Taking Darwin seriously: More than telling just so stories

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Short report: Molecular evaluation of the efficacy of chloroquine treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in East Timor

The efficacy of chloroquine treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in East Timor was investigated via molecular tools. Genotyping of the polymorphic markers msp1 and msp2 was performed to investigate the number and type of parasite alleles in pre- and posttreatment blood samples collected from 48 patients. Patients were infected with a minimum of 8 msp1 and 14 msp2 allelic types of parasite, and 43% of the patients had more than one allelic type before treatment. The genotyping also revealed that 66.7% of the patients were infected with at least one identical allelic type of parasite before and after treatment and therefore were likely to have experienced recrudescence. All parasites in pre- and posttreatment blood samples carried the K76T mutation in pfcrt, regardless of the clinical response to chloroquine. The sequence polymorphism patterns in pfcrt in the majority of parasites examined were identical to those observed in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.

Short report: Molecular genetic characterization of an unusually severe case of hydatid disease in Alaska caused by the cervid strain of Echinococcus granulosusi

Distinct Echinococcus granulosus life cycle patterns have been described in North America: domestic and sylvatic. Gene sequences of the sylvatic E. granulosus indicate that it represents a separate variant. Case-based data have suggested that the course of sylvatic disease is less severe than that of domestic disease. which led to the recommendation to treat cystic echinococcosis patients in the Arctic by careful medical management rather than by aggressive surgery. We recently reported the first two documented E. granalosus human cases in Alaska with accompanying severe sequelae. Here we describe the results of molecular genetic analysis of the cyst material of one of the subjects that supported identification of the parasite as the sylvatic (cervid) strain and not the domestic (common sheep strain), which was initially thought to be implicated in these unusually severe Alaskan cases.

Short-term autocorrelation in Australian equities

This paper examines the statistical and economic significance of short-term autocorrelation in Australian equities. We document large negative first-order autocorrelation in individual stock returns. Preliminary results suggest this autocorrelation is economically significant, as two simple trading strategies based on the autocorrelation structure appear to yield large risk-adjusted returns. Further analysis, however, shows that these results are driven by the inclusion of small-capitalisation and low-priced stocks which are vulnerable to a number of market-microstructure-related problems. After revising the dataset to mitigate these problems, little evidence of economic significance remains.

On the robustness of short-term interest rate models

This paper investigates the robustness of a range of short–term interest rate models. We examine the robustness of these models over different data sets, time periods, sampling frequencies, and estimation techniques. We examine a range of popular one–factor models that allow the conditional mean (drift) and conditional variance (diffusion) to be functions of the current short rate. We find that parameter estimates are highly sensitive to all of these factors in the eight countries that we examine. Since parameter estimates are not robust, these models should be used with caution in practice.

The paradox in ageing well: stories of older women in the Australian women's weeky

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