title: Meta-analysis of economics research reporting guidelines

authors: Stanley, T.D.

subjects: Meta-analysis

abstract: Meta-regression analysis (MRA) can provide objective and comprehensive summaries of economics research. Their use has grown rapidly over the last few decades. To improve transparency and to raise the quality of MRA, the meta-analysis of economics research-network (MAER-Net) has created the below reporting guidelines. Future meta-analyses in economics will be expected to follow these guidelines or give valid reasons why a meta-analysis must deviate from them.

text: Meta-analysis of economics research reporting guidelines Meta-regression analysis (MRA) can provide objective and comprehensive summaries of economics research. Their use has grown rapidly over the last few decades. To improve transparency and to raise the quality of MRA, the meta-analysis of economics research-network (MAER-Net) has created the below reporting guidelines. Future meta-analyses in economics will be expected to follow these guidelines or give valid reasons why a meta-analysis must deviate from them.

year: 2013

title: Identification of central mechanisms underlying statin-induced changes in consummatory behaviour in rats

authors: Isgrove, Kiriana

subjects: simvastatin

abstract: Simvastatin is a cholesterol lowering statin whose adverse effects include an increase in appetite and, consequently, obesity. This is counterproductive to the otherwise beneficial outcomes of simvastatin on metabolic and cardiovascular health. The mechanisms underlying simvastatin-induced hyperphagia are unknown. This thesis investigated by using a laboratory rat model whether central mechanisms contribute to simvastatin-induced increase in appetite. First, the effect of intracerebroventricularly (ICV) administered simvastatin on the energy-driven intake of ‘bland’ chow, and on reward-motivated consumption of palatable solutions, was determined. The data indicate that ICV simvastatin moderately increases ingestion of energy-dense chow, but it does not affect consumption of calorie-dilute and non-caloric palatable sucrose or saccharin solutions. It suggests that simvastatin acting directly at the brain level elevates intake of energy, while being ineffective in stimulating eating for reward. Surprisingly, rats injected ICV with this statin consume also significantly more water after water deprivation, which points to a relationship between centrally acting simvastatin and thirst-related processing. In the second part of this project, the effect of the orexigenic dose of ICV simvastatin on neuronal activation in consumption-related hypothalamic sites was investigated. Simvastatin elevated c-Fos immunoreactivity, which serves as a marker of neuronal activation, in the arcuate and paraventricular nuclei, two sites that have a profound influence on the regulation of energy intake and energy balance, as well as affect water balance. It can be concluded that simvastatin increases intake of energy and of water, and that it likely exerts its action through the hypothalamic paraventricular and arcuate nuclei.

text: Identification of central mechanisms underlying statin-induced changes in consummatory behaviour in rats Simvastatin is a cholesterol lowering statin whose adverse effects include an increase in appetite and, consequently, obesity. This is counterproductive to the otherwise beneficial outcomes of simvastatin on metabolic and cardiovascular health. The mechanisms underlying simvastatin-induced hyperphagia are unknown. This thesis investigated by using a laboratory rat model whether central mechanisms contribute to simvastatin-induced increase in appetite. First, the effect of intracerebroventricularly (ICV) administered simvastatin on the energy-driven intake of ‘bland’ chow, and on reward-motivated consumption of palatable solutions, was determined. The data indicate that ICV simvastatin moderately increases ingestion of energy-dense chow, but it does not affect consumption of calorie-dilute and non-caloric palatable sucrose or saccharin solutions. It suggests that simvastatin acting directly at the brain level elevates intake of energy, while being ineffective in stimulating eating for reward. Surprisingly, rats injected ICV with this statin consume also significantly more water after water deprivation, which points to a relationship between centrally acting simvastatin and thirst-related processing. In the second part of this project, the effect of the orexigenic dose of ICV simvastatin on neuronal activation in consumption-related hypothalamic sites was investigated. Simvastatin elevated c-Fos immunoreactivity, which serves as a marker of neuronal activation, in the arcuate and paraventricular nuclei, two sites that have a profound influence on the regulation of energy intake and energy balance, as well as affect water balance. It can be concluded that simvastatin increases intake of energy and of water, and that it likely exerts its action through the hypothalamic paraventricular and arcuate nuclei.

year: 2017

title: George Lipsey: a Pakeha Maori who married Ema Mokena, daughter of mokena hou, and some of their children

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: George Lipsey, an Irishman, went to the early Thames goldfield and became a publican. He soon acquired close links with Maori, notably with Ema Mokena, the younger daughter of Mokena Hou. After having two children, they married under Pakeha law just before the opening of the Te Aroha field, thereby ensuring that he was entitled to share in the goldfield’s revenue. From 1873 onwards he had been living at Te Aroha as a Pakeha Maori, erecting the first wooden house and the first Hot Springs Hotel. When gold was found, he encouraged Mokena Hou to open the field, and subsequently invested in the mines (as did Ema, to a much smaller extent). 
Ema and her two eldest children were granted land in a rapidly developing settlement, and the income received from leasing it enabled Lipsey to erect a substantial residence and to be a benefactor of the new settlement by donating land for churches and a school. A sympathetic landlord, he adjusted the rents to assist residents but opposed giving them the freehold because the land was held in trust for his two eldest children. Despite his steady income, his expenditure regularly exceeded it, and he ended up selling land, though not at first at Te Aroha. Initially opposed to his children selling their land, he came to accept this as being necessary, and spent years trying to obtain the highest prices possible from the government.
A leading figure in the local community, he held several local government positions. Sociable, with a fondness for drink that was usually under control, he was especially enthusiastic about horse-racing. As the spokesman for Ngati Rahiri, he advised the latter and was an interpreter.
All their children were educated, but some died tragically early deaths. After he died, the children sold their land because they needed money to develop their farms.

text: George Lipsey: a Pakeha Maori who married Ema Mokena, daughter of mokena hou, and some of their children George Lipsey, an Irishman, went to the early Thames goldfield and became a publican. He soon acquired close links with Maori, notably with Ema Mokena, the younger daughter of Mokena Hou. After having two children, they married under Pakeha law just before the opening of the Te Aroha field, thereby ensuring that he was entitled to share in the goldfield’s revenue. From 1873 onwards he had been living at Te Aroha as a Pakeha Maori, erecting the first wooden house and the first Hot Springs Hotel. When gold was found, he encouraged Mokena Hou to open the field, and subsequently invested in the mines (as did Ema, to a much smaller extent). 
Ema and her two eldest children were granted land in a rapidly developing settlement, and the income received from leasing it enabled Lipsey to erect a substantial residence and to be a benefactor of the new settlement by donating land for churches and a school. A sympathetic landlord, he adjusted the rents to assist residents but opposed giving them the freehold because the land was held in trust for his two eldest children. Despite his steady income, his expenditure regularly exceeded it, and he ended up selling land, though not at first at Te Aroha. Initially opposed to his children selling their land, he came to accept this as being necessary, and spent years trying to obtain the highest prices possible from the government.
A leading figure in the local community, he held several local government positions. Sociable, with a fondness for drink that was usually under control, he was especially enthusiastic about horse-racing. As the spokesman for Ngati Rahiri, he advised the latter and was an interpreter.
All their children were educated, but some died tragically early deaths. After he died, the children sold their land because they needed money to develop their farms.

year: 2016