The contribution of intangible assets to sectoral productivity growth in the EU

In this paper we report on new data on intangible investment at the level of 1-digit NACE industries of 10 EU countries. The data are constructed as a sectoral breakdown of the INTANInvest database, which contains measures of intangible investment at the level of the aggregate business sector. With the sectoral data we assess the contribution of intangibles to productivity growth based on growth accounting and econometric estimation of production functions. The growth accounting contribution of intangibles to labor productivity growth is generally highest in manufacturing and finance. The estimated output elasticity of intangibles lies between 0.1 and 0.2, considerably below values found in previous research using aggregate data

Intangible training capital and productivity in Europe

This paper employs industry data, derived from linking the EU LFS to productivity accounts from EU KLEMS, to examine workforce training and productivity in European Union original members states. Training activities are modelled as intangible investments by firms and cumulated to stocks so their impact can be evaluated within a production function framework, including links to the use of information and communications technology (ICT). The results suggest significantly positive effects of training on productivity, both direct and interacted with ICT, with different impacts in services than in production industries. These results are robust to the use of instrumental variables methods, both lagged instruments and a set of variables that capture features of the operation of labour markets

Estimating the impact of the Internet of Things on productivity in Europe

Funding statement This work was supported by the EU/FIRE IoT Lab project – STREP ICT-610477.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Women's Health in Multiple Sclerosis: A Scoping Review

Multiple sclerosis; Pregnancy; Women's healthEsclerosis múltiple; Embarazo; Salud de la mujerEsclerosi múltiple; Embaràs; Salut de la donaBackground: Women with multiple sclerosis (MS) may face challenges related to managing reproduction, pregnancy, and menopause while simultaneously managing their disease. The purpose of this scoping review was to map the literature broadly related to topics relevant to women's health in MS to inform the clinical and research communities about the existing types and sources of evidence and knowledge gaps. Apart from coverage of topics within the field of women's health, we were interested in potential gaps related to geographic and racial and ethnic diversity. We also aimed to understand the degree of inclusion of women with progressive MS in this research. Methods: We searched the EMBASE and Ovid Medline databases from 1980 until November 23, 2020. We included case-control and cohort studies, clinical trials and case series published in any language, conducted in women with MS, clinically isolated syndrome, or radiologically isolated syndrome, that addressed women's health. Two reviewers independently screened abstracts and full-text reports for study inclusion, and completed data extraction. Results: Of 112,106 citations screened, 1,041 underwent full-text review and 353 met the inclusion criteria. The number of studies regarding women's health has increased exponentially over time. Almost half of the studies were conducted (at least in part) in Europe, while 21.7% were conducted in North America; only one study was conducted in Africa. Most studies did not report the race or ethnicity of their participants (n = 308, 87.2%). Among the 353 studies, 509 topics were reported as some studies addressed more than one topic. Over one-third of these focused on pregnancy (n = 201, 37.2%), followed by fetal/neonatal outcomes (14.4%) and sexual dysfunction (10%). Among the 201 studies that focused on pregnancy, only 51 (25.4%) included participants with progressive MS. Conclusions: This review identifies important knowledge gaps related to women's health in MS and particularly the need for future studies to include participants with a broader range of races and ethnicities, with progressive MS, and living in Asia-Pacific and African regions

Output growth in the post‐compulsory education sector: the European experience

This paper analyses the problem of measuring the output of the education sector. It uses a combination of the index number approach with the education return methods. This allows us to take into account not only the number of students but also the labour outcomes corresponding to each type of education. As a result we obtain comprehensive measures of output based on enrollment, completion rates, expected wages, employability and labour market participation issues. We apply this approach to estimate the rates of growth of the output of the post-compulsory education sectors of 27 European countries over the period 2005‐2009. The results show the importance of complementing raw educational data with labour outcome information when measuring output in this sector

Output growth in the post‐compulsory education sector: the European experience

This paper analyses the problem of measuring the output of the education sector. It uses a combination of the index number approach with the education return methods. This allows us to take into account not only the number of students but also the labour outcomes corresponding to each type of education. As a result we obtain comprehensive measures of output based on enrollment, completion rates, expected wages, employability and labour market participation issues. We apply this approach to estimate the rates of growth of the output of the post-compulsory education sectors of 27 European countries over the period 2005‐2009. The results show the importance of complementing raw educational data with labour outcome information when measuring output in this sector

Integron-mediated Multidrug Resistance in a Global Collection of Nontyphoidal Salmonella enterica Isolates

Horizontal gene transfer and clonal expansion contribute substantially to the dissemination of resistant strain

Efficacy of non-pharmacological interventions to treat malnutrition in older persons : A systematic review and meta-analysis. The SENATOR project ONTOP series and MaNuEL Knowledge Hub project

The preparation of this paper was supported by the MalNutrition in the ELderly (MaNuEL) knowledge hub. MaNuEL is supported by the Joint Programming Initiative ‘Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life’. The MaNuEL funding agencies supporting this paper are (in alphabetical order of participating Member State): France: Ecole Supérieure d’Agricultires (ESA); Germany: Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) represented by Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE); The Netherlands: The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw). This work was also supported by the SENATOR trial (FP7-HEALTH-2012-305930).Peer reviewedPostprin

Ovarian cancer pathology characteristics as predictors of variant pathogenicity in BRCA1 and BRCA2

Background: The distribution of ovarian tumour characteristics differs between germline BRCA1 and BRCA2 pathogenic variant carriers and non-carriers. In this study, we assessed the utility of ovarian tumour characteristics as predictors of BRCA1 and BRCA2 variant pathogenicity, for application using the American College of Medical Genetics and the Association for Molecular Pathology (ACMG/AMP) variant classification system. Methods: Data for 10,373 ovarian cancer cases, including carriers and non-carriers of BRCA1 or BRCA2 pathogenic variants, were collected from unpublished international cohorts and consortia and published studies. Likelihood ratios (LR) were calculated for the association of ovarian cancer histology and other characteristics, with BRCA1 and BRCA2 variant pathogenicity. Estimates were aligned to ACMG/AMP code strengths (supporting, moderate, strong). Results: No histological subtype provided informative ACMG/AMP evidence in favour of BRCA1 and BRCA2 variant pathogenicity. Evidence against variant pathogenicity was estimated for the mucinous and clear cell histologies (supporting) and borderline cases (moderate). Refined associations are provided according to tumour grade, invasion and age at diagnosis. Conclusions: We provide detailed estimates for predicting BRCA1 and BRCA2 variant pathogenicity based on ovarian tumour characteristics. This evidence can be combined with other variant information under the ACMG/AMP classification system, to improve classification and carrier clinical management.</p