Public-private partnerships in health care services: Do they outperform public hospitals regarding quality and access? Evidence from Portugal

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are widely spread long-term arrangements between governments and strategic private partner(s). One of their objectives is to reduce the financial pressure on the public treasury with regard to new investments. PPPs have been employed within the health care sector which, in turn, carries a huge social burden. In Portugal, for instance, PPPs in health care concern bundling hospital infrastructure and clinical services management. Notwithstanding the need to ensure sustainability and efficient use of hospital resources, it is clearly compulsory to guarantee that patients receive appropriate and timely care, with maximum security, and equitable manner. Still, little or even no attention has been paid in the literature to the clinical response capacity of PPP hospitals and to the populism arguing that these entities have a lower social performance than typical public hospitals. This study uses robust benchmarking methodologies alongside recent data about Portuguese hospitals (FY2012-FY2017) to demystify this idea and to demonstrate that, actually, PPP hospitals can deliver health care services with social performance levels at least as good as public hospitals.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Public-private partnerships in health care services: Do they outperform public hospitals regarding quality and access? Evidence from Portugal

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are widely spread long-term arrangements between governments and strategic private partner(s). One of their objectives is to reduce the financial pressure on the public treasury with regard to new investments. PPPs have been employed within the health care sector which, in turn, carries a huge social burden. In Portugal, for instance, PPPs in health care concern bundling hospital infrastructure and clinical services management. Notwithstanding the need to ensure sustainability and efficient use of hospital resources, it is clearly compulsory to guarantee that patients receive appropriate and timely care, with maximum security, and equitable manner. Still, little or even no attention has been paid in the literature to the clinical response capacity of PPP hospitals and to the populism arguing that these entities have a lower social performance than typical public hospitals. This study uses robust benchmarking methodologies alongside recent data about Portuguese hospitals (FY2012-FY2017) to demystify this idea and to demonstrate that, actually, PPP hospitals can deliver health care services with social performance levels at least as good as public hospitals.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effects Of Stress On Electron Emission From Nanostructured Carbon Materials

The electron field emission from a graphite like amorphous carbon film was investigated. Threshold fields as low as 8 V/νm were observed at an assisting energy of 400eV. The field emission characteristics of the films were explained in terms of the high sp2 concentration, and the high intrinsic compressive stress modifying the electronic band structure of the film/graphitic nanostructures.21417101714McKenzie, D.R., Muller, D., Pailthope, B.A., (1991) Phys. Rev. Lett., 67, p. 773Schwan, J., Ulrich, S., Theel, T., Roth, H., Ehrhardt, H., Becker, P., Silva, S.R.P., (1997) J. Appl. Phys., 82, p. 6024Lifshitz, Y., Kasi, S.R., Rabalais, J.W., Eckstein, W., (1990) Phys. Rev. B, 41, p. 10468Robertson, J., (1993) Diamond Relat. Mater., 2, p. 984Lacerda, R.G., Hammer, P., Lepienski, C.M., Alvarez, F., Marques, F.C., (2001) J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A, 19, p. 971Bhattacharyya, S., Subramanyam, S.V., (1997) Appl. Phys. Lett., 71, p. 632Kilic, C., Mehrez, H., Ciraci, S., (1998) Phys. Rev. B, 58, p. 7872Uher, C., Hockey, R.L., Ben-Jacob, E., (1987) Phys. Rev. B, 35, p. 4483Satyanarayana, B.S., Hart, A., Milne, W.I., Robertson, J., (1997) Appl. Phys. Lett., 71, p. 1430Carey, J.D., Forrest, R.D., Silva, S.R.P., (2001) Appl. Phys. Lett., 78, p. 2339Illie, A., Ferrari, C., Yagi, T., Robertson, J., (2000) Appl. Phys. Lett., 76, p. 2627De Lima M.M., Jr., Lacerda, R.G., Vilcarromero, J., Marques, F.C., (1999) J. Appl. Phys., 86, p. 4936Hoffman, R.W., (1966) Physics of Thin Films, 3, pp. 211-273. , edited by G. Hass and R. E. Thun (Academic, New YorkCarey, J.D., Silva, S.R.P., (2001) Appl. Phys. Lett., 78, p. 347Hammer, P., Victoria, N.M., Alvarez, F., (2000) J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A, 18, p. 2277Lifshitz, Y., Lempert, G.D., Grossman, E., Avigal, L., Uzan-Saguy, C., Kalish, R., Khlik, J., Rabalais, J.W., (1995) Diamond Relat. Mater., 4, p. 318Fallon, P.J., Veerasamy, V.S., Davis, C.A., Robertson, J., Amaratunga, G.A.J., Milne, W.I., Koskinen, J., (1993) Phys. Rev. B, 48, p. 4777Ahuja, R., Auluck, S., Trygg, J., Wills, J.M., Eriksson, O., Johansson, B., (1995) Phys. Rev. B, 51, p. 4813Reynolds, W.N., Goggin, P.R., (1960) Philos. Mag., 5, p. 1049Lynch, R.W., Drickamer, H.G., (1966) J. Chem. Phys., 44, p. 181Chaumet, P.C., Dufour, J.P., (1998) J. Electrost., 43, p. 145Hryd, R., Charlier, A., McRae, E., (1997) Phys. Rev. B, 55, p. 682

Nutritional composition and antioxidant and cancer chemopreventive activites of fruits of Psdium myrtoides (O. Berg)

Psidium myrtoides fruits food industries produce by-products such as liqueurs, ice cream, jellies, and juices. However, there needs to be more information about the nutritional composition of fruits, as well as the biological potential, mainly of seed flour. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the nutritional composition and antioxidant and cancer chemopreventive activities of pulp and seed of fruits ofPsidium myrtoides. Moisture content, total minerals and mineral profile, total lipids and fatty acids profile, total proteins, dietary fiber (soluble and insoluble) and total carbohydrates were analyzed. Vitamins C and complex B, organic acids and the profile of phenolic compounds were also determined. DPPH and ABTS methods evaluated the antioxidant activity, and cancer chemopreventive activity was evaluated by quinonereductase induction and NF-κB inhibitory activity. The fruits are a good source of thiamine, iron, phosphorus, potassium, fiber, and protein.Linoleic acid was the major fatty acid in both pulp and seed. Quercetin (1600 μg/100g) and pyrogallol (819 μg/100g) were the major phenolic compounds pulp and seed, respectively. The fruits showed strong antioxidant capacity, mainly the seeds, and the ability to induce quinone reductase activity, highlighting a cancer chemopreventive activity. Seed flour has a high potential to enrich food, in addition to valuing agroindustrial by-products, where we can highlight 25%, 13% and 37% of the recommended daily intake for iron (1.6 mg/100g), phosphorus (58 mg/100g) and vitamin B1 (450 μg/100g), respectively, in addition to antioxidant and cancer chemopreventive activities

Novel criticality in a model with absorbing states

We study a one-dimensional model which undergoes a transition between an active and an absorbing phase. Monte Carlo simulations supported by some additional arguments prompted as to predict the exact location of the critical point and critical exponents in this model. The exponents $\delta=0.5$ and $z=2$ follows from random-walk-type arguments. The exponents $\beta = \nu_{\perp}$ are found to be non-universal and encoded in the singular part of reactivation probability, as recently discussed by H. Hinrichsen (cond-mat/0008179). A related model with quenched randomness is also studied.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, generalized version with the continuously changing exponent bet

Jorge A. Swieca's contributions to quantum field theory in the 60s and 70s and their relevance in present research

After revisiting some high points of particle physics and QFT of the two decades from 1960 to 1980, I comment on the work by Jorge Andre Swieca. I explain how it fits into the quantum field theory during these two decades and draw attention to its relevance to the ongoing particle physics research. A particular aim of this article is to direct thr readers mindfulness to the relevance of what at the time of Swieca was called "the Schwinger Higgs screening mechanism". which, together with recent ideas which generalize the concept of gauge theories, has all the ingredients to revolutionize the issue of gauge theories and the standard model.Comment: 49 pages, expansion and actualization of text, improvement of formulations and addition of many references to be published in EPJH - Historical Perspectives on Contemporary Physic

The role of antimicrobial stewardship programmes in children: a systematic review.

The United Nations and the World Health Organization have designated antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as a major health priority and developed action plans to reduce AMR in all healthcare settings. Establishment of institutional antimicrobial stewardship programmes (ASPs) is advocated as a key intervention to reduce antibiotic consumption in hospitals and address high rates of multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria. We searched PUBMED and the Cochrane database of systematic reviews (1/2007-3/2017) to identify studies reporting about the effectiveness of ASPs in general paediatric wards and paediatric intensive care units (PICU), on reducing antibiotic consumption, on using broad spectrum/restricted antibiotics, and on antibiotic resistance and healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Neonatal units and antifungal agents were excluded. Of 2509 titles and abstracts, nine articles were eligible to be included in the final analysis. All studies reported on the reduction of broad spectrum/restricted antibiotics or antibiotic consumption. One study reported on the reduction of HAI in a PICU, and another evaluated bacterial resistance, showing no effect following ASP implementation. Prospective audit on antibiotic use was the most common ASP core component (eight of nine studies). Antibiotic pre-authorisation was described in two articles. Other described interventions were providing guidelines or written information (five of nine articles), and training of healthcare professionals (one article). There is limited evidence about reducing antibiotic consumption and broad-spectrum/restricted agents following ASP implementation, specifically in PICU. Data evaluating the impact of ASPs on HAI and AMR in PICU is lacking. In addition, there is limited information on effective components of a successful ASPs in PICUs