A NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE ON LAND USE POLICY ALTERNATIVES AND CONSEQUENCES AT THE RURAL-URBAN FRINGE

Land Economics/Use,

Estimating multidimensional poverty and identifying the poor in Pakistan

This paper argues for the multidimensional measurement of poverty in Pakistan particularly in the context of Millennium Development Goals. It critically examines the Poverty Scorecard, which was recently introduced by the Government of Pakistan for the identification of poor households under the Benazir Income Support Programme. By employing the Alkire and Foster measure to analyze household data from two provinces, Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwah (the re-named North-West Frontier Province) and Punjab, it provides an alternative method to estimate multidimensional poverty and identify poor households. The paper also investigates the relationship between household consumption and multidimensional poverty. It contrasts the results obtained by using a multidimensional measurement of poverty with those of the official poverty line. The limitations of the official poverty line are identified and the role of household consumption in explaining deprivations is discussed

Hidden Subsidies

Many governments use price subsidisation (total costs less total revenues from user charges) to meet social protection objectives in lieu of, or in addition to, direct income transfers. Such subsidies may be perceived as influencing behaviour to further other socially desirable policies. For example, the price response induced by lowering the price of schooling will both lower the cost of living for the beneficiaries and also increase the investment in education more than a similar income transfer would achieve. The incidences of benefits from a general price subsidy are proportional to purchases and can be deduced from the pattern of expenditures. Some goods are inappropriate vehicles for redistribution since subsidies on them will not only accrue mainly to the rich they will actually increase inequality in welfare. It is therefore important to ensure that commodities chosen for price subsidisation are largely consumed by the lower income groups. Also, detailed data on such commodities should be made public to make the extent of subsidy easily tractable. In the case of Pakistan, the problem of lack of transparency of federal and provincial budgets is vividly demonstrated by the inability of such budgets to readily highlight the subsidy on the various economic and social services, which are essentially in the nature of ‘private’ goods, provided by such governments. This is not only a reflection of the problem of the nature of budgeting practices whereby, first, revenues and expenditures on different heads are shown separately and no account is made either of depreciation of assets or the costs of capital used to finance the acquisition of assets which yield a stream of services. Second, to the extent that the subsidies largely benefit the upper income groups, political compulsions dictate that such subsidies largely remain hidden.

Isolation of Acanthamoeba isolates belonging to T2, T3, T4 and T7 genotypes from environmental samples in Ankara, Turkey

Acanthamoeba keratitis is a blinding infection that is becoming increasingly important in human health. Early diagnosis is a prerequisite for successful treatment and requires identification of Acanthamoeba at the genotypic level. The genus Acanthamoeba consists of both pathogenic and non-pathogenic species and has been recently classified into 13 different genotypes, T1-T12 and T14. More importantly, 95% of Acanthamoeba isolates that produce keratitis belong to T4 genotypes. In this study, we attempted to determine whether predominance of T4 isolates in Acanthamoeba keratitis is due to greater virulence or greater prevalence. We isolated 18 Acanthamoeba isolates from environmental samples in Ankara, Turkey and determined their pathogenic potential by means osmotolerance, temperature tolerance and in vitro cytotoxicity assays using corneal epithelial cells. Ribosomal DNA sequencing revealed that 10 isolates belong to T2, 5 belong to T3, 2 belong to T4 and one belongs to T7 genotype. As expected, T3 and T4 isolates exhibited the most pathogenic traits and were osmotolerant, temperature tolerant and exhibited severe corneal epithelial cell cytotoxicity indicating their pathogenic potential. Overall these data indicate that high frequency of T4 isolates in keratitis cases may well be due to their greater virulence. This is the first report presenting environmental distribution of Acanthamoeba in Ankara, Turkey

JeffHEALTH: Helping East Africa Link to Health

JeffHEALTH-Helping East Africa Link to Health is a student-run organization at Thomas Jefferson University dedicated to improving basic medical education and quality of life in Rwanda, which was devastated in 1994 by civil war and genocide. Working in partnership with the Rwanda Village Concept Project, a student organization at the National University of Rwanda, JeffHEALTH seeks to implement sustainable health initiatives in our partner villages. Graduate students from Thomas Jefferson University travel to Rwanda where we taught Community Health Workers from the Villages of Akarambi and Ruli the following topics: Nutrition and Vitamin Deficiencies, Family Planning, Prenatal care, HIV, Sexually Transmitted Illnesses and Hepatitis, Breast and Cervical Cancer, Diabetes, and Fistulas. We also taught two programs to children of the villages (Oral Hygiene and Soil Transmitted Helminths) and talked with young adults about Circumcision and HIV Prevention and Sex Education.https://jdc.jefferson.edu/cwicposters/1018/thumbnail.jp

Authors' reply to Colquhoun and Buchinsky

No abstract available

Ring opening/cyclisation in oxiranyl carbinyl free radicals

A study aimed to examine the electronic and possible stereoelectronic factors controlling the opening of the epoxide C-O versus C-C bond in 4<. ,5-epoxy-5<' -cholestan-3-yl-radicals. formed by photolysis of 3B -acetoxy-4<' ,5-epoxy-5<' -cholestanes in HMPAlH20 and by BU3SnH reduction of 4<. ,5-epoxy- 3B -[jmidazol-l-yl(thiocarbonyJ)oxyl-5<' -cholestanes. These derived radicals gave cholest-3-en-5B -01 via the cholest-3-en-5<' -oxy-radicals and reversible cleavage of the C5- CIO bond. The 4<. ,5-epoxy- 5<' -cholestan-6-yl-radicals, formed by photolysis of 6a -acetoxy-4<' ,5-epoxy-5E. -cholestanes in HMPA/H20, and by BU3SnH reduction of 4E. ,5-epoxy-6a -[jmidazol-l-yl(thiocarbonyJ)oxyl-5E. - cholestanes gave the cholest-5-en-4E. -oxy-radicals, which were reduced to give the cholest- 5-en-4E. -ols. In the study of bicycloI2.2.llheptane systems, the reduction with BU3SnH of eOO0-2-[jmidazol-l-yl( thiocarbonyJ)oxyl-anti-3 '-phenylbicycloI2.2.1 Iheptan-3-spiro-2 '-oxiranes and the ant;-3 '-p-chlorophenyl and 3'-methylene analogues failed to generate a radical at C-2 irrespective of the stereochemistry (exo- or eOOo-) of the epoxides. Unexpected products were derived from the reduction of the thioester group to methoxy and acetal groups; the epnxide groups remained unaltered. This novel reduction has not been observed before. The photolysis in HMPA/H20 of end0-2-acetoxy-anti-3 '-phenylbicycloI2.2.llheptan-3-spiro- 2' -oxiranes and the anti-3' -p-chlorophenyl and 3' -methylene analogues failed to generate a radical at C-2 irrespective of the stereochemistry (exo- or endo-) of the epoxides; but instead gave cleavage of the C-O bonds of the aryl epnxides which stereoselectively gave the eOO0-2-acetoxy-4f. -phenylbicyclo- 13.2.J1octan-3-ones. The methylene epoxides were obtained unchanged after photolysis, in low yield. The reaction between BU3SnH and the ex0-2-bromo-anti-3 '-phenylbicycloI2.2.J1heptan-3-spiro- 2' -oxiranes and the anti-3' -p-chlorophenyl analogue (exo- and endo-epoxides) generated a radical at C-2 and the products, norcamphor, benzyl alcohol and p-chlorobenzyl alcohol, were derived exclusively from C-C bond cleavage

Frequency-dependent response of neurons to oscillating electric fields

Neuronal interactions with electric fields depend on the biophysical properties of the neuronal membrane as well as the geometry of the cell relative to the field vector. Biophysically detailed modeling of these spatial effects is central to understanding neuron-to-neuron electrical (ephaptic) interactions as well as how externally applied electrical fields, such as radio-frequency radiation from wireless devices or therapeutic Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), interact with neurons. Here we examine in detail the shape-dependent response properties of cells in oscillating electrical fields by solving Maxwell's equations for geometrically extended neurons. Early modeling for compact (spherical) cells in alternating fields predicts a smaller effective membrane time constant for the field-cell system compared to direct current injection via whole-cell patch clamp. This result, predicting that cells should respond strongly to field oscillations in the kHz range, was verified later in vitro for murine myeloma cells. However, recent experiments on CA3 pyramidal cells (highly elongated neurons) in the hippocampus do not exhibit this high frequency response. In this thesis we examine the implications of modeling full two-way coupling between three-dimensional cylindrical neurons and the extracellular field utilizing three different methodologies, namely: cable equation, finite-difference and finite-element. Our modeling demonstrates that the electrotonic length and orientation of the cell to the field are key determinants of the neuronal response to oscillating fields. This explains the experimentally observed absence of the high frequency response for pyramidal neurons when the applied field direction is oriented along their dendritic axis. Additionally, we developed biophysically detailed models of neuronal membranes with quasi-active electrical properties stemming from voltage-gated currents. These are known to lead to resonances at characteristic frequencies in the case of current injection via whole-cell patch clamp. Interestingly, in the field-cell system, the resonance was masked in compact, spherical neurons but recovered in elongated neurons. Utilizing our cable and finite-element models, we investigate the effect of point-source stimulation on cylindrical neurons and find a novel type of "passive resonance" not reported before in the literature. We further extend our modeling by incorporating Hodgkin Huxley channels in to the membrane and construct a fully active, spiking model of a neuron, fully coupled to the applied electric fields. We then go on to embed the neuron in to an array of cells to validate our results at the tissue-level. These findings delineate the relationship between neuron shape, orientation and susceptibility to high frequency electric fields, with implications for DBS efficacy, ephaptic coupling in networks and the filtering properties of cortical tissue