The Impact of Logistics on Marketing Margin in the Philippine Agricultural Sector

The logistics industry is a fundamental aspect of fulfilling the supply chain in agriculture. Agricultural farmers in the Philippines often use the services of middlemen to transact on their behalf since these intermediaries possess better information, and engaging in logistics affects the marketing margin in the process. Frequently, logistics costs cause marketing margin to increase, leading to high farm-retail prices of agricultural goods. This paper examines if the existence of middlemen improves farmers' wages even with the additional logistics costs incurred. The variables' secondary data were all gathered from the Philippine Statistics Authority, and its annual frequency spanned the period of 1995 to 2019. Using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis procedure and diagnostic tests prove that logistics cost negatively affects marketing margin while farmers' wages have a positive relationship. The findings of this study address the presence of a longer supply chain, asymmetric information, technology, storage and facilities, and added logistics costs in agricultural transactions. Although middlemen have greater market power than the farmers, these mediators are still affected by the changes in the logistics costs since it is unavoidable for them to reduce the price due to the need to competitively sell the commodities.

ECMO use in Germany: An analysis of 29,929 ECMO runs

Background Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) use is increasing despite limited evidence. The aim of this study was to demonstrate heterogeneity of ECMO use and its association with hospital size and annual frequency in Germany. Methods This is a database analysis of all ECMO cases in Germany from 2010 to 2016 using the German Diagnosis Related Groups (DRG) coding system for ECMO. Results During the study period, 510 hospitals performed 29,929 ECMO runs (12,572 vvECMO, 11,504 vaECMO, 1993 pECLA) with an increase over time. Mortality ranged between 58% and 66% for vaECMO cases and 66% and 53% for vvECMO cases. 304 (61%) hospitals performed only one ECMO per year. 78%% of all ECMO runs were performed in centres with more than 20 cases per year and more than half of all ECMO runs were performed in hospitals with >1.000 beds. Mortality for vv and vaECMO was highest in very small hospitals (< 200 beds; 70%; 74%) and very large hospitals (>1000 beds; 60%; 62%). Conclusions Use of ECMO is still increasing and a substantial proportion of hospitals performs very few ECMO runs. Small hospitals had a significantly higher mortality, but dependence on hospital size and ECMO mortality was irregular.

Thunderstorm climatology over Indian region

Thunderstorm is a severe weather phenomenon, the impact of which is being increasingly felt by all the sectors of society. In this study attempt has been made to develop thunderstorm climatology over Indian region based on latest representative climatological data. In all, data of 450 observatories comprising of 390 IMD observatories, 50 IAF observatories, six Bangladesh observatories, two Pakistan observatories, and one each in Nepal and Sri Lanka have been analysed. Inclusion of climatological data of Indian Air Force and Bangladesh has helped in developing representative climatology over Indian region. The study has brought out higher (100-120 days) annual frequency of thunderstorm as compared to those given by earlier studies (80-100 days). The highest annual frequency (100-120 days) is observed over Assam and Sub Himalayan West Bengal in the east and Jammu region in the north. The lowest frequency (less than 5 days) is observed over Ladakh region. In the plains Gangetic West Bengal and Bangladesh record between 80 and 100 days of thunderstorm annually. Kerala records highest (80-100 days) thunderstorm frequency of thunderstorm over peninsula. Udhampur observatory (132 days) in Jammu sub-division records highest number of thunderstorms in the country followed by Kumbhigram (Silchar) observatory (129 days) in south Assam and Hasimara (123 days) in Sub Himalayan West Bengal. In the plains Saurashtra and Kutch record lowest number (less than 15 days) of thunderstorm in the country. Thunderstorms are primarily short lived mesoscale weather phenomena. Existing synoptic network of part time observatories have limitations in recording all the occurrences of thunderstorms at the observatory and adjoining areas. Inclusion of data from such observatories results in lower frequency of the event and vitiates climatology. Efforts have been made in this study to develop thunderstorm climatology by using quality data of full time current weather (Airport) observatories, class I and selected class II IMD observatories. Since number of full time observatories in most of the sub divisions is few, the study is not able to bring out finer spatial variation of thunderstorm activity with in sub-divisions. Thunderstorm is a high impact severe weather event, which affects all the sectors of the society. Therefore, both from operational and climatological point of view, there is urgent need to establish at least one full time current weather observatory in each district to ensure proper reporting of all thunderstorm occurrences and to build district level thunderstorm climatology in the country.

An account of fog over Chennai

Climatologically (based on 1951-1980) the annual fog frequency of Chennai airport is 4.3 days. But, the operational aviation meteorological forecasters often experienced more number of foggy days during the past decade. Hence the fog frequency has been critically analysed based on current weather observations made by aerodrome meteorological office, Chennai during 1981-2002 (barring 1984 for which data is not readily available). It has been found that the annual frequency based on the present study has shot up to 21.5 days. The most favourable period for fog over Chennai airport has been identified as January followed by February and March. The formation of fog has been mostly observed during 0000-0200 UTC although in good number of cases it was during 2200-2400 UTC. The most common duration of fog is 60-120 minutes albeit duration as high as 540-570 minutes are also probable. The low level (surface) nocturnal inversion frequency has alarmingly increased during 1990s and the inversion is almost a day-to-day phenomenon during 2000s. Rapid urbanisation, vehicular traffic and industrial growth could be the cause for the increased atmospheric pollution which has increased the nocturnal stability conditions as well the fog frequency. Visibility as low as zero had been recorded on a number of cases and their causes have been analysed. Neutral or absolutely unstable stratification at 1200 UTC coupled with high relative humidity and high concentration of pollution cause the fog to form from 2200 UTC onwards and the nocturnal surface inversion / isotherm at 0000 UTC maintains the fog. Though the low level inversion maintains the fog once it is formed already, inversion alone is not a sufficient condition for the formation of fog.

Indoor Tanning and the Risk of Overall and Early-Onset Melanoma and Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The aim of this study was to examine the association between indoor tanning use and the risk of overall and early-onset (age < 50) melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC). To evaluate the association between indoor tanning and skin cancer, a systematic review of the literature published until July 2021 was performed using PubMed, EMBASE, and MEDLINE. Summary relative risk (RR) from 18 studies with 10,406 NMSC cases and 36 studies with 14,583 melanoma cases showed significant association between skin cancer and indoor tanning (melanoma, RR= 1.27, 95% CI 1.16–1.39; NMSC, RR = 1.40, 95% CI 1.18–1.65; squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), RR = 1.58, 95% CI 1.38–1.81; basal cell carcinoma (BCC), RR = 1.24, 95% CI 1.00–1.55). The risk was more pronounced in early-onset skin cancer (melanoma, RR = 1.75, 95% CI 1.14–2.69; NMSC, RR = 1.99, 95% CI 1.48–2.68; SCC, RR = 1.81, 95% CI 1.38–2.37; BCC, RR = 1.75, 95% CI 1.15–2.77). Moreover, first exposure at an early age (age ≤ 20 years) and higher exposure (annual frequency ≥ 10 times) to indoor tanning showed increasing risk for melanoma (RR = 1.47, 95% CI 1.16–1.85; RR = 1.52, 1.22–1.89) and NMSC (RR = 2.02, 95% CI 1.44–2.83; RR = 1.56, 95% CI 1.31–1.86). These findings provide evidence supporting primary prevention policies regulating modifiable behaviors to reduce the additional risk of skin cancer among younger adults.

The Study on Compound Drought and Heatwave Events in China Using Complex Networks

Compound extreme events can severely impact water security, food security, and social and economic development. Compared with single-hazard events, compound extreme events cause greater losses. Therefore, understanding the spatial and temporal variations in compound extreme events is important to prevent the risks they cause. Only a few studies have analyzed the spatial and temporal relations of compound extreme events from the perspective of a complex network. In this study, we define compound drought and heatwave events (CDHEs) using the monthly scale standard precipitation index (SPI), and the definition of a heatwave is based on daily maximum temperature. We evaluate the spatial and temporal variations in CDHEs in China from 1961 to 2018 and discuss the impact of maximum temperature and precipitation changes on the annual frequency and annual magnitude trends of CDHEs. Furthermore, a synchronization strength network is established using the event synchronization method, and the proposed synchronization strength index (SSI) is used to divide the network into eight communities to identify the propagation extent of CDHEs, where each community represents a region with high synchronization strength. Finally, we explore the impact of summer Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO) and Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) on CDHEs in different communities. The results show that, at a national scale, the mean frequency of CDHEs takes on a non-significant decreasing trend, and the mean magnitude of CDHEs takes on a non-significant increasing trend. The significant trends in the annual frequency and annual magnitude of CDHEs are attributed to maximum temperature and precipitation changes. AMO positively modulates the mean frequency and mean magnitude of CDHEs within community 1 and 2, and negatively modulates the mean magnitude of CDHEs within community 3. PDO negatively modulates the mean frequency and mean magnitude of CDHEs within community 4. AMO and PDO jointly modulate the mean magnitude of CDHEs within community 6 and 8. Overall, this study provides a new understanding of CDHEs to mitigate their severe effects.

Subnational Purchasing Power Parities as a Tool for the Interarea Comparison

The author describes the key characteristics of domestic and foreign experience in the development of conceptual and methodological foundations for the construction of subnational purchasing power parities. The relevance of the topic is explained, in particular, by the fact that subnational purchasing power parities are one of the key tools of the interarea comparison analysis. This causes the expanding attention paid by the national statistical ofces to its compilation and the development of the corresponding methodology. Thus, in July 2021, the World Bank as the Global ICP coordinator published two important guides presenting the international standards for producing purchasing power parities – for developing subnational PPPs and for integrating PPPs and CPI production activities.The international standards recommend considering the sum of expenditures on fnal consumption and gross fxed capital formation as the aggregated regional indicator in interarea PPP-based comparisons. A narrower indicator – household fnal consumption – can also be used depending on the purposes of further analysis; household budget survey data provide weights in comparing the consumer prices. Producing subnational PPPs is closely linked with assessing the spatial adjustment factors, which can provide an important tool in computing the national PPPs.Bearing in mind that producing subnational PPPs is a labor-intensive process, which includes all work stages (price data collection and validation, forming the weights system, computations, ensuring a balanced presentation of regions), the international standards suggest focusing on the annual frequency of works.Integrating the production of subnational PPPs with the CPI calculations system is one of the key factors for ensuring the efciency of the whole work.

Exercise, Nutrition, and Supplements in the Muscle Carnitine Palmitoyl-Transferase II Deficiency: New Theoretical Bases for Potential Applications

Carnitine palmitoyltransferase II (CPTII) deficiency is the most frequent inherited disorder regarding muscle fatty acid metabolism, resulting in a reduced mitochondrial long-chain fatty acid oxidation during endurance exercise. This condition leads to a clinical syndrome characterized by muscle fatigue and/or muscle pain with a variable annual frequency of severe rhabdomyolytic episodes. While since the CPTII deficiency discovery remarkable scientific advancements have been reached in genetic analysis, pathophysiology and diagnoses, the same cannot be said for the methods of treatments. The current recommendations remain those of following a carbohydrates-rich diet with a limited fats intake and reducing, even excluding, physical activity, without, however, taking into account the long-term consequences of this approach. Suggestions to use carnitine and medium chain triglycerides remain controversial; conversely, other potential dietary supplements able to sustain muscle metabolism and recovery from exercise have never been taken into consideration. The aim of this review is to clarify biochemical mechanisms related to nutrition and physiological aspects of muscle metabolism related to exercise in order to propose new theoretical bases of treatment which, if properly tested and validated by future trials, could be applied to improve the quality of life of these patients.

Meteorological Drought Events and Their Evolution from 1960 to 2015 Using the Daily SWAP Index in Chongqing, China

Meteorological droughts are natural disasters that have been linked to economic losses and casualties. Decision-makers need to understand the temporal and spatial variation of meteorological drought events at a daily to weekly scale to develop a more elaborate framework for drought risk management. The present study used the standardized weighted average of precipitation index (SWAP) as an indicator of meteorological droughts, computed from the daily precipitation dataset (1960–2015) of 34 meteorological stations in Chongqing, China. The multi-threshold run theory was applied to identify drought events. Variation of drought characteristics was estimated by the modified Sen’s trend test. The results suggested the following findings: (1) the onset, duration, and severity of drought events identified by the SWAP index are in good agreement with the real local records; (2) there was no significant linear trend and abrupt change in annual duration and severity of drought events, but the decadal variation was obvious. From a decadal perspective, the annual frequency, duration, and severity of drought events showed a steady decreasing trend before the 1990s, and then fluctuated upward; (3) the spatial variation of the duration and severity of ordinary drought events was quite inconsistent at different periods. The annual drought days and severity increased from 1960 to 2015 but decreased after 1990. From 1960 to 2015, the duration days and severity of persistent, long persistent, severe, and extreme drought events declined insignificantly in most parts of the middle and southeast regions but increased in the western and northeast regions. The drought situation in Chongqing shows a large range of variation and obvious spatial heterogeneity. The SWAP index is an effective tool to identify the evolution of daily scale meteorological drought events.

Causes of Death in People with Dementia from 2002 to 2015: A Nationwide Study

Background: Dementia is associated with increased mortality. However, it is not clear whether causes of death in people with dementia have changed over time. Objective: To investigate if causes of death changed over time in people with dementia compared to the general elderly population. Methods: We included longitudinal data from nationwide registries on all Danish residents aged≥65 years to 110 years who died between 2002 to 2015. We assessed the annual frequency of dementia-related deaths (defined as a dementia diagnosis registered as a cause of death) and of underlying causes of death in people registered with dementia compared to the general elderly population. Results: From 2002 to 2015, 621,826 people died, of whom 103,785 were diagnosed with dementia. During this period, the percentage of dementia-related deaths increased from 10.1%to 15.2%in women, and from 6.3%to 9.5%in men in the general elderly population. From 2002 to 2015, dementia became the leading, registered underlying cause of death in people with diagnosed dementia. Simultaneously, a marked decline in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular deaths was observed in people with and without dementia. Conclusion: This is the first study to investigate if the causes of death change over time in people with diagnosed dementia compared with the general elderly population. The increase in the registration of dementia as an underlying cause of death could reflect increasing awareness of dementia as a fatal condition.