A neo-Kaldorian approach to structural economic dynamics

Although the structural economic dynamic approach provides a simultaneous consideration of demand and supply sides of economic growth, it does not fully take into account the possible role played by demand in the generation of technical progress. From a neo-Kaldorian perspective, this paper seeks to establish the concepts of demand and productivity regimes in an open version of the pure labour Pasinettian model. In order to derive the demand regime, a disaggregated version of the static Harrod foreign multiplier is derived, while the productivity regime is built in terms of disaggregated Kaldor–Verdoorn laws. The upshot is a multi-sectoral growth model of structural change and cumulative causation, in which an open version of the Pasinettian model to foreign trade may be obtained as a particular case. Furthermore, we show that the evolution of demand patterns, while being affected by differential rates of productivity growth in different sectors of the economy, also play an important role in establishing the pace of technical progress

A multi-sectoral approach to the Harrod foreign trade multiplier

With this inquiry, we seek to develop a multi-sectoral version of the static Harrod foreign trade multiplier, by showing that it can be derived from an extended version of the Pasinettian model of structural change and international trade. This new version highlights the connections between the balance-of-payments and levels of employment and production. It is also shown that from this disaggregated version of the Harrod foreign multiplier we can derive an aggregate version of the multiplier. By following this approach we go a step further in establishing the connections between the Structural Economic Dynamic and Balance-of-Payments Constrained Growth approaches

Efficient Computation of Multiple Density-Based Clustering Hierarchies

HDBSCAN*, a state-of-the-art density-based hierarchical clustering method, produces a hierarchical organization of clusters in a dataset w.r.t. a parameter mpts. While the performance of HDBSCAN* is robust w.r.t. mpts in the sense that a small change in mpts typically leads to only a small or no change in the clustering structure, choosing a "good" mpts value can be challenging: depending on the data distribution, a high or low value for mpts may be more appropriate, and certain data clusters may reveal themselves at different values of mpts. To explore results for a range of mpts values, however, one has to run HDBSCAN* for each value in the range independently, which is computationally inefficient. In this paper, we propose an efficient approach to compute all HDBSCAN* hierarchies for a range of mpts values by replacing the graph used by HDBSCAN* with a much smaller graph that is guaranteed to contain the required information. An extensive experimental evaluation shows that with our approach one can obtain over one hundred hierarchies for the computational cost equivalent to running HDBSCAN* about 2 times.Comment: A short version of this paper appears at IEEE ICDM 2017. Corrected typos. Revised abstrac

Experience of the cleft lip and palate clinic at the hospital general de México 2017-2023

Background: The care of cleft lip and palate patients at the general hospital of Mexico has nearly 70 years of experience. Methods: An observational study of a 7-year cohort of resolved cases of cleft lip and palate by the plastic and reconstructive surgery service of the general hospital of Mexico (2017-2023) was conducted. Results: The 121 patients were recorded, with 47 palatoplasties, 44 primary cheiloplasties, 24 secondary cheiloplasties, and 11 veloplasties performed. All patients are evaluated by a multidisciplinary team composed of plastic surgery, dentistry, clinical nutrition, speech therapy, audiology, genetics, and psychology to determine a comprehensive treatment plan. Conclusions: The data reported by the cohort in this work aligns with international reports. The frequency of cases decreased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but has increased in recent years

Estimation of glomerular filtration rate from serum creatinine and cystatin C in octogenarians and nonagenarians

Background: Equations to estimate GFR have not been well validated in the elderly and may misclassify persons with chronic kidney disease (CKD). We measured GFR and compared the performance of the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD), the Chronic Kidney Disease-Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-Epi) and the Berlin Initiative Study (BIS) equations based on creatinine and/or cystatin C in octogenarians and nonagenarians.Methods: Using cross-sectional analysis we assessed 95 very elderly persons (mean 85 years) living in the community. GFR was measured by iohexol (mGFR) and compared with estimates using six equations: MDRD, CKD-Epi_creatinine, CKD-Epi_cystatin, CKD-Epi_creatinine-cystatin, BIS_creatinine and BIS_creatinine-cystatin.Results: Mean mGFR was 55 (range, 19-86) ml/min/1.73 m(2). Bias was smaller with the CKD-Epi_creatinine-cystatin and the CKD-Epi_creatinine equations (-4.0 and 1.7 ml/min/1.73 m2). Accuracy (percentage of estimates within 30% of mGFR) was greater with the CKD-Epi_creatinine-cystatin, BIS_creatinine-cystatin and BIS_creatinine equations (85%, 83% and 80%, respectively). Among the creatinine-based equations, the BIS_creatinine had the greatest accuracy at mGFR < 60 ml/min/1.73 m(2) and the CKD-Epi_creatinine was superior at higher GFRs (79% and 90%, respectively). the CKD-Epi_creatinine-cystatin, BIS_creatinine-cystatin and CKD-Epi_cystatin equations yielded the greatest areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve at GFR threshold = 60 ml/min/1.73 m(2) (0.88, 0.88 and 0.87, respectively). in participants classified based on the BIS_creatinine, CKD-Epi_cystatin, or BIS_creatinine-cystatin equations, the CKD-Epi_creatinine-cystatin equation tended to improve CKD classification (net reclassification index: 12.7%, p = 0.18; 6.7%, p = 0.38; and 15.9%; p = 0.08, respectively).Conclusions: GFR-estimating equations CKD-Epi_creatinine-cystatin and BIS_creatinine-cystatin showed better accuracy than other equations using creatinine or cystatin C alone in very elderly persons. the CKD-Epi_creatinine-cystatin equation appears to be advantageous in CKD classification. If cystatin C is not available, both the BIS_cr equation and the CKD-Epi_cr equation could be used, although at mGFR < 60 ml/min/1.73 m(2), the BIS_cr equation seems to be the best alternative.Brazilian Research CouncilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Sch Med, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Paulista Sch Med, Geriatr Div, BR-04023900 São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Sch Med, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, Paulista Sch Med, Geriatr Div, BR-04023900 São Paulo, BrazilBrazilian Research Council: 472115/2010-3Web of Scienc

Cortical morphology changes in women with borderline personality disorder: a multimodal approach

Objective: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a devastating condition that causes intense disruption of patients' lives and relationships. Proper understanding of BPD neurobiology could help provide the basis for earlier and effective interventions. As neuroimaging studies of patients with BPD are still scarce, volumetric and geometric features of the cortical structure were assessed to ascertain whether structural cortical alterations are present in BPD patients. Methods: Twenty-five female outpatients with BPD underwent psychiatric evaluation (SCID-I and II) and a 1.5 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scan. The control group comprised 25 healthy age-matched females. Images were processed with the FreeSurfer package, which allows analysis of cortical morphology with more detailed descriptions of volumetric and geometric features of cortical structure. Results: Compared with controls, BPD patients exhibited significant cortical abnormalities in the fronto-limbic and paralimbic regions of both hemispheres. Conclusion: Significant morphologic abnormalities were observed in patients with BPD on comparison with a healthy control group through a multimodal approach. This study highlights the involvement of regions associated with mood regulation, impulsivity, and social behavior in BPD patients and presents a new approach for further investigation through a method of structural analysis based on distinct and simultaneous volumetric and geometric parameters.Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Department of Psychiatry Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Clinical NeurosciencesUniversidade Federal do ABC Center of Mathematics, Computation and CognitionUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Department of Diagnostic RadiologyUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Department of Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic for Personality Disorders (AMBORDER)UNIFESP, Department of Psychiatry Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Clinical NeurosciencesUNIFESP, Department of Diagnostic RadiologyUNIFESP, Department of Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic for Personality Disorders (AMBORDER)SciEL

PROP1 overexpression in corticotrophinomas: evidence for the role of PROP1 in the maintenance of cells committed to corticotrophic differentiation

OBJECTIVE: The expression of transcription factors involved in early pituitary development, such as PROP1 and POU1F1, has been detected in pituitary adenoma tissues. In this study, we sought to characterize the transcriptional profiles of PROP1, POU1F1, and TBX19 in functioning and nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas in an attempt to identify their roles in tumorigenesis and hormone hypersecretion. METHODS: RT-qPCR analyses were performed to assess the transcriptional pattern of PROP1, POU1F1, TBX19, and hormone-producing genes in tissue samples of corticotrophinomas (n = 10), somatotrophinomas (n = 8), and nonfunctioning adenomas (n = 6). RESULTS: Compared with normal pituitary tissue, POU1F1 was overexpressed in somatotrophinomas by 3-fold. PROP1 expression was 18-fold higher in corticotrophinomas, 10-fold higher in somatotrophinomas, and 3-fold higher in nonfunctioning adenomas. TBX19 expression was 27-fold higher in corticotrophinomas. Additionally, the level of TBX19 mRNA positively correlated with that of pro-opiomelanocortin (r = 0.49, p = 0.014). CONCLUSIONS: Our data demonstrate that PROP1 is overexpressed in pituitary adenomas, mainly in corticotrophinomas. Together with previously published data showing that patients who harbor PROP1 loss-of-function mutations present a progressive decline in corticotrope function, our results support a role for PROP1 in pituitary tumor development and in the maintenance of cell lineages committed to corticotrophic differentiation

Photodeposition of silver on Zinc/Calcium ferrite nanoparticles: A contribution to efficient effluent remediation and catalyst reutilization

The efficient photodegradation of textile dyes is still a challenge, especially considering resistant azo dyes. In this work, zinc/calcium mixed ferrite nanoparticles prepared by the sol-gel method were coupled with silver by a photodeposition method to enhance the photocatalytic potency. The obtained zinc/calcium ferrites are mainly cubic-shaped nanoparticles sized 15 ± 2 nm determined from TEM and XRD and an optical bandgap of 1.6 eV. Magnetic measurements indicate a superparamagnetic behavior with saturation magnetizations of 44.22 emu/g and 27.97 emu/g, respectively, for Zn/Ca ferrite and Zn/Ca ferrite with photodeposited silver. The zinc/calcium ferrite nanoparticles with photodeposited silver showed efficient photodegradation of the textile azo dyes C.I. Reactive Blue 250 and C.I. Reactive Yellow 145. Subsequent cycles of the use of the photocatalyst indicate the possibility of magnetic recovery and reutilization without a significant loss of efficiency.This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in the framework of the Strategic Funding of CF-UM-UP (UIDB/04650/2020) and research project PTDC/QUI-QFI/28020/2017 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028020) funded by FCT, FEDER, PORTUGAL2020, and COMPETE2020

Resumen de la Tarea de Análisis de Sentimientos Basado en Aspectos en Portugués (ABSAPT) en IberLEF 2022

Este artículo presenta la Tarea sobre Análisis de Sentimientos basado en Aspectos en Portugués (ABSAPT), realizada en el IberLEF 2022. Les pedimos a los participantes que desarrollaran sistemas capaces de identificar aspectos (AE) y extraer la polaridad (ASC) en textos escritos en portugués. Doce equipos se inscribieron en la tarea, entre los cuales cinco presentaron predicciones e informes técnicos. El sistema con mejor rendimiento logró un valor de precisión (Acc) de 0,67 para la subtarea de AE (Equipo Deep Learning Brasil) y un valor de precisión equilibrada (Bacc) de 0,82 para la subtarea de ASC (Equipo Deep Learning Brasil).This paper presents the task on Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis in Portuguese (ABSAPT), held within Iberian Languages Evaluation Forum (IberLEF 2022). We asked the participants to develop systems capable of extracting aspects (AE) and classifying sentiment of aspects (ASC) in texts. We created one corpora containing reviews about hotels. Twelve teams registered to the task, among which five submitted predictions and technical reports. The best performing system achieved an Accuracy (Acc) value of 0.67 in AE sub-task (Team Deep Learning Brasil) and a Balanced Accuracy (Bacc) value of 0.82 in ASC sub-task (Team Deep Learning Brasil).This work was financed in part by the following Brazilian research agencies: CAPES and CNPq

Caspase-8 mediates inflammation and disease in rodent malaria

Earlier studies indicate that either the canonical or non-canonical pathways of inflammasome activation have a limited role on malaria pathogenesis. Here, we report that caspase-8 is a central mediator of systemic inflammation, septic shock in the Plasmodium chabaudi-infected mice and the P. berghei-induced experimental cerebral malaria (ECM). Importantly, our results indicate that the combined deficiencies of caspases-8/1/11 or caspase-8/gasdermin-D (GSDM-D) renders mice impaired to produce both TNFalpha and IL-1beta and highly resistant to lethality in these models, disclosing a complementary, but independent role of caspase-8 and caspases-1/11/GSDM-D in the pathogenesis of malaria. Further, we find that monocytes from malaria patients express active caspases-1, -4 and -8 suggesting that these inflammatory caspases may also play a role in the pathogenesis of human disease