500 research outputs found
Productivity, Tradability, and the Long-Run Price Puzzle
No full textLong-run cross-country price data exhibit a puzzle. Today, richer countries exhibit higher
price levels than poorer countries, a stylized fact usually attributed to the Balassa-
Samuelson effect. But looking back fifty years, this effect virtually disappears from the
data. What is often assumed to be a universal property is actually quite specific to recent
times, emerging a half century ago and growing steadily over time. What might
potentially explain this historical pattern? We develop an updated Balassa-Samuelson
model inspired by recent developments in trade theory, where a continuum of goods are
differentiated by productivity, and where tradability is endogenously determined. Firms
experiencing productivity gains are more likely to become tradable and crowd out firms
not experiencing productivity gains. As a result the usual Balassa-Samuelson
assumption—that productivity gains be concentrated in the traded goods sector—emerges
endogenously, and the Balassa-Samuelson effect on relative price levels likewise evolves
gradually over time.Balassa-Samuelson theory,
Resting-State Functional Networks Correlate with Motor Performance in a Complex Visuomotor Task: An EEG Microstate Pilot Study on Healthy Individuals
No full textDeveloping motor and cognitive skills is needed to achieve expert (motor) performance or functional recovery from a neurological condition, e.g., after stroke. While extensive practice plays an essential role in the acquisition of good motor performance, it is still unknown whether certain person-specific traits may predetermine the rate of motor learning. In particular, learners’ functional brain organisation might play an important role in appropriately performing motor tasks. In this paper, we aimed to study how two critical cognitive brain networks—the Attention Network (AN) and the Default Mode Network (DMN)—affect the posterior motor performance in a complex visuomotor task: virtual surfing. We hypothesised that the preactivation of the AN would affect how participants divert their attention towards external stimuli, resulting in robust motor performance. Conversely, the excessive involvement of the DMN—linked to internally diverted attention and mind-wandering—would be detrimental for posterior motor performance. We extracted seven widely accepted microstates—representing participants mind states at rest—out of the Electroencephalography (EEG) resting-state recordings of 36 healthy volunteers, prior to execution of the virtual surfing task. By correlating neural biomarkers (microstates) and motor behavioural metrics, we confirmed that the preactivation of the posterior DMN was correlated with poor posterior performance in the motor task. However, we only found a non-significant association between AN preactivation and the posterior motor performance. In this EEG study, we propose the preactivation of the posterior DMN—imaged using EEG microstates—as a neural trait related to poor posterior motor performance. Our findings suggest that the role of the executive control system is to preserve an homeostasis between the AN and the DMN. Therefore, neurofeedback-based downregulation of DMN preactivation could help optimise motor training.Human-Robot Interactio
Supplemental figures and tables "Development of a synbiotic that protects against ovariectomy induced trabecular bone loss," (E-00366-2021R1)
No full textSupplemental figures and tables for the article:
Development of a synbiotic that protects
against ovariectomy induced trabecular bone loss
Lina Lawenius1, Karin L. Gustafsson1, Jianyao Wu1,
Karin H. Nilsson1, Sofia Movérare-Skrtic1, Eric M. Schott2,
Maria J. Soto-Girón2, Gerardo V. Toledo2, Klara Sjögren1*#
and Claes Ohlsson1, 3#
*Corresponding
author
#These
authors jointly supervised this work.
1
Sahlgrenska
Osteoporosis Centre, Centre for Bone and Arthritis Research, Institute of
Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden. 2
Solarea
Bio, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
3 Region
Västra Götaland, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Department of Drug Treatment,
Gothenburg, Sweden
</p
Author response
No full textSmall GTPases of the Rab family not only regulate target recognition in membrane traffic but also control other cellular functions such as cytoskeletal transport and autophagy. Here we show that Rab26 is specifically associated with clusters of synaptic vesicles in neurites. Overexpression of active but not of GDP-preferring Rab26 enhances vesicle clustering, which is particularly conspicuous for the EGFP-tagged variant, resulting in a massive accumulation of synaptic vesicles in neuronal somata without altering the distribution of other organelles. Both endogenous and induced clusters co-localize with autophagy-related proteins such as Atg16L1, LC3B and Rab33B but not with other organelles. Furthermore, Atg16L1 appears to be a direct effector of Rab26 and binds Rab26 in its GTP-bound form, albeit only with low affinity. We propose that Rab26 selectively directs synaptic and secretory vesicles into preautophagosomal structures, suggesting the presence of a novel pathway for degradation of synaptic vesicles
The Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale: translation and reliability testing in a Swedish intensive care unit.
No full textBackground: Awareness about adequate sedation in mechanically ventilated patients has increased in recent years. The use of a sedation scale to continually evaluate the patient's response to sedation may promote earlier extubation and may subsequently have a positive effect on the length of stay in the intensive care unit (ICU). The Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS) provides 10 well-defined levels divided into two different segments, including criteria for levels of sedation and agitation. Previous studies of the RASS have shown it to have strong reliability and validity. The aim of this study was to translate the RASS into Swedish and to test the inter-rater reliability of the scale in a Swedish ICU. Methods: A translation of the RASS from English into Swedish was carried out, including back-translation, critical review and pilot testing. The inter-rater reliability testing was conducted in a general ICU at a university hospital in the south of Sweden, including 15 patients mechanically ventilated and sedated. Forty in-pair assessments using the Swedish version of the RASS were performed and the inter-rater reliability was tested using weighted kappa statistics (linear weighting). Result: The translation of the RASS was successful and the Swedish version was found to be satisfactory and applicable in the ICU. When tested for inter-rater reliability, the weighed kappa value was 0.86. Conclusion: This study indicates that the Swedish version of the RASS is applicable with good inter-rater reliability, suggesting that the RASS can be useful for sedation assessment of patients mechanically ventilated in Swedish general ICUs
CSAW-M: An Ordinal Classification Dataset for Benchmarking Mammographic Masking of Cancer
No full textWelcome to the the CSAW-M dataset homepageThis page includes the files and metadata related to the CSAW-M, a curated dataset of mammograms with expert assessments of the masking of cancer.
CSAW-M is collected from over 10,000 individuals and annotated with potential masking. In contrast to the previous approaches which measure breast image density as a proxy, our dataset directly provides annotations of masking potential assessments from five specialists. We trained deep learning models on CSAW-M to estimate the masking level, and showed that the estimated masking is significantly more predictive of screening participants diagnosed with interval and large invasive cancers — without being explicitly trained for these tasks — than its breast density counterparts.
Please find the paper corresponding to our work here and the GitHub repo here.CSAW-M Research Use LicensePlease read carefully all the terms and conditions of the CSAW-M Research Use License.
How to access the dataset:If you want to get access to the data, please use the "Request access to files" option above (currently, non-Swedish researchers need to have a general figshare account to be able to to request access). We will ask you to agree to our terms of conditions and provide us with some information about what you will use the data for. We will then receive the request and process it, after which you would be able to download all the files.If you use this Work, please cite our paper:@article{sorkhei2021csaw,
title={CSAW-M: An Ordinal Classification Dataset for Benchmarking Mammographic Masking of Cancer},
author={Sorkhei, Moein and Liu, Yue and Azizpour, Hossein and Azavedo, Edward and Dembrower, Karin and Ntoula, Dimitra and Zouzos, Athanasios and Strand, Fredrik and Smith, Kevin},
year={2021}
}</div
Explicitness of Task Instructions Supports Motor Learning and Modulates Engagement of Attentional Brain Networks
No full textMotor learning is a complex cognitive and motor process underlying neurorehabilitation. Cognitive (e.g., attentional) engagement is important for motor learning, especially early in the learning process. In this study, we investigated if task instructions enforcing the underlying task rule of a virtual sailing task modulate attentional engagement and motor learning. Our results suggest that enforcing the rule of a motor task using explicit knowledge or visual cues enhances motor learning compared with no enforcement of task rules. Further, training with visual cues may support early visuo-attentional engagement.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Human-Robot Interactio
Genetic association study of QT interval highlights role for calcium signaling pathways in myocardial repolarization.
No full textThe QT interval, an electrocardiographic measure reflecting myocardial repolarization, is a heritable trait. QT prolongation is a risk factor for ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death (SCD) and could indicate the presence of the potentially lethal mendelian long-QT syndrome (LQTS). Using a genome-wide association and replication study in up to 100,000 individuals, we identified 35 common variant loci associated with QT interval that collectively explain ∼8-10% of QT-interval variation and highlight the importance of calcium regulation in myocardial repolarization. Rare variant analysis of 6 new QT interval-associated loci in 298 unrelated probands with LQTS identified coding variants not found in controls but of uncertain causality and therefore requiring validation. Several newly identified loci encode proteins that physically interact with other recognized repolarization proteins. Our integration of common variant association, expression and orthogonal protein-protein interaction screens provides new insights into cardiac electrophysiology and identifies new candidate genes for ventricular arrhythmias, LQTS and SCD
Variable feeding behavior in Orchestoidea tuberculata (Nicolet 1849)
No full textAbstract: The feeding behavior of algal consumers inhabiting sandy beaches and the consequences of this behavior on their performance are poorly understood. Food quality has been shown to influence the food preference of algal consumers. However, food preference can often be altered or subordinated to habitat choice. This study analyzes the feeding behavior (preference and consumption rate), absorption efficiency and growth rates of the talitrid amphipod Orchestoidea tuberculata (Nicolet, 1849) in relation to the nutritional characteristics of two of the most common macroalgae stranded in the Chilean north-central region. Our experiments show that these amphipods prefer Macrocystis integrifolia over Lessonia nigrescens when presented with fresh fragments of both algae simultaneously. However, this preference did not match the performance of the amphipods when reared on diets of a single algal species: in that growth rates were not different. These results suggest that M. integrifolia is not a superior food item compared to L. nigrescens. The lower content of proteins and total organic matter found in M. integrifolia supports this interpretation. The preference of the amphipods for L. nigrescens over M. integrifolia when dry powdered algae of each species were provided (artificial food), suggested that some aspect of the physical structure of these two algae determined food preference. When the amphipods were maintained with each of the algal species in no choice experiments, they consumed 2 times more M. integrifolia, but showed higher absorption efficiency on L. nigrescens. These results suggest that food quantity and not absorption efficiency was used to compensate for the lower nutritional quality of M. integrifolia. The feeding behavior documented in this study differs significantly from that observed in populations of the same species inhabiting southern Chile, cautioning against generalizing results obtained even within a single species. Our results suggest that physical features rather than chemical characteristics of the food drive feeding preferences, including the potential (indirect) roles played by the fronds of these seaweeds as refuges against competition and desiccation
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