Self-Employment and Conflict in Colombia

Many Colombians are confronted with the ongoing conflict that influences their decision making in everyday life, including their behavior in labor markets. This study focuses on the impact of violent conflict on self-employment, enlarging the usual determinants with a set of conflict variables. In order to estimate the effect of conflict on self-employment, we employ fixed effects estimation. Three datasets are combined for estimation: the Familias en Acción dataset delivers information about individuals, a second dataset contains different indicators of the Colombian conflict at the municipality level and the third dataset includes taxes to measure a municipality's economic situation. Our results show that high homicide and displacement rates in the community of origin reduces self-employment, while a high influx of displaced increases the probability of self-employment in the destination municipality.Self-employment, civil conflict, rural labor markets, Colombia

Self-Employment and Conflict in Colombia

Many Colombians are confronted with the ongoing conflict that influences their decision making in everyday life, including their behavior in labor markets. This study focuses on the impact of violent conflict on self-employment, enlarging the usual determinants with a set of conflict variables. In order to estimate the effect of conflict on selfemployment, we employ fixed effects estimation. Three datasets are combined for estimation: the Familias en Acción dataset delivers information about individuals, a second dataset contains different indicators of the Colombian conflict at the municipality level and the third dataset includes taxes to measure a municipality’s economic situation. Our results show that high homicide and displacement rates in the community of origin reduces self-employment, while a high influx of displaced increases the probability of self-employment in the destination municipality.

Kognitiiviset ongelmat ovat yleisiä Parkinsonin taudissa

• Parkinsonin taudissa kognitiivisia ongelmia voi ilmetä jo alkuvaiheissa. • Voimakkaimmin heikentyvät tarkkaavuus, hahmottaminen ja toiminnanohjaus. • Kognitiivisen heikentymän riskiä ennustavat erityisesti vaikeampi motorinen oireisto, ikä, miessukupuoli sekä ei-motoristen oireiden laajuus. • Patologinen tausta liittyy sekä alfasynukleiinin kertymään, välittäjäainejärjestelmien muutoksiin että osin amyloidin kertymään. • Parkinsonin taudin muistisairauden hoidon kulmakivi on asetyylikoliiniesteraasin estäjälääkitys.</p

Natural Course of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Type 2 Diabetes in Patients With Human Immunodeficiency Virus With and Without Combination Antiretroviral Therapy-associated Lipodystrophy : A 16-Year Follow-up Study

Background: Abnormal glucose metabolism and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are common in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV+ patients), but longitudinal data are lacking. We determined the natural course of NAFLD (liver fat [LFAT]) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in HIV+ patients with and without lipodystrophy (LD+ and LD-, respectively) during a 16-year longitudinal study. Methods: LFAT (by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy) and clinical characteristics were measured in 41 HIV+ patients at baseline and after 16 years. Liver fibrosis was estimated by measuring liver stiffness using transient elastography (TE) and magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) at 16 years. We also longitudinally studied 28 healthy subjects. Results: During follow-up, the HIV+ patients gained more body fat (8.6% 0.7%) than the control patients (4.5% 0.6%, P <.001). Features of insulin resistance increased significantly in the HIV+ patients but not the control patients. A significant proportion (20%, P <.01 vs 0% at baseline) of the HIV+ but none of the control patients developed T2DM. LFAT was significantly higher at baseline in the LD+ (4.3 [1.9-11.8]) than the LD- (1.0 [0.5-1.5]; P <.001) HIV+ patients. LFAT remained stable during follow-up in all groups. At follow-up, liver stiffness measured with TE was similar among all HIV, LD+, LD-, and control patients and between the LD+ and LD- patients measured with MRE. Advanced fibrosis by MRE was observed in 3 of LD+ and none of LD- patients. Conclusions: During 16 years of follow-up, progression of NAFLD is rare compared to development of T2DM in HIV+ patients.Peer reviewe

Human PNPLA3-I148M variant increases hepatic retention of polyunsaturated fatty acids

The common patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing protein 3 (PNPLA3) variant I148M predisposes to nonalcoholic liver disease but not its metabolic sequelae. We compared the handling of labeled polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and saturated fatty acids (SFA) in vivo in humans and in cells harboring different PNPLA3 genotypes. In 148M homozygous individuals, triglycerides (TGs) in very low-density lipoproteins (VIOL) were depleted of PUFAs both under fasting and postprandial conditions compared with 148I homozygotes, and the PUFA/SFA ratio in VLDL-TGs was lower relative to the chylomicron precursor pool. In human PNPLA3-148M and PNPLA3-KO cells, PUFA but not SFA incorporation into TGs was increased at the expense of phosphatidylcholines, and under lipolytic conditions, PUFA-containing diacylglycerols (DAGs) accumulated compared with PNPLA3-148I cells. Polyunsaturated TGs were increased, while phosphatidylcholines (PCs) were decreased in the human liver in 148M homozygous individuals as compared with 148I homozygotes. We conclude that human PNPLA3-I148M is a loss-of-function allele that remodels liver TGs in a polyunsaturated direction by impairing hydrolysis/transacylation of PUFAs from DAGs to feed phosphatidylcholine synthesis.Peer reviewe

Self-Employment and Conflict in Colombia

Many Colombians are confronted with the ongoing conflict which influences their decision making in everyday life, including their behaviour on labour markets. This study focuses on the impact of violent conflict on self-employment, enlarging the usual determinants by a set of conflict variables. In order to estimate the effect of conflict on selfemployment, we employ fixed effects estimation. Three datasets are combined for estimation: the Familias en Acción dataset delivers information about individuals, a second dataset contains different indicators of the Colombian conflict on the municipality level and the third dataset includes taxes to measure a municipality’s economic situation. Our results show that high homicide and displacement rates at the community of origin reduces self-employment while a high influx of displaced increases the probability of self-employment at the municipality of destination.