Browse publications by year: 2014

  1. Jamali S, Eskandari N, Aryani O, Salehpour S, Zaman T, Kamalidehghan B, et al.
    Iran Biomed J, 2014;18(2):114-9.
    PMID: 24518553
    BACKGROUND: Tay-Sachs disease (TSD), or GM2 gangliosidosis, is a lethal autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disorder, which is caused by a deficiency of beta-hexosaminidase A (HEXA), resulting in lysosomal accumulation of GM2 ganglioside. The aim of this study was to identify the TSD-causing mutations in an Iranian population.

    METHODS: In this study, we examined 31 patients for TSD-causing mutations using PCR, followed by restriction enzyme digestion.

    RESULTS: Molecular genetics analysis of DNA from 23 patients of TSD revealed mutations that has been previously reported, including four-base duplications c.1274_1277dupTATC in exon 11 and IVS2+1G>A, deletion TTAGGCAAGGGC in exon 10 as well as a few novel mutations, including C331G, which altered Gln>Glu in HEXB, A>G, T>C, and p.R510X in exon 14, which predicted a termination codon or nonsense mutation.

    CONCLUSION: In conclusion, with the discovery of these novel mutations, the genotypic spectrum of Iranian patients with TSD disease has been extended and could facilitate definition of disease-related mutations.

    MeSH terms: Humans; Iran/epidemiology; Mutation/genetics*; Tay-Sachs Disease/diagnosis*; Tay-Sachs Disease/genetics*; Tay-Sachs Disease/epidemiology; Protein Subunits/genetics; beta-Hexosaminidase alpha Chain/genetics*; beta-Hexosaminidase beta Chain/genetics
  2. Kozlov SA, Lazarev VN, Kostryukova ES, Selezneva OV, Ospanova EA, Alexeev DG, et al.
    Sci Data, 2014;1:140023.
    PMID: 25977780 DOI: 10.1038/sdata.2014.23
    A comprehensive transcriptome analysis of an expressed sequence tag (EST) database of the spider Dolomedes fimbriatus venom glands using single-residue distribution analysis (SRDA) identified 7,169 unique sequences. Mature chains of 163 different toxin-like polypeptides were predicted on the basis of well-established methodology. The number of protein precursors of these polypeptides was appreciably numerous than the number of mature polypeptides. A total of 451 different polypeptide precursors, translated from 795 unique nucleotide sequences, were deduced. A homology search divided the 163 mature polypeptide sequences into 16 superfamilies and 19 singletons. The number of mature toxins in a superfamily ranged from 2 to 49, whereas the diversity of the original nucleotide sequences was greater (2-261 variants). We observed a predominance of inhibitor cysteine knot toxin-like polypeptides among the cysteine-containing structures in the analyzed transcriptome bank. Uncommon spatial folds were also found.
    MeSH terms: Animals; Base Sequence; Exocrine Glands/metabolism; Spider Venoms/genetics*; Spider Venoms/chemistry; Spiders*; Expressed Sequence Tags; Gene Expression Profiling/methods; Transcriptome*
  3. Sahebi L, Ansarin K, Maryam S, Monfaredan A, Sabbgh Jadid H
    Malays J Med Sci, 2014;21(6):27-35.
    PMID: 25897280
    BACKGROUND: Identifying the factors associated with the recurrence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) can help in tuberculosis disease prevention and reducing the burden on the health care system. This study was designed to identify the factors associated with recurrence in MTB patients in five border provinces of Iran.

    METHODS: In a cross-sectional study (2010 to 2012), clinical, economic, and social factors associated with the recurrence of tuberculosis were evaluated. The data were collected by a questionnaire and survey of medical records. Simple and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed using SPSS V.18.

    RESULTS: A total of 300 patients with an average age of 51.9 years (SD 24.2) were randomly selected. Overall, 7.2% of the patients were diagnosed with a recurrence of tuberculosis. Sixty-four percent (n = 151) of the patients were in a low-income class. The migration from a village to a city (OR = 8.4) and weight loss (OR = 1.5) were significantly associated with an increased chance of recurrence.

    CONCLUSION: In this study, the selected provinces of Iran had moderate rates of tuberculosis recurrence in comparison to global reports. Further studies on the relationship of both weight loss and the immigration from a village to a city with tuberculosis recurrence are necessary.

  4. Ahmad M, Dhanasekar B, Aparna IN, Naim H
    J Indian Prosthodont Soc, 2014 Sep;14(3):297-300.
    PMID: 25183915 DOI: 10.1007/s13191-012-0188-8
    As more and more dental practitioners are focusing on implant-supported fixed restorations, some clinicians favor the use of cement retained restorations while others consider screw-retained prosthesis to be the best choice. As both types of prostheses have certain advantages and disadvantages, clinicians should be aware of the limitations of each type. Screw-retained implant restorations have an advantage of predictable retention, retrievability and lack of potentially retained sub-gingival cement. However, a few disadvantages exist such as precise placement of the implant for optimal and esthetic location of the screw access hole and obtaining passive fit. On the other hand, cement retained restorations eliminates unaesthetic screw access holes; have passive fit of castings; reduce stress to splinted implants because of minor misfit of the framework; reduced complexity of lab procedures; enhanced esthetics; reduced cost factors and non disrupted morphology of the occlusal table. This case report presents the replacement of missing left central incisor using screw-retained implant prosthesis due to palatal trajectory of the implant placement and inadequate abutment height for retention of cement retained prosthesis.
  5. Hussain S, Gul M, Dhar S
    Malays Orthop J, 2014 Mar;8(1):8-13.
    PMID: 25279078 DOI: 10.5704/MOJ.1403.011
    BACKGROUND: Proximal humeral fractures are considered the last unsolved fractures in orthopaedics. The treatment is controversial and various operative modalities have been reported in the literature. The aim of the present study was to evaluate functional outcome and complication rate after open reduction and internal fixation of displaced proximal humerus fractures by proximal humerus AO stainless steel T-plate. Twenty-five (25) patients with displaced proximal humerus fractures treated with proximal humerus T-plate between May 2005 and June 2008 were included in the study. Fractures were classified according to the Neer classification into displaced 2-part, 3-part, and 4-part fractures. Patients were followed-up for a minimum period of two years. Functional evaluation was done according to the Neer scoring system. Scores were compared with other studies in the literature using similar implant. Twenty patients had 2-part fracture, four had 3-part fracture, and one had 4-part fracture. Eighty-eight [88% (n = 22)] patients had good to excellent result, eight [8% (n = 2)] had fair, and four [4% (n = 1)] had poor result. Difference in Neer's score between 2-part and 3-part fractures was not significant. Complications encountered in this series were screw backout in 8% (n = 2), superficial infection in 12% (n = 3), and avascular necrosis in 4% (n = 1) of cases. We conclude that proximal humerus AO T- plate is a cheap and easily available implant, aspects which are particularly relevant in third world countries like India. It gives reliable fixation for 2-part and 3-part fractures. Its use in more complicated fracture patterns of 4-part fractures is not recommended.

    KEY WORDS: Proximal humerus fractures, proximal humerus stainless steel T-plate, unstable fracture.

  6. Senanayake S, Gunaratne A, Ranaweera KK, Bamunuarachchi A
    Food Sci Nutr, 2014 Jul;2(4):398-402.
    PMID: 25473497 DOI: 10.1002/fsn3.115
    Different heat-moisture levels were applied to native starches from different cultivars of sweet potatoes available in Sri Lanka (Wariyapola red, Wariyapola white, Pallepola variety, Malaysian variety and CARI 273) to study the digestibility level. Samples were treated with 20, 25, and 30% moisture at 85°C and 120°C for 6 h and in vitro starch digestibility was tested with porcine pancreatin enzyme. A range of 19.3-23.5% digestibility was shown by the native starches with no significant difference (P < 0.05). Significant changes were observed in the digestibility level of the hydrothermally modified starches and the moisture content showed a positive impact on the digestibility. Heat-moisture treatment at 85°C brought an overall increase in digestibility and temperature beyond 85°C had a negative impact. No significant difference (P < 0.05) in the digestibility was observed with 20% and 25% moisture at 85°C and increased level were seen at 85°C and 30% moisture.
  7. Bhattarai T, Bhattacharya K, Chaudhuri P, Sengupta P
    Malays J Med Sci, 2014 Jan;21(1):58-61.
    PMID: 24639613
    The quality of life for women after menopause is one of the key health issues today, and osteoporosis is a silently progressing metabolic bone disease widely prevalent in post-menopausal women in India. Rapid bone loss occurs in post-menopausal women due to hormonal factors that lead to an increased risk of fractures. Thus, the present study was undertaken to observe the serum calcium and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels in post-menopausal women as these substances are biochemical markers of bone metabolism. In this small-scale cross-sectional study, 100 samples were taken. Of these, 50 were taken from post-menopausal women (experimental group) and 50 were taken from pre-menopausal women (control group). Serum calcium and serum ALP were measured in the blood samples of both groups. The findings demonstrated that the serum calcium level was significantly lower in the post-menopausal group than in the pre-menopausal group, while the ALP level was slightly higher. Therefore, an increase in bone turnover accelerates bone mass reduction in post-menopausal women, whereas a decrease in bone turnover is associated with the preservation of bone mass.
  8. Ghazali N, Rahman NA, Kannan TP, Jaafar S
    PMID: 25372553
    OBJECTIVE:   To determine the prevalence of mutations in transforming growth factor beta 3 (TGFβ3) and Jagged2 genes and their association with nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL±P) patients.

    DESIGN:   Cross-sectional study on nonsyndromic CL±P and noncleft patients.

    SETTING:   Reconstructive clinic and outpatient dental clinic, Hospital Universiti Sains, Malaysia.

    PATIENTS:   Blood samples of 96 nonsyndromic CL±P and 96 noncleft subjects.

    MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE:   Prevalence and association of mutations in TGFβ3 and Jagged2 genes with nonsyndromic CL±P.

    RESULTS:   Most of the nonsyndromic CL±P patients (53.1%) had left unilateral CLP. There were slightly more females (56.6%) compared with males. The prevalence of the mutations in the TGFβ3 gene was 17.7 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 9.5, 24.5) and in the Jagged2 gene was 12.5% (95% CI: 5.5, 18.5), which was higher compared with the noncleft group. For the TGFβ3 gene, there was no mutation in the coding region in either of the groups. All variants were single nucleotide polymorphisms located within the intronic flanking region. Two variants were identified (g.15812T>G and g.15966A>G) in both nonsyndromic CL±P and noncleft patients. However, the association was not significant (P > .05). Three variants (g.19779C>T, g.19547G>A, and g.19712C>T) were identified in the Jagged2 gene among nonsyndromic CL±P and noncleft patients. Only g.19712C>T showed a significant association with nonsyndromic CL±P patients (P = .039).

    CONCLUSION:   g.19712C>T might play a crucial role in the development of cleft lip and palate. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the mutation found within intron 13 of the Jagged2 gene among nonsyndromic CL±P Malay patients.

  9. Lambert P, Cyna AM, Knight N, Middleton P
    Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2014 Jan 28;2014(1):CD009633.
    PMID: 24470114 DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD009633.pub2
    BACKGROUND: Postoperative pain remains a significant problem following paediatric surgery. Premedication with a suitable agent may improve its management. Clonidine is an alpha-2 adrenergic agonist which has sedative, anxiolytic and analgesic properties. It may therefore be a useful premedication for reducing postoperative pain in children.

    OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the evidence for the effectiveness of clonidine, when given as a premedication, in reducing postoperative pain in children less than 18 years of age. We also sought evidence of any clinically significant side effects.

    SEARCH METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) in The Cochrane Library (Issue 12, 2012), Ovid MEDLINE (1966 to 21 December 2012) and Ovid EMBASE (1982 to 21 December 2012), as well as reference lists of other relevant articles and online trial registers.

    SELECTION CRITERIA: We included all randomized (or quasi-randomized), controlled trials comparing clonidine premedication to placebo, a higher dose of clonidine, or another agent when used for surgical or other invasive procedures in children under the age of 18 years and where pain or a surrogate (principally the need for supplementary analgesia) was reported.

    DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two authors independently performed the database search, decided on the inclusion eligibility of publications, ascertained study quality and extracted data. They then resolved any differences between their results by discussion. The data were entered into RevMan 5 for analyses and presentation. Sensitivity analyses were performed, as appropriate, to exclude studies with a high risk of bias.

    MAIN RESULTS: We identified 11 trials investigating a total of 742 children in treatment arms relevant to our study question. Risks of bias in the studies were mainly low or unclear, but two studies had aspects of their methodology that had a high risk of bias. Overall, the quality of the evidence from pooled studies was low or had unclear risk of bias. Four trials compared clonidine with a placebo or no treatment, six trials compared clonidine with midazolam, and one trial compared clonidine with fentanyl. There was substantial methodological heterogeneity between trials; the dose and route of clonidine administration varied as did the patient populations, the types of surgery and the outcomes measured. It was therefore difficult to combine the outcomes of some trials for meta-analysis.When clonidine was compared to placebo, pooling studies of low or unclear risk of bias, the need for additional analgesia was reduced when clonidine premedication was given orally at 4 µg/kg (risk ratio (RR) 0.24, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.11 to 0.51). Only one small trial (15 patients per arm) compared clonidine to midazolam for the same outcome; this also found a reduction in the need for additional postoperative analgesia (RR 0.25, 95% CI 0.09 to 0.71) when clonidine premedication was given orally at 2 or 4 µg/kg compared to oral midazolam at 0.5 mg/kg. A trial comparing oral clonidine at 4 µg/kg with intravenous fentanyl at 3 µg/kg found no statistically significant difference in the need for rescue analgesia (RR 0.89, 95% CI 0.56 to 1.42). When clonidine 4 µg/kg was compared to clonidine 2 µg/kg, there was a statistically significant difference in the number of patients requiring additional analgesia, in favour of the higher dose, as reported by a single, higher-quality trial (RR 0.38, 95% CI 0.23 to 0.65).The effect of clonidine on pain scores was hard to interpret due to differences in study methodology, the doses and route of drug administration, and the pain scale used. However, when given at a dose of 4 µg/kg, clonidine may have reduced analgesia requirements after surgery. There were no significant side effects of clonidine that were reported such as severe hypotension, bradycardia, or excessive sedation requiring intervention. However, several studies used atropine prophylactically with the aim of preventing such adverse effects.

    AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There were only 11 relevant trials studying 742 children having surgery where premedication with clonidine was compared to placebo or other drug treatment. Despite heterogeneity between trials, clonidine premedication in an adequate dosage (4 µg/kg) was likely to have a beneficial effect on postoperative pain in children. Side effects were minimal, but some of the studies used atropine prophylactically with the intention of preventing bradycardia and hypotension. Further research is required to determine under what conditions clonidine premedication is most effective in providing postoperative pain relief in children.

    MeSH terms: Analgesics/administration & dosage*; Child; Clonidine/administration & dosage*; Fentanyl/administration & dosage; Humans; Midazolam/administration & dosage; Pain, Postoperative/prevention & control*; Preanesthetic Medication*; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Adrenergic alpha-2 Receptor Agonists/administration & dosage*
  10. Ali Jadoo SA, Sulku SN, Aljunid SM, Dastan I
    J Health Econ Outcomes Res, 2014;2(1):96-107.
    PMID: 37664081 DOI: 10.36469/9891
    Objectives: This study was aimed to assess validation and reliability of knowledge of, attitude toward and practice (KAP) of a Case-mix and Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) system questionnaire. Methods: A sample of 238 health care providers selected conveniently from three public hospitals in Turkey was enrolled in a cross-sectional study from September 1 until November 30, 2012. The mean age was 38.63 years (standard deviation [SD] 10.52), ranging from age 21 to 60 years. More than one-half were males (52.1%), nearly two-fifths were medical doctors (39.9%), one-third were nurses (33.2%), one-sixth were auxiliary staff (16.4%) and the remaining were coders (10.5%). Only one-third (33.6%) of respondents attended a workshop or training program in the Case-mix or DRG system. After examining content validity, factor analysis was conducted, internal consistency of the questionnaire was assessed by Cronbach's alpha estimate, and test-retest reliability was evaluated. Results: The sample adequacy for extraction of the factors was confirmed by the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test (0.915) and the Bartlett test (1052). Factor analysis showed three factors, including attitude (36.43%), practice (23.39%) and knowledge (17%), with a total variance of 76.82%. The reliability of each section of the questionnaire was as follows: knowledge (0.963), attitude (0.964) and practice (0.973). Cronbach's alpha total was 0.941, which showed excellent internal consistency. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the designed questionnaire provided high construct validity and reliability, and could be adequately used to measure KAP among health care staff of the Case-mix and DRG system in Turkey.
  11. Hajeb P, Sloth JJ, Shakibazadeh S, Mahyudin NA, Afsah-Hejri L
    Compr Rev Food Sci Food Saf, 2014 Jul;13(4):457-472.
    PMID: 33412705 DOI: 10.1111/1541-4337.12068
    Toxic elements such as mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and lead, sometimes called heavy metals, can diminish mental and central nervous system function; elicit damage to blood composition as well as the kidneys, lungs, and liver; and reduce energy levels. Food is considered one of the main routes of their entry into the human body. Numerous studies have been performed to examine the effects of common food processing procedures on the levels of toxic elements in food. While some studies have reported negative effects of processing, several have shown that processing practices may have a positive effect on the reduction of toxic elements in foodstuffs. A number of studies have also introduced protocols and suggested chemical agents that reduce the amount of toxic elements in the final food products. In this review, the reported methods employed for the reduction of toxic elements are discussed with particular emphasis on the chemical binding of both the organic and inorganic forms of each element in various foods. The molecular groups and the ligands by which the food products bind with the metals and the types of these reactions are also presented.
    MeSH terms: Arsenic; Cadmium; Central Nervous System; Food; Food Handling; Humans; Kidney; Ligands; Liver; Lung; Mercury; Human Body; Metals, Heavy
  12. CMS Collaboration, Chatrchyan S, Khachatryan V, Sirunyan AM, Tumasyan A, Adam W, et al.
    Eur Phys J C Part Fields, 2014 11 12;74(11):3129.
    PMID: 25814874
    A measurement of differential cross sections for the production of a pair of isolated photons in proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text] is presented. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0[Formula: see text] collected with the CMS detector. A data-driven isolation template method is used to extract the prompt diphoton yield. The measured cross section for two isolated photons, with transverse energy above 40 and 25[Formula: see text] respectively, in the pseudorapidity range [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and with an angular separation [Formula: see text], is [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]. Differential cross sections are measured as a function of the diphoton invariant mass, the diphoton transverse momentum, the azimuthal angle difference between the two photons, and the cosine of the polar angle in the Collins-Soper reference frame of the diphoton system. The results are compared to theoretical predictions at leading, next-to-leading, and next-to-next-to-leading order in quantum chromodynamics.
  13. CMS Collaboration, Khachatryan V, Sirunyan AM, Tumasyan A, Adam W, Bergauer T, et al.
    Eur Phys J C Part Fields, 2014 11 26;74(11):3149.
    PMID: 25814876
    A search for heavy, right-handed neutrinos, [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text]), and right-handed [Formula: see text] bosons, which arise in the left-right symmetric extensions of the standard model, has been performed by the CMS experiment. The search was based on a sample of two lepton plus two jet events collected in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8[Formula: see text] corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 [Formula: see text]. For models with strict left-right symmetry, and assuming only one [Formula: see text] flavor contributes significantly to the [Formula: see text] decay width, the region in the two-dimensional [Formula: see text] mass plane excluded at a 95 % confidence level extends to approximately [Formula: see text] and covers a large range of neutrino masses below the [Formula: see text] boson mass, depending on the value of [Formula: see text]. This search significantly extends the [Formula: see text] exclusion region beyond previous results.
  14. CMS Collaboration, Chatrchyan S, Khachatryan V, Sirunyan AM, Tumasyan A, Adam W, et al.
    Eur Phys J C Part Fields, 2014 08 07;74(8):2973.
    PMID: 25814904
    Measurements are reported of the WZ and ZZ production cross sections in proton-proton collisions at [Formula: see text][Formula: see text] in final states where one Z boson decays to b-tagged jets. The other gauge boson, either W or Z, is detected through its leptonic decay (either [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] or [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], or [Formula: see text]). The results are based on data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 18.9 fb[Formula: see text] collected with the CMS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The measured cross sections, [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], are consistent with next-to-leading order quantum chromodynamics calculations.
  15. CMS Collaboration, Chatrchyan S, Khachatryan V, Sirunyan AM, Tumasyan A, Adam W, et al.
    Eur Phys J C Part Fields, 2014 08 20;74(8):3014.
    PMID: 25814909
    The normalised differential top quark-antiquark production cross section is measured as a function of the jet multiplicity in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7[Formula: see text] at the LHC with the CMS detector. The measurement is performed in both the dilepton and lepton+jets decay channels using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.0[Formula: see text]. Using a procedure to associate jets to decay products of the top quarks, the differential cross section of the [Formula: see text] production is determined as a function of the additional jet multiplicity in the lepton+jets channel. Furthermore, the fraction of events with no additional jets is measured in the dilepton channel, as a function of the threshold on the jet transverse momentum. The measurements are compared with predictions from perturbative quantum chromodynamics and no significant deviations are observed.
  16. Mohamad Mohsin MF, Abu Bakar A, Hamdan AR
    Appl Soft Comput, 2014 Nov;24:612-622.
    PMID: 32362801 DOI: 10.1016/j.asoc.2014.08.030
    In outbreak detection, one of the key issues is the need to deal with the weakness of early outbreak signals because this causes the detection model to have has less capability in terms of robustness when unseen outbreak patterns vary from those in the trained model. As a result, an imbalance between high detection rate and low false alarm rate occurs. To solve this problem, this study proposes a novel outbreak detection model based on danger theory; a bio-inspired method that replicates how the human body fights pathogens. We propose a signal formalization approach based on cumulative sum and a cumulative mature antigen contact value to suit the outbreak characteristic and danger theory. Two outbreak diseases, dengue and SARS, are subjected to a danger theory algorithm; namely the dendritic cell algorithm. To evaluate the model, four measurement metrics are applied: detection rate, specificity, false alarm rate, and accuracy. From the experiment, the proposed model outperforms the other detection approaches and shows a significant improvement for both diseases outbreak detection. The findings reveal that the robustness of the proposed immune model increases when dealing with inconsistent outbreak signals. The model is able to detect new unknown outbreak patterns and can discriminate between outbreak and non-outbreak cases with a consistent high detection rate, high sensitivity, and lower false alarm rate even without a training phase.
  17. New Sci, 2014 Apr 26;222(2966):7.
    PMID: 32287778 DOI: 10.1016/S0262-4079(14)60802-2
    The Philippines and Malaysia have identified their first ever MERS cases, while infections in Saudi Arabia surge, particularly among health workers.
  18. Ismail NA, Jenatabadi HS
    Transp Res Part A Policy Pract, 2014 Sep;67:212-224.
    PMID: 32288368 DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2014.06.010
    The ways in which airline performance depends on the economic situation and internal operation are well established in the literature. One of the contextual factors that may change the nature of these relationships is firm age. As such, the aim of this study is to investigate the moderating influence of firm age on airline performance outcomes. Thirty airline companies from the Asia Pacific region were selected, and relevant data from 2006 to 2011 were collected. It can be deduced that company experience or firm age can help in taking control of the relationship between the constructs; thus, this measurement acts as a moderator in the research model.
    MeSH terms: Asia; Models, Theoretical; Publications
  19. Chen DY, Li T
    J Asian Econ, 2014 Oct;34:66-78.
    PMID: 32288457 DOI: 10.1016/j.asieco.2014.06.002
    This paper investigates the effects of financial crises-based exchange rate, real interest rate, and personal consumption expenditure on stock market indices and balances of current account in four Asian countries/areas, and the U.S. from 1997 to 2010. Results obtained from Sims's first-order DSGE representation suggest that two policy variables - changes in the exchange rate and changes in the real interest rate lagged by one quarter - act as stabilizers for contemporaneous changes in stock indices for Thailand, Malaysia, and the U.S., but as destabilizers for Taiwan and Hong Kong. However, changes in personal consumption expenditure lagged by one quarter only play a destabilizing role in Hong Kong. For contemporaneous changes in the current account balance, all three policy variables become destabilizers for all five countries except the one-quarter lagged change in real interest rate, which acts as a stabilizer in Malaysia.
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