Resource abundance and regional development in China1

Over the past several decades, China has made tremendous progress in market integration and infrastructure development. Demand for natural resources has increased from the booming coastal economies, causing the terms of trade to favour the resource sector, which is predominantly based in the interior regions of the country. However, the gap in economic development level between the coastal and inland regions has widened significantly. In this paper, using a panel dataset at the provincial level, we show that Chinese provinces with abundant resources perform worse than their resource‐poor counterparts in terms of per capita consumption growth. This trend that resource‐poor areas are better off than resource‐rich areas is particularly prominent in rural areas. Because of the institutional arrangements regarding property rights of natural resources, most gains from the resource boom have been captured either by the government‐ or state‐owned enterprises. Thus, the windfall of natural resources has more to do with government consumption than household consumption. Moreover, in resource‐rich areas, greater revenues accrued from natural resources bid up the price of non‐tradable goods and hurt the competitiveness of the local economy.     

Anthropometric failure and persistence of poverty in rural India

Recent studies have drawn attention to the high prevalence of stunting among children in rural India. In fact, these estimates point to more pervasive deprivation than conventional measures of poverty based on income or consumption expenditure shortfalls imply. Since stunting reflects cumulative nutritional and health deprivation, it is likely to persist despite higher incomes. With a view to shedding some new light on this issue, an analysis of the determinants of stunting is carried out, based on a recent all‐India survey of rural households. While income matters, other factors acting independently of it matter too. These include household size, whether household head is male, caste affiliation, mother’s age at marriage, mother’s age, age composition of children, male–female wage differences, hygiene and sanitation facilities, and prices of food items. So, while higher incomes will help mitigate stunting, careful attention must also be given to enhancing women’s autonomy through more remunerative employment opportunities for them, enabling households to improve hygiene and sanitation facilities, and facilitating more competitive local markets for food.     

探讨缺血性心脏病表现症状

传统中医辩证通过望、问、闻、切四诊合参,运用脏腑、气血、人纲、经络、气血理论对病症综合分析,做出病名,证型诊断,并确立治法方药。中医学历史上长期存在的重经轻络现象,络病证治始终未能形成系统的辩证论治体系。本文简单介绍缺血性心脏病的一些表现症状。     

Burden of rotavirus gastroenteritis and potential benefits of a pentavalent rotavirus vaccination in Belgium

Abstract

Objective and Methods: A decision analytic model was built to assess the paediatric rotavirus gastroenteritis (RVGE) burden and potential benefits associated with the introduction of RotaTeq^®? (pentavalent rotavirus vaccine) in Belgium.

Results: In the absence of a rotavirus (RV) immunisation programme, paediatric RVGE was estimated to account for about 5,860 hospitalisations, 1,720 cases of nosocomial infections, 9,410 cases treated by general practitioners/paediatricians (GP/P) and 10,790 cases not seeking medical care for a birth cohort followed up to 5 years of age. Paediatric RVGE was estimated to cost about €9.0 million from the Belgian healthcare provider perspective and €15.3 million to society. Given a 90% RV vaccination coverage rate, the pentavalent RV vaccine would have a high impact on RV burden by preventing more than 4,850 hospitalisations, 995 cases of nosocomial infections, 7,145 cases treated by GP/P and 8,190 cases not seeking medical care, and reduce RVGE costs by €7.1 million from the Belgian healthcare provider perspective and €12.0 million to society.     

A SHAPLEY DECOMPOSITION OF MULTIDIMENSIONAL CHRONIC POVERTY IN ARGENTINA

This paper proposes a Shapley decomposition to analyse the evolution of chronic poverty in a multivariate setting using a chronic poverty measure proposed by Alkire and colleagues. The decomposition makes possible to assess a vast array of information to find the drivers of change in chronic poverty, and could be a valuable tool in the way public policy programmes focus resources. We present an empirical application of the changes in chronic poverty in Argentina during the period 2004–12 using the Permanent Household Survey. We found that households with older adults show great persistence of multidimensional chronic poverty in time while the employment indicators is found to be an important driver of the intensity of chronic poverty.     

珠江三角洲地区社区中老年疾病谱的建立及意义

目的:了解珠江三角洲社区中老年人疾病谱及特点,为社区防治慢性病提供科学依据。方法:对顺德区北滘镇2008年9240例50岁以上中老年人健康体检资料进行慢性病学流行现状分析。结果:北滘镇50岁以上中老年人疾病谱顺位是高血压(43.11%)、脂肪肝(27.61%)、超重(26.27%)、心律失常(16.01%)、白内障(6.41%)、糖尿病(6.17%)、胆结石(3.92%)、肥胖(3.58%)、肺气肿(1.46%)。结论:应采取各种科学的干预措施,提高中老年人生活质量,改善中老年人群健康状况,是今后社区卫生服务的重点。     

也谈路基工程常见质量病害的防治

路基工程质量病害是路基施工中经常发生、也较普遍的质量问题,其多是由人为因素造成。本篇理论联系实际,对路基工程常见质量病害进行分析并提出一些相应的防治措施。     

我国资源型城市国有企业资本运营绩效分析——以河南省平顶山市国有企业为例

针对资源型城市可持续发展需要,以及国有资源优化配置与国有企业保值增值的压力,以平顶山市为例,对不同行业的国有资本全要素生产率进行了实证分析。找出该市国有资本有效运营的问题,提出完善国有资本有效运营的策略建议:适度扩张优化国有资本,发展关联产业,培育后续产业。     

Cost-utility of risperidone compared with standard conventional antipsychotics in chronic schizophrenia

SUMMARY

The high costs and the efficacy of risperidone warrant a systematic pharmacoeconomic evaluation in order to assess its relative cost-utility. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the costs and utilities of treatment in chronic schizophrenia. To achieve this, a cost-utility analysis, which compared risperidone to haloperidol and two depot antipsychotics: haloperidol decanoate and fluphenazine decanoate was conducted. A deterministic decision analysis was used to model chronic schizophrenia over one year. Probabilities were obtained from clinical trials for each medication that were combined using a random effects single arm meta-analysis. Utility values for different health states were obtained by patient interview. A government payer perspective was adopted for this analysis.

The study results demonstrate that risperidone is a dominant therapy in this baseline analysis since it is associated with the lowest overall cost and highest number of quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). Compared with haloperidol, risperidone might save $6,510 (CAN$) per year while producing 0.04 more QALYs per average patient.