Renal function assessment in adults with recurrent calcium kidney stone disease

The prevalence of nephrolihiasis and chronic kidney disease has risen over the past three decades, we sought to determine if person with a history of kidney stones have lower renal function relative to non stone formers. Methods: We conducted a case-control study utilizing 138 recurrent calcium kidney stone formers and 127 age and gender matched controls with no history of renal disease, all subjects were aged 30-55 years old, with no history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, congestive heart failure and liver disease and also no urinary tract obstruction and medications can affect Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR). We estimated GFR by Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) and Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EP I) equations and categorized using cut points suggested by Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (K/DOQI) guidelines. Results: Mean GFR in case group and control group was: 80.17(18.45) ml/min/1.73m2 and 83.80(15.75) ml/ min/1.73m2 respectively (P value: 0.09). Distribution of subjects among stone formers in stage I, II, III was 59(42.8%), 71(51.4%) and 8(5.8%) and in control group was 67(52.8%), 59(46.4%) and 1(0.8%) respectively, (p: 0.03). There was an inverse correlation between GFR and number of passed stone but there was no significant correlation between history of extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) or percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) and estimated GFR. Conclusion: Recurrent calcium stone disease may be associated with nephron damage and an increased risk of chronic kidney disease

Economic Process and Entrepreneurship

There is a robust body of knowledge around the theory of Entrepreneurship, but the lack of a compre-hensive and widely accepted view to describe this phenomenon is obvious. There is two main streams in entrepreneurship literature, first the Schumpeterian view which emphasizes on ideas, innovation and creativity and second view, known as Kirznerian point that views opportunities of market as the core of entrepreneurship .This conflict can be easily understood from Kirzner‟s words that says” Schumpeter‟s entrepreneur, I pointed out, was essentially disruptive, destroying the pre-existing state of equilibrium. Entrepreneur, on the other hand, was responsible for the tendency through which ini-tial conditions of disequilibrium come systematically to be displaced by equilibrative market competi-tion”, which are paradoxical to some extent. In this paper, author believes that there can be issued a new conceptual framework about the entrepreneurship. This framework views entrepreneurship in an economic, product-transaction-based process. The value of entrepreneurial activities is arisen from mutual interests of human beings, which is the neglected part of Schumpeter and Kirzner‟s views to the phenomenon Entrepreneurship. Conceptual paper Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Rezaei Mirghaed, M. (2015). “Economic Process and Entrepreneurship”, Journal of Entrepreneurship, Business and Economics, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 86–109

Economic Process and Entrepreneurship

There is a robust body of knowledge around the theory of Entrepreneurship, but the lack of a compre-hensive and widely accepted view to describe this phenomenon is obvious. There is two main streams in entrepreneurship literature, first the Schumpeterian view which emphasizes on ideas, innovation and creativity and second view, known as Kirznerian point that views opportunities of market as the core of entrepreneurship .This conflict can be easily understood from Kirzner‟s words that says” Schumpeter‟s entrepreneur, I pointed out, was essentially disruptive, destroying the pre-existing state of equilibrium. Entrepreneur, on the other hand, was responsible for the tendency through which ini-tial conditions of disequilibrium come systematically to be displaced by equilibrative market competi-tion”, which are paradoxical to some extent. In this paper, author believes that there can be issued a new conceptual framework about the entrepreneurship. This framework views entrepreneurship in an economic, product-transaction-based process. The value of entrepreneurial activities is arisen from mutual interests of human beings, which is the neglected part of Schumpeter and Kirzner‟s views to the phenomenon Entrepreneurship. Conceptual paper Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Rezaei Mirghaed, M. (2015). “Economic Process and Entrepreneurship”, Journal of Entrepreneurship, Business and Economics, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 86–109

The determinants of economic growth in Iran based on Bayesian model averaging

This paper identifies the key determinants of economic growth in Iran, using annual time series data from 1974 to 2010. There is a very large literature on determinants of economic growth and several studies have included a large number of explanatory variables. Empirical models of economic growth are therefore plagued by problems of model uncertainty concerning the choice of explanatory variables and model specification. We utilize Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) to resolve these model uncertainties. The results of this study indicate that the ratio of oil revenue to GDP is the most important variable affecting economic growth in the Iranian economy. Also the second and third effective variables on growth are respectively the ratio of imported capital and intermediate goods to GDP and labor force which lead to an increase in growth. Endogenous growth factors which are the factors contributing to the formation of human capital, not possess a large role in growth process. Therefore, the nature of Iran's economy has not endogenous and dynamic features and predominantly, economic growth has been made by injecting of exogenous sources (oil revenue, imported capital and intermediate goods, and labor force)

Political narrative fiction and the responsibility of the author

Art in general and fiction in particular have had close affinities with politics throughout history. When there is a close tie between a narrative fiction and political issues then critics may deem it as "committed fiction". Political fiction is at the crossroads of political science and the art of fiction. And more often than not, novelists are involved with politics but not all of them are dubbed as or even consider themselves to be political novelists. In this article I attempt to investigate political fiction as a distinct genre produced (un)consciously by a range of (politically committed) novelists and critics. The authors discussed in this paper demonstrate dissimilar perspectives on freedom and democracy. Also, regarding political fiction and the responsibility of author, we will see how divergent is the attitudes of critics such as George Orwell, Allen Robbe-Grillet, Juan Goytisolo, Mario Vargas Llosa and Isabel Allende

A Panel Estimation of the Relationship Between Trade Liberalization, Economic Growth and CO2 Emissions in BRICS Countries

In the last few years, several studies have found an inverted-U relationship between per capita income and environmental degradation. This relationship, known as the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), suggests that environmental degradation increases in the early stages of growth, but it eventually decreases as income exceeds a threshold level. However, this paper investigation relationship between per capita CO2 emission, growth economics and trade liberalization based on econometric techniques of unit root test, co-integration and a panel data set during the period 1960-1996 for BRICS countries. Data properties were analyzed to determine their stationarity using the LLC , IPS , ADF and PP unit root tests which indicated that the series are I(1). We find a cointegration relationship between per capita CO2 emission, growth economics and trade liberalization by applying Kao panel cointegration test. The evidence indi cates that in the long-run trade liberalization has a positive significant impact on CO2 emissions and impact of trade liberalization on emissions growth depends on the level of income Our findings suggest that there is a quadratic relationship between relationship between real GDP and CO2 emissions for the region as a whole. The estimated long-run coefficients of real GDP and its square satisfy the EKC hypothesis in all of studied countries. Our estimation shows that the inflection point or optimal point real GDP per capita is about 5269.4 dollars. The results show that on average, sample countries are on the positive side of the inverted U curve. The turning points are very low in some cases and very high in other cases, hence providing poor evidence in support of the EKC hypothesis. Thus, our findings suggest that all BRICS countries need to sacrifice economic growth to decrease their emission level