The Effect of Chinese Imports on European Innovation Activities in the Medium-Long Term Period

Studies have been conducted about the role of foreign trade-driven technology transfer in the achievement of the Chinese miracle; however, when focusing on the opposite direction, the literature is not uniform: how are Western businesses affected by trade dealings which China? To what extent does this impact apply to the innovation cycle? In this research we focused on the linear correlation between innovation in European countries (proxied by patent applications) and imports from China, over the 15-year time period following China's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001. Patent applications are used as a measure of innovation, integrated in an economic model inspired by the "Trapped Factors" model, that makes it possible to account for escape-competition effects. The model analyzes the 2002-2016 period across 22 European countries. Apart from evaluating the impact of Chinese imports on European innovation, our study provides a review of the major contributions that have characterized this research area in the most recent years, trying to categorize and to present them from a proactive and comprehensive point of view. Keywords: innovation, import, China, Europe, patent applications DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-12-03 Publication date: April 30th 202

Gradual Economic Growth in Africa: What are the Underpinning Factors? An Empirical Analysis

We inquire about the forces underpinning the recent gradual economic growth in Africa. Our study covered 41 countries in Africa, cutting across the Western, Eastern, Central, Southern and Northern parts. Our study adopted the fixed effect, feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) and One Step System GMM to estimate the determinants of upsurge in the economic growth in Africa. Our results divulge that aid has no effectiveness on the economic growth of Africa. Further, the study suggests that China’s FDI to Africa and trade with Africa has helped in the economic growth of Africa. Our study also suggest that the recent improvement in the institution of Africa has contributed to the growth of Africa. Overall, the result of this study helps in recompensing the imbalance in the extant literature. Keywords: economic growth, aid, foreign direct investment, trade, institutions, Africa DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-22-09 Publication date:August 31st 202

Patterns of Diversity in Soft-Bodied Meiofauna: Dispersal Ability and Body Size Matter

Background: Biogeographical and macroecological principles are derived from patterns of distribution in large organisms, whereas microscopic ones have often been considered uninteresting, because of their supposed wide distribution. Here, after reporting the results of an intensive faunistic survey of marine microscopic animals (meiofauna) in Northern Sardinia, we test for the effect of body size, dispersal ability, and habitat features on the patterns of distribution of several groups.Methodology/Principal Findings: As a dataset we use the results of a workshop held at La Maddalena (Sardinia, Italy) in September 2010, aimed at studying selected taxa of soft-bodied meiofauna (Acoela, Annelida, Gastrotricha, Nemertodermatida, Platyhelminthes and Rotifera), in conjunction with data on the same taxa obtained during a previous workshop hosted at Tjärnö (Western Sweden) in September 2007. Using linear mixed effects models and model averaging while accounting for sampling bias and potential pseudoreplication, we found evidence that: (1) meiofaunal groups with more restricted distribution are the ones with low dispersal potential; (2) meiofaunal groups with higher probability of finding new species for science are the ones with low dispersal potential; (3) the proportion of the global species pool of each meiofaunal group present in each area at the regional scale is negatively related to body size, and positively related to their occurrence in the endobenthic habitat.Conclusion/Significance: Our macroecological analysis of meiofauna, in the framework of the ubiquity hypothesis for microscopic organisms, indicates that not only body size but mostly dispersal ability and also occurrence in the endobenthic habitat are important correlates of diversity for these understudied animals, with different importance at different spatial scales. Furthermore, since the Western Mediterranean is one of the best-studied areas in the world, the large number of undescribed species (37%) highlights that the census of marine meiofauna is still very far from being complete

Single-Cell Phenotypic and Molecular Characterization of Circulating Tumor Cells Isolated from Cryopreserved Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells of Patients with Lung Cancer and Sarcoma

Background The isolation of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) requires rapid processing of the collected blood due to their inherent fragility. The ability to recover CTCs from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) preserved from cancer patients could allow for retrospective analyses or multicenter CTC studies. Methods We compared the efficacy of CTC recovery and characterization using cryopreserved PMBCs vs fresh whole blood from patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC; n = 8) and sarcoma (n = 6). Two epithelial cellular adhesion molecule (EpCAM)-independent strategies for CTC enrichment, based on Parsortix(R) technology or immunomagnetic depletion of blood cells (AutoMACS(R)) were tested, followed by DEPArray (TM) single-cell isolation. Phenotype and genotype, assessed by copy number alterations analysis, were evaluated at a single-cell level. Detection of target mutations in CTC-enriched samples from frozen NSCLC PBMCs was also evaluated by digital PCR (dPCR). Results The use of cryopreserved PBMCs from cancer patients allowed for the retrospective enumeration of CTCs and their molecular characterization, using both EpCAM-independent strategies that performed equally in capturing CTC. Cells isolated from frozen PBMCs were representative of whole blood-derived CTCs in terms of number, phenotype, and copy number aberration profile/target mutations. Long-term storage (>= 3 years) did not affect the efficacy of CTC recovery. Detection of target mutations was also feasible by dPCR in CTC-enriched samples derived from stored PBMCs. Conclusions Isolating CTCs from longitudinally collected PBMCs using an unbiased selection strategy can offer a wider range of retrospective genomic/phenotypic analyses to guide patients' personalized therapy, paving the way for sample sharing in multicenter studies