The Long-Run Effects of Short-Time Compensation

In light of the Covid-19 pandemic and its ensuing economic crisis, there is renewed interest in worksharing facilitated by Short-Time Compensation (STC) as a potentially effective policy response. Much of the literature concerns the effect of STC in the short run, and little is known about its consequence for employment in the long run. Theoretically on the one hand, when STC is available, the firm may choose to take STC and delay painful yet necessary downsizing/restructuring, resulting in inefficient resource allocation, further weakened competitiveness and even greater job losses in the end. On the other hand, with STC, the firm can preserve valuable firm-specific human capital, leading to greater sales, productivity, and employment growth than without STC. There are also some behavioral advantages of worksharing via STC over layoffs---reducing adverse workplace morale effect of layoffs and enhancing goal alignment and teamwork of workers through shared adversity. Using unique firm-level data on the use of STC by Japanese firms in response to the global Great Recession along with a rich set of firm-level controls, we estimate the Average Treatment effect on the Treated (ATT) of STC in the long run. Our ATT estimation yields the first rigorous econometric evidence on the positive consequence of STC for employment. The size of the ATT is neither trivial nor implausibly large---in four years following the incidence of STC, on average, the firm’s employment level (excluding contingent workers and counting only standard employees) will be 5.1 percentage points higher with STC than without STC. We also find a positive and significant lasting ATT of STC on sales, TFP, and value added, while we find no evidence for the negative ATT on profitability in the long run. Our evidence favors a more sanguine view of the consequences of STC in the context of the economic recovery from the global Great Recession in Japan

Alzheimer\u27s Disease: Cholesterol, Membrane Rafts, Isoprenoids and Statins

Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) is a heterogeneous neurodegenerative disorder and the most prevalent form of dementia worldwide. AD is characterized pathologically by amyloid-? plaques, neurofibrillary tangles and neuronal loss, and clinically by a progressive loss of cognitive abilities. At present, the fundamental molecular mechanisms underlying the disease are unclear and no treatment for AD is known. Epidemiological evidence continues to mount linking vascular diseases, such as hypertension and diabetes, and hypercholesterolaemia with an increased risk for developing AD. A growing amount of evidence suggests a mechanistic link between cholesterol metabolism in the brain and the formation of amyloid plaques in AD development. Cholesterol and statins clearly modulate ?-amyloid precursor protein (?APP) processing in cell culture and animal models. Statins not only reduce endogenous cholesterol synthesis but also exert other various pleiotrophic effects, such as the reduction in protein isoprenylation. Through these effects statins modulate a variety of cellular functions involving both cholesterol (and membrane rafts) and isoprenylation. Although clearly other factors, such as vascular inflammation, oxidative stress and genetic factors, are intimately linked with the progression of AD, this review focuses on the present research findings describing the effect of cholesterol, membrane rafts and isoprenylation in regulating ?APP processing and in particular ?-secretase complex assembly and function and AD progression, along with consideration for the potential role statins may play in modulating these events

Efficacy of soft palatal augmentation prosthesis for oral functional rehabilitation in patients with dysarthria and dysphagia: a protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Introduction Palatal augmentation prosthesis (PAP) is used in patients with articulation and swallowing disorders caused by postoperative loss of tongue tissue due to tongue cancer, cerebrovascular disease sequelae and age-related hypofunction. We have previously reported a newly designed soft PAP fabricated using an thermoplastic material that is particularly appropriate for early intervention. However, the effect of soft PAP on oral function improvement remains to be elucidated. The aim of this study is to investigate whether soft PAP can improve dysarthria and dysphagia occurring as cerebrovascular disease sequelae. Methods and analysis This prospective, randomised, controlled trial will compare the immediate and training effects of rehabilitation using soft PAP with those of rehabilitation without using it. Primary outcomes are the single-word intelligibility test score and pharyngeal transit time (PTT). Secondary outcomes are tongue function (evaluated based on maximum tongue pressure, repetitions of tongue pressure and endurance of tongue pressure), articulation function (evaluated based on speech intelligibility, oral diadochokinesis, Voice-Related Quality of Life (V-RQOL)) and swallowing function (evaluated using Eating Assessment Tool-10). The study results will help determine the efficacy of Soft PAP in improving functional outcomes of word intelligibility and PTT. We hypothesised that early rehabilitation using Soft PAP would more effectively improve articulation and swallowing function compared with conventional rehabilitation without using soft PAP. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval was obtained from the Okayama University Certified Review Board. The study findings will be published in an open access, peer-reviewed journal and presented at relevant conferences and research meetings

Establishment of a monoclonal antibody for human LXRα: Detection of LXRα protein expression in human macrophages

Liver X activated receptor alpha (LXRα) forms a functional dimeric nuclear receptor with RXR that regulates the metabolism of several important lipids, including cholesterol and bile acids. As compared with RXR, the LXRα protein level in the cell is low and the LXRα protein itself is very hard to detect. We have previously reported that the mRNA for LXRα is highly expressed in human cultured macrophages. In order to confirm the presence of the LXRα protein in the human macrophage, we have established a monoclonal antibody against LXRα, K-8607. The binding of mAb K-8607 to the human LXRα protein was confirmed by a wide variety of different techniques, including immunoblotting, immunohistochemistry, and electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). By immunoblotting with this antibody, the presence of native LXR protein in primary cultured human macrophage was demonstrated, as was its absence in human monocytes. This monoclonal anti-LXRα antibody should prove to be a useful tool in the analysis of the human LXRα protein

Endobronchial Electrocautery Using Snare

Between May 1987 and March 1994, upper airway and tracheobronchial electrosurgery with snare was performed in 13 patients (10 men and 3 women), ranging in age from 18 to 87 years. Four patients had benign lesions, and nine had malignant tumors. Total eradication has been achieved in the two patients with benign lesions. Electroexcision of the endobronchial portion of the tumor helped to clear the respiratory airways in all cases with malignant tumors. There has been no major side effects such as bleeding due to this method. Electrocautery is an available economical tool, which helps to diagnose and treat obstructing airway mass lesions

Passive Oral Immunization by Egg Yolk Immunoglobulin (IgY) to Vibrio cholerae Effectively Prevents Cholera

In an attempt to prepare egg yolk immunoglobulin (IgY) to treat and prevent cholera, hens were immunized by a mixture of heat- or formalin-killed Vibrio cholerae O1 and O139 organisms, or by the recombinant cholera toxin B subunit (CTB). The IgYs were partially purified from egg yolk and orally administered to suckling mice before or after challenge with live O1 or O139 cells. The anti-O1 and O139 IgYs and the mixture of either IgY with anti-CTB IgY significantly protected the occurrence of cholera caused by both O1 and O139 infection. Since large amounts of IgY can be prepared very easily and at low cost, this seems to be a useful procedure for preventing and treating cholera