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Despite the common use of cyclosporine (CsA) for acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) prophylaxis following allogeneic stem cell transplant, the optimal CsA trough target remains unknown.Here, we report on outcomes of adult patients following myeloablative conditioning to identify an optimal CsA trough target and characterize the most relevant timeframe post-transplant for CsA trough targeting to minimize aGVHD. We retrospectively reviewed 399 consecutive patients who underwent first peripheral blood allogeneic stem cell transplant for hematological malignancies between January 2009 and December 2018.In the unadjusted and adjusted analyses, the incidence of grades 2-4 aGVHD was significantly higher among patients with an average CsA trough concentration250 mcg/L compared to patients with an average CsA trough concentration ≥250 mcg/L during days 15-28 post-transplant (31.5% versus 18.8%, P = 0.037), with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.97 (95% confidence interval 1.04-3.71). In contrast, no correlations between CsA trough concentration and relapse, non-relapse mortality and overall survival was found.In conclusion, early post-transplant CsA trough concentrations are an important factor in the prophylaxis against aGVHD. Our findings suggest that CsA trough concentrations should be maximized between days 15-28 post-myeloablative transplant.

China's significantly slower economic growth since 2012 has been attributed to the passing of its Lewis turning point and the depletion of surplus labor in rural agriculture. At the same time, some export‐oriented labor‐intensive manufacturers have moved their factories from coastal to inland cities. Against this background, we re‐examine China's Lewis turning point and highlight the regional variations in economic development. Our analysis shows that China's eastern and north‐eastern regions passed the turning point by 2010, while the central region is approaching this point and the western region remains far from it. However, only 6 provinces have passed the turning point. These findings indicate the need to focus on noticeable regional and provincial variations in China's economic development.

Building upon Temple and Woβmann (2006), we propose a three-sector model to identify the role of labour reallocation to the growth of total factor productivity (TFP) in China since the 1980s. Based on System Generalized Methods of Moments (GMM) dynamic panel data models and a newly-developed provincial human capital stock dataset, our results show that labour reallocation from agriculture to rural non-agriculture is more important than the urban counterparts to output growth and that this effect is more evident in coastal areas of China. Implications of structural transformation for other populous developing economies are discussed.

Official data are criticized for over-reported agricultural labour statistics. We derive an alternative series of labour participated in agriculture with the information of production cost and revenue. Using parametric stochastic frontier approach, labour requirement functions are estimated for 30 farm and animal husbandry products in rural China. The estimated required amount of labour is compared with our newly-derived observed agricultural labour to obtain the surplus labour. This surplus ranges from 18% to 12% of agricultural labour between 2001 and 2013. Our results reveal that China was relatively successful in reducing redundant labour in rice production. Equally important, the trends of our estimated surplus place China in the second stage of transition under the Lewis-Fei-Ranis framework, moving in the direction of full commercialization or the so-called Lewis turning point.

PurposeThis paper aims to contribute to the pool of studies of rural underemployment in China. It is devoted to the conceptualization and measurement of surplus labour.Design/methodology/approachThe agricultural labour requirement function is estimated by the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) with China's prefecture‐level data. Surplus labour or inefficient labour is obtained by subtracting the required labour from the actual labour participated in agriculture.FindingsThe authors' analysis indicates that the existing size of agricultural surplus labour in rural China is still significantly large with the continued practice of the household registration system and China's WTO membership. However, the size has been decreasing over the last decade.Research limitations/implicationsQuality of data might affect the authors' estimates.Practical implicationsThe phenomenon of the coexistence of surplus agricultural labour and shortage of workers in non‐agricultural production in urban China was discussed in line with the authors' research findings, as this has important impacts on the policies of rural industrialization in China.Social implicationsThis paper further argues that China is probably experiencing the second stage of the Lewis‐Fei‐Ranis dualistic economic framework.Originality/valueThe authors' paper is probably the first to use prefecture data and SFA for panel data study of surplus agricultural labour in China. The analysis is essential to the understanding of the rural labour market during its rapid transition.

Economies may be integrated through flows among them of production factors such as labour (immigration), capital and technology (FDI, technology diffusion, joint undertaken R&D activities, etc.), a...

Macao's economic prosperity until recently had been dramatic thanks to astonishing expansion of the gaming and tourism sector. However, Macao's casino revenue growth came to a halt in the second half of 2008 due to the twin blow of a deteriorating global economy and Mainland China's imposition of tighter visa restrictions on Chinese visitors to Macao. Gross gaming revenue contracted 12.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2009 and GDP consequently dipped 12.9 per cent. Yet the current break in the gambling and tourism-led boom will give the territory a much needed breathing space in which to re-examine its economic growth pattern. A potential driver of growth could be the rise of more diversified tourism with leisure and business conventions likely to be the focal point.

This paper contributes to the pool of studies of rural underemployment and revisits a number of estimates of surplus agricultural labour in China. The study is devoted to the conceptualization, identification and measurement of surplus at regional, provincial and national levels by a stochastic frontier functional specification. The analysis indicates that the existing size of agricultural surplus labour is still significantly large with the continued practice of the household registration system and China's WTO membership.

We present a case of acromegaly with normal growth hormone levels. The patient had markedly elevated IGF-1 and a pituitary microadenoma. He refused all modalities of treatment, and over a span of 30 years the signs and symptoms of acromegaly progressed. This case illustrates the shortcomings of growth hormone–based parameters in the diagnosis of acromegaly and the clinical importance of prolonged elevation of IGF-1. The literature on the diagnostic criteria for acromegaly and on cases of acromegaly without a significant growth hormone elevation is reviewed.

The economic success of Guangdong since 1978 has been widely studied and its contributing factors are several, including the geographical and economic proximity to Hong Kong and Macau, the special economic policies and institutional settings granted by the central government, the pragmatic development strategies – especially those practised in the Zhu (Pearl) River delta, and the extensive overseas Chinese clan relationship.

Asian economies have long pegged their exchange rates to the US dollar and used the dollar in international transactions. The increasing importance of intra- and extra-regional trade, together with the latest financial crisis and the adoption of a single currency in Europe, raises the question of forming an international monetary union in Asia.

The question of whether China has reached the Lewis turning point (LTP) has recently been intensively debated in the literature. Partly, this is due to the profound policy implication of the turning point posited by Lewis (1954) and Ranis and Fei (1961), while it is also closely related to the growing concern of China’s growth sustainability. Various empirical approaches and criteria have been applied in the literature and greatly contributed to the diverse findings on the questions of China’s LTP. In this paper, we carefully review the approaches applied in the existing studies and revisit the question by applying the wage-productivity approach which is most closely to the theoretical definition of LTP and the core criterion recommended by Minami (1968). Moreover, we examine the regional heterogeneity of China’s LTP which has long been neglected in the literature but shall have significant policy implications to China’s regional economic development. Our results show that in China’s Eastern provinces, the marginal product of labour has increased rapidly and outpaced agricultural incomes by 2002 for the earliest and 2008 for the latest. In Central China, most provinces included in the sample of our study have passed the LTP by the mid to late 2000s except for Jiangxi province. In contrast, half of the examined provinces in Western China have not yet passed the turning point. The regional heterogeneity of the LTP can be explained by diverse levels of economic development of China’s regions. It also indicates that China should adopt heterogeneous industrial policies across regions.

Fung Kwan: With the micro-level data of income and other educational indicators, this paper examines the returns to higher education in China. At the full sample level, fixedeffect estimates show no returns to education. After adjusting the endogeneity problem, the returns become around 10 percent. At the individual level, this study finds the returns to education are small for urban, female, and highly educated workers; but significantly positive for those living in the countryside, male, and low-educated workers.

An ‘innovative activity matrix’ is established from a recent ISTAT/CNR survey of innovation. After specifying the particularities of an innovative activity matrix in comparison with other flow matrices, we show that it is asymmetrical and clustered in parts of economic space. The structure of the innovative activity matrix is similar to that of the domestic and import requirement but not the capital flow matrix. Strong correlations indicate the following: that input–output analysis is useful for identifying the location of innovative activities in economic space; that it can be analyzed in an economically meaningful way; that its location is structured; and that, furthermore, it is structured in ways which are statistically related to economic activity. The paper ends with suggestions for the examination of possible causal relationships.

Chinese Foreign Policy: Sixty Years On Plumbing the Relevance of Independence and Self-RelianceA" in Chinese Foreign Policy, 1949-2009 China at Sixty: Domestic Politics Central-Local Relations: Explaining Trends through Processes China's Macroeconomy: Global-Local Interactions From Mono-Banking to Globalization: The Ordeal of China's Banking Reform The Development of Intellectual Property Law in the People's Republic of China In Search of a Capable Fighting Force: Chinese Military Modernization and Transformation The Power Politics of China's Search for Energy Security: From Pre-Daqing to Post-Daqing Oscillating between Mao and Deng? The Domestic-International Nexus of China's Public Health Reform China's Ethnic Minorities: Global-Local Interactions over 60 Years The Party-State and the Special Position of Women.

To investigate the feasibility of measuring DNA-carcinogen adducts in the lungs of non-surgical patients, endobronchial biopsies were obtained from 78 patients undergoing routine diagnostic bronchoscopy. Lung cancer was present in 37 (47%) of the patients. DNA was isolated from the tissues and analyzed by HPLC- or nuclease-PI -enriched 32P-postlabelling, using procedures selective for aromatic adducts. Chromatograms from all 28 current smokers showed a distinctive diagonal adduct zone which was present in only 24 of 40 ex-smokers and 4 of 10 lifetime non-smokers. Adduct levels and chromatographic patterns were similar in bronchial tissue from different lobes of the lung, in bronchial and alveolar tissue, and in tumor and non-tumor bronchial tissue taken from the same subject. Bronchial DNA adduct levels were strongly associated with cigarette smoking status and dropped rapidly after smoking ceased. Higher levels of DNA adducts seen in the lung-cancer patients were mainly due to cigarette smoking. Frequent alcohol intake was the only dietary factor associated with higher levels of bronchial DNA adducts. We conclude that the level of bronchial DNA adducts is strongly associated with cigarette-smoking history and with alcohol intake, but is not associated with lung cancer independently from its relation to smoking. The results indicate the feasibility of using 32P-postlabelling to detect and quantitate genetic damage in bronchial biopsy specimens.

Effect of acupuncture at Nei-Kuan (EH-6) on left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was examined in 22 patients with angiographically proved coronary artery disease (CAD) and 22 normal subjects. Serial equilibrium radionuclide angiography was done to measure LVEF at 4 different times (at baseline, at 1 to 15 minutes, and 16 to 30 minutes during acupuncture, and immediately after acupuncture). One week later, each patient had an identical imaging protocol with acupuncture performed at a dummy point. Our results showed that in normal subjects, the mean values of LVEF did not change significantly during or after acupuncture. In contrast, in patients with CAD, the mean values of LVEF in the initial 15 minutes of acupuncture significantly increased from baseline (42.5 ± 15.6% vs. 40.6 ± 15.4%, p < 0.05). The increase persisted through the next 15 minutes of acupuncture and 15 minutes after acupuncture, but became insignificant at one week. Thus, acupuncture at Nei-Kuan can temporarily improve LV function in patients with CAD.

This book about Chinese economic reform is written by an industrial and financial specialist. It examines the argument of China's moving from a centrally-planned economy to one with more market components, asking, in the author's words, “whether the iron rice bowl has already been broken.” There are seven chapters in total.