Lectin-histochemical detection of degenerative glycoconjugate deposits in human brain

Several lectins were used to study the localization of glycoconjugates in brain of elderly people and patients with Alzheimer type dementia (ATD) and Down's syndrome (DS). Five kinds of degenerated or deposited materials stained clearly by lectins specific to GalNAC, Gal, Fuc, and/or Man were recognized much in ATD and DS, less in elderly peoples, in addition to the binding of the lectins to neurons. (i) Round shape deposits called corpora amylacea (CA) which consisted of various sizes of round material, existed mainly on the surface of cerebral cortex and some in white matter of the brain. They were colored by Alcian blue (AB), Aldehyde fucsin (AF) and periodic acid shiff (PAS) and weakly by Hematoxylin (H), but not by Eosin (B). They showed clear reactivity with lectins specific to GalNAC, Gal, Fuc and Gal-GalNAC. (ii) Amorphous and variform amyloid deposits existed around blood vessels in the white matter were stained by thioflavin and lectins specific to GalNAC, Gal and Fuc, but not with Man specific lectins and PAS, AB, AF and HE. (iii) Another kind of amyloid deposits which showed a similar characteristic to the previous one and were recognized mainly in white matter and independent blood vessels. These deposits were stained by thioflavin but not by PAS, AB, AF and HE and showed good reactivity with lectins specific to GalNAC, Gal, Fuc, Gal-GalNAC, Gal-GIcNAc and Man. The reactivity with lectins specific to Gal, Fuc, and Man was seen in senile plaques (iv) and neurofibrillary tangles (v). Although at present we are unable to explain the origin of these deposits, it is clear from this study that the glycoconjugates form an integral part of the degeneration in the brain. The lectin staining with GS-I is useful in the forensic pathology to diagnose brain disorders at postmortem examination, since these lectin were able to detect five types of degeneration changes and/or deposits.     

Transformation of the Rural Economy in the Philippines, 1988–2006

This research explores the changing structure of the rural economy in the Philippines from 1988 to 2006. We found that the expansion and upgrade of infrastructure such as electricity and roads and investment in secondary and tertiary education are important factors that induced the economic transformation of the rural economy. The importance of higher education as an entry requirement to the nonfarm labor market has declined over time, indicating that the rural nonfarm sector has been increasingly providing employment opportunities to the unskilled and the uneducated, who form the bulk of the rural poor.     

Short and Long Recall Errors in Retrospective Household Surveys: Evidence from a Developing Country

While recall errors in retrospective data from household surveys may generate estimation biases, the nature and the relative magnitude of the errors are still largely unknown, especially in the context of developing countries. To bridge this gap in the existing studies, we conduct a resurvey of respondents of the Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey (VHLS) 2006. The combined data set allows us to investigate a variety of short-term and long-term errors associated with recall surveys. First, our empirical results suggest that when we ask total expenditure rather than categorised expenditures, long recall errors are no worse than short recall errors. Second, we found mean-reversion only for long recall errors in the sum of categorised expenditures but not necessarily for total expenditure. Finally, the inclusion of household size, asset, income, and geographical dummy variables in regression analyses may mitigate the biases arising from measurement errors.     

Did Public Transfers Crowd Out Private Transfers in Korea During the Financial Crisis?

How effective are public transfers in protecting households facing financial crisis-induced negative shocks? Existing studies have not yet carefully considered the inter-relationship between public transfers and the existing private transfer network. In the context of the financial crisis in Korea, this paper investigates the possible crowding-out effect of public transfers on private transfers by explicitly considering the endogenous responses of private transfers against public transfers. By using two Korean household-level panel data sets for the periods of 1995–1998 and 1998–2003, we found a post-crisis, but not pre-crisis crowding-out effect of public transfers; more importantly, a crowding-in effect is observed during the crisis. The results suggest that private transfer networks were strengthened under the initial phase of the financial crisis, which possibly complemented public transfers due to the lack of effective formal safety nets, while public transfers became effective after the crisis, thereby replacing private transfers. Our results suggest that particularly at the initial stage of the crisis, the government could have played an important role in assisting households to weather the negative impacts of the crisis.     

The Changing Determinants of Schooling Investments: Evidence from Villages in the Philippines, 1985–89 and 2002–04

This paper aims to explore the changing determinants of child progress through school over the last two decades using unique long-term household-panel data from four villages in the Philippines. In a regime of low income in the late 1980s, income from farming is the most important source of funds to finance child schooling. As households shift away from farm to non-farm activities and their children pursue higher education, non-farm income and revenues from pawning of land have emerged as main sources of schooling funds in the early 2000s. In this process, farm income has lost its prime importance as a determinant of schooling investments among rural households.     

Spotlight on the Main Actors: How Land Banks and Community Development Corporations Stabilize and Revitalize Cleveland Neighborhoods in the Aftermath of the Foreclosure Crisis

Cleveland, Ohio provides a useful case for examining and contrasting property transfer practices among certain key actors before, during, and after the foreclosure crisis. Transfers among key actors—Cleveland’s two land banks, the State of Ohio, Fannie Mae, investors, and community development corporations (CDCs)—differed considerably. This article empirically shows that inappropriate property transfer practices by financial institutions and speculator-type investors negatively impacted neighborhoods, compounding the damage brought on by the foreclosure crisis. By contrast, a case study of one of the hardest hit neighborhoods in Cleveland finds that the land banks and CDC are producing positive outcomes. A proactive land bank as a conduit and robust CDCs as a project promoter are an effective combination to cope with vacant and abandoned properties.     

A Long‐term Study of the Association between the Relative Poverty Rate and Suicide Rate in Japan

The annual number of suicides in Japan totaled around 23,000 in 1997 and abruptly increased to around 31,000 in 1998. This figure has remained high since then. This abrupt increase in the number of suicides was primarily due to an increase in suicides occasioned by economic concerns. The association between various economic factors and suicide must be studied in detail and over the long term in order to ascertain the association between economic concerns and suicide. This study examined the relative poverty rate and the suicide rate in Japan over 30 years and discussed the association between those two rates. The results suggest that the relative poverty rate may be associated with the suicide rate for both sexes. This association is true for men in particular. The organizations and professionals involved in implementing suicide prevention measures should be cognizant of the current findings and consider formulating additional specific measures.     

The Persistence of Home Bias for Important R&D in Wireless Telecom and Automobiles

We argue that in this age of globalization, important R&D—in automobiles and wireless telecommunication—exhibits a decisive home bias. This contrasts with findings on the rate and extent of globalization of the aggregate of activities classified as R&D. Sorting out R&D was deemed important at the outset by the firm, and comparing that to "regular" R&D by the same firms enables the argument. We take our findings on location a step further by examining, for this category of R&D, the reasons for nonglobalization.