The universal newborn hearing screening in Brazil: From identification to intervention

Objective: The objective of the study is to investigate the results of the newborn hearing screening program carried out in a Public Hospital in Brazil, in the first 3 years regarding: (1) the prevalence of hearing impairment; (2) the influence of the universal hearing screening program on the age at which the diagnosis of hearing loss is defined; (3) the cost effectiveness of the program; (4) the outcomes, in terms of the age in which the hearing rehabilitation started. Methods: A descriptive study of the first 3 years after starting the universal newborn hearing screening in a Public Hospital of Bauru, Sao Paulo state, Brazil. The screening method consists of a two-stage screening approach with transient otoacoustic emissions (TOAE), conducted by an audiologist. If the outcome in the second-stage screening is REFER, the infant is submitted to diagnostic follow-up testing and intervention at the Audiology and Speech Pathology Clinic at the University of Sao Paulo, campus of Bauru. The evaluation of the costs of the universal newborn hearing screening program per each screened newborn (around 4000/year) was done based on a proposal by the National Center for Hearing Assessment and Management, of the Utah State University, United States of America. Results: 11,466 newborns were submitted to hearing screening, corresponding to 90.52% of the living newborns. The prevalence of sensorineural hearing loss was 0.96:1000. Of the 11 children with sensorineural hearing loss, eight children received hearing aids and five started the therapeutic process before the age of 1. Currently, four children between the ages of 11 months and 2 years old were submitted to cochlear implant surgery. The cost of hearing screening was US$7.00 and the annual cost of the universal newborn hearing screening program was US$26,940.47. Conclusion: The hospital-based universal newborn hearing screening carried out through the Brazilian National Health System is viable, with promising results. However, in a country such as Brazil, which presents large socio-economic differences, the same type of analyses should be performed in several regions, so as to take into account specific aspects, to implement the newborn hearing screening along with the Public System. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Determinants of general practitioner use among women in Australia

This study investigates the use of general practitioner services by women in Australia. Although there is a universal health insurance system (Medicare) in Australia, there are variations in access to services and out of pocket costs for services. Survey data from 2350 mid-age (45-50 years) and 2102 older (70-75 years) women participating in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health were linked with Medicare data to provide a range of individual and contextual variables hypothesised to explain general practitioner use. Structural equation modelling showed that physical health was the most powerful explanatory factor of general practitioner use. However, after adjusting for self-reported health, out of pocket cost per consultation was inversely associated with use of services. The out of pocket cost was generally lower for women with low socioeconomic status but cost was also directly related to geographical remoteness. Women living in more remote areas had higher out of pocket costs and poorer access to services. Women who reported better access to care were more likely to be satisfied with their most recent general practice consultation and less likely to be sceptical of the value of medical care. These results show the need for health policies that improve the equitable use of general practitioner services in Australia. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

The endgame for national girls' schooling policies in Australia?

Gender equity: A framework for Australian schools is the most recent policy dealing with gender in schools at the national level in Australia. This paper provides a critical discourse analysis of the policy document, tracking two themes: 'the construction of gender', and 'equity: a discourse of education for all boys and girls'. Through this analysis the authors argue that the policy signals a substantial shift in focus-from girls and boys in relation to girls, to both girls and boys-within a framework of presumptive equality. It is also argued that the policy shuts down federal involvement in policy for girls' schooling. In the process, responsibility is devolved to the states and territories where, in many cases, gender equity programs will be struggled over at a local, school-based level. At the same time, however, spaces have been created which potentially enable new strategies for gender equity policies in Australian schools.

Universal state inversion and concurrence in arbitrary dimensions

Wootters [Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 2245 (1998)] has given an explicit formula for the entanglement of formation of two qubits in terms of what he calls the concurrence of the joint density operator. Wootters's concurrence is defined with the help of the superoperator that flips the spin of a qubit. We generalize the spin-flip superoperator to a universal inverter, which acts on quantum systems of arbitrary dimension, and we introduce the corresponding generalized concurrence for joint pure states of D-1 X D-2 bipartite quantum systems. We call this generalized concurrence the I concurrence to emphasize its relation to the universal inverter. The universal inverter, which is a positive, but not completely positive superoperator, is closely related to the completely positive universal-NOT superoperator, the quantum analogue of a classical NOT gate. We present a physical realization of the universal-NOT Superoperator.

The Winnipeg principles, WTO and sustainable development: Proposed policies for reconciling trade and the environment

There is, a widespread belief that the WTO has made virtually no concessions to environmentalists about their concerns arising from free trade and the process of globalization. There are concerns that these processes may undermine prospects for sustainable development. Following, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the International Institute for Sustainable Development was established to advocate policies to support sustainable development within Canada and globally. In 1994, it proposed the Winnipeg Principles as. a means for reconciling international trade and development so as to: achieve sustainable development (ISD, 1994a,b). These seven principles are outlined in this article and assessed:. Although the International Institute for Sustainable Development had hoped: through these principles to influence the work programme of the Environment and Trade Committee of WTO, it seems to have little effect. Probably if these principles had been seriously considered by WTO, the serious social conflicts which emerged globally at the beginning of this century would have been avoided, and we would be in a better position to understand the complex links between trade, environment and sustainable development and adopt relevant policies. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Masculine, feminine or neutral? In-company equal opportunities policies in Irish and French MNC retailing

Several problematic aspects of women's paid employment - e.g. low pay and lack of promotional opportunities - are exacerbated by the segregation of women and men into different occupations. In this article, the potential of in-store equal opportunities policies to break down such gender segregation will be explored, through consideration of the existence and implementation of these policies in twenty-two multinational retail companies in Dublin and Paris. It will be argued that, with one notable exception, the instore equal opportunities policies are effectively neutralized, and furthermore are neutralized in nationally specific ways which can be related to differences between France and Ireland in the organization of labour-market regulation and in women's labour-force participation (LFP). The case-study findings also suggest that the 'country' variable has a stronger effect on the existence and implementation of these policies than the extent of a shop's links to an overseas headquarters. The findings of this study have implications for both the equity of women's incorporation into the paid labour force and understanding of aspects of HRM in branches of multinational companies.

Loss as a universal concept: Review of the literature to identify common aspects of loss in diverse situations

It has long been recognized that loss and its associated grief are important elements of many adverse life events that affect the entire global population: death, disability, traumatic events, abuse., terminal and chronic illness, aging, addiction, unemployment, relationship breakdown, war, migration, and educational failure. While there is significant empirical evidence of the potential deleterious effects of specific situations of loss across the global community, systematic discussion concerning the common elements of loss that are associated with adverse life situations in general has been limited. This review of the theoretical and empirical literature concerning various losses and the recommendations for care of those affected by such losses identifies common aspects of situations of loss and common recommendations in the care of those confronted by such losses. These common themes of loss are described by simple summary statements that can be communicated to a broad audience, hence enhancing community education and, potentially, community-wide mental health promotion.

Reconciling Globalisation and Technological Change: Growing Income Inequalities and Remedial Policies

From the mid-1970s through the 1980s and into the 1990s, wage inequality and skill differentials in earnings and employment increased sharply in OECD countries. After 1973 and especially in the 1980s, the US experienced a dismal real wage performance for the less skilled. Among the factors singled out by economists as possible major contributors to this development are economic globalisation processes and skill-biased technological change. Although these are most commonly considered as independent influences, after critically outlining views about these factors, this article argues that strong interdependence exists between them. The article then examines potential policy responses to this growing inequality.

Beyond participation, hierarchies, management and markets: 'New' governance and place policies

This paper argues that a 'new local governance' discourse offers some promise as a policy framework that can re-conceptualise the state-community (and market) relationship and deliver improved community outcomes, particularly in the context of place based or spatial policies and programs.

Universal quantum computation and simulation using any entangling Hamiltonian and local unitaries

What interactions are sufficient to simulate arbitrary quantum dynamics in a composite quantum system? We provide an efficient algorithm to simulate any desired two-body Hamiltonian evolution using any fixed two-body entangling n-qubit Hamiltonian and local unitary operations. It follows that universal quantum computation can be performed using any entangling interaction and local unitary operations.

Universal simulation of Hamiltonian dynamics for quantum systems with finite-dimensional state spaces

What interactions are sufficient to simulate arbitrary quantum dynamics in a composite quantum system? Dodd [Phys. Rev. A 65, 040301(R) (2002)] provided a partial solution to this problem in the form of an efficient algorithm to simulate any desired two-body Hamiltonian evolution using any fixed two-body entangling N-qubit Hamiltonian, and local unitaries. We extend this result to the case where the component systems are qudits, that is, have D dimensions. As a consequence we explain how universal quantum computation can be performed with any fixed two-body entangling N-qudit Hamiltonian, and local unitaries.