bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Adjustment costs and dynamic factor demands for U.S. cigarette manufacturing
Authors: Rezitis Anthony N. , Brown A. Blake , Foster William E.
Published: January 2020

Following the approach of Berndt, Fuss, and Waverman, a dynamic model for U.S. cigarette manufacturing is developed and factor demands estimated. Tobacco and capital stocks are treated as quasi‐tixed inputs. The results indicate that there are significant adjustment costs associated with adjusting tobacco stocks, but not with adjusting the capital stock. Short‐run, intermediate‐run, and long‐run output constant elasticities are estimated for inputs in cigarette production. Demand for U.S. tobacco by U.S. cigarette manufacturers is found be more inelastic than shown by previous studies using static models. Cigarettes produced for export appear to differ in their marginal cost of production from cigarettes produced for the sale in the U.S. market.
Welfare impacts of technological change on women in southern Mali
Authors: Lilja Nina , Sanders John H.
Published: January 2020

It has often been hypothesized that new agricultural technologies could have an adverse impact on women because additional labor required of them reduces the time spent and therefore income earned from private‐field activities. This study shows that the expansion of cotton cultivation on the household communal fields in southern Mali associated with the introduction of new technologies results in increased payments to women for their increased labor on the cotton fields. Unfortunately, these payments are small compared to the loss of revenue from private‐plot production. Thus, the net effect of the expansion of household cotton cultivation is a reduction in incomes of women who cultivate private plots. Short‐run policy implications of this study are that improving women's income requires concern with their private‐plot earnings. For example, profitability of the private‐field crops could be increased with higher input use. In the long run, as land becomes even more constrained, emphasis needs to be placed on institutional changes to increase women's bargaining power so that they obtain larger shares of the new income streams resulting from technological change on the communal field. Institutional changes already occurring in the region, with the apparent objective of increasing women's (and non‐household head men's) bargaining power, include organized work teams and the movement toward smaller, nuclear families.
The impact of agricultural research in Africa: aggregate and case study evidence
Authors: Masters William A. , Bedingar Touba , Oehmke James F.
Published: January 2020

This paper presents case‐study results and aggregate data to evaluate the impact of research in African agriculture. Of 32 case studies, all but eight report annual returns over 20% and many are far higher, with most gains arising in the late 1980s and 1990s. Spurred by policy reforms and changing incentives, these innovations have led to sustained growth in aggregate cereal crop yields since 1985. Africa's belated ‘green revolution’ is based on new varieties (often with early maturation for drought escape), complemented by new management techniques (typically labor‐intensive efforts to conserve soil moisture and build soil fertility).
The interface between growth, trade, pollution and natural resource use in Chile: evidence from an economy wide model
Authors: van der Mensbrugghe Dominique , Roland‐Holst David , Dessus Sébastien , Beghin John
Published: January 2020

We investigate the implications of trade liberalization and pollution taxes on aggregate income, pollution, and natural resource use in Chile with a neoclassical economywide model comprising 75 sectors. The model incorporates 13 measures of pollution effluents which are linked to the use of polluting inputs and energy use. We estimate the economic and environmental impact of Chile's participation in NAFTA, MERCOSUR, of unilateral trade liberalization and effluent taxes. Unilateral trade liberalization induces substantial worsening of pollution emissions and expansion of resource‐based sectors, partly because of access to cheaper energy. NAFTA integration is environmentally benign in terms of pollution emissions.
Agricultural development with rainforest conservation: methods for seeking best bet alternatives to slash‐and‐burn, with applications to Brazil and Indonesia
Authors: Tomich Thomas P. , van Noordwijk Meine , Vosti Stephen A. , Witcover Julie
Published: January 2020

Forests continue to fall for agricultural purposes throughout the humid tropics, with immediate and potentially large consequences for climate change and biodiversity loss‐issues of key interest to the international community. Some of the actors directly responsible for forest conversion fell trees to meet food security needs and alleviate poverty‐issues of urgent interest to them and also to national policymakers. This multiplicity of groups with differing (often conflicting) interests in the multifarious goods and services produced by tropical forests complicates the search for alternative agricultural activities for forest margins since these alternatives must satisfy such divergent objectives. This paper sets out a conceptual framework for comparing the impacts of different land use systems and agricultural practices at the margins of tropical rainforests in terms of the concerns and objectives of two key interest groups: small‐scale farmers seeking livelihoods at the forest margins and the ‘international’ interests in the global public goods and services supplied by tropical rainforests. This framework should be useful to a third key group, the national and regional policymakers who must consider these and other policy objectives and then decide on courses of action. The paper identifies data needs and analytical methods capable of supplying an empirical base for this conceptual framework, based on quantifiable indicators. It then presents preliminary results of the application of this conceptual framework in Indonesia and Brazil in association with a global, collaborative, multidisciplinary research program. Even using preliminary order‐of‐magnitude estimates (to be replaced by more precise measurements as they become available), this conceptual framework presents results in ways that allow researchers and policymakers to select clear ‘best bets’ for development, when they exist, and to assess tradeoffs and options for complementary policy action and research efforts, when they do not.
Farm size, productivity and returns to scale in agriculture revisited: a case study of wine producers in South Africa
Authors: Townsend R.F. , Kirsten J. , Vink N.
Published: January 2020

The inverse relationship between farm size and productivity has almost become a ‘stylised fact’ in the economic development literature. Most of the studies contributing to this preception have been Hawed by methodological shortcomings and the request is that these studies be treated with caution. Using recent farm survey data from the wine producing areas of the Western Cape of South Africa, this study attempts to overcome some of the methodological problems, distinguishing between partial and total productivity measures. Using data envelopment analysis, most of the wine grape producers were found to operate under constant returns to scale. Co‐operative membership seemed to overcome the economies of scale associated with processing and marketing. The inverse relationship between farm size and both land productivity and total factor productivity is weak, not consistently negative and differs between regions. Thus, caution must be used when advocating rural development policies based on the inevitability of an inverse relationship existing in all sectors and production regions of agriculture.
Tariff rate quotas: structural and stability impacts in growing markets
Authors: Abbott Philip C. , Paarlberg Philip L.
Published: January 2020

This paper examines several aspects of tariff rate quotas (TRQ) as adopted during tariffication of agricultural policies under the Uruguay Round of GAIT. Quota rents and non‐tariff barrier effects may remain under TRQs, contrary to the objectives of the tariffication process. Further, price stability impacts of a TRQ are more complex than those for either tariffs or quotas, and under certain circumstances TRQs may be more stabilizing than either case, since TRQs truncate domestic production distributions much like price bands policies. This complexity results from the possibility of regime switching, and may reflect behavior under either a tariff, a quota, or a combination of cases. A TRQ policy may affect the timing of import decisions based on incentives created under quota allocation procedures envisioned for this institution. It may also allow increased imports as demand growth occurs because the quota is not necessarily a binding constraint. This means the above quota tariff is the critical policy instrument. An empirical study of Philippines port: imports illustrates these issues.
Middlemen and peasants in rice marketing in the Philippines
Authors: Hayami Y. , Kikuchi M. , Marciano E.B.
Published: January 2020

This paper reports the results of a field survey covering all links in the channel of rice marketing from farmers to consumers in Laguna Province, Philippines. The survey revealed a highly competitive nature of rice marketing in this area where the countless number of middlemen compete in the procurement of paddy from farmers for rice mills, leaving little room for monopoly/monopsony exercises. Intense competition was also found in wholesaling by mills to retailers as well as retailing to consumers.
Least‐cost cheap‐food policies: some implications of international food aid
Authors: Alston Julian M. , Smith Vincent H. , Acquaye Albert , Hosseini Safdar
Published: January 2020

Many low‐income countries pursue cheap‐food policies in which consumers pay subsidized prices for bread, rice and other staples. This paper addresses the issue of why different governments select different food subsidy policies, using multiple instruments rather than a simple across‐the‐board subsidy to provide consumers with access to cheap food. It examines the optimal structure of cheap‐food policies in the context of a partial equilibrium model in which the country may he large in trade, and is able to combine import subsidies or tariffs, and output taxes or subsidies, to transfer income to consumers through the market. The model allows for a marginal opportunity cost of government revenues greater than one dollar. In addition, in the model, food aid from overseas may be either given away to the consumer, or given to the government for subsequent sale in the domestic market. The results indicate that only by happenstance will a country choose to use a pure consumption subsidy or a pure import subsidy to transfer income to consumers. In addition, an increase in international food aid does not necessarily lead the government to reduce producer and consumer prices for a commodity.
The effects of real exchange rate depreciation on stochastic producer prices in low‐income agriculture
Authors: Barrett Christopher B.
Published: January 2020

This paper considers the effects of real exchange rate depreciation on stochastic agricultural producer prices in low‐income agriculture. Conventional wisdom, that real depreciation achieved through nominal currency devaluation stimulates tradables production, does not universally hold in the presence of stochastic prices. In fact, real depreciation is only stimulative in two cases–importables that remain importable and nontradables that become exportable. GARCH estimation of time‐series price data on several commodities from Madagascar support the hypotheses generated by the analytical model.
Factors influencing adoption of land‐enhancing technology in the Sahel: lessons from a case study in Niger
Authors: Baidu‐Forson J.
Published: January 2020

Technical change, through the introduction of land‐enhancing conservation technologies, is essential to economic growth in the Sahel. Tobit analysis was used to identify factors that motivate level and intensity of adoption of specific soil and water management technologies. The results show that higher percentage of degraded farmland, extension education, lower risk aversion, and the availability of short‐term profits are important for increasing the adoption and intensity of use of improved ‘tassa’ and half‐crescent shaped earthen mounds. Age and attitudes to differential gains between farm and non‐farm income showed no influence on adoption. Three main policy implications emerge from these findings. First, technologies should be targeted to locations that have large percentages ol degraded farmlands. The probability of adoption and intensity of use are likely to be high at such locations. Second, there is the need to provide extension education that demonstrates risk reduction capacities of conservation techniques. I his will make available information capable of stimulating adoption of land‐enhancing technologies. Finally, policy‐makers should not seek to target innovations to younger farmers because age has no relationship to adoption of the improved ‘tassa’ and half‐crescent shaped earthen mounds. Lessons from the case study have broad relevance to cropped areas in the Sahel.
Agriculture and economic growth in Ethiopia: growth multipliers from a four‐sector simulation model
Authors: Block Steven A.
Published: January 2020

Agriculture accounts for over half of Ethiopian GDP, yet 'he case for agriculture as a focus of economic growth strategies must rely on identifying a set of intersectoral linkages through which agricultural growth contributes to the growth of nonagriculture in the Ethiopian economy. This article develops a four‐sector numerical simulation model of economic growth in Ethiopia which permits the calculation of macroeconomic growth multipliers resulting from income shocks to agriculture, services, modern industry, and traditional industry. The resulting growth multipliers are 1.54 for agriculture. 1.80 for services, 1.34 for modern industry, and 1.22 for traditional industry. These results depict an economy in which intersectoral linkages operate on a highly uneven basis. These limits are reflected in the wide disparity between sectoral growth multipliers and by substantial differences in the patterns ol their decomposition. The policy relevance of these findings relate, in part, to the distributional implications of growth in particular sectors. Poverty in Ethiopia is disproportionately rural. An income shock to agriculture is clearly the most progressive choice, indicating the need to highlight agricultural development in growth strategies for Ethiopia. Yet, the simulation results further indicate that doing so imposes relatively little trade off against total benefit. While a $1 service sector income shock generates $0.80 in indirect benefits, a $1 agricultural income shock still generates $0.54 in indirect gains‐a somewhat smaller benelit, but one likely to make the greatest possible impact on poverty reduction.
Modeling inter‐sectoral growth linkages: An application to U.S. agriculture
Authors: Gopinath Munisamy , Roe Terry L.
Published: January 2020

General equilibrium and open economy trade theory are used along with time series data on the U.S. agricultural sector to provide insights into the structure of agricultural supply, factor returns and linkages to the rest of the economy. Output expansion and factor returns are found to vary depending on relative factor intensities, which we refer to as Rybczynski and Stolper‐Samuelson like effects. The effect of the rest of the economy, particularly the increase in price of services, is found to have relatively large negative impacts on agriculture. The short‐run effects of prices and factor endowments on growth in agricultural supply and factor returns are dominated by the long‐run effects of technological change.
A conceptual framework of adoption of an agricultural innovation
Authors: Ghadim Amir K. Abadi , Pannell David J.
Published: January 2020

In this paper we present a conceptual framework of individual farmers' decisions on adoption of a new innovation, using the example of a new crop species. This framework overcomes the shortcomings of a number of previous studies. It represents the adoption of an innovation as a dynamic decision problem spanning at least several years. The model allows for generation of potentially valuable information from trialing the innovation. The value of such trials is due to development of skills (e.g. in agronomic management of a crop) as well as reduction in uncertainty about the innovation's long‐term profitability. The framework also includes the farmer's personal perceptions, managerial abilities and risk preferences in order to properly represent the adoption decision process. The influences of socio‐demographic factors within the framework are discussed.
Components of the wholesale bid‐ask spread and the structure of grain markets: the case of rice in India
Authors: Jha Raghbendra , Murthy K.V.B. , Nagarajan Hari K. , Seth Ashok
Published: January 2020

We investigate the market microstructure of the wholesale markets for rice in India. We propose a general method of splitting the wholesale bid‐ask spread into its three constituent components: the order processing costs, the adverse information costs and the inventory holding costs. The bid‐ask spread reflects the extent of information asymmetry and order imbalance in the market place. However, the dynamics of the bid‐ask spread can only be understood in terms of the movement of its components; hence the importance of isolating these components. We use Zellner's seemingly unrelated regressions to split the bid‐ask spread into the three components in the rice markets of 14 major centers in India. The results are then linked to the production and consumption patterns in the market areas covered by these centers.
The impact of perception and other factors on the adoption of agricultural technology in the Moret and Jiru Woreda (district) of Ethiopia
Authors: Negatu W. , Parikh A.
Published: January 2020

The objectives of this study arc to examine both the significance of the impact of farmers' perceptions regarding new technology for the adoption decision and how perceptions themselves are influenced by the decision to adopt new technology. The study is based on data from 96 wheat farms in the Moret and Jiru woreda (district) of Ethiopia. The probit approach is used to analyse the adoption decision, while the variables relevant to farmers' perceptions are modelled using the ordered probit methodology. A simultaneous equations model combining the probit and ordered probit approaches provides a useful approach to modelling the two‐way relationship between perception and adoption. Variables such as farm size, farm income and soil type have a key role to play in the model. Perception is measured by eight different components and as there is a strong collinearity among these various measures, a principal components analysis is attempted to draw the best possible linear combination of variables.
Adoption of soil conservation: the case of the Philippine uplands
Authors: Lapar Ma. Lucila A. , Pandey Sushil
Published: January 2020

Soil degradation in the sloping uplands of Asia is a serious problem that threatens the sustainability of agriculture. Although several soil conservation technologies have been developed and promoted, their adoption has not been widespread. A micro‐economic analysis of adoption of contour hedgerows by upland farmers in the Philippines is conducted to identify the factors that determine adoption. The empirical results show that adoption depends on several farm and farmer characteristics and the relative importance of these factors differs across sites. The high cost of establishment, maintenance and the loss of land to hedgerows are considered to be the major constraints to adoption by non‐adopters. The economics of the contour hedgerow system is found to improve substantially if crop intensification or cash cropping is possible. In addition to the need to develop a range of cost‐effective technologies, the study indicates that in the more marginal environments, on‐site benefits alone may not be sufficient to justify investment in soil conservation.
Cancer Statistics A Survival Guide
Authors: Oke Jason , Fanshawe Tom
Published: January 2020

Jason Oke and Tom Fanshawe expose four simple biases that can change our understanding of cancer survival rates and skew comparisons made between countries
No Representation without Integration! Why Differentiated Integration Challenges the Composition of the European Parliament
Authors: Heermann Max , Leuffen Dirk
Published: January 2020

This article provides a normative assessment of parliamentary representation in fields of differentiated integration in the European Union. Based on three criteria of legitimate democratic representation, autonomy, accountability and equality, we evaluate four alternative representation models. These models comprise (I) complete representation of all members of the European Parliament (MEPs), (II) insider representation through the creation of new, regime‐specific assemblies, and (III) partial representation without and (IV) with inclusive deliberative stages. We find that the current system of complete representation, while honouring the principle of equality, violates autonomy and accountability in areas of differentiated integration. We therefore advocate a model of partial representation: MEPs elected in opt‐out states should not take part in EP voting but should be invited to participate in the deliberative stages of parliamentary decision‐making. This reconciles the principles of autonomy, accountability and equality, at least as long as there is no truly European electoral system in place.
EU Cohesion Policy under the Media Spotlight: Exploring Territorial and Temporal Patterns in News Coverage and Tone
Authors: Mendez Carlos , Mendez Fernando , Triga Vasiliki , Carrascosa Juan Miguel
Published: January 2020

This article explores the territorial and temporal patterns of EU cohesion policy media coverage. The topic content and tone of news are analysed using topic modelling and sentiment analysis techniques, which are applied to a new corpus of over 4,000 English and Spanish news stories from the period 2010 to 2017 across three territorial levels. In line with our theoretical expectations, we found significant differences in the tone used across territorial levels, with national and transnational levels being more negative than the regional level. While national and transnational media place relatively more emphasis on politicized EU topics, subnational media focus more on substantive policy topics corresponding with EU policy objectives. Furthermore, media reporting on the cohesion policy evolved significantly over time and reacted to external events, such as the euro and migration crises, as well as internal, country‐specific events, such as Brexit in the UK and corruption scandals in Spain. However, the tone of cohesion policy news is positive overall suggesting that the media can, in principle, contribute to public support for the policy and the EU more generally.
European Social Partners as Gender Equality Actors in EU Social and Economic Governance
Authors: Elomäki Anna , Kantola Johanna
Published: January 2020

This article explores the role of a hitherto under‐researched set of actors – European social partners – in shaping the EU's gender equality policies and the conditions in which these policies are adopted and implemented. The positions of the social partners are analysed using three key policy issues of importance to gender equality: the initiative on work–life balance; the European Pillar of Social Rights and the European Semester. We argue that social partners play a crucial role in shaping EU gender policy both within and outside social dialogues. They influence the form and instruments of the EU's gender equality policy; shape the meaning of gender equality and participate in the broader conflict between the EU's economic and social goals which is crucial for the future of the EU's gender policies.
A Clash between Creature and Creator? Contemporary Relations between the Pan‐African Parliament and the European Parliament
Authors: Theodoro Luciano Bruno
Published: January 2020

This article assesses EU–Africa inter‐regionalism and the reception of EU norms by African actors, by investigating the relations between the European Parliament (EP) and the Pan‐African Parliament (PAP). By exploring this interparliamentary dialogue, the article draws attention to the contradictions of African perceptions on European integration, which is simultaneously seen as an inspiration and a neo‐imperialist project. The EP was considered a role model to the PAP and was also one of its main supporters. However, European involvement in African issues has not always been regarded as positive. Post‐colonial and pan‐African discourses found in African statements have reinforced their resistance to European engagement in African politics. After discussing these ambivalent narratives on the EU, this article addresses the way that these perceptions impact on AU–EU inter‐regional relations, arguing that these mixed views towards the Europeans have undermined the diffusion of EU norms and the levels of trust in this relationship, preventing the joint Africa–Europe strategy from attaining its ambitions.
Closed venereology wards in postwar Hamburg
Authors: Schochow M. , Bjoernsgard K. , Orzechowski M. , Steger F.
Published: January 2020

Background

A number of research results on closed venereology facilities in the Soviet Occupation Zone (SOZ) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) have been presented in recent years. However, little is known about similar facilities in the Western Occupation Zones (WOZ) and in the early Federal Republic of Germany (FRG).

Method

We have researched the records of the State Archive in Hamburg. Subsequently, the analysed sources were evaluated using the historically critical method.

Results

Three closed venereology wards existed in Hamburg. Compulsory commitments were conducted according to a three‐stage procedure. In the immediate postwar period, the wards had barred windows and the doors were locked. Everyday life in the wards was initially determined by the postwar situation – poor facilities, poor hygiene, overcrowding. In the early 1950s, the number of beds was drastically reduced. The function of the wards consisted of isolation and medical care for the compulsorily committed persons. Medical care was in accordance with professional medical standards.

Discussion

Closed venereology wards in Hamburg followed the tradition established during the period of the Weimar Republic. This becomes apparent both in terms of the legal framework and in terms of the structure and functions of the wards. Thus, they clearly differ from the closed venereology facilities in the SOZ and in the GDR. These facilities were established in the tradition of Soviet prophylactics institutions. The wards in Hamburg served as isolation and treatment centres, the facilities in the SOZ and in the GDR also had a disciplinary function.
European survey on acute coronary syndrome diagnosis and revascularisation treatment: Assessing differences in reported clinical practice with a focus on strategies for specific patient cases
Authors: Peultier Anne‐Claire , Venetsanos Dimitrios , Rashid Imran , Severens Johan L. , Redekop William K.
Published: January 2020

Rationale, Aims, and Objectives

While different imaging and treatment options are available in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) care, there is a lack of data regarding their use across Europe. We examined the diagnostic and treatment strategies in patients with known or suspected ACS as reported by physicians and identified variations in responses across European countries and geographical areas.

Method

A web‐based clinician survey focusing on ACS imaging and revascularization treatments was circulated through email distribution lists and websites of European professional societies in the field of cardiology. We collected information on respondents' clinical setting and specialty. Reported percentages of patients receiving imaging or treatment modalities and percentages of clinicians reporting to use modalities in a range of clinical scenarios were analyzed. Statistical comparisons were performed.

Results

In total, 69 responses were received (Sweden [n = 20], United Kingdom [n = 16], Northern/Western Europe [n = 17], Southern Europe [n = 9], and Central Europe [n = 7]). Considerable variations between geographical areas were seen in terms of reported diagnostic modalities and treatment strategies. For example, when presented with the scenario of a theoretical 45‐year‐old smoking female with a suspected ACS, 56% of UK clinicians reported to use coronary computed tomography angiography, compared to only 10% of Swedish clinicians (P = .002). Large variations were observed regarding the reported use of fractional flow reserve by physicians for non‐culprit lesions during invasive management of myocardial infarction patients (44% in Sweden, 31% in the United Kingdom, and 30% in Northern/Western Europe vs non‐use in Central and Southern Europe).

Conclusions

In this survey, respondents reported different diagnostic and treatment strategies in ACS care. These variations seem to have geographic components. Larger studies or real world data are needed to verify these observations and investigate their causes. More research is needed to compare the quality and efficiency of ACS care across countries and explore pathways for improvement.
Treatment selection and medication adherence for stable angina: The role of area‐based health literacy
Authors: Savitz Samuel T. , Bailey Stacy Cooper , Dusetzina Stacie B. , Jones W. Schuyler , Trogdon Justin G. , Stearns Sally C.
Published: January 2020

Rationale, aims, and objectives

Clinical studies show equivalent health outcomes from interventional procedures and treatment with medication only for stable angina patients. However, patients may be subject to overuse or access barriers for interventional procedures and may exhibit suboptimal adherence to medications. Our objective is to evaluate whether community‐level health literacy is associated with treatment selection and medication adherence patterns.

Method

The sample included Medicare fee‐for‐service beneficiaries (20% random sample) with stable angina in 2007‐2013. We used an area‐level health literacy variable because of the lack of an individual measure in claims. We measured the association between (a) area‐based health literacy with treatment selection (medication only, percutaneous coronary intervention [PCI], or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery) and (b) area‐based health literacy with medication adherence. We controlled for other factors including demographics, co‐morbidity burden, dual eligibility, and area deprivation index.

Results

We identified 8300 patients of whom 8.7% lived in a low health literacy area. Overall, 56% of patients received medication only, 28% received PCI, and 15% received CABG. Patients in low health literacy areas were less likely to receive CABG (−3.5 percentage points; 95% CI, −6.8 to −0.3) than were patients in high health literacy areas, but the significance was sensitive to specification. Overall, 81.5% and 71.5% of patients were adherent to antianginals and statins, respectively. Living in low health literacy areas was associated with lower adherence to antianginals (−3.3 percentage points; 95% CI, −6.1 to −0.6) but not statins.

Conclusions

Low area‐based health literacy was associated with being less likely to receive CABG and lower adherence, but the differences between low and high health literacy areas were small and sensitive to model specification. Individual factors such as dual eligibility status and race/ethnicity had stronger associations with outcomes than had area‐based health literacy, suggesting that this area‐based measure was inadequate to account for social determinants in this study.
Dietary supplementation with ovine serum immunoglobulin modulates correlations between mucin, microbiota and immunity proteins in the growing rat
Authors: Balan Prabhu , Staincliffe Maryann , Moughan Paul J.
Published: January 2020

The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship among the number of bacteria, number of goblet cells, gut mucin gene expression, mucin protein and immunity protein levels of rats fed a diet containing freeze‐dried ovine Ig (FD). Sprague Dawley male rats were used in a 21‐days study and were fed a basal control diet (BD; no Ig) and a test diet containing freeze‐dried ovine Ig (FD). Diets were isocaloric and contained the same amount of the first limiting amino acids, methionine plus cysteine. Pearson's correlation analysis was conducted on the data (stomach, ileum and colon) obtained from individual rats (n = 10) fed either casein‐based diet (BD) or ovine serum Ig (FD) to evaluate the relationship between number of bacteria, number of goblet cells, gut mucin gene expression and gut mucin protein levels. Pearson's correlation analysis was then conducted with the data from the FD fed rats to evaluate the relationship among the above said variables. In the stomach content, a significant (p < .05) correlation was found between the Muc5Ac gene expression and mucosal mucin protein. In the ileum and colon, a significant (p < .05) correlation was observed among the mRNA levels of mucin (Muc2 and Muc4) genes. There was also evidence of a strong relationship (p < .05) between digesta mucin and mucosal mucin protein concentrations. A negative correlation of mucosal IgA protein concentration with totalLactobacillus(in ileum and colon) and total bacteria (in the ileum) was not evident with FD fed rats when compared to the results obtained using both BD and FD fed rats. In conclusion, this study suggests that feeding freeze‐dried ovine Ig in growing rats results in a strong correlation between the number of bacteria, mucin and immunity proteins.
Periodontal status, vascular reactivity, and platelet aggregation changes in rats submitted to hypercholesterolemic diet and periodontitis
Authors: Silva Natália L. C. , Motta Nadia A. V. , Soares Mariana A. , Araujo Olga M. O. , Espíndola Laís Christina P. , Colombo Ana Paula V. , Lopes Ricardo Tadeu , Brito Fernanda Carla F. , Miranda Ana Luísa P. , Tributino Jorge L. M.
Published: January 2020

Background and objectives

Periodontitis can corroborate with development and progression of atherosclerosis and a possible bidirectional interaction between both pathologies has been hypothesized. The aim of this work was to study the interactions between diet‐induced hypercholesterolemia and ligature‐induced periodontitis in Wistar rats submitted to both conditions.

Material and methods

Animals were divided into four experimental groups: C (control: standard diet without periodontitis), Perio (periodontitis plus standard diet), HC (high cholesterol diet without periodontitis), and HC + Perio (high cholesterol diet plus periodontitis). The diets were offered for 45 days and a silk ligature was applied in the lower first molars of Perio and HC‐Perio animals on day 34 and maintained for 11 days until euthanasia. The mandibles were excised, and alveolar bone loss was determined by macroscopic and micro‐tomographic (µ‐CT) imaging. Blood samples were obtained, and platelet aggregation was induced in plasma rich in platelets by adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and collagen. Endothelium‐dependent vascular reactivity and protein expression of endothelial (eNOS), phosphorylated endothelial (peNOS), and inducible (iNOS) nitric oxide synthases were evaluated in aorta samples.

Results

The HC diet combined with periodontitis (HC + Perio group) was associated with an increased alveolar bone loss, when compared to the other groups. Both in Perio and HC groups, platelet aggregation induced by ADP or collagen was increased, while maximum aortic relaxation induced by acetylcholine was decreased. Periodontitis or HC diet alone decreased the expression of peNOS and HC diet increased the expression of iNOS. In contrast, no additive or synergistic effects were found in vascular reactivity or in platelet aggregation when the two conditions were associated (HC + Perio group).

Conclusion

Hypercholesterolemia accelerated the process of bone loss induced by periodontitis while a high cholesterol diet or periodontitis individually increased platelet aggregation and vascular reactivity in rats without additive or synergistic effects, when associated.
Reassessing Gender Neutrality
Authors: Saguy Abigail C. , Williams Juliet A. , Rees Mallory
Published: January 2020

Since the 1970s, advocates have used the term gender neutral to press for legal change in contexts ranging from employment discrimination to marriage equality to public restroom access. Drawing on analyses of all Supreme Court cases, federal courts of appeals cases, and Supreme Court amicus briefs in which the terms gender neutral/neutrality, sex neutral/neutrality, or sexually neutral/sexual neutrality appear, this study examines how US courts have defined gender neutrality and what the scope and limits of its legal application have been. We find that the courts have defined gender neutrality narrowly as facial neutrality, but nonetheless that this limited understanding has transformed some areas of the law, even if it has had little impact on others. Our analysis confirms earlier feminist skepticism about the sufficiency of gender neutrality to guarantee equality but also points to areas in which the law has yet to exploit the idea's significant potential to address discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
Legal Consciousness and Cultural Capital
Authors: Young Kathryne M. , Billings Katie R.
Published: January 2020

In this article, we use a Bourdieusian framework to theorize the relationship between cultural capital and legal consciousness, and in turn to consider how variation in legal consciousness contributes to the creation and maintenance of legal hegemony. We investigate how cultural capital shapes the ways people navigate situations that force them to mediate between state-conferred rights, on one hand, and requests from state authority, on the other. Specifically, we analyze open-ended responses to a series of vignettes about constitutional rights in the criminal procedure context. We find that high cultural capital gives rise to a greater sense of self-efficacy in police–citizen interactions. This finding parallels the literature on the influence of cultural capital in the education context and may point to a more general pattern of self-advocacy within the juridical field. People with high cultural capital also evince a more salient sense of entitlement, understanding their own needs and desires as paramount. The social processes we identify may make people with limited cultural capital more vulnerable to investigative authority, and thus more susceptible to arrest and prosecution. Even if knowledge of a right and the opportunity to assert that right are equally distributed, meaningful access to that right remains inequitable.
Reconfiguring the Deserving Refugee: Cultural Categories of Worth and the Making of Refugee Policy
Authors: Shiff Talia
Published: January 2020

Studies on asylum give little explanatory power to the role of categories of worth in how lawmakers formulate asylum law in lack of a clear policy framework for determining eligibility for asylum status. This article contends that during periods of policy upheaval, distinctions of worth shift to forefront lawmaking: lawmakers renegotiate the moral boundaries between categories of deserving and undeserving refugees to give content in ambiguous law. In the United States, lawmakers drew on the concept of immutability—the notion that to be worthy of protection you must be targeted on account of traits beyond your control to change—to distinguish between “undeserving” Central Americans fleeing civil wars and gang violence, and “deserving” women subjected to gender violence. Understanding how categories of worth inform the formulation and implementation of law in periods of policy upheaval advances understandings of asylum policy and expands scholarship on the role of ideas about worth in processes of institutional change.
Changes in reproduction for subtropical cutlassfish Trichiurus japonicus reflect variation in temperature and population demography
Authors: Chen Ying‐Shiuan , Jeng Zhi‐Yu , Wang Hui‐Yu
Published: January 2020

Many subtropical fishes spawn multiple batches throughout a year. To understand plasticity in their reproductive output, we evaluated variation in oocyte size and batch fecundity for an exploited subtropical cutlassfish, Trichiurus japonicus, between two temperature periods (warm vs. cold) on the NE and SW coasts of Taiwan, northwestern Pacific. Given greater temperature variability on NE compared with SW coast, we hypothesized greater changes between warm and cold periods in oocyte size and fecundity for T. japonicus on the NE coast. We found opposite changes in sizes of ripe oocytes between periods (cold > warm on the NE but warm > cold on the SW coast) but consistent patterns in batch fecundity between coasts (warm > cold). Furthermore, the between‐period patterns in female length were consistent on both coasts (warm > cold). The differential between‐period patterns in oocyte size were related to potential adaptive responses to differential thermal environments between coasts, whereas the changes in fecundity mainly involved plastic processes (e.g., changes in population demography or movement). Together, our findings suggest that variability of temperature and maternal effects underlie recruitment variability of T. japonicus.
Investigating structural inequities in the culture of medicine
Authors: Volpe Rebecca L. , Hopkins Margaret
Published: January 2020

Drawing on Watling et al's exploration of culture in medical education, this commentary explores how historical and structural inequities impact on professional identity formation.
Autonomy and professional identity formation in residency training: A qualitative study
Authors: Sawatsky Adam P. , Santivasi Wil L. , Nordhues Hannah C. , Vaa Brianna E. , Ratelle John T. , Beckman Thomas J. , Hafferty Frederic W.
Published: January 2020

Context

Professional identity formation (PIF) involves the development of professional values, actions and aspirations and is central to medical education. Current understanding of PIF is informed by psychological and sociological theories. One ideal of medicine is responsibility to the patient; the development of this ideal is related to learner autonomy. The purpose of this study was to further theorise the relationships between the individual and contextual aspects of PIF through exploring the associations amongst autonomy, making decisions and responsibility for patients during residency training.

Methods

Using constructivist grounded theory, we conducted 23 semi‐structured interviews with internal medicine residents at an academic medical centre. Interview transcripts were de‐identified and processed through open coding and analytic memo writing. During data collection and analysis, we identified social cognitive theory (SCT), specifically reciprocal determinism, or the triadic and reciprocal relationship between context, person and behaviour, as a useful theoretical lens through which to illuminate the relationship between autonomy and PIF. Using SCT to guide analysis, we organised themes, identified relationships amongst themes, and refined them through group discussion and constant comparison with new data.

Results

Residents discussed three main themes: autonomy; making decisions, and responsibility for patient care. Autonomy allowed residents to feel personally responsible for patient care, and build confidence and trust. Autonomy allowed residents to feel engaged in making ‘real decisions’ for patient care. By displaying confidence in their decision making, residents were granted more autonomy. Lack of autonomy led to disengagement and lack of ownership over patient care.

Conclusions

This study highlighted the role of autonomy in the PIF of learners. Exploring the tension between autonomy and supervision through the lens of SCT highlighted the interconnectedness of context, behaviour and identity in PIF. To ensure optimal learning environments for PIF, educators should weigh the need for autonomy against the demands for supervision and patient safety.
Medical teachers’ discursive positioning of doctors in relation to patients
Authors: Dornan Tim , Roy Bentley Selina , Kelly Martina
Published: January 2020

Context

An important part of a doctor’s identity is the social position he or she adopts relative to patients. Dialogic theory predicts that medical school discourses influence the positions students incorporate into their professional identities. As this may affect how students later exercise power in doctor‐patient relationships, we set out to examine how medical teachers position doctors in relation to patients.

Methods

Informed by Holland’s Figured Worlds theory, which draws important assumptions from Bakhtin, we chose dialogic research methodology to examine how educators’ language positions doctors and may influence students’ identity formation. We recruited a maximum variation sample of 10 teaching staff and used open prompts in individual semi‐structured interviews to elicit discourses of doctors’ social position. We used Sullivan’s dialogic methodology reflexively to identify informative speech acts (utterances) and to examine how the language used in these constructed doctors’ positions.

Results

Dominant discourses of Social Superiority, Technical Effectiveness, and Benevolence elevated doctors’ positions based on their social status, applied knowledge and trustworthiness, respectively. These positions were defended by predicating medical care on doctors’ mastery of treatments and their superior knowledge. A non‐dominant discourse of Distributed Power and Responsibility narrowed the positional gap by constructing doctors as empowering patients.

Conclusions

Whereas three conservative discourses upheld doctors’ elevated social position, a non‐dominant, transformative discourse distributed power. We suggest that doctors will form the best relationships with patients when they are aware of these discourses and know how to navigate them. In pursuit of effective and compassionate patient care, we commend critical pedagogy as a means of articulating non‐dominant discourses and increasing students’, educators’ and doctors’ awareness of how they learn the positions of doctors.