The Baby Boom, Baby Busts, and Grandmothers

Studies in family economics and anthropology suggest that grandmothers are a highly valuable source of childcare assistance. As such, availability of grandmothers affects the cost of having children, and hence fertility decisions of young parents. In this paper, we develop a simple model to assess the fertility implications of the fluctuations in both output (as argued by demographers) and grandmother-availability induced child-care costs over the period 1920-1970. Model does a good job of mimicking the bust-boom-bust pattern during this period. When the child-care cost channel is shut down, the model’s performance weakens significantly; in particular, it fails to capture the bust in the 1960’s altogether.fertility, baby boom, baby bust, female labor-force participation, grandmother availability

Religion, Income Inequality, and the Size of the Government

Recent empirical research has demonstrated that countries with higher levels of religiosity are characterized by greater income inequality. We argue that this is due to the lower level of government services demanded in more religious countries. Religion requires that individuals make financial sacrifices and this leads the religious to prefer making their contributions voluntarily rather than through mandatory means. To the extent that citizen preferences are reflected in policy outcomes, religiosity results in lower taxes, which in turn implies lower levels of spending on both public goods and redistribution. Since measures of income typically do not fully take into account the part of income coming from donations received, this increases measured income inequality. We formalize these ideas in a general equilibrium political economy model and also show that the implications of our model are supported by cross-country data.religion, voluntary donations, taxation, redistribution, income inequality

Influence of articular arthroscopy-like washout on fracture healing of intra-articular fractures; animal experiment

Aim: To examine whether the application of intra-articular lavage during arthroscopic joint fracture surgery can disturb fracture union and cartilage healing. Metods: Twenty New Zealand rabbits were then randomly divided into 3 groups; these groups consisted of 2 surgical groups including eight rabbits and a control group consisting of 4 rabbits. After both rear limbs exposed with a medial parapatellar incision, medial femoral condyle was fractured. Four groups were created by doing anatomic reduction or non-anatomic reduction and making irrigation or no irrigation. (Group 1: Fixed by creating a gap and no Irrigation; Group 2: Fixed by creating a gap and irrigation; Group 3: Fixed with complete reduction and no irrigation; Group 4: Fixed with complete reduction and irrigation) X-rays of both knees of all rabbits were taken at the end of the second week and at the end of the eighth week. The operated knees were collected for histopathological analysis. Results: Radiological data show a significant difference in the level of ossification between the groups in the 2nd week; however, this difference was lost in the 8th week. Histopathologically, at the end of week 8, it was observed that the subchondral bone tissue was incompletely renewed in all the groups. The cartilage tissue of the joint surface was not fully formed and renewed and that it did not completely coalesce with the old cartilage tissue in all of the groups. Compared with the other groups, the group that fracture was anatomically reducted with no irrigation (Group 1), the cartilaginous tissue layer formed was thicker while the surface of the tissue was flatter. Conclusion: There were no adverse effects of intra-articular lavage on fracture union and cartilage healing in an in vivo environment. Nonetheless, the findings of this study should be confirmed with a larger sample size

The Baby Boom, Baby Busts, and Grandmothers

Studies in family economics and anthropology suggest that grandmothers are a highly valuable source of childcare assistance. As such, availability of grandmothers affects the cost of having children, and hence fertility decisions of young parents. In this paper, we develop a simple model to assess the fertility implications of the fluctuations in both output (as argued by demographers) and grandmother-availability induced child-care costs over the period 1920-1970. Model does a good job of mimicking the bust-boom-bust pattern during this period. When the child-care cost channel is shut down, the model’s performance weakens significantly; in particular, it fails to capture the bust in the 1960’s altogether

The Baby Boom, Baby Busts, and Grandmothers

Studies in family economics and anthropology suggest that grandmothers are a highly valuable source of childcare assistance. As such, availability of grandmothers affects the cost of having children, and hence fertility decisions of young parents. In this paper, we develop a simple model to assess the fertility implications of the fluctuations in both output (as argued by demographers) and grandmother-availability induced child-care costs over the period 1920-1970. Model does a good job of mimicking the bust-boom-bust pattern during this period. When the child-care cost channel is shut down, the model’s performance weakens significantly; in particular, it fails to capture the bust in the 1960’s altogether

The baby boom, baby busts, and the role of grandmothers in childcare

Studies in family economics and anthropology suggest that grandmothers are a highly valuable source of childcare assistance. As such, the availability of grandmothers affects the cost of having children, and hence the fertility decisions of young parents. In this paper, we develop a simple model to assess the fertility implications of the fluctuations in both output (as argued by demographers) and grandmother-availability induced child-care costs over the period of 1920-1970. The model does a good job of mimicking the bust-boom-bust pattern during this period. When the child-care cost channel is shut down, the model’s performance weakens significantly; in particular, it fails altogether to capture the bust in the 1960’s

The baby boom, baby busts, and the role of grandmothers in childcare

Studies in family economics and anthropology suggest that grandmothers are a highly valuable source of childcare assistance. As such, the availability of grandmothers affects the cost of having children, and hence the fertility decisions of young parents. In this paper, we develop a simple model to assess the fertility implications of the fluctuations in both output (as argued by demographers) and grandmother-availability induced child-care costs over the period of 1920-1970. The model does a good job of mimicking the bust-boom-bust pattern during this period. When the child-care cost channel is shut down, the model’s performance weakens significantly; in particular, it fails altogether to capture the bust in the 1960’s

The Prevalence of Sacroiliitis and Spondyloarthritis in Patients with Sarcoidosis

Introduction. Sarcoidosis is a chronic granulomatous disease, which can involve different organs and systems. Coexistence of sarcoidosis and spondyloarthritis has been reported in numerous case reports. Purpose. To determine the prevalence of sacroiliitis and spondyloarthritis in patients previously diagnosed with sarcoidosis and to investigate any possible relation with clinical findings. Materials and Methods. Forty-two patients with sarcoidosis were enrolled in the study. Any signs and symptoms in regard to spondyloarthritis (i.e., existence of inflammatory back pain, gluteal pain, uveitis, enthesitis, dactylitis, inflammatory bowel disease, and psoriasis) were questioned in detail and biochemical tests were evaluated. Sacroiliac joint imaging and lateral heel imaging were performed in all patients. Results. Sacroiliitis was found in 6 of the 42 (14.3%) sarcoidosis patients and all of these patients were female. Common features of the disease in these six patients were inflammatory back pain as the major clinical complaint, stage 2 sacroiliitis as revealed by radiological staging, and the negativity of HLA B-27 test. These six patients with sacroiliitis were diagnosed with spondyloarthritis according to the criteria of ASAS and of ESSG. Conclusion. We found spondyloarthritis in patients with sarcoidosis at a higher percentage rate than in the general population (1–1.9%). Controlled trials involving large series of patients are required for the confirmation of the data

Religion, Income Inequality, and the Size of the Government

Recent empirical research has demonstrated that countries with higher levels of religiosity are characterized by greater income inequality. We argue that this is due to the lower level of government services demanded in more religious countries. Religion requires that individuals make financial sacrifices and this leads the religious to prefer making their contributions voluntarily rather than through mandatory means. To the extent that citizen preferences are reflected in policy outcomes, religiosity results in lower taxes, which in turn implies lower levels of spending on both public goods and redistribution. Since measures of income typically do not fully take into account the part of income coming from donations received, this increases measured income inequality. We formalize these ideas in a general equilibrium political economy model and also show that the implications of our model are supported by cross-country data

Epidemiology of surgery associated acute kidney injury (EPIS-AKI): a prospective international observational multi-center clinical study

Purpose: The incidence, patient features, risk factors and outcomes of surgery-associated postoperative acute kidney injury (PO-AKI) across different countries and health care systems is unclear. Methods: We conducted an international prospective, observational, multi-center study in 30 countries in patients undergoing major surgery (> 2-h duration and postoperative intensive care unit (ICU) or high dependency unit admission). The primary endpoint was the occurrence of PO-AKI within 72 h of surgery defined by the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) criteria. Secondary endpoints included PO-AKI severity and duration, use of renal replacement therapy (RRT), mortality, and ICU and hospital length of stay. Results: We studied 10,568 patients and 1945 (18.4%) developed PO-AKI (1236 (63.5%) KDIGO stage 1500 (25.7%) KDIGO stage 2209 (10.7%) KDIGO stage 3). In 33.8% PO-AKI was persistent, and 170/1945 (8.7%) of patients with PO-AKI received RRT in the ICU. Patients with PO-AKI had greater ICU (6.3% vs. 0.7%) and hospital (8.6% vs. 1.4%) mortality, and longer ICU (median 2 (Q1-Q3, 1-3) days vs. 3 (Q1-Q3, 1-6) days) and hospital length of stay (median 14 (Q1-Q3, 9-24) days vs. 10 (Q1-Q3, 7-17) days). Risk factors for PO-AKI included older age, comorbidities (hypertension, diabetes, chronic kidney disease), type, duration and urgency of surgery as well as intraoperative vasopressors, and aminoglycosides administration. Conclusion: In a comprehensive multinational study, approximately one in five patients develop PO-AKI after major surgery. Increasing severity of PO-AKI is associated with a progressive increase in adverse outcomes. Our findings indicate that PO-AKI represents a significant burden for health care worldwide