For over three decades Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries have had an interest in regional integration initiatives to accelerate their industrialization and growth. The projects proposed to foster integration encompass a broad range of initiatives such as: (i) the development of regional ports to help African countries effectively utilize modern shipping technologies, and realize economies of ...

The use of regional anaesthesia techniques for intra-operative anaesthesia and postoperative analgesia remains very controversial for patients scheduled to undergo spinal interventions. Spine surgeries, especially the most extensive types, are mostly performed under general anaesthesia. This has to be explained by the position required during surgery, the preference of the surgeon and/or anaest...

Misfolded proteins (MP) are a key component in aging and associated neurodegenerative disorders. For example, misfolded Amyloid-ß (Aß) and tau proteins are two neuropathogenic hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. Mechanisms underlying intra-brain MP propagation/deposition remain essentially uncharacterized. Here, is introduced an epidemic spreading model (ESM) for MP dynamics that considers propag...

Established analyses of labour market commuting are based on random choice models and gravity type models. In these models generalised transport costs are formulated as exponential or log-linear distance dependent functions. This paper presents empirical observations, which imply that time distances influence the commuting behaviour in a non-linear way, such that the time sensitivity is much lo...

The objective of this paper is to situate the MENA area within the emerging markets universe. We first discuss the various components of market emergence and generate four bootstrapped indexes reflecting market size, market activity, market pricing and transparency. We then draw inter-regional and country-level comparisons using a probit model and a hierarchical cluster analysis. Our results su...

BACKGROUND Neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases show a distinct distribution of regional atrophy and subcortical lesions. OBJECTIVE To develop an easily applicable landmark-based method for segmentation of the brain into the four cerebral lobes from MRI images. METHOD The segmentation method relies on a combination of anatomical landmarks and geometrical definitions. It is applied...

Background Wall motion together with the development of intracavity pressure and inside shear stress cause synchronous myocardial contraction and relaxation, as well as blood flow. These variables are related to cardiovascular function and disease. Assessing regional wall velocities and blood flow may therefore provide quantitative information regarding abnormalities in wall contractility and a...

Market-seeking strategies predominate in the recent FDI boom in MERCOSUR countries. In the trade performance of transnational corporation affiliates a sort of ‘asymmetric integration’ is clearly visible: they produce for the internal market and, to some extent, for the regional one, while import inputs and final goods from developed countries (and a significant part of these trade flows is intr...

Curative surgery is possible in barely 10% of patients with colorectal liver metastases and combined treatment modalities scarcely improve survival in this group of patients. Hence, investigations of new therapeutic modalities are crucial. Overexpression of the H19 gene in liver metastases points to H19 as a target for cancer gene therapy. Here we have evaluated the possibility of regional intr...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Little is known about how regions vary in their use of thrombolysis (intravenous tissue-type plasminogen activator and intra-arterial treatment) for acute stroke. We sought to determine regional variation in thrombolysis treatment and investigate the extent to which regional variation is accounted for by patient demographics, regional factors, and elements of stroke syste...