Mehr als kalter Kaffee?

Seit Ende letzten Jahres liegt eine vorläufige Version eines Verhaltenskodexes für die Kaffeewirtschaft vor. Es soll die ruinösen Bedingungen für Kaffeeproduzenten verbessern. Das Abkommen ist ein großer Schritt in die richtige Richtung, doch noch weit von seinem Ziel entfernt

Growth Factors Assessed during Kasai Procedure in Liver and Serum Are Not Predictive for the Postoperative Liver Deterioration in Infants with Biliary Atresia

Background: Biliary atresia (BA) is a neonatal cholangiopathy characterized by progressive destruction of the biliary system resulting in liver cirrhosis. Residual bile drainage can temporarily be achieved through Kasai portoenterostomy (KPE) and some children show long-term survival with their native liver. However, most children eventually require liver transplantation (LTX). As several growth factors (GF) and chemokines have been shown to promote fibrogenesis in the liver, we assessed whether GF are predictive for the course of disease. Material and Methods: Liver and sera samples were collected from 49 infants with BA during KPE. Levels of 13 different GF were measured by multiplex immunoassay. Patient outcomes were stratified into favorable (bilirubin < 20 µmol/L at 2-year follow-up) and unfavorable (LTX). GF levels were compared between groups by a t-test, correlation coefficients were calculated, and principal component analyses performed. Results: Twenty-two patients showed a favorable and 27 an unfavorable disease course. No relation of GF and outcome could be established. In both groups, high levels of SDF-1alpha/CXCL12 (1473.0 ± 497.5 pg/mL), FGF2 (301.2 ± 207.8 pg/mL), and VEGF-a (209.0 ± 146.4 pg/mL) levels were measured within the liver, followed (in descending order) by PDGF-bb, LIF, GM-CSF, BDNF, VEGF-d, beta-NGF, IL-7, SCF, PIGF-1, and EGF. Serum marker levels showed much higher mean variation compared to hepatic values and no correlation to the protein microenvironment in the liver. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates high amounts of GF in livers from infants with BA at KPE, but no correlation to the outcome or serum values could be established. Our data suggest that local or systemic GF levels are unsuitable for prediction of the disease course. Collectively, we conclude that in BA the degree of proliferative activity caused by GF is a dismissible factor for the further course of disease

Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers - eine Chance zur Bekaempfung laendlicher Armut in Subsahara-Afrika?

'In autumn 1999 the World Bank presented it's new concept to combat poverty in development countries: the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers - PRSP. According to the Bank PRSPs shall be the key instruments of national and international actors in the struggle against poverty. PRSPs are a precondition to receive a debt release under the HIPC-II initiative and to get IDA-credits. The concept is based on the principles of country ownership and comprehensive orientation towards poverty reduction. However, as a contradiction is seen that the strategies need have World Bank's and International Monetary Fund's blessings before they shall be implemented. Does this control by the Bretton-Wood Institutions allow the PRSP countries to develop their own poverty oriented strategies? And - under this condition - can PRSPs really have a positive impact on poverty reduction? This report analyses, whether the World Bank concept is translated into the PRSPs, through case studies of Burkina Faso and Uganda. It focuses on the sector strategies of rural development, because poverty is mainly a rural phenomenon in development countries. The study shows that the PRSPs have to be further developed to tackle poverty thouroughly.' (author's abstract)'Im Herbst 1999 stellte die Weltbank ihr neues Konzept zur Armutsbekaempfung in Entwicklungslaendern vor: die Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, kurz PRSP. Nach dem Willen der Bank sollen PRSPs die Schluesselinstrumente zu Armutsbekaempfung fuer nationale und internationale Akteure sein. PRSPs sind die Voraussetzung fuer einen Schuldenerlass unter der HIPC-II-Initiative und fuer die Vergabe von IDA-Krediten. Das Konzept basiert auf den Prinzipien Country Ownership und ganzheitlicher Ausrichtung auf Armutsbekaempfung. Allerdings muessen Weltbank und Internationaler Waehrungsfonds den Strategien zustimmen, bevor sie umgesetzt werden. In Anbetracht dieser Kontrolle der Bretton-Wood Zwillinge ueber die Inhalte der Strategien stellt sich die Frage, ob die PRSP-Laender tatsaechlich eine Chance haben, ihre eigenen armutsorientierten Strategien zu entwickeln? Und stellen die PRSPs tatsaechlich einen Beitrag zur Armutsbekaempfung dar? Dieser Report untersucht anhand der Fallstudien zu Burkina Faso und Uganda, ob das Weltbank-Konzept in den PRSPs umgesetzt wurde. Die Sektorstrategien zur Laendlichen Entwicklung stehen dabei im Zentrum, denn in Entwicklungslaendern ist Armut vor allem ein laendliches Phaenomen. Die Studie zeigt, dass PRSPs weiter entwickelt werden muessen, wenn Armutsbekaempfung nicht nur oberflaechlich erreicht werden soll.' (Autorenreferat)SIGLEAvailable from Universitaet Duisburg-Essen Campus Duisburg, FB Gesellschaftswissenschaften, Institut fuer Entwicklung und Frieden -INEF-, Duisburg (DE) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman