Time-varying disaggregation of the income-emissions nexus: New evidence from the United Kingdom

This paper's objective is to investigate the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis utilizing three unique approaches in this era of accelerating climate change and economic volatility. The first step is to introduce and employ a new cointegration test which allows smooth and sharp structural changes through a dummy variable and a Fourier function. Using a time-varying causality approach, the second stage is to assess the EKC hypothesis's validity for each year of a given period, as opposed to the entire period. The third stage is to conduct time-varying analyses not only of the effect of Gross Domestic Product or aggregate income on environmental degradation but also of the effects of the four major economic units' incomes, namely those of the government, non-financial corporations, households, and the rest of the world. This research derives three conclusions using the United Kingdom as a case study from 1830 to 2016. The impacts of aggregate income and the incomes of the three economic units on carbon emissions are consistent with the EKC hypothesis. Second, each of these effects occurs at different times. Thirdly, the EKC hypothesis regarding the association between the nation's trade income and carbon emissions cannot be validated. To provide policymakers with a dynamic, unit-specific, and effective strategy for mitigating environmental degradation, the paper proposes testing the EKC hypothesis for each year over a specific time period, as well as for the effects of both aggregate income and the disaggregate income of four major economic units.

Investigating renewable energy-climate change nexus by aggregate or sectoral renewable energy use?

Investigating the effect of renewable energy on the drivers of climate change correctly is significant as it is the basic source of climate change mitigation. In the extant literature, its effect on climate change has been estimated predominantly by regressing aggregate rather than sectoral renewable energy use either on aggregate greenhouse gas emissions or the components of greenhouse gases (GHGs) like carbon dioxide emissions. Against this backdrop, the paper investigates if we should estimate the nexus (i) by the causal effects running from aggregate or sectoral renewable energy use to GHG emissions and (ii) by the causal effects running from renewable energy consumption to aggregate GHG emissions or to its components like carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. To this end, the paper introduces negative and positive (functional) complementarity between sectoral renewable energy consumptions in reducing or increasing GHG emissions, takes 20 OECD countries from 1990 to 2019, and uses augmented and non-augmented auto-regressive distributed lag approach and vector error correction mechanism. The study finds substantial differences among the results coming out of (i) regressing aggregate and sectoral renewable energy consumption on GHG emissions and (ii) regressing renewable energy consumption on aggregate GHG emissions and on CO₂ emissions. The paper suggests regressing sectoral rather than aggregate renewable energy consumption on the components of aggregate GHG emissions like CO₂ emissions rather than on aggregate GHG emissions to produce workable, specific, and conclusive policy alternatives.

Why are some countries cleaner than others? New evidence from macroeconomic governance

This study aims to investigate why some countries are cleaner than the others with reference to macroeconomic governance (MEG) in order to explain how major macroeconomic aggregates should be governed to mitigate environmental pollution at the level of economic systems. Using per capita carbon dioxide emissions (CPC) as the proxy for air pollution, and macro-non-financial governance (MNFG) and macro-financial governance (MFG) as the proxies for MEG, the study introduces the systemic and fragmented governance of green complementarities (GCMs) and dirty complementarities (DCMs) as analytic concepts to compare the MEG models for managing pollution in 13 high-income countries (HICs), 10 upper-middle-income countries (UMICs), and nine lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) for the period 1994-2014. The paper concludes that (i) HICs reduced their CPC levels thanks to adopting green systemic governance by creating GCMs between both MNFG and MFG variables in the long run; (ii) UMICs experienced a remarkable increase in their CPC levels due to adopting dirty systemic governance by creating DCMs between the MNFG variables, but prevented pollution from being higher through creating GCMs between the MFG variables; and (iii) LMICs experienced the highest comparative increase in CPC due to adopting a fragmented governance in managing both MNFG-pollution and MFG-pollution nexus.

Cutaneous mastocytosis: demographic aspects and clinical features of 55 patients

BACKGROUND

Mastocytosis is a rare, heterogeneous group of disorder with abnormal increase of mast cells in one or more organ systems.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the demographic and clinical features of cutaneous mastocytosis (CM).

METHODS

Records of 55 patients with cutaneous mastocytosis were retrospectively analysed.

RESULTS

Of the 22 females and 33 males, 80% had urticaria pigmentosa/maculopapular CM and 20% had mastocytoma. Of all cases, 81.8% had first lesions in childhood. The most common presentation was involvement of trunk together with extremities. Thirteen (23.6%) patients had history of bulla; Darier's sign was positive in 34 of 38 patients. Itching was the most common complaint, provocated by hot weather/bath.

CONCLUSION

Clinical presentations of urticaria pigmentosa/maculopapular CM and mastocytoma are similar regarding gender, age of onset, age of diagnosis, and presence of Darier's sign and history of bulla. In contrast to mastocytoma, urticaria pigmentosa/maculopapular CM lesions were frequently located on trunk together with extremities.

Experience with calcipotriol as adjunctive treatment for vitiligo in patients who do not respond to PUVA alone: a preliminary study

BACKGROUND

PUVA therapy remains a primary treatment for vitiligo, despite unsatisfactory results. Because of calcipotriol's reported effects on melanocytes and on immunomodulatory and inflammatory mediators we wondered whether adding calcipotriol to PUVA would be more effective than PUVA alone in treating vitiligo.

OBJECTIVE

We sought to determine whether the combination of topical calcipotriol and PUVA therapy increases the responsiveness of patients with vitiligo refractory to PUVA alone.

METHODS

Twenty-one patients with vitiligo refractory to previous PUVA therapy were studied. Patients received 60 sessions of PUVA 3 times a week and 0.005% topical calcipotriol twice daily. Patients were monitored for repigmentation overall and on the trunk, extremities, and acral regions.

RESULTS

Starting at the median of the 17th treatment session, some degree of repigmentation was observed in 71.5% of the patients. After treatment, cosmetically acceptable overall repigmentation was observed in 29% of patients; repigmentation of lesions on the trunk, extremities, and acral region was noted in 36%, 58%, and 0% of patients, respectively. Adverse reactions were mild and tolerable.

CONCLUSION

The combination of PUVA and calcipotriol may be effective therapy and should be further investigated for the treatment of vitiligo.

Serum adenosine deaminase levels in patients with psoriasis: a prospective case-control study

Adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity is a nonspecific marker of T cell activation. T cell activation is thought to play an important role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. Our purpose was to assess the significance of serum ADA activity in psoriasis and its relevance to disease activity. ADA activity was determined with an enzymatic method in 25 patients with psoriasis and in 15 healthy subjects. These measurements were repeated for 10 patients after either PUVA or cyclosporin A treatments. Disease activity was estimated by the PASI scoring system. Serum ADA level was significantly elevated in patients with psoriasis compared to healthy subjects (p<0.05). There was a significant decrease in the ADA levels after treatment compared to pretreatment values in the same patients (p<0.05). There was no correlation between ADA levels and PASI scores. These results support the evidence that T cell activation is involved in the pathogenesis of psoriasis and that ADA may be valuable in the assessment of disease activity in psoriasis.

Kindler syndrome: absence of definite ultrastructural feature

Kindler syndrome is characterized by congenital blister formation, photosensitivity, poikiloderma, and cutaneous atrophy in later life. There are few reports about the ultrastructural features of this syndrome, but still there is no consensus about the basic disease. Here we report a case of Kindler syndrome with ultrastructural findings.