The Conservativeness of the Central Bank when Institutional Quality is Poor

We propose an extension of Alesina and Tabellini 's model (1987) to include corruption, which is understood as the presence of weak institutions collecting revenue through formal tax channels. This paper analyses how conservative should an independent central bank be when the institutional quality is poor. When there are no political distortions, we show that the central bank has to be more conservative than the government, except with complete corruption. In this particular case, the central bank should be as conservative as the government. Further, we obtain that the relationship between the optimal relative degree of conservativeness of the central bank and the degree of corruption is affected by supply shocks. Concretely, when these shocks are not important, the central bank should be less conservative if the degree of corruption increases. However, this result may not hold when the shocks are relevant. JEL classi fication: D6, D73, E52, E58, E62, E63. Keywords: Central Bank Conservativeness; Corruption; Fiscal Policy; Monetary Policy; Seigniorage.

Fermeture percutanée de l'auricule gauche: un nouvel espoir pour le patient en fibrillation auriculaire [Percutaneous closure of left atrial appendage: a new hope for patients with atrial fibrillation?].

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia. The risk of thromboembolic events is important, and at that time, there is no definite treatment for AF. Oral anticoagulation also represents a hemorrhagic risk factor. Ninety percent of atrial thrombi are located within the left atrial appendage. The percutaneous closure of this left atrial appendage with a device has been shown to decrease thromboembolic events even after interruption of oral anticoagulation as compared to warfarin in a recent randomized study. Recent data support this innovative technique as a reasonable alternative to long term anticoagulation in patients at high risk of bleeding.

Nonmolecular methods for the diagnosis of respiratory fungal infections.

Diagnosis of invasive fungal pneumonias by conventional culture methods is difficult to assess and often delayed. Nonmolecular fungal markers have emerged as an important adjunctive tool to support their diagnosis in combination with other clinical, radiologic, and microbiological criteria of invasive fungal diseases. Concerns about the sensitivity and specificity of some tests in different patient populations should lead to warnings about their widespread use. None can identify the emerging and particularly deadly fungal pathogens responsible for mucormycosis. The role of nonmolecular fungal markers should be better defined in combination with other microbiological and radiologic tools in preemptive antifungal strategies.

Calcitic nanofibers in soils and caves : a putative fungal contribution to carbonatogenesis

The origin of soil mineralized nanofibres remains controversial. It is attributed to either biogenic factors or physicochemical processes. Scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope observations show that nanofibres could originate from the breakdown of fungal hyphae, especially its cell wall. It is hypothesized that during the decay of organic matter, cell wall microfibrils are released in the soil where they are exposed to mineralizing pore fluids, leading to their calcitic pseudomorphosis and/or are used as a template for calcite precipitation. When associated with needle fibre calcite bundles, nanofibres could indicate the relict of an organic sheath in which calcite has precipitated. This paper emphasizes the important roles of both organic matter and fungi in carbonatogenesis, and consequently in the soil carbon cycle.

Frações de fósforo no solo após sucessivas aplicações de dejetos de suínos em plantio direto

O objetivo deste trabalho foi quantificar as frações de acumulação de fósforo em solo submetido a sucessivas aplicações de dejetos líquidos de suínos (DLS) em sistema de plantio direto. Em Santa Maria, RS, doses de 0, 20, 40 e 80 m³ ha-1 de DLS foram distribuídas a lanço por sete anos agrícolas, antes do plantio de cada cultivo de inverno ou verão, em Argissolo Vermelho arenoso, totalizando 0, 584, 1.168 e 2.336 kg ha-1 de P aplicado via dejetos. O solo foi coletado nas camadas 0-2, 4-6, 8-10, 14-16 e 20-25 cm, e submetido ao fracionamento químico de P. A adição do DLS ao solo durante sete anos aumentou o teor de P até 25 cm de profundidade, principalmente nas frações inorgânicas extraídas por resina trocadora de ânions, NaHCO3 0,5 mol L-1 e NaOH 0,1 mol L-1. As aplicações não aumentaram os teores de P orgânico extraído por NaHCO3 0,5 mol L-1, mas sim as frações orgânicas extraídas por NaOH 0,5 e 0,1 mol L-1. O DLS adicionado ao solo por longo período pouco afeta a partição de P em frações inorgânicas e orgânicas. As sucessivas aplicações de DLS aumentam o acúmulo de P em frações predominantemente lábeis no solo, o que representa um risco potencial para contaminação de águas superficiais e subsuperficiais.

Circulating sex steroids during pregnancy and maternal risk of non-epithelial ovarian cancer.

BACKGROUND: Sex steroid hormones have been proposed to play a role in the development of non-epithelial ovarian cancers (NEOC) but so far no direct epidemiological data are available.METHODS: A case-control study was nested within the Finnish Maternity Cohort, the world's largest bio-repository of serum specimens from pregnant women. Study subjects were selected among women who donated a blood sample during a singleton pregnancy that led to the birth of their last child preceding diagnosis of NEOC. Case subjects were 41 women with sex-cord stromal tumors (SCST) and 21 with germ cell tumors (GCT). Three controls, matching the index case for age, parity at the index pregnancy, and date at blood donation were selected (n=171). Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) associated with concentrations of testosterone, androstenedione, 17-OH-progesterone, progesterone, estradiol and sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) were estimated through conditional logistic regression.RESULTS: For SCST, doubling of testosterone, androstenedione and 17-OH-progesterone concentrations were associated with about 2-fold higher risk of SCST [ORs and 95% CI of 2.16 (1.25-3.74), 2.16 (1.20-3.87), and 2.62 (1.27-5.38), respectively]. These associations remained largely unchanged after excluding women within 2, 4 or 6 years lag-time between blood donation and cancer diagnosis. Sex steroid hormones concentrations were not related to maternal risk of GCT.CONCLUSIONS: This is the first prospective study providing initial evidence that elevated androgens play a role in the pathogenesis of SCST. Impact: Our study may note a particular need for larger confirmatory investigations on sex steroids and NEOC.

Covariation between eumelanic pigmentation and body mass only under specific conditions.

Identifying the factors that mediate covariation between an ornament and other phenotypic attributes is important to determine the signaling function of ornaments. Sign and magnitude of a covariation may vary across environments if the expression of the ornament or of its linked genes regulating correlated phenotypes is condition-dependent. I investigated in the barn owl Tyto alba whether sign and magnitude of covariation between body mass and two heritable melanin-based plumage ornaments change with food supply, along the reproductive cycle and from the morning to the evening. Using a dataset of 1,848 measurements of body mass in 336 breeding females, I found that females displaying large black spots were heavier than conspecifics with smaller spots in the afternoon (i.e., a long time after the last feeding) but not in the morning (i.e., a short time after the last feeding). This is consistent with the recently proposed hypothesis that eumelanin-based ornaments are associated with the ability to maintain energy balance between food intake and energy expenditure. Thus, covariation between melanin-based coloration and body mass can be detected only under specific conditions potentially explaining why it has been reported in only ten out of 28 vertebrate species. The proposition that ornamented individuals achieve a higher fitness than drab conspecifics only in specific environments should be tested for other ornaments.

Social inequalities of functioning and perceived health in Switzerland: a representative cross-sectional analysis.

Many people worldwide live with a disability, i.e. limitations in functioning. The prevalence is expected to increase due to demographic change and the growing importance of non-communicable disease and injury. To date, many epidemiological studies have used simple dichotomous measures of disability, even though the WHO's International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) provides a multi-dimensional framework of functioning. We aimed to examine associations of socio-economic status (SES) and social integration in 3 core domains of functioning (impairment, pain, limitations in activity and participation) and perceived health. We conducted a secondary analysis of representative cross-sectional data of the Swiss Health Survey 2007 including 10,336 female and 8,424 male Swiss residents aged 15 or more. Guided by a theoretical ICF-based model, 4 mixed effects Poisson regressions were fitted in order to explain functioning and perceived health by indicators of SES and social integration. Analyses were stratified by age groups (15-30, 31-54, ≥55 years). In all age groups, SES and social integration were significantly associated with functional and perceived health. Among the functional domains, impairment and pain were closely related, and both were associated with limitations in activity and participation. SES, social integration and functioning were related to perceived health. We found pronounced social inequalities in functioning and perceived health, supporting our theoretical model. Social factors play a significant role in the experience of health, even in a wealthy country such as Switzerland. These findings await confirmation in other, particularly lower resourced settings.

Maahanmuuttajaoppilaat erityiskouluissa

Immigrant Pupils in Special Education Schools The study focused on the opinions of immigrant pupils in the 1st–9th grades of basic education in four special education schools of the City of Turku and in need of special support about the following: 1. Their difficulties in going to school in general education before the transfer to a special education school. 2. Their opinions about the transfer process to special education and the changes in their school practice after being transferred to a special education school. 3. Their experiences about their school and coping in special education school. The study strengthened the idea that immigrant pupils need positive special treatment, linguistic support, individual guidance, small teaching groups and operating models that promote well-being on their integration and education path. The central educational idea of inclusive education is based on deconstructing the power structures concerning gender, ethnicity and “race” and approval of differences in the pupils. Shifting the emphasis from the pupil to working on the learning environment has resulted in special education no longer being primarily separate special education tied to a certain place, but directing the teaching more towards individuality. The central dimension of intercultural competence of a teacher working in a multicultural class seems to be the attitudes and approaches to a different pupil; the teacher must be interculturally sensitive when facing children and young people from a foreign culture. Education and teaching affect every sector of the pupil’s well-being. Learning and learning results have a connection with teaching, education and well-being. Every sector is important for the going to school and integration of an immigrant pupil in need of special support. The basis of the study is the equality of opportunities and the humanistic idea of the human being in the Finnish education policy. The immigrant pupils selected for the study represented the following language groups: Arabian, Albanian, Somali, Russian and Vietnamese. In the four special education schools, the number of immigrant pupils belonging to these language groups (2004) totalled 104. A total of 89 pupils i.e. 86% answered the questionnaire, which is sufficient considering the generalisation of the study. Although this is basically a quantitative study, the interviewing method was used in part of the study, because the questionnaires were in Finnish and consequently, it was difficult for some immigrant pupils to understand them. Understanding the questions was also affected by the fact that the age distribution in the study was very wide (7–18). According to the results of the study, the immigrants felt that the biggest drawbacks in general education were their inability to speak Finnish and lack of concentration. The actual process of being transferred to a special education class remained unclear for immigrant pupils, and they could do very little about the transfer themselves. The results show that immigrant pupils coped well in special education school; they felt that their learning ability and concentration improved in the small groups of the special education school. They considered the individual support given in the special education schools to be useful. The lower-grade immigrant pupils had a more positive attitude towards special education school than the upper-grade immigrant pupils. In all the special education schools the immigrant pupils experienced that they were in a good position in the class; girls felt this even a little more strongly than boys. The teacher-pupil-relationship was felt to be good. School bullying being so common was a negative feature experienced by immigrant pupils, who were often targets or bullies themselves. Immigrant pupils believed in their success at school and in the opportunities offered by special education schools. Generally they were of the opinion that pupils are not labelled by special school; however, upper-grade immigrant pupils were more hesitant than lower-grade immigrant pupils. This study aimed at bringing out the immigrant pupils’ own opinions. Teaching immigrant pupils in special education schools has not been very much studied in Finland, which made the topic new and even more challenging.

Évaluation de la perfusion myocardique par TEP-TDM. [Myocardial perfusion imaging using PET/CT.]

For the past decade, PET and PET/CT have been widely studied for myocardial perfusion imaging. Several studies demonstrated the incremental value of PET for the diagnostic and prognostic assessment of patients with coronary artery disease. Moreover, PET allows for non-invasively quantifying myocardial blood flow and myocardial flow reserve, that both are recognized as surrogate marker of cardiac event free survival. By enabling the exploration of epicardial disease and the microvasculature, PET constitutes a unique tool to study pathophysiogical mechanisms leading to atherosclerosis genesis. The recent emergence of high-tech hybrid machines may even provide further incremental information about coronary function and morphology. By taking the best of each modality, a better assessment of patients with coronary artery disease is expected. (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Infective endocarditis.

Infective endocarditis (IE) is lethal if not aggressively treated with antibiotics alone or in combination with surgery. The epidemiology of this condition has substantially changed over the past four decades, especially in industrialized countries. Once a disease that predominantly affected young adults with previously well-identified valve disease--mostly chronic rheumatic heart disease--IE now tends to affect older patients and new at-risk groups, including intravenous-drug users, patients with intracardiac devices, and patients exposed to healthcare-associated bacteremia. As a result, skin organisms (for example, Staphylococcus spp.) are now reported as the pathogen in these populations more often than oral streptococci, which still prevail in the community and in native-valve IE. Moreover, progress in molecular diagnostics has helped to improve the diagnosis of poorly cultivable pathogens, such as Bartonella spp. and Tropheryma whipplei, which are responsible for blood-culture-negative IE more often than expected. Epidemiological data indicate that IE mostly occurs independently of medico-surgical procedures, and that circumstantial antibiotic prophylaxis is likely to protect only a minute proportion of individuals at risk. Therefore, new strategies to prevent IE--including improvement of dental hygiene, decontamination of carriers of Staphylococcus aureus, vaccination, and, possibly, antiplatelet therapy--must be explored.

Value added logistical support service: logistiikan palveluiden tarjoajat Suomessa. osa 4

Tämä osatutkimus on VALSSI- tutkimusprojektin (Value Added Logistical Support Service) neljäs osavaihe. VALSSI- tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on ollut selvittää logistiikkapalveluiden vaatimuksia business-to-business (B2B) ympäristössä ja määrittää logistiikkapalveluiden palvelukonsepti, jossa perinteiset logistiikkapalvelut on laajennettu tuotannollisilla ja lisäarvoa tuottavilla palveluilla. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on ollut tuottaa ulkoistamista helpottavaa materiaalia erityisesti varastoinnin ja kuljetusten osalta. Edellisistä osavaiheista on saatavilla tutkimusraportit yliopiston Internet-sivuilta(www.lut.fi/tutkimus/valore). Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli kartoittaa Suomessa toimivien logistiikkapalveluyritysten palvelutarjonta. Tutkimus on keskittynyt palveluntarjoajiin, jotka tarjoavat erikoistunutta logistiikkaa (mm. tuotannollisia palveluita, hankintoja ja pakkauspalveluita) asiakkailleen. Tutkimukseen osallistuneet yritykset olivat suomalaisia ja kansainvälisiä sekä kuljetuspalveluita tarjoavia että logistiikkapalveluyrityksiä sekä alihankkijoina/tukkureina toimivia palveluntarjoajia. Huomionarvoista onkin, että moni yrityksistä käytti markkinoilta saatavia kuljetuspalveluita eikä toiminut itse kuljetusoperaattorina. Logistiikkapalveluyrityksissä huomattiin eroavaisuuksia asiakaspalvelun laajuudessa, ICT strategioissa, hankintojen ja kotiinkutsujen organisoinnissa, tuotannollisissa palveluissa sekä paluulogistiikassa. Varsinaiset varastointipalvelut ovat homogeenisia ja varastointiin liittyvät pakkaamispalvelut ovat pääasiassasamankaltaisia. Markkinoilla toimivien tukkukauppiaiden logistiikkaprosessit eroavat perinteisistä palveluntarjoajista. Tukkurit hoitavat laajasti mm. asiakaspalvelua, teknistä tukea sekä erikoistuneita tuotannollisia palveluita. Nykypäivänä asiakkaat asettavat enemmän vaatimuksia logistiikkapalveluyrityksen prosesseille ja prosessien johtamiselle. Tulevaisuudessa Suomessa ja maailmalla toimivat logistiikkapalveluyritykset tulevat toimimaan yhteistyöverkoissa Itä- Euroopan maat ovat entistä suuremmassa roolissa uusia jakelukanavia ja palveluita mietittäessä. Jo nyt on huomattavissa, että asiakkaat vaativat logistiikan palvelutarjoajia tarjoamaan entistä monipuolisempia ja tuotteistetumpia palveluita.