An Hourly-Wage-Based Earned Income Tax Credit: Implications For Workers, Employers, And Taxpayers

What is the best way to compensate low-paid workers?  A “generous” minimum wage may cause substantial unemployment and serious dislocations.  The current combination of a modest minimum wage plus the annual-income-based earned income tax credit is, in some cases, a disincentive to work.  An hourly-wage-based earned income tax credit, on the other hand, may be the most efficient and effective way to compensate the low-wage worker

Progressivity of the income tax

Includes bibliographical references (p. 18)

Therapeutic affordances of online support group use in women with endometriosis

Background: The Internet has provided women living with endometriosis new opportunities to seek support online. Online support groups may provide a range of therapeutic affordances which may benefit these women. Objective: To examine the presence of therapeutic affordances as perceived by women who use endometriosis online support groups. Methods: Sixty-nine women (aged 19 to 50 years; Mean = 34.2; 65.2% UK; 21.7% USA) participated in an online interview exploring online support group use. Participants had been using online support groups on average 2 years and 4 months (Range = 1 month to 14 years, 9 months). Responses were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Results: The analysis revealed 4 therapeutic affordances related to online support group use; i) “connection” i.e. the ability to connect in order to support each other, exchange advice, and to try to overcome feelings of loneliness; ii) “exploration” i.e. the ability to look for information, learn and bolster their knowledge; iii) “narration” i.e. the ability to share their experiences, as well as read about the experiences of others; and iv) “self-presentation” i.e. the ability to manage how they present themselves online. The associated outcomes of use were predominantly positive, such as reassurance and improved coping. However, a number of negative aspects were revealed including: concerns about the accuracy of information, arguments between members, over-reliance on the group, becoming upset by negative experiences or good news items and confidentiality of personal information. Conclusions: Our findings support the SCENA model (Self-presentation, Connection, Exploration, Narration and Adaptation) proposed by Merolli et al., (2014) and reveal a range of positive aspects that may benefit members, particularly in relation to reassurance and coping. However, negative aspects need to be addressed in order to maximise the potential benefit of support groups. Some of these can be addressed relatively easily through making privacy policies clearer, including health professionals to moderate content and structuring forums to encourage the sharing of positive stories

Horizontal Equity and Taxpayer Characteristics: Who Is Advantaged and Disadvantaged by the Federal Income Tax?

In this paper, household utility levels are estimated indirectly from household labor-supply data to derive before- and after-tax utility indexes. A household is considered advantaged (disadvantaged) by the income tax if its utility index ranking increases (decreases) as a result of the tax. The study finds that tax-advantaged households have, on average, more children and are more likely to own their own homes while tax-disadvantaged households are more likely to be two-earner families. The implications of the findings for the horizontal equity of the income tax are discussed.

Implant and Midterm Outcomes of the Subcutaneous Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator Registry: The EFFORTLESS Study.

BACKGROUND: The subcutaneous implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (S-ICD) was developed to defibrillate ventricular arrhythmias, avoiding drawbacks of transvenous leads. The global EFFORTLESS S-ICD (Evaluation oF FactORs ImpacTing CLinical Outcome and Cost EffectiveneSS of the S-ICD) registry is collecting outcomes in 985 patients during a 5-year follow-up. OBJECTIVES: The primary goal of the EFFORTLESS registry is to determine the safety of the S-ICD by evaluating complications and inappropriate shock rate. METHODS: This is the first report on the full patient cohort and study endpoints with follow-up ≥1 year. The predefined endpoints are 30- and 360-day complications, and shocks for atrial fibrillation or supraventricular tachycardia. RESULTS: Patients were followed for 3.1 ± 1.5 years and 82 completed the study protocol 5-year visit. Average age was 48 years, 28% were women, ejection fraction was 43 ± 18%, and 65% had a primary prevention indication. The S-ICD system and procedure complication rate was 4.1% at 30 days and 8.4% at 360 days. The 1-year complication rate trended toward improvement from the first to last quartile of enrollment (11.3% [quartile 1]) to 7.8% [quartile 2], 6.6% [quartile 3], and 7.4% [quartile 4]; quartile 1 vs. quartiles 2 to 4; p = 0.06). Few device extractions occurred due to need for antitachycardia (n = 5), or biventricular (n = 4) or bradycardia pacing (n = 1). Inappropriate shocks occurred in 8.1% at 1 year and 11.7% after 3.1 years. At implant, 99.5% of patients had a successful conversion of induced ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation. The 1- and 5-year rates of appropriate shock were 5.8% and 13.5%, respectively. Conversion success for discrete spontaneous episodes was 97.4% overall. CONCLUSIONS: This registry demonstrates that the S-ICD fulfills predefined endpoints for safety and efficacy. Midterm performance rates on complications, inappropriate shocks, and conversion efficacy were comparable to rates observed in transvenous implantable cardioverter-defibrillator studies. (Evaluation oF Factors ImpacTing CLinical Outcome and Cost EffectiveneSS of the S-ICD [The EFFORTLESS S-ICD Registry]; NCT01085435)

Speeding Up Microevolution: The Effects of Increasing Temperature on Selection and Genetic Variance in a Wild Bird Population

The authors show that environmental variation may lead to a positive association between the annual strength of selection and expression of genetic variance in a wild bird population, which can speed up microevolution and have important consequences for how fast natural populations adapt to environmental changes

Early rheumatoid arthritis is characterized by a distinct and transient synovial fluid cytokine profile of T cell and stromal cell origin

Pathological processes involved in the initiation of rheumatoid synovitis remain unclear. We undertook the present study to identify immune and stromal processes that are present soon after the clinical onset of rheumatoid arthritis ( RA) by assessing a panel of T cell, macrophage, and stromal cell related cytokines and chemokines in the synovial fluid of patients with early synovitis. Synovial fluid was aspirated from inflamed joints of patients with inflammatory arthritis of duration 3 months or less, whose outcomes were subsequently determined by follow up. For comparison, synovial fluid was aspirated from patients with acute crystal arthritis, established RA and osteoarthritis. Rheumatoid factor activity was blocked in the synovial fluid samples, and a panel of 23 cytokines and chemokines measured using a multiplex based system. Patients with early inflammatory arthritis who subsequently developed RA had a distinct but transient synovial fluid cytokine profile. The levels of a range of T cell, macrophage and stromal cell related cytokines ( e. g. IL-2, IL-4, IL-13, IL-17, IL-15, basic fibroblast growth factor and epidermal growth factor) were significantly elevated in these patients within 3 months after symptom onset, as compared with early arthritis patients who did not develop RA. In addition, this profile was no longer present in established RA. In contrast, patients with non-rheumatoid persistent synovitis exhibited elevated levels of interferon-gamma at initiation. Early synovitis destined to develop into RA is thus characterized by a distinct and transient synovial fluid cytokine profile. The cytokines present in the early rheumatoid lesion suggest that this response is likely to influence the microenvironment required for persistent RA