Doctor-patient differences in risk and time preferences: a field experiment

We conduct a framed field experiment among patients and doctors to test whether the two groups have similar risk and time preferences. We elicit risk and time preferences using multiple price list tests and their adaptations to the healthcare context. Risk and time preferences are compared in terms of switching points in the tests and the structurally estimated behavioural parameters. We find that doctors and patients significantly differ in their time preferences: doctors discount future outcomes less heavily than patients. We find no evidence that doctors and patients systematically differ in their risk preferences in the healthcare domain

CO2 Energy Reactor – Integrated Mineral Carbonation: Perspectives on Lab-Scale Investigation and Products Valorization

To overcome the challenges of mineral CO2 sequestration, Innovation Concepts B.V. is developing a unique proprietary gravity pressure vessel (GPV) reactor technology and has focussed on generating reaction products of high economic value. The GPV provides intense process conditions through hydrostatic pressurization and heat exchange integration that harvests exothermic reaction energy, thereby reducing energy demand of conventional reactor designs, in addition to offering other benefits. In this paper, a perspective on the status of this technology and outlook for the future is provided. To date, laboratory-scale tests of the envisioned process have been performed in a tubular “rocking autoclave” reactor. The mineral of choice has been olivine [~Mg1.6Fe2+0.4(SiO4) + ppm Ni/Cr], although asbestos, steel slags, and oil shale residues are also under investigation. The effect of several process parameters on reaction extent and product properties has been tested: CO2 pressure, temperature, residence time, additives (buffers, lixiviants, chelators, oxidizers), solids loading, and mixing rate. The products (carbonates, amorphous silica, and chromite) have been physically separated (based on size, density, and magnetic properties), characterized (for chemistry, mineralogy, and morphology), and tested in intended applications (as pozzolanic carbon-negative building material). Economically, it is found that product value is the main driver for mineral carbonation, rather than, or in addition to, the sequestered CO2. The approach of using a GPV and focusing on valuable reaction products could thus make CO2 mineralization a feasible and sustainable industrial process

School health in Europe:a review of workforce expenditure across five countries

Background: Most European countries have implemented a form of school health services (SHS) to provide young children and adolescents with various types of healthcare. No estimations on SHS expenditure for European countries have been published until now. We estimated SHS workforce expenditure in Europe, expected to serve as the main driver of school healthcare costs. Methods: Using two networks of experts on healthcare provision for children we contacted various country representatives to provide data on the number of professionals working in SHS and salaries. These data were used, together with publicly available data, to estimate annual SHS workforce expenditure on the national level. Results: We received sufficient data for five European countries, and estimated the SHS workforce expenditure. Nurses were the most widely reported professionals working in this field, followed by doctors and psychologists. Our SHS expenditure estimations ranged from 43,000 for Estonia to 195,300 in Norway (per 1000 pupils). For Norway, Estonia, Finland and Iceland, school nurses were the main drivers of SHS expenditure, mainly due to their large numbers, while in Austria, school doctors played the largest role in SHS expenditure. Conclusions: We estimated the spending on SHS workforce for five European countries, which comprises relatively minor parts of total healthcare spending (0.16 to 0.69%). Many questions regarding SHS spending in Europe remain, due to a general lack of data on national levels

Aged lipid-laden microglia display impaired responses to stroke

Microglial cells of the aged brain manifest signs of dysfunction that could contribute to the worse neurological outcome of stroke in the elderly. Treatment with colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor antagonists enables transient microglia depletion that is followed by microglia repopulation after treatment interruption, causing no known harm to mice. We tested whether this strategy restored microglia function and ameliorated stroke outcome in old mice. Cerebral ischemia/reperfusion induced innate immune responses in microglia highlighted by type I interferon and metabolic changes involving lipid droplet biogenesis. Old microglia accumulated lipids under steady state and displayed exacerbated innate immune responses to stroke. Microglia repopulation in old mice reduced lipid-laden microglia, and the cells exhibited reduced inflammatory responses to ischemia. Moreover, old mice with renewed microglia showed improved motor function 2 weeks after stroke. We conclude that lipid deposits in aged microglia impair the cellular responses to ischemia and worsen functional recovery in old mice.© 2022 The Authors. Published under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license

Hierarchically coupled ultradian oscillators generating robust circadian rhythms

Ensembles of mutually coupled ultradian cellular oscillators have been proposed by a number of authors to explain the generation of circadian rhythms in mammals. Most mathematical models using many coupled oscillators predict that the output period should vary as the square root of the number of participating units, thus being inconsistent with the well-established experimental result that ablation of substantial parts of the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN), the main circadian pacemaker in mammals, does not eliminate the overt circadian functions, which show no changes in the phases or periods of the rhythms. From these observations, we have developed a theoretical model that exhibits the robustness of the circadian clock to changes in the number of cells in the SCN, and that is readily adaptable to include the successful features of other known models of circadian regulation, such as the phase response curves and light resetting of the phase

Developmental pathways linking childhood temperament with antisocial behavior and substance use in adolescence : explanatory mechanisms in the peer environment

This study investigated three developmental pathways involving the peer environment that may explain how certain temperamental dispositions in childhood may become manifested in later antisocial behavior and substance use. A total of 411 (52% boys) Canadian children were followed annually from ages 6 to 15 years. The study tested whether the temperamental traits approach, negative reactivity and attention (assessed at ages 6-7 years), were associated with overt antisocial behavior, covert antisocial behavior and illicit substance use (assessed at ages 14-15 years), via poor social preference among peers, inflated social self-perception and antisocial behavior of peer-group affiliates (assessed throughout ages 8-13 years). Results indicated that negative reactivity was indirectly associated with overt antisocial behavior and substance use via poor social preference. Specifically, negative reactivity in earlier childhood predicted poor social preference in later childhood and early adolescence. This poor social standing among peers, in turn, predicted more engagement in overt antisocial behavior but less substance use in later adolescence. Over and above the influence of social preference, negative reactivity predicted engagement in all three outcomes via children’s antisocial behavior in childhood and early adolescence. Inflated social self-perception and antisocial behavior of peergroup affiliates did not mediate the link between temperament and the outcomes under scrutiny. No sex differences in developmental pathways from temperament to the outcomes were found. To further our understanding of the developmental link between childhood temperament and later antisocial behavior and substance use, we need to recognize the role of peer environmental factors, specifically poor preference among peers