Limits on interest rate rules in the IS model

Interest rates

International Product Differentiation Through a Country Brand: An Economic Analysis of National Branding as a Marketing Strategy for Agricultural Products

branding, marketing, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

International Product Differentiation through a Country Brand: An Economic Analysis of National Branding as a Marketing Strategy for Agricultural Products

Trade policy initiatives of developed country governments are in flux. Governments’ need for new trade policy measures has arisen partly because of constraints imposed on the use of export subsidies by the Agreement on Agriculture reached as part of the Uruguay Round of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in 1994. Further disciplines on export subsidies and other policy measures may be agreed on in the Doha Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations, accentuating the need for new policy measures. While the Doha Round may not successfully reach an agreement, the current modalities show provisional agreement on the elimination of multiple forms of export subsidies. There is provisional agreement on more stringent restrictions on the use of export credit programs. Controls on exporting state trading agencies’ ability to subsidize exports are tentatively agreed (Furtan, 2005). Food aid, which can also be used to circumvent disciplines on export subsidies, is also likely to be subject to WTO disciplines.International Relations/Trade,

Letters between G. N. Houston and William Kerr

Letters concerning a position at Utah Agricultural College, includes resume

Aspergillus fumigatus enhances elastase production in pseudomonas aeruginosaco-cultures

In the cystic fibrosis (CF) lung the presence of bacteria and fungi in the airways promotes an inflammatory response causing progressive lung damage, ultimately leading to high rates of morbidity and mortality. We hypothesized that polymicrobial interactions play an important role in promoting airway pathogenesis. We therefore examined the interplay between the most commonly isolated bacterial CF pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and the most prevalent filamentous fungi, Aspergillus fumigatus, to test this. Co-culture experiments showed that in the presence of A. fumigatus the production of P. aeruginosa elastase was enhanced. This was confirmed by the presence of zones of clearance on Elastin-Congo Red (ECR) agar, which was identified as elastase by mass spectrometry. When P. aeruginosa were grown in a co-culture model with mature A. fumigatus biofilms, 60% of isolates produced significantly more elastase in the presence of the filamentous fungi than in its absence (P < .05). The expression of lasB also increased when P. aeruginosa isolates PA01 and PA14 were grown in co-culture with A. fumigatus. Supernatants from co-culture experiments were also significantly toxic to a human lung epithelial cell line (19–38% cell cytotoxicity) in comparison to supernatants from P. aeruginosa only cultures (P < .0001). Here we report that P. aeruginosa cytotoxic elastase is enhanced in the presence of the filamentous fungi A. fumigatus, suggesting that this may have a role to play in the damaging pathology associated with the lung tissue in this disease. This indicates that patients who have a co-colonisation with these two organisms may have a poorer prognosis

The thrombopoietin receptor, c-Mpl, is a selective surface marker for human hematopoietic stem cells

BACKGROUND: Thrombopoietin (TPO), the primary cytokine regulating megakaryocyte proliferation and differentiation, exerts significant influence on other hematopoietic lineages as well, including erythroid, granulocytic and lymphoid lineages. We previously demonstrated that the receptor for TPO, c-mpl, is expressed by a subset of human adult bone marrow hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSC/PC) that are enriched for long-term multilineage repopulating ability in the SCID-hu Bone in vivo model of human hematopoiesis. METHODS: Here, we employ flow cytometry and an anti-c-mpl monoclonal antibody to comprehensively define the surface expression pattern of c-mpl in four differentiation stages of human CD34(+ )HSC/PC (I: CD34(+)38(--), II: CD34(+)38(dim), III: CD34(+)38(+), IV: CD34(dim)38(+)) for the major sources of human HSC: fetal liver (FL), umbilical cord blood (UCB), adult bone marrow (ABM), and cytokine-mobilized peripheral blood stem cells (mPBSC). We use a surrogate in vivo model of human thymopoiesis, SCID-hu Thy/Liv, to compare the capacity of c-mpl(+ )vs. c-mpl(-- )CD34(+)38(--/dim )HSC/PC for thymocyte reconstitution. RESULTS: For all tissue sources, the percentage of c-mpl(+ )cells was significantly highest in stage I HSC/PC (FL 72 ± 10%, UCB 67 ± 19%, ABM 82 ± 16%, mPBSC 71 ± 15%), and decreased significantly through stages II, III, and IV ((FL 3 ± 3%, UCB 8 ± 13%, ABM 0.6 ± 0.6%, mPBSC 0.2 ± 0.1%) [ANOVA: P < 0.0001]. The relative median fluorescence intensity of c-mpl expression was similarly highest in stage I, decreasing through stage IV [ANOVA: P < 0.0001]. No significant differences between tissue sources were observed for either % c-mpl(+ )cells [P = 0.89] or intensity of c-mpl expression [P = 0.21]. Primary Thy/Liv grafts injected with CD34(+)38(--/dim)c-mpl(+ )cells showed slightly higher levels of donor HLA(+ )thymocyte reconstitution vs. CD34(+)38(--/dim)c-mpl(--)-injected grafts and non-injected controls (c-mpl(+ )vs. c-mpl(--): CD2(+ )6.8 ± 4.5% vs. 2.8 ± 3.3%, CD4(+)8(-- )54 ± 35% vs. 31 ± 29%, CD4(--)8(+ )29 ± 19% vs. 18 ± 14%). CONCLUSION: These findings support the hypothesis that the TPO receptor, c-mpl, participates in the regulation of primitive human HSC from mid-fetal through adult life. This study extends our previous work documenting human B-lineage, myeloid and CD34(+ )cell repopulation by c-mpl(+ )progenitors to show that c-mpl(+ )HSC/PC are also capable of significant T-lineage reconstitution in vivo. These results suggest that c-mpl merits consideration as a selective surface marker for the identification and isolation of human HSC in both basic research and clinical settings

Safety Aspects of Nuclear Reactor Control

For Presentation at the Great Lakes District Meeting of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, held in Lansing, Michigan, in May 1958.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/86099/1/MMPP Ricker + Kerr May 1958.PDF2