A crise e o ajuste fiscal no Rio Grande do Sul

Esse breve artigo comenta as estratégias distintas de combate à crise, adotadas pelo Estado do Rio Grande do Sul e pelo Governo Federal. E defende que o ajuste fiscal com retomada de investimentos é uma política anticíclica mais eficaz do que o aumento dos gastos permanentes praticados pelo governo federal

Forecasting of emerging therapeutic monoclonal antibodies patents based on a decision model

Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) market is strongly contributing to the rising growth of the biotechnology industry. Despite the increasing number of inventions over time, a few therapeutic mAbs are currently marketed. This paper focuses on developing an emerging score to select/rank promising therapeutic mAbs patents, based on a hierarchical decision model using expert's opinion. Six attributes related to each factor concerning patent status, patent owner's profile and mAbs medical relevance were analyzed. The desirability levels of each attribute were also assessed. Our data shows the medical relevance factor as the most important, contributing 50% of the emerging score. Among the attributes, the most important under patent status was proper geographic coverage and wider patent scope; for organization's profile was the preexistence of approved drugs; and for medical relevance, the clinical phase performance. A group of 1053 patents related to therapeutic mAb were scored, and the most promising were concerning combination therapy using immune checkpoint inhibitors. The study has managerial implications related to patent portfolio management and patent valuation, and provides instructions to rank mAbs patents according to the emerging score defined by attribute's importance in order to improve the identification of future innovations pathways

ESTRANGULAMENTO DA DÍVIDA EXTERNA E CRESCIMENTO ECONÔMICO NA AMÉRICA LATINA: LIÇÕES DA DÉCADA DE 80

Este artigo tem por objetivo testar empiricamente a hipótese do estrangulamento da dívida externa para os países latino-americanos. Inicia-se com uma breve apresentação da situação em que se encontravam as economias desses países após a declaração da moratória unilateral mexicana em 1982, bem como do seu desempenho em termo de crescimento econômico no restante da década de 80. Em seguida, apresentamos os fundamentos teóricos que constituem a base para o presente trabalho. Finalmente, realizamos uma análise econométrica utilizando dados em painel para os períodos 1973-1980 e 1981 -1989, que apontam os seguintes resultados: (1) não existe uma relação precisa entre estoque de dívida externa e crescimento econômico; (2) existe uma relação negativa estatisticamente significativa entre estrangulamento da dívida externa e o crescimento econômico, o que explica o desempenho das economias latino-americanas ao longo dos anos 80.This paper aims at testing empirically the debt overhang hypothesis for the Latin American countries. It begins with a brief presentation about the situation in which the mentioned countries were found after the mexican moratorium in 1982, as well as about their performance concerning economic growth for the rest of the decade. Following that we present the theoretical background which constitutes the basis to the present work. Finally, we run an econometric model using panel data for the 1973-1980 and 1981-1989 periods, which yields the following results: (1) there is not a precise relationship between external debt and economic growth; (2) there is a statistically significant negative relationship between debt overhang and economic growth, which explains the latin american economies' performance throughout the eighties

Tissue iron quantification in chronic liver diseases using MRI shows a relationship between iron accumulation in liver, spleen, and bone marrow

Aim: To investigate iron loading within the liver, pancreas, spleen, and bone marrow using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) transverse relaxation rate (R2*), in patients with diffuse liver diseases; to evaluate the relationships between iron accumulation in these tissue compartments; and to assess the association between tissue iron overload and the pattern of hepatic cellular iron distribution (hepatocytes versus Kupffer cells). Material and methods: Fifty-six patients with diffuse liver diseases had MRI-derived R2* values, using a multi-echo chemical-shift encoded MRI sequence, of the liver, pancreas, spleen, and vertebral bone marrow. All patients had liver biopsy samples scored for hepatic iron grading (0–4) and iron cellular distribution (within hepatocytes only or within both hepatocytes and Kupffer cells). Results: Liver R2* increased with histological iron grade (RS=0.58, p<0.001) and correlated with spleen (RS=0.71, p<0.001) and bone marrow R2* (RS=0.66, p<0.001), but not with pancreatic R2* (RS=0.22, p=0.096). Splenic and bone marrow R2* values were also correlated (RS=0.72, p<0.001). Patients with iron inside Kupffer cells had the highest R2* in liver, spleen and bone marrow. Conclusions: Patients with chronic diffuse liver diseases have concomitant hepatic, splenic, and bone marrow iron loading. The highest hepatic iron scores and iron inside Kupffer cells were associated with the highest splenic and bone marrow deposits, suggesting systemic iron accumulation in the mononuclear phagocytic system.The present study was supported by the Teaching and Research Department of Centro Hospitalar do Porto with a research grant number DEFI:309/12(213-DEFI/251-CES). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. L.M.B. and A.A.B. are co-founders of QUIBIM SME

Fracturing ranked surfaces

Discretized landscapes can be mapped onto ranked surfaces, where every element (site or bond) has a unique rank associated with its corresponding relative height. By sequentially allocating these elements according to their ranks and systematically preventing the occupation of bridges, namely elements that, if occupied, would provide global connectivity, we disclose that bridges hide a new tricritical point at an occupation fraction $p=p_{c}$, where $p_{c}$ is the percolation threshold of random percolation. For any value of $p$ in the interval $p_{c}< p \leq 1$, our results show that the set of bridges has a fractal dimension $d_{BB} \approx 1.22$ in two dimensions. In the limit $p \rightarrow 1$, a self-similar fracture is revealed as a singly connected line that divides the system in two domains. We then unveil how several seemingly unrelated physical models tumble into the same universality class and also present results for higher dimensions

Optimization of clavulanic acid production by Streptomyces daufpe 3060 by response surface methodology

Clavulanic acid is a &#946;-lactam antibiotic which has a potent &#946;-lactamase inhibiting activity. In order to optimize its production by the new isolate Streptomyces DAUFPE 3060, the influence of two independent variables, temperature and soybean flour concentration, on clavulanic acid and biomass concentrations was investigated in 250 mL-Erlenmeyers according to a 2² central composite design. To this purpose, temperature and soybean flour (SF) concentration were varied in the ranges 26-34°C and 10-50 g/L, respectively, and the results evaluated utilizing the Response Surface Methodology. The experimental maximum production of clavulanic acid (629 mg/L) was obtained at 32°C and 40 g/L SF after 48 h, while the maximum biomass concentration (3.9 g/L) at 30°C and 50 g/L soybean flour, respectively. These values are satisfactorily close to those (640 mg/L and 3.75 g/L, respectively) predicted by the model, thereby demonstrating the validity of the mathematical approach adopted in this study.Brazilian Research Funding InstitutionsCoordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES

Women and working in healthcare during the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil: bullying of colleagues

Background: Based on a feminist approach, we analyzed the experiences of workplace bullying suffered by women front-line healthcare professionals dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. We start from studies that show that women make up 70% of the global health workforce, 85% in the area of nursing, and 90% in the case of social care workers. An unequivocal need thus exists to address gender issues regarding the composition of the labor force in the health area. The pandemic has aggravated recurring problems involving healthcare professionals at the various caregiving levels, such as mental harassment (bullying) and its effects on mental health. Methods: Data were gathered from an online survey of a convenience (non-probability) sample composed of 1,430 volunteer respondents, all women that work in the public health system in Brazil. The analyses and discussions involved the responses to a questionnaire containing 12 closed-ended questions and one open-ended question. Results: The results revealed a context of workplace bullying aggravated by precarious material, institutional and organizational conditions in the area of health services against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil. This context has variously led to aggression, isolation, heavy workloads, and invasion of privacy, humiliation, persecution and fear as it was possible to see, mainly, in the answers to the study’s open-ended question. This situation degrades both work relations and the integrity of the healthcare professionals who work on the front line to treat Covid-19 cases. Conclusion: We conclude that bullying is a psychosocial phenomenon that heightens the oppression and subordination still experienced by women in the contemporary context, but with new hues in a scenario of frontline response to Covid-19