Long-Term Administration of Calcium Acetate Efficiently Controls Severe Hyperphosphataemia in Haemodialysis Patients

In order to avoid aluminium toxicity, calciumcontaining phosphate binders have been used increasingly. Unfortunately, calcium carbonate and calcium citrate produce hypercalcaemia in a number of patients. New studies have shown that calcium acetate is promising in that it binds more phosphate than calcium carbonate at comparable doses. We tested calcium acetate in eight severely hyperphosphataemic patients (2.25 ± 0.08 mmol/l) on maintenance haemodialysis over 5 months. Serum phosphate decreased to 1.86 ± 0.06 mmol/l, but at the cost of an increase in serum calcium. However, the increment of serum calcium was always less than the respective decrease of serum phosphate, and hypercalcaemia—immediately reversible after dose reduction—only occurred once in two patient

Linking Home and Market:

Summaries This article identifies changing labour market relations in West Bengal agriculture and argues that these cannot be fully explained without extending the analysis beyond paid work to the questions of who does what work and why inside labour?selling households. The pragmatic approach to employer?worker negotiation adopted by the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) at the local level is built on an implicit understanding of agricultural worker households' unwaged work. While unwaged work may enable labour?sellers to negotiate higher wages, it also adds to employers' capacity to contain wage rises. Moreover, ascribed ‘responsibility’ for unwaged work to certain individuals within a household means that those people are less able to enter contractual arrangements involving prior commitments. At the same time the withdrawal of women in status?aspiring groups from involvement in paid work contributes to the increasing incidence of seasonally tied labour arrangements. Thus, workers' actions are both contingent on and constitutive of the wider structures in which they operate. Understanding the meaning of the closing wage gap between men and women in West Bengal, and the paradoxical continuity of a low proportion of women among agricultural workers requires analysis of how those structures, including ideologies of gender and caste as well as contractual arrangements (for both local and seasonal migrant workers) and the practices of political parties, change over time

Did female prisoners with mental disorders receive psychiatric treatment before imprisonment?

© 2015 Mundt et al.; licensee BioMed Central. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.BackgroundThroughout the world, high prevalence rates of mental disorders have been found in prison populations, especially in females. It has been suggested that these populations do not access psychiatric treatment. The aim of this study was to establish rates of psychiatric in- and outpatient treatments prior to imprisonment in female prisoners and to explore reasons for discontinuation of such treatments.Methods150 consecutively admitted female prisoners were interviewed in Berlin, Germany. Socio-demographic characteristics, mental disorders, and previous psychiatric in- and outpatient treatments were assessed by trained researchers. Open questions were used to explore reasons for ending previous psychiatric treatment.ResultsA vast majority of 99 prisoners (66%; 95% CI: 58¿73) of the total sample reported that they had previously been in psychiatric treatment, 80 (53%; 95 CI: 45¿61) in inpatient treatment, 62 (41%; 95 CI: 34¿49) in outpatient treatment and 42 (29%; 21¿39) in both in- and outpatient treatments. All prisoners with psychosis and 72% of the ones with any lifetime mental health disorder had been in previous treatment. The number of inpatient treatments and imprisonments were positively correlated (rho¿=¿0.27; p¿<¿0.01). Inpatient treatment was described as successfully completed by 56% (N¿=¿41) of those having given reasons for ending such treatment, whilst various reasons were reported for prematurely ending outpatient treatments.ConclusionThe data do not support the notion of a general `mental health treatment gap¿ in female prisoners. Although inpatient care is often successfully completed, repeated inpatient treatments are not linked with fewer imprisonments. Improved transition from inpatient to outpatient treatment and services that engage female prisoners to sustained outpatient treatments are needed

Prevalence Rates of Mental Disorders in Chilean Prisons

PMCID: PMC371883

Stability of zero-growth economics analysed with a Minskyan model

As humanity is becoming increasingly confronted by Earth's finite biophysical limits, there is increasing interest in questions about the stability and equitability of a zero-growth capitalist economy, most notably: if one maintains a positive interest rate for loans, can a zero-growth economy be stable? This question has been explored on a few different macroeconomic models, and both ‘yes' and ‘no’ answers have been obtained. However, economies can become unstable whether or not there is ongoing underlying growth in productivity with which to sustain growth in output. Here we attempt, for the first time, to assess via a model the relative stability of growth versus no-growth scenarios. The model employed draws from Keen's model of the Minsky financial instability hypothesis. The analysis focuses on dynamics as opposed to equilibrium, and scenarios of growth and no-growth of output (GDP) are obtained by tweaking a productivity growth input parameter. We confirm that, with or without growth, there can be both stable and unstable scenarios. To maintain stability, firms must not change their debt levels or target debt levels too quickly. Further, according to the model, the wages share is higher for zero-growth scenarios, although there are more frequent substantial drops in employment

Common Features and Contrasts in Labor Relations in the Semiarid Tropics of India

The main objectives of this paper are (1) to document and explain labor market arrangements in different agroclimatic and socioeconomic zones on the basis of intensive survey data; (2) to explore linkages of transactions in labor markets with transactions in other markets such as those for credit, draft power, and outputs, as well as linkages between caste status and type of labor performed; and (3) to characterize, as far as possible, the changes, if any, in labor relations over time

Common Features And Contrasts In Labor Relations In The Semiarid Tropics Of India

'I he niaitt ohjcctivcs of this paper are (I) to document and explain labor market arranpcnients in tlifl'ercnt agroclimatic and socicwonomic zones on the basis of intensive survey data; (2) to explore linkages of transactions in labor ninrkets \rith transactions in other mnrkets such as those for credit. dral't po\sfer, ant1 outpitt~a. s well as linkages bctween caste status and type of labor perfornied: and (3) to characterize. iIS far as possible. thc changes. if any, in labor relations over time

Liberalizing trade in environmental goods and services

We examine the effects of trade liberalization in environmental goods in a model with one domestic downstream polluting firm and two upstream firms (one domestic, one foreign). The upstream firms offer their technologies to the downstream firm at a flat fee. The domestic government sets the emission tax rate after the outcome of R&D is known. The effect of liberalization on the domestic upstream firm's R&D incentive is ambiguous. Liberalization usually results in cleaner production, which allows the country to reach higher welfare. However this increase in welfare is typically achieved at the expense of the environment (a backfire effect)