Comparing Individual-Specific Benefit Estimates for Public Goods: Finite Versus Continuous Mixing in Logit Models

Multi-attribute stated preference data, derived through choice experiments, is used to investigate the consequence of a finite number of preference groups in a sample of Yorkshire Water residential customers on the conditional distributions of willingness to pay in the sample. The research focuses on ‘public good’ values, and retrieves the implicit customer specific welfare measures conditional on a sequence of four observed choices. We assess and contrast the sample evidence for the presence of a finite number of 2, 3, 4 and 5 latent preference groups (classes), and contrast these with the presence of a continuous distribution of parameter estimates using mixed logit models. The main focus is the conditional valuations in the form of marginal values for the consequence of waste water handling and treatment, namely: river water quality, area flooding by sewage, presence of odour and flies, and other water related amenities.Choice experiments, Mixed logit, Latent classes, Individual-specific estimates, Non-market valuation

Cost and benefits of rent control in Kumasi, Ghana

Over the past forty years, rent control has been a feature of housing in Ghana. This study focusses on the housing market in Kumasi, the second largest city in Ghana. The authors examine the characteristics of the rent control regime in force there, and assess the costs and benefits of rent control, on landlords and on tenants, and its effect on the housing stock. Rent control has been successful in ensuring that housing is very inexpensive for most households, in both absolute terms and in the proportion of income devoted to rent. Thesecontrols have deprived landlords of economic returns on their property, causing them to withdraw stock from renting to use for their own family members and to reduce maintenance. However, rent control is not the only constraint on the housing market, in Kumasi or in Ghana. The paper also describes other supply side and regulatory constraints; such as those affecting land, finance, and choice of building design and materials. A number of options for relaxation/decontrol are studied with the aid of a simple present value model. Along with decontrol of new construction it is recommended that floating up and out of controls over a five year period should be considered, along with policy changes to ensure ready supplies of land, finance, and building materials. Such policies are essential, given that private housing investment provides the great majority of rooms in Ghanaian urban areas.Non Bank Financial Institutions,Banks&Banking Reform,Housing Finance,Housing&Human Habitats,Economic Theory&Research

Modelling zero bids in contingent valuation surveys

When modelling data generated from a discrete choice contingent valuation question, the treatment of zero bids affects the welfare estimates. Zero bids may come from respondents who are not interested in the provision of the public good; alternatively, some zero-bidders may be protesting about the valuation exercise, but hold positive values for the good. In this paper we investigate the effect of different levels of information on zero-bidders on welfare estimates for the population. We find that different strategies of identification may have non-trivial effects. We recommend use of full debriefing questions for zero-bidders, and use of sample selection models to correct for bias caused by protest behaviou

The Cancer Genomics Resource List 2014

Context.— Genomic sequencing for cancer is offered by commercial for-profit laboratories, independent laboratory networks, and laboratories in academic medical centers and integrated health networks. The variability among the tests has created a complex, confusing environment. Objective.— To address the complexity, the Personalized Health Care (PHC) Committee of the College of American Pathologists proposed the development of a cancer genomics resource list (CGRL). The goal of this resource was to assist the laboratory pathology and clinical oncology communities. Design.— The PHC Committee established a working group in 2012 to address this goal. The group consisted of site-specific experts in cancer genetic sequencing. The group identified current next-generation sequencing (NGS)–based cancer tests and compiled them into a usable resource. The genes were annotated by the working group. The annotation process drew on published knowledge, including public databases and the medical literature. Results.— The compiled list includes NGS panels offered by 19 laboratories or vendors, accompanied by annotations. The list has 611 different genes for which NGS-based mutation testing is offered. Surprisingly, of these 611 genes, 0 genes were listed in every panel, 43 genes were listed in 4 panels, and 54 genes were listed in 3 panels. In addition, tests for 393 genes were offered by only 1 or 2 institutions. Table 1 provides an example of gene mutations offered for breast cancer genomic testing with the annotation as it appears in the CGRL 2014. Conclusions.— The final product, referred to as the Cancer Genomics Resource List 2014, is available as supplemental digital content

Consistent phenological shifts in the making of a biodiversity hotspot: the Cape flora

Background The best documented survival responses of organisms to past climate change on short (glacial-interglacial) timescales are distributional shifts. Despite ample evidence on such timescales for local adaptations of populations at specific sites, the long-term impacts of such changes on evolutionary significant units in response to past climatic change have been little documented. Here we use phylogenies to reconstruct changes in distribution and flowering ecology of the Cape flora - South Africa's biodiversity hotspot - through a period of past (Neogene and Quaternary) changes in the seasonality of rainfall over a timescale of several million years. Results Forty-three distributional and phenological shifts consistent with past climatic change occur across the flora, and a comparable number of clades underwent adaptive changes in their flowering phenology (9 clades; half of the clades investigated) as underwent distributional shifts (12 clades; two thirds of the clades investigated). Of extant Cape angiosperm species, 14-41% have been contributed by lineages that show distributional shifts consistent with past climate change, yet a similar proportion (14-55%) arose from lineages that shifted flowering phenology. Conclusions Adaptive changes in ecology at the scale we uncover in the Cape and consistent with past climatic change have not been documented for other floras. Shifts in climate tolerance appear to have been more important in this flora than is currently appreciated, and lineages that underwent such shifts went on to contribute a high proportion of the flora's extant species diversity. That shifts in phenology, on an evolutionary timescale and on such a scale, have not yet been detected for other floras is likely a result of the method used; shifts in flowering phenology cannot be detected in the fossil record

The Access Technology Program of the Indiana Clinical Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI): A model to facilitate access to cutting-edge technologies across a state

Introduction: Access to cutting-edge technologies is essential for investigators to advance translational research. The Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) spans three major and preeminent universities, four large academic campuses across the state of Indiana, and is mandate to provide best practices to a whole state. Methods: To address the need to facilitate the availability of innovative technologies to its investigators, the Indiana CTSI implemented the Access Technology Program (ATP). The activities of the ATP, or any program of the Indiana CTSI, are challenged to connect technologies and investigators on the multiple Indiana CTSI campuses by the geographical distances between campuses (1–4 hr driving time). Results: Herein, we describe the initiatives developed by the ATP to increase the availability of state-of-the-art technologies to its investigators on all Indiana CTSI campuses, and the methods developed by the ATP to bridge the distance between campuses, technologies, and investigators for the advancement of clinical translational research. Conclusions: The methods and practices described in this publication may inform other approaches to enhance translational research, dissemination, and usage of innovative technologies by translational investigators, especially when distance or multi-campus cultural differences are factors to efficient application

Transcriptomic links to muscle mass loss and declines in cumulative muscle protein synthesis during short-term disuse in healthy younger humans

Muscle disuse leads to a rapid decline in muscle mass, with reduced muscle protein synthesis (MPS) considered the primary physiological mechanism. Here, we employed a systems biology approach to uncover molecular networks and key molecular candidates that quantitatively link to the degree of muscle atrophy and/or extent of decline in MPS during short-term disuse in humans. After consuming a bolus dose of deuterium oxide (D2O; 3 mL.kg−1), eight healthy males (22 ± 2 years) underwent 4 days of unilateral lower-limb immobilization. Bilateral muscle biopsies were obtained post-intervention for RNA sequencing and D2O-derived measurement of MPS, with thigh lean mass quantified using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Application of weighted gene co-expression network analysis identified 15 distinct gene clusters (“modules”) with an expression profile regulated by disuse and/or quantitatively connected to disuse-induced muscle mass or MPS changes. Module scans for candidate targets established an experimentally tractable set of candidate regulatory molecules (242 hub genes, 31 transcriptional regulators) associated with disuse-induced maladaptation, many themselves potently tied to disuse-induced reductions in muscle mass and/or MPS and, therefore, strong physiologically relevant candidates. Notably, we implicate a putative role for muscle protein breakdown-related molecular networks in impairing MPS during short-term disuse, and further establish DEPTOR (a potent mTOR inhibitor) as a critical mechanistic candidate of disuse driven MPS suppression in humans. Overall, these findings offer a strong benchmark for accelerating mechanistic understanding of short-term muscle disuse atrophy that may help expedite development of therapeutic interventions

Future Perspectives of Bone Tissue Engineering with Special Emphasis on Extracellular Vesicles

Peer reviewe

Statin Treatment Increases Lifespan and Improves Cardiac Health in Drosophila by Decreasing Specific Protein Prenylation

Statins such as simvastatin are 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors and standard therapy for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases in mammals. Here we show that simvastatin significantly increased the mean and maximum lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster (Drosophila) and enhanced cardiac function in aging flies by significantly reducing heart arrhythmias and increasing the contraction proportion of the contraction/relaxation cycle. These results appeared independent of internal changes in ubiquinone or juvenile hormone levels. Rather, they appeared to involve decreased protein prenylation. Simvastatin decreased the membrane association (prenylation) of specific small Ras GTPases in mice. Both farnesyl (L744832) and type 1 geranylgeranyl transferase (GGTI-298) inhibitors increased Drosophila lifespan. These data are the most direct evidence to date that decreased protein prenylation can increase cardiac health and lifespan in any metazoan species, and may explain the pleiotropic (non-cholesterol related) health effects of statins