Search

Of the 100,000-plus valve surgeries performed each year in the United States, up to 6% of those develop complications from prosthetic valve dysfunction. Prosthetic valve dysfunction (PVD) can be life threatening and often challenging to diagnose. In this review, we discuss the prevalence and incidence of PVD, explore its different etiologies, and assess the role of multimodality imaging with an emphasis on cardiac multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) for evaluating patients with PVD. We also investigate the utility of MDCT in preprocedural planning for transcatheter devices and redo surgical planning and discuss management strategies for patients with PVD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the Kaleckian model of growth and distribution that sets a budget deficit ratio as an indicator of fiscal policy and examines the short- and long-run effects of an increase in budget deficits and a rise in income tax rates on the economy. The key short-run outcomes are as follows. First, expanded budget deficits have a positive effect on the rate of capacity utilization. Second, the tax rate for wage income does not affect the rate of capacity utilization, whereas the tax rate for capital income has a favorable impact on it. This result implies that raising the tax rate for capital income can be an important policy instrument for stimulating the economy. Third, we find that the economy exhibits a wage-led aggregate demand in the short run. The main long-run results are as follows. First, the effect of expanded budget deficits on the growth rate is ambiguous, since a higher debt burden negatively influences the rate of capacity utilization and hence economic growth, despite the increase in demand caused by government borrowing. A higher budget deficit ratio thus raises the growth rate only if a certain condition is satisfied. Second, the tax rate for capital income has a positive impact on the growth rate. Third, the economy shows a wage-led growth in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the outbreak of the Korean War on June 25, 1950, the US included the Republic of China on Taiwan (Taiwan hereafter) in its Asia-Pacific containment line, and restored the military and economic aid to Taiwan for the sake of regional security. The US aid to the countries along the Asia-Pacific defense line was not only in the form of supplying munitions, but also linked these countries together in an economic dimension. Taiwan is one of the 120 countries which had accepted US aid and also successfully moved from "dependence" to "independently sustained growth." This article will firstly review the historical background of US aid to Taiwan and related institutional development; secondly, this article will illustrate how Taiwan used US aid, and which economic sector the US aid affected; thirdly, it will trace the impact of US aid on Taiwan's foreign trade, and finally, to make a conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]