In the past 20 years a variety of electronic markets have been set-up for the allocation of capacities in road transportation. Although, inefficiencies and cost pressures are high, the electronic markets have not succeeded so far. In this paper we will give an overview of the so-called electronic transportation exchanges and analyze the factors that were involved in the repeated failures. By us...

How large are trade costs in the world’s poorest countries and what are their consequences? I explore this question using a new dataset of monthly prices and production of 6 staple grains from 2003 to 2013 in 230 market catchment areas covering all 42 countries of continental subSaharan Africa. Using a new approach to identify cost parameters when trade and storage are unobserved, I estimate an...

OBJECTIVE Given that small food stores may be important retail food sources in low-income urban communities, our objective was to examine cross-city comparative data documenting healthy food availability within such facilities, particularly those located in low-income areas and nearby schools. DESIGN Food stores in Baltimore, Maryland; Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota; Oakland, California; and...

Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) is gaining popularity for the treatment of morbid obesity. It is a simple, low-cost procedure resulting in significant weight loss within a short period of time. LSG is a safe procedure with a low complication rate. The complications encountered nevertheless can result in morbidity and even mortality. The most significant complications are staple-line bleed...

Five upland cotton cultivars were crossed in a complete diallel crossing system to investigate inheritance pattern and combining ability of parents for different fiber quality traits like staple length, fiber strength, fineness and uniformity. The study was carried out in the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad during the years 2005-07. Highly signif...

PURPOSE Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is increasing, particularly in South-East Asia. Intake of high-glycaemic foods has been positively associated with T2DM, and feasible routes to reduce the glycaemic response to carbohydrate-rich staple foods are needed. The research question was whether different fibre and legume flour mixes in flatbreads lower postprandial glucose (PPG) responses. METHODS Using...

Findings from a participatory study (with 936 households in 72 villages in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe) of how smallholders responded to the 1992 drought, and how they were (arguably) largely responsible for preventing the drought developing into a famine, are summarised below under seven headings. These are followed by a summary of two particular implications these findings may have for policy...

A 30-year-old carpenter accidentally impaled his own left eye with a 5 cm staple ejected from a pneumatic gun. Entering the globe off-axis, the stainless steel staple caused a vitreous hemorrhage. On the day of injury, the staple was removed surgically. The vitreous hemorrhage cleared rapidly enough to permit laser treatment around the equatorial retinal perforation site. Visual acuity improved...

Human dentitions from Oakwood Mound were examined to ascertain dental health in this population. Attrition rate, carious lesions, and antemortem tooth loss were scored for each adult. No significant differences were present between the aforementioned variables by age or sex. The attrition rate supports the hypothesis that the individuals interred in Oakwood Mound shared similar subsistence stra...