Exchange Rate Regime Durability and Performance in Developing Countries Versus Advanced Economies

Drawing on new data and advances in exchange rate regimes' classification, we find that countries appear to benefit by having increasingly flexible exchange rate systems as they become richer and more financially developed. For developing countries with little exposure to international capital markets, pegs are notable for their durability and relatively low inflation. In contrast, for advanced economies, floats are distinctly more durable and also appear to be associated with higher growth. For emerging markets, our results parallel the Baxter and Stockman classic exchange regime neutrality result, though pegs are the least durable and expose countries to higher risk of crisis.

There’s no place like home! The Impact of Accommodations Homescape on Traveler Well-being

Airbnb continues to gain popularity as an alternative to hotels, with the home-like setting being a critical differentiating factor. However, the tourism literature has not explored whether and how accommodation environments are facilitating traveler “at home” experiences and the impact of these experiences on the critical outcome of well being. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, we develop a model of homescape in the accommodations industry and identify, operationalize, and measure its components. Second, we examine the impact of the homescape on travelers’ experience and overall well-being in both Airbnb and hotel accommodations. Surveying 740 participants who were traveling to receive healthcare services, we found in both Hotels and Airbnb that the homescape (community, home-design congruence, and esthetics) influence travelers’ experience of feeling “at home”, which, in turn, positively influences their well-being. Implications for theory, practice, and areas of future research are discussed

Boston Hospitality Review: Winter 2019

TABLE OF CONTENTS: "Training: The Necessity of Error Management Training in the Hospitality Industry" by Priyanko Guchait; "Trends: Green Hotels: An Overview" by Minu Agarwal and Prashant Das; "Tourism: Panacea or peril? The implications of Neolocalism as a more intrusive form of tourism" by Makarand Mody and Kyle Koslowsky; "Restaurants: How Can Single-Unit Restaurants Strive for Powerful Online Presence?" by Leora Lanz and Jenna Berry; "Retention: Why Hoteliers Stay and Go: Future Oriented Thinking" by Sean McGinley; "Service Recovery: Failure is Not Fatal: Actionable Insights on Service Failure and Recovery for the Hospitality Industry" by Lisa C. Wan and Elisa Chan; "Research: A Detailed Study of the Expected and Actual Use of Hotel Amenities" by Chekitan S. Dev and Prateek Kumar

Blood Mononuclear Cell Mitochondrial Respiratory Chain Complex IV Activity is Decreased in Multiple Sclerosis Patients: Effects of beta-Interferon Treatment

Objectives: Evidence of mitochondrial respiratory chain (MRC) dysfunction and oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis (MS). However, at present, there is no reliable low invasive surrogate available to evaluate mitochondrial function in these patients. In view of the particular sensitivity of MRC complex IV to oxidative stress, the aim of this study was to assess blood mononuclear cell (BMNC) MRC complex IV activity in MS patients and compare these results to age matched controls and MS patients on β-interferon treatment. Methods: Spectrophotometric enzyme assay was employed to measure MRC complex IV activity in blood mononuclear cell obtained multiple sclerosis patients and aged matched controls. Results: MRC Complex IV activity was found to be significantly decreased (p < 0.05) in MS patients (2.1 ± 0.8 k/nmol × 10-3; mean ± SD] when compared to the controls (7.2 ± 2.3 k/nmol × 10-3). Complex IV activity in MS patients on β-interferon (4.9 ± 1.5 k/nmol × 10-3) was not found to be significantly different from that of the controls. Conclusions: This study has indicated evidence of peripheral MRC complex IV deficiency in MS patients and has highlighted the potential utility of BMNCs as a potential means to evaluate mitochondrial function in this disorder. Furthermore, the reported improvement of complex IV activity may provide novel insights into the mode(s) of action of β- interferon

Inhibitory effect of phytochemicals towards SARS-CoV-2 papain like protease (PLpro) proteolytic and deubiquitinase activity

Recent studies have shown that RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), 3-chymotrypsin-like protease (3CLpro), and papain-like protease (PLpro) are necessary for SARS-CoV-2 replication. Among these three enzymes, PLpro exhibits both proteolytic and deubiquitinase (DUB) activity and is responsible for disrupting the host\u27s innate immune response against SARS-CoV-2. Because of this unique property of PLpro, we investigated the inhibitory effects of phytochemicals on the SARS-CoV-2 PLpro enzyme. Our data indicates that the phytochemicals such as catechin, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), mangiferin, myricetin, rutin, and theaflavin exhibited inhibitory activity with IC50 values of 14.2, 128.4, 95.3, 12.1, and 43.4, and 7.3 μM, respectively, towards PLpro proteolytic activity. However, the IC50 values of quercetin, oleuropein, and γ-mangostin are ambiguous. We observed that EGCG, mangiferin, myricetin, oleuropein, rutin, and theaflavin have also inhibited the DUB activity with IC50 values of 44.7, 104.3, 29.2, 131.5, 61.7, and 13.2 μM, respectively. Mechanistically, the ligand-protein interaction structural modeling suggests that mangiferin, EGCG, theaflavin, and oleuropein shows that these four ligands interact with Glu167, and Tyr268, however mangiferin and oleuropein showed very weak interaction with Glu167 as compared to EGCG, and theaflavin which reflects their low IC50 values for DUB activity. Our data indicate that the phytochemicals mentioned above inhibit the proteolytic and DUB activity of SARS-CoV-2 PLpro, thus preventing viral replication and promoting host innate immune response. However, the therapeutic potential of these phytochemicals needs to be validated by pre-clinical and clinical studies