bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Lung transplantation in telomerase mutation carriers with pulmonary fibrosis
Authors: Silhan Leann L. , Shah Pali D. , Chambers Daniel C. , Snyder Laurie D. , Riise Gerdt C. , Wagner Christa L. , Hellström-Lindberg Eva , Orens Jonathan B. , Mewton Juliette F. , Danoff Sonye K. , Arcasoy Murat O. , Armanios Mary
Published: May 2014

Lung transplantation is the only intervention that prolongs survival in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Telomerase mutations are the most common identifiable genetic cause of IPF, and at times, the telomere defect manifests in extrapulmonary disease such as bone marrow failure. The relevance of this genetic diagnosis for lung transplant management has not been examined.

We gathered an international series of telomerase mutation carriers who underwent lung transplant in the USA, Australia and Sweden.

The median age at transplant was 52 years. Seven recipients are alive with a median follow-up of 1.9 years (range 6 months to 9 years); one died at 10 months. The most common complications were haematological, with recipients requiring platelet transfusion support (88%) and adjustment of immunosuppressives (100%). Four recipients (50%) required dialysis for tubular injury and calcineurin inhibitor toxicity. These complications occurred at significantly higher rates relative to historic series (p<0.0001).

Our observations support the feasibility of lung transplantation in telomerase mutation carriers; however, severe post-transplant complications reflecting the syndromic nature of their disease appear to occur at higher rates. While these findings need to be expanded to other cohorts, caution should be exercised when approaching the transplant evaluation and management of this subset of pulmonary fibrosis patients.
Club cell 10-kDa protein attenuates airway mucus hypersecretion and inflammation
Authors: Tokita Erika , Tanabe Tsuyoshi , Asano Kazuhito , Suzaki Harumi , Rubin Bruce K.
Published: May 2014

Bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and interleukin (IL)-13 increase mucus secretion and inflammatory cytokine production in normal human bronchial epithelial (NHBE) cells. We evaluated the effect of club cell 10-kDa protein (CC10), an anti-inflammatory protein produced by epithelial cells, on mucus secretion, cell morphology and inflammatory cytokine production.

NHBE cells were cultured at an air–liquid interface with CC10 or vehicle and exposed to LPS on day 14. Mucin MUC5AC, IL-8 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor were measured in cell supernatants. MUC5AC and IL-8 mRNA expression were measured by real-time PCR. Western blotting was used to evaluate nuclear factor (NF)-κB and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) activation. Cells were evaluated histologically. Additionally, NHBE cells were exposed to IL-13 and CC10 for 14 days, and secretion of the mucins MUC5AC and MUC5B was measured.

MUC5AC secretion stimulated either by LPS or by IL-13 was attenuated by CC10 at 20 ng·mL−1(p<0.05). CC10 at 20 ng·mL−1also attenuated IL-8 secretion (p<0.05). MUC5AC and IL-8 mRNA expression were also decreased by CC10 (p<0.05). CC10 attenuated phosphorylation of NF-κB (p<0.05) and ERK1/2 (p<0.05).

CC10 attenuates LPS-induced mucus secretion in airway cells, in part due to inhibition of NF-κB and ERK phosphorylation.
Prognostic value of exercise pulmonary haemodynamics in pulmonary arterial hypertension
Authors: Chaouat Ari , Sitbon Olivier , Mercy Magalie , Ponçot-Mongars Raphaëlle , Provencher Steeve , Guillaumot Anne , Gomez Emmanuel , Selton-Suty Christine , Malvestio Pascale , Regent Denis , Paris Christophe , Hervé Philippe , Chabot François
Published: May 2014

The aim of the study was to investigate the prognostic value of right heart catheterisation variables measured during exercise.

55 incident patients with idiopathic, familial or anorexigen-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) underwent right heart catheterisation at rest and during exercise and 6-min walk testing before PAH treatment initiation. Patients were treated according to recommendations within the next 2 weeks. Right heart catheterisation was repeated 3–5 months into the PAH treatment in 20 patients.

Exercise cardiac index decreased gradually as New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class increased whereas cardiac index at rest was not significantly different across NYHA groups. Baseline 6-min walk distance correlated significantly with exercise and change in cardiac index from rest to exercise (r=0.414 and r=0.481, respectively; p<0.01). Change in 6-min walk distance from baseline to 3–5 months under PAH treatment was highly correlated with change in exercise cardiac index (r=0.746, p<0.001). The most significant baseline covariates associated with survival were change in systolic pulmonary artery pressure from rest to exercise and exercise cardiac index (hazard ratio 0.56 (95% CI 0.37–0.86) and 0.14 (95% CI 0.05–0.43), respectively).

Change in pulmonary haemodynamics during exercise is an important tool for assessing disease severity and may help devise optimal treat-to-target strategies.
Intermittent hypoxia-induced protein phosphatase 2A activation reduces PC12 cell proliferation and differentiation
Authors: Chen Tsung-I , Chiu Hung-Wen , Pan Yi-Chung , Hsu Shih-Ting , Lin Jian-Hong , Yang Kun-Ta
Published: May 2014

Background

Intermittent hypoxia (IH) plays a critical role in sleep breathing disorder-associated hippocampus impairments, including neurocognitive deficits, irreversible memory and learning impairments. IH-induced neuronal injury in the hippocampus may result from reduced precursor cell proliferation and the relative numbers of postmitotic differentiated neurons. However, the mechanisms underlying IH-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation effects on cell proliferation and neuronal differentiation remain largely unknown.

Results

ROS generation significantly increased after 1–4 days of IH without increased pheochromocytoma-12 (PC12) cell death, which resulted in increased protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) mRNA and protein levels. After 3–4 days of IH, extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2) protein phosphorylation decreased, which could be reversed by superoxide dismutase (SOD), 1,10-phenanthroline (Phe), the PP2A phosphorylation inhibitors, okadaic acid (OKA) and cantharidin, and the ERK phosphorylation activator nicotine (p < 0.05). In particular, the significantly reduced cell proliferation and increased proportions of cells in the G0/G1 phase after 1–4 days of IH (p < 0.05), which resulted in decreased numbers of PC12 cells, could be reversed by treatment with SOD, Phe, PP2A inhibitors and an ERK activator. In addition, the numbers of nerve growth factor (NGF)-induced PC12 cells with neurite outgrowths after 3–4 days of IH were less than those after 4 days of RA, which was also reversed by SOD, Phe, PP2A inhibitors and an ERK activator.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that IH-induced ROS generation increases PP2A activation and subsequently downregulates ERK1/2 activation, which results in inhibition of PC12 cell proliferation through G0/G1 phase arrest and NGF-induced neuronal differentiation.
Transcriptomic analysis of differential host gene expression upon uptake of symbionts: a case study with Symbiodinium and the major bioeroding sponge Cliona varians
Authors: Riesgo Ana , Peterson Kristin , Richardson Crystal , Heist Tyler , Strehlow Brian , McCauley Mark , Cotman Carlos , Hill Malcolm , Hill April
Published: May 2014

Background

We have a limited understanding of genomic interactions that occur among partners for many symbioses. One of the most important symbioses in tropical reef habitats involves Symbiodinium. Most work examining Symbiodinium-host interactions involves cnidarian partners. To fully and broadly understand the conditions that permit Symbiodinium to procure intracellular residency, we must explore hosts from different taxa to help uncover universal cellular and genetic strategies for invading and persisting in host cells. Here, we present data from gene expression analyses involving the bioeroding sponge Cliona varians that harbors Clade G Symbiodinium.

Results

Patterns of differential gene expression from distinct symbiont states (“normal”, “reinfected”, and “aposymbiotic”) of the sponge host are presented based on two comparative approaches (transcriptome sequencing and suppressive subtractive hybridization (SSH)). Transcriptomic profiles were different when reinfected tissue was compared to normal and aposymbiotic tissue. We characterized a set of 40 genes drawn from a pool of differentially expressed genes in “reinfected” tissue compared to “aposymbiotic” tissue via SSH. As proof of concept, we determined whether some of the differentially expressed genes identified above could be monitored in sponges grown under ecologically realistic field conditions. We allowed aposymbiotic sponge tissue to become re-populated by natural pools of Symbiodinium in shallow water flats in the Florida Keys, and we analyzed gene expression profiles for two genes found to be increased in expression in “reinfected” tissue in both the transcriptome and via SSH. These experiments highlighted the experimental tractability of C. varians to explore with precision the genetic events that occur upon establishment of the symbiosis. We briefly discuss lab- and field-based experimental approaches that promise to offer insights into the co-opted genetic networks that may modulate uptake and regulation of Symbiondinium populations in hospite.

Conclusions

This work provides a sponge transcriptome, and a database of putative genes and genetic pathways that may be involved in Symbiodinium interactions. The relative patterns of gene expression observed in these experiments will need to be evaluated on a gene-by-gene basis in controlled and natural re-infection experiments. We argue that sponges offer particularly useful characteristics for discerning essential dimensions of the Symbiodinium niche.
The general solutions of an auxiliary ordinary differential equation using complex method and its applications
Authors: Yuan Wenjun , Huang Zifeng , Fu Maozhun , Lai Jinchun
Published: May 2014

In this paper, we employ the complex method to obtain all meromorphic solutions of an auxiliary ordinary differential equation at first, and then find all meromorphic general solutions of in combination the Newell-Whitehead equation, the NLS equation, and the Fisher equation with degree three. Our result shows that all rational and simply periodic exact solutions of the combined the Newell-Whitehead equation, NLS equation, and Fisher equation with degree three are solitary wave solutions, and the method is simpler than other methods.

MSC:30D35, 34A05.
Functional properties of the HIV-1 long terminal repeat containing single-nucleotide polymorphisms in Sp site III and CCAAT/enhancer binding protein site I
Authors: Shah Sonia , Alexaki Aikaterini , Pirrone Vanessa , Dahiya Satinder , Nonnemacher Michael R , Wigdahl Brian
Published: May 2014

Background

HIV-1 gene expression is driven by the long terminal repeat (LTR), which contains many binding sites shown to interact with an array of host and viral factors. Selective pressures within the host as well as the low fidelity of reverse transcriptase lead to changes in the relative prevalence of genetic variants within the HIV-1 genome, including the LTR, resulting in viral quasispecies that can be differentially regulated and can potentially establish niches within specific cell types and tissues.

Methods

Utilizing flow cytometry and electromobility shift assays, specific single-nucleotide sequence polymorphisms (SNPs) were shown to alter both the phenotype of LTR-driven transcription and reactivation. Additional studies also demonstrated differential loading of transcription factors to probes derived from the double-variant LTR as compared to probes from the wild type.

Results

This study has identified specific SNPs within CCAAT/enhancer binding protein (C/EBP) site I and Sp site III (3 T, C-to-T change at position 3, and 5 T, C-to-T change at position 5 of the binding site, respectively) that alter LTR-driven gene transcription and may alter the course of viral latency and reactivation. The HIV-1 LAI LTRs containing the SNPs of interest were coupled to a plasmid encoding green fluorescent protein (GFP), and polyclonal HIV-1 LTR-GFP stable cell lines utilizing bone marrow progenitor, T, and monocytic cell lines were constructed and utilized to explore the LTR phenotype associated with these genotypic changes.

Conclusions

Although the 3 T and 5 T SNPs have been shown to be low-affinity binding sites, the fact that they can still result in effective HIV-1 LTR-driven gene expression, particularly within the TF-1 cell line, has suggested that the low binding site affinities associated with the 3 T C/EBP site I and 5 T Sp site III are potentially compensated for by the interaction of nuclear factor-κB with its corresponding binding sites under selected physiological and cellular conditions. Additionally, tumor necrosis factor-α and Tat can enhance basal transcription of each SNP-specific HIV-1 LTR; however, differential regulation of the LTR is both SNP- and cell type-specific.
Elevated plasma thrombomodulin and angiopoietin-2 predict the development of acute kidney injury in patients with acute myocardial infarction
Authors: Liu Kuan-Liang , Lee Kuang-Tso , Chang Chih-Hsiang , Chen Yung-Chang , Lin Shu-Min , Chu Pao-Hsien
Published: May 2014

Introduction

Acute kidney injury (AKI) following acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is associated with unfavorable prognosis. Endothelial activation and injury were found to play a critical role in the development of both AKI and AMI. This pilot study aimed to determine whether the plasma markers of endothelial injury and activation could serve as independent predictors for AKI in patients with AMI.

Methods

This prospective study was conducted from March 2010 to July 2012 and enrolled consecutive 132 patients with AMI receiving percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Plasma levels of thrombomodulin (TM), von Willebrand factor (vWF), angiopoietin (Ang)-1, Ang-2, Tie-2, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were measured on day 1 of AMI. AKI was defined as elevation of serum creatinine of more than 0.3 mg/dL within 48 hours.

Results

In total, 13 out of 132 (9.8%) patients with AMI developed AKI within 48 hours. Compared with patients without AKI, patients with AKI had increased plasma levels of Ang-2 (6338.28 ± 5862.77 versus 2412.03 ± 1256.58 pg/mL, P = 0.033) and sTM (7.6 ± 2.26 versus 5.34 ± 2.0 ng/mL, P < 0.001), and lower estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (46.5 ± 20.2 versus 92.5 ± 25.5 mL/min/1.73 m2, P < 0.001). Furthermore, the areas under the receiver operating curves demonstrated that plasma thrombomodulin (TM) and Ang-2 levels on day 1 of AMI had modest discriminative powers for predicting AKI development following AMI (0.796, P <0.001; 0.833, P <0.001; respectively).

Conclusions

Endothelial activation, quantified by plasma levels of TM and Ang-2 may play an important role in development of AKI in patients with AMI.
4sUDRB-seq: measuring genomewide transcriptional elongation rates and initiation frequencies within cells
Authors: Fuchs Gilad , Voichek Yoav , Benjamin Sima , Gilad Shlomit , Amit Ido , Oren Moshe
Published: May 2014

Although transcriptional elongation by RNA polymerase II is coupled with many RNA-related processes, genomewide elongation rates remain unknown. We describe a method, called 4sUDRB-seq, based on reversible inhibition of transcription elongation coupled with tagging newly transcribed RNA with 4-thiouridine and high throughput sequencing to measure simultaneously with high confidence genome-wide transcription elongation rates in cells. We find that most genes are transcribed at about 3.5 Kb/min, with elongation rates varying between 2 Kb/min and 6 Kb/min. 4sUDRB-seq can facilitate genomewide exploration of the involvement of specific elongation factors in transcription and the contribution of deregulated transcription elongation to various pathologies.
An accuracy analysis of a Hamiltonian particle method with the staggered particles for seismic-wave modeling including surface topography
Authors: Takekawa Junichi , Mikada Hitoshi , Goto Tada-nori
Published: May 2014

A Hamiltonian particle method (HPM), which is one of the mesh-free methods, can simulate seismic wavefields for models including surface topography in a simple manner. Numerical error caused by a curved free surface or by particles not aligned with the surface is not obvious in HPM. In general, the accommodation of irregular free surfaces requires more grids or particles in a minimum wavelength for achieving sufficient accuracy in the simulation. We tested the accuracy of HPM with staggered particles for simulating seismic-wave propagation including the surface topography, and we established the relationship between desired accuracy and spatial resolution. We conducted numerical simulations for models with a planar free surface aligned with the regular particle alignment and a dipping free surface. Our accuracy tests revealed that the numerical error strongly depends on the dipping angle of the slope. We concluded that about 25 particles in a minimum wavelength are required to calculate Rayleigh waves propagating along the irregular topography with good accuracy. Finally, we simulated Rayleigh wave propagation along irregular topography using a layered model with a hill. HPM can reproduce not only surface-wave propagation but also the reflected and refracted waves. Our numerical results were in good agreement with those from a finite-element method. Our investigations indicated that HPM could be a solution to simulate Rayleigh waves in the presence of complex surface topography.
A computationally efficient tool for assessing the depth resolution in large-scale potential-field inversion
Authors: Paoletti Valeria , Hansen Per Christian , Hansen Mads Friis , Fedi Maurizio
Published: May 2014

In potential-field inversion, careful management of singular value decomposition components is crucial for obtaining information about the source distribution with respect to depth. In principle, the depth-resolution plot provides a convenient visual tool for this analysis, but its computational complexity has hitherto prevented application to large-scale problems. To analyze depth resolution in such problems, we developed a variant ApproxDRP, which is based on an iterative algorithm and therefore suited for large-scale problems because we avoid matrix factorizations and the associated demands on memory and computing time. We used the ApproxDRP to study retrievable depth resolution in inversion of the gravity field of the Neapolitan Volcanic Area. Our main contribution is the combined use of the Lanczos bidiagonalization algorithm, established in the scientific computing community, and the depth-resolution plot defined in the geoscience community.
Oncology Pharmacists in Health Care Delivery: Vital Members of the Cancer Care Team
Authors: Holle Lisa Marie , Boehnke Michaud Laura
Published: May 2014

The goal of this summary is to outline the unique knowledge, skills, and functions provided by oncology pharmacists to facilitate the provision of high-quality, team-based care of patients with cancer.
International Efforts in Health Care Reform: Systemic Treatment Funding Model Reform in Ontario
Authors: Kaizer Leonard , Simanovski Vicky , Blais Irene , Lalonde Carlin , Evans William K.
Published: May 2014

Ontario is undergoing health system funding reform, which will transform the funding of selected clinical services to a patient-based approach anchored in evidence-based practice and quality of care. In support of this approach, a new systemic treatment funding model is being developed, with planned implementation on April 1, 2014.
Problems With Public Reporting of Cancer Quality Outcomes Data
Authors: Goldberg Paul , Conti Rena M.
Published: May 2014

The authors say public reporting of even the most well-defined end points—survival after treatment—can be misleading when used to compare outcomes across providers, and these data can suffer from patient-selection and treatment-intensity biases.
Hallucination and Madness
Authors: Jinghui Wang
Published: May 2014

As the first Chinese citizen to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, Mo Yan shows how a writer in a socialist country successfully internalizes censorship. Censorship in China is part of Mo Yan’s professional and psychic environment and generates two major results in his works, one being hallucination and the other being paranoia. Based on Mikhail Bakhtin’s argumentation, this essay studies four sorts of paranoiac characters in Mo Yan’s novels: innocent fools, tricksters, rogues, and cranks. It is through these masked fools that Mo Yan is able to apply “hallucinatory realism” to depict the unspeakable reality of life in contemporary China. Writers always have the inclination to challenge the parameters of life in various aspects and play against censorship, but due to ideological reasons, censors in China focus more on political issues than on moral ones, and consequently in Mo Yan’s works there is an obvious prioritization of morality over ideology. In challenging morality, Mo Yan appeals to sexual and sensual morality in unique ways, which in part serves as a mask—the political masquerading as paranoia—so as to cover his political point of view. This essay aims to unmask his characters so as to reveal the political disposition that buttresses his works.
The Novel at the World Scale
Authors: Haley Madigan
Published: May 2014

The novel has become a crucial interpretive site for global literary studies owing to its status as arguably the first, and most persistent, world genre. This essay marks a critical turn that coalesces around the problem of how to imagine the novel at the world scale. Recent scholarship accounts for this worldliness in different ways: by drawing on the large-scale social sciences to describe the world that the novel circulates in and represents; by assessing the novel’s concerns in relation to global, rather than national, forms of knowledge; by formally describing the novel as a world-making activity. Beginning with the first of these approaches, the essay identifies a renewed interest in world-systems theory and Immanuel Wallerstein’s thought, in part as a corrective to theories of alternative modernities. It then looks at recent books by Jon Hegglund, John Marx, and Elizabeth Anker, which situate the anglophone novel in dialectic with emergent geopolitical forms: the world order of nation-states, postliberal governmentality, and human rights law. Finally, the essay calls for criticism that takes the genre’s formal ability to fashion worlds as a point of departure for grasping its global agency.
“Ask Me If I Care”: Work, Injustice, and Other People’s Happiness
Authors: Fluet Lisa
Published: May 2014

Fluet’s essay develops a survey of the argumentative claims of the area of affect studies devoted specifically to the assessment, and critique, of “happiness.” The central focus is a review of Sara Ahmed’s study The Promise of Happiness (2010), which Fluet places within the context of queer theoretical studies of affect and futurity (Heather Love, Lee Edelman, Sianne Ngai); postcolonial studies of melancholy (Paul Gilroy); and competing critical approaches to both happiness (Martha Nussbaum) and the “not-happy” consequences of traumatic histories (Carolyn Kay Steedman). The essay argues that Ahmed’s substantial investigation focuses necessary attention upon the ways in which both the work ethic and, agreed-upon, “acceptable” levels of injustice for some members of a given population form a part of the genealogy of happiness as critical keyword. The concept of “care”—for a future in which the not-happy subject is prevented from forming any kind of investment—thereby becomes a way to envision a form of praxis particular to the not-happy subject. The essay also suggests that greater attention to the need for critical “triage” when analyzing the relative intellectual recuperability of different forms of bad affect needs to be factored into Ahmed’s critical discussions of specific unhappy types—the feminist killjoy, the unhappy queer, and the melancholic migrant—within her chosen contexts of literature, film, and popular culture.
Sovereign Debt Booms in Monetary Unions
Authors: Aguiar Mark , Amador Manuel , Farhi Emmanuel , Gopinath Gita
Published: May 2014

We propose a continuous time model to investigate the impact of inflation credibility on sovereign debt dynamics. At every point in time, an impatient government decides fiscal surplus and inflation, without commitment. Inflation is costly, but reduces the real value of outstanding nominal debt. In equilibrium, debt dynamics is the result of two opposing forces: (i) impatience and (ii) the desire to conquer low inflation. A large increase in inflation credibility can trigger a process of debt accumulation. This rationalizes the sovereign debt booms that are often experienced by low inflation credibility countries upon joining a currency union.
Is the United States Still a Land of Opportunity? Recent Trends in Intergenerational Mobility
Authors: Chetty Raj , Hendren Nathaniel , Kline Patrick , Saez Emmanuel , Turner Nicholas
Published: May 2014

We present new evidence on trends in intergenerational mobility in the United States using administrative earnings records. We find that percentile rank-based measures of intergenerational mobility have remained extremely stable for the 1971-1993 birth cohorts. For children born between 1971 and 1986, we measure intergenerational mobility based on the correlation between parent and child income percentile ranks. For more recent cohorts, we measure mobility as the correlation between a child's probability of attending college and her parents' income rank. We also calculate transition probabilities, such as a child's chances of reaching the top quintile of the income distribution starting from the bottom quintile. Based on all of these measures, we find that children entering the labor market today have the same chances of moving up in the income distribution (relative to their parents) as children born in the 1970s. However, because inequality has risen, the consequences of the “birth lottery” - the parents to whom a child is born - are larger today than in the past.
Year-End Tax Planning of Top Management: Evidence from High-Frequency Payroll Data
Authors: Kreiner Claus Thustrup , Leth-Petersen Søren , Skov Peer Ebbesen
Published: May 2014

Using Danish high-frequency payroll data and tax reform variation, we detect year-end tax avoidance among top managers. Five to seven percent of top managers exploit year-end tax planning strategies to save taxes. Around 30 percent of the top managers engaging in year-end tax avoidance do so by retiming bonus payments while the rest shift regular wage income. However, bonus timing is most tax-sensitive. When considering all of the top managers receiving a December bonus, we find that more than one-quarter retime the bonus payment, whereas only 5 percent of those not receiving a bonus shift regular wage income.
Macro-Perspective on Asset Grants Programs: Occupational and Wealth Mobility
Authors: Buera Francisco J. , Kaboski Joseph P. , Shin Yongseok
Published: May 2014

We provide a simple quantitative general equilibrium model of occupational choice with credit market frictions to analyze the aggregate and distributional effects of asset transfer programs. Asset transfer programs have a positive but transient effect on aggregate productivity, and a negative impact on the aggregate capital stock. On net they have a negative but small effect on per capita income. The effects are very heterogeneous across treated individuals. We compare the results in our model to those from recent randomized control trials and historical natural experiments.
The Growing Gap in Life Expectancy: Using the Future Elderly Model to Estimate Implications for Social Security and Medicare
Authors: Goldman Dana P. , Orszag Peter R.
Published: May 2014

Mortality gradients by education and income have been rising in the United States and elsewhere. However, their impact on Social Security progressivity has received relatively little attention, and the impact on Medicare has received effectively none. This paper uses the Future Elderly Model to estimate the effects of increased mortality gaps on the progressivity of Social Security and Medicare for those born between 1928 and 1990. It finds significant reductions in progressivity of both programs if current mortality trends persist and noticeable effects on total program costs. The effects are large enough to warrant more attention from both policy-makers and researchers.
Disparities in Wealth Accumulation and Loss from the Great Recession and Beyond
Authors: McKernan Signe-Mary , Ratcliffe Caroline , Steuerle Eugene , Zhang Sisi
Published: May 2014

Using over two decades of Survey of Consumer Finances data and a pseudo-panel technique, we measure the impact of the Great Recession on US family wealth relative to the counterfactual of what wealth would have been given wealth accumulation trajectories. Our synthetic cohort-level models find that the Great Recession reduced average family wealth by 28.5 percent-nearly double the magnitude of previous pre-post mean descriptive estimates and double the magnitude of any previous recession since the 1980s. The housing market was only part of the story; all major wealth components fell as a result of the Great Recession.
Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Selection
Authors: Nocco Antonella , Ottaviano Gianmarco I. P. , Salto Matteo
Published: May 2014

We provide novel insights on the decentralization of optimal outcomes under monopolistic competition with nonseparable utility, variable demand elasticity, and endogenous firm heterogeneity. Relative to the unconstrained optimum, equilibrium firm selection is too weak, average firm size is too small, low-cost firms are too small, and high-cost firms are too large. The unconstrained optimum can be decentralized through differentiated production subsidies to producers financed through lump-sum taxes on entrants and consumers. When differentiated subsidies and transfers from entrants are not viable, the constrained optimum can be decentralized through a common production subsidy financed by a lump-sum tax on consumers.
The Accelerated Benefits Demonstration: Impacts on the Employment of Disability Insurance Beneficiaries
Authors: Bailey Michelle Stegman , Weathers Robert R.
Published: May 2014

We use data from the Accelerated Benefits demonstration to estimate the impacts of providing newly entitled disability insurance (DI) beneficiaries with health insurance and additional services during the DI program's 24-month Medicare waiting period. While health insurance alone did not increase employment, the additional employment services appeared to have positive short-term impacts on labor market activity. We find a statistically significant increase in employment and earnings in the second calendar year after random assignment; although these findings disappear in the third calendar year. Our results may have implications for disability reform proposals and provisions within the Affordable Care Act.
Marry Your Like: Assortative Mating and Income Inequality
Authors: Greenwood Jeremy , Guner Nezih , Kocharkov Georgi , Santos Cezar
Published: May 2014

Has there been an increase in positive assortative mating? Does assortative mating contribute to household income inequality? Data from the United States Census Bureau suggests there has been a rise in assortative mating. Additionally, assortative mating affects household income inequality. In particular, if matching in 2005 between husbands and wives had been random, instead of the pattern observed in the data, then the Gini coefficient would have fallen from the observed 0.43 to 0.34, so that income inequality would be smaller. Thus, assortative mating is important for income inequality. The high level of married female labor-force participation in 2005 is important for this result.
The Myth of Immigrant Women as Secondary Workers: Evidence from Canada
Authors: Adserà Alícia , Ferrer Ana M.
Published: May 2014

We use the confidential files of the Canadian Census 1991-2006, combined with information from O*NET on the skill requirements of jobs, to show that the labor market patterns of female immigrants do not fit the profile of secondary workers, but rather conform to the recent experience of married native women with rising participation (and wage assimilation). At best, only relatively uneducated immigrant women in unskilled occupations may fit the profile of secondary workers. Educated immigrant women experience skill assimilation over time: a reduction in physical strength and a gradual increase in analytical skills required in their jobs relative to natives.
Investment Incentives in Labor Market Matching
Authors: Hatfield John William , Kojima Fuhito , Kominers Scott Duke
Published: May 2014

We provide an illustration of how the design of labor market clearing mechanisms can affect incentives for human capital acquisition. Specifically, we extend the labor market matching model (with discrete transfers) of Kelso and Crawford (1982) to incorporate the possibility that agents may invest in human capital before matching. We show that in this setting, the worker-optimal stable matching mechanism incentivizes workers to make (nearly) efficient human capital investments. En route to our main result, we show that so long as the space of salaries is sufficiently rich, every stable outcome in the Kelso and Crawford (1982) setting is approximately efficient.
The Continuous Combinatorial Auction Architecture
Authors: Plott Charles. R. , Lee Hsing-Yang , Maron Travis
Published: May 2014

The paper reports the architecture of a continuous combinatorial auction. Preferences are based on sets of items and feasibility requires the nonintersection of sets. Countdown clocks replace eligibility and activity requirements typical of rounds-based auctions. Bids remain in the system to be combined with new bids to form winning collections. Increment requirements dictate improvements over appropriate collections of existing bids. The auction evolved from experimental methods and operates at high levels of efficiency. Field applications are reported and result in natural equilibration in a few hours as opposed to days or weeks required by round-based architectures.
Mobile Computing: The Next Platform Rivalry
Authors: Bresnahan Timothy , Greenstein Shane
Published: May 2014

Competition to become one of several dominant mobile platforms is intense. Platforms compete for developers, who create applications which make the platform valuable for users. Why doesn't one form of platform governance emerge as superior? This essay will stress the reasons for differentiation and proposes a new argument linked to a platform's “hierarchy.” Hierarchical governance features can help at one moment but then get in the way at a later time. These arguments are illustrated by different approaches to platform governance taken by the major mobile platform sponsors of recent years.
Rational Attention and Adaptive Coding: A Puzzle and a Solution
Authors: Padoa-Schioppa Camillo , Rustichini Aldo
Published: May 2014

Adaptive Coding is the property of the brain to adjust its response to statistical properties of the environment. Its effect is an improved discrimination among signals under the constraints on the dynamic range of its response. It can thus be considered the neural correspondent of Rational Attention, which models how a rational decisionmaker allocates attention among different informative signals. There is strong evidence of existence of widespread adaptive coding. Adaptive coding introduces a dependence of choice from the environment which is not observed in behavior. We discuss potential solutions and propose Hebbian learning as a potentially satisfactory answer.
The Industrial Organization of Online Education
Authors: Cowen Tyler , Tabarrok Alex
Published: May 2014

Online education has flexibility and cost advantages over in-class teaching and these advantages will grow with improvements in information technology. We consider likely market structures given that the quality aspects of online education exhibit endogenous fixed costs. Concentration in the market for courses could be high, as it is currently in the market for textbooks. The not-for-profit sector will exhibit lower costs, lower concentration, and possibly zero price.
Discounting and Growth
Authors: Gollier Christian
Published: May 2014

In a growing economy, the discount rate to evaluate a long-term investment is the minimum rate of expected return that compensates for the increased intergenerational inequalities. Because the growth rate is uncertain, there is a precautionary argument in favor of lowering the discount rate. If shocks to growth are persistent, this is a robust argument for using a smaller discount rate for more distant time horizons. If climate damages are positively correlated with future consumption, a risk premium should be added to the climate discount rate, which could have an increasing term structure.
The Role of Policy in the Great Recession and the Weak Recovery
Authors: Taylor John B.
Published: May 2014

This paper reports on recent research showing that the severe recession of 2007-2009 and the weak recovery have been due to poor economic policies and the failure to implement good policies during the past decade. Monetary policy, fiscal policy, and regulatory policy became more discretionary, more interventionist, and less predictable in comparison with the previous two decades of better economic performance. At best these policies led to growth spurts, but were followed by retrenchments, averaging to poor performance. The paper also considers alternative views-that the equilibrium interest rate declined during the decade and that the seriousness of financial crisis caused the slow recovery.
Housing Assignment with Restrictions: Theory and Evidence from Stanford University's Campus
Authors: Landvoigt Tim , Piazzesi Monika , Schneider Martin
Published: May 2014

This paper studies housing markets where a subset of houses in a restricted area is available exclusively to a subset of “eligible” buyers. An empirical part shows that houses on Stanford campus (available only to faculty) trade at substantial discounts to comparable houses off campus. The theoretical part describes an assignment model with heterogeneous houses and buyers which predicts such discounts if the matchup of quality and buyer pools is sufficiently different inside versus outside the restricted area. The restriction can distort allocations by making eligible buyers choose either higher or lower qualities than ineligible buyers with the same characteristics.
Influence of Process Conditions on the Quality Characteristics of Beef-Bone Broth
Authors: Kim Byung-Su , Kim Gye-Won , Shim Jae-Yong
Published: May 2014

This study aimed to investigate the effects of process conditions on the quality characteristics of beef-bone broth in an attempt to improve the quality of ready-to-eat Gom-Tang. Cow soup bone (500 g) was heated in water (1,500 mL) at 121℃ for 3 h to 15 h using an aut℃lave. In an examination of the physical characteristics of the beef-bone broth, samples extracted after 3 h and 5 h were able to form a weak gel, whereas samples extracted at later times appeared to lose their gel forming capability. Regardless of physical characteristics, crude protein and total amino acid content increased as the extraction time increased. The content ratio of glycine to crude protein of 3.9 appears to be the limit for gel formation. The size distribution of microparticles and turbidity from floc formation in the beef-bone broth were affected by the kind of salt present. Refined-salt produced smaller particle sizes and better turbidity compared with sea salt. Also, the particle size and the formation of aggregates increased with calcium concentration. The optimum concentration of calcium was found to be less than 0.04%. Our results indicate that control of extraction time and additives can enhance the quality of beef-bone broth.
Effect of Addition of Pomegranate Powder on the Physicochemical and Sensory Qualities of Cookies
Authors: Lee Jun Ho , Choi Jeong In
Published: May 2014

Cookie samples were prepared with pomegranate powder (PP) substituted for 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% of the wheat flour. The effect of increased levels of PP on the physicochemical properties and consumer acceptance of cookies was investigated. With the addition of PP, the pH and moisture content of both cookie dough and cookies decreased while the soluble solids content increased significantly (p < 0.05). Also lightness (L*) decreased and redness (a*) increased significantly with increasing amounts of PP in the cookies (p < 0.05). Hardness increased from 14.05 N for the control to 22.44 N for 20% PP (p < 0.05). In general, the total polyphenol content (TPC) of the cookies increased significantly with the addition of PP (p < 0.05). Acceptability ratings indicated that 10% PP content provided the optimum supplementation level for the highest consumer acceptability of the fortified cookies.
Effect of Cooking Conditions on the Quality of Cooked Rice in Home Meal Replacement Products
Authors: Cho Eun-Kyung , Wu Hyun-Jung , Kim Byeong-Cheol , Yoo Yeong-Mi , Jung Ho-Yeon , Lee Mi-Yeon
Published: May 2014

In this study the effect of rice type and cooking methods on the quality of cooked rice during cold storage were investigated to develop home meal replacement (HMR) products. The chemical and physical properties and sensory quality of rice were studied by rice type (Oh-dae-mi, Baek-jin-ju S., and Indica) and cooking methods (electric rice cooker and super heated steamer). Cooked rice was stored at 5℃ for 3 days and the moisture content, color, reducing sugar content, texture profile, and sensory evaluation were analyzed. The results show that rice type Baek-jinju S. has the highest moisture content and that color and textural properties are maintained during storage. Rice cooked with an electric rice cooker has higher moisture content and better color properties; however, rice cooked with a super heated steamer shows higher reduced sugar content with a softer texture. The selection of Baek-jin-ju S. and cooking with a super heated steamer have a positive effect on the quality of rice during cold storage.
Wound, injury, and restoration: Bollywood’s formations of global terror
Authors: Desai Jigna , Neutill Rani
Published: May 2014

The discourse of exceptional crisis and unparalleled injury has made ‘9/11’ a globally recognized invocation and sanctioning of the security state’s violent imperial and domestic expansion and retaliation. Media representations themselves have come under scrutiny for their role in saturating our imaginaries with spectacles of American suffering with much less attention being paid to other more deadly occurrences (e.g. conflict in Darfur). Both narrative and images attempt to establish 9/11 as the beginning of a new global history that stretches outward from the United States and incorporates other global cities – Bali, Mumbai, London and Madrid – into this history. National and international media located the 11/26 attacks on Mumbai as India’s own 9/11. The bombings, subsequent occupation of the city, and hostage crisis were figured as predicated by 9/11, demarcating a historical teleology of terror that originated in New York and lead to Mumbai. New York, the original site of attack in this narrative, is the centre of civilization, finance and democracy; and the various attacks on Mumbai demonstrate how the threat of Islamic terror is spreading to the free world and other democracies, a narrative that promulgates an Orientalist and imperial discourse of Islamic violence and terror. A recent subgenre in popular Hindi cinema has adapted and adopted a similar narrative of exceptional injury. In a twist, recent Hindi films (2005–present) that deal with 9/11 and the Mumbai bombings have a different exigency, a shifted narrative that locates 9/11 within a larger frame of global Islamic violence, one where New York is not the origin, but where India precedes New York in injury. The affective and political shift we trace here is one where earlier cinematic narrative and images first concentrate on a history inscribed by loss – the 1947 Partition of India into India and Pakistan as a site of mourning, to films that deal with other conflicts and therefore other ways of politically and psychically understanding histories of inflicted and perpetrated violence as well as justification for the perpetration of violence. Most importantly, we suggest that films within the subgenre do not simply call for the expansion of the global security state, but can instead imagine other ethical responses. We identify one such response as postcolonial restoration.
Piecing together the puzzle: Kahaani, Talaash and the complex narrative in popular Hindi cinema
Authors: Khdair Dina
Published: May 2014

This article examines the recent emergence of mind-tricking narratives in popular Hindi cinema, such as Kahaani/Story (2012) by Sujoy Ghosh and Talaash/Search (2012) by Reema Kagti, as an illustration of the increasingly transnational and cosmopolitan outlook of popular film artefacts. This discussion addresses wider concerns regarding the continuing globalization of the Indian film industry, and ramifications for narrative, thematic and generic identity in its films, by posing questions such as: how do the above texts negotiate global storytelling norms within a prevailing and historically dominant melodramatic framework in commercial Hindi cinema? What are the implications of these changes, and most importantly, why now?
Reviews
Authors: Nair Kartik , Iyer Usha , Pal Soumik , Marwah Sangeeta
Published: May 2014

Censorium: Cinema and the Open Edge of Mass Publicity, William Mazzarella (2013) Durham and London: Duke University Press, 284 pp., ISBN: 9780822353881, p/bk, USD $24.95

The Slumdog Phenomenon: A Critical Anthology, Ajay Gehlawat (ed.) (2013) London and New York: Anthem Press, 218 pp., ISBN: 978-0857280015, h/bk, USD $99.00

Bollywood Travels: Culture, Diaspora and Border Crossings in Popular Hindi Cinema, Rajinder Dudrah (2012) Oxon: Routledge, 130 pp., ISBN 9780415447409, h/hk, £81.56

Bollywood: Gods, Glamour and Gossip, Kush Varia (2012) London and New York: Wallflower, 126 pp., ISBN 1906660158, p/bk, $20.00
Loyalty and innovation: Evidence from Algerian mobile service providers
Authors: Bersali Mohamed Nabil , Guermat Cherif
Published: May 2014

Theoretical considerations imply a positive association between innovation and customer loyalty. However, two major gaps remain in the literature. First, there is little empirical support for the relationship between innovation and customer loyalty. The few existing studies have so far found mixed results. Second, apart from a recent study, differential studies on innovation are non-existent. This article aims to fill these gaps by discussing the relationship between innovation and customer loyalty in the mobile industry using survey data collected from Algerian mobile customers. The results show that discriminating innovation is consequential. Only effective innovations are positively associated with customer loyalty. Ineffective innovations are neutral for behavioral loyalty, but harmful for attitudinal loyalty. Implications for managers and researchers are provided.