Age effects, unobserved characteristics and hedonic price indexes: The Spanish car market in the 1990's

This paper computes and compares alternative quality-adjusted price indexes for new cars in Spain in the period 1990-2000. The proposed hedonic approach simultaneously controls for time-invariant unobserved product effects and time-variant unobserved quality changes, that are assumed to be captured by model age effects. The results show that the non-adjusted price index largely overstates the increase in the cost of living induced by changes in car prices and that previous evidence for this market have not measured the real extent of that bias, probably due to the omission of controls for unobservables. It is also shown that omitting age effects can also lead to misleading conclusions. The estimated price indexes give also some insights on what could have been the determinants of price evolution in the Spanish car market. JEL classi…fication numbers: C43, E31, L11, L13, Keywords: Hedonic price indexes, Spanish car market, car prices, CPI, Cost of living

The Epidemiological Impact of Antimeningococcal B Vaccination in Cuba

The incidence of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) before (1984-1988) and after (1989-1994), a nationwide intervention with VA-MENGOC-BC vaccination started in 1989, was compared. The prevaccination period incidence density (ID> 8.8/ 105 year-person) was higher than the postvaccination ID (ID< 6.5/ 105 year-person). The percentage proportional differences from the start to the end of each period of ID in the vaccinal period was higher (87%) than the prevaccinal (37%) with significant differences among vaccinated groups (< 25 years old). A break-point (Chow test) was confirmed by the decrease in the ID between 1989 and 1990 in children under 1 year old, 5-9, 10-14, 15-19 and 50-54 years. Comparison of ID using maps showed a decrease in IMD in all municipalities during the postvaccination period. These findings support the epidemiological impact of VA-MENGOC-BC vaccination in the reduction of IMD morbidity.

Description of Eimeria motelo sp. n. (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) from the yellow footed tortoise, Geochelone denticulata (Chelonia: Testudinidae), and replacement of Eimeria carinii Lainson, Costa & Shaw, 1990 by Eimeria lainsoni nom. nov.

Eimeria motelo sp. n. is described from faeces of the yellow-footed tortoise, Geochelone denticulata (L.). Oocysts are irregularly ellipsoidal or cylindrical, with slightly expressed lobed protrusions and irregularities at the poles, possibly caused by wrinkling of the oocyst wall, 17 (15-19) × 9.4 (8.5-11) µm, shape index (length/width) being 1.81 (1.45-2). The oocyst wall is smooth, single-layered, 0.5 µm thick with no micropyle. There are no polar bodies. Sporocysts are ellipsoidal, 8.9 (7.5-10) × 4.4 (4-5) µm, shape index 2.03 (1.7-2.5). A sporocyst residuum is present, composed of many granules of irregular size. The sporozoites are elongate, lying lengthwise in the sporocysts. Comparison with other species of the genus Eimeria parasitising members of family Testudinidae indicates that the presently described coccidium represents a new species. The name of Eimeria carinii Lainson, Costa & Shaw, 1990 is found to be preoccupied by a homonym, Eimeria carinii Pinto 1928 given to a coccidium from Rattus norvegicus. Therefore, it is replaced by Eimeria lainsoni nom. nov.

Respiratory syncytial virus groups A and B in Porto Alegre, Brazil, from 1990 to 1995 and 1998

We analyzed the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) groups and their epidemiological pattern that were detected over the course of seven years in southern Brazil. The two RSV groups co-circulated each year, but frequencies of groups A and B varied both between and within yearly outbreaks. In 1991, group A predominated over group B (p=0.0016). RSV outbreaks analyzed showed a temperature-dependent pattern and no association with rainfall, similarly to other countries from southern South America. Knowledge of the variants is important in terms of both diagnosis and definition of a vaccine composition.

Resistance of Biomphalaria occidentalis from Varzea das Flores dam, Minas Gerais, to Schistosoma mansoni infection detected by low stringency polymerase chain reaction

Biomphalaria occidentalis Paraense, 1981 from Varzea das Flores dam, MG, Brazil, was exposed to infection with Schistosoma mansoni. Individual infection was performed with 140 B. occidentalis and 100 B. glabrata snails using LE and SJ strains. Two groups of B. occidentalis were killed after seven day-miracidia exposure to detect S. mansoni DNA, through the low stringency polymerase chain reaction (LS-PCR), and were negative. The infection rates were 69.2% (LE strain) and 96.7% (SJ strain) for B. glabrata and 0% for B. occidentalis. LS-PCR enabled early resistance diagnosis.

Epidemiology of leishmaniasis in Ecuador: current status of knowledge - A review

Although leishmaniasis is regarded as a significant health problem in Ecuador by the Ministry of Health, and the incidence has increased over the last years, an official map on the geographic distribution of disease and sand fly vectors or a control strategy do not exist yet. This article reviews the current situation based on published information to improve our knowledge and understand the epidemiological situation of leishmaniasis in Ecuador in order to help future research and to develop a national control strategy. The disease is endemic in most provinces throughout Pacific coastal region, Amazonian lowlands, and some inter-Andean valleys with a total 21,805 cases reported during 1990-2003. Whereas cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is found throughout Ecuador, mucocutaneous leishmaniasis (MCL) appears to be restricted to the Amazon region; one, parasitologically unconfirmed case of visceral form was reported in 1949. Most human infections are caused by Leishmania (Viannia) spp., which is distributed in the subtropical and tropical lowlands; infections due to L. (Leishmania) spp. are found in the Andean highlands and in the Pacific lowlands as well. The proven vectors are Lutzomyia trapidoi and Lu. ayacuchensis. Canis familiaris, Sciurus vulgaris, Potos flavus, and Tamandua tetradactyla have been found infected with Leishmania spp. It is estimated that around 3000-4500 people may be infected every year, and that 3.1 to 4.5 millions people are estimated to be at risk of contracting leishmaniasis.

Report of an audit of child protection research in Ireland 1990-2009.

A total of 190 research documents were identified in line with the criteria agreed between the researchers and the CAAB, and are included in the audit. The key findings from the analysis of the audit are as follows:    - Research identified in the audit has tended to focus on child protection and the child protection system generally, as well as sexual abuse. This research has primarily been undertaken by clinicians and academics, and spans across sectors.   - Over half, (110 or 58%) of the research falls under the heading of policy/practice reviews/analysis. This is further reflected in the fact that the research most commonly focused on operating procedures, followed by practice issues and the policy framework, both in studies with a single focus and those with multiple foci.   - The most common type of publication was peer reviewed article (74 or 39%), with commissioned research accounting for just 7% (13). This is in line with the findings that 68% (128) of commissioning/publishing bodies and 74% (139) of research bodies were in the academic sector.   - The research published and/or commissioned by the statutory sector follows the pattern found in the audit generally, with the most common type of study being policy/practice review/analysis (27 or 48%) and the most common focus being operating procedures (22 or 39%).   - Information sources rarely incorporated primary research with children, with only 14 studies (8%) citing direct contact with children and young people. Information on children was more commonly gathered from case files, professionals and family members.   - The topics covered in the identified research were very wide-ranging but closely related to the primary subject area (type of abuse) and the sector in which the research was located.   One conclusion stated that: There is a shortage of child protection-focused research on the factors that cause and perpetuate child abuse, such as homelessness, addiction, parental mental illness and domestic violence. The need for material on these areas is demonstrated by the nature and scale of reports to the child protection system and the removal of some children from their families into out of home care as a result of the above mentioned adversities.This resource was contributed by The National Documentation Centre on Drug Use.

Dementia Research Impact Report (1990-2012)

Impact of Alzheimer's Society's dementia research programme 1990-2012. Full details and the publication can be accessed here.

The attractiveness of nations in global competition : an empirical assessment of the effects of country attractiveness on the success of strategy for hosting international sports events, 1990-2012

This dissertation aims to investigate empirical evidence on the importance and influence of attractiveness of nations in global competition. The notion of country attractiveness, which has been widely developed in the research areas of international business, tourism and migration, is a multi-dimensional construct to measure a country's characteristics with regard to its market or destination that attract international investors, tourists and migrants. This analytical concept provides an account of the mechanism as to how potential stakeholders evaluate more attractive countries based on certain criteria. Thus, in the field of international sport-event bidding, do international sport event owners also have specific country attractiveness for their sport event hosts? The dissertation attempts to address this research question by statistically assessing the effects of country attractiveness on the success of strategy for hosting international sports events. Based on theories of signaling and soft power, country attractiveness is defined and measured as the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic, social, and environmental attractiveness. This thesis proceeds to examine the concept of sport-event-hosting strategy and explore multi-level factors affecting the success in international sport-event bidding. By exploring past history of the Olympic Movement from theoretical perspectives, the thesis proposes and tests the hypotheses that economic, social and environmental attractiveness of a country may be correlated with its bid wins or the success of sport-event-hosting strategy. Quantitative analytical methods with various robustness checks are employed with using collected data on bidding results of major events in Olympic sports during the period from 1990 to 2012. The analysis results reveal that event owners of international Olympic sports are likely to prefer countries that have higher economic, social, and environmental attractiveness. The empirical assessment of this thesis suggests that high country attractiveness can be an essential element of prerequisites for a city/country to secure in order to bid with an increased chance of success.