Fiscal discretion, growth and output volatility in new EU member countries

This paper analyses the link between discretionary fiscal policy and output growth in ten CEE countries. Three aspects are considered: cyclical pattern in the fiscal discretion, contributions to GDP growth, and the link between policy aggressiveness and output volatility. Fiscal discretion is estimated from quarterly data over 2000q1 to 2014q1 using a SVAR model in GDP, net taxes and spending. Decomposition of the GDP suggests that fiscal discretion induced rather small contributions to economic growth. Correlation between fiscal policy aggressiveness and output volatility is weak to moderate positive, notwithstanding whether spending or balance is used as the underlying indicator. The cyclical pattern has identified a mix of pro- and counter-cyclical episodes in the years before the crisis, implying that governments might not have consistently used the good times to create buffers. Overall, this evidence supports the view that policy makers in the CEE countries should mainly rely on rule-based fiscal policy rather than (aggressive) fiscal discretion

Effects of fiscal shocks in new EU members estimated from a SVARX model with debt feedback

This paper analyses in a VAR framework with debt feedback effects of fiscal policy over 1999q1-2013q4 in five Central and East European economies: Slovakia, Czech republic, Hungary, Slovenia and Lithuania. The results are compared to two alternative specifications, a model without debt feedback, and a model with debt within the linear VAR. Omitting the debt feedback would affect the magnitude and sign of the impulse response coefficients, especially those of GDP, government revenue and interest rate. Simulated out-of-sample debt paths are stabilised if debt feedback is included, but strongly explosive otherwise

How microbial community composition, sorption and simultaneous application of six pharmaceuticals affect their dissipation in soils

Pharmaceuticals may enter soils due to the application of treated wastewater or biosolids. Their leakage from soils towards the groundwater, and their uptake by plants is largely controlled by sorption and degradation of those compounds in soils. Standard laboratory batch degradation and sorption experiments were performed using soil samples obtained from the top horizons of seven different soil types and 6 pharmaceuticals (carbamazepine, irbesartan, fexofenadine, clindamycin and sulfamethoxazole), which were applied either as single-solute solutions or as mixtures (not for sorption). The highest dissipation half-lives were observed for citalopram (average DT50,S for a single compound of 152 ± 53.5 days) followed by carbamazepine (106.0 ± 17.5 days), irbesartan (24.4 ± 3.5 days), fexofenadine (23.5 ± 20.9 days), clindamycin (10.8 ± 4.2 days) and sulfamethoxazole (9.6 ± 2.0 days). The simultaneous application of all compounds increased the half-lives (DT50,M) of all compounds (particularly carbamazepine, citalopram, fexofenadine and irbesartan), which is likely explained by the negative impact of antibiotics (sulfamethoxazole and clindamycin) on soil microbial community. However, this trend was not consistent in all soils. In several cases, the DT50,S values were even higher than the DT50,M values. Principal component analyses showed that while knowledge of basic soil properties determines grouping of soils according sorption behavior, knowledge of the microbial community structure could be used to group soils according to the dissipation behavior of tested compounds in these soils. The derived multiple linear regression models for estimating dissipation half-lives (DT50,S) for citalopram, clindamycin, fexofenadine, irbesartan and sulfamethoxazole always included at least one microbial factor (either amount of phosphorus in microbial biomass or microbial biomarkers derived from phospholipid fatty acids) that deceased half-lives (i.e., enhanced dissipations). Equations for citalopram, clindamycin, fexofenadine and sulfamethoxazole included the Freundlich sorption coefficient, which likely increased half-lives (i.e., prolonged dissipations)

Body composition as an indicator of metabolic changes in mice obtained by <i>in vitro</i> fertilization

To identify body systems subject to epigenetic transformation during in vitro fertilization (IVF), comparative morphological and functional studies were performed on sexually mature offspring of outbred CD1 mice, specific-pathogen-free (SPF), obtained by IVF (experiment) and natural conception (control). The studies included assessment of age-related changes in body weight and composition, energy intake and expenditure, and glucose homeostasis. To level the effects caused by the different number of newborns in the control and in the experiment, the size of the fed litters was halved in the control females. Males obtained using the IVF procedure were superior in body weight compared to control males in all age groups. As was shown by analysis of variance with experiment/control factors, gender, age (7, 10 and 20 weeks), the IVF procedure had a statistically significant and unidirectional effect on body composition. At the same time, IVF offspring outperformed control individuals in relative fat content, but were behind in terms of lean mass. The effect of the interaction of factors was not statistically significant. IVF offspring of both sexes had higher fat to lean mass ratios (FLR). Since adipose tissue contributes significantly less to total energy intake compared to muscle, the main component of lean mass, it is not surprising that at the same level of IVF locomotor activity offspring consumed less food than controls. When converted to one gram of body weight, this difference reached 19 %. One of the consequences of reduced utilization of IVF energy substrates by offspring is a decrease in their tolerance to glucose loading. The integral criterion for the effectiveness of restoring the initial glucose level is the area under the curve (AUC), the value of which was 2.5 (males) and 3.2 (females) times higher in IVF offspring compared to the corresponding control. Thus, the totality of our original and literature data shows an increase in the risk of metabolic disorders in IVF offspring, which is confirmed by epidemiological studies of a relatively young cohort of people born using assisted reproductive technologies

Selective Removal of Alkali Metal Cations from Multiply-Charged Ions via Gas-Phase Ion/Ion Reactions Using Weakly Coordinating Anions

Selective removal of alkali metal cations from mixed cation multiply-charged peptide ions is demonstrated here using gas-phase ion/ion reactions with a series of weakly coordinating anions (WCAs), including hexafluorophosphate (PF6 (-)), tetrakis[3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]borate (BARF), tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)borate (TPPB), and carborane (CHB11Cl11 (-)). In all cases, a long-lived complex is generated by dication/anion condensation followed by ion activation to compare proton transfer with alkali ion transfer from the peptide to the anion. The carborane anion was the only anion studied to undergo dissociation exclusively through loss of the metallated anion, regardless of the studied metal adduct. All other anions studied yield varying abundances of protonated and metallated peptide depending on the peptide sequence and the metal identity. Density functional theory calculations suggest that for the WCAs studied, metal ion transfer is most strongly favored thermodynamically, which is consistent with the experimental results. The carborane anion is demonstrated to be a robust reagent for the selective removal of alkali metal cations from peptide cations with mixtures of excess protons and metal cations

Computation of stresses applied on the bioprosthetic valves’ leaflets : impact on the durability of aortic bioprostheses

Les maladies valvulaires sont parmi les maladies cardiovasculaires les plus fréquentes. Il n’existe actuellement aucun traitement pharmacologique pour prévenir ni ralentir ces maladies et la seule option thérapeutique actuelle est le remplacement valvulaire. Ce dernier peut être effectué soit de manière chirurgicale (RVAC) soit de manière percutanée (TAVI). Le RVAC est le traitement de référence depuis 60 ans.Cependant, au cours de la dernière décennie, le TAVI est devenue un traitement de référence pour les patients à haut risque chirurgical et une alternative pour les patients à risque intermédiaire. Malgré les résultats favorables, la durabilité limitée en raison de la dégénérescence structurelle reste la principale limitation de ces bioprothèses. Quantifier la contrainte mécanique répétitive imposée aux feuillets des bioprothèses, est donc un défi capital et urgent, afin d’optimiser la durabilité de ces dispositifs médicaux.L’absence de données cliniques rétrospectives sur la durabilité à long terme des nouvelles générations de bioprothèses encourage l’utilisation des simulations numériques qui deviennent une partie intégrante de leur évaluation. L’objectif de ce travail est de mettre au point une méthode basée sur l’association d’expériences in vitro/in silico. Elle a été développée afin d’estimer les contraintes appliquées sur les feuillets des bioprothèses aortiques en utilisant un système optique par stéréophotogrammétrie et la corrélation d'images. Les déplacements obtenus in vitro ont ensuite été implémentés dans un modèle d'éléments finis afin de calculer les contraintes mécaniques. Des zones privilégiées de contraintes maximales ont ainsi pu être déterminées.Heart valve diseases are the most prevalent form of cardiovascular disease. Currently, no medical therapy is available for successfully treating calcific aortic stenosis and the only option is the valve replacement, either conventional surgical (SAVR) or transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). Surgical valve replacement has been the standard of care for the past 60 years. However, in the past decade, transcatheter aortic valve implantation has become a viable alternative to surgical aortic valve replacement in patients with high or intermediate surgical risk. Despite the favorable results, the main limitation of both, surgical and TAVI bioprostheses, is their limited durability due to structural valve degeneration (SVD). Quantifying the mechanical fatigue in the form of repetitive stresses imposed to the valve leaflets of aortic bioprostheses is therefore a major and urgent challenge in order to optimize their durability. The lack of long-term durability data for new generations of surgical and percutaneous bioprostheses encourages the use of numerical simulations, representing a significant resource to evaluate and improve these devices. The objective of this thesis is to develop an in vitro/in silico method that offers an experimental evaluation of the mechanical stress applied on bioprosthetic leaflets using a non-contact system based on stereophotogammetry and digital image correlation (DIC). The deformation obtained from the DIC analysis was applied in the finite element model which allows a realistic opening and closing of each leaflet, in order to calculate the local mechanical stress applied. High stress regions could thus be identified and quantified