Has foreign bank entry led to sounder banks in Latin America?

Policymakers continue to debate the merits of opening emerging market financial sectors to foreign ownership. A comparison of the 1995-2000 performance of foreign and domestic banks in select Latin American countries reveals that while foreign banks differed little from their domestic counterparts in overall financial condition, they showed more robust loan growth, a more aggressive response to asset quality deterioration, and a greater ability to absorb losses_characteristics that could help to strengthen the financial systems of their host countries.Banks and banking - Latin America ; Banks and banking, Foreign ; Economic development - Latin America

Perceived Cognitive Changes with Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer: A Pilot Study

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine perceived cognitive functioning, fatigue, depression and general well-being among women before and after the initiation of chemotherapy for breast cancer compared to a sample of healthy women. Method This descriptive, repeated measures study compared women receiving chemotherapy and healthy women. Women completed measures of quality of life, fatigue, cognitive changes and depression. Results Before chemotherapy, women with cancer reported more fatigue and depression than healthy women. After chemotherapy, women with cancer reported decreased cognitive functioning accompanied by more fatigue and depressive symptoms than healthy women. Conclusion This study is one of the first to use multiple symptom measures before and after starting chemotherapy. Understanding cognitive changes and related symptoms that occur before and during chemotherapy for breast cancer is the first step toward helping women cope with changes that occur with breast cancer treatment

A LANCASTERIAN APPROACH FOR SPECIFYING DERIVED DEMANDS FOR RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES

Demand and Price Analysis,

Neuronal Processing of Complex Mixtures Establishes a Unique Odor Representation in the Moth Antennal Lobe

Animals typically perceive natural odor cues in their olfactory environment as a complex mixture of chemically diverse components. In insects, the initial representation of an odor mixture occurs in the first olfactory center of the brain, the antennal lobe (AL). The contribution of single neurons to the processing of complex mixtures in insects, and in particular moths, is still largely unknown. Using a novel multicomponent stimulus system to equilibrate component and mixture concentrations according to vapor pressure, we performed intracellular recordings of projection and interneurons in an attempt to quantitatively characterize mixture representation and integration properties of single AL neurons in the moth. We found that the fine spatiotemporal representation of 2–7 component mixtures among single neurons in the AL revealed a highly combinatorial, non-linear process for coding host mixtures presumably shaped by the AL network: 82% of mixture responding projection neurons and local interneurons showed non-linear spike frequencies in response to a defined host odor mixture, exhibiting an array of interactions including suppression, hypoadditivity, and synergism. Our results indicate that odor mixtures are represented by each cell as a unique combinatorial representation, and there is no general rule by which the network computes the mixture in comparison to single components. On the single neuron level, we show that those differences manifest in a variety of parameters, including the spatial location, frequency, latency, and temporal pattern of the response kinetics

Penerapan Strategi Pembelajaran Aktif Tipe Hollywood Squares Review untuk Meningkatkan Prestasi Belajar Peserta Didik pada Pokok Bahasan Stoikiometri di Kelas X Mia SMA Negeri 6 Pekanbaru

The research aims to improve the achievement of learners on the subject of Stoichimetri in class X MIA SMAN 6 Pekanbaru. The research is a kind of experiment research with pretest-posttest design. Research conducted in SMAN 6 Pekanbaru. The samples of this research were the students of class X MIA 4 as the experimental class and students of class X MIA 3 as the control class randomly determined after the tests of normality and homogeneity test. The learning process at experimental class and control class based scientific approach to the curriculum in 2013. Experimental class is a class that is applied to Hollywood Squares Review method while the control class was not. Data analysis technique used is the t-test. Based on data analysis of significance value obtained 0,045<0,05, means that the use of Hollywood Squares Review method can improve student learning achievement on the subject of Stoichiometri in class X MIA SMAN 6 Pekanbaru

Media Flipchart Tingkat Keanekaragaman Hayati X SMA Hasil Inventarisasi Ikan Tangkapan Nelayan Padang Tikar

This study aims to determine the feasibility of learning media flipchart as the implementation of an inventory study of fish diversity and determine the types of fish found in the village of Padang Tikar. Forms of this research is qualitative descriptive methods and techniques of data collection triangulation . From the results obtained 32 species of fish consisting of 24 families . Media flipcharts tested for feasibility by three lecturers of Biology Education Studies Program FKIP Untan and two tenth grade high school biology teacher in two schools in the village of Padang Tikar. In the judgment of the validator , flipchart fall into the category valid with an average value of 3.5 and a decent total validation is used as a medium of learning in submateri biodiversity

Activity of commercial detergents against conidia and chlamydospores of fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum

Current containment recommendations for limiting the spread of race 4 of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum in California lack non-corrosive yet effective alternatives to bleach for sanitizing equipment used in farming operations. To find an equivalent to Farmcleanse, an Australian product recommended for disinfecting equipment contaminated with the Fusarium wilt pathogen, 26 cleansers and degreasers commercially available in the United States were tested for their ability to kill spores of race 4 of F. oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum. All treatments were tested at 1:10 and 1:100 (v/v) aqueous dilutions against conidia and chlamydospores in suspension. All treatments were also tested against chlamydospores in soil at a 1:10 dilution. Treatments demonstrating strong anti-fungal activity against spore suspensions at a 1:100 dilution were tested against conidia and chlamydospores at increasing aqueous dilutions (up to 1:100,000). Six products (Clorox, Simple Green d Pro 3, Trewax Nature's Orange, Formula 409 Antibacterial All Purpose Cleaner, Formula 409 Orange Cleaner Degreaser, and Lysol Antibacterial Kitchen Cleaner Citrus Scent) were effective against conidia and chlamydospores at a 1:100 dilution. Two products (Simple Green d Pro 3, Trewax Nature's Orange) gave results similar to bleach at dilutions up to 1:1000 on both conidia and chlamydospores in suspension. Quaternary ammonium compounds were present in four of the six most effective products. None of the cleansers performed as well as bleach against chlamydospores in soil. These results reveal useful alternatives to bleach, but similarity in brand names of distinctly different products should be noted. The results also point to the importance of completely removing soil from equipment prior to spraying with anti-fungal cleansers

Biotransformation, Using Recombinant CYP450-Expressing Baker's Yeast Cells, Identifies a Novel CYP2D6.10A122V Variant Which Is a Superior Metabolizer of Codeine to Morphine Than the Wild-Type Enzyme

© Copyright 2018 American Chemical Society. CYP2D6, a cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzyme, metabolizes codeine to morphine. Within the human body, 0-15% of codeine undergoes O-demethylation by CYP2D6 to form morphine, a far stronger analgesic than codeine. Genetic polymorphisms in wild-type CYP2D6 (CYP2D6-wt) are known to cause poor-to-extensive metabolism of codeine and other CYP2D6 substrates. We have established a platform technology that allows stable expression of human CYP genes from chromosomal loci of baker's yeast cells. Four CYP2D6 alleles, (i) chemically synthesized CYP2D6.1, (ii) chemically synthesized CYP2D6-wt, (iii) chemically synthesized CYP2D6.10, and (iv) a novel CYP2D6.10 variant CYP2D6-C (i.e., CYP2D6.10A122V) isolated from a liver cDNA library, were cloned for chromosomal integration in yeast cells. When expressed in yeast, CYP2D6.10 enzyme shows weak activity compared with CYP2D6-wt and CYP2D6.1 which have moderate activity, as reported earlier. Surprisingly, however, the CYP2D6-C enzyme is far more active than CYP2D6.10. More surprisingly, although CYP2D6.10 is a known low metabolizer of codeine, yeast cells expressing CYP2D6-C transform >70% of codeine to morphine, which is more than twice that of cells expressing the extensive metabolizers, CYP2D6.1, and CYP2D6-wt. The latter two enzymes predominantly catalyze formation of codeine's N-demethylation product, norcodeine, with >55% yield. Molecular modeling studies explain the specificity of CYP2D6-C for O-demethylation, validating observed experimental results. The yeast-based CYP2D6 expression systems, described here, could find generic use in CYP2D6-mediated drug metabolism and also in high-yield chemical reactions that allow the formation of regio-specific dealkylation products

STS in management education: connecting theory and practice

This paper explores the value of science and technology studies (STS) to management education. The work draws on an ethnographic study of second year management undergraduates studying decision making. The nature and delivery of the decision making module is outlined and the value of STS is demonstrated in terms of both teaching method and module content. Three particular STS contributions are identified and described: the social construction of technological systems; actor network theory; and ontological politics. Affordances and sensibilities are identified for each contribution and a discussion is developed that illustrates how these versions of STS are put to use in management education. It is concluded that STS has a pivotal role to play in critical management (education) and in the process offers opportunities for new forms of managin