Private capital flows to low‐income countries : the role of domestic financial sector.

The relationship between private capital flows and growth has been examined extensively in the literature, yet numerous controversies still remain. The study examines the relationships among private capital flows (foreign direct investment, portfolio investment and foreign debt), financial development and economic performance in a sample of 16 low-income developing countries over the period 1988–2006, by employing generalized method of moments (GMM) panel data analysis. We find that private capital flows have a positive impact on growth in low-income countries with well-developed financial sector but have a negative effect in the presence of poor financial sector development. Well-developed financial sectors are ones that are themselves crucial for economic growth. Our results indicate that private capital flows would be more effective if they were more systematically conditional on well-developed financial systems

Mercury-induced hepatotoxicity in zebrafish: in vivo mechanistic insights from transcriptome analysis, phenotype anchoring and targeted gene expression validation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mercury is a prominent environmental contaminant that causes detrimental effects to human health. Although the liver has been known to be a main target organ, there is limited information on <it>in vivo </it>molecular mechanism of mercury-induced toxicity in the liver. By using transcriptome analysis, phenotypic anchoring and validation of targeted gene expression in zebrafish, mercury-induced hepatotoxicity was investigated and a number of perturbed cellular processes were identified and compared with those captured in the <it>in vitro </it>human cell line studies.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Hepato-transcriptome analysis of mercury-exposed zebrafish revealed that the earliest deregulated genes were associated with electron transport chain, mitochondrial fatty acid beta-oxidation, nuclear receptor signaling and apoptotic pathway, followed by complement system and proteasome pathway, and thereafter DNA damage, hypoxia, Wnt signaling, fatty acid synthesis, gluconeogenesis, cell cycle and motility. Comparative meta-analysis of microarray data between zebrafish liver and human HepG2 cells exposed to mercury identified some common toxicological effects of mercury-induced hepatotoxicity in both models. Histological analyses of liver from mercury-exposed fish revealed morphological changes of liver parenchyma, decreased nucleated cell count, increased lipid vesicles, glycogen and apoptotic bodies, thus providing phenotypic evidence for anchoring of the transcriptome analysis. Validation of targeted gene expression confirmed deregulated gene-pathways from enrichment analysis. Some of these genes responding to low concentrations of mercury may serve as toxicogenomic-based markers for detection and health risk assessment of environmental mercury contaminations.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Mercury-induced hepatotoxicity was triggered by oxidative stresses, intrinsic apoptotic pathway, deregulation of nuclear receptor and kinase activities including Gsk3 that deregulates Wnt signaling pathway, gluconeogenesis, and adipogenesis, leading to mitochondrial dysfunction, endocrine disruption and metabolic disorders. This study provides important mechanistic insights into mercury-induced liver toxicity in a whole-animal physiology context, which will help in understanding the syndromes caused by mercury poisoning. The molecular conservation of mercury-induced hepatotoxicity between zebrafish and human cell line reveals the feasibility of using zebrafish to model molecular toxicity in human for toxicant risk assessments.</p

Toxicogenomic Analysis Suggests Chemical-Induced Sexual Dimorphism in the Expression of Metabolic Genes in Zebrafish Liver

10.1371/journal.pone.0051971PLoS ONE712

Inverted Expression Profiles of Sex-Biased Genes in Response to Toxicant Perturbations and Diseases

10.1371/journal.pone.0056668PLoS ONE82

Toxicogenomic and Phenotypic Analyses of Bisphenol-A Early-Life Exposure Toxicity in Zebrafish

Bisphenol-A is an important environmental contaminant due to the increased early-life exposure that may pose significant health-risks to various organisms including humans. This study aimed to use zebrafish as a toxicogenomic model to capture transcriptomic and phenotypic changes for inference of signaling pathways, biological processes, physiological systems and identify potential biomarker genes that are affected by early-life exposure to bisphenol-A. Phenotypic analysis using wild-type zebrafish larvae revealed BPA early-life exposure toxicity caused cardiac edema, cranio-facial abnormality, failure of swimbladder inflation and poor tactile response. Fluorescent imaging analysis using three transgenic lines revealed suppressed neuron branching from the spinal cord, abnormal development of neuromast cells, and suppressed vascularization in the abdominal region. Using knowledge-based data mining algorithms, transcriptome analysis suggests that several signaling pathways involving ephrin receptor, clathrin-mediated endocytosis, synaptic long-term potentiation, axonal guidance, vascular endothelial growth factor, integrin and tight junction were deregulated. Physiological systems with related disorders associated with the nervous, cardiovascular, skeletal-muscular, blood and reproductive systems were implicated, hence corroborated with the phenotypic analysis. Further analysis identified a common set of BPA-targeted genes and revealed a plausible mechanism involving disruption of endocrine-regulated genes and processes in known susceptible tissue-organs. The expression of 28 genes were validated in a separate experiment using quantitative real-time PCR and 6 genes, ncl1, apoeb, mdm1, mycl1b, sp4, U1SNRNPBP homolog, were found to be sensitive and robust biomarkers for BPA early-life exposure toxicity. The susceptibility of sp4 to BPA perturbation suggests its role in altering brain development, function and subsequently behavior observed in laboratory animals exposed to BPA during early life, which is a health-risk concern of early life exposure in humans. The present study further established zebrafish as a model for toxicogenomic inference of early-life chemical exposure toxicity

2017 RANZCP Continuing Professional Development Program: Implementation and Progression

Background: The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) is implementing a redeveloped continuing professional development (CPD) program in 2017. The redeveloped program incorporates key clinically relevant CPD elements such as peer review and reflection on practice, quality improvement, audit or outcomes measurement of practice and self-directed learning. The program strengthens essential elements identified in the Medical Board of Australia’s (MBA’s) plan for revalidation. Objectives: To update participants on the progress and implementation of the CPD program. This symposium will utilize a panel discussion approach to provide information and seek feedback. The presentation will provide participants with examples of how to meet the requirements of the program, the RANZCP online CPD system and its associated benefits. Methods: Literature review, benchmarking of other medical CPD programs, review of revalidation requirements and overview of the implementation of the 2017 CPD program. Findings: This symposium aims to inform fellows of the structure and benefits of the new program as well as discussing practical examples about how participants can meet their CPD program requirements. The discussion will be informed in part by the changes to the CPD program and any identified changes that have been reflected as part of the MBA’s plan for revalidation. The panel will discuss changes to the program and how the changes have been received following their implementation, particularly for those related to practice improvement and how the changes can be appropriately completed. Conclusions: An important role of the RANZCP is to ensure that a modern CPD program for participants is available, user friendly and professionally relevant with the appropriate systems to support it. The program aims to provide a framework for maintaining competence as well as improving the clinical skills and practice of psychiatrists

The Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in Malaysia: A Revisit

The paper re-examines the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Malaysia, for the period 1970-2006. The cointegration results show that market size of both Malaysia and China have major, and a statistically significant impact, on FDI inflow to Malaysia. The results seem to support the argument that foreign investors tend to be more attracted to the country with a higher growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP) because it indicates a laglecrv potential demand for their products. In addition, the results also demonstrate that openness level of the country has a positive and statistically significant effect on FDI inflow, which supports the hypothesis that FDI can be attracted to a country with more liberalized economic reforms. Finally, the results show that literacy rate (human capital development) has significant positive effect on FDI inflow. The finding suggests the need for labor force expansion and education policy to raise the stock of human capital in the country. Using Granger causality test, we also find that there exist unidirectional causality from real GDP of both Malaysia and China, degree of openness and literacy rate to FDI inflow.Foreign direct investment, market size, literacy rate, cointegration, causality,