Do Parental Leaves Make the Motherhood Wage Penalty Worse?

We assess if and how motherhood wage penalties change in response to the design of parental leave regulations. Focusing on Germany, we compare sweeps of reforms inspired by opposite principles. One allowed for longer periods out of paid work in the 1990s, the other prompted quicker re-entry in the labour market in the late 2000s. These reforms may have first exacerbated and later mitigated wage losses for new mothers, albeit each component of leave schemes may trigger separate, and at times zero-sum, mechanisms. We rely on Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) data and a difference-in-differences design. Focusing on first-time mothers, we find that motherhood wage penalties were substantial (around 20–30 per cent of pre-birth wages) and also changed little during the 1990s. As parental leave reform triggered longer time spent on leave coupled with better tenure accumulation, wage losses for mothers remained stable in this first period. Following parental leave reform in the late 2000s, instead, the wage prospects of first-time mothers improved, thanks in part to shorter work interruptions and increased work hour

Preeclampsia in Lean Normotensive Normotolerant Pregnant Women Can Be Predicted by Simple Insulin Sensitivity Indexes

Certain similarities between preeclampsia and insulin resistance syndrome suggest a possible link between the 2 diseases. The aim of our study was to evaluate 3 insulin sensitivity (IS) indexes (fasting homeostasis model assessment IS [IS HOMA ], quantitative insulin sensitivity check index [IS QUICKI ], and oral glucose IS [OGIS]) early and late in pregnancy in a large number of normotensive pregnant women with a normal glucose tolerance and to test the ability of these indexes to predict the risk of subsequent preeclampsia. In all, 829 pregnant women were tested with a 75-g, 2-hour oral glucose load in 2 periods of pregnancy: early (16 to 20 weeks) and late (26 to 30 weeks). In early and late pregnancy, respectively, IS HOMA was 1.23±0.05 and 1.44±0.05 ( P <0.01), IS QUICKI was 0.40±0.002 and 0.38±0.002 ( P <0.01), and OGIS was 457±2.4 mL min −1 m −2 and 445±2.2 ( P <0.001), all confirming the reduction in insulin sensitivity during pregnancy. Preeclampsia developed in 6.4% of the pregnant women and correlated positively with the 75th centile of IS HOMA ( P =0.001), with a sensitivity of 79% in the early and 83% in the late period and a specificity of 97% in both. IS QUICKI <25th centile was also related with preeclampsia ( P =0.001), with a sensitivity of 85% in the early and 88% in the late period and a specificity of 97% in both. Judging from our findings, IS HOMA and IS QUICKI are simple tests that can pinpoint impaired insulin sensitivity early in the pregnancy. Given their high sensitivity and specificity, these indexes could be useful in predicting the development of preeclampsia in early pregnancy, before the disease become clinically evident

Switching Control for Adaptive Disturbance Attenuation

The problem of adaptive disturbance attenuation is addressed in this paper using a switching control approach. A finite family of stabilizing controllers is pre-designed, with the assumption that, for any possible operating condition, at least one controller is able to achieve a prescribed level of attenuation. Then, at each time instant, a supervisory unit selects the controller associated with the best potential performance on the basis of suitably defined test functionals. In the paper, we prove some important properties which are satisfied by the test functionals, and analyze the stability of the overall switched system. Simulation results are provided to show the validity of the proposed method as a solution to the problem

Label-free toxicology screening of primary human mesenchymal cells and iPS-derived neurons

The high-throughput, label-free Corning Epic assay has applications in drug discovery, pharmacogenomics, cell receptor signaling, cell migration, and viral titration. The utility of Epic technology for biocompatibility testing has not been well established. In manufacturing of medical devices, in vitro and in vivo biocompatibility assessments are mandatory, according to ISO 10993. The new medical device regulation MDR 745/2017 specifies that ex vivo assays that can closely recapitulate in vivo scenarios are needed to better evaluate biomedical devices. We propose herein that Epic technology\u2014which enables detection of variations in cell mass distribution\u2014is suitable for biocompatibility screening of compounds. In this study, we challenged primary human osteoblasts, endothelial cells, and neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells with specific concentrations of methyl methacrylate (MMA). Polymeric MMA has long been applied in cranioplasty, where it makes contact with multiple cell types. Application of Epic technology yielded real-time cytotoxicity profiles for all considered cell types. The results were compared with those from microscopic observation of the same culture plate used in the Epic analyses. The Epic assay should be further examined for its utility for cell biology, genomics, and proteomics companion assays. Our results suggest that Epic technology can be applied to biocompatibility evaluation of human cells in medical device development

Detection of microparticles from human red blood cells by multiparametric flow cytometry

Background: During storage, red blood cells (RBC) undergo chemical and biochemical changes referred to as "storage lesions". These events determine the loss of RBC integrity, resulting in lysis and release of microparticles. There is growing evidence of the clinical importance of microparticles and their role in blood transfusion-related side effects and pathogen transmission. Flow cytometry is currently one of the most common techniques used to quantify and characterise microparticles. Here we propose multiparametric staining to monitor and quantify the dynamic release of microparticles by stored human RBC. Material and methods: RBC units (n=10) were stored under blood bank conditions for up to 42 days. Samples were tested at different time points to detect microparticles and determine the haemolysis rate (HR%). Microparticles were identified by flow cytometry combining carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester (CFSE) dye, annexin V and anti-glycophorin A antibody. Results: We demonstrated that CFSE can be successfully used to label closed vesicles with an intact membrane. The combination of CFSE and glycophorin A antibody was effective for monitoring and quantifying the dynamic release of microparticles from RBC during storage. Double staining with CFSE/glycophorin A was a more precise approach, increasing vesicle detection up to 4.7-fold vs the use of glycophorin A/annexin V alone. Moreover, at all the time points tested, we found a robust correlation (R=0.625; p=0.0001) between HR% and number of microparticles detected. Discussion: Multiparametric staining, based on a combination of CFSE, glycophorin A antibody and annexin V, was able to detect, characterise and monitor the release of microparticles from RBC units during storage, providing a sensitive approach to labelling and identifying microparticles for transfusion medicine and, more broadly, for cell-based therapies