The welfare state determinants of health: Implications of regimes and pathways

Background. Population health within and between nations is heavily influenced by political determinants, yet these determinants have received significantly less attention than socioeconomic factors in public health. It has been hypothesized that the welfare state, as a political variable, may play a particularly prominent role in affecting both health indicators and health disparities in developed countries. The research, however, provides conflicting evidence regarding the health impact of particular regimes over others and the mechanisms through which the welfare state can most significantly affect health.^ Objective. To perform a systematic review of the literature as a means of exploring what the current research indicates regarding the benefits or detriments of particular regimes styles and the pathways through which the welfare state can impact heath indicators and health disparities within developed countries.^ Methods. A thorough search of the EBSCO, Pubmed, Medline, Web of Science, and Scopus electronic databases was conducted and resulted in the identification of 15 studies that evaluated the association between welfare state regime and population health outcomes, and/or pathways through with the welfare state influences health. ^ Results. Social democratic countries tended to perform best when infant mortality rate (IMR) was the primary outcome of interest, whereas liberal countries performed strongly in relation to self perceived health. The results were mixed regarding welfare state effectiveness in mitigating health inequities, with Christian democratic countries performing as well as social democratic countries. In relation to welfare state pathways, public health spending and medical coverage were associated with positive health indicators. Redistributive impact of the welfare state was also consistently associated with better health outcomes while social security expenditures were not.^ Discussion/Conclusions. Studies consistently discovered a significant relationship between the welfare state and population health and/or health disparities, lending support to the hypothesis that the welfare state is, indeed, an important non-medical determinant of health. However, it is still fairly unclear which welfare state regime may be most protective for health, as results varied according to the measured health indicator. The research regarding welfare state pathways is particularly undeveloped, and does not provide much insight into the importance of in-kind service provision or cash transfers, or targeted or universal approaches to the welfare state. Suggestions to direct future research are provided.^

Automatic granularity-aware parallelization of programs with predicates, functions, and constraints

Abstract is not available

Sources and pathways of trace elements in urban environments: A multielemental qualitative approach

A geochemical model of an urban environment is presented in which multielemental tracers are used to characterise the circulation of trace elements in particulate matter_atmospheric aerosol, street dust and urban soil, within a city.

Meromorphic continuation of functions and arbitrary distribution of interpolation points

We characterize the region of meromorphic continuation of an analytic function ff in terms of the geometric rate of convergence on a compact set of sequences of multi-point rational interpolants of ff. The rational approximants have a bounded number of poles and the distribution of interpolation points is arbitrary.

The living plant; a description and interpretation of its functions and structure, by William F. Ganong.

1913

p-adic L functions and trivial zeroes

The following is adapted from the notes for the lecture. It announces results and conjectures about values of the p-adic L function of the symmetric square of an elliptic curve.

Zeta functions and Eisenstein series on classical groups

We construct an Euler product from the Hecke eigenvalues of an automorphic form on a classical group and prove its analytic continuation to the whole complex plane when the group is a unitary group over a CM field and the eigenform is holomorphic. We also prove analytic continuation of an Eisenstein series on another unitary group, containing the group just mentioned defined with such an eigenform. As an application of our methods, we prove an explicit class number formula for a totally definite hermitian form over a CM field.

Distinct functions and cooperative interaction of the subunits of the transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP)

The ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter TAP translocates peptides from the cytosol to awaiting MHC class I molecules in the endoplasmic reticulum. TAP is made up of the TAP1 and TAP2 polypeptides, which each possess a nucleotide binding domain (NBD). However, the role of ATP in peptide binding and translocation is poorly understood. We present biochemical and functional evidence that the NBDs of TAP1 and TAP2 are non-equivalent. Photolabeling experiments with 8-azido-ATP demonstrate a cooperative interaction between the two NBDs that can be stimulated by peptide. The substitution of key lysine residues in the Walker A motifs of TAP1 and TAP2 suggests that TAP1-mediated ATP hydrolysis is not essential for peptide translocation but that TAP2-mediated ATP hydrolysis is critical, not only for translocation, but for peptide binding.

Special Education and the Risk of Becoming Less Educated in Germany and the United States. CES Germany & Europe Working Papers, No. 05.1, 13 December, 2004

Over the twentieth century, a growing group of students has been transferred into considerably expanded special education systems. These programs serve children with diagnosed impairments and disabilities and students with a variety of learning difficulties. Children and youth “with special educational needs” constitute a heterogeneous group with social, ethnic, linguistic, and physical disadvantages. An increasingly large percentage of those students at risk of leaving school without credentials participate in special education, a highly legitimated low status (and stigmatizing) school form. While most countries commit themselves to school integration or inclusive education to replace segregated schools and separate classes, cross-national and regional comparisons of special education’s diverse student bodies show considerable disparities in their (1) rates of classification, (2) provided learning opportunities, and (3) educational attainments. Analyzing special education demographics and organizational structures indicates which children and youth are most likely to grow up less educated and how educational systems distribute educational success and failure. Findings from a German-American comparison show that which students bear the greatest risk of becoming less educated depends largely on definitions of “special educational needs” and the institutionalization of special education systems.

Network Analyis Approach to Find New Candidate Genes and Pathways Involved in the Pathophysiology of Familial Hypercholesterolemia

Introduction: Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is a common genetic cause of premature coronary heart disease (CHD) due to lifelong elevated plasma low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels. Worldwide only 40 % of patients (FH+) with a clinical diagnosis of FH carry a mutation in any of the three genes (namely: LDLR, APOB, PCSK 9) that are currently known to be associated to the disease. We guess that the remaining 60 % of the patients (FH-) probably includes a high percentage of individuals with a polygenic form of dyslipidemia or an environmental form of hypercholesterolemia and a small percentage of individuals with mutations in some novel genes, never associated before with dyslipidemias. Here we present the preliminary results of an integrative approach intended to identify new candidate genes and to dissect pathways that can be dysregulated in the disease.

No-passing zone treatments for special geometric and traffic operational situations. Final report.

Federal Highway Administration, Traffic Systems Division, Washington, D.C.

Special education and the Hispanic child : proceedings from the second annual Colloquium on Hispanic Issues /

"August 1981."

The year's entertainments ... a collection of recitations, dialogues, songs, exercises, etc., arranged as programs for special days and occasions, providing for each month of the school year,

Mode of access: Internet.