Abstract The last decade has seen a substantial increase in research focused on the identification of blood-based biomarkers that have utility in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Blood-based biomarkers have ...significant advantages of being time- and cost-efficient as well as reduced invasiveness and increased patient acceptance. Despite these advantages and increased research efforts, the field has been hampered by lack of reproducibility and an unclear path for moving basic discovery toward clinical utilization. Here we reviewed the recent literature on blood-based biomarkers in AD to provide a current state of the art. In addition, a collaborative model is proposed that leverages academic and industry strengths to facilitate the field in moving past discovery only work and toward clinical use. Key resources are provided. This new public-private partnership model is intended to circumvent the traditional handoff model and provide a clear and useful paradigm for the advancement of biomarker science in AD and other neurodegenerative diseases.
The teaching profession has been characterized as having high levels of stress and record rates of burnout and attrition. Language teaching is no exception to this global trend. Indeed, it could be ...argued that it is subject to additional specific stressors such as high intercultural and linguistic demands as well as the frequent use of energy-intense methodologies. Generally, language teacher psychology has been relatively neglected in research; however, those working in the private sector have almost exclusively been ignored. In terms of wellbeing, this is especially problematic given concerns about their working conditions. Therefore, this study takes an ecological perspective to investigating the wellbeing of teachers of English language teaching (ELT) working in the private sector in Malta. Eight volunteer teachers took part in a series of two semi-structured interviews assisted by visual prompts and journal entries. The data were analysed using a grounded Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach and presented in line with the ecological perspective. The main findings revealed how the teachers’ wellbeing is defined by the business model character of the private sector in particular in terms of working conditions and status of the ELT profession in Malta. For the teachers, this very often means precarity in terms of the job and future prospects. However, the study also revealed aspects of positivity. For example, teachers reported enjoying their teaching, positive relationships with colleagues and students, and a positive work climate, which varied across institutions. The findings suggest implications for good practice in the field and directions for further research.
Epidemiologic analyses of acute pancreatitis (AP) and chronic pancreatitis (CP) provide insight into causes and strategies for prevention and affect allocation of resources to its study and ...treatment. We sought to determine current and accurate incidences of AP and CP, along with the prevalence of CP, in children and adults in the United States.
We collected data from the Truven MarketScan Research Databases of commercial inpatient and outpatient insurance claims in the United States from 2007 through 2014 (patients 0–64 years old). We calculated the incidences of AP and CP and prevalence of CP based on International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision diagnosis codes. Children were defined as 18 years or younger and adults as 19 to 64 years old.
The incidence of pediatric AP was stable from 2007 through 2014, remaining at 12.3/100,000 persons in 2014. Meanwhile, the incidence for adult AP decreased from 123.7/100,000 persons in 2007 to 111.2/100,000 persons in 2014. The incidence of CP decreased over time in children (2.2/100,000 persons in 2007 to 1.9/100,000 persons in 2014) and adults (31.7/100,000 persons in 2007 to 24.7/100,000 persons in 2014). The prevalences of pediatric and adult CP were 5.8/100,000 persons and 91.9/100,000 persons, respectively, in 2014. Incidences of AP and CP increased with age. We found little change in incidence during the first decade of life but linear increases starting in the second decade.
We performed a comprehensive epidemiologic analysis of privately insured, non-elderly adults and children with AP and CP in the United States. Changes in gallstone formation, smoking, and alcohol consumption, along with advances in pancreatitis management, may be responsible for the stabilization and even decrease in the incidences of AP and CP.
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Private-sector planners in Turkey have been operating in a planning system that has been restructured within the framework of neoliberal urban policies for the last forty years. Especially after ...2000, while the model of growth over construction was adopted as a basic economic policy, the planning practices that implemented these policies were seen as a means of capital accumulation by wider social groups. In this economic political environment, private-sector planners have entered into new relationships with politics, markets, and bureaucracy, and have settled in the centre of criticism with professional practices that fall behind the basic principles of the profession, such as land speculation and serving certain pressure groups instead of the public interest. This article focuses on the conditions in which private-sector planners realize their planning practices and the problems they encounter in their plan-making processes. According to private-sector planners, the most important problem is the increase in the determination of rent-oriented interest relations between public institutions and local market actors instead of public benefit in the planning process. Private-sector planners believe that at every stage of the planning process, politicians and market actors exert pressure on planners, and that these forces have caused Turkey's planning practices to decline.
To estimate the annual, per-patient incremental burden of diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs).
DFU patients and non-DFU patients with diabetes (controls) were selected using two de-identified databases: ages ...65+ years from a 5% random sample of Medicare beneficiaries (Standard Analytical Files, January 2007-December 2010) and ages 18-64 years from a privately insured population (OptumInsight, January 2007-September 2011). Demographics, comorbidities, resource use, and costs from the payer perspective incurred during the 12 months prior to a DFU episode were identified. DFU patients were matched to controls with similar pre-DFU characteristics using a propensity score methodology. Per-patient incremental clinical outcomes (e.g., amputation and medical resource utilization) and health care costs (2012 U.S. dollars) during the 12-month follow-up period were measured among the matched cohorts.
Data for 27,878 matched pairs of Medicare and 4,536 matched pairs of privately insured patients were analyzed. During the 12-month follow-up period, DFU patients had more days hospitalized (+138.2% Medicare, +173.5% private), days requiring home health care (+85.4% Medicare, +230.0% private), emergency department visits (+40.6% Medicare, +109.0% private), and outpatient/physician office visits (+35.1% Medicare, +42.5% private) than matched controls. Among matched patients, 3.8% of Medicare and 5.0% of privately insured DFU patients received lower limb amputations. Increased utilization resulted in DFU patients having $11,710 in incremental annual health care costs for Medicare, and $16,883 for private insurance, compared with matched controls. Privately insured matched DFU patients incurred excess work-loss costs of $3,259.
These findings document that DFU imposes substantial burden on public and private payers, ranging from $9-13 billion in addition to the costs associated with diabetes itself.
The present study examines the public-private sector wage gap in South Africa using individual cross-sectional data for 2000-14. Results from unconditional quantile regressions and generalised ...Oaxaca-Blinder type decompositions show that the wage gap is an inverted-U shape across the wage distribution. The 'composition effect' is more important than the 'price effect' at the bottom of the distribution while the opposite applies at the top. Key factors underpinning the 'composition effect' are unionisation, industry of employment and education, while those associated with the 'price effect' are education, race and occupation.
Modern slavery is a pervasive human rights issue that deprives individuals of their freedom and rights, often exploiting them for labor or other forms of exploitation. While governments have a vital ...role to play in addressing modern slavery, the private sector also has an essential role to play. Supply chains are a critical area where the private sector can take action to address modern slavery. Many industries rely on complex supply chains across multiple countries and involve numerous suppliers and subcontractors. These complex supply chains make it difficult for companies to ensure that their products or services are not tainted by modern slavery. Despite these constraints, the private sector can contribute to combating modern slavery by adopting ethical business practices that prioritize protecting human rights. This can be achieved through various means, such as implementing strict supply chain management policies, ensuring transparency in their operations, and collaborating with civil society organizations to promote responsible practices. By conducting due diligence, establishing clear contractual requirements, collaborating with other businesses and industry groups, and using their purchasing power, companies can also mitigate the risks of modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.
Cardiovascular disease presents an increasing health burden to low- and middle-income countries. Although ample therapeutic options and care improvement frameworks exist to address its prime risk ...factor, hypertension, blood pressure control rates remain poor. We describe the results of an effectiveness study of a multisector urban population health initiative that targets hypertension in a real-world implementation setting in cities across three continents. The initiative followed the "CARDIO4Cities" approach (quality of Care, early Access, policy Reform, Data and digital technology, Intersectoral collaboration, and local Ownership).
The approach was applied in Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, Dakar in Senegal, and São Paulo in Brazil. In each city, a portfolio of evidence-based practices was implemented, tailored to local priorities and available data. Outcomes were measured by extracting hypertension diagnosis, treatment and control rates from primary health records. Data from 18,997 patients with hypertension in primary health facilities were analyzed.
Over one to two years of implementation, blood pressure control rates among enrolled patients receiving medication tripled in São Paulo (from 12·3% to 31·2%) and Dakar (from 6·7% to 19·4%) and increased six-fold in Ulaanbaatar (from 3·1% to 19·7%).
This study provides first evidence that a multisectoral population health approach to implement known best-practices, supported by data and digital technologies, and relying on local buy-in and ownership, can improve hypertension control in high-burden urban primary care settings in low-and middle-income countries.
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