Systematic Review of Medicine-Related Problems in Adult Patients with Atrial Fibrillation on Direct Oral Anticoagulants

New oral anticoagulant agents continue to emerge on the market and their safety requires assessment to provide evidence of their suitability for clinical use. There-fore, we searched standard databases to summarize the English language literature on medicine-related problems (MRPs) of direct oral anticoagulants DOACs (dabigtran, rivaroxban, apixban, and edoxban) in the treatment of adults with atri-al fibrillation. Electronic databases including Medline, Embase, International Pharmaceutical Abstract (IPA), Scopus, CINAHL, the Web of Science and Cochrane were searched from 2008 through 2016 for original articles. Studies pub-lished in English reporting MRPs of DOACs in adult patients with AF were in-cluded. Seventeen studies were identified using standardized protocols, and two reviewers serially abstracted data from each article. Most articles were inconclusive on major safety end points including major bleeding. Data on major safety end points were combined with efficacy. Most studies inconsistently reported adverse drug reactions and not adverse events or medication error, and no definitions were consistent across studies. Some harmful drug effects were not assessed in studies and may have been overlooked. Little evidence is provided on MRPs of DOACs in patients with AF and, therefore, further studies are needed to establish the safety of DOACs in real-life clinical practice

Default Rates in the Loan Market for SMEs: Evidence from Slovakia

The current crisis raises the question whether loans to SMEs in emerging markets areinherently more risky. We use a unique unbalanced panel of nearly 700 loans made toSMEs in Slovakia between 2000 and 2005. Several probit and panel probit models showthat liquidity and profitability factors are important determinants of SME defaults.Moreover, we find that indebtedness significantly increases the probability of default.Finally, liability as proxied by the legal form of SMEs has important incentive effects.In sum, default rates and factors converged to values found in developed financialmarkets

Empirical research on Waldorf education

Waldorf education began in 1919 with the first Waldorf School in Stuttgart and nowadays is widespread in many countries all over the world. Empirical research, however, has been rare until the early nineties and Waldorf education has not been discussed within educational science so far. This has changed during the last decades. This article reviews the results of surveys during the last 20 years and is mainly focused on German Waldorf Schools, because most investigations have been done in this field. Findings are reported with respect to the following central aspects of Waldorf education: the holistic and integrative approach, the self-governance in the organization of the Waldorf schools, the Waldorf curriculum, and the principle of class teachers from 1st to 8th grade. Furthermore, Waldorf education also provides its own unique teacher training. All of these aspects have been explored and evaluated from different points of view and with different methods. The results show strengths as well as weaknesses of Waldorf education in the daily practice in schools, which indicates the kinds of challenges Waldorf education will have to face in the upcoming decades. The authors themselves have contributed in several investigations to the field of Waldorf education

Abstract A16: Loss of Hugl1 induces an EGF-dependent cellular transdifferentiation

Abstract Maintenance of cell polarity and tissue architecture are essential in preventing neoplasia. Three different protein complexes control cellular polarity, including the Par3/aPKC/Par6 complex, the Crumbs/Pals/Patj complex and the Scribble/Dlg/Lgl complex. Of these, only the loss of Lgl promotes massive tissue growth and cellular migration in Drosophila as well as altered cellular polarity. Humans have two well-conserved homologs, Hugl1 and Hugl2. Expression of Hugl1 is downregulated, lost, or mutated in many cancers, including colorectal, endometrial, hepatocellular carcinoma, malignant melanomas, and breast cancer. We have previously examined the role of Hugl1 and Hugl2 in breast epithelial cells and found that Hugl1 loss results in a failure of growth control, gain of mesenchymal phenotypes, and a loss of both apicobasal and planar polarity. We have now determined that these phenotypes represent a fundamental change in cellular differentiation and that loss of Hugl1 results in cellular transdifferentiation. Loss of Hugl1 expression in breast epithelial cells results in the induction of a mixed-phenotype population (composed of CD44high/CD49flow and CD44low/CD49fhigh), whose growth and migration are driven by the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR). These populations exhibit increased anchorage-independent growth and form soft agar colonies in an EGF-dependent manner, and these behaviors are selectively enhanced in the CD44high/CD49flow population. Hugl1 loss results in the mislocalization of EGFR, resulting in TAZ and SLUG nuclear translocation. Together, these data indicate that when Hugl1 is lost in normal epithelial cells, polarity loss is accompanied by a transdifferentiation and increased anchorage-independent growth and migration. Citation Format: Erin Greenwood, David Ebertz, Anthony Fabiano, Joyce A. Schroeder. Loss of Hugl1 induces an EGF-dependent cellular transdifferentiation. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Breast Cancer Research; Oct 17-20, 2015; Bellevue, WA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2016;14(2_Suppl):Abstract nr A16.</jats:p