Operational Currency Mismatch and Firm Level Performance: Evidence from India

This paper looks at the determinants and effects of exchange rate exposure using data on 500 Indian firms over the period 1995-2011. Unlike the existing papers in the literature, we use a measure of `operational` currency exposure based on foreign currency revenues and costs of firms. Among other factors, exchange rate volatility appears as a significant determinant of average firm level exposure with the direction of relationship supporting the presence of `Moral Hazard` in firm’s risk taking behavior. Further large `operational` exposure is associated with significantly lower output growth, profitability and capital expenditure during episodes of large currency depreciation at the firm level. Together this indicates that the policy makers must take into account the incentive effects of their intervention in foreign exchange markets.

Foreign Reserve Adequacy in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This paper looks at the question of adequacy of reserves in sub-Saharan African countries in light of the shocks faced by these countries. Literature on optimal reserves so far has not paid attention to the particular shocks facing low-income countries. We use a two-good endowment economy model facing terms of trade and aid shocks to derive the optimal level of reserves by comparing the cost of holding reserves with their benefits as an insurance against a shock. We find that the optimal level of reserves depends upon the size of these shocks, their probability, and the output cost associated with them.

Effect of pulsed methylprednisolone on pain, in patients with HTLV-1-associated myelopathy

HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) is an immune mediated myelopathy caused by the human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1). The efficacy of treatments used for patients with HAM/TSP is uncertain. The aim of this study is to document the efficacy of pulsed methylprednisolone in patients with HAM/TSP. Data from an open cohort of 26 patients with HAM/TSP was retrospectively analysed. 1g IV methylprednisolone was infused on three consecutive days. The outcomes were pain, gait, urinary frequency and nocturia, a range of inflammatory markers and HTLV-1 proviral load. Treatment was well tolerated in all but one patient. Significant improvements in pain were: observed immediately, unrelated to duration of disease and maintained for three months. Improvement in gait was only seen on Day 3 of treatment. Baseline cytokine concentrations did not correlate to baseline pain or gait impairment but a decrease in tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) concentration after pulsed methylprednisolone was associated with improvements in both. Until compared with placebo, treatment with pulsed methylprednisolone should be offered to patients with HAM/TSP for the treatment of pain present despite regular analgesia

The effectiveness of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents in the treatment of pelvic inflammatory disease: a systematic review

BACKGROUND: Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is the result of infection ascending through the endocervix to the uterus and fallopian tubes. Inflammation driven by infected host cells appears to be central to the development of tissue damage and associated reproductive complications. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs) therefore have the potential to reduce the sequelae associated with pelvic infection. METHODS: A search of four electronic reference databases, an internet search for relevant grey literature and a review of the bibliographies of identified publications was used to identify studies evaluating NSAIDs in the management of PID. A predefined search strategy was used to identify studies that included women with PID aged over 16 and diagnosed after 1980. Randomized controlled trials, nonrandomized controlled trials, and cohort studies with comparison group data were included without language restriction. Two reviewers independently assessed the studies against agreed criteria and extracted relevant data using a standardized pro forma. A meta-analysis to calculate the relative risk associated with NSAID use was planned if appropriate. RESULTS: Forty-three studies were identified. After reviewing abstracts or full texts, two randomized controlled trials were found to meet the selection criteria for inclusion. The use of NSAIDs was reported to improve tubal patency, reduce pelvic adhesions and reduce suprapubic pain but the studies were of poor quality with a high risk of bias. Meta-analysis of the data was not performed. CONCLUSIONS: Insufficient data is available to support or refute the efficacy of NSAIDs in the prevention of short or long-term complications of PID

Burkholderia cepacia complex and limited cutaneous vasculitis in patients with cystic fibrosis : a case series

There is a high association of reactive skin presentations, mainly limited cutaneous vasculitis in patients with cystic fibrosis and Burkholderia cepcia complex chronic infection. This may be due to raised levels of circulating inflammatory mediators.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The role of the Schwann cell in the induction of elongative central axonal growth

The factors underlying the failure of axon regeneration in the CNS are thought to comprise of both the lack of supportive factors as well as the presence of inhibitory ones. Transplantation work has shown that the PNS is able to provide some of the necessary criteria and with it an increased capacity to regenerate. Studies have further shown that the crucial ingredient to such peripheral grafts is the presence of Schwann cells (SCs), the major glial cell of the PNS. I have used an extrusion transplantation system, recently developed in this laboratory, to study the effects of a SC column placed into the origin of the septo-hippocampal cholinergic projection. These SC columns integrate with host glia with minimal tissue damage, form a tight and ordered column with aligned cellular processes, and are able to recruit modest numbers of axons. Immunostaining with a cholinergic axon marker suggests that these axons arise from the septal nuclei. Given the limited availability and yield of primary SCs that current preparation protocols offer, I have engineered neonatal SC lines by transfecting the SV40 large T antigen into a population of primary neonatal rat SCs. Characterisation of these cell lines, with the use of immunocytochemistry, Western blotting and RT-PCR, shows that they retain the immunophenotype of primary SCs in vitro, although in vivo studies have posed more difficult with the lack of a suitable marker. In addition, I have set up a retroviral transfection system with the use of a bicistronic vector containing the Green Fluorescent Protein. This would provide a means of unique and efficient labelling prior to transplantation, and moreover offer the potential for further transfections of an additional gene of interest within the same vector

A Potential Role of Urinary p75ecd as a Biomarker for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in an American Cohort

Background: Neurological disorders present a unique complexity compared to other diseases, involving multiple risk factors, causes, treatments, and outcomes. These disorders often exhibit various molecular and morphological changes indicative of disruptions in cellular plasticity and resilience. The pathogenesis of many neurological disorders remains unclear, necessitating ongoing investigations. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) exemplifies an idiopathic and fatal neurodegenerative disease marked by the degeneration of upper and lower motor neurons. The average life expectancy post-diagnosis is a mere 36 months, primarily attributed to respiratory muscle denervation.The persistent challenges in ALS clinical trials and the absence of effective therapeutic options have intensified interest in the potential role of biomarkers in advancing therapy development. Notably, neurofilament light (NfL) and phosphorylated neurofilament heavy (pNfH), cytoskeletal proteins in biological fluids, emerge as promising prognostic markers and potential pharmacodynamic biomarkers. However, their relatively stable levels over time limit their utility in reflecting disease progression. Consequently, a significant gap exists in identifying biological fluid-based biomarkers for monitoring disease progression. In response to this gap, our focus turns to the common neurotrophin receptor, p75, as a potential biomarker for motor neuron degeneration. Building on existing literature revealing elevated levels of the extracellular domain of p75 (p75ecd) in the urine of ALS patients compared to healthy individuals, we explore the potential of urinary p75ecd as a novel biomarker for disease progression and prognosis within an American cohort. Methods: The study included samples from ALS patients and healthy controls. The urine samples of 60 confirmed ALS patients were purchased from ‘National ALS biorepository’. The urine samples of 19 healthy controls were collected from friends, family, and colleagues on volunteer basis. The samples were collected and procured according to the IBC and IRB guidelines respectively. Each sample was tested in triplicate, to quantify p75ecd levels by sandwich ELISA and to quantify creatinine by colorimetric enzymatic assay. Levels of urinary p75ecd were standardised to urinary creatinine and data comparisons between two groups were performed using the Unpaired t test test for two independent groups. Result: p75ecd was higher in patients with ALS (9.229 ± 1.198 ng/mg creatinine; N=60) compared to controls (3.979 ± 0.2891 ng/mg creatinine; N=19, p value: 0.0083). Conclusion: The assay for urinary p75ecd demonstrates strong analytical robustness, signaling its potential as a promising biomarker for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) with applications in prognosis, disease progression monitoring, and potential pharmacodynamic assessments. Notably, urinary p75ecd stands out as a biomarker offering valuable prognostic insights and holds the unique distinction of being the sole biological fluid-based indicator of disease progression in ALS

Group Decision Diagrams (GDDs): A Data Structure for Mathematical Groups

Groups are an element of abstract algebra that are used in a number of different domains such as physics, chemistry, statistics and cryptography. Set operations like union, intersection and cartesian product on groups are fundamental to more complex algorithms and methods of analysis in the aforementioned fields. A concise representation of groups can help improve the speed and ease at which binary operations like taking union and intersection can be carried out on them. In abstract algebra, a group is an infinite or finite set of elements that satisfies the axioms of closure, associativity, inverse and identity. For the purpose of this project we will only consider finite abelian group. If the group operation is commutative over a group it is called an abelian group. According to the fundamental theorem of finitely-generated abelian groups, a finite abelian group has a unique decomposition that allows it to be expressed as the direct product of cyclic groups. Further, cyclic groups can be described using a single element that generates the group. The existence of a unique decomposition for finite abelian groups makes it ideal to use a decision tree for its representation. A decision tree is a data structure where each parent node represents a decision and each child node is one of the outcomes. Our decision tree for groups can have each node be the generator representing a cyclic group from its decomposition. This data structure is based on the prior work of Shin-ichi Minato on permutation decision diagrams, that is, binary decision tree for storing sets of permutations, and subsequent work we did last summer. The decision diagram for a set of permutations is a decision tree with each node representing elemental transpositions obtained using a decomposition algorithm where if a permutation has an accepting path through the diagram, it is a member of the set. This project models a similar data structure for storing groups which will allow set operations to be carried out with relative efficiency on them just like it did for large sets of permutations using Python. We also conducted time analysis on the operations and found that multiplying two groups together takes the most amount of time using our data structure, followed by the transpose function which swaps all two indexes of every permutation in the data structure. Overall we found that our data structure is considerably effective in taking intersections and unions of group. However, some work needs to be done for a more effective implementation of multip[ly and transpose operations