We study strategy-proof and fair mechanism in Shapley and Scarf (1974) economies. We introduce a new condition for fairness, we call envy-freeness for equal position. It requires that if one agent prefers the other’s allocation, he should not prefer it to his allocation that is assigned at the situation that we regard as the one their position are exchanged. We show that a mechanism satisfies strategyproofness, individual rationality, envy-freeness for equal position, and non-bossiness if and only if it is either the core mechanism or the no-trade mechanism.
In human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, not only HIV itself but also systemic immune activation plays a role in the disease progression to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). The systemic immune activation may be present even during highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). An increased expression of osteopontin, a proinflammatory cytokine, during HAART was reported in lymph nodes of HIV infected individuals. Osteopontin is also known to be involved in the pathogenesis of various HAART-induced diseases. Here, we measured osteopontin and other inflammatory markers such as neopterin and galectin-9 using serially collected plasma from patients with HIV/AIDS to find novel markers for immune activation. Four AIDS patients complicated with various opportunistic infections and one acute HIV patient were studied. Osteopontin levels (normal levels: < 820 ng/ml) were elevated in all the patients (1,178-2,450 ng/ml). Likewise, galectin-9 levels (normal levels: < 46 pg/ml) were elevated in all patients (> 130 pg/ml), with the exceptionally high level in the acute HIV patient (4,196 pg/ml). Neopterin levels (normal ranges: 2-8 pmol/L) were elevated in four patients (21-99 pmol/L). After HAART, the levels of galectin-9 and neopterin apparently decreased, whereas the levels of osteopontin did not decrease. Thus, the high levels of osteopontin were sustained despite the clinical improvement. Fisher exact probability test showed that the mode of the changes was different between osteopontin and galectin-9, and between osteopontin and neopteirn (p = 0.024). We therefore propose that the plasma osteopontin is a useful marker of immune activation during HAART and HAART-induced side effects.
Abstract We introduce a new condition for social choice functions, called “equal treatment of congruent distributions.” It requires some invariance between two preference profiles that share a type of congruity property with respect to the associated distributions of votes. It also implies two equal treatment conditions: one is a natural weakening of anonymity , which is the most standard equal treatment condition for individuals, and the other is a natural weakening of neutrality , which is the most standard equal treatment one for alternatives. Thus, equal treatment of congruent distributions plays the role of weak equal treatment conditions both for individuals and for alternatives. As our main results, we characterize a class of social choice functions that satisfy equal treatment of congruent distributions and some mild positive responsiveness conditions, and it is shown to coincide with the class of tie-breaking plurality rules , which are selections of the well-known plurality rule .
Latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is defined as an infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) without clinical, bacteriological, or radiological findings, and its early diagnosis is essential for eradication of tuberculosis. To identify LTBI, we measured the numbers of interferon-γ producing T cells, based on the ELISPOT assay, and the antibody titers in the sera to tuberculous glycolipid antigen (TBGL-Ab). Seventeen culture-confirmed TB patients, 13 controls from TB endemic areas (EC) and 13 controls from TB non-endemic areas (NEC) were enrolled. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (2.5 × 105 per well) were cultured on plates precoated with antibody against interferon-γ. ELISPOT response was defined as positive when the MTB-specific antigen-containing wells showed at least 6 spots and twice numbers of spots than negative control wells. ELISPOT responses were positive in 15 (88%), 8 (62%) and 4 (31%) subjects of TB, EC and NEC groups, respectively. The ELISPOT data differ between TB and NEC groups (p < 0.01) but not between TB and EC groups. In contrast, TBGL-Ab titers were elevated (> 2.0 U/ml) in 12 TB patients (71%), but only in one subject (8%) each from EC and NEC groups. These results indicate the high prevalence of LTBI in EC. In conclusion, LTBI is associated with positive ELISPOT assay and the low titer of TBGL-Ab, while positive results both in ELISPOT and TBGL-Ab assays indicate active TB. The low titer of TBGL-Ab is a helpful marker to identify LTBI in ELISPOT-positive individuals in TB endemic areas.
Bronchial glands are abundant in human airways, playing a central role in airway secretion and the secretion of mucin, electrolytes and various defensive substances. Both mucin and electrolyte secretions from the bronchial glands maintain an effective mucociliary transport in the airways. Various defensive substances from the bronchial glands include lactoferrin, lysozyme, secretory IgA, secretory leukoprotease inhibitor (SLPI) and surfactant protein A (SP-A). Here, we focused on SLPI and SP-A secretion from human bronchial glands. First, we examined the secretory response and gene expression of SLPI in isolated human glands in response to human neutrophil elastase (HNE). The results indicate that, in human bronchial glands, HNE at low concentrations stimulates SLPI production and secretion, whereas HNE at high concentrations does not. Next, we examined SP-A secretion and gene expression in human bronchial glands. The findings indicate that human bronchial gland cells can transcribe the SP-A2 gene and produce SP-A in a manner different from alveoli, thus playing a role in airway defense mechanisms.
In this paper, we consider a relationship between equity and efficiency in queueing problems. We show that under strategy-proofness, anonymity in welfare implies queue-efficiency. Furthermore, we also give a characterization of the equally distributed pairwise pivotal rule, as the only rule that satisfies strategy-proofness, anonymity in welfare and budget-balance.
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