Did DR-CAFTA Affect the Exports of the Dominican Republic to the United States?

This article evaluates the impact the Dominican Republic and Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) had on the exports of the Dominican Republic (DR) to the United States. We estimate a gravity model for the DR exports to the 109 trade partners of the country from 1990 to 2014. This model quantifies the effect of the DR-CAFTA since 2007, when the agreement was ratified, and finds that the DR-CAFTA negatively affected DR exports to the US. We conduct further analysis of factors that could explain the decline in exports, in spite of the ratification of the agreement. We find that the 2008–09 crisis was not the driver of the slowdown of DR exports to the US. The increasing competition with Central American countries and other export oriented economies, like China, in the US market seem to have the leading role in the export contraction that we find in our study

Modelo de desarrollo económico sostenible para las explotaciones agrícolas basado en un gobierno corporativo efectivo

During the last years of the post-crisis period, numerous barriers that have hindered the effective functioning of crisis integrated structures in the agro-industrial complex were especially hard. This situation forces top managers to apply the strategy of their division into highly specialized firms immediately after the consolidation of assets. The result of this situation is that the Russian agro-industrial complex loses the possibility of large-scale involvement of the scientific, technical and organizational potential of integrated structures, which, in theory, should act as the leaders in the modernization processes of the national agrarian economy. The next global economic crisis, weighed down by the sanctions of the United States, the EU and several other countries, exacerbated the problems of technological modernization temporary boundaries for agro-industrial complex, which at that time became a strategically important economy sector due to a significant decline of GDP in 2014-2015 and worsened the socio-economic situation of the Russian Federation in the international division of labor. All previous years, the approaches to the development of integrated structures were not of a systemic nature, were not always an effective result of random searches and the development of tools to increase their macroeconomic performance. This situation could not but veil the importance of large integrated formations in the implementation of agricultural sector modernization goals in the national economy.Durante los últimos años del período posterior a la crisis, numerosas barreras que han obstaculizado el funcionamiento efectivo de las estructuras integradas de crisis en el complejo agroindustrial fueron especialmente difíciles. Esta situación obliga a los altos directivos a aplicar la estrategia de su división en empresas altamente especializadas inmediatamente después de la consolidación de los activos. El resultado de esta situación es que el complejo agroindustrial ruso pierde la posibilidad de una participación a gran escala del potencial científico, técnico y organizativo de las estructuras integradas, que, en teoría, deben actuar como líderes en los procesos de modernización de la economía agraria nacional. La siguiente crisis económica mundial, agobiada por las sanciones de Estados Unidos, la UE y varios otros países, exacerbó los problemas de modernización tecnológica de los límites temporales del complejo agroindustrial, que en ese momento se convirtió en un sector económico estratégicamente importante debido a un disminución significativa del PIB en 2014-2015 y empeoró la situación socioeconómica de la Federación de Rusia en la división internacional del trabajo. Todos los años anteriores, los enfoques para el desarrollo de estructuras integradas no fueron de naturaleza sistémica, no siempre fueron un resultado efectivo de búsquedas aleatorias y el desarrollo de herramientas para aumentar su desempeño macroeconómico. Esta situación no podía sino la importancia de las grandes formaciones integradas en la implementación de los objetivos de modernización del sector agrícola en la economía nacional

Exploring the Relationship between Working Memory Capacity and Attention Allocation in Persons with and without Aphasia

There is great overlap between the constructs of working memory (WM) and attention.  It remains unclear as to whether WM deficits and attention deficits are independent cognitive impairments associated with aphasia or whether these are different but interrelated aspects of a singular cognitive impairment.  We investigated whether the ability to allocate attention (AA) is related to WM capacity in persons with (n=23) and without (n=30) aphasia.  No consistent relationship between AA and WM capacity measures was observed.  It is possible that other types of attention, such as focus of attention or attentional switching, maybe more closely related to WM capacity

The structure and properties of boron carbide ceramics modified by high-current pulsed electron-beam

The present work is devoted to numerical simulation of temperature fields and the analysis of structural and strength properties of the samples surface layer of boron carbide ceramics treated by the high-current pulsed electron-beam of the submillisecond duration. The samples made of sintered boron carbide ceramics are used in these investigations. The problem of calculating the temperature field is reduced to solving the thermal conductivity equation. The electron beam density ranges between 8…30 J/cm2, while the pulse durations are 100…200 μs in numerical modelling. The results of modelling the temperature field allowed ascertaining the threshold parameters of the electron beam, such as energy density and pulse duration. The electron beam irradiation is accompanied by the structural modification of the surface layer of boron carbide ceramics either in the single-phase (liquid or solid) or two-phase (solid-liquid) states. The sample surface of boron carbide ceramics is treated under the two-phase state (solid-liquid) conditions of the structural modification. The surface layer is modified by the high-current pulsed electron-beam produced by SOLO installation at the Institute of High Current Electronics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Tomsk, Russia. The elemental composition and the defect structure of the modified surface layer are analyzed by the optical instrument, scanning electron and transmission electron microscopes. Mechanical properties of the modified layer are determined measuring its hardness and crack resistance. Research results show that the melting and subsequent rapid solidification of the surface layer lead to such phenomena as fragmentation due to a crack network, grain size reduction, formation of the sub-grained structure due to mechanical twinning, and increase of hardness and crack resistance

Biliary Microbiota, Gallstone Disease and Infection with Opisthorchis felineus.

BACKGROUND: There is increasing interest in the microbiome of the hepatobiliary system. This study investigated the influence of infection with the fish-borne liver fluke, Opisthorchis felineus on the biliary microbiome of residents of the Tomsk region of western Siberia. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Samples of bile were provided by 56 study participants, half of who were infected with O. felineus, and all of who were diagnosed with gallstone disease. The microbiota of the bile was investigated using high throughput, Illumina-based sequencing targeting the prokaryotic 16S rRNA gene. About 2,797, discrete phylotypes of prokaryotes were detected. At the level of phylum, bile from participants with opisthorchiasis showed greater numbers of Synergistetes, Spirochaetes, Planctomycetes, TM7 and Verrucomicrobia. Numbers of \u3e 20 phylotypes differed in bile of the O. felineus-infected compared to non-infected participants, including presence of species of the genera Mycoplana, Cellulosimicrobium, Microlunatus and Phycicoccus, and the Archaeans genus, Halogeometricum, and increased numbers of Selenomonas, Bacteroides, Rothia, Leptotrichia, Lactobacillus, Treponema and Klebsiella. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Overall, infection with the liver fluke O. felineus modified the biliary microbiome, increasing abundance of bacterial and archaeal phylotypes

Oxidative Stress during HIV Infection : Mechanisms and Consequences

Publisher Copyright: © 2016 Alexander V. Ivanov et al.It is generally acknowledged that reactive oxygen species (ROS) play crucial roles in a variety of natural processes in cells. If increased to levels which cannot be neutralized by the defense mechanisms, they damage biological molecules, alter their functions, and also act as signaling molecules thus generating a spectrum of pathologies. In this review, we summarize current data on oxidative stress markers associated with human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) infection, analyze mechanisms by which this virus triggers massive ROS production, and describe the status of various defense mechanisms of the infected host cell. In addition, we have scrutinized scarce data on the effect of ROS on HIV-1 replication. Finally, we present current state of knowledge on the redox alterations as crucial factors of HIV-1 pathogenicity, such as neurotoxicity and dementia, exhaustion of CD4+/CD8+ T-cells, predisposition to lung infections, and certain side effects of the antiretroviral therapy, and compare them to the pathologies associated with the nitrosative stress.publishersversionPeer reviewe

Oxidative stress, a trigger of hepatitis C and B virus-induced liver carcinogenesis

Virally induced liver cancer usually evolves over long periods of time in the context of a strongly oxidative microenvironment, characterized by chronic liver inflammation and regeneration processes. They ultimately lead to oncogenic mutations in many cellular signaling cascades that drive cell growth and proliferation. Oxidative stress, induced by hepatitis viruses, therefore is one of the factors that drives the neoplastic transformation process in the liver. This review summarizes current knowledge on oxidative stress and oxidative stress responses induced by human hepatitis B and C viruses. It focuses on the molecular mechanisms by which these viruses activate cellular enzymes/systems that generate or scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS) and control cellular redox homeostasis. The impact of an altered cellular redox homeostasis on the initiation and establishment of chronic viral infection, as well as on the course and outcome of liver fibrosis and hepatocarcinogenesis will be discussed The review neither discusses reactive nitrogen species, although their metabolism is interferes with that of ROS, nor antioxidants as potential therapeutic remedies against viral infections, both subjects meriting an independent review.publishersversionPeer reviewe

NANOSIZED Co-OXIDE SYSTEM AS EFFICIENT HETEROGENEOUS CATALYST FOR LOW-TEMPERATURE COMPLETE OXIDATION OF FORMALDEHYDE IN AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS

Abstrac

A case of pure apraxia of speech after left hemisphere stroke: behavioral findings and neural correlates

IntroductionApraxia of speech (AOS) is a motor speech disorder impairing the coordination of complex articulatory movements needed to produce speech. AOS typically co-occurs with a non-fluent aphasia, or language disorder, making it challenging to determine the specific brain structures that cause AOS. Cases of pure AOS without aphasia are rare but offer the best window into the neural correlates that support articulatory planning. The goal of the current study was to explore patterns of apraxic speech errors and their underlying neural correlates in a case of pure AOS.MethodsA 67-year-old right-handed man presented with severe AOS resulting from a fronto-insular lesion caused by an ischemic stroke. The participant’s speech and language were evaluated at 1-, 3- and 12-months post-onset. High resolution structural MRI, including diffusion weighted imaging, was acquired at 12 months post-onset.ResultsAt the first assessment, the participant made minor errors on the Comprehensive Aphasia Test, demonstrating mild deficits in writing, auditory comprehension, and repetition. By the second assessment, he no longer had aphasia. On the Motor Speech Evaluation, the severity of his AOS was initially rated as 5 (out of 7) and improved to a score of 4 by the second visit, likely due to training by his SLP at the time to slow his speech. Structural MRI data showed a fronto-insular lesion encompassing the superior precentral gyrus of the insula and portions of the inferior and middle frontal gyri and precentral gyrus. Tractography derived from diffusion MRI showed partial damage to the frontal aslant tract and arcuate fasciculus along the white matter projections to the insula.DiscussionThis pure case of severe AOS without aphasia affords a unique window into the behavioral and neural mechanisms of this motor speech disorder. The current findings support previous observations that AOS and aphasia are dissociable and confirm a role for the precentral gyrus of the insula and BA44, as well as underlying white matter in supporting the coordination of complex articulatory movements. Additionally, other regions including the precentral gyrus, Broca’s area, and Area 55b are discussed regarding their potential role in successful speech production