catedra de Medicina Hiperbarica" of the Miguel Hernandez University for their support and for finally implementing the control law described in this article. The authors would also like to thank Francisco Aracil Meseguer for his help with the chamber 3D modeling.Gracia Calandin, LI.; Perez-Vidal, C.; De Paco, JM.; De Paco, LM. (2018). Identification and control of a multiplace hyperbaric chamber. PLoS ONE. 13(8):1-23. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0200407S12313

A randomized phase II clinical trial of dendritic cell vaccination following complete resection of colon cancer liver metastasis

Surgically resectable synchronic and metachronic liver metastases of colon cancer have high risk of relapse in spite of standard-of-care neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy regimens. Dendritic cell vaccines loaded with autologous tumor lysates were tested for their potential to avoid or delay disease relapses (NCT01348256). Patients with surgically amenable liver metastasis of colon adenocarcinoma (n = 19) were included and underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy, surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy. Fifteen patients with disease-free resection margins were randomized 1:1 to receive two courses of four daily doses of dendritic cell intradermal vaccinations versus observation. The trial had been originally designed to include 56 patients but was curtailed due to budgetary restrictions. Follow-up of the patients indicates a clear tendency to fewer and later relapses in the vaccine arm (median disease free survival –DFS-) 25.26 months, 95% CI 8. 74-n.r) versus observation arm (median DFS 9.53 months, 95% CI 5.32–18.88)

Large enhancement of deuteron polarization with frequency modulated microwaves

We report a large enhancement of 1.7 in deuteron polarization up to values of 0.6 due to frequency modulation of the polarizing microwaves in a two liters polarized target using the method of dynamic nuclear polarization. This target was used during a deep inelastic polarized muon-deuteron scattering experiment at CERN. Measurements of the electron paramagnetic resonance absorption spectra show that frequency modulation gives rise to additional microwave absorption in the spectral wings. Although these results are not understood theoretically, they may provide a useful testing ground for the deeper understanding of dynamic nuclear polarization.Comment: 10 pages, including the figures coming in uuencoded compressed tar files in poltar.uu, which also brings cernart.sty and crna12.sty files neede

Genomic characterization of individuals presenting extreme phenotypes of high and low risk to develop tobacco-induced lung cancer

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may modulate individual susceptibility to carcinogens. We designed a genome-wide association study to characterize individuals presenting extreme phenotypes of high and low risk to develop tobacco-induced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and we validated our results. We hypothesized that this strategy would enrich the frequencies of the alleles that contribute to the observed traits. We genotyped 2.37 million SNPs in 95 extreme phenotype individuals, that is: heavy smokers that either developed NSCLC at an early age (extreme cases); or did not present NSCLC at an advanced age (extreme controls), selected from a discovery set (n = 3631). We validated significant SNPs in 133 additional subjects with extreme phenotypes selected from databases including >39,000 individuals. Two SNPs were validated: rs12660420 (pcombined  = 5.66 × 10-5 ; ORcombined  = 2.80), mapping to a noncoding transcript exon of PDE10A; and rs6835978 (pcombined  = 1.02 × 10-4 ; ORcombined  = 2.57), an intronic variant in ATP10D. We assessed the relevance of both proteins in early-stage NSCLC. PDE10A and ATP10DmRNA expressions correlated with survival in 821 stage I-II NSCLC patients (p = 0.01 and p < 0.0001). PDE10A protein expression correlated with survival in 149 patients with stage I-II NSCLC (p = 0.002). In conclusion, we validated two variants associated with extreme phenotypes of high and low risk of developing tobacco-induced NSCLC. Our findings may allow to identify individuals presenting high and low risk to develop tobacco-induced NSCLC and to characterize molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis and resistance to develop NSCLC.This work was supported by the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology; Fundación SEOM and Fundación Salud 2000; and Government of Navarra.S

Genomic characterization of individuals presenting extreme phenotypes of high and low risk to develop tobacco-induced lung cancer

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may modulate individual susceptibility to carcinogens. We designed a genome-wide association study to characterize individuals presenting extreme phenotypes of high and low risk to develop tobacco-induced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and we validated our results. We hypothesized that this strategy would enrich the frequencies of the alleles that contribute to the observed traits. We genotyped 2.37 million SNPs in 95 extreme phenotype individuals, that is: heavy smokers that either developed NSCLC at an early age (extreme cases); or did not present NSCLC at an advanced age (extreme controls), selected from a discovery set (n=3631). We validated significant SNPs in 133 additional subjects with extreme phenotypes selected from databases including >39,000 individuals. Two SNPs were validated: rs12660420 (p(combined)=5.66x10(-5); ORcombined=2.80), mapping to a noncoding transcript exon of PDE10A; and rs6835978 (p(combined)=1.02x10(-4); ORcombined=2.57), an intronic variant in ATP10D. We assessed the relevance of both proteins in early-stage NSCLC. PDE10A and ATP10D mRNA expressions correlated with survival in 821 stage I-II NSCLC patients (p=0.01 and p<0.0001). PDE10A protein expression correlated with survival in 149 patients with stage I-II NSCLC (p=0.002). In conclusion, we validated two variants associated with extreme phenotypes of high and low risk of developing tobacco-induced NSCLC. Our findings may allow to identify individuals presenting high and low risk to develop tobacco-induced NSCLC and to characterize molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis and resistance to develop NSCLC

The Tissue Microlocalisation and Cellular Expression of CD163, VEGF, HLA-DR, iNOS, and MRP 8/14 Is Correlated to Clinical Outcome in NSCLC

BACKGROUND: We have previously investigated the microlocalisation of M1 and M2 macrophages in NSCLC. This study investigated the non-macrophage (NM) expression of proteins associated with M1 and M2 macrophages in NSCLC. METHODS: Using immunohistochemistry, CD68(+) macrophages and proteins associated with either a cytotoxic M1 phenotype (HLA-DR, iNOS, and MRP 8/14), or a non-cytotoxic M2 phenotype (CD163 and VEGF) were identified. NM expression of the markers was analysed in the islets and stroma of surgically resected tumours from 20 patients with extended survival (ES) (median 92.7 months) and 20 patients with poor survival (PS) (median 7.7 months). RESULTS: The NM expression of NM-HLA-DR (p<0.001), NM-iNOS (p = 0.02) and NM-MRP 8/14 (p = 0.02) was increased in ES compared to PS patients in the tumour islets. The tumour islet expression of NM-VEGF, was decreased in ES compared to PS patients (p<0.001). There was more NM-CD163 expression (p = 0.04) but less NM-iNOS (p = 0.002) and MRP 8/14 (p = 0.01) expression in the stroma of ES patients compared with PS patients. The 5-year survival for patients with above and below median NM expression of the markers in the islets was 74.9% versus 4.7% (NM-HLA-DR p<0.001), 65.0% versus 14.6% (NM-iNOS p = 0.003), and 54.3% versus 22.2% (NM-MRP 8/14 p = 0.04), as opposed to 34.1% versus 44.4% (NM-CD163 p = 0.41) and 19.4% versus 59.0% (NM-VEGF p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Cell proteins associated with M1 and M2 macrophages are also expressed by other cell types in the tumour islets and stroma of patients with NSCLC. Their tissue and cellular microlocalisation is associated with important differences in clinical outcome