Herbal therapies used by hypertensive patients in Turkey

The purpose of this study was to determine herbal therapies used by the patients for regulation of blood pressure. This descriptive study was conducted in three districts of Izmir, Turkey. The study group included 193 patients with hypertension diagnosis who admitted to a primary care center and accepted to participate in the study. Data were collected through aninvestigator-made questionnaire including questions about socio-demographic features and herbal therapies used for regulation of blood pressure. Percentiles and chi–square statistics tests were used to evaluate the data through SPSS 11.0 program. The subjects included in the study had suffered from hypertension for 8.28+7.92 years, and 95.9% of them received medication to treat their hypertension. Of all hypertensive patients, 51.3% used herbal therapies for the treatment of hypertension. The patients used herbal therapies most commonly when they felt ill. There were no statistically significant difference between the use of herbal therapies and gender, education, marital status, having health insurance and income level. Health professionals who provide primary health services, especially nurses, need to follow patients regularly andprovide patient education on antihypertensive therapy. Nurses must plan the necessary training programs by evaluating the data about, whether the hypertension patients use herbal therapies that can affect their health negatively or not

Agglutinated foraminifera from the Turonian–Coniacian boundary interval in Europe – paleoenvironmental remarks and stratigraphy

Agglutinated foraminiferal assemblages of the Turonian–Coniacian from the GSSP (Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point) of Salzgitter–Salder (Subhercynian Cretaceous Basin, Germany) and other sections, including Bielefeld–Ostwestfalendamm (Münsterland Cretaceous Basin, Germany) and the Dover–Langdon Stairs (Anglo-Paris Basin, England), from the temperate European shelf realm were studied in order to collect additional stratigraphic and paleoenvironmental information. Stable carbon isotopes were measured for the Bielefeld–Ostwestfalendamm section to establish a reliable stratigraphic correlation with other sections. Highly diverse agglutinated foraminiferal assemblages were obtained from sections in the German basins, whereas the fauna from Dover is less rich in taxa and less abundant. In the German basinal sections, a morphogroup analysis of agglutinated foraminifera and the calculated diversities imply normal marine settings and oligotrophic to mesotrophic bottom-water conditions. Furthermore, acmes of agglutinated foraminifera correlate between different sections and can be used for paleoenvironmental analysis. Three acmes of the species Ammolagena contorta are recorded for the Turonian–Coniacian (perplexus to lower striatoconcentricus zones, lower scupini Zone, and hannovrensis Zone) and likely imply a shift to more oligotrophic bottom-water conditions. In the upper scupini Zone below the Turonian–Coniacian boundary, an acme of Bulbobaculites problematicus likely indicates enhanced nutrient availability. In general, agglutinated foraminiferal morphogroups display a gradual shift from Turonian oligotrophic environments towards more mesotrophic conditions in the latest Turonian and Coniacian.</p

Vitrine tecnológica de agroecologia (vital), há 15 anos semeando a agroecologia no berço do agronegócio paranaense.

Resumo: Relatório apresentado pelos alunos do Programa de Pós Graduação em Desenvolvimento Rural Sustentável 2018 na disciplina de Meio Ambiente e Agroecologia a partir de visita técnica a Vitrine Tecnológica de Agroecologia (VITAL), exposta no Show Rural Coopavel que acontece anualmente em Cascavel - PR. Abstract: Report presented by the students of the Postgraduate Program in Sustainable Rural Development 2018 in the discipline of Environment and Agroecology from a technical visit to the Vitrine Tecnológica de Agroecologia (VITAL), exhibited at the Show Rural Coopavel held annually in Cascavel - PR.Titulo em inglês: Vitrine tecnológica de agroecologia (vital), to 15 years sowing agroecology in the cradle of the paranaense agribusiness

Increasing Dominance - the Role of Advertising, Pricing and Product Design

Despite the empirical relevance of advertising strategies in concentrated markets, the economics literature is largely silent on the effect of persuasive advertising strategies on pricing, market structure and increasing (or decreasing) dominance. In a simple model of persuasive advertising and pricing with differentiated goods, we analyze the interdependencies between ex-ante asymmetries in consumer appeal, advertising and prices. Products with larger initial appeal to consumers will be advertised more heavily but priced at a higher level - that is, advertising and price discounts are strategic substitutes for products with asymmetric initial appeal. We find that the escalating effect of advertising dominates the moderating effect of pricing so that post-competition market shares are more asymmetric than pre-competition differences in consumer appeal. We further find that collusive advertising (but competitive pricing) generates the same market outcomes, and that network effects lead to even more extreme market outcomes, both directly and via the effect on advertising

Separation versus affiliation with partial vertical ownership in network industries

The separation of integrated monopolies and new market entrants have changed vertical interactions between suppliers and dealers. Firms have substituted full integration with vertical restraints leading to collusive behaviour harmful to competition. We examine how a partial vertical ownership (an affiliation) of one of the competing downstream retailers by the upstream monopoly could help internalise the production decision after a complete divestiture. Our results in a Cournot framework confirm the positive role of partial integration on firms' profits and consumer surplus in increasing social welfare. These results are consistent with empirical studies of economies after vertical separation in network industries

Going means trouble and staying makes it double: the value of licensing recorded music online

This paper discusses whether a copyright compensation system (CCS) for recorded music—endowing private Internet subscribers with the right to download and use works in return for a fee—would be welfare increasing. It reports on the results of a discrete choice experiment conducted with a representative sample of the Dutch population consisting of 4986 participants. Under some conservative assumptions, we find that applied only to recorded music, a mandatory CCS could increase the welfare of rights holders and users in the Netherlands by over €600 million per year (over €35 per capita). This far exceeds current rights holder revenues from the market of recorded music of ca. €144 million per year. A monthly CCS fee of ca. €1.74 as a surcharge on Dutch Internet subscriptions would raise the same amount of revenues to rights holders as the current market for recorded music. With a voluntary CCS, the estimated welfare gains to users and rights holders are even greater for CCS fees below €20 on the user side. A voluntary CCS would also perform better in the long run, as it could retain a greater extent of market coordination. The results of our choice experiment indicate that a well-designed CCS for recorded music would simultaneously make users and rights holders better off. This result holds even if we correct for frequently observed rates of overestimation in contingent valuation studies