Women out, children out : the effect of female labor on portuguese preschool enrollment rates

This article tests whether Portuguese female activity rates have increased preschool enrollment rates. Particularly during the last 20 years, Portuguese women have assumed new roles in the marketplace and have become active workers outside of the home environment. This change has encouraged more sensible decisions with respect to preschool enrollment. Using cointegration techniques, we concluded that female activity rates and real income per capita caused a long-term increase in preschool enrollment rates. Although the percentage of agricultural gross value added to the gross domestic product and the number of preschool institutes were also found to be significant in the estimated vector error correction model, their causal relationship with preschool enrollment was only short term.COMPETE; QREN; FEDER; Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

A new clinico-pathological classification system for mesial temporal sclerosis

We propose a histopathological classification system for hippocampal cell loss in patients suffering from mesial temporal lobe epilepsies (MTLE). One hundred and seventy-eight surgically resected specimens were microscopically examined with respect to neuronal cell loss in hippocampal subfields CA1–CA4 and dentate gyrus. Five distinct patterns were recognized within a consecutive cohort of anatomically well-preserved surgical specimens. The first group comprised hippocampi with neuronal cell densities not significantly different from age matched autopsy controls [no mesial temporal sclerosis (no MTS); n = 34, 19%]. A classical pattern with severe cell loss in CA1 and moderate neuronal loss in all other subfields excluding CA2 was observed in 33 cases (19%), whereas the vast majority of cases showed extensive neuronal cell loss in all hippocampal subfields (n = 94, 53%). Due to considerable similarities of neuronal cell loss patterns and clinical histories, we designated these two groups as MTS type 1a and 1b, respectively. We further distinguished two atypical variants characterized either by severe neuronal loss restricted to sector CA1 (MTS type 2; n = 10, 6%) or to the hilar region (MTS type 3, n = 7, 4%). Correlation with clinical data pointed to an early age of initial precipitating injury (IPI < 3 years) as important predictor of hippocampal pathology, i.e. MTS type 1a and 1b. In MTS type 2, IPIs were documented at a later age (mean 6 years), whereas in MTS type 3 and normal appearing hippocampus (no MTS) the first event appeared beyond the age of 13 and 16 years, respectively. In addition, postsurgical outcome was significantly worse in atypical MTS, especially MTS type 3 with only 28% of patients having seizure relief after 1-year follow-up period, compared to successful seizure control in MTS types 1a and 1b (72 and 73%). Our classification system appears suitable for stratifying the clinically heterogeneous group of MTLE patients also with respect to postsurgical outcome studies

Mit Recht regieren? Zur Legalisierung häuslicher 24- Stunden-Carearbeit in Österreich

Kretschmann A. Mit Recht regieren? Zur Legalisierung häuslicher 24- Stunden-Carearbeit in Österreich. In: Scheiwe K, Krawietz J, eds. Transnationale Sorgearbeit. Weinheim: VS; 2010: 199-226

Zwischen Vermarktlichung und Europäisierung: Die wachsende Bedeutung transnational agierender Vermittlungsagenturen in der häuslichen Pflege in Deutschland

Der Beitrag befasst sich mit jüngeren Entwicklungen im Bereich der transnationalen Care-Migration und analysiert in diesem Feld das Zusammenwirken von Prozessen der Vermarktlichung und Europäisierung. Aufgrund von Regulierungs- und Kontrolllücken im EU-Mehrebenensystem, so das hier präsentierte Argument, ist ein boomendes Geschäftsfeld für neue Akteure entstanden: Vermittlungs- und Entsendeagenturen für Live-In-Pflegekräfte aus Mittel- und Osteuropa. Der Beitrag geht in einem ersten Schritt der Frage nach, wie diese Regulierungs- und Kontrolldefizite eines europäisierten Pflegemarktes von den Agenturen und ihren politischen Verbänden (aus-)genutzt und gefüllt werden. In einem zweiten Schritt werden die Implikationen von Vermarktlichung und Europäisierung auf der Ebene der Nutzer*innen analysiert. Präsentiert werden Ergebnisse aus einer qualitativen Studie mit Familien Pflegebedürftiger, die Kund*innen der Vermittlungsagenturen sind.   Between Marketization and Europeanization: The Growing Importance of Transnationally Acting Agencies for Domestic Care Work in Germany This article looks at recent developments in the field of transnational care migration, analysing the interacting processes of marketisation and Europeanisation. We argue that as a result of regulation and control gaps within the EU multilevel system, a burgeoning business sector has emerged, facilitating the establishment of new actors: posting and brokering agencies for live-in care workers from Central and Eastern Europe. First, we address the question of how these regulation and control gaps within a Europeanised care market are being (mis)used by agencies and their political associations. Second, we analyse the implications of marketisation and Europeanisation on the level of the users (households). The analysis is based on results from a qualitative study with families employing an agency brokered transnational care worker. JEL-Klassifizierung: I13