bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Obtaining of CD34+ cells from healthy blood donors: development of a rapid and efficient procedure using leukoreduction filters
Authors: Peytour Yann , Guitart Amélie , Villacreces Arnaud , Chevaleyre Jean , Lacombe Francis , Ivanovic Zoran , Praloran Vincent 
Published: May 2010

BACKGROUND: Human CD34+ cells are mandatory to study many aspects of human hematopoiesis. Their low frequency in blood or marrow and ethical reasons limit their obtainment in large quantities. Leukoreduction filters (LRFs) are discarded after preparation of red blood cells. The CD34+ cell concentration in healthy donor blood is low (1 × 103‐4 × 103/mL), but their number trapped in one LRF after filtration of 400 to 450 mL of blood is high (0.4 × 106‐1.6 × 106).STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: To develop a procedure allowing obtainment of purified CD34+ cells from LRFs with a good yield, white blood cell (WBC) recoveries after a 500‐mL continuous or after sequential elution (50‐ or 20‐mL fractions) were compared. Different WBC and mononuclear cell (MNC) centrifugation methods were tested to minimize their PLT contamination before the CD34+ cell immunomagnetic selection. Cell functionality was finally analyzed under various culture conditions.RESULTS: The 20‐mL back‐flushing of LRFs allowed the most efficient WBC recovery. The next steps (110 × g centrifugation, MNC separation on Ficoll, and washes) resulted in a cell suspension in which the lymphocyte recovery was approximately 76 ± 10% and the PLT contamination below 1.6%. After immunomagnetic selection, 4 × 105 to 6 × 105 cells containing approximately 85% of functional CD34+ cells were obtained.CONCLUSION: This procedure allows the easy, rapid (<5 hr), and efficient preparation of large quantities of CD34+ cells having functional activities similar to those of CD34+ cells from other sources. Therefore, easily available and virally safe, LRFs represent an important and regular WBC source to work with human CD34+ cells, but also with other WBC types.
Networking as a Barrier to Entry and the Competitive Supply of Venture Capital
Authors: HOCHBERG YAEL V. , LJUNGQVIST ALEXANDER , LU YANG 
Published: May 2010

ABSTRACTWe examine whether strong networks among incumbent venture capitalists (VCs) in local markets help restrict entry by outside VCs, thus improving incumbents' bargaining power over entrepreneurs. More densely networked markets experience less entry, with a one‐standard deviation increase in network ties among incumbents reducing entry by approximately one‐third. Entrants with established ties to target‐market incumbents appear able to overcome this barrier to entry; in turn, incumbents react strategically to an increased threat of entry by freezing out any incumbents who facilitate entry into their market. Incumbents appear to benefit from reduced entry by paying lower prices for their deals.
Human Capital, Bankruptcy, and Capital Structure
Authors: BERK JONATHAN B. , STANTON RICHARD , ZECHNER JOSEF 
Published: May 2010

ABSTRACTWe derive the optimal labor contract for a levered firm in an economy with perfectly competitive capital and labor markets. Employees become entrenched under this contract and so face large human costs of bankruptcy. The firm's optimal capital structure therefore depends on the trade‐off between these human costs and the tax benefits of debt. Optimal debt levels consistent with those observed in practice emerge without relying on frictions such as moral hazard or asymmetric information. Consistent with empirical evidence, persistent idiosyncratic differences in leverage across firms also result. In addition, wages should have explanatory power for firm leverage.
Stapled Finance
Authors: POVEL PAUL , SINGH RAJDEEP 
Published: May 2010

ABSTRACT“Stapled finance” is a loan commitment arranged by a seller in an M&A setting. Whoever wins the bidding contest has the option (not the obligation) to accept this loan commitment. We show that stapled finance increases bidding competition by subsidizing weak bidders, who raise their bids and thereby the price that strong bidders (who are more likely to win) must pay. The lender expects not to break even and must be compensated for offering the loan. This reduces but does not eliminate the seller's benefit. It also implies that stapled finance loans will show poorer performance than other buyout loans.
Cash Holdings and Corporate Diversification
Authors: DUCHIN RAN 
Published: May 2010

ABSTRACTThis paper studies the relation between corporate liquidity and diversification. The key finding is that multidivision firms hold significantly less cash than stand‐alone firms because they are diversified in their investment opportunities. Lower cross‐divisional correlations in investment opportunity and higher correlations between investment opportunity and cash flow correspond to lower cash holdings, even after controlling for cash flow volatility. The effects are strongest in financially constrained firms and in well‐governed firms, and correspond to efficient fund transfers from low‐ to high‐productivity divisions. Taken together, these results bring forth an efficient link between diversification and corporate liquidity.
A Gap‐Filling Theory of Corporate Debt Maturity Choice
Authors: GREENWOOD ROBIN , HANSON SAMUEL , STEIN JEREMY C. 
Published: May 2010

ABSTRACTWe argue that time variation in the maturity of corporate debt arises because firms behave as macro liquidity providers, absorbing the supply shocks associated with changes in the maturity structure of government debt. We document that when the government funds itself with more short‐term debt, firms fill the resulting gap by issuing more long‐term debt, and vice versa. This type of liquidity provision is undertaken more aggressively: (1) when the ratio of government debt to total debt is higher and (2) by firms with stronger balance sheets. Our theory sheds new light on market timing phenomena in corporate finance more generally.
The Political Economy of Financial Regulation: Evidence from U.S. State Usury Laws in the 19th Century
Authors: BENMELECH EFRAIM , MOSKOWITZ TOBIAS J. 
Published: May 2010

ABSTRACTFinancial regulation was as hotly debated a political issue in the 19th century as it is today. We study the political economy of state usury laws in 19th century America. Exploiting the wide variation in regulation, enforcement, and economic conditions across states and time, we find that usury laws when binding reduce credit and economic activity, especially for smaller firms. We examine the motives of regulation and find that usury laws coincide with other economic and political policies favoring wealthy political incumbents, particularly when they have more voting power. The evidence suggests financial regulation is driven by private interests capturing rents from others rather than public interests protecting the underserved.
Risk and the Corporate Structure of Banks
Authors: DELL'ARICCIA GIOVANNI , MARQUEZ ROBERT 
Published: May 2010

ABSTRACTWe identify different sources of risk as important determinants of banks' corporate structures when expanding into new markets. Subsidiary‐based corporate structures benefit from greater protection against economic risk because of affiliate‐level limited liability, but are more exposed to the risk of capital expropriation than are branches. Thus, branch‐based structures are preferred to subsidiary‐based structures when expropriation risk is high relative to economic risk, and vice versa. Greater cross‐country risk correlation and more accurate pricing of risk by investors reduce the differences between the two structures. Furthermore, a bank's corporate structure affects its risk taking and affiliate size.
Financial Strength and Product Market Behavior: The Real Effects of Corporate Cash Holdings
Authors: FRESARD LAURENT 
Published: May 2010

ABSTRACTThis paper shows that large cash reserves lead to systematic future market share gains at the expense of industry rivals. Using shifts in import tariffs to identify exogenous intensification of competition, difference‐in‐difference estimations support the causal impact of cash on product market performance. Moreover, the analysis reveals that the “competitive” effect of cash is markedly distinct from the strategic effect of debt on product market outcomes. This effect is stronger when rivals face tighter financing constraints and when the number of interactions between competitors is large. Overall, the results suggest that cash policy encompasses a substantial strategic dimension.
Executive Compensation and the Maturity Structure of Corporate Debt
Authors: BROCKMAN PAUL , MARTIN XIUMIN , UNLU EMRE 
Published: May 2010

ABSTRACTExecutive compensation influences managerial risk preferences through executives' portfolio sensitivities to changes in stock prices (delta) and stock return volatility (vega). Large deltas discourage managerial risk‐taking, while large vegas encourage risk‐taking. Theory suggests that short‐maturity debt mitigates agency costs of debt by constraining managerial risk preferences. We posit and find evidence of a negative (positive) relation between CEO portfolio deltas (vegas) and short‐maturity debt. We also find that short‐maturity debt mitigates the influence of vega‐ and delta‐related incentives on bond yields. Overall, our empirical evidence shows that short‐term debt mitigates agency costs of debt arising from compensation risk.
Capital Structure as a Strategic Variable: Evidence from Collective Bargaining
Authors: MATSA DAVID A. 
Published: May 2010

ABSTRACTI analyze the strategic use of debt financing to improve a firm's bargaining position with an important supplier—organized labor. Because maintaining high levels of corporate liquidity can encourage workers to raise their wage demands, a firm with external finance constraints has an incentive to use the cash flow demands of debt service to improve its bargaining position with workers. Using both firm‐level collective bargaining coverage and state changes in labor laws to identify changes in union bargaining power, I show that strategic incentives from union bargaining appear to have a substantial impact on corporate financing decisions.
Learning Times for Large Lexicons Through Cross‐Situational Learning
Authors: Blythe Richard A. , Smith Kenny , Smith Andrew D. M. 
Published: May 2010

AbstractCross‐situational learning is a mechanism for learning the meaning of words across multiple exposures, despite exposure‐by‐exposure uncertainty as to a word's true meaning. Doubts have been expressed regarding the plausibility of cross‐situational learning as a mechanism for learning human‐scale lexicons in reasonable timescales under the levels of referential uncertainty likely to confront real word learners. We demonstrate mathematically that cross‐situational learning facilitates the acquisition of large vocabularies despite significant levels of referential uncertainty at each exposure, and we provide estimates of lexicon learning times for several cross‐situational learning strategies. This model suggests that cross‐situational word learning cannot be ruled out on the basis that it predicts unreasonably long lexicon learning times. More generally, these results indicate that there is no necessary link between the ability to learn individual words rapidly and the capacity to acquire a large lexicon.
Maternal Levels of Prostacyclin, Thromboxane, ICAM, and VCAM in Normal and Preeclamptic Pregnancies
Authors: Lewis David F. , Canzoneri Bernard J. , Gu Yang , Zhao Shuang , Wang Yuping 
Published: May 2010

Citation Lewis DF., Canzoneri BJ., Gu Y, Zhao S, Wang Y. Maternal Levels of Prostacyclin, Thromboxane, ICAM, and VCAM in normal and preeclamptic pregnancies. Am J Reprod Immunol 2010; 64: 376–383Problem  To evaluate whether impaired endothelial function and endothelial inflammatory response occur in parallel in the women with preeclampsia.Method of Study  Venous blood was drawn from normal (n = 40) and severe preeclamptic (sPE) (n = 40) pregnant women when they were admitted to the L&D Unit and 24 hrs after delivery. Plasma and serum samples were extracted and measured for 6‐keto PGF1α and TXB2 (stable metabolites of PGI2 and TXA2), and intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM) and vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM) by ELISA. Data are analyzed by Mann–Whitney test and paired t‐test. The statistical significance is set as P < 0.05.Results  Plasma 6‐keto PGF1α levels were significantly reduced at admission and 24 hr after delivery in sPE compared to normal pregnant controls, P < 0.01. The ratio of 6‐keto PGF1α and TXB2 was significant less in sPE than that in normal pregnant controls before delivery. There was no significant difference for ICAM and VCAM levels between normal and patients with sPE before and after delivery.Conclusion  Maternal 6‐keto PGF1α levels and the ratio of 6‐keto PGF1α and TXB2 were decreased in patients with sPE compared to normal pregnant controls. In contrast, maternal ICAM and VCAM levels were not different between the two groups. These data suggest that serum ICAM and VCAM levels may not be sensitive inflammatory biomarkers for preeclampsia.
Malyngolide from the cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscula interferes with quorum sensing circuitry
Authors: Dobretsov Sergey , Teplitski Max , Alagely Ali , Gunasekera Sarath P. , Paul Valerie J. 
Published: May 2010

SummaryExtracts of several cyanobacterial species collected from different marine and estuarine locations predominately in Florida (USA), with one sample each from Belize and Oman, were screened for their ability to disrupt quorum sensing (QS) in the reporter strain Chromobacterium violaceum CV017. Inhibitory activities were detected in the ethyl acetate : methanol (1:1) extracts of several Lyngbya spp., and extracts of Lyngbya majuscula contained the strongest QS inhibitory activities. Extracts of L. majuscula from the Indian River Lagoon, FL, USA, were further purified by bioassay‐guided fractionation. The antibiotic malyngolide (MAL) was identified as a QS inhibitor. Activity of MAL was investigated using N‐acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) reporters based on the LasR receptor of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. MAL at concentrations ranging from 3.57 µM to 57 µM (EC50 = 12.2 ± 1.6 µM) inhibited responses of the LasR reporters without affecting bacterial growth. MAL inhibited (EC50 =  10.6 ± 1.8 µM) Las QS‐dependent production of elastase by P. aeruginosa PAO1. We propose that this QS inhibitor plays a role in controlling interactions of heterotrophic bacteria associated with the cyanobacterium L. majuscula.
The differential development of microsporidia infecting worker honey bee (Apis mellifera) at increasing incubation temperature
Authors: Higes Mariano , García‐Palencia Pilar , Botías Cristina , Meana Aránzazu , Martín‐Hernández Raquel 
Published: May 2010

SummaryIn the last century, nosemosis caused by Nosema apis is traditionally considered as a low‐prevalence disease of Apis mellifera, even though it occurs worldwide. Colonies affected by N. apis display low levels of infection during summer, a small peak in autumn and usually a slow rise during winter. However, nosemosis due to Nosema ceranae is considered as an emergent illness that is posing a major threat to the health of individual honey bees and whole bee colonies. The symptoms of infection by these two pathogens are very different, as are the virulence, spread and pathogenicity. We have carried out experiments in artificially infected worker honey bees maintained in the laboratory at two different temperatures. Both microsporidia developed as expected for up to 4 days after infection at 33.0°C, but when maintained for 5 or 7 days at 37.2°C, only N. ceranae completed its life cycle in infected honey bees, while the development of N. apis was inhibited. This and other published data suggest that N. ceranae is eurythermal whereas N. apis is stenothermal. The higher temperature tolerance recorded may be related to the higher prevalence of N. ceranae reported worldwide.
First report of viral infections that affect argentine honeybees
Authors: Reynaldi Francisco José , Sguazza Guillermo Hernán , Pecoraro Marcelo Ricardo , Tizzano Marco Andrés , Galosi Cecilia Mónica 
Published: May 2010

SummaryHoney is one of the most important agricultural products for export in Argentina. In fact, more than 3.5 million beehives and 50 000 beekeepers are related with this production, mainly located in Buenos Aires province. Honeybee mortality is a serious problem that beekeepers in Argentina have had to face during the last 3 years. It is known that the consequence of the complex interactions between environmental and beekeeping parameters added to the effect of different disease agents such as viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasitic mites may result in a sudden collapse of the colony. In addition, multiple viral infections are frequently detected concomitantly in bee colonies. We describe here the preliminary results of a survey of three honeybee‐pathogenic viruses, acute bee paralysis viruses (ABPV), chronic bee paralysis viruses (CBPV) and Sacbrood viruses (SBV) detected during a screening of 61 apiaries located in the main honey producer province using a RT‐PCR assay. This is the first molecular report of the presence of these viruses in Argentine apiaries.
The Globalisation of Intellectual Property Rights: Four Learned Lessons and Four Theses
Authors: Archibugi Daniele , Filippetti Andrea 
Published: May 2010

AbstractIntellectual Property Rights (IPRs) have become ubiquitous in the current debate and have emerged as the key issue of global innovation policy. The ‘Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights’ (TRIPS) Agreement, signed in 1994 as a founding element of the World Trade Organisation, represents the most important attempt to establish a global harmonisation of Intellectual Property protection. The aim of this article is to re‐examine critically what has become the common wisdom around IPRs, TRIPS and their effects. We argue that supporters of IPRs in western corporations and governments as well as detractors in global movements and developing countries have overestimated their importance in the process of generation and diffusion of knowledge and innovation. On the basis of some key learned lessons on the nature of innovation and technological change, we assess four theses about TRIPS and its impact on the global generation and distribution of knowledge. Finally, the policy implications concerning international organisations and technological transfer are discussed.Policy ImplicationsIntellectual Property Rights (IPRs) have emerged as the key issue of global innovation policy: through the ‘Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights' (TRIPS) Agreement, there is an attempt to impose worldwide a western system of IPRs.Western governments and large corporations claim that strong IPRs are needed to maintain investment in innovation. This position is contrasted by new political and social movements, which assert that muscular IPRs enforcement hampers economic growth and welfare in developing countries. The article argues that both positions overemphasise what IPRs can actually do to promote or obstruct innovation.IPRs per se do not allow companies to appropriate the returns from their innovations unless they are matched to a wide‐ranging strategy that includes continuous learning and dynamic innovation.There are substantial cross‐industry differences in the role played by IPRs: while patents are quite significant in pharmaceuticals and copyright is important in the audiovisual industry, the majority of sectors are not seriously affected by either strong or weak IPR regimes.In order to catch up, developing countries should put specific policies in place to nurture their absorptive capacity through the creation of appropriate infrastructure and human resources. Competence building is not hampered by IPRs. Developing countries should concentrate on active learning policies to acquire the knowledge of the most industrialised nations.Western nations would better protect their well‐being by focusing on promoting new knowledge and creativity rather than by impeding new entrants from accessing the know‐how they have already generated.
Global Identity Policies and Technology: Do we Understand the Question?
Authors: Whitley Edgar A. , Hosein Gus 
Published: May 2010

AbstractWhy do we get technology policy so wrong, so often? As governments rush to develop new identity policies they fail too often in answering essential questions: are identity policies capable of addressing a diverse range of policy goals? Are the techniques we imagine to be necessary in fact helpful? Instead, policy makers remain fixated on expensive and sexy ‘biometrics’ and vast new centralised databases to solve problems they do not understand. This survey seeks to resolve why policy makers repeatedly commission identity schemes based on obsolete knowledge of modern technological capabilities. We argue that policy making requires an understanding of technological issues as well as more traditional political and organisational concerns, and a little less bravado. As a result, policy makers can set about developing effective solutions that are citizen friendly and actually address pressing policy goals.
The Regulatory Reform of Global Financial Markets: An Asian Regulator’s Perspective
Authors: Sheng Andrew 
Published: May 2010

AbstractAsia was not directly or significantly hurt through financial channels by the global financial crisis, but rather was hurt through trade channels. This article reviews the current regulatory reforms of global financial markets and how these affect Asia. The current crisis has exposed many weaknesses in the existing financial architecture, including the fragmentation of regulatory jurisdiction at the national and institutional levels. What is required is a system‐wide and global view of market behaviour. The article uses a network perspective to analyse the issues and to propose solutions. The globalisation of finance and its fragmented regulatory oversight is a collective action problem that easily slips into a tragedy of the commons. Given the fact that there is no unanimity of views on how finance should be structured, there are differences in approaches to the reforms. Because Asian financial institutions and structures are less sophisticated, Asia is still struggling with how to make the financial system more efficient and responsive to real sector needs. The article suggests that Asia needs to identify its financial needs and can develop its markets through greater regional cooperation. Identifying the need to see financial markets as ecosystems through diversity, the article suggests that Asia can evolve through simpler but more robust financial systems.Policy Implications

As a matter of priority, Asia needs to strengthen domestic capital markets according to international standards.
The Asian approach will tend to be more pragmatic, focusing on simpler rules more effectively enforced. Financial innovation should be encouraged with an emphasis on functionality for the real sector, rather than leverage for the financial system.
Using the network approach means that Asians should build financial markets on a modular basis, ensuring that failure of one module will not destroy the whole system.
Since it is recognised that global problems cannot be solved at national levels alone, Asia can increase its voice in the international arena through regional subsets of the Financial Stability Board, central bank grouping within the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), and the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) to help push implementation and enforcement according to global standards and to have regional input into global policy decisions.