On Teachers Quality Decline

Evidence suggests the average ability of teachers to have progressively declined in developed countries over the last decades. Many explanations have been proposed, all suggesting the idea of a lower attractiveness of teaching professions (both in monetary and non monetary terms) with respect to feasible alternative working opportunities. This should apply to women at least, because of the great expansion of job opportunities which interested female cohorts in the second half of the century. However, the long lasting problem of getting credible ability measures has often driven partial results. Here two UK population samples of individuals born in different years are considered. Individuals were exposed to ability tests at early stages of their life, so that subsequent education paths are exogenous to test scores. Transformation in percentiles allows to get comparable measures of ability, and distributions for those who undertook the teaching career are obtained in the two samples. Consistently with previous literature, using difference-in-difference, we find evidence of teachers quality decline. A gender based analysis is performed in order to address gender differences and specific questions. Data on salaries, ditributions across jobs and social mobility are finally used in order to find possible explanations. Further questions arise.teachers quality; ability measure; NCDS; BCS; difference in difference; social mobility

Effects of a Disengagement Intervention on Cognitive Performance in Those with a Mild Head Injury

Mild head injury (MHI) is a major public health concern and cognitive fatigue following injury is one of the most commonly reported and debilitating symptoms that interfere with everyday life. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is especially susceptible during injury and is an important brain region in the context of traumatic brain injury; the vmPFC is responsible for regulating physiological arousal and the neuropathology following MHI has been shown to lead to physiological underarousal. Dampened physiological arousal has been shown to precede and give rise to cognitive fatigue, and that more severe injuries lead to both worsened physiological arousal and fatigue outcomes. The frontal regions most susceptible during injury are also largely involved in attentional processes, such that attentional processes are compromised following the neuropathology associated with MHI as well as from the onset of cognitive fatigue. Attentional deficits then arise in those with a history of MHI as a function of injury as well as cognitive fatigue compounding together; these attentional deficits then go on to impair overall cognitive functions which then present as poor performance on cognitively demanding tasks and, or, as a lessened ability to make optimal decisions in everyday life. Due to this, physiological arousal may then reflect cognitive resources available to individuals, and an opportunity to replenish these cognitive resources (i.e., a disengagement intervention) may lead to better performance outcomes on cognitively demanding tasks as well as improved fatigue ratings. This study sought to examine the effects of a disengagement intervention on cognitive performance across cognitively demanding tasks (i.e., Go/No-Go Task and Mental Rotation Task [MR Task]) in those with, and without, a history of MHI. It was found that those with a history of MHI exhibited lower physiological arousal as a function of injury severity, higher fatigue, and required more effort to meet task demands. It was also found that the Go/No-Go Task reliably induced cognitive fatigue as evidenced by diminished performance as a function of time on task, and that the stimulus-driven Go/No-Go Task slowly depleted cognitive resources while the goal-directed MR Task quickly exhausted cognitive resources. It was also found that having the opportunity to disengage from the task for a short period of time buffered performance decrements and lead to requiring less effort across cognitively demanding tasks. Additionally, it was also found that physiological arousal was dampened and fatigue was heightened as a function of the lockdowns imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic

Immunization against Hepatitis B Surface Antigen (HBsAg) in a Cohort of Nursing Students Two Decades after Vaccination: Surprising Feedback

Health-care students can be exposed to biological risks during university training. The persistence of long-term immunogenicity against hepatitis B virus (HBV) was analyzed in a cohort of nursing students two decades after primary vaccination. A total of 520 students were enrolled at the University of Palermo and were evaluated for levels of anti-HBsAg antibodies. ThestudentswereexaminedduringthefirstyearoftheirDegreeCourseandwerecheckedtwoyears later. All students with anti-HBsAg <10 mIU/mL during their first or third year were boosted within onemonth. Theproportionofstudentsthatwerevaccinatedduringadolescenceshowinganti-HBsAg ≥10 mIU/mL was higher than that observed in students who were vaccinated during infancy (69% versus31.7%;p-value<0.001). ReceivingHBVvaccinationatadolescencewassignificantlyassociated with a fourfold increased possibility of having anti-HBsAg titers≥10 mIU/mL (adj-OR = 4.21, 95% CI: 2.43–7.30). Among the students who were checked at the third year and boosted after the first year (n = 279), those who were vaccinated during infancy showed a higher percentage of antibody titers <10 mIU/mL (20.3% versus 8.7% among vaccinated during adolescence; p < 0.01). This study confirms that HBV vaccination at adolescence might determine a higher long-term persistence of anti-HBsAg titers≥10 mIU/mL and that anti-HBV booster could increase levels of anti-HBsAg over a relatively short period, especially in subjects who were vaccinated during infancy

Matteo’s third way: what lessons could Labour learn from Renzi’s success in Italy?

Traditional centre-left parties have experienced difficult electoral results and low polling ratings in a number of European countries in recent years, including the Labour Party in the UK, the SPD in Germany, the PS in France and the PSOE in Spain. Yet one significant exception has been the success of Matteo Renzi and his Democratic Party in Italy, who have enjoyed strong polling figures since Renzi became Italian Prime Minister in February 2014. Francesco Amodio and Angelo Martelli write on Renzi’s success and assess whether there are lessons for other centre-left parties in Europe, notably in the UK given the current Labour leadership contest

Evaluation of varicella vaccine effectiveness as public health tool for increasing scientific evidence and improving vaccination programs

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On Teachers Quality Decline

Evidence suggests the average ability of teachers to have progressively declined in developed countries over the last decades. Many explanations have been proposed, all suggesting the idea of a lower attractiveness of teaching professions (both in monetary and non monetary terms) with respect to feasible alternative working opportunities. This should apply to women at least, because of the great expansion of job opportunities which interested female cohorts in the second half of the century. However, the long lasting problem of getting credible ability measures has often driven partial results. Here two UK population samples of individuals born in different years are considered. Individuals were exposed to ability tests at early stages of their life, so that subsequent education paths are exogenous to test scores. Transformation in percentiles allows to get comparable measures of ability, and distributions for those who undertook the teaching career are obtained in the two samples. Consistently with previous literature, using difference-in-difference, we find evidence of teachers quality decline. A gender based analysis is performed in order to address gender differences and specific questions. Data on salaries, ditributions across jobs and social mobility are finally used in order to find possible explanations. Further questions arise

Trends in epidemiology: the role of denominator fluctuation in population based estimates

Population estimates are of paramount importance for calculating occurrence and association measures although they can be affected by problems of accuracy and completeness. This study has performed a simulation of the impact of Italian population size variability on incidence rates

Rotavirus vaccination as a public health strategy to reduce the burden of hospitalization: The field experience of Italy (2008-2018)

Rotavirus (RV) infection is a leading cause of severe diarrhea among children younger than 5 years old and a considerable cause of RV gastroenteritis (RVGE) hospitalization. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of vaccination in Italy in the reduction of the burden of RV-related disease, estimating the relation between vaccination coverage and hospitalization rates. RVGE-related hospitalizations that occurred in Italy from 2008 to 2018 among children aged 0-35 months were assessed by consulting the Hospital Discharge Record database and including records whose ICD-9-CM diagnosis code was 008.61 in the first or in any diagnosis position. In the 2008-2018 period, a total of 17 535 791 at-risk person-years were considered and 74 211 (423.2 cases x 100 000 per year) RVGE hospitalizations were observed. Higher hospitalization rates occurred in males (456.6 vs. 387.9 x 100 000 per year) and in children aged 1 year (507.8 x 100 000 per year). Poisson regression analysis showed a decrease of -1.25% in hospitalization rates (-1.19% to -1.31%, p < 0.001) per unit increase in vaccination coverage. This is the first study that correlates hospitalization rate reduction with a percentage increase in vaccination coverage. Our findings strongly support RV vaccination as an effective public health strategy for reducing RVGE-related hospitalizations

L’ESPERIENZA DELLA SICILIA QUALE REGIONE CAPOFILA NELLA INTRODUZIONE DELLA VACCINAZIONE UNIVERSALE CONTRO I ROTAVIRUS

La gastroenterite da rotavirus (GARV) rappresenta uno dei principali bisogni assistenziali durante l’età pediatrica. Purtroppo, in Italia, in assenza di notifica obbligatoria e di specifici sistemi di sorveglianza, le uniche valutazioni epidemiologiche disponibili sulle GARV sono rese possibili dall’analisi delle ospedalizzazioni. Il presente lavoro ha avuto l’obiettivo di valutare le ospedalizzazioni per GARV e per intussuscezione, avvenute in Sicilia in soggetti di età compresa tra 0 e 60 mesi, negli anni 2003-2012 (periodo prevaccinale) e 2013 (anno di introduzione della vaccinazione antirotavirus). Nel periodo in esame si sono osservate 9.886 ospedalizzazioni per GARV con una media annua di 899 casi. La maggior parte dei ricoveri (62,3%) è stata registrata nella fascia di età compresa tra 0 e 2 anni con una progressiva riduzione negli anni di vita successivi. Durante il 2013 si è osservata una copertura vaccinale regionale attestatasi tra il 30 ed il 40% per la prima dose ed il 25-35% per la seconda dose. Nello stesso anno si è assistito ad una riduzione dei casi di GARV di circa il 38,9% nei soggetti di età 0-5 anni (931 casi/anno nel 2003-2012 vs. 569 nel 2013) e superiore al 50% nella fascia di età 0-11 mesi (277 casi/anno nel 2003-2012 vs. 137 nel 2013). Diversamente, nel 2013 il numero di ospedalizzazioni per intussuscezione in soggetti di età compresa tra 0 ed 11 mesi si è mantenuta in linea con quanto osservato in epoca prevaccinale (15 casi nel 2013 vs. 15,4 casi/anno osservati in media tra 2003 e 2012). I dati presentati evidenziano l’importante peso assistenziale che le GARV hanno annualmente in Sicilia e supportano l’efficacia della vaccinazione nella riduzione significativa dei casi di ospedalizzazione per GARV in assenza di incrementi di rischio di intussuscezione