Rising food prices and household welfare : evidence from Brazil in 2008

Food price inflation in Brazil in the twelve months to June 2008 was 18 percent, while overall inflation was seven percent. Using spatially disaggregated monthly data on consumer prices and two different household surveys, we estimate the welfare consequences of these food price increases, and their distribution across households. Because Brazil is a large food producer, with a predominantly wage-earning agricultural labor force, our estimates include general equilibrium effects on market and transfer incomes, as well as the standard estimates of changes in consumer surplus. While the expenditure (or consumer surplus) effects were large, negative and markedly regressive everywhere, the market income effect was positive and progressive, particularly in rural areas. Because of this effect on the rural poor, and of the partial protection afforded by increases in two large social assistance benefits, the overall impact of higher food prices in Brazil was U-shaped, with middle-income groups suffering larger proportional losses than the very poor. Nevertheless, since Brazil is 80 percent urban, higher food prices still led to a greater incidence and depth of poverty at the national level.Rural Poverty Reduction,Markets and Market Access,Food&Beverage Industry,Regional Economic Development

Rising food prices and household welfare: Evidence from Brazil in 2008

Food price inflation in Brazil in the twelve months to June 2008 was 18 percent, while overall inflation was 5.3 percent. This paper uses spatially disaggregated monthly data on consumer prices and two different household surveys to estimate the welfare consequences of these food price increases, and their distribution across households. Because Brazil is a large food producer, with a predominantly wage-earning agricultural labor force, our estimates include general equilibrium effects on market and transfer incomes, as well as the standard estimates of changes in consumer surplus. While the expenditure (or consumer surplus) effects were large, negative and markedly regressive everywhere, the market income effect was positive and progressive, particularly in rural areas. Because of this effect on the rural poor, and of the partial protection afforded by increases in two large social assistance benefits, the overall impact of higher food prices in Brazil was U-shaped, with the middle-income groups suffering larger proportional losses than the very poor. Nevertheless, since Brazil is 80 percent urban, higher food prices still led to a greater incidence and depth of poverty at the national level.Food prices, welfare, poverty, inequality, price change incidence curve, Brazil.

Beyond the shortest path: the path length index as a distribution

The traditional complex network approach considers only the shortest paths from one node to another, not taking into account several other possible paths. This limitation is significant, for example, in urban mobility studies. In this short report, as the first steps, we present an exhaustive approach to address that problem and show we can go beyond the shortest path, but we do not need to go so far: we present an interactive procedure and an early stop possibility. After presenting some fundamental concepts in graph theory, we presented an analytical solution for the problem of counting the number of possible paths between two nodes in complete graphs, and a depth-limited approach to get all possible paths between each pair of nodes in a general graph (an NP-hard problem). We do not collapse the distribution of path lengths between a pair of nodes into a scalar number, we look at the distribution itself - taking all paths up to a pre-defined path length (considering a truncated distribution), and show the impact of that approach on the most straightforward distance-based graph index: the walk/path length

Anatomical atlas of the upper part of the human head for electroencephalography and bioimpedance applications

Objective. The objective of this work is to develop a 4D (3D+T) statistical anatomical atlas of the electrical properties of the upper part of the human head for cerebral electrophysiology and bioimpedance applications. Approach. The atlas was constructed based on 3D magnetic resonance images (MRI) of 107 human individuals and comprises the electrical properties of the main internal structures and can be adjusted for specific electrical frequencies. T1w+T2w MRI images were used to segment the main structures of the head while angiography MRI was used to segment the main arteries. The proposed atlas also comprises a time-varying model of arterial brain circulation, based on the solution of the Navier-Stokes equation in the main arteries and their vascular territories. Main results. High-resolution, multi-frequency and time-varying anatomical atlases of resistivity, conductivity and relative permittivity were created and evaluated using a forward problem solver for EIT. The atlas was successfully used to simulate electrical impedance tomography measurements indicating the necessity of signal-to-noise between 100 and 125 dB to identify vascular changes due to the cardiac cycle, corroborating previous studies. The source code of the atlas and solver are freely available to download. Significance. Volume conductor problems in cerebral electrophysiology and bioimpedance do not have analytical solutions for nontrivial geometries and require a 3D model of the head and its electrical properties for solving the associated PDEs numerically. Ideally, the model should be made with patient-specific information. In clinical practice, this is not always the case and an average head model is often used. Also, the electrical properties of the tissues might not be completely known due to natural variability. Anatomical atlases are important tools for in silico studies on cerebral circulation and electrophysiology that require statistically consistent data, e.g. machine learning, sensitivity analyses, and as a benchmark to test inverse problem solvers.Peer reviewe

Medicamentos e tratamentos para a Covid-19

Existem no mundo cerca de 2.000 registros de ensaios clínicos para a investigação de medicamentos aprovados e outros candidatos para a Covid-19, incluindo moléculas pequenas e medicamentos biológicos, sem contar as vacinas. O reposicionamento de fármacos, estratégia mais explorada até o momento, não levou a qualquer novo tratamento antiviral contra a Covid-19. O remdesivir, apesar de sua aprovação emergencial pela agência reguladora norte-americana, apresentou somente resultados modestos em estudos clínicos. A dexametasona, que contribuiu para reduzir a mortalidade em pacientes graves recebendo ventilação mecânica invasiva ou oxigênio, é um corticoide que possui propriedades anti-inflamatórias e imunossupressoras. Os medicamentos biológicos, por sua vez, como anticorpos monoclonais, interferons, proteínas específicas e anticoagulantes estão sendo avaliados em diversas triagens clínicas para definir o seu papel na terapia da doença. A Organização Mundial da Saúde (OMS) alertou que o coronavírus poderá nunca desaparecer, mesmo com uma eventual vacina, evidenciando a urgência de pesquisas por novos fármacos inovadores. O cenário atual mais realista compreende o desenvolvimento de antivirais específicos contra o Sars-CoV-2 para o tratamento seguro e eficaz da doença.Approximately 2,000 clinical studies have been conducted in the world to investigate approved drugs and drug candidates for Covid-19, including small molecules and biologicals, not to mention vaccines. The repositioning of drugs, the most explored strategy, has not led to the identification of any new antiviral against Covid-19. Despite its approval for emergency use by the US regulatory agency, remdesivir has shown only modest results in clinical studies. Dexamethasone, which contributed to reduce mortality in critically ill patients receiving mechanical ventilation or oxygen, is a corticosteroid that has anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive properties. Biological drugs, such as monoclonal antibodies, interferons, specific proteins, and anticoagulants are being evaluated in several clinical studies to assess their role in Covid-19 therapy. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the coronavirus may never disappear even with the advent of an eventual vaccine, highlighting the urgency for the development of innovative drugs. The most realistic scenario involves the development of specific antivirals against Sars-CoV-2 for the safe and effective treatment of the disease

Chemoinformatics Strategies for Leishmaniasis Drug Discovery

Leishmaniasis is a fatal neglected tropical disease (NTD) that is caused by more than 20 species of Leishmania parasites. The disease kills approximately 20,000 people each year and more than 1 billion are susceptible to infection. Although counting on a few compounds, the therapeutic arsenal faces some drawbacks such as drug resistance, toxicity issues, high treatment costs, and accessibility problems, which highlight the need for novel treatment options. Worldwide efforts have been made to that aim and, as well as in other therapeutic areas, chemoinformatics have contributed significantly to leishmaniasis drug discovery. Breakthrough advances in the comprehension of the parasites’ molecular biology have enabled the design of high-affinity ligands for a number of macromolecular targets. In addition, the use of chemoinformatics has allowed highly accurate predictions of biological activity and physicochemical and pharmacokinetics properties of novel antileishmanial compounds. This review puts into perspective the current context of leishmaniasis drug discovery and focuses on the use of chemoinformatics to develop better therapies for this life-threatening condition