Who Replaces Agriculture's Contribution to Settlement in Lagging Rural Areas? An Integrated Input-Output and Dynamic Simulation Analysis

This paper develops an integrated model for analysing regional economic development and structural change in agriculture. The input-output method allows the detailed description of a regional economy. Based on this description, regional growth pole sectors can be identified that are potential leverage points for growth oriented development strategies. Dynamic simulation tests the long term effects of such a development strategy. Model results show that external demand is the main driving force behind regional economic growth. However, development strategies for lagging rural areas have to be coupled to development strategies for regional centres. Only if the rural areas surrounding regional centres become an important asset for the development of these centres can rural areas be stabilised.rural regions, economic development, input-output, dynamic simulation, Community/Rural/Urban Development, C6, R11, R15, R23, R58,

Quasiconformal embeddings of Y-pieces

In this paper we construct quasiconformal embeddings from Y-pieces that contain a short boundary geodesic into degenerate ones. These results are used in a companion paper to study the Jacobian tori of Riemann surfaces that contain small simple closed geodesics.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, estimate in Theorem 2.1 corrected, submitted to F. W. Gehring Memorial Volume - Computational Methods and Function Theor

Some Remarks on the Uniformizing Function in Genus 2

This article describes a practical procedure to compute, for any Fuchsian group of genus 2 acting on the unit disc, a uniformizing function for the corresponding algebraic curv

movingAlps - ein neuer Weg in der Regional-entwicklung?

Community/Rural/Urban Development,

Bradykinin improves postischaemic recovery in the rat heart: role of high energy phosphates, nitric oxide, and prostacyclin

Objective: The aim was to define: (1) whether bradykinin administration during reperfusion improves postischaemic myocardial recovery; (2) whether high energy phosphate compounds are involved in the protective effects of bradykinin; and (3) whether bradykinin-induced release of prostacyclin and nitric oxide mediate the protective effects of bradykinin. Methods: In the Langendorff rat heart preparation, coronary flow, left ventricular developed pressure, and, using 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy, the high energy phosphate compounds phosphocreatine and β-ATP were assessed during 15 min of global ischaemia and 30 min of reperfusion. Administration of 10−7 M bradykinin was started before ischaemia and maintained throughout the experiment (BK-pre). This was compared to 10−7 M bradykinin given exclusively with reperfusion (BK-post). Then 10−7 M bradykinin was given simultaneously with 10−4 M Nω-nitro-L-arginine-methyl ester (BK-LNAME) or 10−5 M indomethacin (BK-indo). Results: In comparison to control hearts, BK-pre exerted a significant protective effect on the postischaemic recovery of coronary flow [71(5)% v 43(4)%, P < 0.05], left ventricular pressure [81(8)% v 42(5)%, P < 0.05], phosphocreatine [105(4)% v 67(8)%, P < 0.05], and β-ATP [78(9)% v 48(7)%, P < 0.05]. With BK-post, recovery of coronary flow [71(4)% v 43(4)%, P < 0.05] and left ventricular pressure [78(4)% v 42(5)%, P < 0.05] significantly improved; however the recovery of phosphocreatine [70(4)% v 67(8)%, NS] and β-ATP [58(2)% v 48(7)%, NS] was not different from control. When bradykinin and L-NAME or indomethacin was given the beneficial effects of bradykinin on ischaemic hearts were abolished. Conclusions: (1) Bradykinin improved postischaemic myocardial recovery when given before ischaemia or starting exclusively with reperfusion; (2) this was only partially related to a protective action on the high energy phosphate compounds during ischaemia; (3) the beneficial effects of bradykinin on ischaemic hearts are dependent from an unrestrained action of prostacyclin and nitric oxid

How reliable are left ventricular ejection fraction cut offs assessed by echocardiography for clinical decision making in patients with heart failure?

We aimed to study the potential influence of the variability in the assessment of echocardiographically measured left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) on indications for the implantation of internal cardioverter defibrillator and/or cardiac resynchronization devices in heart failure patients. TIME-CHF was a multicenter trial comparing NT-BNP versus symptom-guided therapy in patients aged ≥60years. Patients had their LVEF assessed at the recruiting centre using visual assessment, the area-length or biplane Simpson's method. Echocardiographic data were transferred to the study core-lab for re-assessment. Re-assessment in the core-lab was done with biplane Simpson's method, and included an appraisal of image quality. 413 patients had the LVEF analyzed at the recruiting centre and at the core lab. Image quality was optimal in 191 and suboptimal in 222. Overall, the correlation between LVEF at the recruiting centres and at the core-lab was good, independent of image quality (R²=0.62). However, when a LVEF≤30% or ≥30% was used as a cut-off, about 20% of all patients would have been re-assigned to having either a LVEF above or below the cut-off, this proportion was not significantly influenced by image quality. We conclude that correlation between LVEF assessed by different centres based on the same ultrasound data is good, regardless of image quality. However, one fifth of patients would have been re-assigned to a different category when using the clinically important cut-off of 30

Limited diagnostic yield of non-invasive coronary angiography by 16-slice multi-detector spiral computed tomography in routine patients referred for evaluation of coronary artery disease

Aims Multislice spiral computed tomography (MSCT) is a promising non-invasive method to diagnose coronary artery disease (CAD). As no detailed comparative evaluation in consecutive patients referred for evaluation of CAD has been reported, this prospective study evaluating 2384 coronary segments in 149 consecutive patients was performed. Methods and results The coronary artery tree was analysed in 16 segments both for coronary angiography (CA) and MSCT; a luminal narrowing ≥50% based on visual assessment was considered significant. By MSCT, 77% of 2110 angiographically assessable segments could be evaluated, 94% per patient in proximal and 70% in distal segments (P<0.001). Sensitivity of MSCT to detect significant stenoses was 30% in all, but only 10% in peripheral segments. The main limitations were calcifications in 34% of segments and motion artefacts in 24% of patients. Overall diagnostic sensitivity for the presence of significant CAD was 86% but specificity was only 49%. Conclusion When compared with invasive CA, 16-slice MSCT is of limited diagnostic value for the diagnosis of CAD in consecutive patients. Despite a clinically useful sensitivity for the overall diagnosis of significant CAD, specificity is low. Thus, relevant decisions regarding the need of and suitability for possible revascularization procedures cannot be based on MSCT findings alon

Spectral rigidity and discreteness of 2233-groups

In this paper we describe methods for dealing with the trace spectrum of a subgroup of PSL(2, $\mathbb{R}$) generated by four elliptic elements α, β, γ, δ of respective orders 2, 2, 3, 3, satisfying αβγδ = 1. We give a parametrization and a fundamental domain in the parameter space of such groups. Furthermore we construct an algorithm that decides whether or not a given group is discrete and which moves the discrete groups into the fundamental domain. Our main result is that any two discrete such groups are isospectral if and only if they are conjugate in (2, $\mathbb{R}$). In the Appendix we consider pairs of subgroups of (2, $\mathbb{R}$) that arise from non-conjugate maximal orders in a quaternion algebra over a number field. We show that for the isospectrality of such pairs there is a peculiar exception in the case where the groups contain elements of both orders 2 and