Exchange Rate Policy in Small Rich Economies

We look at the exchange rate policy choices and outcomes for small rich economies. Small rich economies face significant policy challenges due to proportionately greater economic volatility than larger economies. These economies usually choose some form of fixed exchange rate regime, particularly in the very small economies where the per capita cost of independent monetary policy is relatively high. When such countries do choose a free or managed floating regime, they appear to derive no benefit from those regimes; their exchange rate volatility seems to rise without any significant change in fundamental economic volatility. Thus, for these countries, floating exchange rates seem to create problems for policy makers without solving any.

Exchange Rate Policy in Small Rich Economies

We look at the exchange rate policy choices and outcomes for small rich economies. Small rich economies face significant policy challenges due to proportionately greater economic volatility than larger economies. These economies usually choose some form of fixed exchange rate regime, particularly in the very small economies where the per capita cost of independent monetary policy is relatively high. When such countries do choose a free or managed floating regime, they appear to derive no benefit from those regimes; their exchange rate volatility seems to rise without any significant change in fundamental economic volatility. Thus, for these countries, floating exchange rates seem to create problems for policy makers without solving any.Small economies, Exchange rate regimes

Moral hazard and the division of labor in agricultural land leases

land lease contracts, moral hazard, contract duration, division of labor, Land Economics/Use,

The effect of student centered pharmacology teaching in the form of clinical case scenario among M.B.B.S students

Background: Pharmacology teaching by conventional method is by didactic lectures and practical sessions. To cultivate interest and motivate students towards self directed learning, the best tool in teaching learning methodology available is case based learning. Aims and objective of the study was to analyze the effectiveness and acceptance of case based learning (CBL) of pharmacology among M.B.B.S Students.Methods: The second year M.B.B.S Students of the academic year 2014 and 2015 were enrolled in the study. Clinical case scenario was formulated as modules based on the common clinical cases which the student observe and encounter in clinical postings in wards. The students were divided in to four groups, 30 in each group with one facilitator. Each module of case based learning was evaluated with pre test and post test. The student perception was recorded by a five point likert scale feedback questionnaire at the end of the study.Results: The post test scores in all modules revealed significant improvement in student’s performance by CBL method when compared using “paired t test”. Majority of the students preferred more CBL sessions for rest of the academic year.Conclusions: Students centred pharmacology teaching by CBL method creates self-directed learning environment to explore more for better understanding and application of the theoretical knowledge gained towards clinical practice

Low energy availability assessed by a sport-specific questionnaire and clinical interview indicative of bone health, endocrine profile and cycling performance in competitive male cyclists

Objectives To evaluate the efficacy of a sport-specific energy availability (EA) questionnaire, combined with clinical interview, for identifying male athletes at risk of developing bone health, endocrine and performance consequences of relative energy deficiency in sports (RED-S). Methods Fifty competitive male road cyclists, recruited through links of participants in a pilot study, were assessed by a newly developed sport-specific questionnaire and clinical interview (SEAQ-I) and received dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) bone mineral density (BMD) and body composition scans and blood tests for endocrine markers. Results Low EA as assessed using the SEAQ-I, was observed in 28% of cyclists. Low lumbar spine BMD (Z-score<−1.0) was found in 44% of cyclists. EA was the most significant determinant of lumbar spine BMD Z-score (p<0.001). Among low EA cyclists, lack of previous load-bearing sport was associated with the lowest BMD (p=0.013). Low EA was associated with reduced total percentage fat (p<0.019). The 10 cyclists with chronic low EA had lower levels of testosterone compared with those having adequate EA (p=0.024). Mean vitamin D concentration was below the level recommended for athletes (90  nmol/L). Training loads were positively associated with power-to-weight ratios, assessed as 60  min functional threshold power (FTP) per kg (p<0.001). Percentage body fat was not significantly linked to cycling performance. Conclusions This study demonstrates that a SEAQ-I is effective for identifying male road cyclists with acute intermittent and chronic sustained low EA. Cyclists with low EA, particularly in the long-term, displayed adverse quantifiable measures of bone, endocrinology and performance consequences of RED-S

Student’s perspective about pharmacogenomic applications and knowledge in pharmacovigilance domain

Background: Pharmacogenomics has is presence now in all major pharmacology text books parallel with another important chapter pharmacovigilance. Pharmacogenomics apart from therapeutic application it can greatly influence standard treatment protocols with prevention of adverse drug reaction. Since the future will be physicians practicing personalized medicine, this study was planned to assess the second year M.B.B.S Students knowledge and their perspective about pharmacogenomic application.Methods: A questionnaire to assess the knowledge about pharmacogenomics and current status of its application is formulated with yes or no, true or false option. The study was conducted on 120 M.B.B.S Students who passed out Pharmacology university exams. The questionnaires answered voluntarily were collected and the data was analysed and with results calculated in percentage.Results: 80% M.B.B.S students had sound knowledge about pharmacogenomics. 100% M.B.B.S student’s doctors were well aware about pharmacogenomics. 13.0% of students were not aware but wanted to know about it, while 7.25% of students were neither aware nor interested about pharmacogenomics.Conclusions: Most of the doctors were aware about the pharmacogenomics theoretically and they need to be updated about its clinical application in their practice by seminars, presentation and workshops

Patterns, causes, and consequences of marine larval dispersal

Quantifying the probability of larval exchange among marine populations is key to predicting local population dynamics and optimizing networks of marine protected areas. The pattern of connectivity among populations can be described by the measurement of a dispersal kernel. However, a statistically robust, empirical dispersal kernel has been lacking for any marine species. Here, we use genetic parentage analysis to quantify a dispersal kernel for the reef fish Elacatinus lori, demonstrating that dispersal declines exponentially with distance. The spatial scale of dispersal is an order of magnitude less than previous estimates—the median dispersal distance is just 1.7 km and no dispersal events exceed 16.4 km despite intensive sampling out to 30 km from source. Overlaid on this strong pattern is subtle spatial variation, but neither pelagic larval duration nor direction is associated with the probability of successful dispersal. Given the strong relationship between distance and dispersal, we show that distance-driven logistic models have strong power to predict dispersal probabilities. Moreover, connectivity matrices generated from these models are congruent with empirical estimates of spatial genetic structure, suggesting that the pattern of dispersal we uncovered reflects long-term patterns of gene flow. These results challenge assumptions regarding the spatial scale and presumed predictors of marine population connectivity. We conclude that if marine reserve networks aim to connect whole communities of fishes and conserve biodiversity broadly, then reserves that are close in space (<10 km) will accommodate those members of the community that are short-distance dispersers.We thank Diana Acosta, Alben David, Kevin David, Alissa Rickborn, and Derek Scolaro for assistance with field work; Eliana Bondra for assistance with molecular work; and Peter Carlson for assistance with otolith work. We are grateful to Noel Anderson, David Lindo, Claire Paris, Robert Warner, Colleen Webb, and two anonymous reviewers for comments on this manuscript. This work was supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant OCE-1260424, and C.C.D. was supported by NSF Graduate Research Fellowship DGE-1247312. All work was approved by Belize Fisheries and Boston University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. (OCE-1260424 - National Science Foundation (NSF); DGE-1247312 - NSF Graduate Research Fellowship)Published versio

The nuclear to host galaxy relation of high redshift quasars

We present near-infrared imaging with ESO VLT+ISAAC of the host galaxies of low luminosity quasars in the redshift range 1 < z < 2, aimed at investigating the relationship between the nuclear and host galaxy luminosities at high redshift. This work complements our previous study to trace the cosmological evolution of the host galaxies of high luminosity quasars (Falomo et al. 2004). The new sample includes 15 low luminosity quasars, nine radio-loud (RLQ) and six radio-quiet (RQQ). They have similar distribution of redshift and optical luminosity, and together with the high luminosity quasars they cover a large range (~4 mag) of the quasar luminosity function. The host galaxies of both types of quasars are in the range of massive inactive ellipticals between L* and 10 L*. RLQ hosts are systematically more luminous than RQQ hosts by a factor of ~2. This difference is similar to that found for the high luminosity quasars. This luminosity gap appears to be independent of the rest-frame U-band luminosity but clearly correlated with the rest-frame R-band luminosity. The color difference between the RQQs and the RLQs is likely a combination of an intrinsic difference in the strength of the thermal and nonthermal components in the SEDs of RLQs and RQQs, and a selection effect due to internal dust extinction. For the combined set of quasars, we find a reasonable correlation between the nuclear and the host luminosities. This correlation is less apparent for RQQs than for RLQs. If the R-band luminosity is representative of the bolometric luminosity, and assuming that the host luminosity is proportional to the black hole mass, as observed in nearby massive spheroids, quasars emit with a relatively narrow range of power with respect to their Eddington luminosity and with the same distribution for RLQs and RQQs.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 24 pages, 4 figure