Diagnóstico da tuberculose pulmonar no adulto nos países de baixo rendimento : será o XPERT® MTB/RIF a escolha correcta?

Trabalho Final do Curso de Mestrado Integrado em Medicina, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, 2014

The distribution of debt across euro area countries : The role of individual characteristics, institutions and credit conditions. National Bank of Belgium Working Paper No. 252, December 2013

The aim of this paper is twofold. First, we present an up-to-date assessment of the differences across euro area countries in the distributions of various measures of debt conditional on household characteristics. We consider three different outcomes: the probability of holding debt, the amount of debt held and, in the case of secured debt, the interest rate paid on the main mortgage. Second, we examine the role of legal and economic institutions in accounting for these differences. We use data from the first wave of a new survey of household finances, the Household Finance and Consumption Survey, to achieve these aims. We find that the patterns of secured and unsecured debt outcomes vary markedly across countries. Among all the institutions considered, the length of asset repossession periods best accounts for the features of the distribution of secured debt. In countries with longer repossession periods, the fraction of people who borrow is smaller, the youngest group of households borrow lower amounts (conditional on borrowing), and the mortgage interest rates paid by low-income households are higher. Regulatory loan-to-value ratios, the taxation of mortgages and the prevalence of interest-only or fixed-rate mortgages deliver less robust results.

Collateral and Credit Rationing. The role of collateral in explaining and remediating the limited flow of credit to households and SMEs. ECRI Policy Brief No. 7, February 2014

European-wide data concerning both companies and households indicate that the credit rationing phenomenon, which has been predicted by theory, does in fact occur to a significant degree in the European credit market. Among SMEs, micro companies are most vulnerable and the current economic crisis has only made these concerns more pressing. Top-down use of the monetary transmission mechanism alone is insufficient to counter the problem. The other solution consists of a bottom-up, microeconomic stimulation of lending transactions, by focusing on collateral and guarantees. The data confirm the high importance that lenders – especially individual households and micro companies – attach to collateral and guarantees when making their lending decisions. As a consequence, we would argue that those parts of the law governing security interests and guarantees should be one of the primary targets for government policy aimed at improving credit flows, especially in avoiding a conflict between consumer protection measures and laws on surety and guarantees. This policy brief firstly aims to give an overview of the problem of credit rationing and to show that low-income households and SMEs are most concerned by the phenomenon. Focusing solely on loans as a way of financing and on the issues related to access to finance by micro and small companies as well households, it then sketches possible solutions focused on guarantees. This paper brings together data from the Eurosystem Household Finance and Consumption survey (HFCS), Eurostat, and both the latest wave of the extended biennial EC/ECB Survey on the access to finance of SMEs (EC/ECB SAFE 2013) and the latest wave of the smaller semi-annual ECB SAFE Survey, covering the period between October 2012 and March 2013.

The growth challenge for Europe and the EMU. CHALLENGE EUROPE Issue 22- Challenges and new beginnings: Priorities for the EU's new leadership, September 2014.

The European economy is slowly and painfully striving to reemerge from the last six years of crisis. It was a crisis of enormous intensity and contagiousness, given the unprecedented depth of global financial integration combined with the systemic flaws in the EMU architecture. And it is not over, as the high levels of unemployment and the growing divergence between Member States testify. The threat of fragmentation is imminent as ever: fragmentation between euro-ins and euro-outs; fragmentation between North and South; fragmentation within societies, with increasing income inequality and a growing number of, what used to be, the middle class population slipping through the social safety net and below poverty lines. Policies of front-loaded fiscal consolidation have left welfare states in economically weaker countries severely underfunded. According to OECD data, the number of people living in households without any income from work has doubled in Greece, Ireland and Spain, and has risen by 20% or more in Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, and Slovenia. Fertility rates have dropped further since the crisis, deepening the demographic and fiscal challenges of ageing. There are long-term implications from these deteriorating trends, regarding people's long-term health, education and upward mobility from low-income families. It is also highly likely that many of the people unemployed for a long period of time will never again be able to gain proper access to the job market and build a normal career track. The enduring effects of the crisis risk creating vicious cycles of low growth, high debt levels, austerity, declining productivity, and stagnation. These developments carry heavy implications for the future growth prospects of the European economies, for future prosperity, and for the sustainability of pension systems and welfare states. They must be urgently reversed.

Environmental equity : reducing risk for all communities /

"This report to the Administrator reviews existing data on the distribution of environmental exposures and risks across population groups. It also summarizes the Workgroup's review of EPA programs with respect to racial minority and low-income populations."--Introduction.

Financing hospital care in the United States.

Vols. 2-3 published by Blakiston Division, McGraw-Hill.

Perspectives on the structure of American agriculture /

Prepared with grant from Community Services Administration, part of U.S. Dept. of Agriculture inquiry into Structure of American agriculture.

Promoting breastfeeding : a guide for health professionals working in the WIC and CSF programs /

Abstract: A guide for health providers who work in perinatal health care systems provides a variety of ideas and successful approaches for promoting breastfeeding among low-income women, based on the premise that breastfeeding is the best method for feeding infants in the early months of life. The material is organized into 4 principal sections covering background information on various aspects of breastfeeding, specifically for low-income women; approaches to breast-feeding education at each of the 4 distinct phases of the prenatal and postpartum periods; sample lesson plans that may be used by health professionals or paraprofessionals in individual or group sessions; and a tabulation of references and resources for the use of health professionals in breastfeeding promotion efforts. (wz).

Affordable Energy Plan /

Illinois Lieutenant Governor Patrick Quinn responded to rising concerns about unaffordable energy for low-income Illinois residents by convening a meeting of advocates in January 2003, and challenging them to develop a better approach to energy assistance. As a result of that challenge, a working group of low-income advocates, energy policy advisors, researchers, and community leaders met and established the Illinois Affordable Energy Campaign (IAEC) to identify and recommend policy changes to the current Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). The Illinois LIHEAP program gives heating assistance to approximately 316,000 families across the state each year. This document the Affordable Energy Plan, is the result of this collaborative process. While the current LIHEAP program provides valuable and essential assistance to low-income families, the Affordable Energy Plan (AEP) improves the program design through a set of common sense reform measures that better address today's volatile energy environment. Reconstructing LIHEAP will make the program more efficient and effective; it will make energy more affordable for more LIHEAP customers; Illinois will see fewer homes disconnected from their utility services, and participants will be able to better understand and plan for their heating expenses.

Home energy costs and assistance in Illinois : 2001 annual report.

"Home Energy Costs and Assistance in Illinois, 2001 Annual Report, is a product of the Low Income Energy Assessment Project, an ongoing process within the Department of Natural Resources' Office of Realty and Environmental Planning, Division of Energy and Environmental Assessment. Annual reports on the costs of home energy and the effect of low-income residential energy assistance programs have been published under this initiative since the passage of the Energy Assistance Act of 1989."--P. [3].

Illinois child care rates report.

The Illinois Department of Human Services Bureau of Child Care and Development seeks to provide low-income Illinois families with multiple affordable options for quality child care and early education and offer children the opportunity to grow, learn and be cared for in safe nurturing settings that are culturally and developmentally appropriate. Through the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), the Bureau provides child care assistance to more than 190,000 children whose parents work or attend school.

Illinois' annual comprehensive housing plan.

Each issue also has a distinctive title.

Illinois' ... annual comprehensive housing plan.

Plan year ends Dec. 31.

Illinois' annual comprehensive housing plan.

Each issue also has a distinctive title.

What is the Community Services Block Grant Program?

The Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) Program was created by the federal Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981. The CSBG Program provides a range of services which assist low-income people to attain the skills, knowledge and motivation necessary to achieve self-sufficiency. The program also may offer low-income people immediate life necessities such as food, shelter, medication, etc.