A sub-national economic complexity analysis of Australia's states and territories. Regional Studies. This paper applies economic complexity analysis to the Australian sub-national economy (nine ...regions with 506 exported goods and services). Using a 2009 Australian multi-regional input-output table for base data, we determine the number of export goods or services in which each state and territory has a revealed comparative advantage, and visualize the complexity of Australia's interstate and international exports. We find that small differences in industrial capability and knowledge are crucial to relative complexity. The majority of states (especially Western Australia) export primarily resource-intensive goods, yet interstate trade has many complex products that are not currently internationally exported.
Background Telomere length has been associated with a healthy lifestyle and longevity. However, the effect of increased physical activity on telomere length is still unknown. Therefore, the aim was ...to study the relationship between changes in physical activity level and sedentary behaviour and changes in telomere length. Methods Telomere length was measured in blood cells 6 months apart in 49, 68-year-old, sedentary, overweight individuals taking part in a randomised controlled physical activity intervention trial. The intervention group received individualised physical activity on prescription. Physical activity was measured with a 7-day diary, questionnaires and a pedometer. Sitting time was measured with the short version of The International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Results Time spent exercising as well as steps per day increased significantly in the intervention group. Reported sitting time decreased in both groups. No significant associations between changes in steps per day and changes in telomere length were noted. In the intervention group, there was a negative correlation between changes in time spent exercising and changes in telomere length (rho=−0.39, p=0.07). On the other hand, in the intervention group, telomere lengthening was significantly associated with reduced sitting time (rho=−0.68, p=0.02). Conclusions Reduced sitting time was associated with telomere lengthening in blood cells in sedentary, overweight 68-year-old individuals participating in a 6-month physical activity intervention trial.
Telomere length (TL) is regarded as a marker of cellular aging due to the gradual shortening by each cell division, but is influenced by a number of factors including oxidative stress and ...inflammation. Parkinson's disease and atypical forms of parkinsonism occur mainly in the elderly, with oxidative stress and inflammation in afflicted cells. In this study the relationship between blood TL and prognosis of 168 patients with idiopathic parkinsonism (136 Parkinson's disease PD, 17 Progressive Supranuclear Palsy PSP, and 15 Multiple System Atrophy MSA) and 30 controls was investigated. TL and motor and cognitive performance were assessed at baseline (diagnosis) and repeatedly up to three to five years follow up. No difference in TL between controls and patients was shown at baseline, nor any significant difference in TL stability or attrition during follow up. Interestingly, a significant relationship between TL at diagnosis and cognitive phenotype at follow up in PD and PSP patients was found, with longer mean TL at diagnosis in patients that developed dementia within three years.
Cellular telomere length is linked to replicative life span. Telomere repeats are lost in peripheral blood cells in vivo by age, and women show less telomere attrition than men. Previous reports have ...indicated that telomere length and chromosome-specific telomere-length patterns partly are inherited. The mode of heredity has not been clarified, but a link to the X chromosome was recently suggested. We analyzed peripheral mononuclear cells from 49 unrelated families for telomere length using a real-time PCR method. Short-term cultured Epstein-Barr virus-transformed lymphoblasts from the same individuals (n = 130) were analyzed for ability to maintain telomere length and possible gender-linked inheritance. A statistically significant association between telomere lengths comparing father-son (P = 0.011, n = 20) and father-daughter (P = 0.005, n = 22) pairs was found. However, no correlation was observed between mother-daughter (P = 0.463, n = 23) or mother-son (P = 0.577, n = 18). The father-offspring correlation was highly significant (P < 0.0001), in contrast to mother-offspring (P = 0.361). Epstein-Barr virus cultures demonstrated in most cases telomere preservation inversely related to initial mononuclear cell telomere length with short telomeres displaying the most pronounced elongation. Telomere length is inherited, and evidence for a father-to-offspring heritage of this trait was obtained, whereas in vitro telomere length maintenance was found to be dependent on the initial telomere length.
The manufacturing sector is increasingly looking to innovation to ensure productivity growth, especially in high-cost operating environments to achieve non-price based competition. The paper begins ...with an overview of regulatory, technological and consumer trends and developments impacting manufacturing. It considers the shifting balance between fragmenting and concentrating forces of global supply chains, and how manufacturing firms themselves are changing. This overview is followed by a discussion of the pivotal constituents of success for firms operating in high-cost environments, and concludes with the fundamental importance of innovation as a basis for success.
The paper then discusses value creation, value appropriation, and design-based innovation, and argues that manufacturers need to understand key differences between these paradigms. In particular, the difference between art and design is articulated, to avoid an otherwise common confusion between the two. The importance of an inter- and trans-disciplinary approach to innovation is emphasized, including the use of four value creation strategies—science and technology, design, art, and reverse-hermeneutic innovation.
The paper concludes that the design-based innovation paradigm is increasingly important within the manufacturing industry, but that its benefit can only be maximized if it is integrated with the other three value-creating approaches to innovation.
•Design is one of several paradigms necessary for successful innovation in manufacturing.•Global trends are reshaping the manufacturing industry but increasing its importance as a basis for national wealth creation.•Manufacturing firms are seeking to maintain a basis for success in high-cost operating environments.•Design contributes to both value creation and value capturing innovations in manufacturing firms.•Innovation must integrate approaches from science and technology with design, art, and hermeneutical inquiry.•Common confusion between Art and Design.
BackgroundCartilage-hair hypoplasia (CHH) is an autosomal recessive chondrodysplasia caused by RMRP (RNA component of mitochondrial RNA processing endoribonuclease) gene mutations. Manifestations ...include short stature, variable immunodeficiency, anaemia and increased risk of malignancies, all of which have been described also in telomere biology disorders. RMRP interacts with the telomerase RT (TERT) subunit, but the influence of RMRP mutations on telomere length is unknown. We measured relative telomere length (RTL) in patients with CHH, their first-degree relatives and healthy controls and correlated RTL with clinical and laboratory features.MethodsThe study cohort included 48 patients with CHH with homozygous (n=36) or compound heterozygous RMRP mutations (median age 38.2 years, range 6.0–70.8 years), 86 relatives (74 with a heterozygous RMRP mutation) and 94 unrelated healthy controls. We extracted DNA from peripheral blood, sequenced the RMRP gene and measured RTL by qPCR.ResultsCompared with age-matched and sex-matched healthy controls, median RTL was significantly shorter in patients with CHH (n=40 pairs, 1.05 vs 1.21, p=0.017), but not in mutation carriers (n=48 pairs, 1.16 vs 1.10, p=0.224). RTL correlated significantly with age in RMRP mutation carriers (r=−0.482, p<0.001) and non-carriers (r=−0.498, p<0.001), but not in patients (r=−0.236, p=0.107). In particular children (<18 years) with CHH had shorter telomeres than controls (median RTL 1.12 vs 1.26, p=0.008). In patients with CHH, RTL showed no correlation with genotype, clinical or laboratory characteristics.ConclusionsTelomere length was decreased in children with CHH. We found no correlation between RTL and clinical or laboratory parameters.
Over the last decade, telomere length (TL) has gained attention as a potential biomarker in cancer disease. We previously reported that long blood TL was associated with a poorer outcome in patients ...with breast cancer and renal cell carcinoma. Based on these findings, we hypothesized that certain immunological components may have an impact on TL dynamics in cancer patients. One aim of the present study was to investigate a possible association between serum cytokines and TL of peripheral blood cells, tumors and corresponding kidney cortex, in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma. For this purpose, a multiplex cytokine assay was used. Correlation analysis revealed significant positive correlations between tumor TL and peripheral levels of three cytokines (IL-7, IL-8 and IL-10). In a parallel patient group with various kidney tumors, TL was investigated in whole blood and in immune cell subsets in relation to peripheral levels of regulatory T cells (Tregs). A significant positive association was found between whole blood TL and Treg levels. However, the strongest correlation was found between Tregs and TL of the T lymphocyte fraction. Thus, patients with higher Treg levels displayed longer T cell telomeres, which might reflect a suppressed immune system with fewer cell divisions and hence less telomere shortening. These results are in line with our earlier observation that long blood TL is an unfavorable prognostic factor for cancer-specific survival. In summary, we here show that immunological components are associated with TL in patients with renal cell carcinoma, providing further insight into the field of telomere biology in cancer.
The immunoglobulin variable heavy chain (IgVH) gene mutation status is an important prognostic factor in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), since cases with mutated VH genes show significantly ...longer survival than unmutated cases. Recently, we reported a preferential use of the VH3-21 gene in mutated CLL and showed that mutated VH3-21 cases had an inferior overall survival compared with other mutated CLL. In order to further characterize this subset, we performed VH gene analysis in 265 CLL cases and identified 31 VH3-21 cases (11.7%); 21 cases had mutated and 10 cases unmutated VH genes. Regardless of VH gene mutation status, a poor overall survival was found in the VH3-21 cases with a median survival of 83 months. These survival data confirm that VH3-21 cases do not fit into the general prognostic grouping of mutated and unmutated CLL. A large fraction of VH3-21 cases also demonstrated unique features with shorter lengths of the third complementarity determining region (CDR3) and CDR3s with highly homologous amino acid sequences. Furthermore, the VH3-21 cases showed a striking dominance of λ light chain expression, and analysis of the Igλ gene rearrangements revealed highly restricted use of the Vλ2-14/Jλ3 genes in the majority of cases. Taken together, our new findings strengthen the suggestion that VH3-21–using cases comprise a new CLL entity, irrespective of VH gene mutation status, and implicate that a common antigen epitope, perhaps of pathogenic significance, is recognized by the highly homologous VH3-21/Vλ2-14 Ig molecules expressed in individual tumors.
Telomere length shortens with cellular division, and leukocyte telomere length is used as a marker for systemic telomere length. The hippocampus hosts adult neurogenesis and is an important structure ...for episodic memory, and carriers of the apolipoprotein E ε4 allele exhibit higher hippocampal atrophy rates and differing telomere dynamics compared with non-carriers. The authors investigated whether leukocyte telomere length was associated with hippocampal volume in 57 cognitively intact subjects (29 ε3/ε3 carriers; 28 ε4 carriers) aged 49-79 yr. Leukocyte telomere length correlated inversely with left (r(s) = -0.465; p = 0.011), right (r(s) = -0.414; p = 0.025), and total hippocampus volume (r(s) = -0.519; p = 0.004) among APOE ε3/ε3 carriers, but not among ε4 carriers. However, the ε4 carriers fit with the general correlation pattern exhibited by the ε3/ε3 carriers, as ε4 carriers on average had longer telomeres and smaller hippocampi compared with ε3/ε3 carriers. The relationship observed can be interpreted as long telomeres representing a history of relatively low cellular proliferation, reflected in smaller hippocampal volumes. The results support the potential of leukocyte telomere length being used as a biomarker for tapping functional and structural processes of the aging brain.
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