Economic crisis, structural adjustment, and health in Africa

This report applied two types of analysis to two types of data to try to quantify any short-term effect economic criswas and adjustment might have had on child mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa. First the aggregate data for ten countries covered by the Demographic and Health Surveys project was analyzed. Then an elaborate data set for Cote d'Ivoire collected in the mid-1980s was analyzed. Both analyses used time-period dummy variables to identify the effects of criswas and adjustment. Despite very different methodologies and data sets, the two analyses produced surprisingly similar results. The authors found that in the short run, neither crisis nor adjustment increased child mortality at the national level, relative to countries not undergoing adjustment. However, the authors examined only short-term effects - the only ones they could expect to measure. The long-run effects of criswas and adjustment will depend on adjustment's success in boosting sustained long-term growth. Such growth should reduce child mortality and speed the reduction of fertility as well, thus reinforcing declines in child mortality.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Early Child and Children's Health,Health Economics&Finance,Adolescent Health,Early Childhood Development

Characterization of cobalmin-independent methionine synthase from Candida albicans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Methionine synthases are folate-dependent enzymes that catalyze the transfer of a methyl group from 5-methyltetrahydropteroylpolyglutamate (CH3– H4PteGlun), also called 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, to L-homocysteine to form L-methionine. There are two major classes of methionine synthases, the cobalamin-dependent and the cobalamin-independent methionine synthases. The cobalamin-dependent methionine synthase is a very large, 140 kDa protein, and uses cobalamin to aid in the transfer of the methyl group from 5- CH3–H4PteGlun to homocysteine. Only organisms that can synthesize or obtain cobalamin, such as mammals, use cobalamin-dependent methionine synthase. Organisms that cannot obtain or synthesize cobalamin, such as fungi, use the cobalamin-independent methionine synthases, and some bacteria such as E. coli use enzymes from both classes. Proteins from the cobalamin-independent class have a molecular weight of 86 kDa, and have no amino acid sequence homology to the cobalamin-dependent enzymes. These enzymes are zinc dependent, and kinetic analyses of the E. coli cobalamin-independent methionine synthase (MetEp) reveal that it will only bind polyglutamated forms of 5-CH3– H4PteGlun. Methionine synthases from fungi are not well characterized. They may be interesting anti-fungal drug targets because of the mechanistic differences between them and the cobalamin-dependent forms present in humans. C. albicans resides in the normal flora of the human body. However, it is able to cause infection in immunocompromised patients. In the past two decades, C. albicans has become one of the most common opportunistic pathogens, particularly in hospitals. Increasing drug resistance to present drugs, and severe side effects results in the constant search for new drug targets to create better and more effective therapies. The work presented here investigates the cobalamin-independent methionine synthase from C. albicans (CaMet6p) and from S. cerevisiae (ScMet6p). Substrate specificity for both enzymes was explored through kinetic analyses, and a strategy was implemented to study important active site residues by site-directed mutagenesis. A conditional cobalamin-independent methionine synthase (CaMET6) mutant in C. albicans was constructed, using the PCR-based gene disruption method, to assess the viability of the resulting null mutant strain. The results from these experiments have provided new insights into enzyme function, and support the study of CaMet6p as an anti-fungal drug target.Chemistry and BiochemistryChemistr

Algunos problemas para determinar metodos apropiados para evaluar el efecto de los programas de planificacion de la familia sobre la fecundidad

Incluye BibliografíaPresentado a la Reunión de Expertos sobre Métodos para Medir el Efecto de los Programas de Planificación de la Familia sobre Fecundidad, Ginebra, 20-27 abril 197

Demography and Policy : an Asian Experience

Reprint from Sirageldin, Ismail. 1991. "Demography and Policy : An Asia Experience, in R. Andorka (ed.) The Utilization of Demographic Knowledge in Policy. Liege, Belgium: IUSSP.The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors influencing the use of demographic knowledge in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of public policies. The focus of the discussion is to conceptualize the dynamic and interactive nature of the supply and demand for demographic knowledge, or more generally, analyze the structure of the market for such knowledge

THE IMPACT OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN ACHIEVING THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF THE HORTICULTURAL SECTOR: A CASE STUDY OF KHARTOUM STAT (2011-2021)

The study focuses on the impact of strategic leadership on the competitive advantage by applying it to the horticultural sector in Sudan, Khartoum State, it is an applied and analytical study carried out in the periods (2013-2022). The statement of research problem is that, there is a defect in the competitive advantage of horticultural sector as a result of improper application of strategic leadership. The research main question was that, is there an impact of applying, the strategic leadership on competitive advantage of horticulture sector in Khartoum State? The research aims at identifying the relationship between strategic leadership and competitive advantage in the horticultural sector in Khartoum state. The study reached out a number of results most important of it: it works to enhance the competitive advantage between organizations, namely organizations concerned with the agricultural sector. Concentration on leadership and pioneers has become an urgent necessity to keep pace with the rapid development in various sciences, especially agricultural sciences. The study recommended, that attention should be made to infrastructure and export including but not limited to transportation, communication, storage, cooling, packaging, repackaging and display, which had a significant impact on Sudanese exports, facilitating the import of improved seeds and working to establish the seed industry locally, exempting horticultural crops from all fees and taxes, urging organizations to import fertilizers and pesticides to treat horticultural crops, and exempt them from customs duties, producing horticultural crops that compete in the markets by paying attention to fight pests that prevent the growth of crops, distorts their shape, and deviate them from competition in global markets. The study recommended that, there should be an integrated marketing information center to be close to embassies, economic and commercial attaches, encouraging participation in foreign fairs, creating partnerships with foreign investors in the field of horticultural exports marketing to create opportunities in global markets.JEL: Q10; Q13; O12  Article visualizations

The Isoelectric Focusing of Creatine Kinase Variants: II. The Heterogeneity of Creatine Kinase in Human Serum with Normal and Elevated Catalytic Concentrations

Peer Reviewe

Islam, Society, and Economic Policy

The contemporary Muslim world is still emerging from the long night of colonial hegemony a period during which the key institutions of Muslim society were supplanted and substituted, the moral fibre of society was destroyed, and an 'unrepresentative' leadership was groomed to power, producing the most serious schism within Muslim society. The Muslim society of today is not yet a society on its own. It is still under the shadow of the Western system and, as such, it is doubtful how 'representative' of the Islamic ethos its current behaviour can be.

The Isoelectric Focusing of Creatine Kinase Variants: I. The Heterogeneity of Creatine Kinase in Human Heart Cytosol and Mitochondria

Peer Reviewe