Women’s Employment and Welfare Regimes: Globalization, Export Orientation and Social Policy in Europe and North America

A research paper that reviews material on women’s employment and the social policies that affect it; looks at options for women unable to work for pay; and lastly attempts to explain different national patterns of policy affecting women’s employment. Author concludes with thoughts about the ways in which women’s employment may lead to greater gender equality

Ending the entitlement of poor mothers, expanding the claims of poor employed parents : gender, race, class in contemporary US social policy

Digitised version produced by the EUI Library and made available online in 2020

Safety Recommendations for Evaluation and Surgery of the Head and Neck During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Importance The rapidly expanding novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, has challenged the medical community to an unprecedented degree. Physicians and health care workers are at added risk of exposure and infection during the course of patient care. Because of the rapid spread of this disease through respiratory droplets, health care workers who come in close contact with the upper aerodigestive tract during diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, such as otolaryngologists–head and neck surgeons, are particularly at risk. A set of safety recommendations was created based on a review of the literature and communications with physicians with firsthand knowledge of safety procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Observations A high number of health care workers were infected during the first phase of the pandemic in the city of Wuhan, China. Subsequently, by adopting strict safety precautions, other regions were able to achieve high levels of safety for health care workers without jeopardizing the care of patients. The most common procedures related to the examination and treatment of upper aerodigestive tract diseases were reviewed. Each category was reviewed based on the potential risk imposed to health care workers. Specific recommendations were made based on the literature, when available, or consensus best practices. Specific safety recommendations were made for performing tracheostomy in patients with COVID-19. Conclusions and Relevance Preserving a highly skilled health care workforce is a top priority for any community and health care system. Based on the experience of health care systems in Asia and Europe, by following strict safety guidelines, the risk of exposure and infection of health care workers could be greatly reduced while providing high levels of care. The provided recommendations, which may evolve over time, could be used as broad guidance for all health care workers who are involved in the care of patients with COVID-19

A Multidisciplinary Investigation of a Polycythemia Vera Cancer Cluster of Unknown Origin

Cancer cluster investigations rarely receive significant public health resource allocations due to numerous inherent challenges and the limited success of past efforts. In 2008, a cluster of polycythemia vera, a rare blood cancer with unknown etiology, was identified in northeast Pennsylvania. A multidisciplinary group of federal and state agencies, academic institutions, and local healthcare providers subsequently developed a multifaceted research portfolio designed to better understand the cause of the cluster. This research agenda represents a unique and important opportunity to demonstrate that cancer cluster investigations can produce desirable public health and scientific outcomes when necessary resources are available

Characterizing metastatic uveal melanoma patients who develop symptomatic brain metastases.

Metastatic uveal melanoma (mUM) is an advanced ocular malignancy characterized by a hepatotropic pattern of spread. As the incidence of brain metastases (BM) in mUM patients has been thought to be low, routine CNS surveillance has not been recommended. Notably, no formal assessment of BM incidence in mUM has to date been published to support this clinical practice. We aimed to determine the true rate of BM in mUM and to clarify the clinical and genomic risk factors associated with BM patients through a collaborative multicenter, retrospective research effort. Data collected from 1,845 mUM patients in databases across four NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centers from 2006-2021 were retrospectively analyzed to identify patients with BM. Brain imaging in most cases were performed due to onset of neurological symptoms and not for routine surveillance. An analysis of demographics, therapies, gene expression profile, tumor next generation sequencing (NGS) data, time to metastasis (brain or other), and survival in the BM cohort was completed. 116/1,845 (6.3%) mUM patients were identified with BM. The median age at time of UM diagnosis was 54 years old (range: 18-77). The median time to any metastasis was 4.2 years (range: 0-30.8). The most common initial metastatic site was the liver (75.9%). 15/116 (12.9%) BM patients presented with BM at the time of initial metastatic diagnosis. Median survival after a diagnosis of BM was 7.6 months (range: 0.4-73.9). The median number of organs involved at time of BM diagnosis was 3 (range: 1-9). DecisionDX-UM profiling was completed on 13 patients: 10-Class 2, 2-Class 1B, and 1-Class 1A. NGS and cytogenetic data were available for 34 and 21 patients, respectively. BM was identified in 6.3% of mUM cases and was associated with high disease burden and a median survival of under 8 months once diagnosed. Since most patients in this cohort were symptomatic, the incidence of asymptomatic BM remains unknown. These data suggest the use of routine brain imaging in all mUM patients at risk for developing BM for early detection

L’adieu au maternalisme ? [Politiques de l’État et emploi des mères en Suède et aux États-Unis]

Farewell to maternalism ? State policies and mothers’ employment. This paper analyzes the course of transformations in social politics and policies and in the social arrangements with respect to mothers’ employment and caregiving in which we are moving from policy support for women’s full-time caregiving toward support to mother’s employment, with caregiving moving (partly) outside the home – what in many places can be called a «farewell to maternalism » . To begin, the paper briefly examines the social policies and politics that have been recently described as «maternalist » , and the predominant gendered divisions of labor and patterns of family and household formation which they depended upon and reinforced, for it is against these backdrops that current changes are occurring. Next, the paper takes up the politics and policies which have moved two significant countries away from maternalism and towards support for women’s – mothers’ – employment : Sweden and the US. This means looking at political processes by which policies initially supportive of mothers’ full-time caregiving and responsive to women’s claims as mothers have come to shift their policies to be supportive of mothers’ employment (in various ways) and responsive to women’s claims as workers or citizens, sometimes also caregivers.Cet article analyse la transformation des politiques sociales, les mesures qui en découlent, et les arrangements sociaux touchant à l’emploi des mères et au soin des enfants. Il retrace un processus qui, partant de mesures de soutien destinées à permettre aux mères d’assurer à plein temps le soin de leurs enfants, conduit à des politiques d’encouragement de l’emploi des femmes ayant pour effet de déplacer (tout du moins en partie) les tâches liées au soin des enfants hors du foyer familial – ce que l’on pourrait appeler « l’adieu au maternalisme » . Dans un premier temps, sont examinés les mesures sociales et les politiques – qualifiées récemment encore de « maternalistes » –, la division sexuelle – traditionnelle – du travail ainsi que les schémas de formation des familles et des ménages. Dans un deuxième temps, l’auteure se penche ensuite sur les politiques sociales et les mesures politiques qui ont détourné deux pays – la Suède et les États-Unis – du maternalisme, en encourageant le travail des femmes (et donc des mères). Ainsi, les régimes qui encourageaient les mères à se consacrer à plein temps au soin de leurs enfants et répondaient à leurs demandes en tant que mères ont évolué. Les nouvelles politiques mises en oeuvre, en encourageant l’emploi féminin, cherchent à répondre aux revendications des femmes en tant que travailleuses ou citoyennes chargées du soin des enfants.Orloff Ann Shola. L’adieu au maternalisme ? [Politiques de l’État et emploi des mères en Suède et aux États-Unis]. In: Recherches et Prévisions, n°83, 2006. Genre et État-providence. Les réformes des politiques familiales en Europe et en Amérique du Nord. pp. 9-28