By the early 21st century, most high-income countries have put into effect a host of generous and virtually gender-neutral parental leave policies and family benefits, with the multiple goals of ...gender equity, higher fertility, and child development. What have been the effects? Proponents typically emphasize the contribution of family policies to the goals of gender equity and child development, enabling women to combine careers and motherhood, and altering social norms regarding gender roles. Opponents often warn that family policies may become a long-term hindrance to women's careers because of the loss of work experience and the higher costs to employers that hire women of childbearing age. We draw lessons from existing work and our own analysis on the effects of parental leave and other interventions aimed at aiding families. We present country- and micro-level evidence on the effects of family policy on gender outcomes, focusing on female employment, gender gaps in earnings, and fertility. Most estimates range from negligible to a small positive impact. But the verdict is far more positive for the beneficial impact of spending on early education and child care.
Reducing the burden of infectious diseases that affect people in the developing world requires sustained collaborative drug discovery efforts. The quality of the chemical starting points for such ...projects is a key factor in improving the likelihood of clinical success, and so it is important to set clear go/no-go criteria for the progression of hit and lead compounds. With this in mind, the Japanese Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund convened with experts from the Medicines for Malaria Venture, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative and the TB Alliance, together with representatives from the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation, to set disease-specific criteria for hits and leads for malaria, tuberculosis, visceral leishmaniasis and Chagas disease. Here, we present the agreed criteria and discuss the underlying rationale.
: Rice bran, a byproduct of the rice milling process, contains most of the phytochemicals. This study aimed at determining the concentrations of lipophilic, solvent‐extractable (free), and cell ...wall‐bound (bound) phytochemicals and their antioxidant capacities from brans of white, light brown, brown, purple, and red colors, and broccoli and blueberry for comparison. The concentrations of lipophilic antioxidants of vitamin E (tocopherol and tocotrienols) and γ‐oryzanols were 319.67 to 443.73 and 3861.93 to 5911.12 μg/g bran dry weight (DW), respectively, and were not associated with bran color. The total phenolic, total flavonoid, and antioxidant capacities of ORAC (oxygen radical absorbance capacity), DPPH (2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging, and iron‐chelating in the free fraction were correlated with the intensity of bran color, while variations of these in the bound fraction were less than those in the free fraction among brans. Compounds in the bound fraction had higher antioxidant capacity of ORAC than DPPH, relative to those in the free fraction. The bound fraction of light‐color brans contributed as much to its total ORAC as the free fraction. Total proanthocyanidin concentration was the highest in red rice bran, while total anthocyanin was highest in purple brans. The predominant anthocyanin was cyanidin‐3‐glucoside. Red and purple brans had several fold higher total phenolics and flavonoids as well as ORAC and DPPH, from both free and bound fractions, than freeze‐dried blueberry and broccoli. These results indicate that rice brans are natural sources of hydrophilic and lipophilic phytochemicals for use in quality control of various food systems as well as for nutraceutical and functional food application.
Networks pervade social and economic life, and they play a prominent role in explaining a huge variety of social and economic phenomena. Standard economic theory did not give much credit to the role ...of networks until the early 1990s, but since then the study of the theory of networks has blossomed. At the heart of this research is the idea that the pattern of connections between individual rational agents shapes their actions and determines their rewards. The importance of connections has in turn motivated the study of the very processes by which networks are formed.
The paper investigates the causal relationship between the trust in institutions and compliance with measures introduced to slow down the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 in Slovakia. In ...addition, the impact of socio-economic characteristics on compliance with introduced measures was analysed. Data were obtained from a survey carried out by the Slovak Academy of Sciences on a representative sample of the Slovak population of 1,000 respondents. To derive the causal relationship between institutional trust and compliance behaviour, a probit regression model was used. Findings suggest that trust in public institutions helps to increase compliance with social distancing. In addition, some socio-economic characteristics such as employment status, age or whether individuals felt endangered by COVID-19 had a positive and statistically significant effect on compliance with measures used to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Institutional trust did not have a statistically significant effect on compliance with face-covering measures.
Health care use of children with medical complexity (CMC), such as those with neurologic impairment or other complex chronic conditions (CCCs) and those with technology assistance (TA), is not well ...understood. The objective of the study was to evaluate health care utilization and costs in a population-based sample of CMC in Ontario, Canada.
Hospital discharge data from 2005 through 2007 identified CMC. Complete health system use and costs were analyzed over the subsequent 2-year period.
The study identified 15 771 hospitalized CMC (0.67% of children in Ontario); 10 340 (65.6%) had single-organ CCC, 1063 (6.7%) multiorgan CCC, 4368 (27.6%) neurologic impairment, and 1863 (11.8%) had TA. CMC saw a median of 13 outpatient physicians and 6 distinct subspecialists. Thirty-six percent received home care services. Thirty-day readmission varied from 12.6% (single CCC without TA) to 23.7% (multiple CCC with TA). CMC accounted for almost one-third of child health spending. Rehospitalization accounted for the largest proportion of subsequent costs (27.2%), followed by home care (11.3%) and physician services (6.0%). Home care costs were a much larger proportion of costs in children with TA. Children with multiple CCC with TA had costs 3.5 times higher than children with a single CCC without TA.
Although a small proportion of the population, CMC account for a substantial proportion of health care costs. CMC make multiple transitions across providers and care settings and CMC with TA have higher costs and home care use. Initiatives to improve their health outcomes and decrease costs need to focus on the entire continuum of care.
Summary Guidance is provided in a European setting on the assessment and treatment of postmenopausal women with or at risk from osteoporosis. Introduction The European Foundation for Osteoporosis and ...Bone disease (subsequently the International Osteoporosis Foundation) published guidelines for the diagnosis and management of osteoporosis in 1997. This manuscript updates these in a European setting. Methods The following areas are reviewed: the role of bone mineral density measurement for the diagnosis of osteoporosis and assessment of fracture risk; general and pharmacological management of osteoporosis; monitoring of treatment; assessment of fracture risk; case finding strategies; investigation of patients; health economics of treatment. Results and conclusions A platform is provided on which specific guidelines can be developed for national use.
How modern economics abandoned classical liberalism and lost its way
Milton Friedman once predicted that advances in scientific economics would resolve debates about whether raising the minimum wage ...is good policy. Decades later, Friedman's prediction has not come true. InWhere Economics Went Wrong, David Colander and Craig Freedman argue that it never will. Why? Because economic policy, when done correctly, is an art and a craft. It is not, and cannot be, a science. The authors explain why classical liberal economists understood this essential difference, why modern economists abandoned it, and why now is the time for the profession to return to its classical liberal roots.
Carefully distinguishing policy from science and theory, classical liberal economists emphasized values and context, treating economic policy analysis as a moral science where a dialogue of sensibilities and judgments allowed for the same scientific basis to arrive at a variety of policy recommendations. Using the University of Chicago-one of the last bastions of classical liberal economics-as a case study, Colander and Freedman examine how both the MIT and Chicago variants of modern economics eschewed classical liberalism in their attempt to make economic policy analysis a science. By examining the way in which the discipline managed to lose its bearings, the authors delve into such issues as the development of welfare economics in relation to economic science, alternative voices within the Chicago School, and exactly how Friedman got it wrong.
Contending that the division between science and prescription needs to be restored,Where Economics Went Wrongmakes the case for a more nuanced and self-aware policy analysis by economists.
La pandémie de COVID-19 met à mal des perspectives économiques déjà fragiles. Depuis 2013, la croissance est modeste et le chômage est en augmentation. Les incertitudes au niveau de l'action publique ...expliquent en grande partie le faible niveau de la confiance et l'atonie de l'investissement.
This book contributes to the understanding of how tourism can be designed to provide conditions for learning. This involves learning for tourists, the tourist industry, public authorities and local ...communities. We explore how tourism, knowledge and learning can be used as means towards sustainable development through current, new or changed structures, concepts, activities and communication efforts. The book should be seen as both an inspiration for tourism actors (e.g. tourism attractions, policy makers and other industry actors), and a scholarly contribution to further research. A holistic approach distinguishes this book from most existing literature that focuses on separate units of tourism - for instance, personal or community well-being, nature-based tourism, cultural heritage tourism or tourism that is a result of researchers' travels (so-called scientific tourism). The various contributors to the book provide a range of perspectives and experiences, from social sciences with a focus on marketing, innovation management, human geography and environmental law, to arts and humanities with a focus on heritage studies, archaeology and photography and, finally, to natural sciences with a focus on marine sciences.
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