Early CRT monitoring using time-domain optical coherence tomography does not add to visual acuity for predicting visual loss in patients with central retinal vein occlusion treated with intravitreal ranibizumab:A secondary analysis of trial data

Our primary purpose was to assess the clinical (predictive) validity of central retinal thickness (CRT) and best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) at 1 week and 1 month after starting treatment with ranibizumab for central retinal vein occlusion. The authors also assessed detectability of response to treatment

First-Round Impacts of the 2008 Chilean Pension System Reform

Chile’s innovative privatized pension system has been lauded as possible model for Social Security system overhauls in other countries, yet it has also been critiqued for not including a strong safety net for the uncovered sector. In response, the Bachelet government in 2008 implemented reforms to rectify this shortcoming. Here we offer the first systematic effort to directly evaluate the reform’s impacts, focusing on the new Basic Solidarity Pension for poor households with at least one person age 65+. Using the Social Protection Survey, we show that targeted poor households received about 2.4 percent more household annual income, with little evidence of crowding-out of private transfers. We also suggest that recipient household welfare probably increased due to slightly higher expenditures on basic consumption including healthcare, more leisure hours, and improved self-reported health. While measured short-run effects are small, follow-ups will be essential to gauge longer-run outcomes.

The Galam Model of Minority Opinion Spreading and the Marriage Gap

In 2002, Serge Galam designed a model of a minority opinion spreading. The effect is expected to lead a conservative minority to prevail if the issue is discussed long enough. Here we analyze the marriage gap, i.e. the difference in voting for Bush and Kerry in 2004 between married and unmarried people. It seems possible to interpret this marriage gap in terms of the Galam model.Comment: 6 page

First-Round Impacts of the 2008 Chilean Pension System Reform

Chile’s innovative privatized pension system has been lauded as possible model for Social Security system overhauls in other countries, yet it has also been critiqued for not including a strong safety net for the uncovered sector. In response, the Bachelet government in 2008 implemented reforms to rectify this shortcoming. Here we offer the first systematic effort to directly evaluate the reform’s impacts, focusing on the new Basic Solidarity Pension for poor households with at least one person age 65+. Using the Social Protection Survey, we show that targeted poor households received about 2.4 percent more household annual income, with little evidence of crowding-out of private transfers. We also suggest that recipient household welfare probably increased due to slightly higher expenditures on basic consumption including healthcare, more leisure hours, and improved self-reported health. While measured short-run effects are small, follow-ups will be essential to gauge longer-run outcomes.Social Security Administrationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87956/1/wp245.pd

Principles of Anti-infective Dosing in Pregnancy

AbstractPurposeAnti-infectives are among the most commonly prescribed medications in pregnancy. However, detailed information on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of these medications in pregnancy is limited, leading to uncertainty among clinicians regarding the tolerability and efficacy of treatments. The purposes of this review were to highlight key physiologic changes during pregnancy that influence drug behavior, and to discuss areas of active research related to anti-infective drugs in pregnancy.MethodsA review of literature in PubMed was performed for topics related to physiologic changes of pregnancy, postcesarean surgical site infections, vaccines in pregnancy, and intrauterine infections. The literature was reviewed and pertinent sources were utilized for this article.FindingsPhysiologic changes during pregnancy may impact drug disposition and efficacy. Cefazolin regimens are the current prophylactic treatment of choice for postcesarean surgical site infections. Vaccines are provided in pregnancy for both maternal and neonatal benefit. Broad-spectrum antibiotics continue to be used as first-line therapy for intrauterine infections.ImplicationsContinued efforts to broaden the knowledge base on anti-infective drug behavior in pregnancy will result in increased therapeutic options for this population

Novel Polyoxometalate- Ionic Liquid with Antibacterial and Antifungal Properties. Feasibility of Its Implementation As a Multifunctional Thin Coating

The synthesis of hybrid materials, combining the properties of organic and inorganic components, results in composites with unique physical and chemical features. Polyoxometalates (POMs), i.e. inorganic anionic molecular metal oxides, are considered as promising future metallodrugs due to their antiviral, antitumoral and antibacterial activities. The combination of bulky organic cations with POMs results in composite ionic liquids (IL; melting point below 100°C) which combine the unique properties of both components. Pioneering studies have used composites of alkylammonium cations and POM anions for multifunctional water purification to remove toxic heavy materials, organic aromatics and microbes and for the inhibition of bio-corrosion on metal and stone surfaces due to coating formation.Fil: Enderle, Ana Gabriela. Universidad Nacional del Litoral; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Streb, C.. Universitat Ulm; AlemaniaFil: Bollini, Mariela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones en Bionanociencias "Elizabeth Jares Erijman"; ArgentinaFil: Culzoni, Maria Julia. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Bioquímica y Ciencias Biológicas. Departamento de Química. Cátedra de Química Analítica; ArgentinaFil: Mitchell, S. G.. Universidad de Zaragoza; EspañaFil: Franco Castillo, I.. Universidad de Zaragoza; España2019 AIChE Annual MeetingOrlandoEstados UnidosAmerican Institute of Chemical Engineer

Optimising health and wellbeing clinics: supporting patient's choice after a cancer diagnosis

Poster presented at RD&E Clinical School Awards, Wednesday 1st June 2016. Awarded top prize

Sect and House in Syria: History, Architecture, and Bayt Amongst the Druze in Jaramana

This paper explores the connections between the architecture and materiality of houses and the social idiom of bayt (house, family). The ethnographic exploration is located in the Druze village of Jaramana, on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus. It traces the histories, genealogies, and politics of two families, bayt Abud-Haddad and bayt Ouward, through their houses. By exploring the two families and the architecture of their houses, this paper provides a detailed ethnographic account of historical change in modern Syria, internal diversity, and stratification within the intimate social fabric of the Druze neighbourhood at a time of war, and contributes a relational approach to the anthropological understanding of houses