Introduction: the presence of anti-CCP is an important prognostic tool for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but its relationship with the activity of the disease and functional capacity is still being investigated. Objectives: to study the relationship between anti-CCP and the indices of disease activity, functional capacity and structural damage, by means of conventional radiography (CR) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in stabilized RA. Methods: cross-sectional study of RA patients with one to 10 years of disease. The participants were subjected to clinical evaluation with anti-CCP screening. Disease activity was assessed by means of the Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI) and functional capacity by means of the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ). CR was analyzed by the Sharp van der Heijde index (SmvH) and MRI by the Rheumatoid Arthritis Magnetic Resonance Image Scoring System (RAMRIS). Results: 56 patients were evaluated, with median (IIq) of 55 (47.5–60.0) years, 50 (89.3%) were female among whom 37 (66.1%) were positive for anti-CCP. The median (IIq) of CDAI, HAQ, SmvH and RAMRIS were 14.75 (5.42–24.97), 1.06 (0.28–1.75), 2 (0–8) and 15 (7–35), respectively. There was no association between anti-CCP and CDAI, HAQ, SmvH and RAMRIS. Conclusion: our results did not establish the association of anti-CCP with the severity of the disease. So far, we cannot corroborate the anti-CCP as a prognostic tool in RA established.

The paper examines the motivations, financing, expansion and challenges of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The BRI was initially designed to address China’s overcapacity and promote economic growth in both China and in countries along the “Belt” and “Road” through infrastructure investment and industrial capacity cooperation. It took into account China’s strategic transition in its opening-up policy and foreign policy to pay more attention to the neighboring countries in Southeast Asia and Central and West Asia when facing greater strategic pressure from the United States in East Asia and the Pacific region. More themes have been added to the initiative’s original framework since its inception in 2013, including the vision of the BRI as China’s major solution to improve international economic cooperation and practice to build a “community of shared future for mankind”, and the idea of the Green Silk Road and the Digital Silk Road. Chinese state-owned enterprises and policy and commercial banks have dominated investment and financing for BRI projects, which explains the root of the problems and risks facing the initiative, such as unsustainable debt, non-transparency, corruption and low economic efficiency. Measures taken by China to tackle these problems, for example, mitigating the debt distress and improving debt sustainability, are unlikely to make a big difference anytime soon due to the tenacity of China’s long-held state-driven investment model.

This paper reviews and comments on the evaluation methods of the recreational value of natural landscape resources, pointing out that the current popular TCM method and CVM method both rely too much on the market prediction conclusion and cannot truly reflect the recreational value, and putting forward the idea, specific operation steps and calculation methods of evaluating the recreational value of natural landscape resources with tourism environmental capacity.

This paper analyzed the equitable allocation of infrastructure across regional states in Ethiopia. In general, in the past years, there has been a good start in the infrastructure sector in Ethiopia. However, the governance and equity system of infrastructure in Ethiopia is not flexible, not technology-oriented, not fair, and not easily solved. The results of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) showed that there is a lack of institutional capacity, infrastructure governance, and equity, which has negatively impacted the state- and nation-building processes in Ethiopia. According to the interviewees, so long as the unmet demand for infrastructure exists, it remains a key restrain on doing business in most Ethiopian regional states. This is due to the lack of integrated frameworks, as there are coordination failures (lack of proper government intervention, including a lack of proper understanding and implementation of the constitution and the federal system). In Ethiopia, to reduce these bottlenecks arising from the lack of institutional capacity, infrastructure governance, and equity and their effects on nation-building, first of all, the government has to critically hear the people, deeply assess the problems, and come to the point and then discuss the problems and the way forward with the society at large.

Inequity in infrastructure distribution and social injustice’s effects on Ethiopia’s efforts to build a democratic society are examined in this essay. By ensuring fair access to infrastructure, justice, and economic opportunity, those who strive for social justice aim to redistribute resources in order to increase the well-being of individuals, communities, and the nine regional states. The effects that social inequity and injustice of access to infrastructure have on Ethiopia’s efforts to develop a democratic society were the focus of the study. Time series analysis using principal component analysis (PCA) and composite infrastructure index (CII), as well as structural equation modeling–partial least squares (SEM-PLS), were necessary to investigate this issue scientifically. This study also used in-depth interviews and focus group discussions to support the quantitative approach. The research study finds that public infrastructure investments have failed or have been disrupted, negatively impacting state- and nation-building processes of Ethiopia. The findings of this research also offer theories of coordination, equity, and infrastructure equity that would enable equitable infrastructure access as a just and significant component of nation-building processes using democratic federalism. Furthermore, this contributes to both knowledge and methodology. As a result, indigenous state capability is required to assure infrastructure equity and social justice, as well as to implement the state-nation nested set of policies that should almost always be a precondition for effective state- and nation-building processes across Ethiopia’s regional states.