Asset Accumulation in Low-Resource Households: Evidence from Individual Development Accounts

To escape from poverty requires assets, be they human, physical, social, or financial. Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) are designed to help the poor to build assets. Withdrawals from IDAs are matched if used for home purchase, post-secondary education, or self- employment. Participants also receive financial education and support from IDA staff. This paper discusses evidence from the American Dream Demonstration (ADD) on a series of questions. Can the poor save in IDAs? Low-resource people did save and build assets in IDAs in ADD: --Average monthly net deposits per participant were $25.42. --The average participant used two-thirds of match-eligibility. --The average participant made a deposit in 7 of 12 months. --With an average match rate of 2:1, participants accumulated about$900 per year in IDAs. How do IDAs work? Key links between savings and institutional characteristics in ADD were: --Savings increased—up to a point—with more hours of financial education. --Higher match rates were linked with fewer unmatched withdrawals, less risk of exit, but not higher savings. --Higher match caps were associated with better savings outcomes. -- Where do IDA deposits come from? Participants used both new savings and reshuffled assets. Who saves in IDAs? ADD did not necessarily cream only the most-able: --Income was not linked to savings, and the very poor saved a higher rate than the less-poor. --The receipt of public assistance, all else constant, was not associated with savings. --Asian Americans saved about $10 more per month than Hispanics or Caucasians and about$20 more per month than African Americans or Native Americans. What do IDAs cost? So far in ADD, program costs were about $2.70 per dollar deposited. Costs seem to have fallen through time.savings incentives, asset accumulation, Individual Development Accounts

Characterization of hepatitis C RNA-containing particles from human liver by density and size

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) particles found in vivo are heterogeneous in density and size, but their detailed characterization has been restricted by the low titre of HCV in human serum. Previously, our group has found that HCV circulates in blood in association with very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL). Our aim in this study was to characterize HCV RNA-containing membranes and particles in human liver by both density and size and to identify the subcellular compartment(s) where the association with VLDL occurs. HCV was purified by density using iodixanol gradients and by size using gel filtration. Both positive-strand HCV RNA (present in virus particles) and negative-strand HCV RNA (an intermediate in virus replication) were found with densities below 1.08 g ml−1. Viral structural and non-structural proteins, host proteins ApoB, ApoE and caveolin-2, as well as cholesterol, triglyceride and phospholipids were also detected in these low density fractions. After fractionation by size with Superose gel filtration, HCV RNA and viral proteins co-fractionated with endoplasmic reticulum proteins and VLDL. Fractionation on Toyopearl, which separates particles with diameters up to 200 nm, showed that 78 % of HCV RNA from liver was >100 nm in size, with a positive-/negative-strand ratio of 6 : 1. Also, 8 % of HCV RNA was found in particles with diameters between 40 nm and 70 nm and a positive-/negative-strand ratio of 45 : 1. This HCV was associated with ApoB, ApoE and viral glycoprotein E2, similar to viral particles circulating in serum. Our results indicate that the association between HCV and VLDL occurs in the liver

Towards two identification methods for breeding pigs: possibilities of a combined ear tag

The objective of this study is to develop a reliable, practical and affordable combined farm and slaughter identification for Dutch breeding pigs (sows and boars) before 1 January 2012. In consultation with representatives of pig farmers, breeding institutions, traders, slaughterhouses and governments a list of requirements for the combined ear tag has been set up. After initial interest for prototyping nine manufacturers have been visited and the requirements were discussed. Ultimately, six of the manufacturers produced a total of 13 prototypes for testing. Prototypes were subjected to a visual test and a test in two different slaughterhouses. Only four of the 13 prototypes met the established slaughterhouse criteria (loss rate <5%). These four were then tested on three pig farms. The infections, irritations and inflammation depend on husbandry conditions and the type of ear tag. The on farm loss rate of ear tag prototypes was less than 2%. The readability of the combined ear tags on the farms is not problematic. Retagging after loss was possible for one person using the existing hole but resulted in slight discomfort for the animal. During transport of the animals there were no losses. In the following slaughterhouse test no physical losses occurred. However, the functional loss rate in the slaughterhouse was above 5%. Practical implementation of the combined ear tags was studied by interviews with several stakeholders. Focus in the interviews was on the regulations, the attachment of the combined ear tags, the process of transporting pigs to the slaughterhouse, including transport, assembly and export, the need to renumber pigs, the service of the slaughterhouses for blood sampling, and the I&R in relation to the needed documentation and forms during transport. From the interviews it becomes clear that implementation in practice needs numerous reattachments and renumbering of ear tags. This leads to slight discomfort to the animals and increased labour for the farmers. This retagging has negative influence on the reliability of the data and on the guarantees of food safety. The results lead to the overall conclusion that the introduction of a combined ear tag under the current conditions is not justified as a solution to go from three to two identification procedures for breeding pigs

The Changing Landscape for Stroke\ua0Prevention in AF: Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2

Background GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a prospective, global registry program describing antithrombotic treatment patterns in patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation at risk of stroke. Phase 2 began when dabigatran, the first non\u2013vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), became available. Objectives This study sought to describe phase 2 baseline data and compare these with the pre-NOAC era collected during phase&nbsp;1. Methods During phase 2, 15,641 consenting patients were enrolled (November 2011 to December 2014); 15,092 were eligible. This pre-specified cross-sectional analysis describes eligible patients\u2019 baseline characteristics. Atrial fibrillation&nbsp;disease characteristics, medical outcomes, and concomitant diseases and medications were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Of the total patients, 45.5% were female; median age was 71 (interquartile range: 64, 78) years. Patients were from Europe (47.1%), North America (22.5%), Asia (20.3%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East/Africa (4.0%). Most had high stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc [Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age&nbsp; 6575 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke, Vascular disease, Age 65 to 74 years, Sex category] score&nbsp; 652; 86.1%); 13.9% had moderate risk (CHA2DS2-VASc&nbsp;= 1). Overall, 79.9% received oral anticoagulants, of whom 47.6% received NOAC and 32.3% vitamin K antagonists (VKA); 12.1% received antiplatelet agents; 7.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. For comparison, the proportion of phase 1 patients (of N&nbsp;= 1,063 all eligible) prescribed VKA was 32.8%, acetylsalicylic acid 41.7%, and no therapy 20.2%. In Europe in phase 2, treatment with NOAC was more common than VKA (52.3% and 37.8%, respectively); 6.0% of patients received antiplatelet treatment; and 3.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. In North America, 52.1%, 26.2%, and 14.0% of patients received NOAC, VKA, and antiplatelet drugs, respectively; 7.5% received no antithrombotic treatment. NOAC use was less common in Asia (27.7%), where 27.5% of patients received VKA, 25.0% antiplatelet drugs, and 19.8% no antithrombotic treatment. Conclusions The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in&nbsp;Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in&nbsp;Asia&nbsp;and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701

Interpersonal trauma and mental health problems of male and female antisocial adolescents treated in a forensic outpatient setting

The aim of the study was to examine whether the impact of interpersonal traumas on internalizing problems in antisocial adolescents treated in a community based forensic setting was moderated by gender. Data were collected in the Netherlands from a random sample of the available treatment files of 397 adolescents (200 males and 197 females) aged 12–18 years. Adolescent females more often experienced physical and sexual abuse, and internalizing symptoms and disorders than their male counterparts. Multiple regression analysis revealed that physical abuse, gender and ethnicity significantly predicted internalizing symptoms. A gender-physical abuse interaction effect was also found. In contrast to the hypothesis, physically abused males had a higher chance of developing internalizing symptoms than physically abused females. Sexual abuse was associated with internalizing disorders (mainly dysthymia and PTSD) for both males and females. Although the literature suggests that the link between traumatic experiences and mental health problems is stronger for females than for males, we did not find evidence for this in our forensic outpatient sample of antisocial adolescents

Using remote sensing in support of environmental management : a framework for selecting products, algorithms and methods

CITATION: De Klerk, H.M. et al. 2016. Using remote sensing in support of environmental management: A framework for selecting products, algorithms and methods. Journal of Environmental Management, (182):564-573, doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.07.073.The original publication is available at http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-environmental-management/Traditionally, to map environmental features using remote sensing, practitioners will use training data to develop models on various satellite data sets using a number of classification approaches and use test data to select a single ‘best performer’ from which the final map is made. We use a combination of an omission/commission plot to evaluate various results and compile a probability map based on consistently strong performing models across a range of standard accuracy measures. We suggest that this easy-to-use approach can be applied in any study using remote sensing to map natural features for management action. We demonstrate this approach using optical remote sensing products of different spatial and spectral resolution to map the endemic and threatened flora of quartz patches in the Knersvlakte, South Africa. Quartz patches can be mapped using either SPOT 5 (used due to its relatively fine spatial resolution) or Landsat8 imagery (used because it is freely accessible and has higher spectral resolution). Of the variety of classification algorithms available, we tested maximum likelihood and support vector machine, and applied these to raw spectral data, the first three PCA summaries of the data, and the standard normalised difference vegetation index.We found that there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution to the choice of a ‘best fit’ model (i.e. combination of classification algorithm or data sets), which is in agreement with the literature that classifier performance will vary with data properties.We feel this lends support to our suggestion that rather than the identification of a ‘single best’ model and a map based on this result alone, a probability map based on the range of consistently top performing models provides a rigorous solution to environmental mapping.Post prin