Political decentralization and corruption: Evidence from around the world

How does political decentralization affect the frequency and costliness of bribe extraction by corrupt officials? Previous empirical studies, using subjective indexes of perceived corruption and mostly fiscal indicators of decentralization, have suggested conflicting conclusions. In search of more precise findings, we combine and explore two new data sources—an original cross-national data set on particular types of decentralization and the results of a firm level survey conducted in 80 countries about firms' concrete experiences with bribery. In countries with a larger number of government or administrative tiers and (given local revenues) a larger number of local public employees, reported bribery was more frequent. When local—or central—governments received a larger share of GDP in revenue, bribery was less frequent. Overall, the results suggest the danger of uncoordinated rent-seeking as government structures become more complex.postprin

Clinical significance of serum vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 levels in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Aim: To evaluate the correlation between serum vascular cellular adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) levels and clinicopathological features in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: Ninety-six patients who underwent HCC resection were recruited in the study. Preoperative serum levels of soluble VCAM-1 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: Serum VCAM-1 level in HCC patients was inversely correlated with platelet count (r=-0.431, P<0.001) and serum albumin level (r=-0.279, P<0.001), and positively correlated with serum bilirubin level (r=-0.379, P<0.001). Serum VCAM-1 level was not associated with tumor characteristics such as tumor size, venous invasion, presence of microsatellite nodules, tumor grade and tumor stage. Serum VCAM-1 level was significantly higher in HCC patients with cirrhosis compared with those without cirrhosis (median 704 vs 546 ng/mL, P<0.001). Furthermore, a significantly better disease-free survival was observed in HCC patients with low VCAM-1 level (P=0.019). Conclusion: Serum VCAM-1 level appears to reflect the severity of underlying chronic liver disease rather than the tumor status in HCC patients, and low preoperative serum VCAM-1 level is predictive of better disease-free survival after surgery. Copyright © 2004 by The WJG Press.published_or_final_versio

Small molecule-mediated tribbles homolog 3 promotes bone formation induced by bone morphogenetic protein-2.

Although bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP2) has demonstrated extraordinary potential in bone formation, its clinical applications require supraphysiological milligram-level doses that increase postoperative inflammation and inappropriate adipogenesis, resulting in well-documented life-threatening cervical swelling and cyst-like bone formation. Recent promising alternative biomolecular strategies are toward promoting pro-osteogenic activity of BMP2 while simultaneously suppressing its adverse effects. Here, we demonstrated that small molecular phenamil synergized osteogenesis and bone formation with BMP2 in a rat critical size mandibular defect model. Moreover, we successfully elicited the BMP2 adverse outcomes (i.e. adipogenesis and inflammation) in the mandibular defect by applying high dose BMP2. Phenamil treatment significantly improves the quality of newly formed bone by inhibiting BMP2 induced fatty cyst-like structure and inflammatory soft-tissue swelling. The observed positive phenamil effects were associated with upregulation of tribbles homolog 3 (Trib3) that suppressed adipogenic differentiation and inflammatory responses by negatively regulating PPARγ and NF-κB transcriptional activities. Thus, use of BMP2 along with phenamil stimulation or Trib3 augmentation may be a promising strategy to improve clinical efficacy and safety of current BMP therapeutics

Site-specific incorporation of phosphotyrosine using an expanded genetic code.

Access to phosphoproteins with stoichiometric and site-specific phosphorylation status is key to understanding the role of protein phosphorylation. Here we report an efficient method to generate pure, active phosphotyrosine-containing proteins by genetically encoding a stable phosphotyrosine analog that is convertible to native phosphotyrosine. We demonstrate its general compatibility with proteins of various sizes, phosphotyrosine sites and functions, and reveal a possible role of tyrosine phosphorylation in negative regulation of ubiquitination

Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number Is Associated with Breast Cancer Risk

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number in peripheral blood is associated with increased risk of several cancers. However, data from prospective studies on mtDNA copy number and breast cancer risk are lacking. We evaluated the association between mtDNA copy number in peripheral blood and breast cancer risk in a nested case-control study of 183 breast cancer cases with pre-diagnostic blood samples and 529 individually matched controls among participants of the Singapore Chinese Health Study. The mtDNA copy number was measured using real time PCR. Conditional logistic regression analyses showed that there was an overall positive association between mtDNA copy number and breast cancer risk (Ptrend = 0.01). The elevated risk for higher mtDNA copy numbers was primarily seen for women with <3 years between blood draw and cancer diagnosis; ORs (95% CIs) for 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th quintile of mtDNA copy number were 1.52 (0.61, 3.82), 2.52 (1.03, 6.12), 3.12 (1.31, 7.43), and 3.06 (1.25, 7.47), respectively, compared with the 1st quintile (Ptrend = 0.004). There was no association between mtDNA copy number and breast cancer risk among women who donated a blood sample ≥3 years before breast cancer diagnosis (Ptrend = 0.41). This study supports a prospective association between increased mtDNA copy number and breast cancer risk that is dependent on the time interval between blood collection and breast cancer diagnosis. Future studies are warranted to confirm these findings and to elucidate the biological role of mtDNA copy number in breast cancer risk. © 2013 Thyagarajan et al

Factors associated with grade 1 hypertension: implications for hypertension care based on the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) in primary care settings

Background: A Reference Framework for Hypertension Care was recently developed by Hong Kong government to emphasise the importance of primary care for subjects with high blood pressure (BP). The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) interventional regime was recommended for patients aged 40–70 years with grade 1 hypertension (having systolic BP of 140-159 mmHg and/or diastolic BP of 90-99 mmHg). This study explored factors associated with grade 1 hypertension among subjects screened in primary care settings. Methods: The study sample consisted of community dwellers (N = 10,693) enrolled in a primary care programme in which participants overall had similar characteristics when compared to the Hong Kong population census. Invitation phone calls were given by trained researchers to a randomly selected subjects (N = 2,673, [50% of total subjects aged 40–70 years]) between January and June 2013. BP and body mass index (BMI) were measured by trained clinical professionals according to a standard protocol. Interviewer-administered survey questionnaires were used to collect self-report information on socio-demographics, family history, and lifestyle characteristics. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to explore factors associated with grade 1 hypertension. Adjusted odds ratios (aORs) were estimated with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results A total of 679 out of 2,673 subjects agreed to participate in the screening and completed the baseline assessment (100% completion rate), among which, 320 subjects (47.1%, [320/679]) were grade 1 hypertensive. Unhealthy diet (aOR = 2.19, 95%CI 1.04-4.62), irregular meals (aOR = 1.47, 95%CI 1.11-1.95), BMI &gt;27.5 kg/m2 (aOR = 1.87, 95%CI 1.53-2.27), duration of cigarette smoking (aOR = 1.83 per year), increased daily cigarette consumption (aOR = 1.59 per pack [20 cigarettes per pack]), duration of alcohol drinking (aOR = 1.65 per year), and higher frequency of weekly binge drinking (aOR = 1.87 per occasion) were independently associated with grade 1 hypertension. The increase in the number of risk factors combined significantly correlated with higher predicted probability of grade 1 hypertension. Conclusions: Dietary-intake factors were significantly associated with grade 1 hypertension, echoing the recommendation in the Reference Framework on incorporating dietary-related intervention based on the DASH approach for hypertension care in primary care settings. The association between aggregate risk factors and grade 1 hypertension should also be taken into consideration in long-term preventive strategy

High speed e-beam writing for large area photonic nanostructures-a choice of parameters

Photonic nanostructures are used for many optical systems and applications. However, some high-end applications require the use of electron-beam lithography (EBL) to generate such nanostructures. An important technological bottleneck is the exposure time of the EBL systems, which can exceed 24 hours per 1 cm2. Here, we have developed a method based on a target function to systematically increase the writing speed of EBL. As an example, we use as the target function the fidelity of the Fourier Transform spectra of nanostructures that are designed for thin film light trapping applications, and optimize the full parameter space of the lithography process. Finally, we are able to reduce the exposure time by a factor of 5.5 without loss of photonic performance. We show that the performances of the fastest written structures are identical to the original ones within experimental error. As the target function can be varied according to different purposes, the method is also applicable to guided mode resonant grating and many other areas. These findings contribute to the advancement of EBL and point towards making the technology more attractive for commercial applications

An introduction to Graph Data Management

A graph database is a database where the data structures for the schema and/or instances are modeled as a (labeled)(directed) graph or generalizations of it, and where querying is expressed by graph-oriented operations and type constructors. In this article we present the basic notions of graph databases, give an historical overview of its main development, and study the main current systems that implement them

The Formation and Evolution of the First Massive Black Holes

The first massive astrophysical black holes likely formed at high redshifts (z>10) at the centers of low mass (~10^6 Msun) dark matter concentrations. These black holes grow by mergers and gas accretion, evolve into the population of bright quasars observed at lower redshifts, and eventually leave the supermassive black hole remnants that are ubiquitous at the centers of galaxies in the nearby universe. The astrophysical processes responsible for the formation of the earliest seed black holes are poorly understood. The purpose of this review is threefold: (1) to describe theoretical expectations for the formation and growth of the earliest black holes within the general paradigm of hierarchical cold dark matter cosmologies, (2) to summarize several relevant recent observations that have implications for the formation of the earliest black holes, and (3) to look into the future and assess the power of forthcoming observations to probe the physics of the first active galactic nuclei.Comment: 39 pages, review for "Supermassive Black Holes in the Distant Universe", Ed. A. J. Barger, Kluwer Academic Publisher

Murine model for Fusarium oxysporum invasive fusariosis reveals organ-specific structures for dissemination and long-term persistence

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