Assessing the EU pressure for rules change: perception by southern Mediterranean energy regulators

This paper analyses the perception of the EU as rules promoter of energy regulatory agencies in four southern Mediterranean countries: Algeria, Egypt, Turkey and Jordan. The restructuring of the energy sector, as promoted by the EU in the southern Mediterranean region, is considered as the main criteria to evaluate the EU modes of external governance. EU modes of governance are assessed in a comparative way through a perception survey. The case studies have been selected due to their relevance in terms of energy sector restructuring and energy exchanges, Among the modes of governance considered, the top-down approach appears as the most promising mode of rules diffusio

Sensitivity of cervical cytology in endometrial cancer detection in a tertiary hospital in Spain

Introduction: Cervical cytology is a well-stablished cervical cancer screening method. However, due to the anatomical continuity of the genital tract, it can also detect signs of endometrial disease. Our aim was to estimate the sensitivity of cervical cytology in endometrial cancer detection and prognosis in a large population over a 30-year period in a large academic tertiary hospital in Spain. Methodology: We performed a search for women diagnosed with endometrial cancer from 1990 to 2020, who were surgically treated and had a previous cervical cytology result. Information Technologies Department databases from Bellvitge University Hospital and the Screenwide case-control study's database were used. Cervical cytology results were classified as abnormal when squamous lesions, glandular atypia or malignant cells were identified. Results: Overall, we evaluated 371 women with endometrial cancer and a documented cervical cytology performed within 3 years previous to surgical treatment. Overall, the sensitivity of cervical cytology for endometrial cancer detection was 25.6%. Several clinico-pathological characteristics, such as non-endometrioid histology and a higher stage, were correlated with higher sensitivity

Oak root response to ectomycorrhizal symbiosis establishment: RNA-Seq derived transcript identification and expression profiling

Ectomycorrhizal symbiosis is essential for the life and health of trees in temperate and boreal forests where it plays a major role in nutrient cycling and in functioning of the forest ecosystem. Trees with ectomycorrhizal root tips are more tolerant to environmental stresses, such as drought, and biotic stresses such as root pathogens. Detailed information on these molecular processes is essential for the understanding of symbiotic tissue development in order to optimize the benefits of this natural phenomenon. Next generation sequencing tools allow the analysis of non model ectomycorrhizal plant-fungal interactions that can contribute to find the "symbiosis toolkits" and better define the role of each partner in the mutualistic interaction. By using 454 pyrosequencing we compared ectomycorrhizal cork oak roots with non-symbiotic roots. From the two cDNA libraries sequenced, over 2 million reads were obtained that generated 19,552 cork oak root unique transcripts. A total of 2238 transcripts were found to be differentially expressed when ECM roots were compared with non-symbiotic roots. Identification of up- and down-regulated gens in ectomycorrhizal roots lead to a number of insights into the molecular mechanisms governing this important symbiosis. In cork oak roots, ectomycorrhizal colonization resulted in extensive cell wall remodelling, activation of the secretory pathway, alterations in flavonoid biosynthesis, and expression of genes involved in the recognition of fungal effectors. In addition, we identified genes with putative roles in symbiotic processes such as nutrient exchange with the fungal partner, lateral root formation or root hair decay. These findings provide a global overview of the transcriptome of an ectomycorrhizal host root, and constitute a foundation for future studies on the molecular events controlling this important symbiosis.This work was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (www.fct.pt) in the frame of the project Cork Oak EST Consortium SOBREIRO/0034/2009. Post-doc grant to MS was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (SFRH/BPD/25661/2005). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Regulatory reform and corporate control in European energy industries

The deregulation process in the EU electricity sector triggered strategic decisions that led to industry restructuring. This paper presents preliminary evidence of the impact of this process on investors, using event studies and estimation techniques such as least squares and GARCH. Our findings suggest three stylized facts: 1) regulatory reform in Europe was certainly accompanied by a takeover wave, as predicted by Mitchell and Mulherin (1996); 2) mergers and acquisitions had a positive impact on the stock price of target firms, and a much lower and sometimes even a negative impact for the bidding firms; 3) the effect of takeover announcements on the returns of competitors of the merging firms depends on the degree of market power. In countries with high market power (like Spain) competitors significantly increase share returns upon takeover announcements, whereas in countries with lower market power (like England and Wales) returns do not change significantly. © 2012 IEEE

Mergers, acquisitions and control of telecommunications firms in Europe

Evidence is presented on twelve large acquisitions by telecommunications firms in Europe. Although the average effect on acquirers' sharholders value is not significantly differnect from zero, there is high dispersion in the results. This suggests that detailed studies may uncover important aspects of the constraints that exist in the corporate control market of telecommunications firms. A case study of the Spainish firm Telefonica suggest that corporate goverce problems and political intervention are significant components of these constraint

Price Regulation and the Commitment Problem: Can Limited Capture be Beneficial?

We consider two aspects of the commitment problem in price regulation with lobbying the ratchet effect and the hold-up problem. We set out a dynamic model of price regulation with asymmetric information where the regulated firm can ‘buy influence’ in a lobbying equilibrium. Firms can sink non-contractible, cost-reducing investment but regulators cannot commit to future price levels. We fully characterize the perfect Bayesian equilibrium and show that the lobbying equilibrium can both ameliorate the ratchet effect and improve investment incentives by credibly offering the firm future rent. Simulations indicate significant welfare gains are possible from these two effects and that a range of lobbying outcomes can achieve this result