Something of a Paradox: The Neglect of Agriculture in Economic Development

This paper argues that investment in agriculture has a large and continuing developmental importance in terms of both economic growth and poverty reduction. Moreover, targeted public resources have proven to be indispensable in achieving these results. Both arguments are supported with novel analyses which update and strengthen the traditional case for agriculture-led development with public-sector involvement. But despite the strong case for agriculture-led development strategies, the authors find that the financial resources allocated towards this sector have strongly declined over the last three decades, and they suggest that a shift towards new development paradigms since 1980 might be a significant explanation for this apparent Agricultural Paradox. This conjecture is tested with data on foreign aid, public expenditure, PRSP contents, and empirical analyses of the intellectual resources devoted to the study of agriculture in development by World Bank researchers. The authors conclude with a critical discussion of these disturbing trends.Agricultural Productivity, Economic Growth, Poverty Alleviation, Urban Biases, Public Expenditure, Foreign Aid, Washington Consensus., International Development,

Parental engagement in early intervention for infants with cerebral palsy - A realist synthesis

BACKGROUND: Emphasis on parental engagement strategies within occupational therapy and physiotherapy early intervention (EI) programmes for infants at high risk of cerebral palsy (CP) has increased. This reflects consensus that increasing parent participation enhances treatment efficacy, potentially improving infant and parent outcomes. However, evaluation of parental engagement in EI is complex. Despite the growing application of parental engagement strategies, aligned with family-centred care practice, theoretical evaluation is currently lacking within the literature. This realist synthesis aimed to identify component theories underlying EI strategies to support parental engagement and to use empirical findings to evaluate how these work in practice. METHODS: Realist synthesis. Databases Medline, Embase, Amed, CINAHL and PsychInfo were searched (from 1985- February week 1 2020); further articles were sourced from reference lists. A data extraction form was used and a Critical Appraisal Skills Programme tool was used to assess study rigour. RESULTS: Twenty-six articles were included. Quality of relationships, parent education and intervention co-design were the key themes related to parental engagement strategies. Findings indicate that constructive parent reasoning mechanisms of trust, belief, sense of control, perceived feasibility of home programme delivery and ultimately motivation, are linked to the underlying intervention resources afforded by specific strategies, (e.g. coaching pedagogy). These responses are precursors to engagement outcomes that include increased parental self-efficacy and adherence. Importantly, parental self-efficacy can initiate a process of change leading to improved parental confidence and anxiety. CONCLUSION: Sensitively designed programme strategies, centred on relational quality between parent, infant and therapist, are fundamental for effective parent connection, involvement and investment within EI for infants with CP

Credit policy and the ‘debt shift’ in advanced economies

The decline in the share of bank credit to non-financial firms since the 1990s, relative to credit for real estate and financial asset markets, has raised concerns over economic growth and financial stability and sparked renewed interest in credit policies, instruments and institutions. We examine their theoretical case and post-war use, and trace their demise during the wider market-oriented policy reconfiguration from the 1980s. Notably, this included home ownership polices favouring mortgage markets. We then examine the empirical relationship between credit policy and credit allocation in the 1973–2005 period for 17 advanced economies. Taking account of co-integration, we present evidence that the decline of credit policies is significantly associated with a lower share of lending to non-financial firms. It may be worth revisiting the potential of credit policies to support adequate financing for goals such as innovation, industrial development and the transition to a low-carbon economy

Social Semiotics: Theorising Meaning Making

This chapter outlines a theoretical framework to account for practices of meaning making in health care and sets out an agenda for clinical educational research. It shows how meaning making pervades all aspects of clinical work and how it can be explored and made explicit within a framework derived from social semiotics. The chapter illustrates how the framework produces accounts of the ways in which clinicians make sense of and interact with the world, in situations where they give, review, and imagine care. It explores how clinicians interpret, and communicate through, human bodies, tools, and technologies, giving meaning to, and expressing meaning through, distinct material forms. In so doing, the chapter begins to render visible the semiotic skills that clinicians develop to prepare for, provide, and evaluate clinical care

The role of renal hypoperfusion in development of renal microcirculatory dysfunction in endotoxemic rats

To study the role of renal hypoperfusion in development of renal microcirculatory dysfunction in endotoxemic rats. Rats were randomized into four groups: a sham group (n = 6), a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) group (n = 6), a group in which LPS administration was followed by immediate fluid resuscitation which prevented the drop of renal blood flow (EARLY group) (n = 6), and a group in which LPS administration was followed by delayed (i.e., a 2-h delay) fluid resuscitation (LATE group) (n = 6). Renal blood flow was measured using a transit-time ultrasound flow probe. Microvascular perfusion and oxygenation distributions in the renal cortex were assessed using laser speckle imaging and phosphorimetry, respectively. Interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α were measured as markers of systemic inflammation. Furthermore, renal tissue samples were stained for leukocyte infiltration and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression in the kidney. LPS infusion worsened both microvascular perfusion and oxygenation distributions. Fluid resuscitation improved perfusion histograms but not oxygenation histograms. Improvement of microvascular perfusion was more pronounced in the EARLY group compared with the LATE group. Serum cytokine levels decreased in the resuscitated groups, with no difference between the EARLY and LATE groups. However, iNOS expression and leukocyte infiltration in glomeruli were lower in the EARLY group compared with the LATE group. In our model, prevention of endotoxemia-induced systemic hypotension by immediate fluid resuscitation (EARLY group) did not prevent systemic inflammatory activation (IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α) but did reduce renal inflammation (iNOS expression and glomerular leukocyte infiltration). However, it could not prevent reduced renal microvascular oxygenatio

The relative importance of plant-soil feedbacks for plant-species performance increases with decreasing intensity of herbivory

Under natural conditions, aboveground herbivory and plant-soil feedbacks (PSFs) are omnipresent interactions strongly affecting individual plant performance. While recent research revealed that aboveground insect herbivory generally impacts the outcome of PSFs, no study tested to what extent the intensity of herbivory affects the outcome. This, however, is essential to estimate the contribution of PSFs to plant performance under natural conditions in the field. Here, we tested PSF effects both with and without exposure to aboveground herbivory for four common grass species in nine grasslands that formed a gradient of aboveground invertebrate herbivory. Without aboveground herbivores, PSFs for each of the four grass species were similar in each of the nine grasslands—both in direction and in magnitude. In the presence of herbivores, however, the PSFs differed from those measured under herbivory exclusion, and depended on the intensity of herbivory. At low levels of herbivory, PSFs were similar in the presence and absence of herbivores, but differed at high herbivory levels. While PSFs without herbivores remained similar along the gradient of herbivory intensity, increasing herbivory intensity mostly resulted in neutral PSFs in the presence of herbivores. This suggests that the relative importance of PSFs for plant-species performance in grassland communities decreases with increasing intensity of herbivory. Hence, PSFs might be more important for plant performance in ecosystems with low herbivore pressure than in ecosystems with large impacts of insect herbivores.Plant science