Prospects for Energy Supply and Demand in the Southern Mediterranean: Scenarios for 2010-30. MEDPRO Technical Report No. 22/December 2012

The aim of this technical report is to quantify alternative energy demand and supply scenarios for ten southern and eastern Mediterranean countries up to 2030. The report presents the model-based results of four alternative scenarios that are broadly in line with the MEDPRO scenario specifications on regional integration and cooperation with the EU. The report analyses the main implications of the scenarios in the following areas: • final energy demand by sector (industry, households, services, agriculture and transport); • the evolution of the power generation mix, the development of renewable energy sources and electricity exports to the EU; • primary energy production and the balance of trade for hydrocarbons; • energy-related CO2 emissions; and • power generation costs

Macroeconomic Scenarios for the Euro-Mediterranean Area Quantification based on the GEM-E3 Model. MEDPRO Report No. 7, July 2013

Four alternative macroeconomic scenarios for southern Mediterranean countries are quantified in this study with the use of GEM-E3, a general equilibrium model. These are i) the continuation of current policies (business-as-usual scenario), ii) southern Mediterranean–EU cooperation (Euro-Mediterranean Union scenario), iii) a global opening of the southern Mediterranean countries and cooperation with the rest of the Middle East and other developing countries like China (Euro-Mediterranean alliance scenario), and iv) a deterioration in the regional political climate and a failure of cooperation (Euro-Mediterranean under threat scenario). Explicit assumptions on trade integration, infrastructure upgrade, population and governance developments are adopted in each scenario. The simulation results indicate that an infrastructure upgrade and governance improvements in the context of southern Mediterranean–EU cooperation could benefit most of the countries under consideration. The analysis remains important in light of ongoing regional developments and the need to design the best policies to pursue in the aftermath of the Arab spring

Quantitative Reference Scenario for the MEDPRO Project. MEDPRO Report No. 6, May 2013

In general equilibrium models the reference scenario is important, as the evaluation of the alternative policies modelled is based on their deviation from the reference scenario. The reference scenario relates to the development of an economic outlook for each region and sector of the model. This means that assumptions are made about the main drivers of growth, e.g. population growth and technical progress. This report provides the main assumptions used for the development of the reference scenario in the MEDPRO project. The report also provides a brief country and sectoral overview for each of the southern and eastern Mediterranean countries covered by the MEDPRO project

GEM-E3 Model Documentation

The computable general equilibrium model GEM-E3 has been used in a large set of climate policy applications supporting Commission policy proposals during the last decade, as well as in other environmental and economic policy areas. It can be considered a multi-purpose macroeconomic model, designed to estimate the effects of sector-specific policies on the economy as a whole. The main purpose of this publication is to provide extensive documentation of the model's equations and its underlying databases, in order to offer to the broader audience an accurate description of the model characteristics.JRC.J.1-Economics of Climate Change, Energy and Transpor

Sectoral and regional expansion of emissions trading

We consider an international emissions trading scheme with partial sectoral and regional coverage. Sectoral and regional expansion of the trading scheme is beneficial in aggregate, but not necessarily for individual countries. We simulate international CO2 emission quota markets using marginal abatement cost functions and the Copenhagen 2020 climate policy targets for selected countries that strategically allocate emissions in a bid to manipulate the quota price. Quota exporters and importers generally have conflicting interests about admitting more countries to the trading coalition, and our results indicate that some countries may lose substantially when the coalition expands in terms of new countries. For a given coalition, expanding sectoral coverage makes most countries better off, but some countries (notably the USA and Russia) may lose out due to loss of strategic advantages. In general, exporters tend to have stronger strategic power than importers

Assessing Pathways toward Ambitious Climate Targets at the Global and European levels: A Synthesis of Results from the AMPERE Project

The synthesis report "Assessing Pathways toward Ambitious Climate Targets at the Global and European Levels" presents the following key findings from the AMPERE project: - Global progress to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next two decades is crucial for achieving ambitious climate targets at low costs - Europe can signal the will for strong emissions reductions - with large climate benefits if others follow - Decarbonisation holds challenges and opportunities for Europe These findings are based on the AMPERE research efforts by 22 international institutions from February 2011 to January 2014 with the use of 17 energy-economy and integrated assessment models

Intrauterine growth restriction: contemporary issues in diagnosis and management

Background: Intrauterine growth restriction represents a fetal life treating condition in obstetrics. Diagnosis and appropriate management duringpregnancy is essential because of the considerable morbidity and mortality to which restricted new-borns are exposed. Implementation of diagnosticcriteria could potentially determine an optimized outcome in these patients. Material and methods: The article reflects a study of 728 cases of patients delivered to the Obstetrical department of Municipal Hospital No1, Chisinau,the Republic of Moldova during January-December 2016. A special protocol for clinical and paraclinical data collection was used. From these 728 cases,50 histories of low birth weight fetuses (<2500g) were analysed in detail. Results: The average weight of LBW fetuses was 2057 gr. 27 fetuses (54%) were diagnosed as intrauterine growth restricted fetuses. The average weight offetuses with the diagnosis of IUGR was 1989 gr. 18.52% infants had a very low birth weight (1000-1499 g.), 84.48% infants had low birth weight (2500-1500 g). Conclusions: The prevalent criteria for diagnosis of intrauterine growth restriction in our study were foetal abdominal circumference below 10th percentile(52.3 %). The ultrasound evaluation showed to have an average sensitivity in the predicting the foetal weight at birth (47.6%). In the majority of casesthe delivery was done by cesarian section (62.9%), with the most frequent indication for foetal extraction – vascular redistribution and beginning ofcerebral vasodilatation (37.5 %)

Policy Modelling for Ambitious Energy Efficiency Investment in the EU Residential Buildings

This paper presents the challenges of increasing the energy efficiency investments in European Union (EU) residential buildings in the context of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. The paper presents the results of the PRIMES buildings model in key energy policy applications to support cost-effective and fair policy making in buildings across Europe. The model covers, in detail, the building sector for all the EU Member States (MS), segmenting the buildings into many categories. The approach proposed includes non-market barriers in conventional microeconomic modelling, which combined with idiosyncratic preferences can capture poor energy efficiency choices and still represent rational behaviours. The model includes a detailed portrayal of policies specific to the sector, comprising economic and regulatory policies as well as institutional measures. The results of the model show that the removal of non-market barriers is of great importance in reducing energy consumption and increasing both the pace and the depth of renovation investment. However, the institutional measures alone are not enough to induce energy efficiency improvement to the scale required to achieve the climate neutrality objectives. Economic (i.e., subsidies) or regulatory measures (i.e., energy performance standards) are also required to decrease emissions and energy consumption in buildings and the paper compares different configurations thereof. The optimum policy mix obviously derives from a compromise among various aims including the cost-effectiveness of the policy budget and the distributional impacts across building and consumer types

Genetic causes of fetal growth restriction

Universitatea de Stat de Medicină şi Farmacie „Nicolae Testemiţanu”, Chişinău, Republica MoldovaIntroducere. Restricția de creștere fetală (RCF) este o afecți une obstetricală frecventă și cu profund impact perinatologic. Pana la 40% de decese antenatale sunt cauzate de RCF. Una dintre cauzele majore ale RCF o constituie sindroamele genetice, care implică anomalii cromozomiale și mutații ge netice specifice ce afectează dezvoltarea fetală și pot cauza deces antenatal sau neonatal. Scopul lucrării. Identificarea cauzelor genetice asociate cu RCF, și sublinierea importanței diagnosticării precoce și a managementului adecvat al sarcinilor afectate. Material și metode. A fost efectuat un review de literatură prin căutare în baze de date științifice PubMed, National Library of Medicine, Cochrane folosind cuvintele cheie: restricție de creștere fetală, sindrom genet ic, diagnostic prenatal. Au fost căutate și studiate articole în acces liber, în limba română, rusă, engleză. Aceste studii au inclus recenzii sistematice și meta-analize, studii randomizate controlate, cazuri clinice și serii de cazuri clinice. Rezu ltate. Aberațiile cromozomiale și mutațiile genetice monogenice sunt cauza RCF în 5 % cazuri. In literatura de specialitate sunt menționate aberațiile cromozomiale asociate cu RCF: sindromul Down (47,XY,+21), sindromul Edwards ( 47,XY,+18), sindromul Patau (47,XY,+13), sindromul CriDu-Chat (46,XX, del(5), sindromul Williams–Beuren ( micro del 7q11.23). Mutațiile monogenice și ele pot cauza RCF. Astfel, sindromul Cornelia de Lange (mutația genei NIPBL), sindromul Smith–Lemli–Opitz (mutația genei DHCR7), sindromul Meier–Gorlin (mutații ale genelor ORC1, ORC4, ORC6, CDT1, CDC6) sindromul 3 M (mutația genei CUL7), sindromul Noonan (mutația genei PTP11), achondroplasia sau hypochondroplasia (mutația genei FGFR3 ) trebuie excluse atunci când se diagnostica un făt cu creștere suboptima. Aplicând metode de diagnostic prenatal și tehnica CGH array, aberații cromozomiale sau mutații genetice au fost detectate la fetusii cu absența oricărei anomalii structurale ( RCF izolată) la 9.3% pacienți cu RCF tardiv. Concluzii. Testarea genetică în restricția de creștere fetală este actul recomandata doar în cazurile cu debut precoce și/sau în prezența anomaliilor structurale fetale. Tehnicile de carioti pare noi au demonstrat prezența aberațiilor cromozomiale și a mutațiilor genetice la pacienții cu RCF izolat tardiv, ast fel consultul genetic trebuie recomandat inclusiv și în aceste cazuri.Introduction . Fetal growth restriction (FGR) is a common obstetrical condition with profound perinatologic impact. Up to 40% of antenatal deaths are caused by FGR. One of the major causes of FGR is genetic syndromes, which involve chromosomal abnormalities and specific genetic mutations affecting fetal development and can lead to antenatal or neonatal death. The aim of the study. Identifying the genetic causes associated with FGR and emphasizing the importance of early diagnosis and appropriate management of affected pregnancies. Material and methods. A lit erature review was conducted by searching scientific databases including PubMed, National Library of Medicine, and Cochrane using keywords: fetal growth restriction, genetic syndrome, prenatal diagnosis. Articles in open access were also searched and studied, in Romanian, Russian, and English languages. These studies included systematic reviews and meta-analyses, randomized controlled trials, clinical cases, and case series. Results. Chromosomal abnormalities and monogenic genetic mutations account for 5% of cases of FGR. Chromosomal abnormalities associated with FGR mentioned in the literature include Down syndrome (47,ХY,+21), Edwards syndrome (47,XY,+18), Patau syndrome (47,XY,+13), Cri-Du-Chat syndrome (46,XX, del(5)), Williams-Beuren syndrome (micro del 7q11.23). Monogen ic mutations can also cause FGR. Thus, Cornelia de Lange syndrome (mutation of the NIPBL gene), Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome (mutation of the DHCR7 gene), Meier-Gorlin syn drome (mutations in the ORC1, ORC4, ORC6, CDT1, CDC6 genes), 3 M syndrome (mutation of the CUL7 gene), Noonan syndrome (mutation of the PTP11 gene), achondroplasia or hypochondroplasia (mutation of the FGFR3 gene) should be excluded when diagnosing a fetus with suboptimal growth. By applying prenatal diagnostic methods and CGH array technique, chromosomal abnormalities or genetic mutations were detected in fetuses with the absence of any structural anomalies (isolated FGR) in 9.3% of patients with late-onset FGR. Conclusions. Genetic testing in fetal growth restriction is recommended only in cases with early onset and/or in the presence of fetal structural anomalies. New karyotyping techniques have demonstrated the presence of chromosomal abnormalities and genetic mutations in patients with late-onset isolated FGR, thus genetic counseling should be recommended even in these cases