Unemployment by Gender: Evidence from EU Countries

This paper applies panel unit-root tests that allow for structural breaks and cross-sectional dependence to examine the validity of hysteresis in gender unemployment rates and gender unemployment gap for a panel of 15 European countries. Addressing breaks, there is evidence to reject the null hypothesis of hysteresis for the unemployment rates and unemployment gap series. Allowing for both cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneous structural breaks this result is reverted and we fail to reject the null hypothesis of unit root

Turner syndrome and sexual differentiation of the brain: implications for understanding male-biased neurodevelopmental disorders

Turner syndrome (TS) is one of the most common sex chromosome abnormalities. Affected individuals often show a unique pattern of cognitive strengths and weaknesses and are at increased risk for a number of other neurodevelopmental conditions, many of which are more common in typical males than typical females (e.g., autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder). This phenotype may reflect gonadal steroid deficiency, haploinsufficiency of X chromosome genes, failure to express parentally imprinted genes, and the uncovering of X chromosome mutations. Understanding the contribution of these different mechanisms to outcome has the potential to improve clinical care for individuals with TS and to better our understanding of the differential vulnerability to and expression of neurodevelopmental disorders in males and females. In this paper, we review what is currently known about cognition and brain development in individuals with TS, discuss underlying mechanisms and their relevance to understanding male-biased neurodevelopmental conditions, and suggest directions for future research

Evaluation of appendicitis risk prediction models in adults with suspected appendicitis

Background Appendicitis is the most common general surgical emergency worldwide, but its diagnosis remains challenging. The aim of this study was to determine whether existing risk prediction models can reliably identify patients presenting to hospital in the UK with acute right iliac fossa (RIF) pain who are at low risk of appendicitis. Methods A systematic search was completed to identify all existing appendicitis risk prediction models. Models were validated using UK data from an international prospective cohort study that captured consecutive patients aged 16–45 years presenting to hospital with acute RIF in March to June 2017. The main outcome was best achievable model specificity (proportion of patients who did not have appendicitis correctly classified as low risk) whilst maintaining a failure rate below 5 per cent (proportion of patients identified as low risk who actually had appendicitis). Results Some 5345 patients across 154 UK hospitals were identified, of which two‐thirds (3613 of 5345, 67·6 per cent) were women. Women were more than twice as likely to undergo surgery with removal of a histologically normal appendix (272 of 964, 28·2 per cent) than men (120 of 993, 12·1 per cent) (relative risk 2·33, 95 per cent c.i. 1·92 to 2·84; P < 0·001). Of 15 validated risk prediction models, the Adult Appendicitis Score performed best (cut‐off score 8 or less, specificity 63·1 per cent, failure rate 3·7 per cent). The Appendicitis Inflammatory Response Score performed best for men (cut‐off score 2 or less, specificity 24·7 per cent, failure rate 2·4 per cent). Conclusion Women in the UK had a disproportionate risk of admission without surgical intervention and had high rates of normal appendicectomy. Risk prediction models to support shared decision‐making by identifying adults in the UK at low risk of appendicitis were identified

Experimental synthesis and density functional theory investigation of radiation tolerance of Zr₃(Al₁–ₓ,Siₓ)C₂ MAX phases

Synthesis, characterisation and density functional theory calculations have been combined to examine the formation of the Zr 3 (Al 1–x Si x )C 2 quaternary MAX phases and the intrinsic defect processes in Zr 3 AlC 2 and Zr 3 SiC 2 . The MAX phase family is extended by demonstrating that Zr 3 (Al 1–x Si x )C 2 , and particularly compositions with x ≈ 0.1, can be formed leading here to a yield of 59 wt.%. It has b een found that Zr 3 AlC 2 – and by extension Zr 3 (Al 1–x Si x )C 2 – formation rates benefit from the presence of tra ces of Si in the reactant mix, presumably through the in situ formation of Zr y Si z phase(s) acting as a nucleation substrate for the MAX phase. To investig ate the radiation tolerance of Zr 3 (Al 1– x Si x )C 2 we have also considered the intrinsic defect prope rties of the end members. A element Frenkel reaction for both Zr 3 AlC 2 (1.71 eV) and Zr 3 SiC 2 (1.41 eV) phases are the lowest energy defect reactions. For comparison we c onsider the defect processes in Ti 3 AlC 2 and Ti 3 SiC 2 phases. It is concluded that Zr 3 AlC 2 and Ti 3 AlC 2 MAX phases are more radiation tolerant than Zr 3 SiC 2 and Ti 3 SiC 2 respectively. Their applicability as cladding materials for nuclear fuel is discussed