Inequality, crime and private protection

There is a consensus that inequality increases the supply of crime. As disparity in income grows within a society, the incentives for low-income individuals to engage in criminal activities also increase. However, in a context of high inequality, better-off individuals invest in deterring those who want to appropriate their resources. We examine this twofold effect of inequality in an equilibrium model of crime and private protection. We show that inequality unambiguously increases investment in private protection, but the relationship between inequality and crime is ambiguous, depending on how protection responds to private investment.Corvalan gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Institute for Research in Market Imperfections and Public Policy, MIPP (ICS13_002 ANID)

Diseases due to unhealthy environments: an updated estimate of the global burden of disease attributable to environmental determinants of health

The update of the global burden of disease attributable to the environment is presented. The study focuses on modifiable risks to show the potential health impact from environmental interventions.; Systematic literature reviews on 133 diseases and injuries were performed. Comparative risk assessments were complemented by more limited epidemiological estimates, expert opinion and information on disease transmission pathways. Population attributable fractions were used to calculate global deaths and global disease burden from environmental risks.; Twenty-three percent (95% CI: 13-34%) of global deaths and 22% (95% CI: 13-32%) of global disability adjusted life years (DALYs) were attributable to environmental risks in 2012. Sixty-eight percent of deaths and 56% of DALYs could be estimated with comparative risk assessment methods. The global disease burden attributable to the environment is now dominated by noncommunicable diseases. Susceptible ages are children under five and adults between 50 and 75 years. Country level data are presented.; Nearly a quarter of global disease burden could be prevented by reducing environmental risks. This analysis confirms that eliminating hazards and reducing environmental risks will greatly benefit our health, will contribute to attaining the recently agreed Sustainable Development Goals and will systematically require intersectoral collaboration to be successful

Introducing MACEDA: New micro-data on an indigenous self-determination conflict

Replication data: The dataset, codebook, and do-files for the empirical analysis in this article, along with the Online appendix, are available at https://www.prio.org/journals/jpr/replicationdata All analyses were conducted using STATA. See also https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/KXRYM3.This article introduces MACEDA, a micro-level dataset on the self-determination (SD) conflict between the Chilean state and the indigenous Mapuche. Although SD disputes are one of the most common conflicts in the world, and indigenous movements represent about 40% of all SD movements, this is the first micro-dataset focused on an indigenous SD conflict. MACEDA covers the period 1990–2016, including more than 2,600 events collected from local media. As indigenous conflicts are much less violent in terms of casualties, we take a flexible definition of conflict, based on its constituent events, and we discuss the comparability and generalization of our approach. To illustrate the usefulness of these micro-data in the analysis of conflict-related theories, we present a descriptive empirical analysis on the strategies of indigenous resistance, and we discuss how the data can be used in the causal analysis of conflicts.Institute for Research in Market Imperfections and Public Policy, ICM IS130002; Ministerio de Economía, Fomento y Turismo; the ANID Chile, project Fondecyt 1201737; ANID Chile through Fondecyt Iniciación project 11190283

Tobacco use in pregnant women: analysis of data from Demographic and Health Surveys from 54 low-income and middle-income countries

Background Worldwide, use of tobacco is viewed as an important threat to the health of pregnant women and their children. However, the extent of tobacco use in pregnant women in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) remains unclear. We assessed the magnitude of tobacco use in pregnant women in LMICs. Methods We used data from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) done in 54 LMICs between Jan 1, 2001, and Dec 1, 2012, comprising 58 922 pregnant women (aged 15–49 years), which were grouped by WHO region. Prevalence of current tobacco use (smoked and smokeless) was estimated for every country. Pooled estimates by regions and overall were obtained from random-eff ects meta-analysis. Findings Pooled prevalence of any tobacco use in pregnant women in LMICs was 2·6% (95% CI 1·8–3·6); the lowest prevalence was in the African region (2·0%, 1·2–2·9) and the highest was in the Southeast Asian region (5·1%, 1·3–10·9). The pooled prevalence of current tobacco smoking in pregnant women ranged from 0·6% (0·3–0·8) in the African region to 3·5% (1·5–12·1) in the Western Pacifi c region. The pooled prevalence of current smokeless tobacco use in pregnant women was lowest in the European region (0·1%, 0·0–0·3) and highest in the Southeast Asian region (2·6%, 0·0–7·6). Interpretation Overall, tobacco use in pregnant women in LMICs was low; however high prevalence estimates were noted in some LMICs. Prevention and management of tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke in pregnancy is crucial to protect maternal and child health in LMICs

Climate change and human health: impacts, vulnerability and public health.

It is now widely accepted that climate change is occurring as a result of the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere arising from the combustion of fossil fuels. Climate change may affect health through a range of pathways, for example as a result of increased frequency and intensity of heat waves, reduction in cold related deaths, increased floods and droughts, changes in the distribution of vector-borne diseases and effects on the risk of disasters and malnutrition. The overall balance of effects on health is likely to be negative and populations in low-income countries are likely to be particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects. The experience of the 2003 heat wave in Europe shows that high-income countries may also be adversely affected. Adaptation to climate change requires public health strategies and improved surveillance. Mitigation of climate change by reducing the use of fossil fuels and increasing a number of uses of the renewable energy technologies should improve health in the near-term by reducing exposure to air pollution

Climate change and human health: impacts, vulnerability, and mitigation.

It is now widely accepted that climate change is occurring as a result of the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere arising from the combustion of fossil fuels. Climate change may affect health through a range of pathways--eg, as a result of increased frequency and intensity of heat waves, reduction in cold-related deaths, increased floods and droughts, changes in the distribution of vector-borne diseases, and effects on the risk of disasters and malnutrition. The overall balance of effects on health is likely to be negative and populations in low-income countries are likely to be particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects. The experience of the 2003 heat wave in Europe shows that high-income countries might also be adversely affected. Adaptation to climate change requires public-health strategies and improved surveillance. Mitigation of climate change by reducing the use of fossil fuels and increasing the use of a number of renewable energy technologies should improve health in the near term by reducing exposure to air pollution

Waking up dormant tumor suppressor genes with zinc fingers, TALEs and the CRISPR/dCas9 system

The aberrant epigenetic silencing of tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) plays a major role during carcinogenesis and regaining these dormant functions by engineering of sequence-specific epigenome editing tools offers a unique opportunity for targeted therapies. However, effectively normalizing the expression and regaining tumor suppressive functions of silenced TSGs by artificial transcription factors (ATFs) still remains a major challenge. Herein we describe novel combinatorial strategies for the potent reactivation of two class II TSGs, MASPIN and REPRIMO, in cell lines with varying epigenetic states, using the CRISPR/dCas9 associated system linked to a panel of effector domains (VP64, p300, VPR and SAM complex), as well as with protein-based ATFs, Zinc Fingers and TALEs. We found that co-delivery of multiple effector domains using a combination of CRISPR/dCas9 and TALEs or SAM complex maximized activation in highly methylated promoters. In particular, CRISPR/dCas9 VPR with SAM upregulated MASPIN mRNA (22,145-fold change) in H157 lung cancer cells, with accompanying re-expression of MASPIN protein, which led to a concomitant inhibition of cell proliferation and induction of apoptotic cell death. Consistently, CRISPR/dCas9 VP64 with SAM upregulated REPRIMO (680-fold change), which led to phenotypic reprogramming in AGS gastric cancer cells. Altogether, our results outlined novel sequence-specific, combinatorial epigenome editing approaches to reactivate highly methylated TSGs as a promising therapy for cancer and other diseases

Gliomas de bajo grado: implicancias de la nueva clasificación

En el año 2016 se presentó formalmente la nueva clasificación de tumores cerebrales de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS), la misma se dio debido a la gran variabilidad que existía entre diversos centros en los diagnósticos anatomopatológicos, se pasó de una clasificación meramente histológica para incorporar parámetros moleculares que dio un nuevo enfoque no solo en la anatomía patológica sino un cambio de paradigma a nivel clínico-quirúrgico. Objetivos: revisión de la nueva clasificación de la OMS para tumores gliales de bajo grado y su implicancia clínicoquirúrgica.Facultad de Ciencias Médica

Meeting Report: Development of Environmental Health Indicators in Brazil and Other Countries in the Americas

This report summarizes the Brazilian experience on the design and implementation of environmental health, with contributions from Argentina, Canada, and Cuba, presented at the International Symposium on the Development of Indicators for Environmental Health Integrated Management, held in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, on 17–18 June 2004. The methodology for the development of environmental health indicators has been used as a reference in the implementation of environmental health surveillance in Brazil. This methodology has provided tools and processes to facilitate the understanding and to measure the determinants of risks to environmental health, to help decision makers control those risks

Midiendo retornos accionarios diarios en el mercado de capitales mexicano: una comparacion entre pruebas parametricas y no parametricas

70 p.En el contexto financiero, y especialmente bursátil, la Metodología de Estudio de Eventos es una herramienta que busca estimar el efecto que tiene un evento sobre el valor de mercado de las acciones de una firma. Utilizando el enfoque inicial de simulación para retornos diarios, propuesto en 1985 por Brown y Warner, la presente investigación tiene como propósito validar el poder y la especificación de 3 test paramétricos y 2 test no paramétricos, ampliamente utilizados en esta metodología. A partir de una base general de datos, obtenida de Economatica TM, que incluyo un periodo de observación de 15 anos, se obtuvo una muestra de 361 acciones de la Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV). Luego de un proceso de selección condicionada a ciertos parámetros, finalmente se obtuvieron 250 acciones útiles con las que se realizo el análisis y comparación de los resultados arrojados por los test estadísticos antes mencionados. Los resultados del análisis tendiente a evaluar el poder, permitieron detectar diferencias significativas entre los test paramétricos y no paramétricos. Se observo que ambos test no paramétricos, el de ranking y el de signos, mostraron un mayor poder estadístico que los tres test paramétricos en la predicción de retornos anormales. Respecto a la evaluación de la especificación, se observo que nuevamente los test no paramétricos, y en especial el test de signo, lograron mejores resultados que los test paramétricos. Resultados que se repitieron a un nivel de significancia de un 5% y un 1%. Finalmente, considerando los resultados sobre el poder y la especificación de los test evaluados en esta investigación, se concluyo que los test no paramétricos son los que presentan mejor capacidad predicativa de retornos anormales