Economic policies, labour unions, and voter turnout in the advanced industrial democracies

There is a large body of literature that examines the effect of labour unions on voter turnout. The empirical findings consistently point at the positive impact unions have on voter turnout. However, to the best of my knowledge no study accounts for the factors that affect union membership. Based on data from 20 advanced industrial democracies observed between 1960 and 2015, this study examined the socioeconomic factors influencing union membership that influence voter participation

Assessment of cognitive dysfunction in kidney disease

Background: Cognitive dysfunction, include reducedmental alertness, intellectual impairment, decreasedattention and concentration, memory deficits anddiminished perceptual-motor coordination. Both CKDand chronic dialysis patients are thought to be associatedwith cognitive impairment. Cognitive impairment maydecrease an individual's quality of life, increase resourceutilization and result in suboptimal medical care.Neurophysiologic tests using imaging techniques areused to evaluate structural and functional abnormalities.Neuropsychological testing uses validated questions andscreening tests to evaluate cognition.Setting and participants: This study was carried out on120 patients with different stages of CKD fromnephrology outpatient clinic and hemodialysis unit inAin Shams University Hospitals. Group I: 50 CKDpatients, stage ? and stage IV. Group II: 50 ESRDpatients on regular hemodialysis with K t/v > 1.1. GroupIII: 20 acute kidney injury patients, followed up till theirrenal functions stabilized. Group ?V: 20 healthy subjectsmatched with patients. All patients underwent laboratoryinvestigations and psychometric tests which include trialmaking test part B, digit span test, digit symbol test,mini-mental state examination.Results: There were highly significant differences ofmean values of cognitive function tests between (groupsI,II and III as compared with group IV (control group),stage III CKD and stage IV CKD, CKD andhemodialysis patients, AKI patient at the insult and afterrecovery) and finally between hemoglobin and cognitivefunction tests score.Conclusions: There were significant differences of cognitive function tests results between CKD, III,IV,V, AKI patients as compared with healthy group, suggesting that kidney disease affects cognitive performance, there were significant differences of cognitive function tests results between stage III CKD and stage IV CKD, suggesting that the degree of cognitive impairment is associated with the severity of CKD, also significant differences of cognitive function tests results between CKD and ESRD on hemodialysis, suggesting that dialysis improves cognitive performance. Our results showed significant differences of cognitive function tests results between AKI patients at the insult and after recovery, suggesting that AKI also impair cognitive function. Finally cognitive performance is affected by hemoglobin level in CKD stage III, IV, V on hemodialysis and AKI patients, suggesting that treatment of anemia in AKI, CKD and ESRD patients improve cognitive performance

Urinary Claudin-1 Level as a Marker of Podocyte Injury in Patients with Proteinuria

Abstract Background The biology of claudins is a rapidly evolving field, and many intriguing questions remain unanswered. Although it had been assumed that the reason there are ≥24 isoforms of claudin is that each one has distinct permeability properties. The nephron displays a wide spectrum of claudins, whose distribution varies in each tubular segment. In diabetic nephropathy and glomerulonephritis the gene expression of claudin-1, is markedly upregulated in the podocyte, accompanied by a tighter filtration slit diaphragm (cell-cell junction made by the glomerular podocytes) and the appearance of TJ-like structures between the foot processes causing further podocytes injury and proteinuria. Aim of the work to assess urinary claudin -1 level as a marker of podocyte injury in patients with proteinuria. Patients and Methods it is a case control study which was conducted upon 90 subjects who were divided into three groups: group I included 30 patients with type II DM, group II included 30 patients with glomerulonephritis and group III had 30 healthy subjects as controls. Urinary claudin-1 level was measured by Enzyme linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) Results In this study, we found that urinary claudin-1 level was significantly higher in diabetics group and GN group than in control group. In comparison between GN group and diabetic group, we found that urinary claudin-1 level was higher in GN group than in diabetics group but with no statistically significant difference between the two groups. Conclusion urinary claudin-1 level was significantly higher in diabetics and GN group and has positive correlation with uACR. So it can be used as marker of podocytes injury and proteinuria </jats:sec

The effect of the number of hints accompanying content in interactive videos on achieving some learning outcomes for female students in Hail schools

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the number of visual hints accompanying the educational content in the interactive video clips on the achievement of some learning outcomes among students of the second intermediate grade in the Ha’il region. Sixty students participated in this study and were divided into three groups and studied according to three scenarios, respectively, interactive videos without a hint, visual hints with color, visual hints with color and arrows. The results showed that a group that studied by color and hint got more results and improvements than a group that studied without a hint and visual hint with color and arrows group. This study recommended the necessity of working on the design and use of interactive video clips based on the use of visual hints in different courses, working on training teachers on how to use videos and employing them correctly, and working on conducting more research studies on the effectiveness and impact of using visual hints accompanying the interactive videos in teaching other courses.</jats:p