The Impact of Health Status and Out-of-Pocket Medical Expenditures on Annuity Valuation

This paper describes how differences in health status at retirement can influence the decision to purchase a life annuity. We extend previous research on annuitization decisions by incorporating the effect of health differentials via differences in survival throughout the latter portion of life. Next, we consider how precautionary savings motivated by uncertain out-of-pocket medical expenses influence annuitization decisions. Our results show that annuities become less attractive to people facing uncertain medical expenses. While full annuitization would still be optimal if annuity markets were truly complete and both life- and health-contingent, lacking this, annuity equivalent wealth values are much lower for those in poor health, as compared to persons in good health.

The number of centenarians in Brazil: Indirect estimates based on death certificates

The Brazilian population is rapidly aging. As a result, the number of centenarians has grown steadily, about 77 per cent between 1991 and 2000. Although expected, the increasing number of centenarians may be exaggerated by data quality issues. We compare the recorded centenarian population in the 1991 census with indirect estimates based on the extinct generation method. We find three times more people in the census than according to the indirect estimates. Uncertainty about the true size of old-age populations has important implications in data-deficient countries, particularly in the estimation of adult mortality.age misreporting, Brazil, centenarians, longevity, mortality

Personal Attitude, Subjective Norm, and Perceived Behavioral Control: Differentiating Factors of Entrepreneurial Intention of High School Students who are Joining and not Joining the Entrepreneurship Education in an International School

The Indonesian government provides an incentive to develop entrepreneurship to boost economic growth and to prepare for the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by increasing the entrepreneurial intentions of the Indonesian people. One way to develop entrepreneurial intentions is to apply entrepreneurship education early on. The Singapore National Academy (SNA) is an international school that offers the Business subject from grades 9 - 12. SNA also offers another form of entrepreneurship education, which is the Enterprising co-curricular activity (CCA) that is more focused on projectbased learning. This study was conducted in SNA, which has students of various ethnic groups who mostly have parents with an entrepreneurial background. The purpose of this study was to elucidate whether personal attitude (PA), subjective norm (SN), and perceived behavioral control (PBC) affect the intention of entrepreneurship of students who are joining CCA Enterprising and students who are not joining CCA Enterprising in SNA. The sample consisted of 60 respondents, including 30 students of CCA Enterprising and 30 students who were not in CCA Enterprising, who were recruited using a saturated sampling technique. Based on the results of the discriminant analysis with the stepwise method, all variables (subjective norm, personal attitude and perceived behavioral control) affected the entrepreneurial intention of students who were joining CCA Enterprising compared with students who were not joining CCA Enterprising. There was a significant difference between the entrepreneurship intentions of those in CCA Enterprising compared with those who were not. Keywords: entrepreneurship education, personal attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, entrepreneurial intentio

The Impact of Health Status and Out-of-Pocket Medical Expenditures on Annuity Valuation

This article describes how differences in health status at retirement can influence the decision to purchase a life annuity. We extend previous research on annuitization decisions by incorporating the effect of health differentials via differences in survival throughout the latter portion of life. Next, we consider how precautionary savings motivated by uncertain out-of-pocket medical expenses influence annuitization decisions. Our results show that annuities become less attractive to people facing uncertain medical expenses. While full annuitization would still be optimal if annuity markets were truly complete and both life- and health-contingent, lacking this, annuity equivalent wealth values are much lower for those in poor health, as compared to persons in good health

Media use during adolescence: the recommendations of the Italian Pediatric Society.

BACKGROUND: The use of media device, such as smartphone and tablet, is currently increasing, especially among the youngest. Adolescents spend more and more time with their smartphones consulting social media, mainly Facebook, Instagram and Twitter because. Adolescents often feel the necessity to use a media device as a means to construct a social identity and express themselves. For some children, smartphone ownership starts even sooner as young as 7 yrs, according to internet safety experts. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We analyzed the evidence on media use and its consequences in adolescence. RESULTS: In literature, smartphones and tablets use may negatively influences the psychophysical development of the adolescent, such as learning, sleep and sigh. Moreover, obesity, distraction, addiction, cyberbullism and Hikikomori phenomena are described in adolescents who use media device too frequently. The Italian Pediatric Society provide action-oriented recommendations for families and clinicians to avoid negative outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Both parents and clinicians should be aware of the widespread phenomenon of media device use among adolescents and try to avoid psychophysical consequences on the youngest

Technical standardization of MIS management of children with pilonidal sinus disease using pediatric endoscopic pilonidal sinus treatment (PEPSiT) and laser epilation

This study aimed to standardize the technique of pediatric endoscopic pilonidal sinus treatment (PEPSiT) associated with laser epilation. METHODS: All pediatric patients presenting with acute or chronic pilonidal sinus disease (PSD) who underwent PEPSiT in our institution over a 36-month period (July 2015-July 2018), were included in the study. Pre- and postoperative management, recurrence rate, postoperative pain, hospital stay, analgesic requirements, and patient satisfaction levels were evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 59 patients (23 girls and 36 boys) underwent PEPSiT during the study period. Ten/59 patients (16.9%) had recurrent PSD after open repair, and 4/59 (6.7%) presented a concomitant pilonidal cyst. All children underwent laser epilation pre- and postoperatively over the last 15 months. The average length of surgery was 27.5 min (range 20-45). The average pain score during the first 48 postoperative hours was 2.7 (range 2-5), and the average analgesic requirement was 20 h (range 16-24). The average hospitalization was 22.4 h (range 18-36). At 1 month postoperatively, external openings were healed in all patients. During follow-up, 1 recurrence (1.6%) was recorded and successfully re-treated with PEPSiT. CONCLUSIONS: We believe that PEPSiT represents the technique of choice for treatment of PSD in the pediatric population. It is crucial to standardize the technique consisting of pre- and postoperative laser epilation, PEPSiT, and accurate postoperative wound management with eosin and sulfadiazine spray

Indocyanine Green Fluorescence Lymphography: A New Technique to Perform Lymphatic Sparing Laparoscopic Palomo Varicocelectomy in Children

Laparoscopic Palomo varicocelectomy is one the most common approaches adopted to treat pediatric varicocele, but postoperative hydrocele still remains a potential problem with this procedure. This study aimed to evaluate the outcome of a new technique of lymphography using indocyanine green (ICG)-enhanced fluorescence to perform lymphatic sparing laparoscopic Palomo varicocelectomy

PET-Derived Radiomics and Artificial Intelligence in Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review

Breast cancer (BC) is a heterogeneous malignancy that still represents the second cause of cancer-related death among women worldwide. Due to the heterogeneity of BC, the correct identification of valuable biomarkers able to predict tumor biology and the best treatment approaches are still far from clear. Although molecular imaging with positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) has improved the characterization of BC, these methods are not free from drawbacks. In recent years, radiomics and artificial intelligence (AI) have been playing an important role in the detection of several features normally unseen by the human eye in medical images. The present review provides a summary of the current status of radiomics and AI in different clinical settings of BC. A systematic search of PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus was conducted, including all articles published in English that explored radiomics and AI analyses of PET/CT images in BC. Several studies have demonstrated the potential role of such new features for the staging and prognosis as well as the assessment of biological characteristics. Radiomics and AI features appear to be promising in different clinical settings of BC, although larger prospective trials are needed to confirm and to standardize this evidence

World population aging as a function of period demographic conditions

Background: Population aging is a fundamental element of the demographic transition. In the absence of births, deaths, and migration, the mean age of any population will increase one year per calendar year. The intensity of period birth, death, and migration conditions (i.e., their crude rates and the difference between their mean age and the mean age of the population) either lessen or strengthen this natural tendency of populations to age. Objective: We investigate the contribution of births, deaths, and migration to population aging across the globe from 1950 to 2100. We examine whether a concerted pattern of population aging is associated with changes in period demographic conditions. Methods: We apply a mathematical expression proposed by Preston, Himes, and Eggers (1989) that decomposes the rate of change in the mean age of a population according to period demographic conditions. We use the 2022 revision of the United Nations population estimates and projections covering 236 countries or areas. Results: During the demographic transition, population aging follows a general concerted pattern characterized by five distinct stages. Populations age because of declining inflows (births) at age zero and insufficient outflows (deaths) at older ages. Overall, migration does not play a pivotal role but can be more relevant in specific countries or regions. Contribution: Our study combines long-time series data for most countries in the world with an elegant mathematical solution proposed by Preston, Himes, and Eggers (1989) to empirically measure the dynamics of population aging according to period demographic conditions