Socio-demographic predictors of high support needs in newly diagnosed breast cancer patients.

GRIESSER A.-C., VLASTOS G., MOREL L., BEAUME C., SAPPINO A.-P. & HALLER G. (2010) European Journal of Cancer Care Socio-demographic predictors of high support needs in newly diagnosed breast cancer patients This study aimed to identify high support needs and their socio-demographic predictors to improve supportive care for newly diagnosed breast cancer patients. A cross-sectional study measured patients' needs and unsatisfied support needs by the supportive care needs survey (SCNS-34), administered after surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Socio-demographic, disease and treatment characteristics completed data collection. A total of 308 questionnaires were completed with a response rate of 88%. The most frequent support needs (73.3% of patients) related to information and the highest unsatisfied support needs to the management of emotions and daily life (36.3-39.6% of patients). Younger age predicted high and dissatisfied support needs (P < 0.05). Patients born outside Switzerland or with a lower level of education had more needs in daily living and psychological domains (P < 0.05). Being born outside Switzerland also predicted dissatisfaction with information provided. Being parent was a predictor of significant needs in the daily living domain after adjusting for disease and treatment characteristics (P= 0.01). Therefore, information, psychological and daily living support for newly diagnosed breast cancer patients should be strongly reinforced, particularly in patients being born outside Switzerland, those with children or being younger. For the latter, support in sexuality domain should also be emphasised.

El impacto diferencial del capital social sobre la salud de la población autóctona y los inmigrantes residentes en Cataluña

El fenómeno de la inmigración está transformando las sociedades receptoras. Un creciente número de estudios revela que la reciente inmigración en España es principalmente motivada por razones económicas y por tanto se trata de una población compuesta por gente joven, cualificada y sana. Por otro lado, hay cada vez más evidencia sobre la relevancia del capital social sobre la salud. Nuestro trabajo pretende crear un puente entre la literatura sobre la inmigración y la que relaciona el capital social y la salud. El presente trabajo tiene un doble objetivo. Por un lado, queremos dilucidar la verdadera relación entre el capital social y la salud utilizando por primera vez datos de Cataluña. Por otro lado, pretendemos determinar un posible efecto diferencial del capital social sobre la salud en tres grupos de población, más concretamente, los nacidos en Cataluña, los españoles nacidos fuera de Cataluña y los inmigrantes extranjeros. Utilizamos datos de la Encuesta de Salud de Cataluña 2006, que contiene una muestra representativa del colectivo inmigrante. Los indicadores contextuales provienen de fuentes alternativas. Para determinar la relación entre el capital social y la salud (salud auto-percibida y salud mental, GHQ-12), controlando por otros factores determinantes, estimados modelos multinivel separadamente para las tres muestras poblacionales. Distinguimos entre capital social individual y capital social comunitario. Nuestros resultados revelan que el capital social individual tiene mayor impacto sobre la salud que el capital social comunitario. Sin embargo, independientemente de los indicadores de capital social empleados en el análisis, observamos que el capital social ejerce un efecto beneficioso tanto para la salud física como la salud mental en Cataluña. Además, encontramos que las redes sociales son más importantes para la salud de la población autóctona, que para la salud de los inmigrantes. Creemos que potenciar la acumulación de capital social puede ser un instrumento potencialmente eficaz (y que requiere, en comparación con otras medidas políticas, menos recursos económicos) para la consecución de los objetivos relacionados con la mejora de la salud y la reducción de las desigualdades en salud entre los colectivos de nativos e inmigrantes. Palabras clave: estado de salud, capital social, inmigración

Relationship between technological progress, capital elasticity and emissions of industrial pollutants for the production sectors in Catalonia

As is known, the Kyoto Protocol proposes to reinforce national policies for emission reduction and, furthermore, to cooperate with other contracting parties. In this context, it would be necessary to assess these emissions, both in general and specifically, by pollutants and/or among productive sectors. The object of this paper is precisely to estimate the polluting emissions of industrial origin in Catalonia in the year 2001, in a multivariate context which explicitly allows a distinction to be made between the polluter and/or the productive sector causing this emission. Six pollutants considered, four directly related to greenhouse effect. A multi-level model, with two levels, pollutants and productive sectors, was specified. Both technological progress and elasticity of capital were introduced as random effects. Hence, it has been permitted that these coefficients vary according to one or other level. The most important finding in this paper is that elasticity of capital has been estimated as very non-elastic, with a range which varies between 0.162 (the paper industry) and 0.556 (commerce). In fact, and generally speaking, the greater capital the sector has, the less elasticity of capital has been estimated. Key words: Kyoto protocol, multilevel model, technological progress

Is the Spanish Inheritance and Gift Tax incompatible with the free movement of workers and capital?: The reasoned opinion of the EU Commission IP/10/513

The aim of my speech is answering to the question if the Spanish Inheritance and Gift Tax is incompatible with the free movement of workers and capital. We are going to pay special attention to the European Commission’s request to Spain to change its Inheritance and Gift Tax provisions for Non-Residents or Assets held abroad. In order to answer to the question mentioned above five points will be explained. At first place I am going to describe the infrengement procedure established in the Article 258 that the EU Commission can follow when a Member State doesn’t comply with Community Law. At second place, we are going to explain what is the content of the EU Commission delivered on 5th of may 2010 regarding the spanish Inheritance and Gift Tax. Then, we will analise what establishes the Community Law regarding the freedom of workers and capital and how they are understood by the EU Court of Justice in similar cases. Finally, we are going to provide possible amendments that Spain could undertake.

Territorial autonomy and self-determination conflicts: opportunity and willingness cases from Bolivia, Niger, and Thailand

The paradox of autonomy is about whether self-rule accommodates or exacerbates armed conflict. This study attempts to unpack the puzzle examining the effectiveness of territorial autonomy as a state response to self-determination conflicts throughout the world. It challenges the conflict-inducing features of autonomy arguing that territorial autonomy can mitigate armed conflict by channeling group grievances into peaceful forms of protest. Thus, this study aims at arriving at a comprehensive theory that identifies which factors are responsible for violent escalation of conflicts grounded in self-determination demands. By using the concepts of opportunity structures and willingness dimension, this study shows that conflict escalation only takes place when minorities with greater bargaining power vis-à-vis the center, in contexts of high levels of economic inequality within dyad, are mobilized around autonomy and separatist demands.

Autonomia territorial i conflictes d'autodeterminació: oportunitats i voluntat casos de Bolívia, Níger i Tailàndia

La paradoxa de l’autonomia tracta sobre si l’autogovern atenua o exacerba el conflicte armat. Aquest estudi prova de desmuntar aquest trencaclosques examinant l’efectivitat de l’autonomia territorial com a resposta estatal als conflictes d’autodeterminació de tot el món. També posa en dubte que l’autonomia sigui un factor instigador del conflicte argumentant que l’autonomia territorial pot mitigar el conflicte armat canalitzant els greuges grupals cap a formes de protesta pacífiques. D’aquesta manera, l’estudi vol arribar a una teoria integral que identifiqui els factors responsables de l’escalada de violència en els conflictes sorgits de reivindicacions d’autodeterminació. Fent servir els conceptes d’”estructures d’oportunitat” i “dimensió de voluntat”, aquest estudi mostra que l’escalada dels conflictes només es produeix quan es mobilitzen minories amb un alt poder negociador respecte del centre, en contexts de grans nivells de desigualtat econòmica al si de la díada, al voltant de reivindicacions d’autonomia i separatistes.

School composition effects in Spain

Drawing on PISA data of 2006, this study examines the impact of socio-economic school composition on science test score achievement for Spanish students in compulsory secondary schools. We define school composition in terms of the average parental human capital of students in the same school. These contextual peer effects are estimated using a semi-parametric methodology, which enables the spillovers to affect all the parameters of the educational production function. We also deal with the potential problem of self-selection of student into schools, using an artificial sorting that we argue to be independent from unobserved student’s abilities. The results indicate that the association between socio-economic school composition and test score results is clearly positive and significantly higher when computed with the semi-parametric approach. However, we find that the endogenous sorting of students into schools plays a fundamental role, given that the spillovers are significantly reduced when this selection process is ruled out from our measure of school composition effects. Specifically, the estimations suggest that the contextual peer effects are moderately positive only in those schools where the socio-economic composition is considerably elevated. In addition, we find some evidence of asymmetry of how the external effects and the sorting process actually operate, which seem affect in a different way males and females as well as high and low performance students.

Is it redistribution or centralization? On the determinants of government investment in infrastructure

The dilemma efficiency versus equity, together with political partisan interests, has received increasing attention to explain the territorial allocation of investments. However, centralization intended to introduce or reinforce hierarchization in the political system has not been object as of now of empirical analysis. Our main contribution to the literature is providing evidence that meta-political objectives related to the ordering of political power and administration influence regional investment. In this way, we find evidence that network mode’s (roads and railways) investment programs are influenced by the centralization strategy of investing near to the political capital, while investment effort in no-network modes (airports and ports) appears to be positively related to distance. Since investment in surface transportation infrastructures is much higher than that in airports and ports, and taken into account that regions surrounding the political capital are poorer than the average, we suggest that centralization rather than redistribution has been the driver for the concentration of public investment on these regions.

The Complementarity between segment disclosure and earnings quality, and its effect on cost of capital

We investigate the role of earnings quality in determining the levels of segment disclosure, and whether and how better quality earnings and segment disclosure influences cost of capital. Using a large US sample for the period 2001-2006, we find a positive relation between earnings quality and levels of segment disclosures. We also find that firms providing better quality segment information, contingent upon good earnings quality, enjoy lower cost of capital. We base our empirical tests on a self created index of segment disclosure. Our results contribute to a better understanding of (1) the incentives for providing segment disclosures, and (2) how accounting quality (quality of segment information and earnings quality) is related to the cost of capital.

The Rio de Janeiro HIV Vaccine Site: I. Recruitment Strategies and Socio-demographic Data of a HIV Negative Homosexual and Bisexual Male Cohort in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The initial effort of the Brazilian Ministry of Health to be an active partner in the world effort in the preparation of future accurate human immune deficiency virus (HIV) efficacy trials was the establishment of a multi-centered cohort of homosexual and bisexual men. An open cohort was established to determine the HIV incidence and the socio-behavioral aspects involved in Rio de Janeiro. A total of 318 potential participants, originated from multiple sources (health units, public information, snowball recruitment), were screened and recruitment became effective through the direct involvement of target communities (with the support of Non Governmental Organizations) and the population. Among this group, seropositivity for sexually transmitted diseases was high with 23, 32 and 46% for HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B, respectively. The socio-demographic data from the first 200 participants of this HIV negative cohort suggests that the cohort volunteers are an appropriate sample of the general male population of the State of Rio de Janeiro