We apply a shift-share approach and historical unionisation data from 1918 to study the impact of regional unionisation changes in Norway on regional wage and productivity growth, job-creation and -destruction and social security uptake during the period 2003-2012. As unionisation increases, wages grow. Lay-offs through plant closures and shrinking workplaces increase, causing higher retirement rates, while job creation, plant entry and other social security uptakes are unaffected. Productivity grows, partly by enhanced productivity among surviving and new firms and partly by less productive firms forced to close due to increased labour costs. Thus, unions promote creative destruction.

Hordeum brevisubulatum, known as fine perennial forage, is used for soil salinity improvement in northern China. Chloroplast (cp) genome is an ideal model for assessing its genome evolution and the phylogenetic relationships. We de novo sequenced and analyzed the cp genome of H. brevisubulatum, providing a fundamental reference for further studies in genetics and molecular breeding.

The cp genome of H. brevisubulatum was 137,155 bp in length with a typical quadripartite structure. A total of 130 functional genes were annotated and the gene of accD was lost in the process of evolution. Among all the annotated genes, 16 different genes harbored introns and the genes of ycf3 and rps12 contained two introns. Parity rule 2 (PR2) plot analysis showed that majority of genes had a bias toward T over A in the coding strand in all five Hordeum species, and a slight G over C in the other four Hordeum species except for H. bogdanil. Additionally, 52 dispersed repeat sequences and 182 simple sequence repeats were identified. Moreover, some unique SSRs of each species could be used as molecular markers for further study. Compared to the other four Hordeum species, H. brevisubulatum was most closely related to H. bogdanii and its cp genome was relatively conserved. Moreover, inverted repeat regions (IRa and IRb) were less divergent than other parts and coding regions were relatively conserved compared to non-coding regions. Main divergence was presented at the SSC/IR border.

This research comprehensively describes the architecture of the H. brevisubulatum cp genome and improves our understanding of its cp biology and genetic diversity, which will facilitate biological discoveries and cp genome engineering.

This research comprehensively describes the architecture of the H. brevisubulatum cp genome and improves our understanding of its cp biology and genetic diversity, which will facilitate biological discoveries and cp genome engineering.For the control of COVID-19, vaccination programmes provide a long-term solution. The amount of available vaccines is often limited, and thus it is crucial to determine the allocation strategy. While mathematical modelling approaches have been used to find an optimal distribution of vaccines, there is an excessively large number of possible allocation schemes to be simulated. Here, we propose an algorithm to find a near-optimal allocation scheme given an intervention objective such as minimization of new infections, hospitalizations, or deaths, where multiple vaccines are available. The proposed principle for allocating vaccines is to target subgroups with the largest reduction in the outcome of interest. We use an approximation method to reconstruct the age-specific transmission intensity (the next generation matrix), and express the expected impact of vaccinating each subgroup in terms of the observed incidence of infection and force of infection. The proposed approach is firstly evaluated with a simulated epidemic and then applied to the epidemiological data on COVID-19 in the Netherlands. Our results reveal how the optimal allocation depends on the objective of infection control. In the case of COVID-19, if we wish to minimize deaths, the optimal allocation strategy is not efficient for minimizing other outcomes, such as infections. In simulated epidemics, an allocation strategy optimized for an outcome outperforms other strategies such as the allocation from young to old, from old to young, and at random. Our simulations clarify that the current policy in the Netherlands (i.e., allocation from old to young) was concordant with the allocation scheme that minimizes deaths. The proposed method provides an optimal allocation scheme, given routine surveillance data that reflect ongoing transmissions. This approach to allocation is useful for providing plausible simulation scenarios for complex models, which give a more robust basis to determine intervention strategies.

Hypertension is a major threat to public health globally. Especially in sub-Saharan African countries, this coexists with high burden of other infectious diseases, creating a complex public health situation which is difficult to address. Tackling this will require targeted public health intervention based on evidence that well defines the at risk population. In this study, using retrospective data from two referral hospitals in Burundi, we model the risk factors of hypertension in Burundi.

Retrospective data of a sample of 353 randomly selected from a population of 4,380 patients admitted in 2019 in two referral hospitals in Burundi Military and University teaching hospital of Kamenge. The predictive risk factors were carried out by fixed effect logistic regression. Model performance was assessed with Area under Curve (AUC) method. Model was internally validated using bootstrapping method with 2000 replications. Both data processing and data analysis were done using R software.

Overall, 16.7% of the patnd associated risk factors of hypertension in Burundi raises a call for concern especially in this context where there exist an equally high burden of infectious diseases, other chronic diseases including chronic malnutrition. Targeting interventions based on these identified risk factors will allow judicious channel of resources and effective public health planning.Thickness of cotton fiber, referred to as fiber maturity, is a key determinant of fiber quality, lint yield, and textile performance. The cotton immature fiber (im) mutant has been used to study fiber maturity since its fiber is thinner than the wild type near isogeneic line (NIL), Texas Marker-1 (TM-1). The im phenotype is caused by a single recessive mutation of a pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) gene that reduces the activity of mitochondrial complex I and up-regulates stress responsive genes. However, the mechanisms altering the stress responses in im mutant are not well understood. Thus, we characterized growth and gas exchange in im and TM-1 under no stress and also investigated their stress responses by comparing gas exchange and transcriptomic profiles under high temperature. Phenotypic differences were detected between the NILs in non-fiber tissues although less pronounced than the variation in fibers. At near optimum temperature (28±3°C), im maintained the same photosynthetic performance as TM-1 by means of greater stomatal conductance. In contrast, under high temperature stress (>34°C), im leaves reduced photosynthesis by decreasing the stomatal conductance disproportionately more than TM-1. Transcriptomic analyses showed that the genes involved in heat stress responses were differentially expressed between the NIL leaves. These results indicate that the im mutant previously reported to have low activity of mitochondrial complex I displays increased thermosensitivity by impacting stomatal conductance. They also support a notion that mitochondrial complex I activity is required for maintenance of optimal photosynthetic performance and acclimation of plants to high temperature stress. These findings may be useful in the future efforts to understand how physiological mechanisms play a role in determining cotton fiber maturity and may influence stress responses in other crops.Sub-threshold autistic traits are common in the general population. Children with sub-threshold autistic traits have difficulties with social adaptation. Contactin-associated protein-like 2 (CNTNAP2) is associated with the development of Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and the single-nucleotide polymorphism rs2710102 (G/A) of CNTNAP2 is suggested to contribute to sub-threshold social impairments and intellectual disabilities. We recruited 67 children with Autistic disorder (AD) (49 boys, 18 girls, aged 38-98 months) and 57 typically developing (TD) children (34 boys, 23 girls, aged 53-90 months). We assessed the participants’ intelligence and social reciprocity using the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), respectively. Genomic DNA was extracted from the buccal mucosa and genotyped for rs2710102. A chi-square test revealed a significant association between genotype and group [χ2(2) = 6.56, p = 0.038]. When a co-dominant model was assumed, the results from linear regression models demonstrated that TD children with A-carriers (AA + AG) presented higher SRS T-scores [t(55) = 2.11, p = 0.039] and lower simultaneous processing scale scores of K-ABC [t(55) = -2.19, p = 0.032] than those with GG homozygotes. These associations were not significant in children with ASD. TD children with the rs2710102 A-allele may have more sub-threshold autistic traits than those with GG homozygotes, reflected in higher SRS scores and lower simultaneous processing scale scores. These results support the use of genetic evidence to detect sub-threshold autistic traits.

Existing studies have suggested an association between Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We investigated the relationship between Hp infection and NAFLD using controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) and other metabolic factors.

We conducted a retrospective cohort study of apparently healthy individuals who underwent liver Fibroscan during health screening tests between January 2018 and December 2018. Diagnosis of Hp infection was based on a serum anti-Hp IgG antibody test and CAP values were used to diagnose NAFLD.

Among the 1,784 subjects (mean age 55.3 years, 83.1% male), 708 (39.7%) subjects showed positive results of Hp serology. In the multivariate analysis, obesity (body mass index ≥25) (odds ratio [OR] 3.44, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.75-4.29), triglyceride (OR 2.31, 95% CI 1.80-2.97), and the highest tertile of liver stiffness measurement (OR 2.08, 95% CI 1.59-2.71) were found to be associated with NAFLD, defined by CAP ≥248 dB/m, while Hp-seropositivity showed no association with NAFLD. Serum levels of HDL cholesterol significantly decreased in subjects with Hp-seropositivity compared to HP-seronegativity in both groups with and without NAFLD (P<0.001).

While Hp seropositivity was not associated with CAP-defined NAFLD, serum HDL cholesterol level were negatively associated with Hp-seropositivity in both groups with and without NAFLD. Further clinical and experimental studies are necessary to determine the association between Hp infection and NAFLD.

While Hp seropositivity was not associated with CAP-defined NAFLD, serum HDL cholesterol level were negatively associated with Hp-seropositivity in both groups with and without NAFLD. Further clinical and experimental studies are necessary to determine the association between Hp infection and NAFLD.