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Chronic arsenic exposures via the consumption of contaminated drinking water are clearly associated with many deleterious health outcomes, including anemia. Following exposure, trivalent inorganic arsenic (AsIII) is methylated through a series of arsenic (+III oxidation state) methyltransferase (As3MT)-dependent reactions, resulting in the production of several intermediates with greater toxicity than the parent inorganic arsenicals. The extent to which inorganic vs. methylated arsenicals contribute to AsIII-induced hematotoxicity remains unknown. In this study, the contribution of As3MT-dependent biotransformation to the development of anemia was evaluated in male As3mt-knockout (KO) and wild-type, C57BL/6J, mice following 60-day drinking water exposures to 1 mg/L (ppm) AsIII. The evaluation of hematological indicators of anemia revealed significant reductions in red blood cell counts, hemoglobin levels, and hematocrit in AsIII-exposed wild-type mice as compared to unexposed controls. No such changes in the blood of As3mt-KO mice were detected. Compared with unexposed controls, the percentages of mature RBCs in the bone marrow and spleen (measured by flow cytometry) were significantly reduced in the bone marrow of AsIII-exposed wild-type, but not As3mt-KO mice. This was accompanied by increased levels of mature RBCS in the spleen and elevated levels of circulating erythropoietin in the serum of AsIII-exposed wild-type, but not As3mt-KO mice. Taken together, the findings from the present study suggest that As3MT-dependent biotransformation has an essential role in mediating the hematotoxicity of AsIII following drinking water exposures.

A grain surplus and the grain trade are closely related to the urbanization of developing countries. However, existing literature has not given adequate attention to this issue. Our paper develops a theoretical model to explain the mechanisms whereby changes in the grain surplus constrain the level of urbanization in a closed economy context and the grain trade affects the level of urbanization by acting on the grain surplus in an open economy context. A test of the theoretical model applied to some developing countries in Asia during the period 1993-2010 shows that international trade is generally negatively correlated with level of urbanization. However, cereal and non-cereal trade vary in terms of their relation to urbanization: whereas the former is positively correlated with level of urbanization, the latter is negatively correlated with it. Since the net import of cereals relaxes the constraint imposed on the level of urbanization by the domestic grain surplus, it can have a marked positive ...

基于回归方程的收入差距分解发现，1988年、1995年和2002年，行业间收入不平等对中国城镇居民收入差距的贡献越来越大，而且这主要是由一些收入迅速提高的垄断行业造成的。同时，区位、教育、所有制和职业类型以及是否有第二职业对收入差距的贡献也在提高，是否完全就业和年龄对收入差距的贡献明显下降。因此，缩小中国城镇收入差距，亟需打破劳动力市场进入壁垒和产品市场行业垄断。此外，减轻地区间的劳动力流动障碍、普遍提高劳动者的受教育水平等措施也将是未来政府缩小城镇收入差距的重要政策着力点。 关键词: 行业垄断 收入差距分解 夏普里值 Regression‐based decomposition of inter‐industry earnings differentials shows that in 1988, 1995 and 2002, inter‐industry earnings differentials made an increasing contribution to urban earnings inequality in China. The primary reason for the widening gap lay in monopoly industries. At the same time, geographical location, educational level, type of enterprise ownership, type of occupation and whether the individual had a second job also contributed to rising earnings inequality, while age and being fully employed made a decreasing contribution. Therefore, if China is to reduce the earnings gap it is imperative that we remove barriers to labor market entry and break down some monopoly industries in the product market. Additionally, reducing obstac...

This paper estimates income polarization in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from 1978 to 2010 and decomposes the estimated polarization by population subgroup. In addition, a framework is proposed to disentangle a change in polarization into a growth and a redistribution component. This framework is then used to quantify the contributions of various income sources to a rise in polarization in the PRC between 2002 and 2007. The analytical results suggest that (1) income polarization exhibited a broadly increasing trend from 1978 to 2010; (2) income polarization was large and rising among rural citizens, while low and declining among urban citizens; polarization of migrants also declined; (3) geographically, income polarization rose in east and particularly central PRC, while west PRC was most polarized with little change over time; and (4) the rise in polarization between 2002 and 2007 was mainly driven by the investment income, followed by transfers. Conversely, business income is polarization-reducing, especially in rural PRC. To a lesser extent, wage is also polarization-reducing, especially among migrants.

The rise of China and India : , The rise of China and India : , کتابخانه دیجیتال و فن آوری اطلاعات دانشگاه امام صادق(ع)

The global economic recession is severely affecting Asian economies. Timely assessment of the economic and social impacts is critical to the formulation and implementation of policy responses. This paper presents a simple methodology of ex ante impact assessment, focusing specifically on how the global recession will affect poverty and social expenditures in developing Asian countries. This involves two steps: first, to gauge how the crisis will affect national and household incomes; and, second, to assess how the income effects are transmitted to poverty and social spending.

This paper synthesizes factors that could contribute to the failure of basic service delivery to the poor. It also highlights successful projects and good practices from developing Asian countries which may help promote inclusiveness in providing basic social services in developing countries. While both demand and supply factors are discussed, special attention is given to noneconomic factors including institutional deficiencies, the lack of information or awareness, and the multiplicity of basic services.