21 research outputs found
Molecular Mechanisms of Neuroinflammation in Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease Progression
No full textAging is the most prominent risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Aging associates with a chronic inflammatory state both in the periphery and in the central nervous system, the evidence thereof and the mechanisms leading to chronic neuroinflammation being discussed. Nonetheless, neuroinflammation is significantly enhanced by the accumulation of amyloid beta and accelerates the progression of Alzheimer’s disease through various pathways discussed in the present review. Decades of clinical trials targeting the 2 abnormal proteins in Alzheimer’s disease, amyloid beta and tau, led to many failures. As such, targeting neuroinflammation via different strategies could prove a valuable therapeutic strategy, although much research is still needed to identify the appropriate time window. Active research focusing on identifying early biomarkers could help translating these novel strategies from bench to bedside
The Involvement of Neuroinflammation in the Onset and Progression of Parkinson’s Disease
No full textParkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease exhibiting the fastest growth in incidence in recent years. As with most neurodegenerative diseases, the pathophysiology is incompletely elucidated, but compelling evidence implicates inflammation, both in the central nervous system and in the periphery, in the initiation and progression of the disease, although it is not yet clear what triggers this inflammatory response and where it begins. Gut dysbiosis seems to be a likely candidate for the initiation of the systemic inflammation. The therapies in current use provide only symptomatic relief, but do not interfere with the disease progression. Nonetheless, animal models have shown promising results with therapies that target various vicious neuroinflammatory cascades. Translating these therapeutic strategies into clinical trials is still in its infancy, and a series of issues, such as the exact timing, identifying biomarkers able to identify Parkinson’s disease in early and pre-symptomatic stages, or the proper indications of genetic testing in the population at large, will need to be settled in future guidelines
Johansen-type cointegration tests with a Fourier function
No full textThis article extends the pioneering Johansen cointegration test to allow for structural breaks in a cointegration system. Instead of using usual dummy variables, we utilize a Fourier function to control for an unknown number of multiple breaks in the cointegration system. The underlying presumption of the procedure is that structural breaks often can be captured by using a small number of low-frequency components from a Fourier approximation. The number of parameters to estimate is reduced significantly, which can lead to a good performance of the tests. Monte Carlo simulations show that the new tests display good size and power properties, except for the cases of sharp breaks. Then, we consider a strategy using a union of rejections. The union test combines our suggested test with a test of the cointegration rank in VAR models in the presence of a possible break in trend at an unknown point. We further consider a procedure that selects a better model using a Schwarz-type criterion among Johansen, trend break-point, and Fourier models. The resulting test shows fairly correct sizes in all cases, including sharp breaks, smooth breaks, and no breaks. The power properties are also reasonable in almost all cases. © 2022 John Wiley ; Sons Ltd.We thank the editors and two anonymous reviewers for their excellent suggestions and feedback that have greatly improved the article. In particular, one reviewer gave detailed constructive suggestions on combining complementary testing procedures. We also thank Walter Enders, Bruce Hansen, and Joon Park for comments on an earlier version of the article
A test for a new modelling : The Univariate MT-STAR Model
No full textIn ESTAR models it is usually quite difficult to obtain parameter estimates, as it is discussed in the literature. The problem of properly distinguishing the transition function in relation to extreme parameter combinations often leads to getting strongly biased estimators. This paper proposes a new procedure to test for the unit root in a nonlinear framework, and contributes to the existing literature in three separate directions. First, we propose a new alternative model - the MT-STAR model - which has similar properties as the ESTAR model but reduces the effects of the identification problem and can also account for cases where the adjustment mechanism towards equilibrium is not symmetric. Second, we develop a testing procedure to detect the presence of a nonlinear stationary process by establishing the limiting non-standard asymptotic distributions of the proposed test-statistics. Finally, we perform Monte Carlo simulations to assess the small sample performance of the test and then to highlight its power gain over existing tests for a unit root. We proposed two applications.Nonlinearity, smooth transition, unit root testing, Monte Carlo simulations.
Corporate Management of Highly Dynamic Risks: The Case of Terrorism Insurance in Germany
No full textThis article extends the theory of corporate risk management to encompass highly dynamic risks. Taking Viscusi'�s (1989) prospective reference from the context of individual
decision making and applying it to a corporate context we propose a theory of how corporations process new information. Using unique data on all terrorism insurance policies sold in Germany we find support for this concept of risk-updating by showing that the demand for terrorism insurance is strongly determined by the recent occurrence of terrorist attacks
Corporate Management of Highly Dynamic Risks: The Case of Terrorism Insurance in Germany
No full textThis article extends the theory of corporate risk management to encompass highly dynamic risks. Taking Viscusi'�s (1989) prospective reference from the context of individual decision making and applying it to a corporate context we propose a theory of how corporations process new information. Using unique data on all terrorism insurance policies sold in Germany we find support for this concept of risk-updating by showing that the demand for terrorism insurance is strongly determined by the recent occurrence of terrorist attacks.Corporate Insurance, Risk Management, Terrorism Insurance, Expected Utility, Prospect Theory
Reward-to-risk ratios of funds of hedge funds
No full textThis chapter examines whether the fund of hedge fund portfolios dominate the U.S. equity and bond markets based on alternative measures of reward-to-risk ratios. Standard deviation is used to measure total risk and both nonparametric and parametric value-at-risk is used to measure downside risk when the reward-to-risk ratios are constructed. We find that the fund of funds index has higher reward-to-risk ratios compared to several stock and bond market indices. This result is especially strong when the risk measures are calculated from the most recent year’s data and is robust as the measurement window is extended to four years
BIODEGRADABILITY DETERMINATION OF VEGETAL ORIGINATED PACKAGING MATERIALS UNDER CONTROLLED COMPOSTING CONDITIONS
No full textThe paper presents methodologies for the determination of corn starch packaging ultimate biodegradability under controlled composting conditions by measurement of the amount of carbon dioxide evolved and the degree of packaging disintegration at the end of the test. The composting takes place in an installation with controlled temperature, aeration and humidity
Sustainability and innovation: new roles of universities in ensuring economic growth and achieving global sustainable development goals
No full textExact prediction of inflation and unemployment in Japan
No full textPast and future evolution of inflation, p(t), and unemployment, UE(t), in Japan is modeled. Both variables are represented as linear functions of the change rate of labor force level. These models provide an accurate description for disinflation in the 1990s and deflationary period in the 2000s. In Japan, there exists a statistically reliable (R2=0.68) Phillips curve. This Phillips curve is characterized by a negative relation between inflation and unemployment and their synchronous evolution: UE(t) = -0.94p(t) + 0.045. Effectively, growing unemployment has resulted in decreasing inflation since 1982. A linear and lagged generalized relationship between inflation, unemployment and labor force has been also obtained for Japan: p(t) = 2.8*dLF(t)/LF(t) + 0.9*UE(t) - 0.0392. Labor force projections allow a reliable prediction of inflation and unemployment in Japan: CPI inflation will be negative (between -0.5% and -1% per year) during the next 40 years. Unemployment will increase from 4.0% in 2010 to 5.3% in 2050inflation; unemployment; labor force; modeling; Japan
