Capital Buffer in Indonesia: Do Adjustment Cost and Business Cycle Matter?

This study aims to determine the capital buffer determinants of go public banks in Indonesia from 2012 to 2016. The sample selection was based on purposive sampling which resulted in 23 samples of go public banks. The capital buffer is the dependent variable, and the adjustment cost is proxied by the lag of capital buffer (BUF

Interpretation of ambiguous situations: evidence for a dissociation between social and physical threat in Williams syndrome

There is increasing evidence that Williams syndrome (WS) is associated with elevated anxiety that is non-social in nature, including generalised anxiety and fears. To date very little research has examined the cognitive processes associated with this anxiety. In the present research, attentional bias for non-social threatening images in WS was examined using a dot-probe paradigm. Participants were 16 individuals with WS aged between 13 and 34 years and two groups of typically developing controls matched to the WS group on chronological age and attentional control ability respectively. The WS group exhibited a significant attention bias towards threatening images. In contrast, no bias was found for group matched on attentional control and a slight bias away from threat was found in the chronological age matched group. The results are contrasted with recent findings suggesting that individuals with WS do not show an attention bias for threatening faces and discussed in relation to neuroimaging research showing elevated amygdala activation in response to threatening non-social scenes in WS

Autistic Disorder in Patients with Williams-Beuren Syndrome: A Reconsideration of the Williams-Beuren Syndrome Phenotype

International audienceBackground: Williams-Beuren syndrome (WBS), a rare developmental disorder caused by deletion of contiguous genes at 7q11.23, has been characterized by strengths in socialization (overfriendliness) and communication (excessive talkativeness). WBS has been often considered as the polar opposite behavioral phenotype to autism. Our objective was to better understand the range of phenotypic expression in WBS and the relationship between WBS and autistic disorder. Methodology: The study was conducted on 9 French individuals aged from 4 to 37 years old with autistic disorder associated with WBS. Behavioral assessments were performed using Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) scales. Molecular characterization of the WBS critical region was performed by FISH. Findings: FISH analysis indicated that all 9 patients displayed the common WBS deletion. All 9 patients met ADI-R and ADOS diagnostic criteria for autism, displaying stereotypies and severe impairments in social interaction and communication (including the absence of expressive language). Additionally, patients showed improvement in social communication over time. Conclusions: The results indicate that comorbid autism and WBS is more frequent than expected and suggest that the common WBS deletion can result in a continuum of social communication impairment, ranging from excessive talkativeness and overfriendliness to absence of verbal language and poor social relationships. Appreciation of the possible co-occurrence of WBS and autism challenges the common view that WBS represents the opposite behavioral phenotype of autism, and might lead to improved recognition of WBS in individuals diagnosed with autism

Deregulation of MUC4 in gastric adenocarcinoma: potential pathobiological implication in poorly differentiated non-signet ring cell type gastric cancer

MUC4 is a large, heavily glycosylated transmembrane mucin, that is implicated in the pathogenesis of various types of cancers. To date, no extensive study has been done to check the expression and functional significance of MUC4 in different types of gastric adenocarcinomas. Here, we report the expression profile of MUC4 in gastric adenocarcinomas and its function in poorly differentiated gastric non-signet ring cell carcinoma (non-SRCC) type cells. Immunohistochemical analysis using tissue microarray (TMA) showed a significant difference in MUC4 expression between normal adjacent (n=45) and gastric adenocarcinoma (n=83; P<0.001). MUC4 expression was not associated with tumour type, stage or with the degree of differentiation. To gain further insight into the significance of MUC4 expression in gastric non-SRCC cells, MUC4 was ectopically expressed in AGS, a poorly differentiated gastric non-signet ring cell line. The MUC4 overexpressing cells (AGS-MUC4) showed a significant increase (P<0.005) in cell motility and a decrease in cellular aggregation as compared with the vector-transfected cells. Furthermore, in vivo tumorigenicity analysis revealed that animals transplanted with the MUC4 overexpressing cells (AGS-MUC4) had a greater incidence of tumours (83%) in comparison to empty vector control (17%). In addition, the expression of MUC4 resulted in enhanced expression of total cellular ErbB2 and phosphorylated ErbB2. In conclusion, our results showed that MUC4 is overexpressed in gastric adenocarcinoma tissues, and that it has a role in promoting aggressive properties in poorly differentiated gastric non-SRCC cells through the activation of the ErbB2 oncoprotein

Mechanisms and Evolutionary Patterns of Mammalian and Avian Dosage Compensation

A large-scale comparative gene expression study reveals the different ways in which the chromosome-wide gene dosage reductions resulting from sex chromosome differentiation events were compensated during mammalian and avian evolution

A multimeasure approach to investigating affective appraisal of social information in Williams syndrome

People with Williams syndrome (WS) have been consistently described as showing heightened sociability, gregariousness, and interest in people, in conjunction with an uneven cognitive profile and mild to moderate intellectual or learning disability. To explore the mechanisms underlying this unusual social–behavioral phenotype, we investigated whether individuals with WS show an atypical appraisal style and autonomic responsiveness to emotionally laden images with social or nonsocial content. Adolescents and adults with WS were compared to chronological age-matched and nonverbal mental age-matched groups in their responses to positive and negative images with or without social content, using measures of self-selected viewing time (SSVT), autonomic arousal reflected in pupil dilation measures, and likeability ratings. The participants with WS looked significantly longer at the social images compared to images without social content and had reduced arousal to the negative social images compared to the control groups. In contrast to the comparison groups, the explicit ratings of likeability in the WS group did not correlate with their SSVT; instead, they reflected an appraisal style of more extreme ratings. This distinctive pattern of viewing interest, likeability ratings, and autonomic arousal to images with social content in the WS group suggests that their heightened social drive may be related to atypical functioning of reward-related brain systems reflected in SSVT and autonomic reactivity measures, but not in explicit ratings

Neurobiology of social behavior abnormalities in autism and Williams syndrome

Social behavior is a basic behavior mediated by multiple brain regions and neural circuits, and is crucial for the survival and development of animals and humans. Two neuropsychiatric disorders that have prominent social behavior abnormalities are autism spectrum disorders (ASD), which is characterized mainly by hyposociability, and Williams syndrome (WS), whose subjects exhibit hypersociability. Here we review the unique properties of social behavior in ASD and WS, and discuss the major theories in social behavior in the context of these disorders. We conclude with a discussion of the research questions needing further exploration to enhance our understanding of social behavior abnormalities

Anxiety, concerns and COVID-19: Cross-country perspectives from families and individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on the mental health and well-being of children with neurodevelopmental conditions (NDCs) and of their families worldwide. However, there is insufficient evidence to understand how different factors (e.g., individual, family, country, children) have impacted on anxiety levels of families and their children with NDCs developed over time. METHODS: We used data from a global survey assessing the experience of 8043 families and their children with NDCs (mean of age (m) = 13.18 years, 37% female) and their typically developing siblings (m = 12.9 years, 45% female) in combination with data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the University of Oxford, and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) World Factbook, to create a multilevel data set. Using stepwise multilevel modelling, we generated child-, family- and country-related factors that may have contributed to the anxiety levels of children with NDCs, their siblings if they had any, and their parents. All data were reported by parents. RESULTS: Our results suggest that parental anxiety was best explained by family-related factors such as concerns about COVID-19 and illness. Children’s anxiety was best explained by child-related factors such as children’s concerns about loss of routine, family conflict, and safety in general, as well as concerns about COVID-19. In addition, anxiety levels were linked to the presence of pre-existing anxiety conditions for both children with NDCs and their parents. CONCLUSIONS: The present study shows that across the globe there was a raise in anxiety levels for both parents and their children with NDCs because of COVID-19 and that country-level factors had little or no impact on explaining differences in this increase, once family and child factors were considered. Our findings also highlight that certain groups of children with NDCs were at higher risk for anxiety than others and had specific concerns. Together, these results show that anxiety of families and their children with NDCs during the COVID-19 pandemic were predicted by very specific concerns and worries which inform the development of future toolkits and policy. Future studies should investigate how country factors can play a protective role during future crises

Ecological impacts of non-native Pacific oysters (Crassostrea gigas) and management measures for protected areas in Europe

Pacific oysters are now one of the most ‘globalised’ marine invertebrates. They dominate bivalve aquaculture production in many regions and wild populations are increasingly becoming established, with potential to displace native species and modify habitats and ecosystems. While some fishing communities may benefit from wild populations, there is now a tension between the continued production of Pacific oysters and risk to biodiversity, which is of particular concern within protected sites. The issue of the Pacific oyster therefore locates at the intersection between two policy areas: one concerning the conservation of protected habitats, the other relating to livelihoods and the socio-economics of coastal aquaculture and fishing communities. To help provide an informed basis for management decisions, we first summarise evidence for ecological impacts of wild Pacific oysters in representative coastal habitats. At local scales, it is clear that establishment of Pacific oysters can significantly alter diversity, community structure and ecosystem processes, with effects varying among habitats and locations and with the density of oysters. Less evidence is available to evaluate regional-scale impacts. A range of management measures have been applied to mitigate negative impacts of wild Pacific oysters and we develop recommendations which are consistent with the scientific evidence and believe compatible with multiple interests. We conclude that all stakeholders must engage in regional decision making to help minimise negative environmental impacts, and promote sustainable industry development