ٍEvaluation of prevalence and etiology of encephalocele and coincidental abnormalities by ultrasonography in patients of Fajr clinic of Tabriz (1990-1999)

Backgraound and Objectives: Encephalocele is one of the brain congenital abnormalities commonly associated with various birth defects and syndromes. Prenatal diagnosis of encephalocele and coincidental abnormalities, using ultrasonography (US) is valuable and important. This abnormality is diagnosed in the second trimester of pregnancy. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and etiology of encephalocele and coincidental abnormalities by prenatal US. Materials and Methods: During a period ten years 66,129 pregnant women, in their second trimester, were routinely examined using US in Fajr clinic of Tabriz. Presence or absence of any congenital abnormalities or other complications were recorded and followed up. Results: In this study 28 cases of encephalocele were detected on US. The prevalence of encephalocele was 4.2 per 10,000, the result being higher than expected. Of these 28 cases, 10 (35.71%) fetuses had isolated malformation and 17 (64.28%) had coincidental abnormalities. In view of parents being wedded within the family relatives, 47.82% parents of these fetuses with encephalocele were found relatives and other 52.12% as non-relatives. The prevalence of encephalocele was significantly affected by relative marriages (p<0.05) Conclusions: prenatal ultrasonography is a proper method for early diagnosis of brain abnormalities. Relative marriages have a great role in prevalence of such abnormalities

Interoperability between central counterparties

In reaction to recent requests for interoperability between central counterparties of European stock markets, regulators have issued new guidelines to contain systemic risk. Our analysis confirms that the currently applied cross-CCP risk management model can be a source of contagion, particularly if applied in multilateral frameworks. While regulators' new guidelines eliminate systemic risk, this comes at the cost of an inefficiently overcollateralised clearing system. We discuss further approaches that contain systemic risk while reducing or eliminating overcollateralisation. Interoperability is of economic importance as it may contribute to the efficiency and safety of a worldwide fragmented clearing infrastructure.interoperability between central counterparties, financial network, systemic risk, netting efficiency

The political economy under monetary union: has the euro made a difference?

Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) has transformed Europe and has created an integrated pan-European economy. Much research has focused on understanding this integration process and what benefits and costs it entails. This paper identifies a political economy channel of EMU as the monetary union implies that member states had to transfer or at least curtail their policy autonomy in several areas, such as monetary policy and fiscal policy. The paper shows that EMU has helped reduce the impact of political shocks on the domestic economy of member states but magnified the transmission of political shocks within the euro area. Equally importantly, economies with a weaker track record in terms of economic and institutional quality exhibited a significantly higher sensitivity to domestic political shocks before EMU, but not thereafter. While this may entail that EMU has brought benefits to countries with a weaker economic and institutional stability by insulating them from adverse political developments at home, a potential drawback is that it may provide weaker market discipline for domestic political stability. JEL Classification: F31, F33, G14EMU, Fiscal Policy, monetary policy, political economy, political news, Stock Markets, transmission