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PURPOSEGut microbiota play an important role in human health, including cancer. Cancer and its treatment, in turn, may alter the gut microbiome. To understand this complex relationship, we profiled the gut microbiome of 356 Vietnamese patients with breast cancer.MATERIALS AND METHODSStool samples were collected before chemotherapy, with 162 pre- and 194 postsurgery. The gut microbiome was measured by shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Associations of gut microbial diversity, taxa abundance, and gut microbiome health index (GMHI) with sociodemographic, clinical factors, and tumor characteristics were evaluated.RESULTSPostsurgery samples were associated with significantly lower α- and β-diversities (P < .001) and showed significant differences in the abundance of 15% of 2,864 investigated taxa (false discovery rate [FDR]

This study investigates the nature of the Ukraine interest rate pass-through from January 2000 to November 11, 2018-the post-1999 era. The empirical results reveal a relatively high short-run interest pass-through of 0.724100 and a marginally overshooting long-run interest rate pass-through of 1.054309. The bounds test results indicate a strong long-term relationship between countercyclical monetary policy and market rates. These empirical findings suggest that the National Bank of Ukraine has been very effective in formulating and implementing its countercyclical monetary policy, in spite of the pervasive corruption, formidable political and economic challenges faced by the Ukrainian Republic over this sample period, the results are quite surprising.

Gardenia is a genus of about 140 different plant species of the Rubiaceae family. Previous studies have shown that terpenes and phenolics extracted from Gardenia sp. showed numerous potential bioactivities. In this study, the chemical constituents of G. angkorensis, their cytotoxic and αglucosidase inhibition activities were investigated. The phytochemical investigation of the dichloromethane extract of G. angkorensis leaves growing in Vietnam has led to the isolation of 19α-hydroxyoleanolic acid 3-Ο-β-D-glucuronopyranoside (1), chikusetsusaponin IVa, 3 β, 16 β, 21 β, 23, 24-pentahydroxy urs-12,18,20-trien-28-oic acid-γ-lactone (3), linalool glucoside and linalyl 6-O-α-L-arabinopyranosyl-β-D-glucopyranoside (5). The identities of the compounds were based on the analysis of their NMR data. Compound 1 showed moderate inhibition against αglucosidase with IC50 value of 58.01 ± 4.45 µM while compounds 3 (IC50 186.60 ± 4.68 µM) and 5 (IC50 239.53 ± 7.22 µM) exhibited weak cytotoxicity against the KB cell line and Hep G2 cell line (IC50 values 180.80 ± 7.16 µM, 253.95 ± 8.14 µM). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We theoretically study the plasmonic properties of graphene on bulk substrates and graphene-coated nanoparticles. The surface plasmons of such systems are strongly dependent on bandgap and Fermi level of graphene that can be tunable by applying external fields or doping. An increase of bandgap prohibits the surface plasmon resonance for GHz and THz frequency regime. While increasing the Fermi level enhances the absorption of the graphene-based nanostructures in these regions of wifi-waves. Some mechanisms for electric-wifi-signal energy conversion devices are proposed. Our results have a good agreement with experimental studies and can pave the way for designing state-of-the-art electric graphene-integrated nanodevices that operate in the GHz–THz radiation.

Ultrasensitive magnetic field sensors at low frequencies envisaged for applications on biosensors require the detection of superparamagnetic nanoparticles as biomarkers and weak biomagnetic fields. However, superparamagnetic nanoparticles can be magnetized and detected in the presence of a relatively large external magnetic field in which other low field sensors and flux concentrators cannot be used since those are saturated in the bias field. To overcome this problem, we made submicron-sized orthogonal magnetic tunnel junctions with an appropriate perpendicular anisotropy free layer. By applying a perpendicular external magnetic field, the magnetization in the magnetic free layer is brought into an unstable state. As a result, relatively high field sensitivity of 1.3%/Oe is achieved in the external field of about 975 Oe for the 300 nm magnetic tunnel junction. By tilting the angle of the bias field of 10 degrees from film normal, the maximum sensitivity of 4.5%/Oe was obtained at 295 Oe. We also investigated the low-frequency noise generated by the sensor for their capability to detect weak low-frequency magnetic signals. Noise equivalent signal of the device is estimated to be about 235 nT/√Hz from 1/f noise measurements which is suitable for single superparamagnetic nanoparticles detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since, in the NAFTA era, the Mexican economy is much more advanced in the manufacturing sector than those of other Latin American countries, Mexico competes directly with China for U.S. imports. This study empirically investigates the behavior of the Mexican peso/Chinese yuan, Mexican peso/U.S. dollar, and Chinese yuan/U.S. dollar real exchange rates to determine whether the exchange rate policies serve as contributing factors to the subpar performance of the Mexican economy. The empirical findings suggest that the Mexican, Chinese, and U.S. real exchange rates, over the sample period, prove consistent with predations of the purchasing power parity theory; therefore, exchange rate policies may not be a contributing factor to the poor performance of the Mexican economy

To study the magnetostriction of Co66Fe34 thin films, amorphous silicon microcantilevers were prepared by surface micromachining, and the 136 nm-thick magnetostrictive film was deposited by electron beam physical vapor deposition and patterned on top of the microcantilever structure. The magnetostriction of the Co66Fe34 films was confirmed by measuring the deflection of the cantilevers under a varying magnetic field, reaching displacements up to 8 nm. The configuration was simulated using COMSOL software, yielding a similar deflection behavior as a function of the magnetic field, with a film with a magneto strictive coefficient of λ S ~ 55 p.p.m. The experimental configuration uses a laser and a position sensitive detector to measure the displacement, based on an optical lever configuration, and a piezoelectric stage to calibrate the system.

The empirical results of this study reveal the following interesting characteristics of the Romanian banking sector over the December 1993 through August 2017 period. First, the spread between the lending-Central Bank’s discount rates was stable and adjusted to its long-run threshold asymmetrically. Second, lending institutions respond faster to contractionary than expansionary countercyclical monetary policy actions. This empirical finding suggests that Romanian commercial banks exhibit predatory rate setting behavior, which is consistent with those of their counterparts in advanced and emerging economies. Third, lending institutions respond to countercyclical monetary policy and the Romanian Central Bank authority effectively utilizes monetary policy to manage the economy as evidenced by the short-run dynamic and long-run Granger-causality from the discount rate to the banks’ lending rate. With respect to the time lags of the Romanian monetary policy found within the banking sector, the empirical results suggest that it takes almost two years for the lending rate to adjust to a monetary policy action completely.

The study is an investigation of the nature of the Russian interest rate pass-through from February 2011 to November 11, 2016. The empirical results reveal a relatively low short-run interest pass-through of 0.662937 and an incomplete long-run interest rate pass-through of 0.826353. The bounds test results indicate no long-term relationship between countercyclical monetary policy and market rates. These empirical findings suggest that the Russian Central Bank has not been very effective in formulating and implementing its countercyclical monetary policy. In light of the formidable political and economic challenges faced by the Russian Federation over this sample period, the results are hardly surprising.

This paper illustrates asymmetries in the Russian intermediation premium as measured by the spread between the commercial lending rate and the Central Bank’s policy related rate. Empirical results have shown that the Russian intermediation premium adjusts to the threshold faster when the Central Bank’s policy related rates increase relative to lending rates as opposed to when the Central Bank’s policy related rates move in the opposite direction. The findings of this paper suggest that during the period when the Russian Federation faced formidable challenges from a sharp decline in oil prices and reduced access to international capital markets due to Western sanctions, the Central Bank of Russia was not effective in utilizing countercyclical monetary policy to achieve macroeconomic objectives and commercial banks exhibited predatory pricing behavior.

This study utilizes an Autoregressive Distributed Lag model to investigate the nature of crude oil futures price pass-through since 2006. The empirical results reveal a very high but incomplete short-run pass-through rate from the crude oil futures price to the gasoline futures price of 0.849298 with a corresponding negative long-run pass-through rate of -0.2440894. These empirical findings suggest that traders in the U.S. oil and gasoline futures markets overreact to fluctuations in the crude oil futures price as evidenced by subsequent corrections made over the sample period. The result of the bounds test for a long-term relationship between these two futures prices is inconclusive. The empirical findings further suggest that U.S. futures market traders considered futures prices of gasoline three weeks earlier in determining the current trading price while taking only one week to respond completely to the shock in the crude oil futures price. The empirical findings of this investigation may address the core elements of the price dynamics of the crude oil and gasoline futures markets and advance inquiry into assessment tools that could manage a very complex market challenge, especially for policy makers in countries with transitional economies in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia.

The asymmetric, cointegrating relationship between the return on equity market and the narrowly defined money supply is documented. In fact, equity return and the monthly percentage change in the Colombian money supply M1 spread adjusts to the threshold value slower when a contractionary countercyclical policy action or an economic shock causes the money supply M1 to fall relative to the share price index, widening their spread, than when an expansionary countercyclical monetary policy action or a shock causes money supply M1 to move in the opposite direction, narrowing their spread. The empirical findings further indicate the impact lag on the Colombian monetary policy in the equity market is two years. These empirical findings should be of interest to both domestic and international investors who are interested in the Colombian equity market. The results also reveal the presence of both the neoclassical and the post-Keynesian positions on the relationship between equity return and money supply M1 in the Colombian financial market. In the age of globalization, these findings may provide a better understanding of the impact of the countercyclical monetary policy on the equity market in Latin American economies.