Role of common mental and physical disorders in partial disability around the world

Background Mental and physical disorders are associated with total disability, but their effects on days with partial disability (i.e. the ability to perform some, but not full-role, functioning in daily life) are not well understood. Aims To estimate individual (i.e. the consequences for an individual with a disorder) and societal effects (i.e. the avoidable partial disability in the society due to disorders) of mental and physical disorders on days with partial disability around the world. Method Respondents from 26 nationally representative samples (n=61 259, age 18+) were interviewed regarding mental and physical disorders, and day-to-day functioning. The Composite International Diagnostic Interview, version 3.0 (CIDI 3.0) was used to assess mental disorders; partial disability (expressed in full day equivalents) was assessed with the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule in the CIDI 3.0. Results Respondents with disorders reported about 1.58 additional disability days per month compared with respondents without disorders. At the individual level, mental disorders (especially post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and bipolar disorder) yielded a higher number of days with disability than physical disorders. At the societal level, the population attributable risk proportion due to physical and mental disorders was 49% and 15% respectively. Conclusions Mental and physical disorders have a considerable impact on partial disability, at both the individual and at the societal level. Physical disorders yielded higher effects on partial disability than mental disorders.

Leukograms of healthy Holstein calves within the first month of life

To establish reference values and to assess the influence of age on the leukograms of healthy Holstein calves, blood samples were obtained from 300 animals. These samples were distributed equally (n=20) among 15 experimental groups according to age: birth to 8 hours, 9 to 16 hours, 17 to 24 hours, 2 days, 3 days, 4 days, 5 days, 6 to 7 days, 8 to 9 days, 10 to 11 days, 12 to 13 days, 14 to 15 days, 16 to 20 days, 21 to 25 days and 26 to 30 days of age. The maximum numbers of leukocytes (9,305.0/mL), segmented neutrophils (6,551.2/mL) and total neutrophils (6,678.3/mL) were noted within the first 8 hours of life, while band neutrophils peaked in number (133.3/mL) between 9 and 16 hours after birth. Meanwhile, the maximum total lymphocyte (4,992.1/µL) and typical lymphocyte (4,686.1/µL) counts occurred between 21 and 25 days, whereas atypical lymphocytes (388.5/µL) reached their maximum number between 26 and 30 days, demonstrating an inversion of the neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio over time. Thus, the influence of age on the leukocyte count of the evaluated calves was verified. The release of endogenous corticosteroids during labor or at birth may contribute to this variation in leukograms with age.

The Young Mother and the Labor Market

Introduction - The Centro de Orientacao ao Adolescente of Campinas (Southeastern Brazil) maintains a program to qualify economically disadvantaged adolescent students aged 15 to 18 years to enter the labor market. Objective - To understand life projects of teenagers who became mothers while participating in the program, in the period from 2003 to 2008, aiming to find the place of professional life in their life trajectory before and after motherhood. Method - Eight young mothers were interviewed, and a qualitative methodology was applied to the analysis of the interviews. Results - The trajectories of study and work were discontinued or adapted due to motherhood. Four young mothers completed high school and none had entered university. Three did not return to work and the rest had diverse work experiences. The reported difficulties to enter the labor market were: inadequate instruments to support the children's care, low income, lack of work experience, presence of small children and little educational background. Final Considerations - Teenage motherhood did not indicate the exclusion of educational or work projects but indicated adjustments and the need for a family and social support network. It was noted the need for public policies targeted at the inclusion of youths in the labor market and at support services such as nurseries. Also, the need for a change in gender relations was demonstrated, with greater equality of rights as a precondition for the inclusion of women, especially those who are mothers, in the labor market.

Robust statistical modeling using the Birnbaum-Saunders-t distribution applied to insurance

In this paper, we carry out robust modeling and influence diagnostics in Birnbaum-Saunders (BS) regression models. Specifically, we present some aspects related to BS and log-BS distributions and their generalizations from the Student-t distribution, and develop BS-t regression models, including maximum likelihood estimation based on the EM algorithm and diagnostic tools. In addition, we apply the obtained results to real data from insurance, which shows the uses of the proposed model. Copyright (c) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.