Does the Living Wage ensure an adequate standard of living for families?

New Zealand was once held up as a model of egalitarianism to other countries. Today New Zealand is far from being that leader, with high income and wealth inequality and an unacceptable level of family poverty and homelessness. Children are particularly affected, suffering the highest levels of material deprivation in New Zealand (Perry, 2016). Living Wage Movement Aotearoa New Zealand (LWMA) has argued that raising wages is the best way to address this problem

How effective are 2018 policy settings for the worst-off children?

This report analyses the policy settings in mid-2018 for their potential to improve the position of the worst-off children in New Zealand. The Labour-led government, elected at the end of 2017, seeks to place child well-being at the heart of their policies. As a first step, legislation setting out four primary measures and six supplementary measures of child poverty has been introduced. The purpose of this bill is to …encourage a focus on child poverty reduction, facilitate political accountability against published targets, require transparent reporting on child poverty levels, and create a greater commitment by Government to address child well-being. (New Zealand Parliament, 2018) Over ten years ago, the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) identified “pockets of significant hardship” where some families were falling below the “very stringent 40% after housing costs poverty line where there is nothing in reserve”(Ministry of Social Development, 2007). For our purposes here, children in families which fall under the 40% poverty line – that is, 40% of median, equivalised, disposable household income, after housing costs, also known as the 40% AHC line – are taken as ‘the worst-off’ children. In 2016, ten years after the Ministry first voiced concern that any children fell below this line, there were at least 140,000 children in this group. Child advocacy groups have argued that the 40% AHC line needs to become one of the primary measures in the Child Poverty Reduction Bill and that no child should fall below it (Child Poverty Action Group, 2018b). This working paper provides a technical analysis to show how much is needed to address the poverty of these 140,000 children in a significant way. The finding is that current policy settings in the Families Package to be implemented from 1 July 2018 are seriously inadequate for the task. This report was written in mid-2018 as very low income families wait for relief from the Families Package, with a long winter to follow if there are no immediate and significant further policy changes. The figures in this report are indicative only, but suggest that while the Families Package should reduce measured child poverty overall, it will be insufficient to stem the rising tide of very low income family distress. A range of specific measures focused primarily on this group are recommended for immediate implementation

How effective are 2018 policy settings for the worst-off children?

This report analyses the policy settings in mid-2018 for their potential to improve the position of the worst-off children in New Zealand. The Labour-led government, elected at the end of 2017, seeks to place child well-being at the heart of their policies. As a first step, legislation setting out four primary measures and six supplementary measures of child poverty has been introduced. The purpose of this bill is to …encourage a focus on child poverty reduction, facilitate political accountability against published targets, require transparent reporting on child poverty levels, and create a greater commitment by Government to address child well-being. (New Zealand Parliament, 2018) Over ten years ago, the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) identified “pockets of significant hardship” where some families were falling below the “very stringent 40% after housing costs poverty line where there is nothing in reserve”(Ministry of Social Development, 2007). For our purposes here, children in families which fall under the 40% poverty line – that is, 40% of median, equivalised, disposable household income, after housing costs, also known as the 40% AHC line – are taken as ‘the worst-off’ children. In 2016, ten years after the Ministry first voiced concern that any children fell below this line, there were at least 140,000 children in this group. Child advocacy groups have argued that the 40% AHC line needs to become one of the primary measures in the Child Poverty Reduction Bill and that no child should fall below it (Child Poverty Action Group, 2018b). This working paper provides a technical analysis to show how much is needed to address the poverty of these 140,000 children in a significant way. The finding is that current policy settings in the Families Package to be implemented from 1 July 2018 are seriously inadequate for the task. This report was written in mid-2018 as very low income families wait for relief from the Families Package, with a long winter to follow if there are no immediate and significant further policy changes. The figures in this report are indicative only, but suggest that while the Families Package should reduce measured child poverty overall, it will be insufficient to stem the rising tide of very low income family distress. A range of specific measures focused primarily on this group are recommended for immediate implementation

Analytical modeling of silicon microring and microdisk modulators with electrical and optical dynamics

We propose an analytical time-domain model for microring and microdisk modulators, which considers both their electrical and optical properties. Theory of the dynamics of microring/microdisk is discussed, and general solutions to the transfer matrix representation are presented. Both static and dynamic predictions from the model are compared to measurement results to demonstrate the accuracy of our model. Static predictions and measurements are presented for power and phase responses, whereas dynamic predictions and measurements are presented for small-signal and large-signal operations. The model verifies that the chirping and modulation bandwidth of the modulators depend on the detuning state. Finally, the accuracy and scalability of several techniques employed in the model are discussed

A Case of Amblyomma testudinarium Tick Bite in a Korean Woman

A case of tick bite was found in the inguinal region of a 74-year-old Korean woman. She was attacked by the tick while working in her vegetable garden in the vicinity of mountain located in Suncheon City, the southern coastal area of the Korean Peninsula. On admission she complained of mild discomfort and itching around the bite area. The causative tick was 23 mm long and had slender pedipalps. The scutum was quite ornate and had eyes at the edge. The genital aperture was located anterior to the level of the coxa II. The spiracular plate was comma-shaped and the anus was surrounded posteriorly by the anal groove. The coxa I had subequal 2 spurs; the external one slightly larger. The spur of coxa IV was slightly longer than those of coxae II and III. The tarsus IV had 2 distinct subapical ventral spurs. It was identified as the fully engorged adult female of Amblyomma testudinarium. This is the first human case of Amblyomma bite in Korea

The Management of Cardiovascular Abnormalities in Patient With LEOPARD Syndrome

LEOPARD syndrome (LS) is a rare hereditary disorder in Asian countries. This syndrome consists of multiple systemic abnormalities. In particular, characteristic cardiovascular effects in LS may include variable clinical manifestations from benign to life-threatening courses. The cardiac effects of this syndrome consist of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), pulmonary stenosis (PS), coronary artery dilatation and electrocardiogram(ECG) abnormalities. Since there are few LS patients who have undergone a complete cardiovascular evaluation, the nature and clinical prognosis of cardiovascular abnormalities in this syndrome remain uncertain. Also, there have been few reports on therapeutic strategies for cardiovascular abnormalities in LS. Here we describe a case of LS who presented with multiple cardiovascular problems and underwent successful surgical and medical treatment

5-Fluorouracil Induced Intestinal Mucositis via Nuclear Factor-κB Activation by Transcriptomic Analysis and In Vivo Bioluminescence Imaging

5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) is a commonly used drug for the treatment of malignant cancers. However, approximately 80% of patients undergoing 5-FU treatment suffer from gastrointestinal mucositis. The aim of this report was to identify the drug target for the 5-FU-induced intestinal mucositis. 5-FU-induced intestinal mucositis was established by intraperitoneally administering mice with 100 mg/kg 5-FU. Network analysis of gene expression profile and bioluminescent imaging were applied to identify the critical molecule associated with 5-FU-induced mucositis. Our data showed that 5-FU induced inflammation in the small intestine, characterized by the increased intestinal wall thickness and crypt length, the decreased villus height, and the increased myeloperoxidase activity in tissues and proinflammatory cytokine production in sera. Network analysis of 5-FU-affected genes by transcriptomic tool showed that the expression of genes was regulated by nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), and NF-κB was the central molecule in the 5-FU-regulated biological network. NF-κB activity was activated by 5-FU in the intestine, which was judged by in vivo bioluminescence imaging and immunohistochemical staining. However, 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) inhibited 5-FU-induced NF-κB activation and proinflammatory cytokine production. Moreover, 5-FU-induced histological changes were improved by 5-ASA. In conclusion, our findings suggested that NF-κB was the critical molecule associated with the pathogenesis of 5-FU-induced mucositis, and inhibition of NF-κB activity ameliorated the mucosal damage caused by 5-FU

Pneumomediastinum and pneumothorax after orthognathic surgery -A case report-

The occurrences of pneumomediastinum and pneumothorax after oral and/or maxillofacial surgery are rare, but both are potentially life-threatening complications. Most of the cases that present pneumomediastinum and pneumothorax in the oral and/or maxillofacial surgery result from air dissecting down the fascial planes of the neck. We report a case of a 23-year-old male patient who underwent bilateral sagittal split ramus osteotomy under general anesthesia and developed pneumomediastinum and pneumothorax without any traumatic introduction of air through the cervical fascia three days postoperatively. The possible causes and its prevention are discussed with a review of the relevant literature

Serum Fetuin-A Associates with Type 2 Diabetes and Insulin Resistance in Chinese Adults

Previous studies have demonstrated that fetuin-A is related to insulin resistance among subjects with normal glucose tolerance but not patients with type 2 diabetes. There are limited data available concerning fetuin-A and insulin resistance in Chinese. We aimed to study the association of fetuin-A with insulin resistance among participants with or without type 2 diabetes in a large sample size of adults aged 40 and older.A community-based cross-sectional study was performed among 5,227 Chinese adults. The average age of our study was 61.5±9.9 years. Serum fetuin-A concentrations were not significantly different between male and female (296.9 vs. 292.9 mg/l, p = 0.11). Compared with the lowest quartile, the highest quartile of serum fetuin-A revealed a significant higher proportion of type 2 diabetic patients (34.8% vs. 27.3%, p<0.0001). In the multinomial logit models, the risk of type 2 diabetes was associated with each one quartile increase of serum fetuin-A concentrations when referenced not only to normal glucose tolerance (OR 1.24, 95% CI 1.07-1.43, p = 0.004) but also to impaired glucose regulation (OR 1.25, 95% CI 1.08-1.44, p = 0.003, respectively), after adjustment for age, sex, community, current smoking, and current drinking. The logistic regression analysis showed that fetuin-A were associated with elevated HOMA-IR and fasting serum insulin both among the participants with or without type 2 diabetes in the full adjusted analysis. There was no significant association between elevated serum fetuin-A concentrations and impaired glucose regulation (all p≥0.12).Higher fetuin-A concentrations were associated with type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance in middle aged and elderly Chinese