In the mid 2000s the oil and gas industry was hit by what might be best described as a 'wall of cash' as oil prices successively reached new record levels and access to external financing improved greatly. In this article we investigate what this sudden abundance of liquidity implied for the investment-cash flow relationship, the interpretation of which continues to generate controversy in the lit

The genus Katatopygia gen. n. is proposed for the Boletina erythropyga/punctus-group that was first introduced by Garrett (1924, 1925) and currently comprises eight described species. Molecular studies have strongly indicated that this group forms a monophyletic sister-group to a clade consisting of all other Boletina, Coelosia and Gnoriste, and its monophyly is supported by morphological data as

In this Botanical Briefing we describe how the interactions between plants and their biotic environment can change during range-expansion within a continent and how this may influence plant invasiveness. We address how mechanisms explaining intercontinental plant invasions by exotics (such as release from enemies) may also apply to climate-warming-induced range-expanding exotics within the same co

AIM: To assess whether gemcitabine-based combination therapy improves the prognosis of unresectable pancreatic cancer compared with gemcitabine treatment alone. METHODS: A quantitative up-to-date meta-analysis was undertaken to investigate the efficacy of gemcitabine-based combination treatment compared with gemcitabine monotherapy in locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic cancer. Inclusion was

Carotenoid-based integument colouration is extremely widespread in the animal kingdom. It has been hypothesized that carotenoid colouration is used for communicating the health status of the bearers because carotenoids are efficient immunomodulators or antioxidants. However, the latter argument has been recently debated and the mechanisms by which carotenoids modulate immunity or oxidative balance

We screened promoter region of the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) for activating somatic mutations in 188 tumors from patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Twelve tumors (6.4%) carried a mutation within the core promoter region of the gene. The mutations were less frequent in high grade tumors compared to low grade tumors [odds ratio (OR)=0.15, 95% confidence interval (CI

The clinical presentation of type 1 diabetes is preceded by a prodrome of beta cell autoimmunity. We probed the short period of subtle metabolic abnormalities, which precede the acute onset of diabetes in the spontaneously diabetic BB rat, by analyzing the serum metabolite profile detected with combined gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS

Emission trading schemes (ETS) have emerged as a popular climate policy measure and are increasingly advocated as policy instruments to support the transition to a green economy. Using complementary analytical methods, this research investigated the institutional developments and complexities of the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (NZ ETS). It focuses on (1) institutional experience and admin

The long-term prognosis of patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) aged 45years or younger and differences according to gender have not been well characterized.

The current paper considers the asymptotic local power of second-generation panel unit root tests that are robust to the presence of cross-section dependence in the form of common factors. As a basis for our analysis, we take the PANIC approach of Bai and Ng (A PANIC Attack on Unit Roots and Cointegration, Econometrica 72, 1127–1177, 2004; Panel Unit Root Tests with Cross-Section Dependence: A Fur

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression. There have been several reports of miRNA deregulation in prostate cancer and the biological evidence for an involvement of miRNAs in prostate tumorigenesis is increasing. In this study, we show that miR-34c is downregulated in prostate cancer (p = 0.0005) by performing qRT-PCR on 49 TURPs from prosta

For depth of field (DOF) rasterization, it is often desired to have an efficient tile versus triangle test, which can conservatively compute which samples on the lens that need to execute the sample-in-triangle test. We present a novel test for this, which is optimal in the sense that the region on the lens cannot be further reduced. Our test is based on removing half-space regions of the (u, v) -

This study was designed to evaluate feasibility and lymphatic complications of robotic pelvic and infrarenal paraaortic lymphadenectomy in endometrial cancer patients.

Most existing remote sensing-based evapotranspiration (ET) algorithms rely exclusively on polar-orbiting satellites with thermal infrared sensors, and therefore the resulting ET values represent only "instantaneous or snapshot" values. However, daily ET is more meaningful and useful in applications. In this study, daily ET estimates are obtained by combining data from the MODIS sensor aboard the p

Outcomes for patients with oesophago-gastric cancer are variable across Europe. The reasons for this variability are not clear. The aim of this study was to describe and analyse clinical pathways to understand differences in service provision for oesophageal and gastric cancer in the countries participating in the EURECCA Upper GI group.

Pilgrimstad in central Sweden is an important locality for reconstructing environmental changes during the last glacial period (the Weichselian). Its central location has implications for the Scandinavian Ice Sheet as a whole. The site has been assigned an Early Weichselian age (marine isotope stage (MIS) 5 a/c; > 74 ka), based on pollen stratigraphic correlations with type sections in continental

This study reports findings from the first large-scale experiment investigating whether entrepreneurs differ 1 from other people in their willingness to expose themselves to various forms of uncertainty. A stratified random sample of 700 chief executive officers from the Yangzi delta region in China is compared to 200 control group members. Our findings suggest that in economic decisions, entrepre