Declining mortality from congenital heart disease in Malta

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common congenital anomaly occurring in approximately 10/1000 live births. Analysis of official Maltese Health Division statistics listing CHD as the primary cause of death on death•certificates has shown a significant fall in mortality from CHD in Malta from 1952 to 1993 (r = -0.84, p<0.0001). This decline has persisted despite the steady incidence of CHD and has not yet plateaued. The decreasing mortality from CHD may be attributed to advances in paediatric cardiology and paediatric cardiac surgery over the past four decades.peer-reviewe

Migration and nursing in Ireland: An internationalist history

Recent research and policy interest has focused on the changing composition of the nursing workforce in the Republic of Ireland, which has seen an increase in the number and importance of overseas-trained nurses. This is the most recent episode of the importance of migration in the history of nursing in Ireland which stretches back to the emergence of nursing in Ireland in the early 19th century. Delineating the intersecting histories of Irish nursing and migration, this article situates Irish nursing history within an internationalist framework involving the movement of people, ideas and practices across borders. The relevance of an internationalist analysis is demonstrated through an examination of the close connections between the British and Irish nursing institutions and labour forces and the significance of Catholic religious orders and religious migration in the development of nursing in Ireland and overseas. This analysis of the history of Irish nursing from the early nineteenth century to the mid twentieth century draws particular attention to the significance of female religious migration as a previously neglected chapter in the history of the international nurse migration in the Irish context, and it highlights the existence of the 'global nursing care chain' (Yeates, 2004, 2006, 2009) that linked Ireland to the international economy and to the development of nursing services at home and abroad

Population ageing and immigration policy

In its simplest interpretation, population ageing is the increase in the average or median age of a population. It is the process by which there is a redistribution of relative population shares away from the younger to the older age groups

A Descriptive Analysis of U.S. Housing Demand for the 1990s

We analyze the effect of changes in type of household formation (i.e., single person, single parent, married couple, etc.) on the demand for housing and segment income by household type to determine housing tenure. Using data disaggregated by household type, we forecast housing demand for the United States through the turn ofthe century. The results indicate that total housing demand for the decade will be 11.8 million units, of which 8.1 million will be owner-occupied and 3.7 million will be renter-occupied

A sectoral analysis of Italy's development : 1861 -2010

Italy‘s economic growth over its 150 years of unified history did not occur at a steady pace nor was it balanced across sectors. Relying on an entirely new input (labour and capital) database by us built and presented in the Appendix, together with new Banca d‘Italia estimates of GDP by sector, this paper evaluates the different labour productivity growth trends within the Italian economy‘s sectors, as well as the contribution of structural change to productivity growth. Italy‘s performance is then set in an international context: a comparison of sectoral labour productivity growth rates and levels within a selected sample of countries (UK, US, Germany, Japan, India) allows us to better time, quantify and gauge the causes of Italy‘s catching-up process and subsequent more recent slowdown. Finally, the paper analyses the proximate sources of Italy‘s growth, relative to the other countries, in a standard growth accounting framework, in an attempt also to disentangle the contribution of both total factor productivity growth and capital deepening to the country‘s labour productivity dynamics

The Process of Urbanisation in Pakistan, 1951–81

The current level of urbanisation in Pakistan, approximately 33 percent in 1998, is not high by global standards. But it is commonly linked with unemployment, underemployment, shortage of housing, transport and other infrastructure like water supply and sewerage. Compared to other areas of population dynamics, such as fertility and mortality, studies in the field of urbanisation and internal migration in Pakistan are rather limited. During the last three decades hardly half a dozen studies could be added in the field of urbanisation. These studies are primarily based on data generated by the different censuses. After the 1979 Population Labour Force and Migration (PLM) Survey, no nationally representative survey addressing the issue of urbanisation and internal migration could be carried out. Even regional studies could not be conducted during the last two decades. The present study is designed to utilise the 1998 census data to investigate urban population growth, pace (or tempo) of urbanisation and components of urban growth for the period of 1981–98.

Harvard and Yale Ascendant: The Legal Education of the Justices from Holmes to Kagan

With the nomination of Elena Kagan to be a justice of the United States Supreme Court, it is quite possible that eight of the nine justices will have graduated from only two law schools—Harvard and Yale. This article frames this development in the historical context of the legal education of those justices confirmed between 1902 and 2010. What this historical review makes clear is that the Ivy League dominance of the Supreme Court is a relatively recent occurrence whose beginnings can be traced to Antonin Scalia’s 1986 confirmation. Prior to that time, although Harvard and Yale were consistently represented among the justices, they did not constitute a majority of sitting members. In addition to this strictly historical assessment of the justices’ education, this article also attempts to ascertain why the Harvard-Yale trend has arisen, and whether this trend may have deleterious effects on the future of constitutional law. In concluding, it is the recommendation of this article that when the next vacancy arises, the President should look outside the confines of Harvard and Yale for a qualified nominee