Structural Changes and Policy Issues in ASEAN Financial Markets

This is an update of the paper which was originally prepared by invitation for the Nineteenth Conference of the Federation of ASEAN Economic Associations, hosted in Manila by the Philippine Economic Society on 8-9 December 1994. Its presentation in Manila stressed the dynamic adjustments in the money and capital markets in the individual ASEAN countries in response to certain policy decisions taken either by their central monetary authorities or ministers of finance. The update consists of including the final results of testing for structural change in the ASEAN financial markets with the use of the Chow test on the liquidity preference of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Moreover, a decomposition of Johansen's impact matrix has been added to clarify the extent as well as the direction of the adjustment process as these markets increasingly moved away from discretionary controls over the interest rate to its determination by market forces over the 22 years from 1970 through 1992. In addition, an elaboration of several policy issues emanating from these structural changes suggests that they be complemented with flexible exchange rates, trade reform and balanced government budgets if ASEAN countries are to see their domestic economies effectively integrated with the global market and still maintain price stability amidst rapid growth. While these are tough measures to take, the author cautions that procrastinating on them neither diminishes the need for them nor helps these countries attain greater international competitiveness in the world marketplace.

ASEAN in the Ides of the Third Summit

This paper, delivered before the Japan Solidarity Committee for Asian Alumni (JASCAA) 1987 Fellowship Seminar, charts out some opportunities for trade cooperation in ASEAN to the year 2000 against an economic backdrop of worldwide balkanization of the international market place under the lingering pressures of global recession and resurgent protectionism. It concludes with the hope that the ASEAN heads of government can develop the political will to take up these new initiatives and larger opportunities for trade cooperation.

Economic Planning

This paper, delivered before the Japan Solidarity Committee for Asian Alumni (JASCAA) 1987 Fellowship Seminar, charts out some opportunities for trade cooperation in ASEAN to the year 2000 against an economic backdrop of worldwide balkanization of the international market place under the lingering pressures of global recession and resurgent protectionism. It concludes with the hope that the ASEAN heads of government can develop the political will to take up these new initiatives and larger opportunities for trade cooperation.

Market-Oriented Central Banking

This paper was originally prepared by invitation for the International Seminar on Banking and Financial Reform in Asia Pacific, hosted by the People's Bank of China on 15-20 September 1991 at Hangzhou, Zheyiang Province, People's Republic of China. The Seminar was mounted in cooperation with the Center for Pacific Basin Monetary and Economic Studies of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and The East-West Center of Honolulu. In the event, the presentation was limited to the key ideas behind market-oriented central banking and its implications for monetary management in a market economy. Since then, the paper has been substantially revised. An earlier version including an ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation of the demand for money in the Philippines in the 42 years from 1950 to 1991 and within the framework of error-correction modeling was recently submitted upon the invitation of the Philippine Economic Society for inclusion in the Festschrift in Honor of Professor Jose Encarnacion to mark his retirement from the School of Economics of the University of the Philippines. The present version is a further update, taking into account the results of Johansen maximum-likelihood estimation (MLE) of Philippine money demand and comparing them with those obtained previously by OLS.

Effects of Collection and Processing Procedures on Plasma Circulating Cell-Free DNA from Cancer Patients

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) offers new opportunities for non-invasive cancer management. Detecting ctDNA in plasma is challenging since it constitutes only a minor fraction of the total cell-free DNA (cfDNA). Pre-analytical factors affect cfDNA levels contributed from leukocyte lysis, hence the ability to detect low-frequency mutant alleles. This study investigates the effects of the i) delay in processing, ii) storage temperatures, iii) different blood collection tubes, iv) centrifugation protocols, and v) sample shipment on cfDNA levels. Peripheral blood (n=231) from cancer patients (n=62) were collected into K3EDTA or Cell-free DNA BCT® (BCT) tubes and analyzed by digital PCR, targeted amplicon, or shallow whole-genome (sWGS) sequencing. To assess pre-analytic effects, plasma was processed under different conditions after 0h, 6h, 24h, 48h, 96h, and 1 week at room temperature or 4 °C, or using different centrifugation protocols. Digital PCR showed that cfDNA levels increased gradually with time in K3EDTA tubes, but were stable in BCT tubes. K3EDTA samples stored at 4 °C showed less variation than room temperature storage, but levels were elevated compared to BCT. A second centrifugation at 3000g gave similar cfDNA yields compared to higher speed centrifugation. Next-generation sequencing showed negligible differences in background error or copy number changes between K3EDTA and BCT, or following shipment in BCT. This study provides insights into the effects of sample processing on ctDNA analysis

ctDNA monitoring using patient-specific sequencing and integration of variant reads.

Circulating tumor-derived DNA (ctDNA) can be used to monitor cancer dynamics noninvasively. Detection of ctDNA can be challenging in patients with low-volume or residual disease, where plasma contains very few tumor-derived DNA fragments. We show that sensitivity for ctDNA detection in plasma can be improved by analyzing hundreds to thousands of mutations that are first identified by tumor genotyping. We describe the INtegration of VAriant Reads (INVAR) pipeline, which combines custom error-suppression methods and signal-enrichment approaches based on biological features of ctDNA. With this approach, the detection limit in each sample can be estimated independently based on the number of informative reads sequenced across multiple patient-specific loci. We applied INVAR to custom hybrid-capture sequencing data from 176 plasma samples from 105 patients with melanoma, lung, renal, glioma, and breast cancer across both early and advanced disease. By integrating signal across a median of >105 informative reads, ctDNA was routinely quantified to 1 mutant molecule per 100,000, and in some cases with high tumor mutation burden and/or plasma input material, to parts per million. This resulted in median area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.98 in advanced cancers and 0.80 in early-stage and challenging settings for ctDNA detection. We generalized this method to whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing, showing that INVAR may be applied without requiring personalized sequencing panels so long as a tumor mutation list is available. As tumor sequencing becomes increasingly performed, such methods for personalized cancer monitoring may enhance the sensitivity of cancer liquid biopsies

C4 article: implications of COVID-19 in transplantation

A novel coronavirus has had global impact on individual health and health care delivery. In this C4 article, contributors discuss various aspects of transplantation including donor and recipient screening, management of infected patients, and prevention of coronavirus disease (COVID). Donor screening with SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid testing (NAT) close to the time of procurement is recommended. Many programs are also screening all potential recipients at the time of admission. The management of COVID has evolved with remdesivir emerging as a new potential option for transplant recipients. Dexamethasone has also shown promise and convalescent plasma is under study. Prevention strategies for transplant candidates and recipients are paramount. Pediatric-specific issues are also discussed. Strategies for the psychological well-being of patients and providers are also imperative, in addition to future research priorities for transplantation