Urbanization, ageing and migration: some evidence from African settlements in Cape Town

This paper is based on secondary analysis of data obtained from the 1995 Western Cape Community Housing Trust study on the demographic and socio-economic dynamics of the African population in the Metropolitan Cape Town area (WCCHT, 1995). The sample consisted of 807 households, of which 113 sheltered at least one person aged 60 years and over (elderly households). Statistical information on household composition, housing and infrastructure, standard of living items, household economy, migration and mobility, community integration and perceived quality of life are drawn together for elderly and young households. A comparison of their profiles shows that elderly households in the metropolitan area tend to be larger, more prone to the exigencies of unemployment, and more likely to be sheltered. In formal houses and the established townships of Langa, Guguletu and Nyanga than young households. This geographical distribution coincides with better housing infrastructure and more consumer durables. Nevertheless, in terms of income elder households tend to be significantly poorer than their younger counterparts. The WCCHT data indicate that social pensioners in urban areas - as with their rural counterparts - act as magnets for economically weaker persons and that pensions are thus important redistributive mechanisms which enable the survival of structurally vulnerable families in urban settings. Contrary to common belief, older citizens have participated in the recent mobility upsurge, albeit on a somewhat smaller scale. This holds good for intra-urban as well as for rural-urban/urban-rural movements. It appears that elderly urban households are often part of an integrated urban/rural nexus. Considering the policy relevance of this finding and the paucity of knowledge about later-life migration, further quantitative and qualitative studies are called for

The 1944 Pension Laws Amendment Bill: old-age security policy in South Africa in historical perspective, ca. 1920 - 1960

This paper summarizes the first results of ongoing research into the origins and social and economic consequences of the 1944 Pension Laws Amendment Bill, which broadened the South African state pension system to include the African population for the first time. Preliminary analysis suggests that the emergence of modern social provision for the white elderly (1928) and the African elderly (1944) is due to somewhat different causes, albeit in both cases the introduction being associated with capitalist industrialization. The Social Pension Legislation in the 1930s and 1940s took up the poor relief notion of deservingness. Similarly, benefit levels mirrored, among other things, the anxiety of political actors about the danger of driving out family help by introducing public schemes. Although the state pensions for Africans were totally inadequate, they quite early on became decisive for the economic survival of many households. It appears that they were mainly spent on food and clothing. Surprisingly, de facto old-age pensions for Africans increased significantly in the 1950s. In contrast to the state's view of welfare, older Africans felt entitled to a social pension. Finally, it is argued that the linking of the old-age pension to chronological age did not lead to the emergence of an old age as a chronologically defined stage of life because pre-industrial life-course models organized around the notion of "building the umzi" (homestead) were still very much alive, at least in many rural areas during the 1940s and 1950s. Considering the empirical, theoretical and policy relevance of the South African pension scheme and the paucity of knowledge about its timing and inner workings, further (historical) research is called for

Aplicaciones del Modelo Binomial para el Análisis de Riesgo

In this paper we analyze two risk measures using the Binomial Model. In one case we show that the distance-to-default measure is indeed a Z-statistic. In an empirical application we estimate the probability of default for Chilean banks. Our second measure is a pseudo implied volatility which is obtained from a question. From a small survey we find that results are consistent with market values. Finally, we consider the worst case scenario analysis applied to Value at Risk and to callable bonds.

The Sub-State Politics of Welfare in Italy: Assessing the Effect of Territorial Mobilization on the Development of Region-Specific Social Governance

This article demonstrates that the political mobilization of regional identities through the creation of regionalist parties has positively impacted on the development of region-specific models of welfare governance in Italy. This means that, in a decentralized country, the ‘centre-periphery’ cleavage may significantly influence the sub-state politics of welfare

“Without a mother”: caregivers and community members’ views about the impacts of maternal mortality on families in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

BACKGROUND: Maternal mortality in South Africa is high and a cause for concern especially because the bulk of deaths from maternal causes are preventable. One of the proposed reasons for persistently high maternal mortality is HIV which causes death both indirectly and directly. While there is some evidence for the impact of maternal death on children and families in South Africa, few studies have explored the impacts of maternal mortality on the well-being of the surviving infants, older children and family. This study provides qualitative insight into the consequences of maternal mortality for child and family well-being throughout the life-course. METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted in rural and peri-urban communities in Vulindlela, KwaZulu-Natal. The sample included 22 families directly affected by maternal mortality, 15 community stakeholders and 7 community focus group discussions. These provided unique and diverse perspectives about the causes, experiences and impacts of maternal mortality. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Children left behind were primarily cared for by female family members, even where a father was alive and involved. The financial burden for care and children’s basic needs were largely met through government grants (direct and indirectly targeted at children) and/or through an obligation for the father or his family to assist. The repercussions of losing a mother were felt more by older children for whom it was harder for caregivers to provide educational supervision and emotional or psychological support. Respondents expressed concerns about adolescent’s educational attainment, general behaviour and particularly girl’s sexual risk. CONCLUSION: These results illuminate the high costs to surviving children and their families of failing to reduce maternal mortality in South Africa. Ensuring social protection and community support is important for remaining children and families. Additional qualitative evidence is needed to explore differential effects for children by gender and to guide future research and inform policies and programs aimed at supporting maternal orphans and other vulnerable children throughout their development.Web of Scienc

Features of home and neighbourhood and the liveability of older South Africans

While older people live in developing countries, little is known about the relative importance of features of their communities in influencing their liveability. We examinecomponents of home and neighbourhood among older South Africans. Linear regression analyses revealed that features of home (basic amenities, household composition, financial status and safety) and neighbourhood (ability to shop for groceries, participate in organizations and feel safe from crime) are significantly associated with life satisfaction. Approaches to liveability that are person-centred and also set within contexts beyond home and neighbourhood are needed to addressboundaries between home and neighbourhood; incorporate personal resources into liveability models and import broader environmental contexts such as health and social policy

C. PRESL) at the transcriptional level.

This paper investigates differences in gene expression among the two Thlaspi caerulescens ecotypes La Calamine (LC) and Lellingen (LE) that have been shown to differ in metal tolerance and metal uptake. LC originates from a metalliferous soil and tolerates higher metal concentrations than LE which originates from a non-metalliferous soil. The two ecotypes were treated with different levels of zinc in solution culture, and differences in gene expression were assessed through application of a cDNA microarray consisting of 1,700 root and 2,700 shoot cDNAs. Hybridisation of root and shoot cDNA from the two ecotypes revealed a total of 257 differentially expressed genes. The regulation of selected genes was verified by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Comparison of the expression profiles of the two ecotypes suggests that LC has a higher capacity to cope with reactive oxygen species and to avoid the formation of peroxynitrite. Furthermore, increased transcripts for the genes encoding for water channel proteins could explain the higher Zn tolerance of LC compared to LE. The higher Zn tolerance of LC was reflected by a lower expression of the genes involved in disease and defence mechanisms. The results of this study provide a valuable set of data that may help to improve our understanding of the mechanisms employed by plants to tolerate toxic concentrations of metal in the soil

A computational framework for complex disease stratification from multiple large-scale datasets.

BACKGROUND: Multilevel data integration is becoming a major area of research in systems biology. Within this area, multi-'omics datasets on complex diseases are becoming more readily available and there is a need to set standards and good practices for integrated analysis of biological, clinical and environmental data. We present a framework to plan and generate single and multi-'omics signatures of disease states. METHODS: The framework is divided into four major steps: dataset subsetting, feature filtering, 'omics-based clustering and biomarker identification. RESULTS: We illustrate the usefulness of this framework by identifying potential patient clusters based on integrated multi-'omics signatures in a publicly available ovarian cystadenocarcinoma dataset. The analysis generated a higher number of stable and clinically relevant clusters than previously reported, and enabled the generation of predictive models of patient outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: This framework will help health researchers plan and perform multi-'omics big data analyses to generate hypotheses and make sense of their rich, diverse and ever growing datasets, to enable implementation of translational P4 medicine