Increasing the Legal Retirement Age: The Impact on Wages, Worker Flows and Firm Performance

Many pay-as-you-go pension systems have increased or plan to increase their legal retirement age (LRA) to address the financial consequences of ageing. Although the success of these policies is ultimately determined at the labour market, little is known about the effects of higher LRAs at the firm level. Here, we identify this effect by considering a legislative reform introduced in Portugal in 1994: women's LRA was gradually increased from 62 to 65 years while men's LRA stayed unchanged at 65. Using detailed matched employer-employee panel data and difference-in-differences matching methods, we analyse the effects of the reform in terms of a number of worker- and firm-level outcomes. After providing evidence of compliance with the law, we find that the wages and hours worked of older women (those required to work longer) were virtually unchanged. However, firms employing older female workers significantly reduced their hirings, especially of younger female workers. Those firms also lowered their output although not their output per worker.social security reform, older workers, matching estimators

A water level relationship between consecutive gauge stations along Solim\~oes/Amazonas main channel: a wavelet approach

Gauge stations are distributed along the Solim\~oes/Amazonas main channel to monitor water level changes over time. Those measurements help quantify both the water movement and its variability from one gauge station to the next downstream. The objective of this study is to detect changes in the water level relationship between consecutive gauge stations along the Solim\~oes/Amazonas main channel, since 1980. To carry out the analyses, data spanning from 1980 to 2010 from three consecutive gauges (Tefe, Manaus and Obidos) were used to compute standardized daily anomalies. In particular for infra-annual periods it was possible to detect changes for the water level variability along the Solim\~oes/Amazonas main channel, by applying the Morlet Wavelet Transformation (WT) and Wavelet Cross Coherence (WCC) methods. It was possible to quantify the waves amplitude for the WT infra-annual scaled-period and were quite similar to the three gauge stations denoting that the water level variability are related to the same hydrological forcing functions. Changes in the WCC was detected for the Manaus-Obidos river stretch and this characteristic might be associated with land cover changes in the floodplains. The next steps of this research, will be to test this hypotheses by integrating land cover changes into the floodplain with hydrological modelling simulations throughout the time-series

Dietary strategy for prevention and management of dyslipidemia: International guidelines

Primary prevention of cardiovascular disease should begin with a detailed metabolic study of our patients who must follow a nutritional therapy. Recently, new guidelines ESC/EAS 2011 on the treatment of dyslipidemia have been drawn up, according to which it is possible to arrive at desirable values of cholesterol and triglycerides with a synergy between drug treatment and adequate diet therapy. At this time, Mediterranean diet has been undergoing a radical transformation: there is hyperalimentation of the Mediterranean diet in all its components. The effectiveness of the Mediterranean diet on the reduction of lipids has been demonstrated, and the problem is how to implement this diet in the general population and dyslipidemic patients. Certainly, awareness, education of their nutritional status, suitable food and portions can increase adherence to diet

Patent foramen ovale and thromboembolic complications

The foramen ovale, an atrial septal defect which is essential in the fetal circulation, remains patent through adulthood in approximately 25% of the general population and so it represents the most common persistent abnormality of fetal origin. Patent foramen ovale (PFO) allows interatrial right-to-left blood shunting during those periods of the cardiac cycle in which the right atrial pressure exceeds the left one. An increasing number of pathological manifestations of PFO has been recently identified; among these, paradoxical systemic embolism, refractory hypoxemia in patients with right ventricular myocardium infarction or severe pulmonary disease, orthostatic oxygen desaturation in the rare platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome, neurological decompression illness in divers, high altitude pilots and astronauts, and finally, migraine headache with aura. Nowadays many techniques allow to detect a PFO. In this study we investigated each of them, assessing their potential diagnostic role even in comparison with the main features of the other method

Ground-state configuration of neutron-rich ³⁵Al via Coulomb breakup

The ground-state configuration of ³⁵Al has been studied via Coulomb dissociation (CD) using the LAND-FRS setup (GSI, Darmstadt) at a relativistic energy of ~ 403 MeV/nucleon. The measured inclusive differential CD cross section for ³⁵Al, integrated up to 5.0 MeV relative energy between the ³³Al core and the neutron using a Pb target, is 78(13) mb. The exclusive measured CD cross section that populates various excited states of ³³Al is 29(7) mb. The differential CD cross section of ³⁵Al -> ³⁴Al + n has been interpreted in the light of a direct breakup model, and it suggests that the possible ground-state spin and parity of ³⁵Al could be, tentatively, 1/2⁺ or 3/2⁺ or 5/2⁺. The valence neutrons, in the ground state of ³⁵Al, may occupy a combination of either l = 3,0 or l = 1,2 orbitals coupled with the ³⁴Al core in the ground and isomeric state(s), respectively. This hints of a particle-hole configuration of the neutron across the magic shell gaps at N = 20,28 which suggests narrowing the magic shell gap. If the 5/2⁺ is the ground-state spin-parity of ³⁵Al as suggested in the literature, then the major ground-state configuration of ³⁵Al is a combination of ³⁴Al (g. s.; 4⁻) circle times ν_(p_(3/2)) and ³⁴Al (isomer; 1⁺) circle times ν _(d_(3/2)) states. The result from this experiment has been compared with that from a previous knockout measurement and a calculation using the SDPF-M interaction

Preclinical atherosclerosis and metabolic syndrome increase cardio- and cerebrovascular events rate: a 20-year follow up

BACKGROUND: Intima-media thickness (IMT) is a validated marker of preclinical atherosclerosis and a predictor of cardiovascular events. PATIENTS: We studied a population of 529 asymptomatic patients (age 62\u2009\ub1\u200912.8 years), divided into two groups of subjects with and without Metabolic Syndrome (MetS). METHODS: All patients, at baseline, have had a carotid ultrasound evaluation and classified in two subgroups: the first one without atherosclerotic lesions and the second one with preclinical atherosclerosis (increased IMT or asymptomatic carotid plaque). Cardiovascular endpoints were investigated in a 20-years follow-up. RESULTS: There were 242 cardiovascular events: 144 among patients with MetS and 98 among in healthy controls (57.4% vs. 35.2%; P\u2009<\u20090.0001). 63 events occurred in patients with normal carotid arteries, while 179 events occurred in patients with preclinical atherosclerosis (31.8% vs. 54.1%; P\u2009<\u20090.0001). Of the 144 total events occurred in patients with MetS, 36 happened in the subgroup with normal carotid arteries and 108 in the subgroup with preclinical atherosclerosis (45% vs. 63.15%; P\u2009=\u20090.009). 98 events occurred in patients without MetS, of which 27 in the subgroup with normal carotid arteries and 71 in the subgroup with preclinical atherosclerosis (22.88% vs. 44.37%; P\u2009=\u20090.0003). In addition, considering the 63 total events occurred in patients without atherosclerotic lesions, 36 events were recorded in the subgroup with MetS and 27 events in the subgroup without MetS (45% vs. 22.88%; P\u2009=\u20090.0019). Finally, in 179 total events recorded in patients with preclinical carotid atherosclerosis, 108 happened in the subgroup with MetS and 71 happened in the subgroup without MetS (63.15% vs. 44.37%; P\u2009=\u20090.0009). The Kaplan-Meier function showed an improved survival in patients without atherosclerotic lesions compared with patients with carotid ultrasound alterations (P\u2009=\u20090.01, HR: 0.7366, CI: 0.5479 to 0.9904). CONCLUSIONS: Preclinical atherosclerosis leads to an increased risk of cardiovascular events, especially if it is associated with MetS

Biodegradation of bisphenol A and bisphenol S by labrys portucalensis strain F11

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Soluble CD40L and cardiovascular risk in asymptomatic low-grade carotid stenosis

Background and Purpose-We investigated whether soluble CD40L (sCD40L) may predict the risk of cardiovascular (CV) events in patients with asymptomatic carotid plaques. Methods-Forty-two patients with asymptomatic low-grade carotid stenosis (ALCS) and 21 controls without any carotid stenosis were enrolled. All subjects had at least a major cardiovascular risk factor (CRF). Plasma levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), IL-6, and sCD40L were measured. Subjects were reviewed every 12 months (median follow-up, 8 years). Results-ALCS patients had higher (P<0.0001) CRP, IL-6, and sCD40L than controls. Fourteen patients experienced a CV event. Cox regression analysis showed that only high sCD40L levels (P=0.003) independently predicted cardiovascular risk. Conclusions-High levels of sCD40L may predict the risk of CV events in ALCS

Uniform in Time Error Estimates for a Finite Element Method Applied to a Downscaling Data Assimilation Algorithm for the Navier Stokes Equations

First Published in SIAM Journal on Numerical Analysis in 2020, Vol. 58, No. 1, published by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM)In this paper we analyze a finite element method applied to a continuous downscaling data assimilation algorithm for the numerical approximation of the two- and three-dimensional Navier--Stokes equations corresponding to given measurements on a coarse spatial scale. For representing the coarse mesh measurements we consider different types of interpolation operators including a Lagrange interpolant. We obtain uniform-in-time estimates for the error between a finite element approximation and the reference solution corresponding to the coarse mesh measurements. We consider both the case of a plain Galerkin method and a Galerkin method with grad-div stabilization. For the stabilized method we prove error bounds in which the constants do not depend on inverse powers of the viscosity. Some numerical experiments illustrate the theoretical resultsDepartamento de Matemática Aplicada II, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain. Research is supported by Spanish MINECO under grant MTM2015-65608-P ([email protected]). Departamento de Matemáticas, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain. Research is supported by Spanish MINECO under grant MTM2016-78995-P (AEI/FEDER, UE) and VA024P17 (Junta de Castilla y Leon, ES) co nanced by FEDER funds ([email protected]). Department of Mathematics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA. De- partment of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA, UK. Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel. Research is supported in part by the ONR grant N00014-15-1-2333, the Einstein Stiftung/Foundation - Berlin, through the Einstein Visiting Fellow Program, and by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation ([email protected], [email protected])