Airway involvement in interstitial lung disease

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: After briefly discussing several ways to approach airway involvement in interstitial lung diseases - by diagnostic methodologies used to assess it, considering different topographical involvement, related to its presence in the diffuse lung diseases with higher prevalence, or from a causal point of view - the author describes in more detail, taking into account recent literature, new proposed entities combining airways (at different levels) and interstitial damage, like airway-centered interstitial fibrosis and acute fibrinous organizing pneumonia. RECENT FINDINGS: These proposed patterns are being discussed, as possible autonomic interstitial lung disease disorders, and also from the perspective of its relationship with the main differential diagnosis, within known interstitial pictures. SUMMARY: Thus, airway-centered interstitial fibrosis and acute fibrinous organizing pneumonia may widen the spectrum of the yet described long list of interstitial lung diseases, and its diagnosis may be considered, under specific circumstances, when there is airway involvement associated with interstitial damage

Debarment and collusion in procurement auctions

This article presents the first experiment exploring the impact of debarments – the exclusion of colluding bidders – on collusion in procurement auctions. We find that debarments reduce collusion and bids relative to a market with no sanction. The deterrent effect of debarments increases in the length of the punishment. However, shorter debarments reduce efficiency and increase the bids of non-debarred bidders. This suggests that debarments that are too lenient may trigger tacit collusion among the bidders who remain in the market, thereby facilitating the very behavior they aim to deter

Measuring the importance of the uniform nonsynchronization hypothesis

In this paper we critically reappraise some measures of the importance of time-dependent price setting rules and propose an alternative way to gauge the significance of this type of price setting behaviour. The merits of the proposed measure are highlighted in an application using micro-data. Our results suggest that a large proportion of price trajectories may be compatible with simple time-dependent price setting mechanisms but the strength of this evidence very much depends on the way that is used to evaluate the importance of this type of behaviour. JEL Classification: D40, E31, L11perfect synchronization, Time-dependent price setting models, uniform staggering

Time or state dependent price setting rules? Evidence from Portuguese micro data

In this paper we analyse the ability of time and state dependent price setting rules to explain durations of price spells or the probability of changing prices. Our results suggest that simple time dependent models cannot be seen as providing a reasonable approximation to the data and that state dependent models are required to fully characterise the price setting behaviour of Portuguese firms. Inflation, the level of economic activity and the magnitude of the last price change emerge as relevant variables affecting the probability of changing prices. Moreover, it is seen that the impact differs for negative and positive values of these covariates. JEL Classification: C41, D40, E31CPI data, Hazard functions, inflation

Convergence of the Crank-Nicolson-Galerkin finite element method for a class of nonlocal parabolic systems with moving boundaries

The aim of this paper is to establish the convergence and error bounds to the fully discrete solution for a class of nonlinear systems of reaction-diffusion nonlocal type with moving boundaries, using a linearized Crank-Nicolson-Galerkin finite element method with polynomial approximations of any degree. A coordinate transformation which fixes the boundaries is used. Some numerical tests to compare our Matlab code with some existing moving finite elements methods are investigated

Why are some prices stickier than others? Firm-data evidence on price adjustment lags

Infrequent price changes at the firm level are now well documented in the literature. However, a number of issues remain partly unaddressed. This paper contributes to the literature on price stickiness by investigating the lags of price adjustments to different types of shocks. We find that adjustment lags to cost and demand shocks vary with firm characteristics, namely the firm’s cost structure, the type of pricing policy, and the type of good. We also document that firms react asymmetrically to demand and cost shocks, as well as to positive and negative shocks, and that the degree and direction of the asymmetry varies across firms. JEL Classification: C41, D40, E31Firm heterogeneity, Panel-ordered probit, real rigidities, survey data

Different Electroclinical Manifestations of the Epilepsy Associated with Hamartomas Connecting to the Middle or Posterior Hypothalamus

PURPOSE: The epilepsy associated with hypothalamic hamartomas (HHs) has typical clinical, electrophysiologic, and behavioral manifestations refractory to drug therapy and with unfavorable evolution. It is well known that only sessile lesions produce epilepsy, but no correlation has been established between the different types of sessile hamartomas and the diverse manifestations of the epilepsy. We correlate anatomic details of the hamartoma and the clinical and neurophysiologic manifestations of the associated epilepsy. METHODS: HHs of seven patients with epilepsy (ages 2- 25 years) were classified as to lateralization and connection to the anteroposterior axis of the hypothalamus by using high-resolution brain magnetic resonance imaging. We correlated the anatomic classification with the clinical and neurophysiologic manifestations of the epilepsy as evaluated in long-term (24 h) video-EEG recordings. RESULTS: HHs ranged in size from 0.4 to 2.6 cc, with complete lateralization in six of seven patients. Ictal manifestations showed good correlation with the lobar involvement of ictal/interictal EEGs. These manifestations suggest the existence of two types of cortical involvement, one associated with the temporal lobe, produced by hamartomas connected to the posterior hypothalamus (mamillary bodies), and the other associated with the frontal lobe, seen in lesions connecting to the middle hypothalamus. CONCLUSIONS: A consistent clinical and neurophysiologic pattern of either temporal or frontal lobe cortical secondary involvement was found in the patients of our series. It depends on whether the hamartoma connects to the mamillary bodies (temporal lobe cases) or whether it connects to the medial hypothalamus (frontal lobe cases)

Late Stillbirth: a Ten Year Cohort Study

Introduction: Late fetal death is a desolating event that inspite the effort to implement new surveillance protocols in perinatal continues to defy our clinical pratice. Objective: To examine etiological factors contributing to main causes and conditions associated with fetal death in late pregnancies over a 10-year period. Methods: Retrospective cohort analysis of 208 late singleton stillbirth delived in a tertiary-perinatal referral maternity over a 10-year period. Clinical charts, laboratory data and feto-placental pathology findings were systematically reviewed. Results: The incidence of late fetal demise was 3.5 per 1000 pregnancies. No significant trend in the incidence of stillbirth was demonstrated during the study period. Stillbirth was intrapartum in 12 (5.8%) cases and 72 (35%) were term pregnancies. Fourteen percent of cases were undersurveilled pregnancies. Mean gestacional age at diagnosis was 34 weeks. The primary cause of death was fetal, it was present in 59 cases, 25% were considered small for gestational age. Stillbirths were unexplained in 24.5% of cases. Maternal medical disorders were identified in 21%. Hypertensive disorders were frequent and associated with early gestacional age (p = 0.028). Conclusion: There was no change in the incidence of late stillbirth during the 10 years under evaluation. The incidence was 3.5 ‰ which was identical to that described in developed countries. About one quarter of the stillbirths was unexplained. The most frequent maternal pathology was chronic hypertension