Impacts of Financial Inclusion on Youth Development: Findings From the Ghana YouthSave Experiment

The Ghana YouthSave Experiment investigated whether and how youth savings accounts affect financial capability; psychosocial, education, and health outcomes; and economic well-being of Ghanaian youth and their households. The research rigor in the Ghana experiment is unprecedented in resource-limited countries; therefore, it offers an opportunity to posit causal relationships between savings and youth development. This endline report, which comes three years after the baseline report, describes the Ghana experiment and presents experimental findings of YouthSave. The key research questions this report aims to answer is whether the Ghana experiment improved (1) savings patterns and performance for low-income youth; (2) low-income youth’s financial capability; (3) expectations and aspirations; (4) academic performance; and (5) low-income youth’s health attitudes and behaviors, including sexual risk taking

Perceptual Compressive Sensing

Compressive sensing (CS) works to acquire measurements at sub-Nyquist rate and recover the scene images. Existing CS methods always recover the scene images in pixel level. This causes the smoothness of recovered images and lack of structure information, especially at a low measurement rate. To overcome this drawback, in this paper, we propose perceptual CS to obtain high-level structured recovery. Our task no longer focuses on pixel level. Instead, we work to make a better visual effect. In detail, we employ perceptual loss, defined on feature level, to enhance the structure information of the recovered images. Experiments show that our method achieves better visual results with stronger structure information than existing CS methods at the same measurement rate.Comment: Accepted by The First Chinese Conference on Pattern Recognition and Computer Vision (PRCV 2018). This is a pre-print version (not final version

Review of differential diagnosis and management of spasmodic dysphonia

Purpose of Review: The recent literature on spasmodic dysphonia is reviewed with regard to pathogenesis, differential diagnosis, treatment options, audits, and current methods of management. Recent Findings: Advances in technology have enabled clinicians to better understand the connection between brain and laryngeal function and dysfunction. Refinements in imaging and genetic investigation techniques have led to advances in the understanding of the underlying mechanism of this neuro-laryngeal disorder. Development of diagnostic assessment tools and measures of Quality of Life hold the potential to improve treatment and care. Summary: Fifty articles published between 2014 and 2015 were selected for this review. The sources were drawn from several clinical specialties: 54% come under the scope of laryngology, 32% from neurology, and 14% from other areas. It remains poorly understood, misdiagnosed and under diagnosed. Its identification, diagnosis, treatment selection, and coordination of care require an expert specialist multi-disciplinary team. More training is required to help people who have this chronic and psychosocially disabling voice disorder, which impinges on all aspects of their lives. Spasmodic dysphonia is now classified as a “rare” disease in the USA. This designation will assist in international standards of diagnosis, assessment, treatment, and management

Alzheimer\u27s, angiotensin IV and an aminopeptidase

The angiotensin AT4 receptor was originally defined as the specific, high affinity binding site for the hexapeptide angiotensin IV (Ang IV). Subsequently, the peptide LVV-hemorphin 7 was also demonstrated to be a bioactive ligand of the AT4 receptor. Central administration of Ang IV or LVV-hemorphin 7 (LVV-H7) markedly enhances learning and memory in normal rodents and reverse memory deficits observed in animal models of amnesia. The high affinity binding site has a broad distribution in the brain including areas such as the hippocmapus that are involved in memory processing. The high affinity Ang IV binding site (AT4 receptor) has been identified as the transmembrane enzyme, insulin-regulated membrane aminopeptidase (IRAP). Insulin-regulated aminopeptidase is a type II integral membrane spanning protein belonging to the M1 family of aminopeptidases and in insulin-responsive cells colocalizes with GLUT4 in specific intra-cellular vesicles. Both Ang IV and LVV-H7 are competitive inhibitors of IRAP catalytic activity and are not substrates of the enzyme.<br /

The Mediating Effect between Some Determinants of SME Performance in Nigeria

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship of owner/manager knowledge, competitive intensity, complexity of marketing, technical competence, firm size with the mediation of advisory services on the performance of Nigerian SMEs. The study employed structured questionnaire survey involving a sample of 278 manufacturing SMEs operating in Kano State, a total of 198 valid questionnaires were completed and returned representing 71 percent response rate. Evidence suggests that there is significant relationship between owner/manager knowledge, complexity of marketing decision and technical competence and advisory services. In contrast, the result found no significant relationship between firm size and advisory services. Similarly, the result found that owner/manager knowledge, complexity of marketing decision, technical competence and advisory services have significant relationship with performance. The result also indicates that, there is no significant relationship between firm size performance and technical competence and Performance. We also found that advisory service mediates the relationship between owner manager knowledge and the complexity of marketing decision. The findings of this study will benefit owner/managers of SMEs, regulatory agencies, accounting firms, government at all levels and will also serve as frame of reference to future studies

The Mediating Effect between Some Determinants of SME Performance in Nigeria

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship of owner/manager knowledge, competitive intensity, complexity of marketing, technical competence, firm size with the mediation of advisory services on the performance of Nigerian SMEs. The study employed structured questionnaire survey involving a sample of 278 manufacturing SMEs operating in Kano State, a total of 198 valid questionnaires were completed and returned representing 71 percent response rate. Evidence suggests that there is significant relationship between owner/manager knowledge, complexity of marketing decision and technical competence and advisory services. In contrast, the result found no significant relationship between firm size and advisory services. Similarly, the result found that owner/manager knowledge, complexity of marketing decision, technical competence and advisory services have significant relationship with performance. The result also indicates that, there is no significant relationship between firm size performance and technical competence and Performance. We also found that advisory service mediates the relationship between owner manager knowledge and the complexity of marketing decision. The findings of this study will benefit owner/managers of SMEs, regulatory agencies, accounting firms, government at all levels and will also serve as frame of reference to future studies

Cathepsin K Deficiency Prevents the Aggravated Vascular Remodeling Response to Flow Cessation in ApoE^-/- Mice

Cathepsin K (catK) is a potent lysosomal cysteine protease involved in extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation and inflammatory remodeling responses. Here we have investigated the contribution of catK deficiency on carotid arterial remodeling in response to flow cessation in apoE-/- and wild type (wt) background. Ligation-induced hyperplasia is considerably aggravated in apoE-/- versus wt mice. CatK protein expression was significantly increased in neointimal lesions of apoE-/- compared with wt mice, suggesting a role for catK in intimal hyperplasia under hyperlipidemic conditions. Surprisingly, CatK deficiency completely blunted the augmented hyperplastic response to flow cessation in apoE-/-, whereas vascular remodeling in wt mice was unaffected. As catK deficiency did neither alter lesion collagen content and elastic laminae fragmentation in vivo, we focused on effects of catK on (systemic) inflammatory responses. CatK deficiency significantly reduced circulating CD3 T-cell numbers, but increased the regulatory T cell subset in apoE-/- but not wt mice. Moreover, catK deficiency changed CD11b+Ly6G-Ly6C high monocyte distribution in apoE-/- but not wt mice and tended to favour macrophage M2a polarization. In conclusion, catK deficiency almost completely blunted the increased vascular remodeling response of apoE-/- mice to flow cessation, possibly by correcting hyperlipidemia-associated pro-inflammatory effects on the peripheral immune response

Regional development gaps in Argentina: A multidimensional approach to identify the location of policy priorities

Spatial inequalities within Latin American countries have historically attracted the interest ofacademics, policy-makers, and international agencies. This article aims to provide amultidimensional diagnosis of provincial development gaps in Argentina, in order to identifythe location of policy priorities. Therefore, we built a large database, which covers sevendevelopment dimensions, and applied multivariate analysis techniques to overcome someanalytical limitations of previous studies. Results show the stability of provincial developmentgaps between 2003 and 2013 and some heterogeneity within geographic regions. Instead,cluster analysis offers a better classification of Argentine provinces according to theirdevelopment gaps, which can help the government to prioritize the places wheredevelopment policies are strategic.Fil: Niembro, Andrés Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro; ArgentinaFil: Sarmiento, Jesica Isabel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro; Argentin

Phylogenetic Analysis of Seven WRKY Genes across the Palm Subtribe Attaleinae (Arecaceae) Identifies Syagrus as Sister Group of the Coconut

BACKGROUND:The Cocoseae is one of 13 tribes of Arecaceae subfam. Arecoideae, and contains a number of palms with significant economic importance, including the monotypic and pantropical Cocos nucifera L., the coconut, the origins of which have been one of the "abominable mysteries" of palm systematics for decades. Previous studies with predominantly plastid genes weakly supported American ancestry for the coconut but ambiguous sister relationships. In this paper, we use multiple single copy nuclear loci to address the phylogeny of the Cocoseae subtribe Attaleinae, and resolve the closest extant relative of the coconut. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:We present the results of combined analysis of DNA sequences of seven WRKY transcription factor loci across 72 samples of Arecaceae tribe Cocoseae subtribe Attaleinae, representing all genera classified within the subtribe, and three outgroup taxa with maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian approaches, producing highly congruent and well-resolved trees that robustly identify the genus Syagrus as sister to Cocos and resolve novel and well-supported relationships among the other genera of the Attaleinae. We also address incongruence among the gene trees with gene tree reconciliation analysis, and assign estimated ages to the nodes of our tree. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:This study represents the as yet most extensive phylogenetic analyses of Cocoseae subtribe Attaleinae. We present a well-resolved and supported phylogeny of the subtribe that robustly indicates a sister relationship between Cocos and Syagrus. This is not only of biogeographic interest, but will also open fruitful avenues of inquiry regarding evolution of functional genes useful for crop improvement. Establishment of two major clades of American Attaleinae occurred in the Oligocene (ca. 37 MYBP) in Eastern Brazil. The divergence of Cocos from Syagrus is estimated at 35 MYBP. The biogeographic and morphological congruence that we see for clades resolved in the Attaleinae suggests that WRKY loci are informative markers for investigating the phylogenetic relationships of the palm family