On the optimal level of theatre subsidies

This article examines public subsidies and ticket pricing in Finnish theatre institutions by using the principal-agent model. The model follows the ideas presented by Prieto-Rodríguez and Fernández-Blanko (2006) in their article on the British museum sector. The idea of this article is to test how well their theoretical model is in line with the data on Finnish theatres.  The aim of this paper to justify the high share of public subsidies to theatre sector and to show that ticket pricing should be in the inelastic segment on the demand schedule. The data on Finnish theatres covers years 2007 – 2011 with 58 theatres subsidised by the law, including the Finnish National Opera.  The results of the empirical examination show that the demand of theatre services is price inelastic. According to the results, an increase in the number of visitors increases also optimal subsidies but less than proportionally indicating that the share of public subsidies should be lower in larger towns where the potential for theatre visits is higher due to a larger population. The article argues that even though using economic approaches in examining arts and culture is not unproblematic, they should be used and further developed.This article examines public subsidies and ticket pricing in Finnish theatre institutions by using the principal-agent model. The model follows the ideas presented by Prieto-Rodríguez and Fernández-Blanko (2006) in their article on the British museum sector. The idea of this article is to test how well their theoretical model is in line with the data on Finnish theatres. The aim of this paper to justify the high share of public subsidies to theatre sector and to show that ticket pricing should be in the inelastic segment on the demand schedule. The data on Finnish theatres covers years 2007 – 2011 with 58 theatres subsidised by the law, including the Finnish National Opera. The results of the empirical examination show that the demand of theatre services is price inelastic. According to the results, an increase in the number of visitors increases also optimal subsidies but less than proportionally indicating that the share of public subsidies should be lower in larger towns where the potential for theatre visits is higher due to a larger population. The article argues that even though using economic approaches in examining arts and culture is not unproblematic, they should be used and further developed

Essays on the demand for cultural performances

fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Novel genre explaining borrowings from the public libraries

The purpose of the paper is to study the effect of genre on borrowing. A recent study with data from libraries in libraries in the Helsinki region showed that the purchase price, critics in newspapers, hardcover sales and the author's publication history have an impact on borrowing from public libraries impact of genre on borrowing is unclear when other variables affecting borrowing have been controlled. Moreover, the country of birth or the country of residence in some cases of the author is included in the analysis. It is well known that Nordic Noir genre has been rather popular among readers.   This study uses conventional regression analysis to combine the effects of various explanatory variables and therefore widen the knowledge on the effect of genre on borrowing.   The results indicate that borrowing a novel and purchasing a novel are substitutes since the retail price has a significant positive effect on borrowings, however, the price elasticity is small. Critics reviews in newspapers and weekly magazines and journals are important, so any public knowledge about the book is of great worth.   This article studied public library borrowings from libraries in the libraries in the Helsinki region, especially novels for adult citizens. There is a nice list of the 100 most borrowed books each quarter from early 2014 to summer 2021. The total number of quarters is 30 and the total number of observations is 3000 having many novels appearing in more than one top list. The total number of different novels is 727 in the sample. About 60 % of the novels are listed to the top 100 most borrowed list one, two or three quarters. All books have a declining borrowing demand with time, the demand is highest during the launching period. The genre of the novel does not seem to be an important factor in borrowing from public libraries when other determinants have been controlled. Retail price has a positive effect on borrowings, more expensive books seem to be more borrowed and library customers seem to be willing to wait to be able to borrow the novel and they do not purchase the novel. The positive price elasticity is small but still significant.  Tutkimuksessa selvitetaan kirjan lajityypin vaikutusta paperisten kirjojen lainausmääriin Helsingin alueen (Helmet) kirjastoista vuosina 2014−2021. Neljännesvuosiaineistossa on listattu sata eniten lainattua aikuisille lukijoille tarkoitettua kirjaa. Havaintojen lukumäärä on 3000. Tilastollisena menetelmänä käytetään regressioanalyysiä, koska siten saadaan selville eri muuttujien vaikutuksia, kuten paperikirjan vähittäishinnan, lehdissä julkaistujen kritiikkien ja Finlandia-palkintojen sekä kirjailijan oman julkaisuhistorian vaikutuksia. Myös kirjoittajan kansallisuus tai asuinpaikka on otettu huomioon. Lajityyppi (genre) ei vaikuta lainausmääriin, kun muut asiaan vaikuttavat tekijät on otettu huomioon

Development of Late Continence in Bladder Exstrophy and Epispadias Patients

OBJECTIVE To evaluate to what extend urinary continence develops during puberty in patients with classic bladder exstrophy (CBE) and epispadias. METHODS The operative database was reviewed for surgical procedures and urinary continence in all 65 CBE and epispadias patients born in 1976-2005. Excluded were 2 patients who had insufficient data for evaluation. RESULTS Thirty-five patients with volitional voiding were incontinent at the age of 10 years, 27 had daily incontinence, and 8 had rare incontinence. Sixteen patients (46%) became later fully continent without any major surgery (except Deflux injections in 3 patients) or CIC treatment. Among these 16 fully continent patients there were 7/8 with rare incontinence, 9/23 with daily incontinence (P = .04); 3/9 males with CBE, 10/13 males with epispadias, 3/5 females with CBE, and 0/4 females with epispadias (P = .25 between sex and P =.48 between diagnosis). Of the 15 patients remaining incontinent, 10 had daily and 5 had rare incontinence episodes. The latest control was at the median age of 19 years (interquartile range 17-21 years). Twenty-five patients (40% of the whole material) were fully continent (11/38 (29%) with CBE and 14/25 (56%) with epispadias, P =.04) and 8 (13%) had rare incontinence with volitional voiding (1/38 [3%] with CBE and 7/25 [28%] with epispadias). CONCLUSION Almost half of the incontinent CBE and epispadias patients with volitional voiding achieved continence after the age of 10 without major surgery. Prognosis for pubertal development of continence was best in patients with rare incontinence and in males with epispadias. UROLOGY 144: 194-197, 2020. (c) 2020 Elsevier Inc.Peer reviewe

Effects of reindeer grazing and recovery after cessation of grazing on the ground-dwelling spider assemblage in Finnish Lapland

The effect of reindeer Rangifer tarandus L. grazing on the ground-dwelling spider assemblage in Northern Finland was studied. Changes in species richness, abundance and evenness of spider assemblages were analyzed in relation to changes in vegetation and environmental factors in long term grazed and ungrazed sites as well as sites that had recently switched from grazed to ungrazed and vice versa. Grazing was found to have a significant impact on height and biomass of lichens and other ground vegetation. However, it seemed not to have an impact on the total abundance of spiders. This is likely caused by opposing family and species level responses of spiders to the grazing regime. Lycosid numbers were highest in grazed and linyphiid numbers in ungrazed areas. Lycosidae species richness was highest in ungrazed areas whereas Linyphiidae richness showed no response to grazing. Four Linyphiidae, one Thomisidae and one Lycosidae species showed strong preference for specific treatments. Sites that had recovered from grazing for nine years and the sites that were grazed for the last nine years but were previously ungrazed resembled the long term grazed sites. The results emphasize the importance of reindeer as a modifier of boreal forest ecosystems but the impact of reindeer grazing on spiders seems to be family and species specific. The sites with reversed grazing treatment demonstrate that recovery from strong grazing pressure at these high latitudes is a slow process whereas reindeer can rapidly change the conditions in previously ungrazed sites similar to long term heavily grazed conditions.</p

A characteristic time sequence of epileptic activity in EEG during dynamic penicillin-induced focal epilepsy—A preliminary study

AbstractPenicillin-induced focal epilepsy is a well-known model in experimental epilepsy. However, the dynamic evolution of waveforms, DC-level changes, spectral content and coherence are rarely reported. Stimulated by earlier fMRI findings, we also seek for the early signs preceding spiking activity from frequency domain of EEG signal. In this study, EEG data is taken from previous EEG/fMRI series (six pigs, 20–24kg) of an experimental focal epilepsy model, which includes dynamic induction of epileptic activity with penicillin (6000IU) injection into the somatosensory cortex during deep isoflurane anaesthesia. No ictal discharges were recorded with this dose. Spike waveforms, DC-level, time–frequency content and coherence of EEG were analysed. Development of penicillin induced focal epileptic activity was not preceded with specific spectral changes. The beginning of interictal spiking was related to power increase in the frequencies below 6Hz or 20Hz, and continued to a widespread spectral increase. DC-level and coherence changes were clear in one animal. Morphological evolution of epileptic activity was a collection of the low-amplitude monophasic, bipolar, triple or double spike-wave forms, with an increase in amplitude, up to large monophasic spiking. In conclusion, in the time sequence of induced epileptic activity, immediate shifts in DC-level EEG are plausible, followed by the spike activity-related widespread increase in spectral content. Morphological evolution does not appear to follow a clear continuum; rather, intermingled and variable spike or multispike waveforms generally lead to stabilised activity of high-amplitude monophasic spikes

Severe Infection and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: A Multicohort Study

BACKGROUND: The excess risk of cardiovascular disease associated with a wide array of infectious diseases is unknown. We quantified the short- and long-term risk of major cardiovascular events in people with severe infection and estimated the population-attributable fraction. METHODS: We analyzed data from 331 683 UK Biobank participants without cardiovascular disease at baseline (2006-2010) and replicated our main findings in an independent population from 3 prospective cohort studies comprising 271 533 community-dwelling participants from Finland (baseline 1986-2005). Cardiovascular risk factors were measured at baseline. We diagnosed infectious diseases (the exposure) and incident major cardiovascular events after infections, defined as myocardial infarction, cardiac death, or fatal or nonfatal stroke (the outcome) from linkage of participants to hospital and mortality registers. We computed adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs for infectious diseases as short- and long-term risk factors for incident major cardiovascular events. We also calculated population-attributable fractions for long-term risk. RESULTS: In the UK Biobank (mean follow-up, 11.6 years), 54 434 participants were hospitalized for an infection, and 11 649 had an incident major cardiovascular event at follow-up. Relative to participants with no record of infectious disease, those who were hospitalized experienced increased risk of major cardiovascular events, largely irrespective of the subtype of infection. This association was strongest during the first month after infection (HR, 7.87 [95% CI, 6.36-9.73]), but remained elevated during the entire follow-up (HR, 1.47 [95% CI, 1.40-1.54]). The findings were similar in the replication cohort (HR, 7.64 [95% CI, 5.82-10.03] during the first month; HR, 1.41 [95% CI, 1.34-1.48] during mean follow-up of 19.2 years). After controlling for traditional cardiovascular risk factors, the population-attributable fraction for severe infections and major cardiovascular events was 4.4% in the UK Biobank and 6.1% in the replication cohort. CONCLUSIONS: Infections severe enough to require hospital treatment were associated with increased risks for major cardiovascular disease events immediately after hospitalization. A small excess risk was also observed in the long-term, but residual confounding cannot be excluded

Atypical perceptual narrowing in prematurely born infants is associated with compromised language acquisition at 2 years of age

Peer reviewe

Gender differences in health care use among the elderly population in areas of Norway and Finland. A cross-sectional analysis based on the HUNT study and the FINRISK Senior Survey

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to examine gender differences in the self-reported use of health care services by the elderly in rural and metropolitan areas of two Nordic countries with slightly different health care systems: Finland and Norway. METHODS: Population based, cross-sectional surveys conducted in Nord-Tröndelag Norway (1995–97) and in rural and metropolitan areas of Finland (1997) were employed. In the Norwegian data, a total of 7,919 individuals, aged 65–74 years old were included, and the Finnish data included 1,500 individuals. The outcome variables comprised whether participants had visited a general practitioner or a specialist, or had received hospital care or physiotherapy during the past 12 months. Gender differences in the use of health care services were analysed by multiple logistic regression, controlling for health status and socio-demographic characteristics. RESULTS: In Norway, elderly women visited a specialist or were hospitalised less often than men. In Finland, elderly women used all health care services except hospital care more often than men. In Norway, less frequent use of specialist care by women was not associated with self-reported health or chronic diseases. CONCLUSION: The findings revealed differences in self-reported use of secondary care among different genders in areas of Norway and Finland