Subjective Well-Being, Income and Economic Margins

This paper uses the Swedish Level of Living Survey to study how satisfaction with living conditions and daily life covary with economic resources, in the cross-section and in a decade-long panel. We find that self-reported lack of economic margins is a powerful determinant of satisfaction, its magnitude being comparable even to that of marriage or cohabitation. In contrast, although income is positively associated with satisfaction, the relationship is less robust than for economic margins, and the estimated gradients vary substantially depending on the choice of satisfaction measure, income measure and model specification.-

Recent advances in vasoactive intestinal peptide physiology and pathophysiology: focus on the gastrointestinal system.

Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), a gut peptide hormone originally reported as a vasodilator in 1970, has multiple physiological and pathological effects on development, growth, and the control of neuronal, epithelial, and endocrine cell functions that in turn regulate ion secretion, nutrient absorption, gut motility, glycemic control, carcinogenesis, immune responses, and circadian rhythms. Genetic ablation of this peptide and its receptors in mice also provides new insights into the contribution of VIP towards physiological signaling and the pathogenesis of related diseases. Here, we discuss the impact of VIP on gastrointestinal function and diseases based on recent findings, also providing insight into its possible therapeutic application to diabetes, autoimmune diseases and cancer

Do payroll tax cuts raise youth employment?

In 2007, the Swedish employer-paid payroll tax was cut on a large scale for young workers, substantially reducing labor costs for this group. Using Difference-in- Differences paired with exact matching, we estimate a small impact, both on employment and on wages, implying a labor demand elasticity for young workers at around 􀀀0:31. Since the tax reduction applied also to existing employments, the cost of the reform was sizable, and the estimated cost per created job is at more than four times that of directly hiring workers at the average wage. Hence, we conclude that payroll tax cuts are an ineffcient way to boost employment for young individuals

Do payroll tax cuts raise youth employment?

In 2007, the Swedish employer-paid payroll tax was cut on a large scale for young workers, substantially reducing labor costs for this group. We estimate a small impact, both on employment and on wages, implying a labor demand elasticity for young workers at around -0.31. Since the tax reduction applied also to excisting employments, the cost of the reform was sizable, and the estimated cost per created job is at more than four times that of directly hiring workers at the average wage. Hence, we conclude that payroll tax cuts are an inefficient way to boost employment for young individuals

Endoscopic and clinical evaluation of treatment and prognosis of Cronkhite-Canada syndrome: a Japanese nationwide survey.

BackgroundFirst reported in 1955, Cronkhite-Canada syndrome (CCS), a rare syndrome characterized by ectodermal abnormalities and inflammatory changes of the gastrointestinal tract mucosa, has been associated with a poor prognosis and life-threatening malignant complications. In a large population survey, we endeavored to characterize the course and treatment outcome of CCS through clinical and endoscopic assessment, and to explore its optimal treatment and surveillance strategy.MethodsA retrospective analysis of 210 patients with CCS was conducted via a questionnaire-based nationwide survey of 983 teaching hospitals located throughout Japan. We assessed clinical features, endoscopic findings, treatments used, and short- and long-term outcomes.ResultsThe average age at diagnosis was 63.5 years. In all cases, upper or lower gastrointestinal tract polyposis was confirmed, accompanied by characteristic ectodermal abnormalities. Of the treatments used, oral corticosteroids (30-49 mg/day) were the most effective treatment for active disease, with adjunctive nutritional support considered beneficial. With corticosteroid treatment, abdominal symptoms were relieved within a few months, whereas polyp regression often required more than 6 months. Maintenance of endoscopic remission with or without steroids for 3 years significantly lowered the development of CCS-related cancer, compared with relapsers or nonresponders, underscoring the importance of sustained endoscopic remission for cancer prevention.ConclusionsThe prognosis of CCS has greatly improved through the use of improved medical treatment. Although CCS continues to be relentlessly progressive, carrying a high cancer risk, a sufficient dose and duration of corticosteroid therapy accompanied by nutritional support and periodic endoscopic surveillance appears to improve its natural history

Combined treatment with dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) inhibitor sitagliptin and elemental diets reduced indomethacin-induced intestinal injury in rats via the increase of mucosal glucagon-like peptide-2 concentration.

The gut incretin glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and the intestinotropic hormone GLP-2 are released from enteroendocrine L cells in response to ingested nutrients. Treatment with an exogenous GLP-2 analogue increases intestinal villous mass and prevents intestinal injury. Since GLP-2 is rapidly degraded by dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4), DPP4 inhibition may be an effective treatment for intestinal ulcers. We measured mRNA expression and DPP enzymatic activity in intestinal segments. Mucosal DPP activity and GLP concentrations were measured after administration of the DPP4 inhibitor sitagliptin (STG). Small intestinal ulcers were induced by indomethacin (IM) injection. STG was given before IM treatment, or orally administered after IM treatment with or without an elemental diet (ED). DPP4 mRNA expression and enzymatic activity were high in the jejunum and ileum. STG dose-dependently suppressed ileal mucosal enzyme activity. Treatment with STG prior to IM reduced small intestinal ulcer scores. Combined treatment with STG and ED accelerated intestinal ulcer healing, accompanied by increased mucosal GLP-2 concentrations. The reduction of ulcers by ED and STG was reversed by co-administration of the GLP-2 receptor antagonist. DPP4 inhibition combined with luminal nutrients, which up-regulate mucosal concentrations of GLP-2, may be an effective therapy for the treatment of small intestinal ulcers

Sometimes Small Is Beautiful: Discovery of the Janus Kinases (JAK) and Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (STAT) Pathways and the Initial Development of JAK Inhibitors for IBD Treatment.

The Janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transfection (JAK/STAT) system is comprised of multiple cell surface receptors, receptor tyrosine kinases, and signal transducers that are key components of numerous systems involved in malignancy, inflammation, immune surveillance and development, cellular proliferation, metabolism, differentiation, apoptosis, and hematologic disorders, all of which when disrupted can produce severe disease. Nevertheless, small molecule inhibitors of the four known JAKs, termed JAKinibs, have found therapeutic indications for a broad category of diseases. In this perspective, I will summarize the development of JAK inhibitors, whose origins were in antiquity, with particular attention to their use in treating patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This perspective is accompanied by a companion publication addressing how JAKinibs have forever altered the landscape of IBD therapy

Multirate Control of a DVD Player

In this master theses an existing control system of a DVD player has been modified such that it has become more feasible to implement using limited hardware resources. The discrete controller has already been implemented for evaluation purposes using FPGA technology, and is working well. So far however, low resource consuption has not been a major concern. This is gradually changing though, as more features are being planned for the same hardware, potentially taking up more resources than currently available. The approach taken here is to use high level software tools and a powerful general purpose real-time processor to create a new software implementation of the controller and use it to control the real DVD drive. Using this setup, some interesting design parameters for possible custom hardware implementations has been evaluated under real circumstances. One notable such parameter, which is highly correlated to the size of the resulting FPGA implementation, is the choice of wordlength for the representation of signals, states and coefficients in the controller. To efficiently reduce this parameter, the design of the controller has been altered somewhat to make it less sensitive to the lower numerical accuracies introduced, leading to a multirate controller. To analyse what impact the suggested changes would have on the performance of the control system, extensive tests has been made with different design parameters. This includes experiments with trackjumps, which are highly dependent on the properties of the controller. The tests have indicated what savings that seem possible to achieve under the prevailing conditions. Sammanfattning I detta examensarbete har ett reglersystem för en DVD-spelare modifierats så att det bättre lämpar sig att implementeras med begränsade hårdvaruresurser. Den diskreta regulatorn finns redan implementerad med FPGA-teknik i utvärderingssyfte, och fungerar bra. Hittills har dock inte låg resursförbrukning varit av högsta prioritet. Detta håller på att förändras då fler funktioner, som kan behöva mer resurser än vad som finns tillgängliga i nuläget, planeras för samma hårdvara. Tillvägagångssättet har varit att använda avancerade programvaruverktyg och en kraftfull generell realtidsprocessor för att skapa en ny mjukvaruimplementation av regulatorn och använda denna för att styra den riktiga processen. Med denna uppsättning har sedan vissa intressanta designparametrar för potentiella hårdvaruimplementationer kunnat studeras under verkliga förhållanden. En speciellt intressant sådan parameter, som i hög grad påverkar storleken på den resulterande FPGA-kretsen, är valet av ordlängd för signaler, tillstånd och koefficienter i regulatorn. För att effektivt kunna minska denna parameter har designen av regulatorn behövt ändras något för att göra den mindre känslig mot högre numerisk osäkerhet, vilket lett till en multirateregulator. För att analysera vilka effekter de föreslagna ändringarna skulle ha på regulatorns prestanda, har tester gjorts med olika designparametrar. Även tester av spårhopp har gjorts då dessa är särskilt beroende av regulatorns egenskaper. Dessa tester har gett en fingervisning om hur stora besparingar som verkar möjliga att uppnå under gällande omständigheter