Income inequality and economic convergence in Turkey: A spatial effect analysis

Even though the convergence of regional per capita income has been a highly debated issue internationally, empirical evidence regarding Turkey is limited as well as contradictory. This article is an attempt to investigate regional income inequality and the convergence dynamics in Turkey for the time period 1987-2001. First, the Theil coefficient of concentration index is used to analyze the dispersion aspects of the convergence process. The geographically based decomposition of inequality suggests a strong correlation between the share of interregional inequality and spatial clustering. Then, we estimate convergence dynamics employing alternative spatial econometric methods. In addition to the global models, we also estimate local models taking spatial variations into account. Empirical analysis indicates that geographically weighted regression improves model fitting with better explanatory power. There is considerable variation in speed of convergence of provinces, which cannot be captured by the traditional beta convergence analysis. © 2009 Sage Publications

Parameter estimation for biochemical reaction networks using Wasserstein distances

We present a method for estimating parameters in stochastic models of biochemical reaction networks by fitting steady-state distributions using Wasserstein distances. We simulate a reaction network at different parameter settings and train a Gaussian process to learn the Wasserstein distance between observations and the simulator output for all parameters. We then use Bayesian optimization to find parameters minimizing this distance based on the trained Gaussian process. The effectiveness of our method is demonstrated on the three-stage model of gene expression and a genetic feedback loop for which moment-based methods are known to perform poorly. Our method is applicable to any simulator model of stochastic reaction networks, including Brownian Dynamics.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures. Slight modifications/additions to the text; added new section (Section 4.4) and Appendi

Early tumor shrinkage and response assessment according to mRECIST predict overall survival in hepatocellular carcinoma patients under sorafenib.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between follow-up imaging characteristics and overall survival (OS) in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients under sorafenib treatment. METHODS: Associations between OS and objective response (OR) by mRECIST or early tumor shrinkage (ETS; ≥20% reduction in enhancing tumor diameter at the first follow-up imaging) were analyzed in HCC patients treated with sorafenib within a multicenter phase II trial (SORAMIC). 115 patients were included in this substudy. The relationship between survival and OR or ETS were explored. Landmark analyses were performed according to OR at fixed time points. Cox proportional hazards models with OR and ETS as a time-dependent covariate were used to compare survival with factors known to influence OS. RESULTS: The OR rate was 29.5%. Responders had significantly better OS than non-responders (median 30.3 vs. 11.4 months; HR, 0.38 [95% CI, 0.22-0.63], p < 0.001), and longer progression-free survival (PFS; median 10.1 vs. 4.3 months, p = 0.015). Patients with ETS ≥ 20% had longer OS (median 22.1 vs. 11.4 months, p = 0.002) and PFS (median 8.0 vs. 4.3 months, p = 0.034) than patients with ETS < 20%. Besides OR and ETS, male gender, lower bilirubin and ALBI grade were associated with improved OS in univariate analysis. Separate models of multivariable analysis confirmed OR and ETS as independent predictors of OS. CONCLUSION: OR according to mRECIST and ETS in patients receiving sorafenib treatment are independent prognostic factors for OS. These parameters can be used for assessment of treatment benefit and optimal treatment sequencing in patients with advanced HCC

Dynamics in Circulating y -55Proinflammatory Biomarkers for Prognostic Assessment of Patients With Advanced HCC – A Substudy From the SORAMIC Trial

Introduction: Prediction of response to treatment in patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) may assist in the selection of personalized management. Objective: This exploratory analysis of the palliative arm of the SORAMIC trial (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01126645) evaluated the prognostic potential of basal and dynamic changes in systemic levels of interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin 8 (IL-8), systemic vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Methods: We evaluated the correlations between overall survival (OS) and concentrations of IL-6, IL-8, VEGF, and LPS at follow-up approximately 7-9 weeks after treatment initialization (FU) compared to baseline (BL) in 90 patients treated either with 90Yttrium (90Y) microspheres combined with sorafenib (n = 44) or with sorafenib (n = 46) alone. Results: Changes in IL-6 concentration during treatment showed correlations with the outcome. An increase in IL-6 concentration of less than 16.8 pg/mL over baseline readings was associated with better survival [median OS 16.3 months compared with 8.9 months (p = 0.0354)]. Correlations with survival were not observed for VEGF or LPS concentrations at baseline, at FU, or changes between these time points. Conclusions: Changes in IL 6 serum levels at 7-9 weeks after treatment initialization but not in IL 8, VEGF, or LPS add important information on the outcome of advanced HCC patients treated palliatively within the SORAMIC trial

Erratum to: 36th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s13054-016-1208-6.]

Analysis of distinct asymmetries in financial integration-growth nexus for industrial, emerging and developing countries

This paper examines the threshold conditions in financial integration and growth relationship for a large set of threshold variables and different income group of countries employing Panel Smooth Transition Regression Models. Except developing countries, our findings strongly indicate nonlinear dynamics and imply that the impact of financial integration on growth is asymmetric depending on a number of indicators such as countries' degree of institutional quality, financial sector development, trade openness, budget deficit, inflation volatility and the level of financial integration. Our results show that these threshold effects substantially differ for emerging and industrial countries. As far as whole set of countries is concerned, our findings imply that countries having developed financial systems, qualified institutions and stable macroeconomic environment benefit from financial integration. Moreover, threshold effects are stronger and different for emerging countries compared to the industrial countries. Unlike emerging economies, higher levels of financial integration and trade openness decrease benefits from financial openness for the industrial countries. Besides, high fiscal deficit has more pronounced negative effect on the growth of the industrialized countries compared to emerging economies and other indicators. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Lt