Central Bank Money: Liability, Asset, or Equity of the Nation?

Source info: Cornell Legal Studies Research Paper 20-46Source info: Cornell Legal Studies Research Paper 20-46Based on legal arguments, we advocate a conceptual and normative shift in our understanding of the economic character of central bank money (CBM). The widespread treatment of CBM as a central bank liability goes back to the gold standard, and uses analogies with commercial bank balance sheets. However, CBM is sui generis and legally not comparable to commercial bank money. Furthermore, in modern economies, CBM holders cannot demand repayment of CBM in anything other than CBM. CBM is not an asset of central banks either, and it is not central bank shareholder equity because it does not confer the same ownership rights as regular shareholder equity. Based on comparisons across a number of legal characteristics of financial instruments, we suggest that an appropriate characterization of CBM is as ‘social equity’ that confers rights of participation in the economy’s payment system and thereby its economy. This interpretation is important for macroeconomic policy in light of quantitative easing and potential future issuance of central bank digital currency (CBDC). It suggests that in robust economies with credible monetary institutions, and where demand for CBM is sufficiently and sustainably high, large-scale issuance such as under CBDC is not inflationary, and it does not weaken public sector finances

Biocurators and Biocuration: surveying the 21st century challenges

Curated databases are an integral part of the tool set that researchers use on a daily basis for their work. For most users, however, how databases are maintained, and by whom, is rather obscure. The International Society for Biocuration (ISB) represents biocurators, software engineers, developers and researchers with an interest in biocuration. Its goals include fostering communication between biocurators, promoting and describing their work, and highlighting the added value of biocuration to the world. The ISB recently conducted a survey of biocurators to better understand their educational and scientific backgrounds, their motivations for choosing a curatorial job and their career goals. The results are reported here. From the responses received, it is evident that biocuration is performed by highly trained scientists and perceived to be a stimulating career, offering both intellectual challenges and the satisfaction of performing work essential to the modern scientific community. It is also apparent that the ISB has at least a dual role to play to facilitate biocurators’ work: (i) to promote biocuration as a career within the greater scientific community; (ii) to aid the development of resources for biomedical research through promotion of nomenclature and data-sharing standards that will allow interconnection of biological databases and better exploit the pivotal contributions that biocurators are making

Defining the remarkable structural malleability of a bacterial surface protein Rib domain implicated in infection

Streptococcus groups A and B cause serious infections, including early onset sepsis and meningitis in newborns. Rib domain-containing surface proteins are found associated with invasive strains and elicit protective immunity in animal models. Yet, despite their apparent importance in infection, the structure of the Rib domain was previously unknown. Structures of single Rib domains of differing length reveal a rare case of domain atrophy through deletion of 2 core antiparallel strands, resulting in the loss of an entire sheet of the β-sandwich from an immunoglobulin-like fold. Previously, observed variation in the number of Rib domains within these bacterial cell wall-attached proteins has been suggested as a mechanism of immune evasion. Here, the structure of tandem domains, combined with molecular dynamics simulations and small angle X-ray scattering, suggests that variability in Rib domain number would result in differential projection of an N-terminal host-colonization domain from the bacterial surface. The identification of 2 further structures where the typical B-D-E immunoglobulin β-sheet is replaced with an α-helix further confirms the extensive structural malleability of the Rib domain

Potential impacts on ecosystem services of land use transitions to second-generation bioenergy crops in GB

We present the first assessment of the impact of land use change (LUC) to second-generation (2G) bioenergy crops on ecosystem services (ES) resolved spatially for Great Britain (GB). A systematic approach was used to assess available evidence on the impacts of LUC from arable, semi-improved grassland or woodland/forest, to 2G bioenergy crops, for which a quantitative ‘threat matrix’ was developed. The threat matrix was used to estimate potential impacts of transitions to either Miscanthus, short-rotation coppice (SRC, willow and poplar) or short-rotation forestry (SRF). The ES effects were found to be largely dependent on previous land uses rather than the choice of 2G crop when assessing the technical potential of available biomass with a transition from arable crops resulting in the most positive effect on ES. Combining these data with constraint masks and available land for SRC and Miscanthus (SRF omitted from this stage due to lack of data), south-west and north-west England were identified as areas where Miscanthus and SRC could be grown, respectively, with favourable combinations of economic viability, carbon sequestration, high yield and positive ES benefits. This study also suggests that not all prospective planting of Miscanthus and SRC can be allocated to agricultural land class (ALC) ALC 3 and ALC 4 and suitable areas of ALC 5 are only minimally available. Beneficial impacts were found on 146 583 and 71 890 ha when planting Miscanthus or SRC, respectively, under baseline planting conditions rising to 293 247 and 91 318 ha, respectively, under 2020 planting scenarios. The results provide an insight into the interplay between land availability, original land uses, bioenergy crop type and yield in determining overall positive or negative impacts of bioenergy cropping on ecosystems services and go some way towards developing a framework for quantifying wider ES impacts of this important LUC

Periscope Proteins are variable-length regulators of bacterial cell surface interactions

Changes at the cell surface enable bacteria to survive in dynamic environments, such as diverse niches of the human host. Here, we reveal “Periscope Proteins” as a widespread mechanism of bacterial surface alteration mediated through protein length variation. Tandem arrays of highly similar folded domains can form an elongated rod-like structure; thus, variation in the number of domains determines how far an N-terminal host ligand binding domain projects from the cell surface. Supported by newly available long-read genome sequencing data, we propose that this class could contain over 50 distinct proteins, including those implicated in host colonization and biofilm formation by human pathogens. In large multidomain proteins, sequence divergence between adjacent domains appears to reduce interdomain misfolding. Periscope Proteins break this “rule,” suggesting that their length variability plays an important role in regulating bacterial interactions with host surfaces, other bacteria, and the immune system

Using fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) to diagnose steroid-responsive disease and guide asthma management in routine care

Acknowledgements We thank Robin Taylor for his informative thinking and publications on FeNO, which have helped to influence and direct the thinking of the authors. Funding Extraction of the real-life dataset was funded by Research in Real Life Limited, the analysis of the dataset and the writing of this manuscript were co-funded (50:50) by Research in Real Life Limited and Aerocrine.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Successful treatment of pediatric IgG4 related systemic disease with mycophenolate mofetil: case report and a review of the pediatric autoimmune pancreatitis literature

Autoimmune pancreatitis is frequently associated with elevated serum and tissue IgG4 levels in the adult population, but there are few reports of pediatric autoimmune pancreatitis, and even fewer reports of IgG4 related systemic disease in a pediatric population. The standard of care treatment in adults is systemic corticosteroids with resolution of symptoms in most cases; however, multiple courses of corticosteroids are occasionally required and some patients require long term corticosteroids. In these instances, steroid sparing disease modify treatments are in demand. We describe a 13-year-old girl with IgG4 related systemic disease who presented with chronic recurrent autoimmune pancreatitis resulting in surgical intervention for obstructive hyperbilirubinemia and chronic corticosteroid treatment. In addition, she developed fibrosing medianstinitis as part of her IgG4 related systemic disease. She was eventually successfully treated with mycophenolate mofetil allowing for discontinuation of corticosteroids. This is the first reported use of mycophenolate mofetil for IgG4 related pancreatitis. Although autoimmune pancreatitis as part of IgG4 related systemic disease is rarely reported in pediatrics, autoimmune pancreatitis is also characterized as idiopathic fibrosing pancreatitis. All pediatric autoimmune pancreatitis cases reported in the world medical literature were identified via a PUBMED search and are reviewed herein. Twelve reports of pediatric autoimmune pancreatitis were identified, most of which were treated with corticosteroids or surgical approaches. Most case reports failed to report IgG4 levels, so it remains unclear how commonly IgG4 related autoimmune pancreatitis occurs during childhood. Increased evaluation of IgG4 levels in patients with autoimmune pancreatitis may shed further light on the association of IgG4 with pancreatitis and the underlying pathophysiology

Learning from the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Faculty Experiences Can Prepare Us for Future System-Wide Disruption

The COVID-19 pandemic provided education researchers with a natural experiment: an opportunity to investigate the impacts of a system-wide, involuntary move to online teaching and to assess the characteristics of individuals who adapted more readily. To capture the impacts in real time, our team recruited college-level geoscience instructors through the National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT) and American Geophysical Union (AGU) communities to participate in our study in the spring of 2020. Each weekday for three successive weeks, participants (n = 262) were asked to rate their experienced disruption in four domains: teaching, research, ability to communicate with their professional community, and work-life balance. The rating system (a scale of 1–5, with 5 as severely disrupted) was designed to assess (a) where support needs were greatest, (b) how those needs evolved over time, and (c) respondents’ capacity to adapt. In addition, participants were asked two open-response questions, designed to provide preliminary insights into how individuals were adapting—what was their most important task that day and what was their greatest insight from the previous day. Participants also provided information on their institution type, position, discipline, gender, race, dependents, and online teaching experience (see supplemental material)

Modulation of extracellular matrix by nutritional hepatotrophic factors in thioacetamide-induced liver cirrhosis in the rat

Nutritional substances associated to some hormones enhance liver regeneration when injected intraperitoneally, being denominated hepatotrophic factors (HF). Here we verified if a solution of HF (glucose, vitamins, salts, amino acids, glucagon, insulin, and triiodothyronine) can revert liver cirrhosis and how some extracellular matrices are affected. Cirrhosis was induced for 14 weeks in 45 female Wistar rats (200 mg) by intraperitoneal injections of thioacetamide (200 mg/kg). Twenty-five rats received intraperitoneal HF twice a day for 10 days (40 mL·kg-1·day-1) and 20 rats received physiological saline. Fifteen rats were used as control. The HF applied to cirrhotic rats significantly: a) reduced the relative mRNA expression of the genes: Col-α1 (-53%), TIMP-1 (-31.7%), TGF-β1 (-57.7%), and MMP-2 (-41.6%), whereas Plau mRNA remained unchanged; b) reduced GGT (-43.1%), ALT (-17.6%), and AST (-12.2%) serum levels; c) increased liver weight (11.3%), and reduced liver collagen (-37.1%), regenerative nodules size (-22.1%), and fibrous septum thickness. Progranulin protein (immunohistochemistry) and mRNA (in situ hybridization) were found in fibrous septa and areas of bile duct proliferation in cirrhotic livers. Concluding, HF improved the histology and serum biochemistry of liver cirrhosis, with an important reduction of interstitial collagen and increased extracelullar matrix degradation by reducing profibrotic gene expression

Cancer risk in hospitalised asthma patients

Asthma is an increasingly common disorder, affecting 5–10% of the population. It involves a dysregulated immune function, which may predispose to subsequent cancer. We examined cancer risk among Swedish subjects who had hospital admission once or multiple times for asthma. An asthma research database was created by identifying asthma patients from the Swedish Hospital Discharge Register and by linking them with the Cancer Registry. A total of 140 425 patients were hospitalised for asthma during 1965–2004, of whom 7421 patients developed cancer, giving an overall standardised incidence ratio (SIR) of 1.36. A significant increase was noted for most sites, with the exception of breast and ovarian cancers and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and myeloma. Patients with multiple hospital admissions showed a high risk, particularly for stomach (SIR 1.70) and colon (SIR 1.99) cancers. A significant decrease was noted for endometrial cancer and skin melanoma. Oesophageal and lung cancers showed high risks throughout the study period, whereas stomach cancer increased towards the end of the period. The relatively stable temporal trends suggest that the asthmatic condition rather than its medication is responsible for the observed associations