BRICSAM and the Non-WTO

We discuss recent regional trade and economic partnership agreements involving the large population rapidly growing economies (Brazil, Russia, China, India, South Africa, ASEAN, Mexico) who (with the exception of Mexico) are also outside of the OECD. Perhaps 50 out of 300 that exist worldwide now involve BRICSAM countries and most are recently concluded and to be implemented over the next few years. Along with extensive bilateral investment treaties, mutual recognition agreements, and other country (or region) to country arrangement they are part of what we term the non-WTO. We are able to find little literature on these agreements, and our aim is to document and characterize, as much as analyze possible impacts. We note the sharp variation both across countries in the form that agreements take and also across agreements for individual countries. Agreements differ in specificity, coverage and content. In some treaties there are detailed and specific commitments, but these also coexist with seemingly vague commitments and (at times) opaque dispute settlement and enforcement. Whether these represent a partial replacement of WTO process for new negotiated reciprocity-based global trade liberalization over the next decade or so, or largely represent diplomatic protocol alongside significant WTO disciplines is the issue we discuss.

China's New Regional Trade Agreements

This paper discusses the recent regional trade agreements that China has concluded rapidly following accession to the WTO in 2002. Agreements are in place with Hong Kong, Macao, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand, and are either in negotiation or under discussion with South Africa, Chile, India, and the Gulf Cooperation Council. These agreements differ sharply in form and substance, and involve process commitments to ongoing negotiation and cooperation on a wide range of issues. Differences relating to the regional agreements negotiated by the EU and the US are emphasized, as are later potential difficulties these agreements create in moving to an Asian trade bloc centred on them.International Relations/Trade,

Recent Chinese Buyout Activity and the Implications for Global Architecture

We discuss recent cases of Chinese buyout activity in the OECD (especially in the US and the EU) in resource and manufacturing sectors. While most of the buyout attempts have been unsuccessful, they can serve as a catalyst for a wider discussion on the implications for global arrangements over cross border acquisitions. Three specific issues are discussed. The first is the subsidization of purchase raised in the OECD in response to the advancing of low- or no-interest loans by the Chinese Central Bank to companies investing abroad. The second is the transparency of entities involved in the buyout attempt. Most Chinese companies have close ties to the multiple levels of government and are not subject to the standard reporting requirements as required of OECD companies. The third involves national security concerns in the OECD and the possibility of acquiring sensitive technology by Chinese companies when they purchase companies abroad. These issues have not been addressed in the existing OECD/WTO investment policy initiatives and have yet to be discussed in the global fora.

BRICSAM and the non-WTO

We discuss recent regional trade and economic partnership agreements involving the large population rapidly growing economies (Brazil, Russia, China, India, South Africa, ASEAN, Mexico) who (with the exception of Mexico) are also outside of the OECD. Perhaps 50 out of 300 that exist worldwide now involve BRICSAM countries and most are recently concluded and to be implemented over the next few years. Along with extensive bilateral investment treaties, mutual recognition agreements, and other country (or region) to country arrangement they are part of what we term the non-WTO. We are able to find little literature on these agreements, and our aim is to document and characterize, as much as analyze possible impacts. We note the sharp variation both across countries in the form that agreements take and also across agreements for individual countries. Agreements differ in specificity, coverage and content. In some treaties there are detailed and specific commitments, but these also coexist with seemingly vague commitments and (at times) opaque dispute settlement and enforcement. Whether these represent a partial replacement of WTO process for new negotiated reciprocity-based global trade liberalization over the next decade or so, or largely represent diplomatic protocol alongside significant WTO disciplines is the issue we discuss

Repeated transcranial direct current stimulation induces behavioral, metabolic and neurochemical effects in rats on high-calorie diet

Due to its high prevalence, obesity is considered an epidemic, which stimulated research on non-invasive methods to reduce excess body fat. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive technique used to modulate the activity of cerebral cortex, which has already found increasing interest in medicine as a promising methodology. The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of tDCS on feeding behavior, metabolic abnormalities and neurotransmitters in certain brain areas involved in appetite control of obese rats. The male Wistar rats were divided into five subgroups depending on consumed diet effect (lean, obese) and tDCS type (anodal, cathodal, sham, and no stimulation). Two 10-min daily sessions of tDCS for 8 consecutive days of the study were applied. Rats subjected to active tDCS (anodal right or cathodal left of the prefrontal cortex) had reduced appetite and showed lesser body weight gain than the animals subjected to sham procedure or those receiving no stimulation at all. Furthermore, tDCS contributed to reduction of epididymal fat pads and to a decrease in blood concentration of leptin. Neurochemical examination revealed that tDCS modulated serotonin pathways of the reward-related brain areas and contributed to a significant decrease in the density of D2 but not D1 dopamine receptors in the dorsal striatum, recorded 5 h after the last stimulation. No significant effect of tDCS on dopamine and it's metabolites in examined brain regions was observed. It seems that the hypothalamus was not affected by tDCS application as no changes in measured neurotransmitters were detected at any examined time point. However, these results do not exclude the possibility of the delayed response of the monoamines in the examined brain areas to tDCS application. Altogether, these findings imply that repeated tDCS of the prefrontal cortex may change feeding behavior of obese rats. Either right anodal or left cathodal tDCS were sufficient to decrease food intake, to reduce body adiposity and to normalize other metabolic anomalies. These beneficial effects can be at least partially explained by changes in serotoninergic and in lesser extent dopaminergic system activity within some brain areas belonging to reward system

Repeated transcranial direct current stimulation induces behavioral, metabolic and neurochemical effects in rats on high-calorie diet

Due to its high prevalence, obesity is considered an epidemic, which stimulated research on non-invasive methods to reduce excess body fat. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive technique used to modulate the activity of cerebral cortex, which has already found increasing interest in medicine as a promising methodology. The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of tDCS on feeding behavior, metabolic abnormalities and neurotransmitters in certain brain areas involved in appetite control of obese rats. The male Wistar rats were divided into five subgroups depending on consumed diet effect (lean, obese) and tDCS type (anodal, cathodal, sham, and no stimulation). Two 10-min daily sessions of tDCS for 8 consecutive days of the study were applied. Rats subjected to active tDCS (anodal right or cathodal left of the prefrontal cortex) had reduced appetite and showed lesser body weight gain than the animals subjected to sham procedure or those receiving no stimulation at all. Furthermore, tDCS contributed to reduction of epididymal fat pads and to a decrease in blood concentration of leptin. Neurochemical examination revealed that tDCS modulated serotonin pathways of the reward-related brain areas and contributed to a significant decrease in the density of D2 but not D1 dopamine receptors in the dorsal striatum, recorded 5 h after the last stimulation. No significant effect of tDCS on dopamine and it's metabolites in examined brain regions was observed. It seems that the hypothalamus was not affected by tDCS application as no changes in measured neurotransmitters were detected at any examined time point. However, these results do not exclude the possibility of the delayed response of the monoamines in the examined brain areas to tDCS application. Altogether, these findings imply that repeated tDCS of the prefrontal cortex may change feeding behavior of obese rats. Either right anodal or left cathodal tDCS were sufficient to decrease food intake, to reduce body adiposity and to normalize other metabolic anomalies. These beneficial effects can be at least partially explained by changes in serotoninergic and in lesser extent dopaminergic system activity within some brain areas belonging to reward system

Study of a mechanism responsible for potential antidepressant activity of EMD 386088, a 5-HT_6 partial agonist in rats

It was shown that 5-HT(6) receptor agonists can exert pharmacological activity due to various modifications in monoamines’ level and metabolism activity in rats’ brain structures. This finding was correlated with antidepressant- or anxiolytic-like properties of these compounds. The study was designed to establish a possible mechanism of the antidepressant-like activity of the partial 5-HT(6) receptor agonist EMD386088 (5-chloro-2-methyl-3-(1,2,3,6-tetrahydro-4-pyridinyl)-1H-indole hydrochloride) in rats. The concentrations of monoamines (dopamine (DA), noradrenaline (NA), and serotonin (5-HT)) and the rate of their metabolism were measured ex vivo in the brain structures (hippocampus, nucleus accumbens, striatum) using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The rats were killed after the forced swim test (FST); the collected tissue samples were used to ex vivo experiments. The potency of EMD386088 to blockade dopamine transporter (DAT) was tested in a functional in vitro study. FST was used to assess the involvement of D(1)- and D(2)-like receptor subfamilies in antidepressant-like properties of EMD386088. Neurochemical data from ex vivo experiments showed that antiimmobility activity of EMD386088 may be connected with the activation of dopaminergic system, while neither noradrenergic nor serotonergic ones are involved in its effect. EMD386088 also possesses a significant affinity for DAT which may be a mechanism in the abovementioned effect. Behavioral data seem to confirm the importance of dopaminergic system activation in antidepressant-like activity of EMD386088, since this effect, observed in the FST, was abolished by the preferential D(1)- and D(2)-like receptor subfamily antagonists SCH23390 and sulpiride, respectively. Dopaminergic system is involved in antidepressant-like activity of EMD386088

Neurological Consequences of COVID-19: A Literature Review of Pathophysiology, Clinical Manifestations, and Therapeutic Strategies

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2, has become a major global health crisis with widespread effects on healthcare, society, and economies. Initially seen as a respiratory illness, it is now recognized as a multisystem disease, with growing evidence of its impact on the nervous system. Neurological complications - such as cognitive impairment ("brain fog"), strokes, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and mood disorders - have been reported in both severe and mild COVID-19 cases, highlighting the unpredictable nature of post-COVID sequelae. These symptoms can persist long after the acute phase of infection. The mechanisms behind these effects are complex and not yet fully understood. They include direct viral invasion of the central nervous system, immune dysregulation (e.g., cytokine storm, autoimmunity), and blood–brain barrier disruption, all of which may lead to neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. The long-term neurological consequences pose significant clinical and societal challenges, requiring multidisciplinary care and tailored rehabilitation strategies. This review summarizes current knowledge on the neurological manifestations of COVID-19, underlying mechanisms, and therapeutic approaches, aiming to inform evidence-based post-COVID care

Services Liberalization in the New Generation of Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs): How Much Further than the GATS?

This paper attempts to fill a gap in the trade literature by providing a comprehensive overview of services liberalization commitments in the new generation of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) as compared to prevailing GATS commitments and Doha Round offers. By developing a new database, the paper reviews the commitments undertaken by 29 WTO Members (counting the EC as one) under mode 1 (cross-border supply) and mode 3 (commercial presence) in 28 PTAs negotiated since 2000. The paper presents a general analysis from both a cross-country and cross-sector perspectives, and also examines in more detail the GATS+ commitments undertaken in a number of key sectors (audiovisual, distribution, education, financial, professional, and telecommunication services). The paper also discusses the potential economic costs arising from these preferential agreements, as well as the potential implications for the multilateral trading system, and for the Doha round of negotiations in particular. The paper concludes by discussing possible approaches to overcome the potential downsides of PTAs, including proposals for a more pro-active role for the WTO in the surveillance of these agreements