Social Security, Labour Market and Restructuring: Current Situation and Expected Outcomes of Reforms

The paper focuses on the social safety nets in Russian Federation and Ukraine in the view of changes on the labour market since the beginning of economic transition. We showed that many past phenomena (e.g. restructuring of the economy, wage and pension arrears, new groups at-risk-of-poverty, demographic transition) caused a need to change an old type social safety net (SSN) into the new one, better adapted to emerging more liberal economy problems. Additionally, we analysed some gender specific issues related to social security that are caused mainly by inequalities in the labour market. Differences of earnings between men and women in Russia caused by sector segregation account for seem to be more important than the gap between gender earnings attributed to the position. In Ukraine the main contributors to gross gender differential of log earnings (that equals to 32%) explained by our model are sector segregation and occupation. We also pointed out to future policy challenges in the area of social security systems in both countries. The retirement reforms introduced recently are a step in the right direction, although their impact will not be felt for a number of years. Other reforms, with more immediate results, are necessary. Social safety nets should be made more efficient and social benefits should be better targeted

Corpus callosum morphology and intelligence

The corpus callosum is the largest fibre tract in the human brain and connects homologous areas of the left and right cerebral hemispheres. The corpus callosum plays an important role in integrating information between the cerebral hemispheres, and is thought to contribute to the allocation of attention between the hemispheres and in maintaining hemispheric arousal. Recently, the size of posterior regions of the corpus callosum has been found to be related to intelligence in a group of healthy adults (Luders et al., 2007) with larger callosal area related to higher intelligence. The current study investigated the relationship between the morphology of the corpus callosum and IQ in a sample of individuals in their late teens and early 20s because recent evidence suggests that maturation of white matter tracts continues through the 20s (Barnea-Goraly et al., 2005; Sowell et al., 2003). Area measurements of seven sub-sections of the corpus callosum, as defined by Witelson (1989), were obtained at the midsagittal slice and correlated with Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence scores, while controlling for overall brain volume. The relationship between IQ and callosal size held for individuals in this age range as well, providing further evidence for the relationship between callosal morphology and cognitive task performance.Amanda Hutchinson, Benjamin Jacobson, Luka Ruzik, Jane Mathias, Marie Banic

Anatomical variation of co-existing bilaminar tensor of the vastus intermedius muscle and new type of sixth head of the quadriceps femoris

Background: We present a case report of Quadriceps Femoris (QF) with co-existing bilaminar Tensor of the vastus intermedius muscle (TVI) and new type of sixth head. Materials and methods: Cadaveric dissection of left thigh of a 72 years old was performed for research and teaching purposes at the Department of Anatomical Dissection and Donation, Medical University of Lodz. The left lower limb were dissected using standard techniques according to a strictly specified protocol. Each head of the muscle was photographed and subjected to further measurement. Results: During dissection, an unusual type of TVI muscle was observed. It consisted of two surfaces, superficial and deep. In addition sixth head of QF muscle grew out from the VM muscle. Conclusions: The knowledge of the existence and possible variations of additional heads of QF muscle is necessary during diagnostic process of muscle strains. Moreover, according to course of tendons that heads may take part in patella stabilization

The Impact of Living and Working Longer on Pension Income in Five European Countries: Estonia, Finland, Hungary, the Netherlands and Poland

Life expectancies are rapidly increasing and uncertain in all countries in Europe. To keep pension systems affordable, policy reforms are to be implemented which will encourage individuals to work longer. In this paper we analyze the impact of working and living longer on pension incomes in five European countries and assess the impact of these policy reforms on the financial well-being of the elderly. The paper shows the diversity of the policy measures taken in these countries. Furthermore, we analyze the financial incentives for working longer and postponing claiming pension benefits and we assess the attractiveness of these options. Lastly, we study how increases in life expectancies and survival probabilities affect pension incomes