Essays in Informal Risk Sharing.

Poor households are especially vulnerable to severe income fluctuations such as weather and health shocks. Coping with these shocks is especially costly in developing countries, since households often lack access to formal insurance and credit markets. These households frequently cope with income fluctuations using transfers and gifts from other households. This dissertation examines the mechanisms underlying this informal risk sharing. Poor households are relatively well insured against idiosyncratic risk despite the prevalence of information and enforcement problems. Social connections may help to sustain cooperation between households and improve risk sharing. Using a laboratory experiment implemented with residents of a slum in Kenya, the first dissertation chapter examines whether social ties affect informal risk sharing when there is imperfect monitoring of effort. In addition to risk sharing motives, transfers between poor households in developing countries may occur for a variety of other motives. My second chapter compares the relative importance of social preferences, specifically altruism and inequality aversion, social proximity, bargaining weights, and risk preferences on sharing in an experiment with risk sharing games. My third chapter examines how well households in rural Mexico smooth consumption against idiosyncratic income shocks, specifically illnesses, natural disasters, and cash transfers from a government program. The results speak to whether the efficiency of social insurance and poverty alleviation programs could be improved if policymakers take into account the different levels of spillovers due to sharing within the village network.PhDEconomicsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/133273/1/jprachi_1.pd

Giving in Dictator Games: Factors of Generosity

Because perceptions of luck, hard work, and the idea of a “me vs. you” mindset often influence people’s ideas of fairness, it is important to understand these perceptions and how they can affect giving and support for redistributive policies. To better understand the factors that influence people to give or not give to others, I created two modified dictator games to answer the research questions, “How does the generation of initial allocation in a dictator game affect perceptions of deservingness?” and “How does competitive and cooperative priming affect dictator allocation choices between efficiency and inefficiency?” By varying the way the initial budget is generated (based on chance, effort-based earnings, or a combination) and analyzing participants’ dictator allocations and survey responses regarding redistributive preferences and fairness views, I find that the Combination treatment creates a significant increase in giving percentage, a stronger belief in luck affecting poverty and failure, a stronger belief that taxing high-income families is efficient, and support for redistribution and fairness. The Effort treatment surprisingly does not affect the amount given, but produces an increase in the likelihood of giving a nonzero sum and an increased score in the survey efficiency index. By varying a competitive, cooperative, or neutral priming stage before the second dictator game, I find that no effect of these treatments on basic giving and mixed results of these treatments on prioritizing self-interest versus efficiency. The results of this research will provide illumination into the factors affecting how we think about generosity to others, perhaps lending insight into how we may more effectively think about welfare and redistribution programs, but also highlight the factors that need further research and investigation

PHARMACOGNOSTIC AND PHARMACOLOGICAL ASPECT OF BACOPA MONNIERI - A REVIEW

It is said that the use of Bacopa monnieri for memory enhancement goes back 3000 years or more in India, when it was cited for its medicinal properties, especially the memory enhancing capacity, in the Vedic texts "Athar-Ved Samhila" (3:1) of 800 B.C. and in Ayurveda. In the folklore of Indian medicine, several herbs have been used traditionally as brain or nerve tonics. One of the most popular of these neurotonics is Bacopa monnieri, a well known memory booster. Brahmi has been administered at religious institutions to help students to enhance their memory for learning ancient, religious hymns.It is also used as cardio-tonic, tranquilizer and sedative, improves process of learning, Restores memory, enhances power of speech and imagination, diuretic and nervine tonic, anti stress, for nervous and mental strain, use in insanity, epilepsy, hysteria, aesthenia, nervous breakdown. It is a small, creeping succulent herb. The leaf and flower bearing stems are 10- 30 cm long and arise from creeping stems that form roots at the nodes with pale blue or pinkish white flowers belonging to  Family  Scrophulariaceae grown nearly banks of freshwater streams and ponds, paddy fields and other damp places. The chief Phyto-constituents present are brahmine, herpestine, alkaloids and saponins. Keywords: Ayurveda, Brahmi, memory booster, herb, neurotonics, tranquilizer.Â

A randomized clinical study to compare pre-emptive analgesic efficacy of clonidine and diclofenac sodium in patients undergoing major surgeries at a tertiary care hospital

Background: Pre-emptive analgesia is a method to achieve analgesia even before exposure to a noxious stimulus The purpose of pre-emptive analgesia is to reduce pain caused due to surgical incision triggered inflammatory mechanism activation; and to ensure a good post-operative pain control so that there is no development of chronic pain. Clonidine is an α2 adrenergic agonist thus it decreases the sympathetic outflow, while Diclofenac is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent. Our literature review showed that both clonidine (150 μg) and diclofenac are efficacious pre-emptive analgesics. Literature review also revealed that there is no study available to compare pre-emptive analgesic efficacy as well as safety of oral clonidine with diclofenac, therefore present study was designed to compare pre emptive analgesic efficacy of these two drugs.Methods: This randomized clinical study included 100 patients from surgical departments, of either sex, between 18 to 70 years age and of American society of anesthesiologists (ASA) I/II grade. Patients were randomly allocated to two groups and received either of the treatments 30 minutes prior to induction of anesthesia. Pain scores were recorded using visual analog scale, facial rating scale and behavioral rating scale at awakening and at 1, 2, 4, 6 and 24 hours. Postoperative analgesic requirement over 24 hours was recorded. Data were analyzed using OpenEpi statistical softwares.Results: Significantly lower pain scores were observed in clonidine group as compared to Diclofenac at 4 and 6 hours (p<0.05) on all the pain scales. Clonidine group also required less postoperative analgesic as compared to diclofenac (p<0.05).Conclusions: Study results are strongly suggestive of greater pre-emptive analgesic efficacy of clonidine over diclofenac in major surgeries done under spinal anesthesia

Abnormal uterine bleeding: a clinicohistopathological analysis

Background: Abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) is one of the most common problem for the patients and the gynecologists. It adversely effects on the quality of life and psychology of women. It is of special concern in developing country as it adds to the causes of anemia. Management of Abnormal Uterine Bleeding (AUB) is not complete without tissue diagnosis especially in perimenopausal and post-menopausal women. Histological characteristics of endometrial biopsy material as assessed by light microscopy remains the diagnostic standard for the diagnosis of endometrial pathology.Methods: In our prospective study of 359 Patients of the age between 46 &73 years, clinical characteristics and the pattern of endometrial histopathology and their association in women, who present with abnormal uterine bleeding, are categorised into six groups.  Results: In our study, a significant correlation of histopathology &BMI was observed with endometrial hyperplasia and malignancy in obese patient i.e. 37 out 96 and 13 out of 23 respectively. The incidence of malignancy has been increasing with the age being 1.6% in 46-50 years to 60% in 70-75 years. In our study 116 (32.3%) had hypertension, 33 patients (9.2%) had diabetes mellitus, 40 patients (11.1%) had hypothyroidism.Conclusions: We found a maximum incidence of AUB in multiparous women. Clinicohistopathological analysis of AUB revealed endometrial hyperplasia in majority of patients

Traditional Indian Herb Emblica Officinalis & Its Medicinal Importance

Emblica Officinalis (Amla, EO and E. officinalis) is one of the most important herbs in the Indian traditional medicine system, especially Ayurveda and also known as King of all medicinal plants. Emblica officinalis is famous Ayurvedic herb (the name means sour in Sanskrit) is one of the most useful medicines in the Indian pharmacopoeia, and is considered to be one of the strongest uvenatives (Rasayana), particularly for the blood, bones, liver and heart. It is an exceptionally rich source of vitamin C containing thirty times the amount found in oranges. It is one of the oldest oriental medicines mentioned in Ayurveda as potential remedy for various ailments. Emblica officinalis (Amla) is widely used in the ayurvedic medicines and believed to increase defense /immune power against diseases. Several parts of the plant are used to treat a variety of diseases, but the most important is the fruitâ€. The fruit is rich in quercetin, phyllaemblic compounds, gallic acid, tannins, flavonoids, pectin and vitamin C and also contains various polyphenolic compounds. A wide range of phyto-chemical components including terpenoids, alkaloids, flavonoids, and tannins have been shown to posses' useful biological activities. Many pharmacological studies have demonstrated the ability of Emblica officinalis as antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, antitumour, antigenotoxic, antiinflammatory activities, anticancer, anti HIV-reverse transcriptase, antidiabetic, antidepressant, antiulcerogenic, hair growth tonic, wound healing activities, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer and many other traditional uses of the plant. The present study also includes macroscopy, microscopy, preliminary Phyto-Constituent and Physico-chemical evaluation.Keywords: Amla, Emblica officinalis, Vitamin C, Ayurvedic Medicines, Hair Growth Tonic, Antioxidant, Anticancer, Phyto-Constituent, Physico-chemical, Macroscopy, Microscopy, Traditional Uses