A targeted association study of immunity genes and networks suggests novel associations with placental malaria infection

A large proportion of the death toll associated with malaria is a consequence of malaria infection during pregnancy, causing up to 200,000 infant deaths annually. We previously published the first extensive genetic association study of placental malaria infection, and here we extend this analysis considerably, investigating genetic variation in over 9,000 SNPs in more than 1,000 genes involved in immunity and inflammation for their involvement in susceptibility to placental malaria infection. We applied a new approach incorporating results from both single gene analysis as well as gene-gene interactionson a protein-protein interaction network. We found suggestive associations of variants in the gene KLRK1 in the single geneanalysis, as well as evidence for associations of multiple members of the IL-7/IL-7R signalling cascade in the combined analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first large-scale genetic study on placental malaria infection to date, opening the door for follow-up studies trying to elucidate the genetic basis of this neglected form of malaria.

The Political Economy of Active Labor-Market Policy

Active labor-market policies (ALMPs) have developed significantly over the past two decades across Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, with substantial cross-national differences in terms of both extent and overall orientation. The objective of this article is to account for cross-national variation in this policy field. It starts by reviewing existing scholarship concerning political, institutional, and ideational determinants of ALMPs. It then argues that ALMP is too broad a category to be used without further specification, and it develops a typology of four different types of ALMPs: incentive reinforcement, employment assistance, occupation, and human capital investment. These are discussed and examined through ALMP expenditure profiles in selected countries. The article uses this typology to analyze ALMP trajectories in six Western European countries and shows that the role of this instrument changes dramatically over time. It concludes that there is little regularity in the political determinants of ALMPs. In contrast, it finds strong institutional and ideational effects, nested in the interaction between the changing economic context and existing labor-market policies.

A spatially explicit life cycle inventory of the global textile chain

Life cycle analyses (LCA) approaches require adaptation to reflect the increasing delocalization of production to emerging countries. This work addresses this challenge by establishing a country-level, spatially explicit life cycle inventory (LCI). This study comprises three separate dimensions. The first dimension is spatial: processes and emissions are allocated to the country in which they take place and modeled to take into account local factors. Emerging economies China and India are the location of production, the consumption occurs in Germany, an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development country. The second dimension is the product level: we consider two distinct textile garments, a cotton T-shirt and a polyester jacket, in order to highlight potential differences in the production and use phases. The third dimension is the inventory composition: we track CO2, SO2, NO (x), and particulates, four major atmospheric pollutants, as well as energy use. This third dimension enriches the analysis of the spatial differentiation (first dimension) and distinct products (second dimension). We describe the textile production and use processes and define a functional unit for a garment. We then model important processes using a hierarchy of preferential data sources. We place special emphasis on the modeling of the principal local energy processes: electricity and transport in emerging countries. The spatially explicit inventory is disaggregated by country of location of the emissions and analyzed according to the dimensions of the study: location, product, and pollutant. The inventory shows striking differences between the two products considered as well as between the different pollutants considered. For the T-shirt, over 70% of the energy use and CO2 emissions occur in the consuming country, whereas for the jacket, more than 70% occur in the producing country. This reversal of proportions is due to differences in the use phase of the garments. For SO2, in contrast, over two thirds of the emissions occur in the country of production for both T-shirt and jacket. The difference in emission patterns between CO2 and SO2 is due to local electricity processes, justifying our emphasis on local energy infrastructure. The complexity of considering differences in location, product, and pollutant is rewarded by a much richer understanding of a global production-consumption chain. The inclusion of two different products in the LCI highlights the importance of the definition of a product's functional unit in the analysis and implications of results. Several use-phase scenarios demonstrate the importance of consumer behavior over equipment efficiency. The spatial emission patterns of the different pollutants allow us to understand the role of various energy infrastructure elements. The emission patterns furthermore inform the debate on the Environmental Kuznets Curve, which applies only to pollutants which can be easily filtered and does not take into account the effects of production displacement. We also discuss the appropriateness and limitations of applying the LCA methodology in a global context, especially in developing countries. Our spatial LCI method yields important insights in the quantity and pattern of emissions due to different product life cycle stages, dependent on the local technology, emphasizing the importance of consumer behavior. From a life cycle perspective, consumer education promoting air-drying and cool washing is more important than efficient appliances. Spatial LCI with country-specific data is a promising method, necessary for the challenges of globalized production-consumption chains. We recommend inventory reporting of final energy forms, such as electricity, and modular LCA databases, which would allow the easy modification of underlying energy infrastructure.

Modelo tradicional de cooperación al desarrollo: análisis crítico y propuesta de alternativas. El caso de la “Agència Catalana de Cooperació al Desenvolupament”

Este estudio analiza las principales críticas y alternativas realizadas y propuestas al modelo tradicional de cooperación al desarrollo en los últimos tiempos. También realiza el estudio de un caso concreto, la “Agència Catalana de Cooperacio al Desenvolupament”, con el fin de contrastar si las nombradas críticas y alternativas realizadas a la cooperación se están integrando a la cooperación de Catalunña.

INASP: la hora del protagonismo local en la cooperación al desarrollo científico y bibliotecario

La International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) es una ONG de cooperación al desarrollo, que persigue la mejora del acceso, producción y uso de la información científica, de forma que cada país cuente con recursos en este ámbito para afrontar sus propios retos de desarrollo. Surgió en 1992 por iniciativa del ICSU (International Council of Scientific Unions, actualmente International Council for Science) y contó con el apoyo de UNESCO, TWAS-The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World y AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science).

Primary care in Switzerland: evolution of physicians' profile and activities in twenty years (1993-2012).

BACKGROUND: According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Swiss healthcare system is one of the most effective in the world. Yet, as other occidental countries, it has to face the increase of chronic diseases frequency and its resulting cost, particularly for primary care (PC). However very few consistent data are available to describe PC features and its evolution over time. The aim of this study is to describe the evolution of the Swiss PC physicians' (PCPs) profile and activities between 1993 and 2012. METHODS: The date come from two independent European surveys carried out in Switzerland respectively in 1993 and 2012. Both surveys were cross-sectional ones and based on representative samples of 200 PCPs, interviewed by questionnaire. RESULTS: In 20 years, PCPs became older (median age 46 vs 56, p < 0.001) and more feminized (7 % vs 22 %, p < 0.001). Nowadays, they more often work in group practices (28 % vs 52 % in 2012, p < 0.001) and are more involved in other paid activities (28 % vs 66 % in 2012, p < 0.001). All the PCPs have a computer in 2012 (78 % in 1993, p < 0.001) and it is mostly used for keeping records of consultations (47 %). The number of daily face-to-face contacts with patients decreased from 31 to 24 but the average length rose from 15 to 20 min (p < 0.001). PCPs provide fewer pediatric and gynecological services but their activity remains globally unchanged in other domains. The frequency of meetings with other disciplines decreased significantly (e.g. once/month face-to-face meets with ambulatory specialists: 78 % vs 23 % in 2012, p < 0.001). The involvement of PCPs in follow-up and treatment of chronic disease globally little differed. In 2012, 8.5 % of the PCPs never performed any chirurgical acts (vs 0 % in 1993, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: This study showed a substantial evolution of Swiss PC over the last twenty years in terms of socio-demographic, organizational and service provided. The main changes include: feminization and ageing, lower diversity in services provided, fewer but longer consultations. These changes may have important implications for patients' management and will need to be considered for health planning purposes.

Towards actionable international comparisons of health system performance: expert revision of the OECD framework and quality indicators.

OBJECTIVE: To review and update the conceptual framework, indicator content and research priorities of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Health Care Quality Indicators (HCQI) project, after a decade of collaborative work. DESIGN: A structured assessment was carried out using a modified Delphi approach, followed by a consensus meeting, to assess the suite of HCQI for international comparisons, agree on revisions to the original framework and set priorities for research and development. SETTING: International group of countries participating to OECD projects. PARTICIPANTS: Members of the OECD HCQI expert group. RESULTS: A reference matrix, based on a revised performance framework, was used to map and assess all seventy HCQI routinely calculated by the OECD expert group. A total of 21 indicators were agreed to be excluded, due to the following concerns: (i) relevance, (ii) international comparability, particularly where heterogeneous coding practices might induce bias, (iii) feasibility, when the number of countries able to report was limited and the added value did not justify sustained effort and (iv) actionability, for indicators that were unlikely to improve on the basis of targeted policy interventions. CONCLUSIONS: The revised OECD framework for HCQI represents a new milestone of a long-standing international collaboration among a group of countries committed to building common ground for performance measurement. The expert group believes that the continuation of this work is paramount to provide decision makers with a validated toolbox to directly act on quality improvement strategies.

A DYNAMIC FRAMEWORK FOR THE RELATIONS BETWEEN FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES, SAVINGS AND INVESTMENTS

The Meese-Rogoff forecasting puzzle states that foreign exchange (FX) rates are unpredictable. Since one country’s macroeconomic conditions could affect the price of its national currency, we study the dynamic relations between the FX rates and some macroeconomic accounts. Our research tests whether the predictability of the FX rates could be improved through the advanced econometrics. Improving the predictability of the FX rates has important implications for various groups including investors, business entities and the government. The present thesis examines the dynamic relations between the FX rates, savings and investments for a sample of 25 countries from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. We apply quarterly data of FX rates, macroeconomic indices and accounts including the savings and the investments over three decades. Through preliminary Augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root tests and Johansen cointegration tests, we found that the savings rate and the investment rate are cointegrated with the vector (1,-1). This result is consistent with many previous studies on the savings-investment relations and therefore confirms the validity of the Feldstein-Horioka puzzle. Because of the special cointegrating relation between the savings rate and investment rate, we introduce the savings-investment rate differential (SID). Investigating each country through a vector autoregression (VAR) model, we observe extremely insignificant coefficient estimates of the historical SIDs upon the present FX rates. We also report similar findings through the panel VAR approach. We thus conclude that the historical SIDs are useless in forecasting the FX rate. Nonetheless, the coefficients of the past FX rates upon the current SIDs for both the country-specific and the panel VAR models are statistically significant. Therefore, we conclude that the historical FX rates can conversely predict the SID to some degree. Specifically, depreciation in the domestic currency would cause the increase in the SID.

Le modèle antarctique

Il existe actuellement des différends frontaliers entre les États circumpolaires-Nord qui entravent la bonne gouvernance de la région. Afin d'identifier des pistes de solution pour améliorer la gouvernance en Arctique et faciliter la coopération, nous analysons le processus qui a mené, à l'autre pôle, à la création du Traité sur l’Antarctique de 1959. Nous utilisons une approche néolibérale institutionnelle comme cadre théorique ainsi qu’une méthodologie basée sur le traçage de processus. Nous avons identifié quatre variables (les intérêts des États, le contexte politique, le leadership, et l’Année géophysique internationale [AGI]) que nous avons étudiés au cours de trois périodes historiques et dont l’évolution a contribué à la formation du régime antarctique. Les étapes menant à l'élaboration d'un régime identifié dans la théorie institutionnaliste dynamique de Frischmann s'appliquent aux différentes périodes que nous avons déterminées. La première période historique correspond à l'identification du problème d'interdépendance. Les États ont d’abord tenté d’assouvir leurs intérêts particuliers envers le continent antarctique par l’intermédiaire de stratégies individuelles. Le statut imprécis du continent antarctique caractérisé par des revendications territoriales conflictuelles, la volonté des superpuissances d’effectuer d’éventuelles revendications territoriales et le leadership exercé par les États-Unis ont toutefois permis de faire évoluer les États vers des stratégies coopératives. La deuxième période historique correspond à l'étape de la négociation de l’entente. Le leadership d’un groupe de scientifiques et des États-Unis ainsi que le contexte politique de la Guerre froide ont favorisé la cohésion des États intéressés par les affaires antarctiques et leur investissement dans une coopération multilatérale souple dans le cadre d’un événement ponctuel, l’AGI. La troisième période correspond à la mise en oeuvre de l’entente, soit l’AGI. Lors de cet événement, une entente tacite, un engagement d’honneur, qui suspendait les considérations territoriales en Antarctique, a été respectée par les parties. La coopération dans le cadre de l’AGI s’est avérée un succès. Les États se sont montrés satisfaits des gains que comportait la coopération scientifique dans un environnement pacifique. L’AGI a permis aux États d’expérimenter la coopération multilatérale et d’observer le comportement des autres participants au sein de l’institution. En raison de la satisfaction des États vis-à-vis la coopération dans le cadre de l'entente souple, l'élaboration du traité de 1959 a été facilitée. Notre étude nous a permis d’identifier des éléments clefs qui ont favorisé la formation du régime antarctique et qui pourraient servir d’inspiration pour l'élaboration de futurs régimes. La présence d’un leadership tout au long du processus a permis de promouvoir les avantages de la coopération sous différentes formes et de renforcer les relations entre les États présents dans les affaires antarctiques. La réalisation d'une entente souple dans le cadre de l'AGI, centrée autour des intérêts communs aux parties, comprenant un engagement d’honneur, permettant de mettre de côté les points de discorde, ont aussi été des points centraux dans la réussite et la poursuite de la coopération au-delà de l’AGI. Cette approche graduelle allant du droit souple vers le droit contraignant est sans aucun doute l’élément le plus important ayant facilité le rapprochement des différentes parties et éventuellement la création du Traité sur l’Antarctique.

Le partage des connaissances en développement international : influence des processus relationnels sur les résultats et incidences sur le renforcement des capacités.

Le Canada consacre chaque année des milliards en aide internationale. Selon le Ministère des affaires étrangères, commerce et développement, l’aide déployée en 2013 s’est chiffrée à plus de 5,48 milliards de dollars. Dans chaque projet mis en œuvre dans les pays en développement, des ressources humaines donnent de leur temps et s’efforcent de contribuer au renforcement des capacités des organisations locales. Ces projets sont des initiatives de coopération technique ou renferment des composantes de coopération technique; les personnes qui y sont affectées doivent accomplir de multiples tâches, dont celle d’agent de partage de connaissances. Cette thèse explore ce phénomène en apportant un éclairage sur les processus relationnels sous-jacents aux échanges entre les personnes liées à ces initiatives, soient les conseillers volontaires expatriés et les membres des équipes locales qui accueillent de telles initiatives. Elle tend à appuyer l’influence marquée des relations interpersonnelles sur les résultats de partage de connaissances, sauf que la confiance, à elle seule, ne suffit pas pour atteindre des objectifs de développement durable. L’analyse des cas, s’appuyant principalement sur des entrevues semi-dirigées effectuées à Haïti et au Sénégal, nous permet d’affirmer l’importance de s’attarder à la capacité d’assimilation dynamique des parties au partage, mais également aux rôles des gestionnaires des organismes partenaires locaux dans leur engagement à réaliser des mandats visant le partage de connaissances.

OECD Project on Harmful Tax Practices

Materials presented in conjunction with a keynote speech delivered on May 15, 2003 at a congress on Tax Competition, organized by the European Tax College and held at Tilburg University, the Netherlands.

Prevalence of intestinal parasites in small ruminants and their senstivity to treatments with ethnobotanical remedies in Cholistan, Pakistan

Livestock production contributes substantially to the livelihoods of poor rural farmers in Pakistan; strengthening pastoral communities plays an imperative role in the country’s thrive for poverty alleviation. Intestinal helminths constitute a major threat for pastoral livestock keepers in the whole country because chronic infestation leads to distinct losses in livestock productivity, particularly the growth of young animals. Synthetic anthelmintics have long been considered the only effective way of controlling this problem but high prices, side effects and chemical residues/toxicity problems, or development of resistance, lead to their very limited use in many pastoral systems. Additionally, poor pastoralists in remote areas of Pakistan hardly have access to appropriate anthelmintic drugs, which are also relatively expensive due to the long routes of transportation. The search for new and more sustainable ways of supporting livestock keepers in remote areas has given rise to studies of ethno-botanicals or traditional plant-based remedies to be used in livestock health care. Plant-based remedies are cheap or free of cost, environmentally safe and generally create no problem of drug resistance; they thus might substitute allopathic drugs. Furthermore, these remedies are easily available in remote areas and simple to prepare and/or administer. Cholistan desert is a quite poor region of Pakistan and the majority of its inhabitants are practicing a nomadic life. The region’s total livestock population (1.29 million heads) is almost twice that of the human population. Livestock husbandry is the primordial occupation of the communities and traditionally wealth assessment was based on the number of animals, especially goats and sheep, owned by an individual. Fortunately, about 60% of this desert region is richly endowed with highly adapted grasses, shrubs and trees. This natural flora has a rich heritage of scientifically unexplored botanical pharmacopoeia. Against this background, the present research project that was conducted under the umbrella of the International Center for Development and Decent Work at Kassel University, focused on a development aspect: in the Cholistan desert region it was firstly examined how pastoralists manage their livestock, which major health problems they face for the different animal species, and which of the naturally occurring plants they use for the treatment of animal diseases (Chapter 2). For this purpose, a baseline survey was carried out across five locations in Cholistan, using a structured questionnaire to collect data from 100 livestock farmers (LF) and 20 local healers (LH). Most of LF and LH were illiterate (66%; 70%). On average, LH had larger herds (109 animals) than LF (85 animals) and were more experienced in livestock husbandry and management. On average LF spent about 163 Euro per year on the treatment of their livestock, with a huge variability in expenditures. Eighty-six traditional remedies based on 64 plants belonging to 43 families were used. Capparaceae was the botanical family with the largest number of species used (4), followed by Chenopodiaceae, Poaceae, Solanaceae and Zygophyllaceae (3). The plants Capparis decidua (n=55 mentions), Salsola foetida (n=52), Suaeda fruticosa (n=46), Haloxylon salicornicum (n=42) and Haloxylon recurvum (n=39) were said to be most effective against the infestations with gastrointestinal parasites. Aerial parts (43%), leaves (26%), fruits (9%), seeds and seed oils (9%) were the plant parts frequently used for preparation of remedies, while flowers, roots, bulbs and pods were less frequently used (<5%). Common preparations were decoction, jaggery and ball drench; oral drug administration was very common. There was some variation in the doses used for different animal species depending on age, size and physical condition of the animal and severity of the disease. In a second step the regionally most prevalent gastrointestinal parasites of sheep and goats were determined (Chapter 3) in 500 animals per species randomly chosen from pastoral herds across the previously studied five localities. Standard parasitological techniques were applied to identify the parasites in faecal samples manually collected at the rectum. Overall helminth prevalence was 78.1% across the 1000 animals; pure nematode infestations were most prevalent (37.5%), followed by pure trematode (7.9%), pure cestode (2.6%) and pure protozoa infestations (0.8%). Mixed infestations with nematodes and trematodes occurred in 6.4% of all animals, mixed nematode-cestode infestations in 3.8%, and all three groups were found in 19.1% of the sheep and goats. In goats more males (81.1%) than females (77.0%) were infested, the opposite was found in sheep (73.6% males, 79.5% females). Parasites were especially prevalent in suckling goats (85.2%) and sheep (88.5%) and to a lesser extent in young (goats 80.6%, sheep 79.3%) and adult animals (goats 72.8%, sheep 73.8%). Haemonchus contortus, Trichuris ovis and Paramphistomum cervi were the most prevalent helminths. In a third step the in vitro anthelmintic activity of C. decidua, S. foetida, S. fruticosa, H. salicornicum and H. recurvum (Chapter 2) was investigated against adult worms of H. contortus, T. ovis and P. cervi (Chapter 3) via adult motility assay (Chapter 4). Various concentrations ranging from 7.8 to 500 mg dry matter/ml of three types of extracts of each plant, i.e. aqueous, methanol, and aqueous-methanol (30:70), were used at different time intervals to access their anthelmintic activity. Levamisol (0.55 mg/ml) and oxyclozanide (30 mg/ml) served as positive and phosphate-buffered saline as negative control. All extracts exhibited minimum and maximum activity at 2 h and 12 h after parasite exposure; the 500 mg/ml extract concentrations were most effective. Plant species (P<0.05), extract type (P<0.01), parasite species (P<0.01), extract concentration (P<0.01), time of exposure (P<0.01) and their interactions (P<0.01) had significant effects on the number of immobile/dead helminths. From the comparison of LC50 values it appeared that the aqueous extract of C. decidua was more potent against H. contortus and T. ovis, while the aqueous extract of S. foetida was effective against P. cervi. The methanol extracts of H. recurvum were most potent against all three types of parasites, and its aqueous-methanol extract was also very effective against T. ovis and P. cervi. Based on these result it is concluded that the aqueous extract of C. decidua, as well as the methanol and aqueous-methanol extract of H. recurvum have the potential to be developed into plant-based drugs for treatment against H. contortus, T. ovis and P. cervi infestations. Further studies are now needed to investigate the in vivo anthelmintic activity of these plants and plant extracts, respectively, in order to develop effective, cheap and locally available anthelmintics for pastoralists in Cholistan and neighboring desert regions. This will allow developing tangible recommendations for plant-based anthelminthic treatment of sheep and goat herds, and by this enable pastoralists to maintain healthy and productive flocks at low costs and probably even manufacture herbal drugs for marketing on a regional scale.

An integrated assessment of resource use strategies in the Borana pastoral system of southern Ethiopia

In the pastoral production systems, mobility remains the main technique used to meet livestock’s fodder requirements. Currently, with growing challenges on the pastoral production systems, there is urgent need for an in-depth understanding of how pastoralists continue to manage their grazing resources and how they determine their mobility strategies. This study examined the Borana pastoralists’ regulation of access to grazing resources, mobility practices and cattle reproductive performances in three pastoral zones of Borana region of southern Ethiopia. The central objective of the study was to contribute to the understanding of pastoral land use strategies at a scale relevant to their management. The study applied a multi-scalar methodological approach that allowed zooming in from communal to individual herd level. Through participatory mapping that applied Google Earth image print out as visual aid, the study revealed that the Borana pastoralists conceptualized their grazing areas as distinctive grazing units with names, borders, and specific characteristics. This knowledge enables the herders to communicate the condition of grazing resources among themselves in a precise way which is important in management of livestock mobility. Analysis of grazing area use from the participatory maps showed that the Borana pastoralists apportion their grazing areas into categories that are accessed at different times of the year (temporal use areas). This re-organization is an attempt by the community to cope with the prevailing constraints which results in fodder shortages especially during the dry periods. The re-organization represents a shift in resource use system, as the previous mobility practice across the ecologically varied zones of the rangelands became severely restricted. Grazing itineraries of 91 cattle herds for over 16 months obtained using the seasonal calendar interviews indicated that in the areas with the severest mobility constraints, the herders spent most of their time in the year round use areas that are within close proximity to the settlements. A significant change in mobility strategy was the disallowing of foora practice by the communities in Dirre and Malbe zones in order to reduce competition. With the reduction in mobility practices, there is a general decline in cattle reproductive parameters with the areas experiencing the severest constraints showing the least favourable reproductive performances. The study concludes that the multi-scalar methodology was well suited to zoom into pastoral grazing management practices from communal to individual herd levels. Also the loss of mobility in the Borana pastoral system affects fulfilment of livestock feed requirements thus resulting in reduced reproductive performances and herd growth potentials. While reversal of the conditions of the situations in the Borana rangelands is practically unfeasible, the findings from this research underscore the need to protect the remaining pastoral lands since the pastoral production system remains the most important livelihood option for the majority of the Borana people. In this regards the study emphasises the need to adopt and domesticate regional and international policy frameworks such as that proposed by the African Union in 2010.

El rol, la influencia y los intereses de Brasil y Venezuela en el fortalecimiento de la Cooperación para el Desarrollo en Suramérica. Caso de estudio : creación Banco del Sur

La presente monografía se intenta demostrar que además de diseñar un ideal común de progreso y desarrollo, existe por parte de Brasil y Venezuela, un interés particular en plantear una estrategia de cooperación. En este sentido se pretende analizar el rol fundamental que juegan Brasil y Venezuela mediante la creación del Banco del Sur.

Evolución de la política alemana de Cooperación Internacional para el desarrollo en temas de fortalecimiento de la democracia. Estudio de caso Malawi : periodo 1994-2007

Esta monografía tiene por objetivo analizar evolución que tuvo la política alemana de cooperación internacional la cual busca fortalecer la democracia en Malawi desde 1994 hasta 2007.