International Evidence on Food Consumption Patterns: An Update Using 2005 International Comparison Program Data

In a 2003 report, International Evidence on Food Consumption Patterns, ERS economists estimated income and price elasticities of demand for broad consumption categories and food categories across 114 countries using 1996 International Comparison Program (ICP) data. This report updates that analysis with an estimated two-stage demand system across 144 countries using 2005 ICP data. Advances in ICP data collection since 1996 led to better results and more accurate income and price elasticity estimates. Low-income countries spend a greater portion of their budget on necessities, such as food, while richer countries spend a greater proportion of their income on luxuries, such as recreation. Low-value staples, such as cereals, account for a larger share of the food budget in poorer countries, while high-value food items are a larger share of the food budget in richer countries. Overall, low-income countries are more responsive to changes in income and food prices and, therefore, make larger adjustments to their food consumption pattern when incomes and prices change. However, adjustments to price and income changes are not uniform across all food categories. Staple food consumption changes the least, while consumption of higher-value food items changes the most.ICP 2005, high-value food products, consumption patterns, marginal share, income elasticity, price elasticity, ERS, USDA, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

FOOD SECURITY IN BRAZIL: CAN "LULA" KEEP HIS PROMISE?

Brazil, a country with a population of more than 170 million, has embarked on a path to eradicate hunger and poverty. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (commonly known as "Lula") declared as his goal to cut the number of hungry people to zero during his presidency. Poverty and hunger afflict a large proportion of the population in part because of highly skewed income distribution. The poorest income quintile (20 percent of the population) owned 2.2 percent of the national income while the richest quintile owned about two-thirds in 1998. Using USDA/ERS food security models, we measure food availability and access, calculate the number of hungry people, and estimate income growth required to eradicate food insecurity. According to the ERS food security assessment (FSA) model, between 20 and 40 percent of Brazil's population-roughly 50 million people-do not have sufficient incomes to purchase the amount of food necessary to fulfill nutritional requirements. However, by 2007, increases in food production and GDP are projected to raise food availability by 13 percent. This will help decrease the share of hungry people to between 15 and 20 percent of the population. Basic nutritional adequacy is considered in another method used by ERS to estimate food security. This approach employs a food purchasing power threshold (FPPT) to account for prices of food items and balanced coverage of main food groups. This approach measures food insecurity by calculating the cost of a healthy food basket and the cost of other basic necessities. This FPPT can then be compared to income. Food security results from this approach are similar to those from the FSA model. Both models indicate that income growth required to raise consumption in the vulnerable income groups and eradicate hunger far surpass historical growth rates. Therefore, targeted government programs seem to be a promising but costly option to meet the zero-hunger goal. Lula's program is a mix of cash transfers and investment (e.g., education). While the link between improvements in education and poverty reduction is clear, the road to success is likely to take more than the 4 years envisioned by President Lula.Food Security and Poverty,

Trade and Welfare Impacts of Partial Liberalization of U.S. Sugar TRQs: The Application of a PE/GE Modeling Approach

The sugar sector is one of the most heavily protected commodities in agriculture using a system of tariff rate quotas (TRQs) with a complex set of administration procedures. General equilibrium models are not suitable to analyze trade liberalization scenarios that involve numerous tariff-rate quotas across narrowly defined product lines. We use the Rutherford/Grant/Hertel modeling approach by embedding a detailed, partial equilibrium (PE) model into a standard, global general equilibrium (GE) framework. We use this PE/GE model to compare trade and welfare outcomes of two liberalization scenarios: Increasing quota levels by 25% and cutting over tariffs by 50%, versus increasing quota levels by 50% and cutting over-quota tariffs by 25%. We find that lowering over-quota tariffs relatively more has more positive welfare effects than increasing quota levels relatively more.International Relations/Trade,

Hemihypertrophy of one leg and congenital retroperitoneal tumor: Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome

Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome (BWS) belongs to the so-called imprinting disorders and has an incidence of 1:15’000 – 26’000. It is characterized as an overgrowth syndrome with variable expression of symptoms such as exomphalos, macroglossia, neonatal hypoglycemia, earlobe creases, hemihypertrophy, perinatal overgrowth and an increased risk of embryonic tumors. Genomic imprinting leads to an altered expression of gene parts dependent on parental heredity due to DNA-methylation. The affected (imprinted) regions in BWS are typically located on chromosome 11p15.5. The respective genes have regulatory function for cellular growth with the epigenetic changes leading to either decreased inhibition or increased expression of growth promoting genes. In BWS, about 50 % of the infants show a loss of methylation in the Imprinting Control Region (ICR)-2, normally expressed by the maternal chromosome only, leading to a reduced expression of a growth inhibitor gene (CDKN1C). In 5 –10 % of BWS, gain of methylation in the telomeric ICR-1 results in an increased expression of the insulin-growth-factor-2 gene (usually only expressed by the paternal allele) and a reduced expression of the oncosuppressor gene H19 which is usually expressed by the maternal allele. 20 –25 % of patients with BWS show paternal uniparental disomy (UPD) of chromosome 11 (patUPD11) resulting in an altered methylation at both regions ICR-1 and ICR-2 with only paternal alleles. In 10 % of all BWS cases, the reason remains unclear with unknown molecular defects

Radiologische und funktionelle Ergebnisse der operativen Versorgung der oberen Extremität bei Patienten mit Osteogenesis imperfecta

In der hier vorliegenden Arbeit wurden verschiedene Outcomevariablen nach operativer Versorgung von Ober- und/oder Unterarmen bei Osteogenesis imperfecta-Patienten anhand des standardisierten Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory-Fragebogens (PEDI) im Hinblick auf Funktionsverbesserung der oberen Extremität und der Selbstständigkeit im Alltag untersucht. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit war es bei OI-Patienten einen möglichen Zusammenhang zwischen Stabilisierung der oberen Extremität und einer verbesserten Alltagsaktivität hinsichtlich verschiedenster Aspekte zu untersuchen. Die Arbeit ist in zwei Teile aufgebaut: einerseits röntgen-morphologische Aspekte und andererseits die Analyse der funktionellen Lebensqualität und der Alltagsbewältigung, welches anhand eines auf die alltägliche Funktionsanalyse konzipierten PEDI- Fragebogen quantifiziert wird. Hierfür wurden 40 Operationen an Ober- und Unterarmen bei 23 Patienten (5 weiblich, 19 männlich) nach einem mittleren Nachuntersuchungszeitraum von 5 Jahren untersucht. 62% aller Patienten profitierten signifikant von der chirurgischen Versorgung der oberen Extremität in Bezug auf Alltagsfunktionen und/oder abnehmender Hilfsbedürftigkeit. 19% erzielten eine signifikante Abnahme der dabei benötigten Unterstützung und erzielten so ein größeres Maß an Selbstständigkeit. Die Ergebnisse zeigen signifikante Verbesserungen der Alltagsfunktionen nach intramedullärer Stabilisierung der Arme bei einzelnen OI-Patienten mit Fassier-Duval-Nägeln (FD-Nägel), vor allem in Hinsicht auf Mobilität und sozialer Kompetenzen. Auffällig war zudem, dass vor allem Fertigkeiten in Selbstversorgung und Mobilität deutlich unterhalb der jeweiligen Altersnorm lagen. Durch die Operation konnten diesen zwar verbessert werden, waren jedoch vergleichend meist noch nicht altersentsprechend. Eine FD-Nagelung stellt demnach eine zuverlässige Methode der Stabilisierung des Humerus und somit eine Möglichkeit der Funktionsverbesserung und vermehrten Selbstständigkeit im Alltag von OI-Patienten dar

In vivo

Skin is a highly structured tissue, raising concerns as to whether skin pigmentation due to epidermal melanin may confound accurate measurements of underlying hemodynamics. Using both venous and arterial cuff occlusions as a means of inducing differential hemodynamic perturbations, we present analyses of spectra limited to the visible or near-infrared regime, in addition to a layered model approach. The influence of melanin, spanning Fitzpatrick skin types I to V, on underlying estimations of hemodynamics in skin as interpreted by these spectral regions are assessed. The layered model provides minimal cross-talk between melanin and hemodynamics and enables removal of problematic correlations between measured tissue oxygenation estimates and skin phototype