Improving Financial Inclusion through the Delivery of Cash Transfer Programmes: The Case of Mexico’s Progresa-Oportunidades-Prospera Programme

This paper follows a quasi-experimental research design to assess the impact of the electronic payment system of Mexico’s Progresa-Oportunidades-Prospera (POP) programme. The switch from cash payments to electronic payments delivered via savings accounts is found to have medium-term effects on savings decisions, transaction costs, and coping strategies. Overall, the study finds that, following the intervention, a substitution effect emerged between saving portfolio choices, with the poor favouring bank accounts over informal saving arrangements. It also found that the Oportunidades savings account led to an increase in remittance reception, which in turn had important implications for household consumption smoothing and risk management decisions. The study also reveals impact heterogeneity depending on household composition and the rural-urban divide, with important implications for replicability of similar policy innovations in other countrie

Phonons and structures of tetracene polymorphs at low temperature and high pressure

Crystals of tetracene have been studied by means of lattice phonon Raman spectroscopy as a function of temperature and pressure. Two different phases (polymorphs I and II) have been obtained, depending on sample preparation and history. Polymorph I is the most frequently grown phase, stable at ambient conditions. A pressure induced phase transition, observed above 1 GPa, leads to polymorph II, which is also obtained at temperatures below 140 K. Polymorph II can also be maintained at ambient conditions. We have calculated the crystallographic structures and phonon frequencies as a function of temperature, starting from the configurations of the energy minima found by exploring the potential energy surface of crystalline tetracene. The spectra calculated for the first and second deepest minima match satisfactorily those measured for polymorphs I and II, respectively. All published x-ray structures, once assigned to the appropriate polymorph, are also reproduced.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, RevTeX4, update after referees report

Metabolic Dysfunction Underlying Autism Spectrum Disorder and Potential Treatment Approaches

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by deficits in sociability and communication, and increased repetitive and/or restrictive behaviors. While the etio-pathogenesis of ASD is unknown, clinical manifestations are diverse and many possible genetic and environmental factors have been implicated. As such, it has been a great challenge to identify key neurobiological mechanisms and to develop effective treatments. Current therapies focus on co-morbid conditions (such as epileptic seizures and sleep disturbances) and there is no cure for the core symptoms. Recent studies have increasingly implicated mitochondrial dysfunction in ASD. The fact that mitochondria are an integral part of diverse cellular functions and are susceptible to many insults could explain how a wide range of factors can contribute to a consistent behavioral phenotype in ASD. Meanwhile, the high-fat, low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet (KD), used for nearly a century to treat medically intractable epilepsy, has been shown to enhance mitochondrial function through a multiplicity of mechanisms and affect additional molecular targets that may address symptoms and comorbidities of ASD. Here, we review the evidence for the use of metabolism-based therapies such as the KD in the treatment of ASD as well as emerging co-morbid models of epilepsy and autism. Future research directions aimed at validating such therapeutic approaches and identifying additional and novel mechanistic targets are also discussed

Adenosine, Ketogenic Diet and Epilepsy: The Emerging Therapeutic Relationship Between Metabolism and Brain Activity

For many years the neuromodulator adenosine has been recognized as an endogenous anticonvulsant molecule and termed a “retaliatory metabolite.” As the core molecule of ATP, adenosine forms a unique link between cell energy and neuronal excitability. In parallel, a ketogenic (high-fat, low-carbohydrate) diet is a metabolic therapy that influences neuronal activity significantly, and ketogenic diets have been used successfully to treat medically-refractory epilepsy, particularly in children, for decades. To date the key neural mechanisms underlying the success of dietary therapy are unclear, hindering development of analogous pharmacological solutions. Similarly, adenosine receptor–based therapies for epilepsy and myriad other disorders remain elusive. In this review we explore the physiological regulation of adenosine as an anticonvulsant strategy and suggest a critical role for adenosine in the success of ketogenic diet therapy for epilepsy. While the current focus is on the regulation of adenosine, ketogenic metabolism and epilepsy, the therapeutic implications extend to acute and chronic neurological disorders as diverse as brain injury, inflammatory and neuropathic pain, autism and hyperdopaminergic disorders. Emerging evidence for broad clinical relevance of the metabolic regulation of adenosine will be discussed

Role of Multiparametric-MRI in Bladder Cancer

Purpose of ReviewThis narrative review article aims to show the actual role of imaging, in particular MRI, and the role of VI-RADS Score, in recognition and follow-up of the tumor.Recent FindingsA team of professionals created VI-RADS with the goal of standardizing the acquisition and interpretation of multiparametric-MRI in bladder cancer.Bladder cancer is the most common cancer involving the urinary system. It is the fourth most common urological cancer in men and the second most frequent cancer affecting the urinary tract. Main risks factors are advanced age, male sex, and cigarette smoking. Bladder cancer ranges from unaggressive and usually non-invasive tumors that recur and commit patients to long-term invasive surveillance, to aggressive and invasive tumors with high disease-specific mortality. At the time of diagnosis, 70% of patients are experiencing non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer. Vesical imaging-reporting and data system score (VI-RADS) is a scoring system useful to standardize the approach to multiparametric-MRI interpretation, and reporting for bladder cancer

Direct evidence of overdamped Peierls-coupled modes in TTF-CA temperature-induced phase transition

In this paper we elucidate the optical response resulting from the interplay of charge distribution (ionicity) and Peierls instability (dimerization) in the neutral-ionic, ferroelectric phase transition of tetrathiafulvalene-chloranil (TTF-CA), a mixed-stack quasi-one-dimensional charge-transfer crystal. We present far-infrared reflectivity measurements down to 5 cm-1 as a function of temperature above the phase transition (300 - 82 K). The coupling between electrons and lattice phonons in the pre-transitional regime is analyzed on the basis of phonon eigenvectors and polarizability calculations of the one-dimensional Peierls-Hubbard model. We find a multi-phonon Peierls coupling, but on approaching the transition the spectral weight and the coupling shift progressively towards the phonons at lower frequencies, resulting in a soft-mode behavior only for the lowest frequency phonon near the transition temperature. Moreover, in the proximity of the phase transition, the lowest-frequency phonon becomes overdamped, due to anharmonicity induced by its coupling to electrons. The implications of these findings for the neutral-ionic transition mechanism is shortly discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 13 figure