How reliable are the statistics for the Stability and Growth Pact?

The aim of this paper is to assess the reliability of the government deficit and debt figures reported to the European Commission by Member States. Reliability is one of the several dimensions of quality in statistics; it refers to the magnitudes of data revisions after the publication of the first outcomes. The measurement of the data reliability and inference about potential future revisions are particularly relevant for fiscal surveillance in the EU since statistical institutes take a long time - usually four years - to provide final data, while the decisions on the Stability and Growth Pact context are taken on the basis of the first estimates available shortly after the end of each year. The paper shows that there are very significant differences in reliability among Member States and indicates the margins of uncertainty in relation to the most recent years' data. It also compares the reliability of deficit and debt figures; checks that the shift from ESA79 to ESA95 did not generally harm the reliability of data and suggests that the size of deficits may have an impact on the way statistical offices revise data.reliability, quality of statistics, Stability and Growth Pact, government deficit, Gordo Mora, Nogueira Martins

Cell walls of the dimorphic fungal pathogens Sporothrix schenckii and Sporothrix brasiliensis exhibit bilaminate structures and sloughing of extensive and intact layers

This work was supported by the Fundação Carlos Chagas de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), grants E-26/202.974/2015 and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), grants 229755/2013-5, Brazil. LMLB is a senior research fellow of CNPq and Faperj. NG acknowledged support from the Wellcome Trust (Trust (097377, 101873, 200208) and MRC Centre for Medical Mycology (MR/N006364/1). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Kin Marriages in 19th Century Catalonia (with Reference to Findings from the Barcelona Historical Marriage Database)

Submitted on 22 November, 2017. Accepted on 17 September.Поступила в редакцию 22.11.2017. Принята к печати 17.09.2018.В 1215 г. IV Латеранский собор запретил браки между родственниками до четвертого уровня родства и второго уровня близости. Эта норма была действительна до начала XX в. Несмотря на запрет, кровосмесительные и родственные браки не были редкостью, а в XIX в. стали заключаться еще чаще в разных странах. Это происходило на фоне демографического перехода, индустриализации и миграций из сельской местности в города, что благоприятствовало экзогамным бракам. Демографические факторы, обусловившие рост родственных браков, могли быть связаны с наличием большого числа родственников среди потенциальных женихов и невест из-за снижения смертности и роста числа достигших возраста вступления в брак. Миграция в города, развитие капитализма в аграрном секторе вызвали перераспределение собственности на землю, в ответ на что создавались новые внутрисемейные альянсы ради сохранения контроля за земельной собственностью и рабочей силой. В то же время изменение гражданско-правовых положений о передаче имущества способствовало созданию новой концепции взаимоотношений между братьями и сестрами, являющимися не только кровными родственниками, но и независимыми людьми. Более того, стало возможным создание брачных отношений между родственниками в обход церковных предписаний. Так стали практиковаться одновременные (т. е. совершенные в один день) браки овдовевших родителей и их детей, а также одновременные браки между двумя и более детьми из двух семей. При заключении нескольких браков в один день, женихи и невесты не состояли еще в формальном родстве, и их союзы не рассматривались церковным законом как кровосмесительные. Родственные браки в виде исключения допускались законом. Angustia loci допускал брак между родственниками, если супруги жили в деревне с населением менее 1 500 жителей или менее 300 семей. Другим распространенным исключением было Aetas superadulta, который позволял женщинам выйти замуж за родственника в случае, если им по достижении возраста 25 лет не удалось найти себе мужа. Отсутствие приданого, как и риска действительного инцеста также открывали возможность для заключения родственного брака. Данное исследование посвящено бракам, заключенным между родственниками в Барселоне и ее окрестностях на протяжении XIX в. В качестве источника использована информация, содержащаяся в недавно созданной Барселонской исторической базе данных о браке (Barcelona Historical Marriage Database, BHMD). В зависимости от различных факторов, союзы между родственниками могли быть разного типа. Мы рассмотрим два из них: 1) одновременные браки двух и более пар братьев и/или сестер; 2) браки вдовцов и вдов с сестрой / братом их умерших супругов (сорорат и левират).In 1215, the Fourth Lateran Council forbid marriages among relatives up to the fourth level of consanguinity and second level of affinity. This norm was valid until the early 20th century. It is striking that, in spite of the strength and persistence of the prohibition, consanguineous and affine marriages were not uncommon, and their frequency even increased during the 19th century in some countries. This occurred when the demographic transition, industrialisation, and migration from the countryside to the cities favoured exogamous marriages. The demographic factors causing the rise of kinship marriages could be related to the presence of more relatives in the marriage market due to more persons reaching marriageable ages. Migration to the cities and agrarian capitalism contributed to restructuring land ownership, generating new family alliances in order to obtain more control over the land and to increase the workforce of the households. Together with that, the secularisation of civil regulations about inheritance changed the conception of relationships among brothers and sisters, who were now considered independent persons and not only of the ‘same blood’. Moreover, the blood relatives of the spouse were now considered legal marriage candidates, when developing strategies to follow the ecclesiastical prescriptions. Kinship marriages were also possible because specific exceptions were allowed. The most frequent one was the so-called angustia loci, which permitted a kin marriage when the couple was living in a village with fewer than 1,500 inhabitants or fewer than 300 families. Another common exception was the aetas superadulta, which allowed women aged between 25 and 50 years to marry a relative in case they had not found a husband previously, moreover, the lack of dowry or the risk of incest were also considered reasons for a marriage within the family. This research specifically focuses on affinity in the Barcelona area during the 19th century, using the information contained in the recently created Barcelona Historical Marriage Database (BHMD). Responding to strategies or to simple adaptations, unions among in-laws could adopt several forms. The authors explore two such forms: 1) simultaneous marriages of two or more couples of siblings; 2) marriages of widowers or widows with the sister or brother of their deceased spouses (levirate and sororate)

Enhanced antitumor efficacy of cisplatin in combination with HemoHIM in tumor-bearing mice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although cisplatin is one of the most effective chemotherapeutic agents, cisplatin alone does not achieve a satisfactory therapeutic outcome. Also cisplatin accumulation shows toxicity to normal tissues. In this study, we examined the possibility of HemoHIM both to enhance anticancer effect with cisplatin and to reduce the side effects of cisplatin in melanoma-bearing mice.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>HemoHIM was prepared by adding the ethanol-insoluble fraction to the total water extract of a mixture of 3 edible herbs, Angelica Radix, Cnidium Rhizoma and Paeonia Radix. Anticancer effects of HemoHIM with cisplatin were evaluated in melanoma-bearing mice. We used a Cr⁵¹-release assay to measure the activity of NK/Tc cell and ELISA to evaluate the production of cytokines.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In melanoma-bearing mice, cisplatin (4 mg/kg B.W.) reduced the size and weight of the solid tumors, and HemoHIM supplementation with cisplatin enhanced the decrease of both the tumor size (p < 0.1) and weight (p < 0.1). HemoHIM itself did not inhibit melanoma cell growth <it>in vitro</it>, and did not disturb the effects of cisplatin <it>in vitro</it>. However HemoHIM administration enhanced both NK cell and Tc cell activity in mice. Interestingly, HemoHIM increased the proportion of NK cells in the spleen. In melanoma-bearing mice treated with cisplatin, HemoHIM administration also increased the activity of NK cells and Tc cells and the IL-2 and IFN-γ secretion from splenocytes, which seemed to contribute to the enhanced efficacy of cisplatin by HemoHIM. Also, HemoHIM reduced nephrotoxicity as seen by tubular cell of kidney destruction.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>HemoHIM may be a beneficial supplement during cisplatin chemotherapy for enhancing the anti-tumor efficacy and reducing the toxicity of cisplatin.</p

Chapter Ten - Informing marine spatial planning decisions with environmental DNA

Marine management areas provide a key tool for efforts towards sustainable development, reconciling socio-economic goals with those for biodiversity conservation. Decisions about where and when to establish spatial management areas in the oceans are currently hampered by the uncertainties of incomplete, or overly general, information about biodiversity. The analysis of environmental DNA (eDNA) provides a potentially powerful tool to overcome this lack of data in the future. Here we present directions to develop robust approaches to integrate eDNA and spatial planning processes, aiming to provide guidance to underpin tool development. The potential of eDNA use in conservation is widely recognised, although direct applications almost exclusively focus on detection of invasive or threatened species and not spatial management decisions. The implementation of broader interaction between the fields of conservation science and eDNA analysis could create substantial benefits to biodiversity conservation and management. In particular, eDNA analysis can provide information on biodiversity over spatial-temporal scales that are currently prohibitive in spatial planning studies. Here, we provide an overview of how eDNA is currently used in conservation practice, in addition to understanding its limitations and benefits within the context of spatial planning. With the goal to harness rapid technological developments in both molecular and conservation sciences, we provide a horizon scan of the future of eDNA analysis and its application to inform biodiversity conservation in a rapidly changing world

Repulsive polarons and itinerant ferromagnetism in strongly polarized Fermi gases

We analyze the properties of a single impurity immersed in a Fermi sea. At positive energy and scattering lengths, we show that the system possesses a well-defined but metastable excitation, the repulsive polaron, and we calculate its energy, quasiparticle residue and effective mass. From a thermodynamic argument we obtain the number of particles in the dressing cloud, illustrating the repulsive character of the polaron. Identifying the important 2- and 3-body decay channels, we furthermore calculate the lifetime of the repulsive polaron. The stability conditions for the formation of fully spin polarized (ferromagnetic) domains are then examined for a binary mixture of atoms with a general mass ratio. Our results indicate that mass imbalance lowers the critical interaction strength for phase-separation, but that very short quasiparticle decay times will complicate the experimental observation of itinerant ferromagnetism. Finally, we present the spectral function of the impurity for various coupling strengths and momenta.Comment: Substantial improvements to the section describing quasiparticle decays (included a discussion of two-body and three-body processes), and to the criteria for the stability of the itinerant ferromagnetic phas

Clinical care of childhood sexual abuse: a systematic review and critical appraisal of guidelines from European countries

Background: The clinical management of Child sexual abuse (CSA) demands specialised skills from healthcare professionals due to its sensitivity, legal implications, and serious physical health and mental health effects. Standardised, comprehensive clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) may be pivotal. In this systematic review, we examined existing CSA national CPGs (NCPGs) from European countries to assess their quality and reporting. Methods: We systematically searched six international databases and multiple grey literature sources, reporting by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) standards. Eligible guidelines were CSA guidance from national health agencies or societies in 34 COST Action 19106 Network Countries (CANC), published between January 2012 and November 2022. Two independent researchers searched, screened, reviewed, and extracted data. NCPGs were compared for completeness with reference WHO 2017 and 2019 guidelines. We used the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE II) to appraise quality and reporting. PROSPERO: CRD42022320747. Findings: Of 2919 records identified by database searches, none met inclusion criteria. Of 4714 records identified by other methods, 24 NCPGs from 17 (50%) of CANC countries were included. In 17 (50%) of eligible countries, no NCPGs were found. Content varied significantly within and between countries. NCPGs lacked many components in state-of-the art clinical practice compared to WHO reference standards, particularly in safety and risk assessment, interactions with caregivers, and mental health interventions. Appraisal by AGREE II revealed shortcomings in NCPG development, regarding scientific rigour, stakeholder involvement, implementation and evaluation. Interpretation: A notable number of European countries lack an NCPG; existing NCPGs often fall short. The healthcare response to CSA in Europe requires a coordinated approach to develop and implement high-quality CPGs. We advocate for a multidisciplinary team to develop a pan-European CSA guideline to ensure quality care for survivors

Cost-Effectiveness of “Golden Mustard” for Treating Vitamin A Deficiency in India

BACKGROUND: Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is an important nutritional problem in India, resulting in an increased risk of severe morbidity and mortality. Periodic, high-dose vitamin A supplementation is the WHO-recommended method to prevent VAD, since a single dose can compensate for reduced dietary intake or increased need over a period of several months. However, in India only 34 percent of targeted children currently receive the two doses per year, and new strategies are urgently needed. METHODOLOGY: Recent advancements in biotechnology permit alternative strategies for increasing the vitamin A content of common foods. Mustard (Brassica juncea), which is consumed widely in the form of oil by VAD populations, can be genetically modified to express high levels of beta-carotene, a precursor to vitamin A. Using estimates for consumption, we compare predicted costs and benefits of genetically modified (GM) fortification of mustard seed with high-dose vitamin A supplementation and industrial fortification of mustard oil during processing to alleviate VAD by calculating the avertable health burden in terms of disability-adjusted life years (DALY). PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We found that all three interventions potentially avert significant numbers of DALYs and deaths. Expanding vitamin A supplementation to all areas was the least costly intervention, at $23-$50 per DALY averted and $1,000-$6,100 per death averted, though cost-effectiveness varied with prevailing health subcenter coverage. GM fortification could avert 5 million-6 million more DALYs and 8,000-46,000 more deaths, mainly because it would benefit the entire population and not just children. However, the costs associated with GM fortification were nearly five times those of supplementation. Industrial fortification was dominated by both GM fortification and supplementation. The cost-effectiveness ratio of each intervention decreased with the prevalence of VAD and was sensitive to the efficacy rate of averted mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Although supplementation is the least costly intervention, our findings also indicate that GM fortification could reduce the VAD disease burden to a substantially greater degree because of its wider reach. Given the difficulties in expanding supplementation to areas without health subcenters, GM fortification of mustard seed is an attractive alternative, and further exploration of this technology is warranted