Effect of short-acting beta blocker on the cardiac recovery after cardiopulmonary bypass

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of beta blocker on cardiac recovery and rhythm during cardiac surgeries. Sixty surgical rheumatic heart disease patients were received esmolol 1 mg/kg or the same volume of saline prior to removal of the aortic clamp. The incidence of cardiac automatic re-beat, ventricular fibrillation after reperfusion, the heart rate after steady re-beat, vasoactive drug use during weaning from bypass, the posterior parallel time and total bypass time were decreased by esmolol treatment. In conclusion: Esmolol has a positive effect on the cardiac recovery in cardiopulmonary bypass surgeries

How do patient characteristics influence informal payments for inpatient and outpatient health care in Albania: Results of logit and OLS models using Albanian LSMS 2005

Abstract Background Informal payments for health care are common in most former communist countries. This paper explores the demand side of these payments in Albania. By using data from the Living Standard Measurement Survey 2005 we control for individual determinants of informal payments in inpatient and outpatient health care. We use these results to explain the main factors contributing to the occurrence and extent of informal payments in Albania. Methods Using multivariate methods (logit and OLS) we test three models to explain informal payments: the cultural, economic and governance model. The results of logit models are presented here as odds ratios (OR) and results from OLS models as regression coefficients (RC). Results Our findings suggest differences in determinants of informal payments in inpatient and outpatient care. Generally our results show that informal payments are dependent on certain characteristics of patients, including age, area of residence, education, health status and health insurance. However, they are less dependent on income, suggesting homogeneity of payments across income categories. Conclusions We have found more evidence for the validity of governance and economic models than for the cultural model.</p

The Impact of International Migration and Remittances on the Labor-Supply Behavior of Those Left Behind: Evidence from Egypt

We analyze in this paper the impact of male-dominated migration and remittance income on the participation and hours worked decisions of adults left behind, including the hours spent by women in subsistence and domestic work. We differentiate between a 'pure' migration (M) effect and the joint effect of migration and remittance income (MR) and evaluate these effects for men and women separately. Additionally, we examine the labor supply behavior of wives whose husband migrated. We draw on the 2006 cross section using an instrumental variable approach as well as on the 1998/2006 panel of the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS06). In line with the literature, women in MR households (albeit not in M households) tend to reduce their wage and salary work. We find evidence for both intra-household specialization and an increase in women's (and wives') total work load. Men are generally less affected. Our results suggest that it is important to differentiate between these two effects and between the different forms of market and non-market work as well as to consider the relationship between remitter and recipient

Understanding informal payments in health care: motivation of health workers in Tanzania

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is growing evidence that informal payments for health care are fairly common in many low- and middle-income countries. Informal payments are reported to have a negative consequence on equity and quality of care; it has been suggested, however, that they may contribute to health worker motivation and retention. Given the significance of motivation and retention issues in human resources for health, a better understanding of the relationships between the two phenomena is needed. This study attempts to assess whether and in what ways informal payments occur in Kibaha, Tanzania. Moreover, it aims to assess how informal earnings might help boost health worker motivation and retention.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Nine focus groups were conducted in three health facilities of different levels in the health system. In total, 64 health workers participated in the focus group discussions (81% female, 19% male) and where possible, focus groups were divided by cadre. All data were processed and analysed by means of the NVivo software package.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The use of informal payments in the study area was confirmed by this study. Furthermore, a negative relationship between informal payments and job satisfaction and better motivation is suggested. Participants mentioned that they felt enslaved by patients as a result of being bribed and this resulted in loss of self-esteem. Furthermore, fear of detection was a main demotivating factor. These factors seem to counterbalance the positive effect of financial incentives. Moreover, informal payments were not found to be related to retention of health workers in the public health system. Other factors such as job security seemed to be more relevant for retention.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study suggests that the practice of informal payments contributes to the general demotivation of health workers and negatively affects access to health care services and quality of the health system. Policy action is needed that not only provides better financial incentives for individuals but also tackles an environment in which corruption is endemic.</p

1989 as a mimetic revolution: Russia and the challenge of post-communism

Various terms have been used to describe the momentous events of 1989, including Jürgen Habermas’s ‘rectifying revolution,’ and my own notion of 1989 as a type of ‘anti-revolution’: repudiating not only what had come before, but also denying the political logic of communist power, as well as the emancipatory potential of revolutionary socialism in its entirety. In the event, while the negative agenda of 1989 has been fulfilled, it failed in the end to transcend the political logic of the systems that collapsed at that time. This paper explores the unfulfilled potential of 1989. Finally, 1989 became more of a counter- rather than an anti-revolution, replicating in an inverted form the practices of the mature state socialist regimes. The paucity of institutional and intellectual innovation arising from 1989 is striking. The dominant motif was ‘returnism,’ the attempt to join an established enterprise rather than transforming it. Thus, 1989 can be seen as mimetic revolution, in the sense that it emulated systems that were not organically developed in the societies in which they were implanted. For Eastern Europe ‘returning’ to Europe appeared natural, but for Russia the civilizational challenge of post-communism was of an entirely different order. There could be no return, and instead of a linear transition outlined by the classic transitological literature, Russia’s post-communism demonstrated that the history of others could not be mechanically transplanted from one society to another

The effects of conditional cash transfer programmes on adult labour supply: an empirical analysis using a time-series-cross-section sample of brazilian municipalities

In this paper, we estimate the effects of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programmes in Brazil on the labour supply of adult males and females. We employ the panel of municipalities that are continuously investigated by the Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD/IBGE) over the years 2001-2005. The effects of the Brazilian CCT programmes are estimated both on the participation rate and the mean number of hours worked. Since PNAD does not ask directly surveyed families about CCT programme participation, we use an indirect procedure to identify beneficiary families. Our results indicate that the effects of interest are not significant both on statistical grounds and in terms of magnitude.Neste trabalho, estimamos os efeitos dos Programas Condicionais de Transferência de Renda (PCTR), no Brasil, sobre a oferta de trabalho de mulheres e homens adultos. Para tanto, utilizamos o painel de municípios que são continuamente cobertos pela Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD/IBGE) durante o período entre 2001 e 2005. Os efeitos dos PCTR brasileiros são estimados tanto sobre a taxa de participação quanto sobre o número médio de horas trabalhadas. Como a PNAD não investiga diretamente a participação das famílias em PCTR, utilizamos um procedimento indireto para identificar as famílias beneficiárias desses programas. Nossos resultados indicam que os efeitos de interesse não são significativos tanto do ponto de vista estatístico como em termos de magnitude

Aggregate Unemployment Decreases Individual Returns to Education

On the basis of a theoretical model, we argue that higher aggregate unemployment affects individual returns to education. We therefore include aggregate unemployment and an interaction term between unemployment and the individual education level in a standard Mincer equation. Our results show that an increase in regional unemployment by 1% decreases the returns to education by 0.005 percentage points. This implies that higher skilled employees are better sheltered from labour market changes with respect to their jobs but encounter larger wage changes than less skilled employees. Differences in regional unemployment can in addition almost fully explain the observed large differences in regional returns to education. We use representative individual data and regional panel variation in unemployment between different German regions and for different employee groups. We demonstrate that our results are robust with respect to aggregation bias, time lags and potential endogeneity of the unemployment variable

A neurodegenerative disease landscape of rare mutations in Colombia due to founder effects

Background The Colombian population, as well as those in other Latin American regions, arose from a recent tri-continental admixture among Native Americans, Spanish invaders, and enslaved Africans, all of whom passed through a population bottleneck due to widespread infectious diseases that left small isolated local settlements. As a result, the current population reflects multiple founder effects derived from diverse ancestries. Methods We characterized the role of admixture and founder effects on the origination of the mutational landscape that led to neurodegenerative disorders under these historical circumstances. Genomes from 900 Colombian individuals with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) [n = 376], frontotemporal lobar degeneration-motor neuron disease continuum (FTLD-MND) [n = 197], early-onset dementia not otherwise specified (EOD) [n = 73], and healthy participants [n = 254] were analyzed. We examined their global and local ancestry proportions and screened this cohort for deleterious variants in disease-causing and risk-conferring genes. Results We identified 21 pathogenic variants in AD-FTLD related genes, and PSEN1 harbored the majority (11 pathogenic variants). Variants were identified from all three continental ancestries. TREM2 heterozygous and homozygous variants were the most common among AD risk genes (102 carriers), a point of interest because the disease risk conferred by these variants differed according to ancestry. Several gene variants that have a known association with MND in European populations had FTLD phenotypes on a Native American haplotype. Consistent with founder effects, identity by descent among carriers of the same variant was frequent. Conclusions Colombian demography with multiple mini-bottlenecks probably enhanced the detection of founder events and left a proportionally higher frequency of rare variants derived from the ancestral populations. These findings demonstrate the role of genomically defined ancestry in phenotypic disease expression, a phenotypic range of different rare mutations in the same gene, and further emphasize the importance of inclusiveness in genetic studies.Q2Q2Antecedentes La población colombiana, así como la de otras regiones latinoamericanas, surgió de una mezcla tricontinental reciente entre los nativos americanos, los invasores españoles y los africanos esclavizados, todos los cuales pasaron por un cuello de botella poblacional debido a enfermedades infecciosas generalizadas que dejaron a pequeños aislados. asentamientos locales. Como resultado, la población actual refleja múltiples efectos fundadores derivados de diversas ascendencias. Métodos Caracterizamos el papel de la mezcla y los efectos fundadores en el origen del paisaje mutacional que condujo a trastornos neurodegenerativos en estas circunstancias históricas. Genomas de 900 individuos colombianos con enfermedad de Alzheimer (EA) [n = 376], continuo degeneración lobar frontotemporal-enfermedad de la motoneurona (FTLD-MND) [n = 197], demencia de inicio temprano no especificada (EOD) [n = 73 ], y participantes sanos [n = 254] fueron analizados. Examinamos sus proporciones de ascendencia global y local y examinamos esta cohorte en busca de variantes nocivas en los genes que causan enfermedades y confieren riesgos. Resultados Identificamos 21 variantes patogénicas en genes relacionados con AD-FTLD, y PSEN1 albergaba la mayoría (11 variantes patogénicas). Se identificaron variantes de las tres ascendencias continentales. Las variantes heterocigotas y homocigotas de TREM2 fueron las más comunes entre los genes de riesgo de EA (102 portadores), un punto de interés porque el riesgo de enfermedad conferido por estas variantes difería según la ascendencia. Varias variantes genéticas que tienen una asociación conocida con MND en poblaciones europeas tenían fenotipos FTLD en un haplotipo nativo americano. De acuerdo con los efectos del fundador, la identidad por descendencia entre portadores de la misma variante fue frecuente. Conclusiones La demografía colombiana con múltiples mini-cuellos de botella probablemente mejoró la detección de eventos fundadores y dejó una frecuencia proporcionalmente más alta de variantes raras derivadas de las poblaciones ancestrales. Estos hallazgos demuestran el papel de la ascendencia definida genómicamente en la expresión fenotípica de la enfermedad, un rango fenotípico de diferentes mutaciones raras en el mismo gen, y enfatizan aún más la importancia de la inclusión en los estudios genéticos.https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6529-7077https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=es&user=kaGongoAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdatehttps://scienti.minciencias.gov.co/cvlac/visualizador/generarCurriculoCv.do?cod_rh=0000055000&lang=esRevista Internacional - Indexad