The effects of Mongolia's booming mining industry on its agricultural sector: A test for Dutch disease

Dutch disease occurs when currency strengthening associated with a booming sector of an economy crowds out a lagging trade‐dependent sector. In this study, a Keynesian‐style model is specified to deduce hypotheses about how increased foreign direct investment (FDI) aimed at Mongolia's mining sector affects its agricultural sector. A key finding is that while econometric results suggest the increased FDI strengthened Mongolia's currency, its adverse effect on Mongolia's trade‐sensitive agricultural sector is not sufficiently strong to cause the sector to decline. Although Dutch disease was not detected, the posited mechanism clearly is important. Specifically, when currency strengthening is ignored the reduced‐form elasticity of agricultural value‐added with respect to FDI is 2.7 times larger than when currency strengthening is taken into account (0.103 vs. 0.038). Also, FDI‐induced currency strengthening causes the Keynesian multiplier to drop from 2.40 to 2.00 and the FDI multiplier to drop from 3.05 to 1.89.     

基于低碳视角下武汉城市圈生态旅游综合体联动机制探析

在全球践行低碳理念发展的大背景下,生态旅游综合体已然成为旅游业发展中的重要趋势之一。本文在总结前人研究成果和相关理论基础上,通过分析生态旅游综合体联动要素,明确低碳视角下生态旅游综合体的联动机理、联动动机,进而构建武汉城市圈生态旅游综合体联动模型,并提出联动机制的优化策略。     

Chronic Diseases, Labor Supply and Medical Expenditure at Older Age: Evidence from China

China has undergone a rapid epidemiological transition from infectious diseases to chronic diseases. Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), this paper documents the profile of chronic diseases among older Chinese people, estimates the impact of the onset of chronic diseases on the labor supply, and examines the correlation between the prevalence of chronic diseases, a household’s medical expenditure and the role of health insurance in reducing medical costs. Empirical results show that the prevalence of chronic diseases is extremely high among older Chinese people and increases sharply with age. We find significant negative effects from the onset of chronic diseases on an individual’s livelihood at work. The estimation results by age and education suggest that the labor supply of the older and more highly educated people is more sensitive to the onset of chronic diseases. We also show that there can be a substantial indirect loss of individual and household income due to the onset of chronic diseases by limiting the labor supply. We find that the prevalence of chronic diseases is significantly associated with higher out-of-pocket medical expenditure. The reduced-form estimation results suggest that people with insurance have lower medical expenditure caused by minor chronic diseases, but this is only the case for women and urban residents. However, health insurance contributes little in reducing medical expenditure caused by major chronic diseases.     

甲状腺功能亢进症合并免疫性血小板减少性紫癜的5例病例临床分析

探讨甲状腺功能亢进症合并免疫性血小板减少性紫癜的患者服用丙基硫氧嘧啶(PTU)后对血小板的影响。停用丙基硫氧嘧啶,用地塞米松冲击治疗后,检测血小板计数。结果为所有患者的血小板均恢复正常。甲状腺功能亢进症患者体内抗体和自身免疫性血小板减少性紫癜的抗体具有部分同源性,抗甲状腺药物(PTU)对血小板也有破坏作用,因此,同时患有这2种疾病的患者,需选用对血小板影响小的药物,或者选用I131及手术治疗甲亢。     

Optimal surveillance against foot‐and‐mouth disease: the case of bulk milk testing in Australia

Previous foot‐and‐mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks and simulation‐based analyses suggest substantial payoffs from detecting an incursion early. However, no economic measures for early detection have been analysed in an optimising framework. We investigate the use of bulk milk testing (BMT) for active surveillance against an FMD incursion in Australia. We find that BMT can be justified, but only when the FMD entry probability is sufficiently high or the cost of BMT is low. However, BMT is well suited for post‐outbreak surveillance, to shorten the length of time and size of an epidemic and to facilitate an earlier return to market.     

京津冀城市可持续发展效率动态测评及比较研究——基于超效率CCR-DEA模型和Malmquist指数的度量

本文借助超效率 CCR-DEA 模型和 Malmquist 指数,对 2008~2015 年京津冀 13 个城市的可持续发展效率进行了动态测评和对应项分解。研究结果表明：（1）北京与津冀城市的可持续发展效率极为不平衡,北京大幅领先于津冀城市并有逐年扩大的趋势;津冀城市可持续发展效率的差距有逐年缩小的趋势;（2）京津冀城市作为一个整体其可持续发展效率在提高,但各城市可持续发展效率意义上的纯技术效率几乎没有提升;（3）京津冀各城市投入--产出系统虽处于可持续发展效率意义上的规模经济阶段,但不具有持续性。未来京津冀三地应充分利用建设雄安国家新区的战略性历史机遇,统一认识,密切合作,促进京津冀城市经济、社会和资源环境的协调可持续发展。     

Cost-effectiveness of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor monotherapy versus sulfonylurea monotherapy for people with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease in Thailand

Objective: With a high prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in type 2 diabetes (T2DM) in Thailand, the appropriate treatment for the patients has become a major concern. This study aimed to evaluate long-term cost-effective of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor monothearpy vs sulfonylurea (SFU) monotherapy in people with T2DM and CKD.

Methods: A validated IMS CORE Diabetes Model was used to estimate the long-term costs and outcomes. The efficacy parameters were identified and synthesized using a systematic review and meta-analysis. Baseline characteristics and cost parameters were obtained from published studies and hospital databases in Thailand. Costs were expressed in 2014?US Dollars. Outcomes were presented as an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). One-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed to estimate parameter uncertainty.

Results: From a societal perspective, treatment with DPP-4 inhibitors yielded more quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) (0.024) at a higher cost (>66,000 Thai baht (THB) or >1,829.27 USD) per person than SFU, resulting in the ICER of >2.7 million THB/QALY (>74,833.70 USD/QALY). The cost-effectiveness results were mainly driven by differences in HbA1c reduction, hypoglycemic events, and drug acquisition cost of DPP-4 inhibitors. At the ceiling ratio of 160,000 THB/QALY (4,434.59 USD/QALY), the probability that DPP-4 inhibitors are cost-effective compared to SFU was less than 10%.

Conclusions: Compared to SFU, DPP-4 inhibitor monotherapy is not a cost-effective treatment for people with T2DM and CKD in Thailand.     

Co‐movements in commodity prices: a note based on network analysis

This article analyses co‐movements in a wide group of commodity prices during the time period 1992–2010. Our methodological approach is based on the correlation matrix and the networks inside. Through this approach we are able to summarize global interaction and interdependence, capturing the existing heterogeneity in the degrees of synchronization between commodity prices. Our results produce two main findings: (a) we do not observe a persistent increase in the degree of co‐movement of the commodity prices in our time sample, however from mid‐2008 to the end of 2009 co‐movements almost doubled when compared with the average correlation; (b) we observe three groups of commodities which have exhibited similar price dynamics (metals, oil and grains, and oilseeds) and which have increased their degree of co‐movement during the sampled period.     

The economic burden of advanced Parkinson’s disease: an analysis of a UK patient dataset

Abstract

Background:

To evaluate the cost burden of patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD) according to the waking hours per day spent in OFF state. An analysis of resource use comprising medical services, professional care and informal care data from an observational, cross-sectional study was conducted.

Methods:

A total of 60 physicians comprising 40 neurologists and 20 geriatricians across the UK participating in the Adelphi PD Disease Specific Programme took part. There were 302 PD patients at H&Y stages 3–5. Patients were characterised according to the percentage of time per day spent in OFF state (<25%, 26–50%, 51–75%, >75%).

Results:

Average 12-monthly total costs increased according to the time spent in OFF state from £25,630 in patients spending less than 25% of their waking hours in OFF to £62,147 for patients spending more than 75% of their time in OFF. Overall, 7% of costs were attributed to direct medical care, while 93% were split between direct non-medical professional care (50%) and indirect informal care (43%).

Limitations:

Low patient numbers in the more advanced disease stages of PD led to very little or no data to directly inform some of the severe health states of the analysis. Data gaps were filled in with data derived from a regression analysis which may affect the robustness of the analysis.

Conclusion:

This study illustrates the increasing costs of advancing PD, in particular related to the time spent in OFF state, and identifies that the foremost cost burden is associated with the care needs of the patient rather than medical services.     

沥青混凝土桥面铺装早期病害原因分析

针对沥青混凝土桥面铺装的早期病害及其原因进行了分析与研究,提出了用有限元分析需要注意的一些问题,指出了今后主要的研究方向。