The Evolution of Concentrated Ownership in India Broad patterns and a History of the Indian Software Industry

As in many countries (Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Sweden), concentrated ownership is a ubiquitous feature of the Indian private sector over the past seven decades. Yet, unlike in most countries, the identity of the primary families responsible for the concentrated ownership changes dramatically over time, perhaps even more than it does in the U.S. during the same time period. It does not appear that concentrated ownership in India is entirely associated with the ills that the literature has recently ascribed to concentrated ownership in emerging markets. If the concentrated owners are not exclusively, or even primarily, engaged in rent-seeking and entry-deterring behavior, concentrated ownership may not be inimical to competition. Indeed, as a response to competition, we argue that at least some Indian families the concentrated owners in question have consistently tried to use their business group structures to launch new ventures. In the process they have either failed hence the turnover in identity or reinvented themselves. Thus concentrated ownership is a result, rather than a cause, of inefficiencies in capital markets. Even in the low capital-intensity, relatively unregulated setting of the Indian software industry, we find that concentrated ownership persists in a privately successful and socially useful way. Since this setting is the least hospitable to the existence of concentrated ownership, we interpret our findings as a lower bound on the persistence of concentrated ownership in the economy at large.

Non-tuberculosis mycobacteria: Trend of isolation rate and characteristics of NTM in Cambodia during 2011–2013

AbstractBackgroundThe evidence of increase in the prevalence of non-tuberculosis mycobacteria (NTM) is being reported around the world. In Shanghai, China, it rose from 4% to 6% in the years between 2005 and 2008. Cambodia is one of the 22 high–tuberculosis (TB) burden countries. The NTM isolation rate among pulmonary smear-positive previously treated TB and new smear-positive non-converter at months 2 or 3 was 25% in 2011.ObjectiveTo determine the trend of the NTM isolation rate from presumptive multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) cases during the period 2011–2013 and their characteristics.MethodsA retrospective cross-sectional study which included all presumptive MDR-TB patients whose samples reached two main mycobacterial culture laboratories of the National TB Program during the period 2011–2013. Each of the two samples were examined by smear microscopy with Ziehl Neelsen, cultured with Lowenstein Jensen and BACTEC MGIT 960, and identified for mycobacteria with ICA test. Possible cases were defined as a single positive NTM isolate, and definite cases were defined as two positive NTM isolates. The NTM isolation rate and the relationship of NTM and smear result were analyzed.ResultsA total of 6115 sputum samples of 3,338 patients were cultured, of which 32.3% (n=1079) of the patients have at least one positive culture with a median age of 51years (IQR: 40–62) and 59.5% were males. Out of these, 36.9% (n=398) were NTM isolates with median age of 56.5years (IQR: 46–65) and 51.0% were males. Of these, 39.7% (n=158) were defined as NTM cases. The isolation rate of NTM among culture-positive of presumptive MDR-TB patients were 26.1%, 31.5%, and 46.9% in the years 2011, 2012, and 2013, respectively. This isolation rate was strongly correlated with a grade of smear result, but not TB treatment history. The proportion of NTM by grade of smear results were 62%, 53%, 27%, 15%, and 6% among smear-negative, scanty, 1+, 2+, and 3+, respectively, and the proportion of NTM by type of TB patients was 66.7%, 53.0%, 38.5%, 34.4%, 30.9%, 29.4%, and 2.7% among pulmonary TB smear-negative previously treated cases, non-converter of new smear-positive cases, symptomatic close contacts of known MDR-TB patient, failure, HIV/TB new smear-positive, relapse, and return after default, respectively.ConclusionsThe isolation rate of NTM in Cambodia among presumptive MDR-TB patients was found to be remarkably high and increasing over the last 3years and strongly correlated with the grade of smear result. Further studies and appropriate managements should be done for those patients

Adaptación y validación de la Frontotemporal Dementia Rating Scale (FTD-FRS) al castellano

Introducción: La Frontotemporal Dementia Rating Scale (FTD-FRS) es una escala diseñada para facilitar la estadificación clínica y la evaluación de la progresión de pacientes con demencia frontotemporal (DFT).  Objetivo: Realizar un estudio multicéntrico de adaptación y validación al castellano de la FTD-FRS.  Metodología: La adaptación se realizó mediante 2 procesos de traducción y retrotraducción inglés-español español-inglés y se verificó con los autores originales. El proceso de validación se llevó a cabo en una muestra consecutiva de pacientes diagnosticados de DFT. Se evaluó la consistencia interna, se determinó la unidimensionalidad con el método Rasch, se analizaron la validez de constructo y la validez discriminante, y se calculó el grado de acuerdo entre la Clinical Dementia Rating scale y la FTD-FRS para los casos con DFT.  Resultados: Se incluyeron 60 pacientes con DFT. La puntuación media de la FTD-FRS fue de 12,1 puntos (DE = 6,5; rango = 2-25) mostrando diferencias intergrupos (F = 120,3; gl = 3; p < 0,001). El α de Cronbach = 0,897, el análisis de componentes principales de los residuos produjo un aceptable autovalor para 5 contrastes (1,6-2,7) y una varianza respecto al origen del 36,1%. La FTD-FRS correlacionó con el Mini-mental test (r = 0,572; p < 0,001) y capacidad funcional (DAD; r = 0,790; p < 0,001). La FTD-FRS correlacionó significativamente con la Clinical Dementia Rating scale (r = −0,641; p < 0,001) pero se observó variabilidad entre la distribución de la gravedad, siendo valorados como más leves según la Clinical Dementia Rating scale que con la FTD-FRS (kappa = 0,055).  Conclusiones: El estudio de traducción y validación al español mostró resultados de validez y unidimensionalidad (gravedad) satisfactorios para el uso de la FTD-FRS en el estudio de la gravedad en pacientes con DFT.  Introduction: The Frontotemporal Dementia Rating Scale (FTD-FRS) is a tool designed to aid with clinical staging and assessment of the progression of frontotemporal dementia (FTD-FRS).  Objective: Present a multicentre adaptation and validation study of a Spanish version of the FRS.  Methodology: The adapted version was created using 2 translation-back translation processes (English to Spanish, Spanish to English) and verified by the scale's original authors. We validated the adapted version in a sample of consecutive patients diagnosed with FTD. The procedure included evaluating internal consistency, testing unidimensionality with the Rasch model, analysing construct validity and discriminant validity, and calculating the degree of agreement between the Clinical Dementia Rating scale (CDR) and FTD-FRS for FTD cases.  Results: The study included 60 patients with DFT. The mean score on the FRS was 12.1 points (SD = 6.5; range, 2-25) with inter-group differences (F = 120.3; df = 3; P < .001). Cronbach's alpha was 0.897 and principal component analysis of residuals delivered an acceptable eigenvalue for 5 contrasts (1.6-2.7) and 36.1% raw variance. FRS was correlated with the Mini-mental State Examination (r = 0.572; P < .001) and functional capacity (DAD; r = 0.790; P < .001). FTD-FRS also showed a significant correlation with CDR (r = −0.641; P < .001), but we did observe variability in the severity levels; cases appeared to be less severe according to the CDR than when measured with the FTD-FRS (kappa = 0.055).  Conclusions: This process of validating the Spanish translation of the FTD-FRS yielded satisfactory results for validity and unidimensionality (severity) in the assessment of patients with FTD

Seropositivity to Herpes Simplex Virus Antibodies and Risk of Alzheimer's Disease: A Population-Based Cohort Study

International audienceBACKGROUND: Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) infection has been proposed as a possible risk factor of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) notably because it is neurotropic, ubiquitous in the general population and able to establish lifelong latency in the host. The fact that HSV was present in elderly subjects with AD suggests that the virus could be a co-factor of the disease. We investigated the risk of developing AD in anti-HSV immunoglobulin G (IgG) positive subjects (indicator of a lifelong infection to HSV) and IgM-positive subjects (indicator of primary infection or reactivation of the virus) in a longitudinal population-based cohort of elderly subjects living in the community. METHODS: Cox proportional hazard models were used to study the risk of developing AD according to the presence or not of anti-HSV IgG and IgM antibodies, assessed in the sera of 512 elderly initially free of dementia followed for 14 years. RESULTS: During the follow-up, 77 incident AD cases were diagnosed. Controlled for age, gender, educational level and Apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) status, IgM-positive subjects showed a significant higher risk of developing AD (HR = 2.55; 95% CI [1.38-4.72]), although no significant increased risk was observed in IgG-positive subjects (HR = 1.67; 95%CI [0.75-3.73]). No modification effect with APOE4 status was found. CONCLUSION: Reactivation of HSV seropositivity is highly correlated with incident AD. HSV chronic infection may therefore be contributive to the progressive brain damage characteristic of AD