Impact of Fiscal Policy on Development Financing: Evidence from Nigeria

This study examined the relationship between fiscal policy and development financing in Nigeria and the extent to which the former effects the latter. The study employed public choice framework and the model is estimated with time-series data from 1981 to 2014, using the Johansen estimation technique. The findings revealed that there is a strong positive relationship between fiscal policy and development financing, real GDP per capital, consumer price index and capital expenditure respectively. The results further confirmed that more expenses were incurred funding recurrent than capital and this had taken its toll on development. The study recommended that government should increase revenue base so as to fund capital expenditure in order to achieve sustainable development while it is also necessary to reduce recurrent expenditures and domestic debt

Building organisationally sensitive technological solutions for knowledge management in IT support services

With the advent of the internet, information and communications technology has changed the way organisations operate and do business. There now exist an extremely dynamic and competitive business landscape, where information and knowledge are continuously created, used and distributed across business units. People have become more involved with the use of technology to aid them in their business tasks. In the course of generating and transmitting information comes the realization that knowledge is a vital asset of the company. Thus, most firms embark on various initiatives to enable Knowledge Management (KM). This study revolves around the IT tools involved in the process of knowledge management across firms. These IT tools exist in a variety of forms and technologies that have been adapted by organisations to manage their knowledge and improve learning by their employees. As such, it has been found that organisational factors such as organisational culture and technical/IT infrastructure are strong indicators for the successful selection of IT knowledge management tools. Coupled with the belief that appropriately selected IT KM tools ensure the success of a knowledge management initiative, organisational factors are deemed to influence the selection of IT KM tools. Hence, this study established a direct relationship between organisational factors and the right selection of KM IT tools for knowledge management using a survey questionnaire responded by IT managers from firms who are currently engages in a KM initiative. The respondents are also currently using IT tools for KM and have identified enterprise portals as their primary tool for enabling knowledge managemen

Photoreceptor Cells Produce Inflammatory Mediators That Contribute to Endothelial Cell Death in DiabetesDiabetes-Induced Inflammation in Photoreceptors

PurposeRecent studies suggest that photoreceptor cells regulate local inflammation in the retina in diabetes. The purpose of this study was to determine if photoreceptor cells themselves produce inflammatory proteins in diabetes and if soluble factors released by photoreceptors in elevated glucose induce inflammatory changes in nearby cells.MethodsLaser capture microdissection was used to isolate the outer retina (photoreceptors) from the inner retina in nondiabetic and diabetic mice. Diabetes-induced changes in the expression of inflammatory targets were assessed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry. Cell culture experiments were carried out to determine if photoreceptors in vitro and ex vivo release soluble mediators that can stimulate nearby cells. Photoreceptor contribution to leukocyte-mediated endothelial cell death was tested using coculture models.ResultsMessenger ribonucleic acid and protein expression levels for inflammatory proteins intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM1), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2) were increased in photoreceptors cells in diabetes. In vitro and ex vivo studies show that photoreceptor cells in elevated glucose release mediators that can induce tumor necrosis factor-α in leukocytes and endothelial cells, but not in glia. The soluble mediators released by photoreceptor cells in elevated glucose are regulated by transforming growth factor β-activated kinase 1 and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase (NADPH oxidase) signaling. In contrast to enhanced leukocyte-mediated killing of endothelial cells by leukocytes from wild-type diabetic mice, leukocytes from diabetic mice lacking photoreceptor cells (opsin-/-) did not kill endothelial cells.ConclusionsThese data indicate that photoreceptor cells are a source of inflammatory proteins in diabetes, and their release of soluble mediators can contribute to the death of retinal capillaries in diabetes

Photoreceptor cells and RPE contribute to the development of diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of blindness. It has long been regarded as vascular disease, but work in the past years has shown abnormalities also in the neural retina. Unfortunately, research on the vascular and neural abnormalities have remained largely separate, instead of being integrated into a comprehensive view of DR that includes both the neural and vascular components. Recent evidence suggests that the most predominant neural cell in the retina (photoreceptors) and the adjacent retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) play an important role in the development of vascular lesions characteristic of DR. This review summarizes evidence that the outer retina is altered in diabetes, and that photoreceptors and RPE contribute to retinal vascular alterations in the early stages of the retinopathy. The possible molecular mechanisms by which cells of the outer retina might contribute to retinal vascular damage in diabetes also are discussed. Diabetes-induced alterations in the outer retina represent a novel therapeutic target to inhibit DR

Competition and ratchet hypothesis: How safe are manufacturing companies in Sub-Saharan Africa?

This study applied the conventional ratcheting notion that managers (agents) chose to restrict their performance because they anticipated that firms (principals) would respond to higher performance levels by raising targets or by cutting pay in a piece-rate labour environment. A cross-sectional panel model was developed to subject this baseline notion of ratcheting hypothesis to multi-period and ex-post competitive labour market environment, bearing in mind that there was information asymmetry to both parties. It was observed, as predicted by the theoretical model that there would be substantial ratchet effects in the absence of competition. However, when subjected to ex-post competition, the ratchet effects were reduced, regardless of whether market conditions favored the firms or the managers and thereby making the manufacturing companies in Sub-Saharan Africa safer than when they were exposed to ratcheting in its conventional form

Photoreceptor cells produce inflammatory products that contribute to retinal vascular permeability in a mouse model of diabetes

Aims/hypothesisRecent studies suggest that photoreceptor cells produce mediators or products that contribute to retinal capillary damage in diabetes. The purpose of this study was to determine if photoreceptor cells release soluble factors that contribute to retinal vascular permeability in diabetes.MethodsTo assess retinal vascular leakage, a streptozotocin-induced mouse model of diabetes, with hyperglycaemia for 8 months, and age-matched control mice, were injected with FITC-BSA. Fluorescence microscopy was used to detect leakage of FITC-BSA from the retinal vasculature into the neural retina. Ex vivo and in vitro experiments were performed to determine if photoreceptor cells released products that directly increased retinal endothelial cell permeability or cell death. Effects of products released by photoreceptors on tight junction and cell adhesion proteins were assessed by quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR). Inflammatory products released by photoreceptors into media were measured using protein arrays.ResultsEight months duration of diabetes increased retinal vascular permeability in wild-type mice, but this defect was inhibited in opsin-deficient diabetic mice in which photoreceptor cells had degenerated earlier. Photoreceptor cells from diabetic wild-type mice released inflammatory products (e.g. IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-12, chemokine C-X-C motif ligand 1 [CXCL1], monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 [MCP-1], CXCL12a, I-309, chemokine ligand 25 [CCL25] and TNF-α), which directly contributed to increased retinal endothelial cell permeability, at least in part via changes in claudin (tight junction) mRNA. Products released from photoreceptor cells from diabetic mice or under diabetes-like conditions did not directly kill retinal endothelial cells in vitro.Conclusions/interpretationPhotoreceptor cells can produce inflammatory products that contribute to retinal vascular permeability in mouse models of diabetes