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This study compares the humoral immune response of a cohort of renal transplant recipients (RTRs), in Trinidad & Tobago following two-dose primary immunization with non-mRNA vaccines amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. RTRs along with healthy, age-and gender-matched controls received either the adenoviral vector vaccine, AstraZeneca-Vaxzevria (AZ) or the inactivated vaccine, Beijing CNBG-BBIBP- CorV/Sinopharm (SP). Samples were taken after completion of a two-dose primary immunization during the period November 2021 to December 2021, at a mean interval of 138 days following immunization.38/72 RTRs (53 %) failed to generate any protective antibody responses, compared with 7/73 participants, approximately 10 % in the healthy, age and gender-matched control group. In the RTRs, there was no significant correlation of their antibody concentration with either the timing of sample collection or the interval since transplantation.The study provides necessary information about the humoral response after two- doses of non-mRNA vaccines in a group of transplant recipients.

In monetary economies the dynamics of the economy are determined by firms that make decisions based on the level of production and investment, according to expectations. The paper aims to evaluate the impact of uncertainty on the Bra-zilian economy for the period from 2003 to 2015. It discusses the impact and the way of conducting economic policy with reference to conventional behavior the-ory. The results show that the uncertainty persists on average between 4 and 5 months, and can reach 7 months. Moreover, the political dimension can be a source of stability or uncertainty, which through conventions reduces or prolongs the impulses arising from uncertainties.

IntroductionC-C chemokine receptor-2 (CCR-2) and C-C chemokine ligand-5 (CCL-5) play an important role in the migration of monocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells, and activated T cells against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb). Meanwhile, signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT-3) and suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS-3), activated by interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-10 in tuberculosis (TB) infection, play an important role in phagocytosis, inflammation, and granulomatous-forming processes that may lead to TB treatment success or failure. However, there are no data about the expression of those markers in tuberculous lymphadenitis. The characterization of those markers is very critical to put a fundamental basis to understand the homing mechanism of tuberculous lymphadenitis.Aim of studyThe specific objective of this study is to characterize the expression pattern of CCR-2-CCL-5, IL-6, IL-10, STAT-3, and SOCS-3 in tuberculous lymphadenitis.MethodsThe study was performed on 27 cases of tuberculous lymphadenitis node biopsies. The diagnosis of tuberculous lymphadenitis was based on the clinical criteria and the presence of the histological feature characteristic of TB granulomas. Afterward, immunohistochemistry was stained with CCR-2, CCL-5, IL-6, IL-10, STAT-3, and SOCS-3. A semiquantitative analysis of IHC images was performed to examine protein expression in stained preparations. The expression was also manually counted.ResultsCompared with the normal area, both lymphocytes and macrophages expressed strongly CCR-2-, CCL-5, and IL-6, while IL-10, STAT-3-, and SOCS-3- were expressed lowly. There was a strong positive correlation between CCR-2 with IL-6 (p = 0,83) and IL-10 (p = 0,83).ConclusionThe chronic infection process of tuberculous lymphadenitis was characterized by the expression of IL-10low, STAT-3low, SOCS-3low, CCR-2high, CCL-5high, and IL-6high.Clinical Trial RegistrationClinicaltrials.gov, identifier NCT05202548.

The aim of the present article is to further develop the line of research initiated by Oreiro et al. (2019) by expanding the database used to calculate the EQI and the EQG, but also to control the effects of variables other than the EQG, such as the amount of capital per worker, over the PCIG and to assess the impact of the determinants of the EQG, considering both price and non-price factors. Following Tregenna and Andreoni (2020), the EQI will be redefined as the ratio between the share of the workforce in the sectors of high technological intensity with respect to the share of the workforce in the sectors of medium and low technological intensity. The EQG will then be used as an independent variable to explain the behavior of the PCIG of a sample of 47 developing countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia from 2001 to 2014. JEL codes: C51, E24, O11

Training set construction is an important prerequisite to Genomic Prediction (GP), and while this has been studied in diploids, polyploids have not received the same attention. Polyploidy is a common feature in many crop plants, like for example banana and blueberry, but also potato which is the third most important crop in the world in terms of food consumption, after rice and wheat. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of different training set construction methods using a publicly available diversity panel of tetraploid potatoes. Four methods of training set construction were compared: simple random sampling, stratified random sampling, genetic distance sampling and sampling based on the coefficient of determination (CDmean). For stratified random sampling, population structure analyses were carried out in order to define sub-populations, but since sub-populations accounted for only 16.6% of genetic variation, there were negligible differences between stratified and simple random sampling. For genetic distance sampling, four genetic distance measures were compared and though they performed similarly, Euclidean distance was the most consistent. In the majority of cases the CDmean method was the best sampling method, and compared to simple random sampling gave improvements of 4–14% in cross-validation scenarios, and 2–8% in scenarios with an independent test set, while genetic distance sampling gave improvements of 5.5–10.5% and 0.4–4.5%. No interaction was found between sampling method and the statistical model for the traits analyzed.

Use of genomic prediction (GP) in tetraploid is becoming more common. Therefore, we think it is the right time for a comparison of GP models for tetraploid potato. GP models were compared that contrasted shrinkage with variable selection, parametric vs. non-parametric models and different ways of accounting for non-additive genetic effects. As a complement to GP, association studies were carried out in an attempt to understand the differences in prediction accuracy. We compared our GP models on a data set consisting of 147 cultivars, representing worldwide diversity, with over 39 k GBS markers and measurements on four tuber traits collected in six trials at three locations during 2 years. GP accuracies ranged from 0.32 for tuber count to 0.77 for dry matter content. For all traits, differences between GP models that utilised shrinkage penalties and those that performed variable selection were negligible. This was surprising for dry matter, as only a few additive markers explained over 50% of phenotypic variation. Accuracy for tuber count increased from 0.35 to 0.41, when dominance was included in the model. This result is supported by Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) that found additive and dominance effects accounted for 37% of phenotypic variation, while significant additive effects alone accounted for 14%. For tuber weight, the Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space (RKHS) model gave a larger improvement in prediction accuracy than explicitly modelling epistatic effects. This is an indication that capturing the between locus epistatic effects of tuber weight can be done more effectively using the semi-parametric RKHS model. Our results show good opportunities for GP in 4x potato.

The main objective of this work is to analyze the effects of Brazilian Labor Market Reform (BLMR) in the short run and, based on identified changes in the economy in recent decades, to verify how these changes have affected the labor market. Four methods were used in a complementary way: (i) employment quality index; (ii) panel data estimation method; (iii) synthetic control method and (iv) microdata analysis. We observed that there was no considerable increase in the quality of employment and formal employment and the rate of unemployment did not decrease after the implementation of these changes. Part of this dynamic is cyclical and related to exogenous shocks, such as the COVID pandemic on the Brazilian economy. Finally, according to econometric analysis, the rate of unemployment in Brazil is more responsive to investment rates and the business environment than to unit labor cost and changes in labor legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

En este artículo se propone desarrollar un modelo de crecimiento restringido por la balanza de pagos con el objetivo de analizar la importancia de la relación entre la desalineación del tipo de cambio real y la participación de la industria en el producto. A partir del trabajo de Gabriel, Jayme y Oreiro (2016) se amplía el modelo con la finalidad de abordar: i) la influencia de la competitividad de los precios en las exportaciones netas; ii) la movilidad de capitales; iii) la flexibilidad del tipo de cambio nominal; iv) el salario nominal como fracción del valor de la productividad del trabajo, y v) una relación cuadrática entre la tasa de crecimiento de la participación de la industria en el producto y la desalineación del tipo de cambio. Un resultado importante es que tanto los regímenes de cambio flexible como fijo son compatibles con una trayectoria de crecimiento equilibrado. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this work is to analyze the effects of Brazilian Labor Market Reform (BLMR) in the short run and, based on identified changes in the economy in recent decades, to verify how these changes have affected the labor market. Four methods were used in a complementary way: (i) employment quality index; (ii) panel data estimation method; (iii) synthetic control method and (iv) microdata analysis. We observed that there was no considerable increase in the quality of employment and formal employment and the rate of unemployment did not decrease after the implementation of these changes. Part of this dynamic is cyclical and related to exogenous shocks, such as the COVID pandemic on the Brazilian economy. Finally, according to econometric analysis, the rate of unemployment in Brazil is more responsive to investment rates and the business environment than to unit labor cost and changes in labor legislation.