ABSTRACT
How do slums shape the economic and health dynamics of pandemics? A difference-in-differences analysis using millions of mobile phones in Brazil shows that residents of overcrowded slums engaged in less social distancing after the outbreak of Covid-19. We develop and calibrate a choice-theoretic equilibrium model in which individuals are heterogeneous in income and some people live in high-density slums. Slum residents account for a disproportionately high number of infections and deaths and, without slums, deaths increase in non-slum neighborhoods. Policy analysis of reallocation of medical resources, lockdowns and cash transfers produce heterogeneous effects across groups. Policy simulations indicate that: reallocating medical resources cuts deaths and raises output and the welfare of both groups; mild lockdowns favor slum individuals by mitigating the demand for hospital beds, whereas strict confinements mostly delay the evolution of the pandemic; and cash transfers benefit slum residents to the detriment of others, highlighting important distributional effects.
Subject(s)
Angiogenesis Inhibitors/administration & dosage , Antibodies, Monoclonal/administration & dosage , Retinal Diseases/drug therapy , Retinal Vessels/drug effects , Telangiectasis/drug therapy , Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized , Female , Fluorescein Angiography , Humans , Injections , Middle Aged , Ranibizumab , Retina/pathology , Retinal Detachment/diagnosis , Retinal Detachment/physiopathology , Retinal Diseases/diagnosis , Retinal Diseases/physiopathology , Retinal Vessels/pathology , Telangiectasis/diagnosis , Telangiectasis/physiopathology , Tomography, Optical Coherence , Visual Acuity/physiology , Vitreous BodyABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Hyperglycemia and hypertension contribute to the development of diabetic retinopathy, and this may involve alterations in the normal retinal cell cycle. In this work, we examined the influence of diabetes and hypertension on retinal cell replication in vivo and the relationship between these changes and several early markers of diabetic retinopathy. METHODS: Diabetes was induced with streptozotocin in 4- and 12-week-old spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and their Wistar Kyoto (WKY) controls. The rats were killed 15 days later. Retinal cells stained with bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) were seen in rats of both ages. RESULTS: In 12-week-old rats, the number of BrdU-positive retinal cells was higher in SHR than in WKY rats. After 15 days of diabetes mellitus, there was a marked reduction in cell replication only in diabetic SHR (p=0.007). The BrdU-positive cells expressed neural, glial, or vascular progenitor markers. There was greater expression of p27(Kip1) in the ganglion cell layer of both diabetic groups (p=0.05), whereas in the inner nuclear layer there was enhanced expression only in diabetic SHR (p=0.02). There was a marked increase in the retinal expression of fibronectin (p=0.04) and vascular endothelial growth factor (p=0.02) in diabetic SHR that was accompanied by blood-retinal barrier breakdown (p=0.01). DISCUSSION: Concomitant diabetes and hypertension attenuated the proliferation of retinal cells, and it is associated with an increase in p27(Kip1) expression, fibronectin accumulation, and blood-retinal barrier breakdown. The replicative retinal cells displayed characteristics of progenitor cells.