Intra-subsaharan African trade appears to be very low, an outcome that is often justified on the grounds of the size of the exporting and the importing economies. If that were the explanation, there would be no untapped trade potentials. We argue instead that the main determinant of this "missing trade" is geography. Being landlocked (and poor) translates into very high trade costs. In this paper, we try to measure the impact of geographical impediments on South-South trade. We focus on the intra and extra regional trade of the countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, which have been involved in an integration process since their early days of independence. We derive and estimate an Armington-based model in order to evaluate the impact of geographical impediments on bilateral trade flows within this region. Since some of the countries in concern are not reporting countries, we use the "first-order" method designed by Kelejian (1969) to fill in the missing trade flows. We alternatively and simultaneously use COMTRADE data and West African Economic and Monetary Union data to perform these estimations.J.E.L classification: F11, F15, O55 Acknowledgement: we are indebted to Marius BRÜLHART, Matthieu CROZET, Philippe MARTIN, Thierry MAYER and Daniel MIRZA for their helpful comments on ealier version of this paper. We also thank the participants of the 2002 ETSG conference in Kiel who were interested in this paper. Remaining errors are obviously ours.-3.92 * * *

Background Our study aims to estimate hypertension (HTN) prevalence and its predictors in rural and urban area. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional population-based study involving subjects aged 15 to 65 years. Collected data (sociodemographic, blood pressure, weight, height, and blood glucose) were analyzed using SPSS version 20. A logistic regression was conducted to look for factors associated with HTN. Results Mean was 47 years. High blood pressure (HBP) prevalence was 21.1 and 24.7%, respectively, in rural and urban setting. In rural area age group significantly predicted hypertension with age of 60 years having more-than-4-times risk of hypertension, whereas, in urban area age group, sex and body mass index were predictors with OR: HTN raising from 2.06 [1.24–3.43] for 30–44 years old to 7.25 [4.00–13.13] for 60 years and more using <30 years as reference. Female sex was protective with OR of 0.45 [0.29–0.71] and using normal weight as reference OR for overweight was 1.54 [1.04–2.27] and 2.67 [1.64–4.36] for obesity. Conclusion Hypertension prevalence is high and associated factors were age group in rural area and age group, female sex, and body mass index in urban area.

Many recent papers have pointed to ambiguous trade effects of developing regional trade agreements, calling for a reassessment of their economic merits. This paper focuses on 22 RTAs involving mostly developing countries and covering all the continents and use trade flows over the period . It proposes a two-step estimation approach to assess their trade impact: first estimate a gravity equation excluding the RTA variables, and then use the trade residuals estimated to run a kernel regression for each of the RTAs. This approach allows capturing the non-monotonic trade effects of the RTAs over time while imposing minimal structure on the model, and is flexible enough to be extended to any new RTA. As existing RTAs are deepened and new ones are being negotiated, ensuring that trade creation dominates trade diversion will be essential, particularly in the post-crisis world where resources will be limited for all countries.• JEL Classification: F11, F15, O50•

BackgroundThe health effects of biological aerosols on the respiratory system are unclear. The purpose of this study was to clarify the association of airborne particle, protein, and endotoxin with emergency department visits for asthma in Kyoto City, Japan.MethodsWe collected data on emergency department visits at a hospital in Kyoto from September 2014 to May 2016. Fine (aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm) and coarse (≥ 2.5 μm) particles were collected in Kyoto, and protein and endotoxin levels were analyzed. The association of the levels of particles, protein, endotoxin, and meteorological factors (temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and air pressure) with emergency department visits for asthma was estimated.ResultsThere were 1 to 15 emergency department visits for asthma per week, and the numbers of visits increased in the autumn and spring, namely many weeks in September, October, and April. Weekly concentration of protein in fine particles was markedly higher than that in coarse particles, and protein concentration in fine particles was high in spring months. Weekly endotoxin concentrations in fine and coarse particles were high in autumn months, including September 2014 and 2015. Even after adjusting for meteorological factors, the concentrations of coarse particles and endotoxin in both particles were significant factors on emergency department visits for asthma.ConclusionsOur results suggest that atmospheric coarse particles and endotoxin are significantly associated with an increased risk of asthma exacerbation.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12199-018-0731-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.