Deregulation in the energy sector and its economic effects on the power sector: A literature review

Energy reforms play an essential role in technological change as they aim to contribute to an open market: costs reduction, competitiveness, and technology development. This article seeks to assess the impact and effect of reforms on the energy sector. The article’s objective is to evaluate the process of deregulation policies and their micro and macroeconomic effects on the energy sector, and specifically on electricity, by analyzing literature related to electricity reforms. Further, the article intends to explore the impacts of deregulation on power pricing, power market, electricity accessibility, innovation, and competitiveness. Another objective of the article is to analyze the role played by various stakeholders in the deregulation policies, including the government, national entities like states, the private sector, and consumers. The article identified ways to improve the economic impacts of deregulation policies in the energy sector. After a systemic review of specialized articles regarding their theoretical approach, results showed a positive relationship between reform and innovation, competitiveness, opening-up of the market, technology, and price changes. Although deregulation measures aimed to reduce the consumers’ electricity cost, the changes in power prices were achievable only in the long-term and not in the short-term. Additionally, government regulators and stakeholders participated in implementing various measures to ensure that deregulation achieved its primary objective of reducing power prices. Such efforts include developing divestiture policies and implementing rate cuts

Mexican registry of pediatric cardiac surgery. First report

Background: Currently, there is a spreading worldwide tendency to characterize health issues and to propose alternative solutions via the creation of computerized databases. The aim of this study was to present the results in a computerized database of pediatric cardiac surgeries developed under the auspices of the Mexican Association of Specialists in Congenital Heart Diseases (Asociación Mexicana de Especialistas en Cardiopatías Congénitas A.C) and coordinated by the collegiate group of Pediatric Cardiology and Surgery as petitioned by the National Institutes of Health and High Specialty Hospitals Coordinating Commission. Methods: We analyzed all cases registered in the database during a 1-year observation period (August 1, 2011 to July 31, 2012) by all major Health Ministry-dependent institutes and hospitals offering surgical services related to pediatric cardiopathies to the non-insured population. Results: Seven institutions participated voluntarily in completing the database. During the analyzed period, 943 surgeries in 880 patients with 7% reoperations (n = 63) were registered. Thirty-eight percent of the surgeries were performed in children <1 year of age. The five most common cardiopathies were patent ductus arteriosus (n = 96), ventricular septal defect (n = 86), tetralogy of Fallot (n = 72), atrial septal defect (n = 68), and aortic coarctation (n = 54). Ninety percent of surgeries were elective and extracorporeal circulation was used in 62% of surgeries. Global mortality rate was 7.5% with the following distribution in the RACHS-1 score categories: 1 (n = 4, 2%), 2 (n = 19, 6%), 3 (n = 22, 8%), 4 (n = 12, 19%), 5 (n = 1, 25%), 6 (n = 6, 44%), and non-classifiable (n = 2, 9%). Conclusions: This analysis provides a representative view of the surgical practices in cardiovascular diseases in the pediatric population at the national non-insured population level. However, incorporating other health institutions to the national registry database will render a more accurate panorama of the national reality in surgical practices in the population <18 years of age