WTO’s Trade Liberalisation, Agricultural Growth, and Poverty Alleviation in Pakistan

Pakistan is an agrarian based developing country, and like many other developing countries, its agriculture sector is subjected to domestic forces of demand and supply and changes in prices at international level, as well. More specifically, in the late 1990s, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) emerged as one the major players affecting such market changes more vigorously at international arena. The WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture, which was established as a result of the 1986–94 Uraguay Round talks, requires, for both developed and developing countries, to initiate a process of reforms in their agrarian economies with the objective of establishing a fair and market oriented agricultural trading system through multilateral trade negotiations. This Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) specifically asks for major reductions in export subsidies, domestic support and import barriers on agricultural products to achieve this objective, the WTO’s Agreement of Agriculture [WTO (2001)] had set the following quantitative targets for cuts in each of the three specified area, namely import tariffs, domestic supports and export subsidies.

WTO’s Trade Liberalisation, Agricultural Growth, and Poverty Alleviation in Pakistan

Pakistan is an agrarian based developing country, and like many other developing countries, its agriculture sector is subjected to domestic forces of demand and supply and changes in prices at international level, as well. More specifically, in the late 1990s, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) emerged as one the major players affecting such market changes more vigorously at international arena. The WTO’s Agreement on Agriculture, which was established as a result of the 1986-94 Uraguay Round talks, requires, for both developed and developing countries, to initiate a process of reforms in their agrarian economies with the objective of establishing a fair and market oriented agricultural trading system through multilateral trade negotiations. This Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) specifically asks for major reductions in export subsidies, domestic support and import barriers on agricultural products to achieve this objective, the WTO’s Agreement of Agriculture [WTO (2001)] had set the following quantitative targets for cuts in each of the three specified area, namely import tariffs, domestic supports and export subsidies

Assessment of cardiovascular risk in primary care.

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PEGylated graphene oxide for tumor-targeted delivery of paclitaxel.

AIM: The graphene oxide (GO) sheet has been considered one of the most promising carbon derivatives in the field of material science for the past few years and has shown excellent tumor-targeting ability, biocompatibility and low toxicity. We have endeavored to conjugate paclitaxel (PTX) to GO molecule and investigate its anticancer efficacy. MATERIALS & METHODS: We conjugated the anticancer drug PTX to aminated PEG chains on GO sheets through covalent bonds to get GO-PEG-PTX complexes. The tissue distribution and anticancer efficacy of GO-PEG-PTX were then investigated using a B16 melanoma cancer-bearing C57 mice model. RESULTS: The GO-PEG-PTX complexes exhibited excellent water solubility and biocompatibility. Compared with the traditional formulation of PTX (Taxol®), GO-PEG-PTX has shown prolonged blood circulation time as well as high tumor-targeting and -suppressing efficacy. CONCLUSION: PEGylated graphene oxide is an excellent nanocarrier for paclitaxel for cancer targeting

Energetics of microwaves probed by double quantum dot absorption

We explore the energetics of microwaves interacting with a double quantum dot photodiode structure and show wave and particle aspects in the photon-assisted tunneling. The experiments show that the single-photon energy sets the relevant absorption energy in a weak drive limit, which contrasts the strong-drive limit where the wave-amplitude determines the relevant energy-scale and opens up microwave-induced bias triangles. The energetics of this microwave-assisted charge transport are determined by the detuning conditions of a double dot system and stopping-potential measurements that constitute a microwave version of the photoelectric effect.Comment: 5 pages 4 figure

Efficient and Continuous Microwave Photodetection in Hybrid Cavity-Semiconductor Nanowire Double Quantum Dot Diodes

Single photon detectors are key for time-correlated photon counting applications [1] and enable a host of emerging optical quantum information technologies [2]. So far, the leading approach for continuous and efficient single-photon detection in the optical domain has been based on semiconductor photodiodes [3]. However, there is a paucity of efficient and continuous single-photon detectors in the microwave regime, because photon energies are four to five orders of magnitude lower therein and conventional photodiodes do not have that sensitivity. Here we tackle this gap and demonstrate how itinerant microwave photons can be efficiently and continuously converted to electrical current in a high-quality, semiconducting nanowire double quantum dot that is resonantly coupled to a cavity. In particular, in our detection scheme, an absorbed photon gives rise to a single electron tunneling event through the double dot, with a conversion efficiency reaching 6 %. Our results pave the way for photodiodes with single-shot microwave photon detection, at the theoretically predicted unit efficiency [4]

Lower lid entropion secondary to treatment with alpha-1a receptor antagonist: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>The use of alpha-1a receptor antagonists (tamsulosin) is widely accepted in the treatment of benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH). It has previously been implicated as a causative agent in intra-operative floppy iris syndrome due to its effects on the smooth muscle. We report a case of lower lid entropion that may be related to a patient commencing treatment of tamsulosin.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 74-year-old Caucasian man was started on alpha 1-a receptor antagonist (Tamsulosin) treatment for benign prostatic hypertrophy. Eight days later, he presented to the ophthalmology unit with a right lower lid entropion which was successfully treated surgically with a Weiss procedure.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We report a case of lower lid entropion that may be secondary to the recent use of an alpha-1a blocker (tamsulosin). This can be explained by considering the effect of autonomic blockade on alpha-1 receptors in the Muller's muscle on a patient that may already have an anatomical predisposition to entropion formation due to a further reduction in muscle tone.</p

Comprehensive evaluation of the association of APOE genetic variation with plasma lipoprotein traits in U.S. Whites and African Blacks

Although common APOE genetic variation has a major influence on plasma LDL-cholesterol, its role in affecting HDL-cholesterol and triglycerides is not well established. Recent genome-wide association studies suggest that APOE also affects plasma variation in HDL-cholesterol and triglycerides. It is thus important to resequence the APOE gene to identify both common and uncommon variants that affect plasma lipid profile. Here, we have sequenced the APOE gene in 190 subjects with extreme HDL-cholesterol levels selected from two well-defined epidemiological samples of U.S. non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs) and African Blacks followed by genotyping of identified variants in the entire datasets (623 NHWs, 788 African Blacks) and association analyses with major lipid traits. We identified a total of 40 sequence variants, of which 10 are novel. A total of 32 variants, including common tagSNPs (≥5% frequency) and all uncommon variants (<5% frequency) were successfully genotyped and considered for genotype-phenotype associations. Other than the established associations of APOE∗2 and APOE∗4 with LDL-cholesterol, we have identified additional independent associations with LDL-cholesterol. We have also identified multiple associations of uncommon and common APOE variants with HDL-cholesterol and triglycerides. Our comprehensive sequencing and genotype-phenotype analyses indicate that APOE genetic variation impacts HDL-cholesterol and triglycerides in addition to affecting LDL-cholesterol