Poverty, employment and inequality in the SDGs: Heterodox discourse, orthodox policies?

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) put much emphasis on the employment and inequality, a noteworthy shift from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and their focus on poverty eradication. To achieve ‘Sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth’, SDG Goal 8 contains targets on productivity-enhancing policies, employment and decent work, and makes reference to three out of the four fundamental labour rights. While these are necessary ingredients for a sustained increase in living standards and important elements of heterodox accounts of development, they are not sufficient conditions to create equitable growth. Drawing on examples from Asia, the paper makes this argument by addressing three orthodox conjectures: that workers benefit from productivity growth through higher wages; that factor shares in national income are roughly constant; and that policy interventions such as minimum wages are bound to fail. The paper concludes with two policy implications: (1) Countries need to adopt fiscal, wage and social protection policies that reduce inequalities of outcome and achieve faster income growth for the poorest – elements which can be found in Goal 10. (2) Effective labour markets governance needs to include the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining, the only fundamental labour right not explicitly mentioned in the SDGs

CONQUER Scleroderma: Association of Gastrointestinal Tract Symptoms in Early Disease With Resource Utilization

OBJECTIVES: SSc is associated with increased health-care resource utilization and economic burden. The Collaborative National Quality and Efficacy Registry (CONQUER) is a US-based collaborative that collects longitudinal follow-up data on SSc patients withparticipants. METHODS: CONQUER participants who had completed a baseline and 12-month Gastrointestinal Tract Questionnaire (GIT 2.0) and a Resource Utilization Questionnaire (RUQ) were included in this analysis. Patients were categorized by total GIT 2.0 severity: none-to-mild (0-0.49); moderate (0.50-1.00), and severe-to-very severe (1.01-3.00). Clinical features and medication exposures were examined in each of these categories. The 12-month RUQ responses were summarized by GIT 2.0 score categories at 12 months. RESULTS: Among the 211 CONQUER participants who met the inclusion criteria, most (64%) had mild GIT symptoms, 26% had moderate symptoms, and 10% severe GIT symptoms at 12 months. The categorization of GIT total severity score by RUQ showed that more upper endoscopy procedures and inpatient hospitalization occurred in the CONQUER participants with severe GIT symptoms. These patients with severe GIT symptoms also reported the use of more adaptive equipment. CONCLUSION: This report from the CONQUER cohort suggests that severe GIT symptoms result in more resource utilization. It is especially important to understand resource utilization in early disease cohorts when disease activity, rather than damage, primarily contributes to health-related costs of SSc

Analysis of Common and Specific Mechanisms of Liver Function Affected by Nitrotoluene Compounds

BACKGROUND: Nitrotoluenes are widely used chemical manufacturing and munitions applications. This group of chemicals has been shown to cause a range of effects from anemia and hypercholesterolemia to testicular atrophy. We have examined the molecular and functional effects of five different, but structurally related, nitrotoluenes on using an integrative systems biology approach to gain insight into common and disparate mechanisms underlying effects caused by these chemicals. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Sprague-Dawley female rats were exposed via gavage to one of five concentrations of one of five nitrotoluenes [2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), 2-amino-4,6-dinitrotoluene (2ADNT) 4-amino-2,6-dinitrotoulene (4ADNT), 2,4-dinitrotoluene (2,4DNT) and 2,6-dinitrotoluene (2,6DNT)] with necropsy and tissue collection at 24 or 48 h. Gene expression profile results correlated well with clinical data and liver histopathology that lead to the concept that hematotoxicity was followed by hepatotoxicity. Overall, 2,4DNT, 2,6DNT and TNT had stronger effects than 2ADNT and 4ADNT. Common functional terms, gene expression patterns, pathways and networks were regulated across all nitrotoluenes. These pathways included NRF2-mediated oxidative stress response, aryl hydrocarbon receptor signaling, LPS/IL-1 mediated inhibition of RXR function, xenobiotic metabolism signaling and metabolism of xenobiotics by cytochrome P450. One biological process common to all compounds, lipid metabolism, was found to be impacted both at the transcriptional and lipid production level. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: A systems biology strategy was used to identify biochemical pathways affected by five nitroaromatic compounds and to integrate data that tie biochemical alterations to pathological changes. An integrative graphical network model was constructed by combining genomic, gene pathway, lipidomic, and physiological endpoint results to better understand mechanisms of liver toxicity and physiological endpoints affected by these compounds

Growth and the poor A comment on Dollar and Kraay

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:9348.965(no 100) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

MSH1 Is a Plant Organellar DNA Binding and Thylakoid Protein under Precise Spatial Regulation to Alter Development

As metabolic centers, plant organelles participate in maintenance, defense, and signaling. MSH1 is a plantspecific protein involved in organellar genome stability in mitochondria and plastids. Plastid depletion of MSH1 causes heritable, non-genetic changes in development and DNA methylation. We investigated the msh1 phenotype using hemi-complementation mutants and transgene-null segregants from RNAi suppression lines to sub-compartmentalize MSH1 effects. We show that MSH1 expression is spatially regulated, specifically localizing to plastids within the epidermis and vascular parenchyma. The protein binds DNA and localizes to plastid and mitochondrial nucleoids, but fractionation and protein–protein interactions data indicate that MSH1 also associates with the thylakoid membrane. Plastid MSH1 depletion results in variegation, abiotic stress tolerance, variable growth rate, and delayed maturity. Depletion from mitochondria results in 7%–10% of plants altered in leaf morphology, heat tolerance, and mitochondrial genome stability. MSH1 does not localize within the nucleus directly, but plastid depletion produces non-genetic changes in flowering time, maturation, and growth rate that are heritable independent of MSH1.MSH1depletion alters non-photoactive redox behavior in plastids and a sub-set of mitochondrially altered lines. Ectopic expression produces deleterious effects, underlining its strict expression control. Unraveling the complexity of the MSH1 effect offers insight into triggers of plant-specific, transgenerational adaptation behaviors

Significant difference in functional connectivity among groups.

<p>The differences among individuals with first-episode psychosis (FEP), ultra-high-risk for psychosis (UHR), and the healthy controls (HC) were revealed by one-way ANOVA (<i>p</i> < .05, family-wise error rate corrected). Significant differences (presented in yellow) were revealed between the (A) left planum temporale (PT) and right primary motor cortex (PMC); (B) left PT and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC); (C) left PT and left DLPFC; (D) left PT and right middle temporal gyrus (MTG); (E) left PT and left superior temporal gyrus (STG); (F) right Heschl’s gyrus (HG) and left insular cortex (INS); (G) right HG and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC); (H) leftt HG and dACC; (I) left HG and left INS; (J) left HG and left putamen (PUT). The functional connectivity coefficients (mean value) of each region showing significant spatial differences are presented in a bar graph.</p