Fundación Bancaria Caixa d’Estalvis i Pensions de Barcelona

BACKGROUND: Myostatin has been proposed as a candidate biomarker for frailty and sarcopenia. However, the relationship of myostatin with these conditions remains inconclusive. OBJECTIVE: To determine the association of serum myostatin concentration with body composition, physical fitness, physical activity level, and frailty in long-term nursing home residents. We also aimed to ascertain the effect of an exercise program on myostatin levels. METHODS: We obtained study data on 112 participants from long-term nursing homes. Participants were randomly assigned to a control or an intervention group and performed a 6-month multicomponent exercise program. Serum myostatin levels were analyzed by ELISA. Assessments also included body composition (anthropometry and bioelectrical impedance), physical fitness (Senior Fitness Test), physical activity level (accelerometry), and frailty (Fried frailty criteria, Clinical Frailty Scale, and Tilburg frailty indicator). RESULTS: The concentration of myostatin at baseline was positively correlated with: a leaner body composition (p < 0.05), and a higher number of steps per day and light and moderate-vigorous physical activity in women (p < 0.005); greater upper and lower limb strength, endurance, and poorer flexibility (p < 0.05) in men; and better performance (less time) in the 8-ft timed up-and-go test in both women (p < 0.01) and men (p < 0.005). We observed higher concentrations of serum myostatin in non-frail than in frail participants (p < 0.05). Additionally, we found that the implemented physical exercise intervention, which was effective to improve physical fitness, increased myostatin concentration in men (p < 0.05) but not in women. The improvements in physical condition were related with increases in serum myostatin only in men (p < 0.05-0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Higher serum levels of myostatin were found to be associated with better physical fitness. The improvements in physical fitness after the intervention were positively related to increases in myostatin concentrations in men. These results seem to rule out the idea that high serum myostatin levels are indicative of frailty in long-term nursing home residents. However, although the direction of association was opposite to that expected for the function of myostatin, the use of this protein as a biomarker for physical fitness, rather than frailty, merits further study.

In the last 15 years, Spain has witnessed a large increase in housing prices and in the importance of the housing sector, which has refreshed the debate on the drivers of housing cycles. Since Spain joined the European Monetary Union (EMU), two main important factors behind the housing boom appear to be the decrease of nominal interest rates due to the disappearance of currency risk premia, and demographic factors related to immigration and changing patterns in household composition. In order to assess the importance of these and other factors, in this paper we estimate a New Keynesian model of a currency area with durable goods, using data for Spain and the rest of the EMU. We find that parameter estimates are similar to the ones estimated in the literature, in that, in particular, durable goods prices are more flexible than nondurable consumption goods. We find that housing demand and technology shocks are the main driver of the recent housing boom. Finally, we examine the role of different rigidities suggested in the literature to help the model fit the data. We find that labor market frictions, that in the model imply costly labor reallocation across sectors, are crucial to explain main features of the data. On the other hand, financial frictions that impose a collateral constraint on borrowing do not appear to be relevant.

Abstract This paper examines volatility transmission and conditional correlations behaviour between the US and the Asian stock markets considering the effect of the Global Financial crisis. One Asian mature market and 10 emerging markets are included in the sample. To carry out the analysis, we use a multivariate asymmetric GARCH model. Results show that there exists volatility transmission between the US and the Asian markets. Moreover, it is found that, after the crisis, volatility transmission patterns have barely changed. Finally, results suggest that the lower the country‘s level of development, the lower the correlation with the USA.

This article reports on current research on stereotypes in a group of blind children in Barcelona, Spain. The goal of this research is to establish the causes of stereotypic behavior and to try to understand what it means. We have taken into account stereotypes present in primates as well as stereotypes sighted children exhibit during normal development. Mannerisms and blindisms covering a range of verbal and motor behavior are defined and discussed, as are the variables of behavior related to them.

This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.

Coleccion ReSed. Es un articulo de ReSed No 3, perteneciente al monografico Crisis Social, Educacion y Desarrollo Profesional. Coordinacion del Monografico: Dra. Montserrat Vargas Vergara Direccion de ReSed: Dra. A-Beatriz Perez-Gonzalez

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El presente artículo analiza la correlación entre Estados Unidos y Asia teniendo en cuenta el impacto de la crisis financiera actual. Dentro de los países asiáticos se escoge un mercado desarrollado, Japón, y distintos mercados emergentes, entre los cuales se encuentran los tigres asiáticos, los tigres menores y China. Los resultados empíricos muestran que a medida que el grado de desarrollo del mercado asiático analizado disminuye, la correlación con Estados Unidos es inferior. This paper analyses the behaviour of correlations between the USand the Asian stock markets taking into account the effect of the Global Financial crisis. Within the Asian markets, one Asian mature country, Japan, and ten emerging markets, which are the four Asian Tigers, the four Asian Tiger Cubs and China, are included in the sample. Empirical results show the level of correlations depends on the country's grade of development.