291 research outputs found
Impairment of botrydial production in Botrytis cinerea allows the isolation of undescribed polyketides and reveals new insights into the botcinins biosynthetic pathway
No full textMoraga, Javier, Reina, Inmaculada Izquierdo-Bueno, Pinedo, Cristina, Hern, Rosario, andez-Gal, an, Viaud, Muriel, Collado, Isidro G. (2021): Impairment of botrydial production in Botrytis cinerea allows the isolation of undescribed polyketides and reveals new insights into the botcinins biosynthetic pathway. Phytochemistry (112627) 183: 1-7, DOI: 10.1016/j.phytochem.2020.112627, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.phytochem.2020.11262
‘Kangaroo mother care’ to prevent neonatal deaths due to pre-term birth complications.
No full textBACKGROUND: 'Kangaroo mother care' (KMC) includes thermal care through continuous skin-to-skin contact, support for exclusive breastfeeding or other appropriate feeding, and early recognition/response to illness. Whilst increasingly accepted in both high- and low-income countries, a Cochrane review (2003) did not find evidence of KMC's mortality benefit, and did not report neonatal-specific data. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to review the evidence, and estimate the effect of KMC on neonatal mortality due to complications of preterm birth. METHODS: We conducted systematic reviews. Standardized abstraction tables were used and study quality assessed by adapted GRADE methodology. Meta-analyses were undertaken. RESULTS: We identified 15 studies reporting mortality and/or morbidity outcomes including nine randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and six observational studies all from low- or middle-income settings. Except one, all were hospital-based and included only babies of birth-weight <2000 g (assumed preterm). The one community-based trial had missing birthweight data, as well as other limitations and was excluded. Neonatal-specific data were supplied by two authors. Meta-analysis of three RCTs commencing KMC in the first week of life showed a significant reduction in neonatal mortality [relative risk (RR) 0.49, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.29-0.82] compared with standard care. A meta-analysis of three observational studies also suggested significant mortality benefit (RR 0.68, 95% CI 0.58-0.79). Five RCTs suggested significant reductions in serious morbidity for babies <2000 g (RR 0.34, 95% CI 0.17-0.65). CONCLUSION: This is the first published meta-analysis showing that KMC substantially reduces neonatal mortality amongst preterm babies (birth weight <2000 g) in hospital, and is highly effective in reducing severe morbidity, particularly from infection. However, KMC remains unavailable at-scale in most low-income countries
Family altruism and incentives
No full textThe author builds on the altruistic model of the family, to explore the strategic interaction between altruistic parents, and selfish children, when children's efforts are endogenous. If there is uncertainty about the amount of income the children will realize, and if parents have imperfect information, the children have an incentive to exert little effort, and to rely on their parent's altruistically motivated transfers. Because of this, parents face a tradeoff between the insurance that bequests implicitly provide their children, and the disincentive to work prompted by their altruism. The author shows that if parents can credibly commit to a pattern of transfers, they will choose not to compensate children in bad outcomes, as much as predicted by the standard (no uncertainty, no asymmetric information) dynastic model of the family. Alternatively, parents may choose to forgo any insurance, and offer a fixed level of bequest, to elicit greater effort from their children. The optimal transfers structure that the author derives, reconciles the predictions of the altruistic family model, with much of the existing evidence on inter-generational transfers, which suggests that parents compensate only partially, or not at all, for earnings differentials among their children. Moreover, the author shows that Ricardian equivalence holds in this setup, except when non-negativity constraints are binding.Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Economics&Finance,Educational Sciences,Safety Nets and Transfers
From genes to molecules.Induction of silent biosynthetic pathway for the expansion of the metabolome in Botrytis cinerea.
No full textSesquiterpenes in the Botrytis cinerea life cycle. Characterising the missing link in the ABA biosynthesis
No full textBotrytis cinerea is a well-known phytopathogenic fungus that infects more than two hundreds plants species. It shows a wide variety of mechanisms for infecting host plants, as for example the secretion of broad range of cell wall-degrading enzymes, toxins and many other secondary metabolites including i) non ribosomal peptides and amino acid-derived compounds, (ii) polyketides and fatty acid-derived compounds and (iii) terpenes. Botrytis produces three series of sesquiterpenes, botrydial (1) and its derivatives, a new family of eremophilenols (2) and the phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) (3). Botrydial is one of the main toxins involved in the infection mechanism and its biosynthetic pathway has recently been completed. A sesquiterpene family with eremophilenol skeleton has been characterized and its role in the Botrytis cycle of life reported. The role of these sesquiterpenes in the interaction plant-pathogen will be discussed in this communication. On the other hand, studies on ABA biosynthesis had identified a gene cluster of at least four genes responsible for this pathway in B. cinerea. However, until now, the sesquiterpene cyclase (STC) involved in the ABA biosynthesis had not yet been identified and it should be located in another part of the genome of B. cinerea. The metabolomic study of the strains ATCC G3, an overproducer of ABA, its null mutants ΔBcSTC5 and mutants Δbcaba1-4, have allowed to identify the sesquiterpene cyclase involved in the ABA biosynthesis and to present an updated ABA biosynthetic pathway
From genes to molecules.Induction of silent biosynthetic pathway for the expansion of the metabolome in Botrytis cinerea.
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Sesquiterpenes in the Botrytis cinerea life cycle. Characterising the missing link in the ABA biosynthesis
No full textBotrytis cinerea is a well-known phytopathogenic fungus that infects more than two hundreds plants species. It shows a wide variety of mechanisms for infecting host plants, as for example the secretion of broad range of cell wall-degrading enzymes, toxins and many other secondary metabolites including i) non ribosomal peptides and amino acid-derived compounds, (ii) polyketides and fatty acid-derived compounds and (iii) terpenes. Botrytis produces three series of sesquiterpenes, botrydial (1) and its derivatives, a new family of eremophilenols (2) and the phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) (3). Botrydial is one of the main toxins involved in the infection mechanism and its biosynthetic pathway has recently been completed. A sesquiterpene family with eremophilenol skeleton has been characterized and its role in the Botrytis cycle of life reported. The role of these sesquiterpenes in the interaction plant-pathogen will be discussed in this communication. On the other hand, studies on ABA biosynthesis had identified a gene cluster of at least four genes responsible for this pathway in B. cinerea. However, until now, the sesquiterpene cyclase (STC) involved in the ABA biosynthesis had not yet been identified and it should be located in another part of the genome of B. cinerea. The metabolomic study of the strains ATCC G3, an overproducer of ABA, its null mutants ΔBcSTC5 and mutants Δbcaba1-4, have allowed to identify the sesquiterpene cyclase involved in the ABA biosynthesis and to present an updated ABA biosynthetic pathway
Sesquiterpenes in the Botrytis cinerea life cycle. Characterising the missing link in the ABA biosynthesis
No full textBotrytis cinerea is a well-known phytopathogenic fungus that infects more than two hundreds plants species. It shows a wide variety of mechanisms for infecting host plants, as for example the secretion of broad range of cell wall-degrading enzymes, toxins and many other secondary metabolites including i) non ribosomal peptides and amino acid-derived compounds, (ii) polyketides and fatty acid-derived compounds and (iii) terpenes. Botrytis produces three series of sesquiterpenes, botrydial (1) and its derivatives, a new family of eremophilenols (2) and the phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) (3). Botrydial is one of the main toxins involved in the infection mechanism and its biosynthetic pathway has recently been completed. A sesquiterpene family with eremophilenol skeleton has been characterized and its role in the Botrytis cycle of life reported. The role of these sesquiterpenes in the interaction plant-pathogen will be discussed in this communication. On the other hand, studies on ABA biosynthesis had identified a gene cluster of at least four genes responsible for this pathway in B. cinerea. However, until now, the sesquiterpene cyclase (STC) involved in the ABA biosynthesis had not yet been identified and it should be located in another part of the genome of B. cinerea. The metabolomic study of the strains ATCC G3, an overproducer of ABA, its null mutants ΔBcSTC5 and mutants Δbcaba1-4, have allowed to identify the sesquiterpene cyclase involved in the ABA biosynthesis and to present an updated ABA biosynthetic pathway
Revenue-productive income tax structures and tax reforms in emerging market economies - evidence from Bulgaria
No full textUsing a household budget survey for 1992, The author shows the poor revenue performance and distributional impact of Bulgaria's personal income tax system. He explores the implications for revenue and income distribution of two alternative tax systems - a flat tax and a progressive but simpler three-brackets tax system. He demonstrates that simpler tax structures with lower tax rates could achieve at least equal revenue and distributional objectives and are superior in terms of efficiency and equity. (The findings are robust when Bulgaria's significant tax evasion is included). But tax changes since 1992 have, if anything, moved Bulgaria even further from a simple income tax system: the number of rates and brackets increased from 7 to 10, and the levels of exemption remain unchanged. (Complex, higher rates complicate administration and enforcement and provide incentives for tax evasions. And in the alternative systems the author explores, the poor are protected with higher exemptions.) Fortunately, the country's personal income tax structure began to move toward less nominal progressivity after Bulgaria's 1997 tax reform program. The tax rate in thetop income bracket was reduced from 52 percent to 40 percent, the number of tax brackets was halved, and the exemption level was increased 20 percent (reducing tax burdens on the poor).Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Regional Governance,Tax Policy and Administration,Economic Theory&Research,Governance Indicators,Economic Theory&Research,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,Tax Policy and Administration
Voucher privatization with investment funds : an institutional analysis
No full textCommon wisdom among post-socialist reformers has beento use voucher investment funds to provide the corporate governance needed to restructure newly privatized enterprises after mass privatization efforts. The idea has been that mass privatization would spread the ownership too wide and make corporate governance difficult. The author examines the likely institutional behavior of voucher funds and the possible effects of their development on a transition economy. Since most policy advice has been in favor of voucher privatization with investment funds, the author can be seen as playing the devil's advocate, but his argument is institutional, not statistical. Policymaking requires insight and foresight into how institutions will tend to function. He concludes that voucher funds will introduce a bias in the economy away from the real industrial sector toward an ersatz"financial sector"that will have little if any positive financial role but will be well-protected by friendly regulators. One long-term consequence of voucher privatization with investment funds, according to this view, is a de facto"industrial policy"of real sector decapitalization in favor of short-term rent-seeking by fund managers through board sinecures and lucrative side deals with portfolio companies and through financial market manipulation and paper entrepreneurship in the"financial sector."Without strong corporate governance from the funds and without stable ownership of their own, many enterprise managers will exploit the post-socialist version of the"separation of ownership and control"to grab what they can in the form of salaries, bonuses, perquisites, and side deals. The most likely results of the strategy of voucher privatization with investment funds may be a two-sided grab fest by fund managers and enterprise managers -- together with the accompanying drift, stagnation, and decapitalization of the privatized industrial sector.Economic Adjustment and Lending,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Adjustment and Lending,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research
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