How institutions shape land deals: The role of corruption

Large-scale land acquisitions, or land grabs, concentrate in developing countries which are also known for their corruption-friendly setting caused by a weak institutional framework. We argue that corrupt elites exploit this given institutional set-up to strike deals with international investors at the expense of the local population. Using panel data for 157 countries from 2000-2011, we provide evidence that these land deals indeed occur more often in countries with higher levels of corruption

EFFECT OF DIETARY SODIUM SELENITE AND SE-ENRICHED YEAST ON EGG-SHELL QUALITATIVE PARAMETERS OF LAYING HENS EGGS

The experiment was designed to investigate the effects of feed supplementation with selenite or selenized yeast on eggs quality of laying hens. Hens of laying breed Isabrown were randomly divided at the day of hatching into 4 groups (n=12) and fed ad libitum for 9 months on diets which differed only in amounts or forms of selenium supplemented. Hens were fed from 1st day by standard feed mixture. Control group get only native dose of selenium (0.1 mg/kg) naturally presented in feed mixtures. First experimental group get selenium addition 0.4 mg/kg in a form of sodium selenite, second one the same dose of 0.4 mg/kg but in organic form of Se-yeast. The diet for the fourth group was supplemented with Se-yeast at Se dose 0.9 mg/kg DM. The both doses of organic selenium had significantly (P<0.05) beneficial influence on the egg weight (g±SD) (60.45±3.87a; 60.81±5.63a; 62.41±3.72b; 62.15±3.16b). Significantly lower values of egg shell weight and egg shell ratio were found out in experimental group with sodium selenite only. The significantly lower egg shell strength (N/cm2) was in the experimental groups with supplementation of Se in both forms. Average egg shell thickness (μm) were not significantly affected (P>0.05) by the supplementation of Se into the feed mixture for laying hens

Suppression of the postoperative neutrophil leucocytosis following neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy for rectal cancer and implications for surgical morbidity

Objective: The extent to which neoadjuvant chemoradio- therapy for rectal cancer influences postoperative morbid- ity is controversial. This study investigated whether this treatment suppresses the normal perioperative inflamma- tory response and explored the clinical implications. Method: Prospective databases were queried to identify 37 consecutive study patients undergoing definitive surgery following 5-FU ⁄ capecitabine-based chemoradio- therapy and 35 consecutive untreated control patients operated upon for rectal or rectosigmoid cancer. Preop- erative (< 10 days) and postoperative (< 24 h) neutrophil counts, along with morbidity data, were confirmed retrospectively. Univariate and multivariate analyses assessed the apparent effect of chemoradiotherapy on change in neutrophil count. The latter’s association with postoperative morbidity was then examined. Results: Sufficient data were available for 34 study and 27 control patients. Repeated-measures ANCOVA revealed significant differences between their periopera- tive neutrophil counts (P = 0.02). Of the other charac- teristics which differed between the groups, only age and tumour location were prognostically significant regarding perioperative change in neutrophil count. Accounting for relevant covariates, chemoradiotherapy was significantly associated with a suppressed perioper- ative neutrophil leucocytosis. Local postoperative com- plications affected 25 of 61 patients, who had lower perioperative neutrophil increases than their counter- parts (P = 0.016). Conclusion: Chemoradiotherapy appears to suppress the perioperative inflammatory response, thereby increasing susceptibility to local postoperative complications

Is adjuvant chemotherapy justified in rectal cancer patients after radiochemotherapy and radical resection?

Recommendations for the application of post-operative adjuvant chemotherapy in patients who received preope­rative radio-chemotherapy are not consistent. Some of them advise post-operative chemotherapy, whilst others follow-up without any adjuvant treatment. The objective of this paper is to undertake an overview of the randomised studies evaluating whether the administration of adjuvant chemotherapy can be justified with clinical evidence. A systematic overview of the publications shows 5 randomised trials in which only the patients after pre-operative radio-chemotherapy were enrolled, whilst randomisation concerned adjuvant therapy vs follow-up without adjuvant therapy. None of the studies showed any improvement after post-operative chemotherapy with regards to both the overall survival and disease-free survival rate. Moreover, 3 randomised studies were found in which post-operative chemotherapy with fluoropyrimidine was compared with post-operative chemotherapy with fluoropyrimidine with the addition of oxaliplatin. One of these studies showed an improvement in the overall survival rate after the use of post-operative chemotherapy, whereas in two others the difference was statistically insignificant. Two studies showed a slight improvement after chemotherapy with regards to disease-free survival rates, whilst no such effect was observed in the third. A meta-analysis of the studies comparing the results after the administration of post-ope­rative chemotherapy with the results after the chemotherapy-free follow-up did not demonstrate any positive effect of the chemotherapy on the overall and disease-free survival rate. A meta-analysis of randomised studies in which post-operative chemotherapy with fluoropyrimidine was compared with post-operative chemotherapy with fluoro­pyrimidine with the addition of oxaliplatin did not show any improvement in disease-free survival rates in patients receiving oxaliplatin. The overall survival was not analysed because of the lack of appropriate data at the moment the meta-analysis was made. The above overview of the randomised trials points to a lack of any strong evidence justifying the administration of post-operative chemotherapy

Impact of vaginal and cervical colonisation/infection on preterm delivery

Background/Aim. Preterm delivery together with insufficient body weight and death cases in newborns is the main issue in obstetrics. About 40% of preterm delivery is caused by infections. The aim of this study was to investigate whether and which bacterial infections of genital tract can be associated with preterm delivery, and depending on when diagnosis was made. Method. The study involved 216 pregnant women. According to pregnancy outcome, two groups were formed. The study group involved 29 pregnant women who had preterm delivery out of which nine were examined in I trimester, eight in II trimester and 12 in III trimester. The control group involved 187 pregnant women out of which 47 were examined in I trimester, 73 in II trimester and 67 in III trimester. Bacteriological examination of vaginal and cervical swabs was done in all pregnant women. Infection was diagnosed by finding bacterial antigen in cervical swabs or positive cultures of vaginal and/or cervical swabs followed by the presence of the increased number of polymorphonuclears in direct microscopic preparation. Results. The results showed that in III trimester of pregnancy vaginal bacterial infection was statistically more common (p = 0.021) in women who had preterm delivery (66.7%) in relation to women who delivered in term (29.9%). In this period of gestation the increased number of polymorphonuclears in DMP of vaginal swabs is more common in the women of the study group (75%) than in the women of the control group (43.3%). Preterm delivery was registered in 16.1% women whose microbiological analyses were done in I trimester, 9.9% women in whom microbiological analyses were done in II trimester and in 15.2% pregnant women microbiologically tested in III trimester. Conclusion. Based on the obtained results it could be concluded that bacterial infections of genital tract and period of gestation when infection is diagnosed have influence on reducing perinatal morbidity and mortality caused by preterm delivery

Rectal cancer patients can be treated conservatively

Introduction. The strategy of undertaking a watch-and-wait policy without surgical treatment is currently being debated in those patients where complete clinical response/regression (cCR) has been diagnosed after preoperative irradiation. Its proponents maintain that there is sufficient evidence of efficacy allowing routine use. This means that following preoperative chemoradiotherapy, each patient should be investigated for cCR. If so diagnosed, physicians are then obliged to give the patient the choice of two treatment options: surgical treatment or watch-and-wait without surgery. Radical surgical treatment is adopted as a rescue/salvage therapy if during the watch-and-wait period, local recurrence in patients occurs. In contrast, opponents of the strategy of watch-and-wait, purport that evidence for its efficacy is inadequate to justify routine use. Results. Literature data indicates that the rate of cCR depends on the tumour size, with incidence ranging between 5% and 78% of those patients irradiated prior to surgery. If the patients were kept under watch-and-wait without surgery, then the local recurrence rate was around 30%. Such high rates of local recurrences does not however disqualify this approach because the efficacy of rescue surgery was high. Distant metastases were rare, up 10% of patients, and survivals were even better compared to control patient groups who had been operated on due to not achieving cCR; this difference arising from the inherently less aggressive tumours that are sensitive to irradiation. Conclusions. The data hitherto indicate that a policy of watch-and-wait may be adopted in patients with CCR after chemoradiotherapy. Nevertheless, introducing this strategy requires acquiring experience for diagnosing CCR and an efficient organisation and supervision of treatment along with the rigorous follow-up

Effect of different levels of green tea (Camellia sinensis) on productive performance, carcass characteristics and organs of broiler chickens

In this work we aimed to determine the effect of different levels of green tea in powder form to feed on productive performance, carcass parameters and organs in broiler chickens. Totally 240 day-old broiler chickens Ross 308 were divided to four dietary groups (n = 60) namely control and three experimental groups with supplementation of green tea to feed mixture in levels 0.5%, 1% and 1.5%. Broiler chickens were feeding with commercial feed mixtures and feed and drinking water were provided ad libittum. The feeding period lasted 42 days. Individual body weight of broiler chickens was determined at 1, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35 and 42 day, feed sonsumption and mortality per group were determined at 42 day of fattening period. Carcass quality and organs weight of broiler chickens were determined at the end of the experiment. The results indicated that supplementation of different levels of green tea statistically significant decreased body weight gain and we recorded lower body weight in 21 days of age compared with control group. However, in second period of fattening, broiler chickens in experimental groups growing faster and in 42 days of age we found statistically no significantly differences among control and experimental groups. Feed consumption did not differ among the dietary groups at 42 days of fattening. Mortality no affected by supplementation of green tea to broiler chickens diets in comparison with control group. From the carcass parameters addition of green tea significantly decreased percentage of abdominal fat between control and 1.5% green tea level, in other parameters (percentage of breast, percentage of drumstick, carcass yield) were different among control and experimental groups not statistically significant. The caecum and small intestine weights was significantly (p ≤0.05) decreased in chickens fed diets containing 0.5% green tea supplement compared to 1% and 1.5%. For neck, crop, heart, liver, proventriculus, gizzard, pancreas, kidneys, small intestine, caecum and large intestine weights among control and experimental groups we recorded no statistical differences (p ˃0.05)