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Primary Measures (primary + measure)
Selected AbstractsMeasurement Bias in the HICP: What do we know and What do we need to know?JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SURVEYS, Issue 1 2004Mark A. Wynne Abstract. The Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) is the primary measure of inflation in the euro area, and plays a central role in the policy deliberations of the European Central Bank (ECB). The ECB defines its Treaty mandate of price stability as ,, a year-on-year increase in the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for the euro area of below 2%[,] to be maintained over the medium term.' Among the rationales given for defining price stability as prevailing at some positive measured inflation rate is the possibility that the HICP as published incorporates measurement errors of one sort or another that may cause it to systematically overstate the true rate of inflation in the euro area. This paper reviews what currently is known about the scope of measurement error in the HICP. We conclude that given the vague conceptual framework of the HICP, the scant research on price measurement issues in the EU and the ongoing improvements in the HICP, there is very little scientific basis at this time for a point (or even an interval) estimate of a positive bias in the HICP. [source] Computing the Extent of Circumvention of Proposition 13: A ResponseAMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 1 2000Gary M. Galles Galles and Sexton (1998) showed that California state and local revenues exceeded their previous real per capita levels as did the sum of property taxes plus charges and miscellaneous revenues within a decade after Proposition 13 passed, and concluded that Proposition 13 was only temporarily successful at shrinking California state and local governments. Khoury and Pal (2000) challenge this conclusion. However, their conclusion that Proposition 13'mvention "n only marginal"from using per $1000 of income comparisons rather than real per capita comparisons and from using growth rate changes, which fail to adjust for U.S. fiscal trends, instead of changes in the levels of variables as their primary measure. [source] A randomized controlled study of paroxetine and cognitive-behavioural therapy for late-life panic disorderACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 1 2010G.-J. Hendriks Hendriks G-J, Keijsers GPJ, Kampman M, Oude Voshaar RC, Verbraak MJPM, Broekman TG, Hoogduin CAL. A randomized controlled study of paroxetine and cognitive-behavioural therapy for late-life panic disorder. Objective:, To examine the effectiveness of paroxetine and cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) in elderly patients suffering from panic disorder with or without agoraphobia (PD(A)). Method:, Forty-nine patients aged 60+ years with confirmed PD(A) were randomly assigned to 40 mg paroxetine, individual CBT, or to a 14-week waiting list. Outcomes, with avoidance behaviour and agoraphobic cognitions being the primary measures, were assessed at baseline and at weeks 8, 14 (conclusion CBT/waiting list), and at week 26 (treated patients only) and analysed using mixed models. Results:, All outcome measures showed that the patients having received CBT and those treated with paroxetine had significantly better improvement compared with those in the waiting-list condition. With one patient (1/20, 5%) in the CBT and three (3/14, 17.6%) in the paroxetine condition dropping out, attrition rates were low. Conclusion:, Patients with late-life panic disorder respond well to both paroxetine and CBT. Although promising, the outcomes warrant replication in larger study groups. [source] Male and female Fmr1 knockout mice on C57 albino background exhibit spatial learning and memory impairmentsGENES, BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR, Issue 6 2010K. B. Baker Impaired spatial learning is a prominent deficit in fragile X syndrome (FXS). Previous studies using the Fmr1 knockout (KO) mouse model of FXS have not consistently reported a deficit in spatial learning. Fmr1 KO mice bred onto an albino C57BL/6J- Tyrc-Brd background showed significant deficits in several primary measures of performance during place navigation and probe trials in the Morris water maze. Fmr1 KO mice were also impaired during a serial reversal version of the water maze task. We examined fear conditioning as an additional cognitive screen. Knockout mice exhibited contextual memory deficits when trained with unsignaled shocks; however, deficits were not found in a separate group of KO mice trained with signaled shocks. No potentially confounding genotypic differences in locomotor activity were observed. A decreased anxiety-like profile was apparent in the open field, as others have noted, and also in the platform test. Also as previously reported, startle reactivity to loud auditory stimuli was decreased, prepulse inhibition and social interaction increased in KO mice. Female Fmr1 KO mice were tested along with male KO mice in all assays, except for social interaction. The female and male KO exhibited very similar impairments indicating that sex does not generally drive the behavioral symptoms of the disorder. Our results suggest that procedural factors, such as the use of albino mice, may help to reliably detect spatial learning and memory impairments in both sexes of Fmr1 KO mice, making it more useful for understanding FXS and a platform for evaluating potential therapeutics. [source] Rotigotine improves restless legs syndrome: A 6-month randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in the United States,,§MOVEMENT DISORDERS, Issue 11 2010Wayne A. Hening MD Abstract This randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial (NCT00135993) assessed efficacy and safety of the dopamine agonist rotigotine in the treatment of idiopathic restless legs syndrome (RLS) over a 6-month maintenance period. A total of 505 eligible participants with moderate to severe RLS (IRLS sum score , 15) were randomly assigned to five groups to receive either placebo or rotigotine (0.5, 1, 2, or 3 mg/24 hr) delivered by once-daily transdermal patch (fixed-dose regimen). The two co-primary efficacy parameters decreased from baseline to end of maintenance in IRLS sum score and in clinical global impressions (CGI-1) score. On both primary measures, 2 and 3 mg/24 hr rotigotine was superior to placebo (P < 0.001). Adjusted treatment differences to placebo for the IRLS sum score were ,4.5 (95% CI: ,6.9, ,2.2) for 2 mg/24 hr rotigotine, ,5.2 (95% CI: ,7.5, ,2.9) for 3 mg/24 hr rotigotine, and for CGI item 1 ,0.65 (95% CI: ,1.0, ,0.3) and ,0.9 (95% CI: ,1.3, ,0.5) for the 2 and 3 mg/24 hr doses, respectively. Skin reactions (27%) and known dopaminergic side effects such as nausea (18.1%) and headache (11.6%) were mostly mild or moderate in rotigotine subjects. Rotigotine transdermal patches releasing 2 to 3 mg/24 hr significantly reduced the severity of RLS symptoms. Treatment efficacy was maintained throughout the 6-month double-blind period. © 2010 Movement Disorder Society [source] | ||||||||||