Breaking out of recession: gauging Texas’ response to Fed stimulus
From the time the U.S. recession began in December 2007 through the subsequent recovery, Texas and the Eleventh Federal Reserve District have outperformed the nation.While economic activity is better in Texas, it remains far from robust. And though Texas employment hasn’t fully reclaimed levels reached before the crisis, the other 11 Federal Reserve districts remain 3 to 8 percent below predownturn employment peaks as a postrecessionary disquiet lingers.
Oil and gas rises again in a diversified Texas
The oil and gas industry has been a driver of the Texas economy for the past 40 years. Its contribution declined with the oil-led recession of 1986 and appeared to slip further in the 1990s as the high-tech industry boomed. But oil and natural gas prices have risen since 1999, reaching record highs in 2008. This resurgence has boosted energy activity and factored into the recent economic recovery in Texas, affirming the industry’s long-held prominence in the state. ; An econometric model developed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas documents the state’s evolving energy fortunes since the late 1990s. It shows that the industry is still contributing positively to Texas output and employment, though in a less-pronounced way than during the prior oil boom 30 years ago.
New Sweet-Tasting C21-Pregnane Glycosides from Pericarps of Myriopteron extensum.
Ten novel C21 pregnane glycosides, extensumside C-L (1-10), were isolated as highly sweet-tasting substances from the edible pericarps of Myriopteron extensum (Wight) K. Schum by sensory-guided fractionation and purification. Their structures were determined through 1D and 2D NMR, such as HSQC, HMBC, 1H-1H COSY, HSQC-TOCSY, and ROESY, as well as other spectroscopic analysis combined with chemical evidence. These compounds shared the same aglycone, 3β,16α-dihydroxy-pregn-5-en-20-one, and contained the deoxysugar chain and the glucose chain which were linked to C-3 and C-16 of the aglycone, respectively. The sweetness potency was evaluated by a human sensory panel test and preliminary structure-taste relationship was discussed. The sweetness intensities of these compounds are between 50 and 400 times greater than that of sucrose. Furthermore, quantitation analyses of compounds 1, 3, 4, and 6 in different parts of M. extensum indicated that the concentrations of these sweet components in the pericarps are obviously higher than those in stems and roots.