Heterogeneity in lending and sectoral growth: evidence from German bank-level data

This paper studies the sectoral and geographical dimensions of the response of bank lending to sectoral growth. We use several bank-level datasets provided by the Deutsche Bundesbank for the 1996-2002 period. Our results show that bank heterogeneity affects how lending responds to domestic sectoral growth. We document that banks? total lending to German firms reacts procyclically to domestic sectoral growth, while lending exceeding a threshold of ?1.5 million to German and foreign firms does not. Moreover, we find that the response of lending depends on bank characteristics such as the banking groups, the banks? asset size, and the degree of sectoral portfolio concentration. We find that total domestic lending by savings banks and credit cooperatives (including their regional institutions), smaller banks, and banks whose portfolios are heavily concentrated in specific sectors responds positively and, in relevant cases, more strongly to domestic sectoral growth. --bank lending,heterogeneity,sectoral growth

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Gelesen in der Akademie der Wissenschaften am 20. Januar 184

La perception panoramique : concepts de tourisme urbain et notion d’urbanité dans une peinture murale à la gare de Paris-Lyon

La fresque qui s’étend au-dessus des guichets de la gare de Lyon à Paris, jusqu’ici négligée par les historiens de l’art en faveur des tableaux plus prestigieux réalisés pour le buffet Le Train bleu, fait l’objet ici pour la première fois d’analyses historiques et esthétiques. Nous démontrons que la réalisation de cette œuvre étalée sur plusieurs décennies – entre 1900 et 1981 – permet d’y déceler des transformations profondes dans les manières de percevoir et de représenter la ville et les paysages, dues à l’évolution de la société et des modes de voyager pendant cette longue période.Si, dans les faits, les hiérarchies des villes entre elles, qu’elles soient cosmopolites ou provinciales, sont redéfinies ou renforcées par le chemin de fer, on trouve dans la fresque de la gare de Lyon une représentation des grandes villes qui se résume progressivement à quelques sites touristiques emblématiques, alors que modes de vie ruraux font l’objet de nostalgie et de fantasme.The mural above the Lyon train station ticket offices in Paris has long been neglected by art historians whose interest has been swayed to the more prestigious paintings made for the station’s restaurant, Le Train bleu. This paper is the first of its kind to look at this artwork in order to provide both an historical and an aesthetic analysis.We will show that the gradual creation of this work over several decades, from 1900 to 1981, illustrates profound transformations in the ways of perceiving and representing a town or city and regional landscapes, attributable to the evolution of society and modes of travel during this long period of time.Although the relative importance of towns and cities, be they cosmopolitan or provincial, was actually redefined or reinforced by railways, the mural at the Lyon railway represents a group of large cities that has been reduced to a few emblematic tourist destinations, while the rural ways of living become the object of nostalgia and fantasy. Résumé traduit du français par Maïca Sanconie

Mild hypothermia after near drowning in twin toddlers

INTRODUCTION: We report a case of twin toddlers who both suffered near drowning but with different post-trauma treatment and course, and different neurological outcomes. METHODS AND RESULTS: Two twin toddlers (a boy and girl, aged 2 years and 3 months) suffered hypothermic near drowning with protracted cardiac arrest and aspiration. The girl was treated with mild hypothermia for 72 hours and developed acute respiratory dysfunction syndrome and sepsis. She recovered without neurological deficit. The boy's treatment was conducted under normothermia without further complications. He developed an apallic syndrome. CONCLUSION: Although the twin toddlers experienced the same near drowning accident together, the outcomes with respect to neurological status and postinjury complications were completely different. One of the factors that possibly influenced the different postinjury course might have been prolonged mild hypothermia

LA PALMA (Santa Cruz de Tenerife) (Isla). 1:190.000

Inserta: dos perfiles de la islaRelieve representado por normalesEn el margen inferior derecho: "Latitude 28º42'. Long itude ouest de Paris 20º6'40

Negative selection, not receptor editing, is a physiological response of autoreactive thymocytes

Antigen receptor editing—a process of secondary rearrangements of antigen receptor genes in autoreactive lymphocytes—is a well-established tolerance mechanism in B cells, whereas its role in T cells remains controversial. Here, we investigated this issue using a novel Tcra knock-in locus, which ensured appropriate timing of TCRα expression and allowed secondary rearrangements. Under these conditions the only response to self-antigen that could be unambiguously identified was negative selection of CD4/CD8 double positive thymocytes. No evidence could be obtained for antigen-induced TCR editing, whereas replacement of the transgenic TCRα chain by ongoing gene rearrangement occurred in some cells irrespective of the presence or absence of self-antigen

Avaliação da atividade antifúgica de Pterocaulon alopecuroides em amostras de Fonsecaea pedrosol

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The New Political Economy of EU State Aid Policy

Despite its importance and singularity, the EU’s state aid policy has attracted less scholarly attention than other elements of EU competition policy. Introducing the themes addressed by the special issue, this article briefly reviews the development of EU policy and highlights why the control of state aid matters. The Commission’s response to the current economic crisis notably in banking and the car industry is a key concern, but the interests of the special issue go far beyond. They include: the role of the European Commission in the development of EU policy, the politics of state aid, and a clash between models of capitalism. The special issue also examines the impact of EU policy. It investigates how EU state aid decisions affect not only industrial policy at the national level (and therefore at the EU level), but the welfare state and territorial relations within federal member states, the external implications of EU action and the strategies pursued by the Commission to limit any potential disadvantage to European firms, and the conflict between the EU’s expanding legal order and national

Development of EULAR recommendations for the reporting of clinical trial extension studies in rheumatology

Objectives: Our initiative aimed to produce recommendations on post-randomised controlled trial (RCT) trial extension studies (TES) reporting using European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) standard operating procedures in order to achieve more meaningful output and standardisation of reports. Methods: We formed a task force of 22 participants comprising RCT experts, clinical epidemiologists and patient representatives. A two-stage Delphi survey was conducted to discuss the domains of evaluation of a TES and definitions. A ‘0–10’ agreement scale assessed each domain and definition. The resulting set of recommendations was further refined and a final vote taken for task force acceptance. Results: Seven key domains and individual components were evaluated and led to agreed recommendations including definition of a TES (100% agreement), minimal data necessary (100% agreement), method of data analysis (agreement mean (SD) scores ranging between 7.9 (0.84) and 9.0 (2.16)) and reporting of results as well as ethical issues. Key recommendations included reporting of absolute numbers at each stage from the RCT to TES with reasons given for drop-out at each stage, and inclusion of a flowchart detailing change in numbers at each stage and focus (mean (SD) agreement 9.9 (0.36)). A final vote accepted the set of recommendations. Conclusions: This EULAR task force provides recommendations for implementation in future TES to ensure a standardised approach to reporting. Use of this document should provide the rheumatology community with a more accurate and meaningful output from future TES, enabling better understanding and more confident application in clinical practice towards improving patient outcomes