Opening Pandora's Box

Opening the Credit Box

Opening the Black Box

Controversy over the aggregate impact of foreign aid has focused on reduced form estimates of the aid-growth link. The causal chain, through which aid affects developmental outcomes including growth, has received much less attention. We address this gap by: (i) specifying a structural model of the main relationships; (ii) estimating the impact of aid on a range of final and intermediate outcome...

Apoptosis: Opening PANdora's BoX

Extracellular nucleotides have been reported to act as a 'find-me' signal in the context of phagocyte recruitment by apoptotically dying cells. A new study now examines the mechanisms of nucleotide release during apoptosis and describes the hemichannel-forming protein pannexin 1 as a crucial player in this scenario.

Opening the HIV Mystery Box

Nearly 36 million people live with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Despite incredible advances in combined antiretroviral therapy, the hopes for a definitive cure and an effective vaccine have been frustrated by the seemingly endless capacity of the virus to subvert the host defenses, to persist in a latent state, and to resist drug interventions. Recent work, however, sheds new light o...

Reflections on opening Pandora's box.

Publishing my paper on Asperger's syndrome in 1981, and suggesting that it is part of the autistic spectrum, has had various consequences. These include the growth of interest in the syndrome among the general public as well as professionals. Controversy over definitions of subgroups and prevalence of autistic spectrum disorders has increased. Adult psychiatrists are becoming aware that high fu...