Francesco Carlucci

Role of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies in discriminating patients with rheumatoid arthritis from patients with chronic hepatitis C infection-associated polyarticular involvement

This study was performed to assess the utility of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies in distinguishing between patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and patients with polyarticular involvement associated with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Serum anti-CCP antibodies and rheumatoid factor (RF) were evaluated in 30 patients with RA, 8 patients with chronic HCV infection and associated articular involvement and 31 patients with chronic HCV infection without any joint involvement. In addition, we retrospectively analysed sera collected at the time of first visit in 10 patients originally presenting with symmetric polyarthritis and HCV and subsequently developing well-established RA. Anti-CCP antibodies and RF were detected by commercial second-generation anti-CCP2 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunonephelometry respectively. Anti-CCP antibodies were detected in 23 of 30 (76.6%) patients with RA but not in patients with chronic HCV infection irrespective of the presence of articular involvement. Conversely, RF was detected in 27 of 30 (90%) patients with RA, 3 of 8 (37.5%) patients with HCV-related arthropathy and 3 of 31 (9.7%) patients with HCV infection without joint involvement. Finally, anti-CCP antibodies were retrospectively detected in 6 of 10 (60%) patients with RA and HCV. This indicates that anti-CCP antibodies can be useful in discriminating patients with RA from patients with HCV-associated arthropathy.

A multiattribute measure of human development

A measure of human development, which is not affected by some relevant drawbacks of the commonly utilized measures, is constructed. It is a function of several attributes associated with various factors — economic, social, environmental — and also includes non-homogeneous attributes. It is non-linear in its variables, so that it includes possible interactions among the attributes. Furthermore, it takes into account public opinion about human development through a well-defined procedure of assessment elicitation.The formulation of the human development function constituting the measure is described when considering just one attribute and then several attributes, and the difference between independence and dependence in assessment is shown. Such a procedure is applied to the measurement of human development in 9 countries of the EU, by using thirteen attributes related to the economic, social and environmental fields as well as to the quality of life.

Co‐Integrating VAR Models and Economic Policy

This paper surveys some relevant contributions to the economic literature on co‐integrating vector autoregressive (VAR) models [vector error correction mechanisms (VECMs)], emphasizing their usefulness for economic policy. It further discusses some theoretical aspects that are necessary for a complete understanding of their potential. The theoretical introduction of the co‐integrating VAR model is followed by an illustration of its applications to monetary policy, fiscal policy and exchanges rates as well as in establishing the effects of structural bilateral shocks between countries (the so‐called global VAR, or GVAR, models). Special attention is paid to the VECM capacities of being used in conjunction with dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models and of jointly specifying the short‐ and long‐run dynamics, thus representing the steady‐state of economic systems (by means of the co‐integration relations) and the short‐run dynamics around it.

Bayesian Prevision of Time Series by Transfer Function Models

Given the time series {yt{, t∊T≡{l,2,…,n}, which is assumed to be caused by the series {xt}, t∊T, according to the transfer function model

National Specifities and Monetary-Policy Trasmission in Europe

{{y}_{t}} = {{\delta }^{{ - 1}}}\left( B \right)\omega \left( B \right){{x}_{t}} + {{\phi }^{{ - 1}}}\left( B \right)\theta \left( B \right){{u}_{t}}

Dynamic paths of the European economy: simulations using an EU aggregate model

(1.1) where B is the usual back-shift operator, and ω (B)=ωo-ω1B+…-ωsBs, δ(B)=1-δ1B+...-δrBr, θ (B)=1-ϕ1B+...-θqBq, ϕ(B)=1-ϕ1B+... -ϕpBp where {xt} is assumed to be generated by the ARMA process

Il modello FGB-STEP in prospettiva comparativa

{{\phi }_{x}}\left( B \right){{x}_{t}} = {{\theta }_{x}}\left( B \right){{a}_{t}}