A matter of culture and cost? A comparison of the employment decisions made by mothers with a lower, intermediate and higher level of education in the Netherlands.

This article is focused on financial-economic and socio-cultural factors in explaining differences in labour participation and working hours of Dutch mothers with diverging educational levels. The data used are taken from a survey held among approximately 1700 women in the Netherlands from two-parent households with children up to 12 years old. The models for participation and working hours are simultaneously estimated for different levels of education. It is found that socio-cultural factors have slightly more impact on the employment decisions of lower educated mothers compared to their higher educated counterparts, although the differences are only minor. Despite the level of education, socio-cultural factors appear to be more important in mothers' employment decisions than financial-economic factors. In addition, both factors are better predictors for mothers' decisions to participate than for their number of working hours; demographic variables are found to be the most important predictor for mothers' working hours. © The Author(s) 2011

Cross-Sectional Study into the Costs and Impact on Family Functioning of 4-Year-Old Children with Aggressive Behavior

Early-onset aggressive behavior is known for its negative developmental consequences, and the associated high costs for families, the health care system and wider society. Although the origins of aggressive behavior are to be found in early childhood, the costs incurred by aggressive behavior of young children have not been studied extensively. The present study aimed to investigate whether preschool children with a high level of aggressive behavior already differ in the generated amount of costs and impact on family functioning from children with lower levels of aggressive behavior. A population-based sample of 317 preschool children was divided into four groups with different levels of aggression (moderate, borderline, clinical). Parents filled out questionnaires to assess service use (lifetime and past 3 months) and impact on family functioning. Over the past 3 months as well as over the first 4 years of life, children with a clinical level of aggression were more costly than children with a low level of aggression (mean total costs over the past 3 months: low = €167,05 versus clinical € = 1034,83 and mean lifetime costs: low € = 817,37 versus clinical € = 1433,04), due to higher costs of services used by the child. In addition, families of children with a borderline or clinical level of aggressive behavior reported more impairment in their daily functioning than families of children with lower levels of aggression. The findings demonstrate that a high level of aggressive behavior results in high costs and impaired family functioning in the preschool years already

Caenorhabditis elegans Cyclin D/CDK4 and Cyclin E/CDK2 Induce Distinct Cell Cycle Re-Entry Programs in Differentiated Muscle Cells

Cell proliferation and differentiation are regulated in a highly coordinated and inverse manner during development and tissue homeostasis. Terminal differentiation usually coincides with cell cycle exit and is thought to engage stable transcriptional repression of cell cycle genes. Here, we examine the robustness of the post-mitotic state, using Caenorhabditis elegans muscle cells as a model. We found that expression of a G1 Cyclin and CDK initiates cell cycle re-entry in muscle cells without interfering with the differentiated state. Cyclin D/CDK4 (CYD-1/CDK-4) expression was sufficient to induce DNA synthesis in muscle cells, in contrast to Cyclin E/CDK2 (CYE-1/CDK-2), which triggered mitotic events. Tissue-specific gene-expression profiling and single molecule FISH experiments revealed that Cyclin D and E kinases activate an extensive and overlapping set of cell cycle genes in muscle, yet failed to induce some key activators of G1/S progression. Surprisingly, CYD-1/CDK-4 also induced an additional set of genes primarily associated with growth and metabolism, which were not activated by CYE-1/CDK-2. Moreover, CYD-1/CDK-4 expression also down-regulated a large number of genes enriched for catabolic functions. These results highlight distinct functions for the two G1 Cyclin/CDK complexes and reveal a previously unknown activity of Cyclin D/CDK-4 in regulating metabolic gene expression. Furthermore, our data demonstrate that many cell cycle genes can still be transcriptionally induced in post-mitotic muscle cells, while maintenance of the post-mitotic state might depend on stable repression of a limited number of critical cell cycle regulators

Assessing health-related quality-of-life changes in informal caregivers: an evaluation in parents of children with major congenital anomalies

Purpose: Relatively few attempts to measure the effects on the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of informal caregivers within the context of economic evaluations have been reported. This paper is an exploratory attempt to find suitable methods to assess caregi

Development of burnout over time and the causal order of the three dimensions of burnout among male and female GPs. A three-wave panel study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A good understanding of the aetiology and development of burnout facilitates its early recognition, prevention and treatment. Since the prevalence and onset of this health problem is thought to differ between men and women, sex must be taken into account. This study aims to assess the prevalence and development of burnout among General Practitioners (GPs). In this population the prevalence of burnout is high.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed a three-wave longitudinal study (2002, 2004, 2006) in a random sample of Dutch GPs. Data were collected by means of self-report questionnaires including the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Our final sample consisted of 212 GPs of which 128 were male. Data were analyzed by means of SPSS and LISREL.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Results indicate that about 20% of the GPs is clinically burned out (but still working). For both sexes, burnout decreased after the first wave, but increased again after the second wave. The prevalence of depersonalization is higher among men. With regard to the process of burnout we found that for men burnout is triggered by depersonalization and by emotional exhaustion for women.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>As regards the developmental process of burnout, we found evidence for the fact that the aetiological process of burnout, that is the causal order of the three burnout dimensions, differs between men and women. These sex differences should be taken into account in vocational training and policy development, especially since general practice is feminizing rapidly.</p