Location and welfare in cities: impacts of policy interventions on the urban poor

Informal settlements are an integral part of the urban landscape in developing countries. These settlements are widely distributed within cities, including central business centers and peripheral areas with environment hazards. In most cases, residents of these settlements do not have access to basic public services and amenities. In this paper, the authors examine the impact of interventions, such as upgrading basic services and resettlement policies, on the welfare of residents of these informal settlements, who are typically the urban poor. To examine these interventions, they estimate models of residential location choice and allow households to be sensitive to commuting costs to work, demand for public services, and preferences for community composition. The authors'empirical analysis is based on recently collected survey data from Pune, India, and shows that poor households prefer to live close to work and in communities that consist of people sharing common socio-demographic characteristics. From the perspective of households living in informal settlements, upgrading settlements in the original place is welfare enhancing. If a household must be relocated, it greatly prefers to be moved to a community that resembles its current community.Municipal Financial Management,Public Health Promotion,Decentralization,Housing&Human Habitats,Urban Services to the Poor,Municipal Financial Management,Housing&Human Habitats,VN-Acb Mis -- IFC-00535908,Urban Housing,City Development Strategies

C-band superconductor/semiconductor hybrid field-effect transistor amplifier on a LaAlO3 substrate

A single-stage C-band superconductor/semiconductor hybrid field-effect transistor amplifier was designed, fabricated, and tested at 77 K. The large area (1 inch x 0.5 inches) high temperature superconducting Tl-Ba-Ca-Cu-O (TBCCO) thin film was rf magnetron sputtered onto a LaAlO3 substrate. The film had a transition temperature of about 92 K after it was patterned and etched. The amplifier showed a gain of 6 dB and a 3 dB bandwidth of 100 MHz centered at 7.9 GHz. An identical gold amplifier circuit was tested at 77 K, and these results are compared with those from the hybrid amplifier

Computers in Diagnostic Nuclear Medicine Imaging - A Review

Digital computers are becoming increasingly popular for a variety of purposes in nuclear medicine. They are particuiarly useful in the areas of nuclear imaging and gamma camera image processing,radionuclide inventory and patient record keeping. By far the most important use of the digital computer is in array processors which are commonly available with emission computed systems for fast reconstruction of images in transverse, coronal and sagittal views, particularly when the data to be handled is enormous and involves filtration and correction processes. The addition of array processors to computer systems has helped the clinicians in improving diagnostic nuclear medicine imaging capability. This paper reviews briefly therole of computers in the field of nuclear medicine imaging

Prospective Randomized Trial Comparing Endoscopic Sphincterotomy Followed by Surgery with Surgery Alone in Good Risk Patients with Choledocholithiasis

Background: Role of endoscopic sphincterotomy (ES) in high risk patients with choledocholithiasis is established but its role in good risk patients is unclear

Paternal Uniparental Isodisomy of Chromosome 11p15.5 within the Pancreas Causes Isolated Hyperinsulinemic Hypoglycemia

Background: Loss of function mutations in the genes encoding the pancreatic β-cell ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channel are identified in approximately 80% of patients with diazoxide unresponsive hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia (HH). For a small number of patients HH can occur as part of a multisystem disease such as Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome (BWS). In approximately 20% of patients, BWS results from chromosome 11 paternal uniparental disomy (UPD), which causes dysregulation of imprinted growth regulation genes at 11p15.5. There is a considerable range in the clinical features and phenotypic severity associated with BWS which is likely to be due to somatic mosaicism. The cause of HH in these patients is not known. Research Design and Methods: We undertook microsatellite analysis of 12 markers spanning chromosome 11p in two patients with severe HH and diffuse disease requiring a pancreatectomy. In both patients mutations in the KATP channel genes had not been identified. Results: We identified segmental paternal UPD in DNA extracted from pancreatic tissue in both patients. UPD was not observed in DNA extracted from the patient’s leukocytes or buccal samples. In both cases the UPD encompassed the differentially methylated region at chromosome 11p15.5. Despite this neither patient had any further features of BWS. Conclusion: Paternal UPD of the chromosome 11p15.5 differentially methylated region limited to the pancreatic tissue may represent a novel cause of isolated diazoxide unresponsive HH. Loss of heterozygosity studies should therefore be considered in all patients with severe HH who have undergone pancreatic surgery when KATP channel mutation(s) have not been identified

A new orthogonalization procedure with an extremal property

Various methods of constructing an orthonomal set out of a given set of linearly independent vectors are discussed. Particular attention is paid to the Gram-Schmidt and the Schweinler-Wigner orthogonalization procedures. A new orthogonalization procedure which, like the Schweinler- Wigner procedure, is democratic and is endowed with an extremal property is suggested.Comment: 7 pages, latex, no figures, To appear in J. Phys

Recent advances in structure modifications of Taxol (Paclitaxel)

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Degradation kinetics of metronidazole and its mutual prodrug with ciprofloxacin: a calorimetric analysis

Calorimetric technique has aroused considerable interest as a versatile tool in pharmaceutical industry and academia to provide useful information about thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of drug molecules. The present paper utilizes this technique to monitor the hydrolytic degradation of metronidazole and its prodrug with ciprofloxacin, i.e. 2-(2-methyl-5-nitroimidazol-1-yl)ethyl-1-cyclopropyl-6-fluoro-1,4-dihydro-4-oxo-7-(1-piperazinyl)-quinoline-3-carboxylate. The synthesis of the present mutual prodrug was envisaged to combine the antiprotozoal and anaerobic antibacterial effects of metronidazole with antibacterial effects of ciprofloxacin. Heat flux microcalorimeter was used to determine the rate of heat evolved during the degradation of the drug and prodrug as a function of concentration, pH and temperature. In terms of enthalpy of hydrolysis the response is exothermic both for drug and prodrug. However, the absolute value of the enthalpy of reaction (ΔrH0) is low for the prodrug. The degradation followed pseudo first order kinetics, showed marked stability at pH 3-7 followed by accelerated hydrolysis at higher pH, characteristic of general acid-base catalysis. The catalytic rate constant for hydrogen ion (kH) and hydroxyl ion (kOH) were found to be 0.413 and 526.1 M-1h-1, respectively, at 318.15 K. The hydrolysis of the prodrug was found to be approximately 50-60 times faster than that of the drug. This may be attributed to the fact that hydrolysis of ester group in prodrug is assisted by keto group on the ciprofloxacin. However, there is no effect of protonation of nitrogen in piperazine ring in ciprofloxacin on the hydrolysis due to the distance from the ester moiety. Keywords: Calorimetry, stability studies, degradation kinetics, ciprofloxacin, metronidazole. International Journal of Biological and Chemical Sciences Vol. 1 (3) 2007: pp.197-21

Hepatoblastoma in an Adult with Biliary Obstruction and Associated Portal Venous Thrombosis

We present a case of adult hepatoblastoma. This young female presented with severe acute cholangitis. Preoperative diagnosis was common bile duct (CBD) obstruction with portal vein thrombosis. On exploration she had a tumor mass in the CBD. The unusual features of this case are discussed in this report