Canadian City Housing Prices and Urban Market Segmentation

The authors provide a detailed empirical analysis of Canadian city housing prices. They examine the long-run relationship between city house prices in Canada from 1981 to 2005 as well as idiosyncratic relations between city prices and city-specific variables. The results suggest that city house prices are only weakly correlated in the long run, and that there is a disconnect between house prices and interest rates. City-specific variables such as union wage levels, new-housing prices, and the issuance of building permits tend to be positively related to city existing-house prices. Surprisingly, there is mixed evidence with respect to standard measures of economic activity, such as labour force and per capita GDP.Regional economic developments

An Editorial Statement

Will Rogers, the famous American humanist and social critic, once said, the schools are not as good as they used to be and they never were

Summing Up

This edition of Educational Considerations focuses on the principalship

Evidence for Accretion in the High-resolution X-ray Spectrum of the T Tauri Star System Hen 3-600

We present high-resolution X-ray spectra of the multiple T Tauri star system Hen 3-600, obtained with the High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrograph on the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Two binary components were detected in the zeroth-order image. Hen 3-600-A, which has a large mid-infrared excess, is a 2-3 times fainter in X-rays than Hen 3-600-B, due to a large flare on B. The dispersed X-ray spectra of the two primary components overlap spatially; spectral analysis was performed on the combined system. Analysis of the individual spectra was limited to regions where the contributions of A and B can be disentangled. This analysis results in two lines of evidence indicating that the X-ray emission from Hen 3-600 is derived from accretion processes: line ratios of O VII indicate that the characteristic density of its X-ray-emitting plasma is large; a significant component of low-temperature plasma is present and is stronger in component A. These results are consistent with results obtained from X-ray gratings spectroscopy of more rapidly accreting systems. All of the signatures of Hen 3-600 that are potential diagnostics of accretion activity -- X-ray emission, UV excess, H-alpha emission, and weak infrared excess -- suggest that its components represent a transition phase between rapidly accreting, classical T Tauri stars and non-accreting, weak-lined T Tauri stars.Comment: latex, 27 pages, 12 figures, 6 tables; accepted by Ap

Groups of graphs of groups

We classify all groups of color preserving automorphisms (isometries) of edge colored complete graphs derived from finite groups

Analysis of gene evolution and metabolic pathways using the Candida Gene Order Browser

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Candida </it>species are the most common cause of opportunistic fungal infection worldwide. Recent sequencing efforts have provided a wealth of <it>Candida </it>genomic data. We have developed the <it>Candida </it>Gene Order Browser (CGOB), an online tool that aids comparative syntenic analyses of <it>Candida </it>species. CGOB incorporates all available <it>Candida </it>clade genome sequences including two <it>Candida albicans </it>isolates (SC5314 and WO-1) and 8 closely related species (<it>Candida dubliniensis</it>, <it>Candida tropicalis</it>, <it>Candida parapsilosis</it>, <it>Lodderomyces elongisporus</it>, <it>Debaryomyces hansenii</it>, <it>Pichia stipitis</it>, <it>Candida guilliermondii </it>and <it>Candida lusitaniae</it>). <it>Saccharomyces cerevisiae </it>is also included as a reference genome.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>CGOB assignments of homology were manually curated based on sequence similarity and synteny. In total CGOB includes 65617 genes arranged into 13625 homology columns. We have also generated improved <it>Candida </it>gene sets by merging/removing partial genes in each genome. Interrogation of CGOB revealed that the majority of tandemly duplicated genes are under strong purifying selection in all <it>Candida </it>species. We identified clusters of adjacent genes involved in the same metabolic pathways (such as catabolism of biotin, galactose and N-acetyl glucosamine) and we showed that some clusters are species or lineage-specific. We also identified one example of intron gain in <it>C. albicans</it>.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our analysis provides an important resource that is now available for the <it>Candida </it>community. CGOB is available at <url>http://cgob.ucd.ie</url>.</p

Therapeutic alliance in Enhanced Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for bulimia nervosa: Probably necessary but definitely insufficient

The present paper assessed therapeutic alliance over the course of Enhanced Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT-E) in a community-based sample of 112 patients with a diagnosis of bulimia nervosa (BN) or atypical BN. Temporal assessment of alliance was conducted at three time points (the start, middle and end of treatment) and the relationship between alliance and treatment retention and outcome was explored. Results indicated that the alliance between patient and therapist was strong at all stages of CBT-E, and even improved in the early stages of treatment when behaviour change was initiated (weekly in-session weighing, establishing regular eating, and ceasing binge-eating and compensatory behaviours).The present study found no evidence that alliance was related to treatment retention or outcomes, or that symptom severity or problematic interpersonal styles interacted with alliance to influence outcomes. Alliance was also unrelated to baseline emotional or interpersonal difficulties. The study provides no evidence that alliance has clinical utility for the prediction of treatment retention or outcome in CBT-Efor BN, even for individuals with severe symptoms or problematic interpersonal styles. Early symptom change was the best predictor of outcome in CBT-E. Further research is needed to determine whether these results are generalizable to patients with anorexia nervosa

Patterns of psychotropic prescribing and polypharmacy in older hospitalized patients in Ireland: the influence of dementia on prescribing

Neuropsychiatric Symptoms (NPS) are ubiquitous in dementia and are often treated pharmacologically. The objectives of this study were to describe the use of psychotropic, anti-cholinergic, and deliriogenic medications and to identify the prevalence of polypharmacy and psychotropic polypharmacy, among older hospitalized patients in Ireland, with and without dementia. All older patients (≥ 70 years old) that had elective or emergency admissions to six Irish study hospitals were eligible for inclusion in a longitudinal observational study. Of 676 eligible patients, 598 patients were recruited and diagnosed as having dementia, or not, by medical experts. These 598 patients were assessed for delirium, medication use, co-morbidity, functional ability, and nutritional status. We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of medication data on admission for 583/598 patients with complete medication data, and controlled for age, sex, and co-morbidity. Of 149 patients diagnosed with dementia, only 53 had a previous diagnosis. At hospital admission, 458/583 patients experienced polypharmacy (≥ 5 medications). People with dementia (PwD) were significantly more likely to be prescribed at least one psychotropic medication than patients without dementia (99/147 vs. 182/436; p < 0.001). PwD were also more likely to experience psychotropic polypharmacy (≥ two psychotropics) than those without dementia (54/147 vs. 61/436; p < 0.001). There were no significant differences in the prescribing patterns of anti-cholinergics (23/147 vs. 42/436; p = 0.18) or deliriogenics (79/147 vs. 235/436; p = 0.62). Polypharmacy and psychotropic drug use is highly prevalent in older Irish hospitalized patients, especially in PwD. Hospital admission presents an ideal time for medication reviews in PwD