Recrudescence de <em>Trypanosoma evansi</em> dans le Pantanal brésilien. Analyse financière

Le Pantanal brésilien est une plaine d’environ 138 000 km2, régulièrement inondée et située au centre de l’Amérique du Sud. L’élevage extensif du bétail est pratiqué sur plus de 80 % du territoire, constituant ainsi l’activité économique la plus importante du Pantanal. On y compte approximativement 1 100 élevages avec environ 3 millions de têtes de bétail et 49 000 chevaux. Les chevaux jouent un rôle capital dans l’industrie. Trypanosoma evansi, appelé localement “Mal de Cadeiras”, est endémique au Pantanal et tue les chevaux en une dizaine de jours. La connaissance du budget partiel d’une ferme a permis d’analyser l’impact financier d’une recrudescence de T. evansi sur neuf élevages du Pantanal brésilien en 1994. Pour évaluer l’efficacité des traitements curatifs et préventifs relatifs aux pertes prévisibles et réellement causées par la maladie, il a été tenu compte du coût du traitement lui-même, celui du ramassage des animaux et de leur diagnostic, du taux de mortalité animale et de l’estimation des risques. La contamination par la maladie de plus de 750 chevaux, entraînant la mort de plus de 10 % d’entre eux, a représenté une perte économique de plus de 38 000 $US. Des études montrent qu’entre 30 et 90 % et plus de ces pertes auraient pu être évitées si les stratégies de traitements possibles avaient été mises en place de manière opportune et appropriée

New unit-consistent intermediate inequality indices

Income distribution, Intermediate inequality indices, Unit-consistency, Ray-invariance, D63,

The effect on inequality of changing one or two incomes

inequality index, inequality ordering, leaky bucket,

Bi-allelic Mutations in Phe-tRNA Synthetase Associated with a Multi-system Pulmonary Disease Support Non-translational Function.

The tRNA synthetases catalyze the first step of protein synthesis and have increasingly been studied for their nuclear and extra-cellular ex-translational activities. Human genetic conditions such as Charcot-Marie-Tooth have been attributed to dominant gain-of-function mutations in some tRNA synthetases. Unlike dominantly inherited gain-of-function mutations, recessive loss-of-function mutations can potentially elucidate ex-translational activities. We present here five individuals from four families with a multi-system disease associated with bi-allelic mutations in FARSB that encodes the beta chain of the alpha2beta2 phenylalanine-tRNA synthetase (FARS). Collectively, the mutant alleles encompass a 5'-splice junction non-coding variant (SJV) and six missense variants, one of which is shared by unrelated individuals. The clinical condition is characterized by interstitial lung disease, cerebral aneurysms and brain calcifications, and cirrhosis. For the SJV, we confirmed exon skipping leading to a frameshift associated with noncatalytic activity. While the bi-allelic combination of the SJV with a p.Arg305Gln missense mutation in two individuals led to severe disease, cells from neither the asymptomatic heterozygous carriers nor the compound heterozygous affected individual had any defect in protein synthesis. These results support a disease mechanism independent of tRNA synthetase activities in protein translation and suggest that this FARS activity is essential for normal function in multiple organs

Why measure inequality?

A large body of literature is devoted to the measurement of income inequality, yet little attention is given to the question, Why measure inequality? However, the reasons for measurement bear importantly on whether and how measurement should be done. Upon examination, normative measures are found to be of questionable value. Descriptive measures, by contrast, may be useful, but the appropriate measure depends on the field of application rather than on general, a priori principles of the sort that are emphasized in the existing measurement literature. Measures of poverty are also considered, and similar conclusions are reached. Copyright Springer 2005income distribution, inequality, inequality measurement, poverty, poverty measurement, progressivity, redistribution, social welfare function,