Regional Integration of US Border States with Canada: Evidence from US State Exports, 1996 to 2001

This paper examines the nature of regional trade integration between the United States and Canada by using a Similarity Index that summarizes the behavior of exports of states along the US/Canadian border relative to US states that are not on the Canadian border. An export Similarity Index is used to show the considerable importance of industry mix relative to distance. Similarity Index changes suggest that increased export sales between the US and Canada between 1996 and 2001 were not primarily driven by proximity factors that underlie a regional phenomenon. Industry factors independent of location and distance were important contributors to changes in US exports to Canada. The upshot is that global, not regional, factors may underlie increasing trade between the US and Canada. That is, an apparent global phenomenon may have been mistaken for a regional one.

The Gravity of Globalization

Can changes in the trade of the world’s largest trading countries be considered more global? Or should they be labeled as more regional? We investigated these questions for the G7 countries for the time period from 1980 to 1997. We found that the usual dichotomy of global-regional is not rich enough to answer these questions because globalization can be measured in terms of both physical and cultural distance. Our new taxonomy allows for testing these separate impacts on world trade and suggests that trade changes are best described as regional, though with some qualification. With respect to physical distance, we find that trade is clearly becoming more regional. On the cultural dimension, however, we find conflicting results. These results are robust to a series of tests. We find the same pattern at industry level, except for Paper Products and Motor Vehicles. The regionalization pattern holds for both imports to and exports from the G7, but it is stronger for exports.

After the asylum: A Basaglian-informed visin of Recovery-oriented care

Prior to his untimely death, Franco Basaglia had envisioned a “next step” for the anti-asylum movement to involve working toward the inclusion of persons with serious mental illnesses in the community activities and settings of their choice. The current status of mental health systems both in the U.S. and in Brazil suggest that this remains a central challenge that continues to require innovative and concerted efforts. In this article, I review three directions of system transformation strategies for promoting community inclusion and full citizenship that Basaglia had foreseen but which he had not lived long enough to pursue in earnest. These include addressing discrimination against persons with mental illness, addressing the role of service users throughout the mental health system, and addressing the social determinants of mental health on a societal scale. While the asylums have been effectively closed and promising work has begun in each of these three areas, there remains much more work to be done in ensuring persons with mental illness a meaningful life in the communities of their choice

Messenger RNA coding for only the alpha subunit of the rat brain Na channel is sufficient for expression of functional channels in Xenopus oocytes

Several cDNA clones coding for the high molecular weight (alpha) subunit of the voltage-sensitive Na channel have been selected by immunoscreening a rat brain cDNA library constructed in the expression vector lambda gt11. As will be reported elsewhere, the amino acid sequence translated from the DNA sequence shows considerable homology to that reported for the Electrophorus electricus electroplax Na channel. Several of the cDNA inserts hybridized with a low-abundance 9-kilobase RNA species from rat brain, muscle, and heart. Sucrose-gradient fractionation of rat brain poly(A) RNA yielded a high molecular weight fraction containing this mRNA, which resulted in functional Na channels when injected into oocytes. This fraction contained undetectable amounts of low molecular weight RNA. The high molecular weight Na channel RNA was selected from rat brain poly(A) RNA by hybridization to a single-strand antisense cDNA clone. Translation of this RNA in Xenopus oocytes resulted in the appearance of tetrodotoxin-sensitive voltage-sensitive Na channels in the oocyte membrane. These results demonstrate that mRNA encoding the alpha subunit of the rat brain Na channel, in the absence of any beta-subunit mRNA, is sufficient for translation to give functional channels in oocytes

Update on Allergy Immunotherapy

This article summarizes and provides commentary regarding guidelines on the administration of immunotherapy (IT) for allergic airway disease. Recent investigations have provided important insights into the immunologic mechanism of IT and the prominent role of interleukin-10-producing regulatory T lymphocytes. The most important aspect of successful IT is the administration of an appropriate dose of an extract containing a sufficient concentration of the relevant allergen. This is largely possible now only with standardized extracts. When the major allergen content of successful IT extracts was quantified, efficacy was demonstrated across a surprisingly narrow concentration range (approximately 5-24 μg per injection), irrespective of the extract. This presumably reflects the concentration of an antigen that drives an immune response toward tolerance. It may be predicted that as major allergen content is quantified in currently nonstandardized extracts, effective IT will also be achieved by administering a dose in this range, in contrast to current practices involving fairly arbitrary dosing decisions. With the availability of nonsedating antihistamines, intranasal corticosteroids, and the leukotriene modifiers, inadequate pharmacologic response or intolerable side effects are less commonly the major indications for starting IT for allergic rhinitis (AR). However, with the recognition that a relatively short course (3-5 years) of IT can provide long-term immunomodulation and clinical benefit, a desire to avoid long-term pharmacotherapy and the associated high costs may be the primary indication for IT in AR cases. While evidence overwhelmingly supports the beneficial influences of IT in asthma cases, the positioning of IT for this disorder is not established. The observed prevention of asthma in children who have AR is intriguing, but further studies are required to assess the extent to which the prevalence and severity of chronic asthma will be reduced when these children reach adulthood. Similarly, safety issues overwhelmingly suggest that uncontrolled asthma is the greatest risk factor for mortality associated with IT and that IT therefore may be contraindicated for most patients who have inadequate pharmacologic responses or are unable to tolerate useful pharmacologic agents. Paradoxically, these are the patients for whom a response to IT may be most desirable