Trade and Wages: A Deeper Investigation

A new presentation of the specific factors model shows how labor fares under international trade by considering how the price elasticity of the nominal wage rate responds to the terms of trade as well as factor endowments. Gains to labor are decomposed into measurable terms of trade effects and production bias effects. If trade is caused by differences in technology, trade can harm the interests of labor when the elasticities of substitution are sufficiently small. If trade is caused by differences in labor endowments, trade raises real wages in the labor abundant country, even if exports are capital intensive.trade, real wages, beta function, specific factors

Effect of helminthiasis on resistance to parasitism

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Dimebon disappointment

Dimebon (latrepirdine) has received widespread publicity as a potential therapy for Alzheimer's disease following a very positive phase 2 study carried out in Russia and published in the Lancet in 2008. In this study there were improvements over 6 months in all endpoints (cognitive, global, daily function and behaviour), with continuing improvement at 12 months in cognition and daily function. A more recent multinational phase 3 study, however, showed no improvements whatsoever and no difference between the two drug-treated groups and the placebo group. Of note, there was little deterioration in any of the groups after 6 months in contrast to the placebo group in the phase 2 study. The potential reasons for these disappointing results are discussed, as well as the implication for dimebon and drug treatment in Alzheimer's disease

Spatial variability of surface rainfall as observed from TRMM field campaign data

The spatial variability of surface rainfall over 5- and 30-day time periods is observed, and it is found that the spatial decorrelation length of precipitation is comparable to the size of a single surface gauge network. The observed variability is found to affect radar-derived precipitation estimation, particularly if it is based on calibration using rain gauges. The radar subgrid-scale variability is also observed using some redundant and finer-scale gauge networks deployed during the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission ( TRMM) ground-validation field campaigns. Based upon statistical analysis and a point-based decision-making system, a best-suited spatial temporal filtering technique is suggested and, when applied to match radar data with any other surface observation, is found to reduce bias

A category-specific advantage for numbers in verbal short-term memory: Evidence from semantic dementia

This study explored possible reasons for the striking difference between digit span and word span in patients with semantic dementia. Immediate serial recall (ISR) of number and non-number words was examined in four patients. For every case, the recall of single-digit numbers was normal whereas the recall of non-number words was impaired relative to controls. This difference extended to multi-digit numbers, and remained even when frequency, imageability, word length, set size and size of semantic category were matched for the numbers and words. The advantage for number words also applied to the patients' reading performance. Previous studies have suggested that semantic memory plays a critical role in verbal short-term memory (STM) and reading: patients with semantic dementia show superior recall and reading of words that are still relatively well known compared to previously known but now semantically degraded words. Additional assessments suggested that this semantic locus was the basis of the patients' category-specific advantage for numbers. Comprehension was considerably better for number than non-number words. Number knowledge may be relatively preserved in semantic dementia because the cortical atrophy underlying the condition typically spares the areas of the parietal lobes thought to be crucial in numerical cognition but involves the inferolateral temporal-lobes known to support general conceptual knowledge. © 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

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12 p

A direct comparison of errorless and errorful therapy for object name relearning in Alzheimer's disease

Developing rehabilitation techniques to combat cognitive decline is a key goal of healthcare strategies aimed at promoting increased longevity and better quality of life for individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD). In AD, problems with episodic memory and word-finding greatly affect everyday life and, as such, these symptoms provide a clear clinical target for therapeutic interventions. Errorless learning (EL) has been proposed as a particularly effective technique for relearning in individuals with memory dysfunction, including AD. However, EL learning has rarely been directly contrasted with other more traditional trial-and-error techniques (errorful learning or EF) in individuals with AD, especially in the context of alleviating word-finding problems. In the current study, we directly contrasted the therapeutic gains of an EL learning paradigm (consisting of reading/repetition of object names) with an EF learning technique (comprised of phonemic/orthographic cueing) in eight mild to moderate AD patients with pronounced anomia. Both techniques were administered concurrently in sessions run twice a week over a five-week period. Therapeutic gains were assessed at one week and five weeks post-intervention using confrontation naming. Our results suggest that, both at the group and individual patient level, EL and EF techniques were equally effective. Correlational analyses of overall therapy gains and background assessments of patient neuropsychology revealed that individuals with better scores on measures of semantic memory, pre-intervention naming, and recognition memory demonstrated larger therapy gains. No individual patient showed a significant advantage for EL over EF learning, however, for patients that showed a numerical advantage in this direction. These results suggest that either EL or EF therapy can be used to alleviate word-finding problems in AD. © 2012 Copyright Psychology Press