Articles A Challenges of Economic Growth: an Overview

This article is part of the conference “The Challenges of Economic Growth” organized by the Central Bank of Chile in November 2001. It summarizes the development and the state of the art on economic growth literature and critically discusses the main theoretical and empirical insights provided by the papers presented at the conference.

Repeating platinum/bevacizumab in recurrent or progressive cervical cancer yields marginal survival benefits

Our objective was to assess overall survival of cervical cancer patients following prior platinum/bevacizumab chemotherapy, comparing retreatment with platinum/bevacizumab with alternative therapies. A retrospective analysis was performed of women who received platinum/bevacizumab (PB) chemotherapy for cervical cancer at Washington University between July 1, 2005 and December 31, 2015. Wilcoxon rank-sum exact test and Fisher's exact test were used to compare the treatment groups, and Kaplan Meier curves were generated. Cox regression analyses were performed, with treatment free interval and prior therapy response included as covariates. Of 84 patients who received PB chemotherapy, 59 (70%) received no second line chemotherapy, as they did not recur, progressed without further chemotherapy, were lost to follow up, or expired. Of the remaining 25 patients, 9 were retreated with the combination of platinum/bevacizumab (PB), 6 were retreated with a platinum regimen without bevacizumab (P), and 10 were retreated with neither (not-P). The only long-term survivor was in the not-P group and was treated with an immunotherapy agent. Median overall survival of all patients was 7.1 months. There was a marginal difference in survival between women in the PB and not-PB groups (11.8 versus 5.7 months; HR 3.02, 95% CI, 0.98–9.28). There was no difference in survival based on platinum interval (HR 0.81; 95% CI, 0.27–2.45). Outcomes are grim for women retreated after platinum/bevacizumab therapy and are only marginally improved by retreatment with a platinum/bevacizumab regimen. Rather than additional PB therapy, women with cervical cancer who recur after platinum/bevacizumab should consider supportive care or clinical trials

Estimating the number of unvaccinated Chinese workers against yellow fever in Angola

Background: A yellow fever epidemic occurred in Angola in 2016 with 884 laboratory confirmed cases and 373 deaths. Eleven unvaccinated Chinese nationals working in Angola were also infected and imported the disease to China, thereby presenting the first importation of yellow fever into Asia. In Angola, there are about 259,000 Chinese foreign workers. The fact that 11 unvaccinated Chinese workers acquired yellow fever suggests that many more Chinese workers in Angola were not vaccinated. Methods: We applied a previously developed model to back-calculate the number of unvaccinated Chinese workers in Angola in order to determine the extent of lack of vaccine coverage. Results: Our models suggest that none of the 259,000 Chinese had been vaccinated, although yellow fever vaccination is mandated by the International Health Regulations. Conclusion: Governments around the world including China need to ensure that their citizens obtain YF vaccination when traveling to countries where such vaccines are required in order to prevent the international spread of yellow fever

Effect of Adding Lycopene to the Ration in some Blood Traits of Broiler Ross 308

This study was conducted at Poultry Farm of Animal Resources Dept., College of Agriculture, University of AL-Qasim Green to investigate the effect of adding Lycopene to the ration in some blood traits of broiler Ross 308 . Use the 90 broiler chicks Ross 308 day-old were randomly assigned to three treatments (by 3 replicates per treatment 10 chicks per replicate),  and treatments were as follows : ( first treatment) without adding lycopene to the diet, add lycopene by 250 mg / kg feed (second treatment)  and add  lycopene by 500 mg / kg feed ( Third treatment) . Blood traits included in this study were red and white blood cell counts, hematocrit, hemoglobin concentration and differential leucocyte count . The results indicated that the addition of lycopene by 250 and 500 mg / kg feed to broiler diet led to a significant improvement) p<0.05( in red and white blood cell counts, hematocrit and  hemoglobin concentration and significant decrease) p<0.05  (in heterophil to lymphocyte ratio .It concluded from this experience, that the addition of lycopene by 250 and 500 mg / kg feed to the ration can lead to improve in some blood traits of the broiler . Keywords : lycopene , blood traits , broile

Seroepidemiology of group A rotavirus in suburban São Paulo, Brazil

Age-specifc patterns of rotavirus infection were investigated using a randomly selected and representative sample of sera from a suburban community of São Paulo, Brazil screened for class-specifc antibodies to group A rotavirus. Age-serology of anti-rotavirus IgG showed primary infection predominant in young infants with a median age of around 18 months consistent with IgM serology suggesting highest rates of recent infection between ages 4 and 48 months. Anti-rotavirus serum IgA prevalence increased gradually with age. Paired samples from infants, collected 1 month apart, indicated high exposure rates with seroconversion occurring in several infants during the reported low transmission season. Between 5 and 10% of adults had elevated IgM levels indicative of recent infection and, potentially, of an important contribution adults may play to rotavirus transmission. Further understanding of the dynamics of rotavirus transmission within populations, at group and serotype level, would benefit the design and monitoring of future immunization programmes

The Impact of the Green Supply Chain Management on Environmental – Based Marketing Performance: Case study Nuqul Group Companies in Jordan

This study aims to investigate “The impact of  the Green Supply Chain Management” (GSCM)  on Environmental – Based Marketing Performance. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, the researchers deployed the descriptive analytical approach due to its relevance to this kind of research. The sample used in this study is the stratified convenience sampling, where the study targeted the top and middle managerial levels from the population, and the targeted managerial levels was made up of (167) employees in the five companies. 125 questionnaires  were distributed for the five companies with  (25) questionnaires for each company. The accepted questionnaire was (96).  The results of the research showed that the elements of the Green Supply Chain Management "Internal Environmental Management, Green Purchasing, Green Information Systems, Cooperation with Customers, Eco-Design and Packaging, and Investment Recovery" practices affect the environmental – based marketing performance. The results showed the most element with significant impact on the environmental – based marketing performance was internal environmental management. Keywords: Green Supply Chain Management, Marketing Performance, Nuqul Group Companies, Jordan

An approximate threshold condition for a non-autonomous system: an application to a vector-borne infection

A non-autonomous system is proposed to model the seasonal pattern of dengue fever. We found that an approximate threshold condition for infection persistence describes all possible behavior of the system. As far as we know, the kind of analysis here proposed is entirely new. No precise mathematical theorems are demonstrated but we give enough numerical evidence to support the conclusions.Comment: 11 pages and 6 figure