A «corrupção e a fraude» no espaço comunicacional português e europeu: contributo para uma visão interdisciplinar constitucional criminológica e jurídico-penal

As formas de definir «corrupção e fraude» são infinitas, pelo que a aplicação do Direito penal constitucional pode ficar prejudicada. A comunicação e o comentário público e política são por vezes feitos em termos profundamente equivocados. Recentemente, em Portugal, destacados políticos e comentadores chegaram a apelar à «criminalização do enriquecimento ilícito», nem que fosse com o sacrifício da própria Constituição ou do Estado de Direito. É a democracia que passa a estar em perigo. Ao mesmo tempo que se defende com fanatismo quase teológico o sistema económico capitalista, procura-se consagrar na lei a sua destruição. Ou seja, há uma certa demagogia política que quer ter tudo ao mesmo tempo como se isso fosse possível. Perante isto, resta ao cidadão comum agir se for necessário sob as possibilidades das causas de justificação e fazendo uso do direito constitucional de resistência. ABSTRACT Ways to define «corruption and fraud» are endless, so the application of constitutional criminal law may be impaired. The communication and public comment and politics are sometimes done in terms profoundly mistaken. Recently, in Portugal, prominent politicians and commentators have come to call the «criminalization of illicit enrichment» (embezzlement) even if it was at the sacrifice of the Constitution or the rule of law. It is democracy that happens to be in danger. At the same time it defends itself with almost theological fanaticism the capitalist economic system, seeking to enshrine in law its destruction. That is, there is a certain political demagoguery that wants to have everything at the same time as if that were possible. Given this, it remains to ordinary act if necessary under the scope of defenses and making use of the constitutional right of resistance.

Causes of low vision and use of optical aids in the elderly

PURPOSE: To determine the causes of low vision in an elderly population attended by a university visual rehabilitation service and to check for the use of prescribed optical aids. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was carried out on patients aged 60 years or over attending for the first time a university low vision service in 2001. Ophthalmic reevaluation and interview were performed by means of a structured questionnaire in 2002. RESULTS: The sample comprised 50 subjects aged between 60 and 90 years. Severe low vision (<20/200) was present in 68.0% of patients. The main cause of low vision was age-related macular degeneration (44.0%). Regarding literacy, 16.0% were illiterate and 72.0% had completed fundamental schooling. Thirty-one patients (62.0%) had been prescribed optical aids; 54.8% of these patients stated that they use them. A majority (70.6%) held a favorable opinion of these aids. CONCLUSIONS: The main cause of low vision was age-related macular degeneration. Approximately half of those receiving prescriptions reported actually using the aids in their daily activities. Making best use of residual vision in the elderly population with visual impairment is a priority, given the social context, if the independence necessary for enhanced quality of life is to be achieved.

What are the causes of educational inequalities and of their evolution over time in Europe? Evidence from PISA

This paper provides evidence on the sources of differences in inequalities in educational scores in European Union member states, by decomposing them into their determining factors. Using PISA data from the 2000 and 2006 waves, the paper shows that inequalities emerge in all countries and in both period, but decreased in Germany, whilst they increased in France and Italy. Decomposition shows that educational inequalities do not only reflect background related inequality, but especially schools’ characteristics. The findings allow policy makers to target areas that may make a contribution in reducing educational inequalities.

The worth of a penny : or, a caution to keep money. With the causes of the scarcity and misery of the want thereof as also how to save it in our diet, apparel, recreation, etc. And also what honest course men in want may take to live /

Mode of access: Internet.

An inquiry into the history of slavery; its introduction into the United States; causes of its continuance; and remarks upon the abolition tracts of William E. Channing, D. D.

Mode of access: Internet.

Letters on marriage, on the causes of matrimonial infidelity, and on the reciprocal relations of the sexes.

Mode of access: Internet.

Common causes of sleep disruption and daytime sleepiness: childhood sleep disorders II

There are strong associations between childhood sleep disorders and behavioural, concentration and mood problems. Sleep disorders caused and maintained by behavioural factors (eg, sleep-onset association disorder) are common in young children, and have a significant impact on families. Evaluation should include a medical history, a physical, neurological and developmental examination, a description of any nocturnal events or daytime effects of the child's disturbed sleep, and a good understanding of the family situation and parental management of the child. Management involves recognising the developmental age of the child and the family dynamics, and educating and supporting families in applying behavioural techniques to establish good sleep hygiene. Children with parasomnias (eg, night terrors) also benefit from good sleep hygiene, while those with respiratory or neurological causes of sleep disturbance should be referred for specialist treatment.

A Metaontology for Medical Diagnostics of Acute Diseases. Part 3. A Formal Description of the Causes of Signs’ Values and of Diseases

This article is the final part of the formal description of the metaontology for medical diagnostics in the language of applied logic. It contains a description of the causes of signs’ values and of the causes of diseases.

Investigation of the causes of serious injury and fatal crashes: An analysis using econometric models

The rate of fatal crashes in Florida has remained significantly higher than the national average for the last several years. The 2003 statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the latest available, show a fatality rate in Florida of 1.71 per 100 million vehicle-miles traveled compared to the national average of 1.48 per 100 million vehicle-miles traveled. The objective of this research is to better understand the driver, environmental, and roadway factors that affect the probability of injury severity in Florida. ^ In this research, the ordered logit model was used to develop six injury severity models; single-vehicle and two-vehicle crashes on urban freeways and urban principal arterials and two-vehicle crashes at urban signalized and unsignalized intersections. The data used in this research included all crashes that occurred on the state highway system for the period from 2001 to 2003 in the Southeast Florida region, which includes the Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties.^ The results of the analysis indicate that the age group and gender of the driver at fault were significant factors of injury severity risk across all models. The greatest risk of severe injury was observed for the age groups 55 to 65 and 66 and older. A positive association between injury severity and the race of the driver at fault was also found. Driver at fault of Hispanic origin was associated with a higher risk of severe injury for both freeway models and for the two-vehicle crash model on arterial roads. A higher risk of more severe injury crash involvement was also found when an African-American was the at fault driver on two-vehicle crashes on freeways. In addition, the arterial class was also found to be positively associated with a higher risk of severe crashes. Six-lane divided arterials exhibited the highest injury severity risk of all arterial classes. The lowest severe injury risk was found for one way roads. Alcohol involvement by the driver at fault was also found to be a significant risk of severe injury for the single-vehicle crash model on freeways. ^

Prevalence and causes of visual impairment in a Brazilian population: The Botucatu Eye Study

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Dissemination of periodic mammography and patterns of use, by birth cohort, in Catalonia (Spain)

Background: In Catalonia (Spain) breast cancer mortality has declined since the beginning of the 1990s. The dissemination of early detection by mammography and the introduction of adjuvant treatments are among the possible causes of this decrease, and both were almost coincident in time. Thus, understanding how these procedures were incorporated into use in the general population and in women diagnosed with breast cancer is very important for assessing their contribution to the reduction in breast cancer mortality. In this work we have modeled the dissemination of periodic mammography and described repeat mammography behavior in Catalonia from 1975 to 2006. Methods: Cross-sectional data from three Catalan Health Surveys for the calendar years 1994, 2002 and 2006 was used. The dissemination of mammography by birth cohort was modeled using a mixed effects model and repeat mammography behavior was described by age and survey year. Results: For women born from 1938 to 1952, mammography clearly had a period effect, meaning that they started to have periodic mammograms at the same calendar years but at different ages. The age at which approximately 50% of the women were receiving periodic mammograms went from 57.8 years of age for women born in 1938–1942 to 37.3 years of age for women born in 1963–1967. Women in all age groups experienced an increase in periodic mammography use over time, although women in the 50–69 age group have experienced the highest increase. Currently, the target population of the Catalan Breast Cancer Screening Program, 50–69 years of age, is the group that self-reports the highest utilization of periodic mammograms, followed by the 40–49 age group. A higher proportion of women of all age groups have annual mammograms rather than biennial or irregular ones. Conclusion: Mammography in Catalonia became more widely implemented during the 1990s. We estimated when cohorts initiated periodic mammograms and how frequently women are receiving them. These two pieces of information will be entered into a cost-effectiveness model of early detection in Catalonia.

The causes of prescribing errors in English general practices: a qualitative study

Aim: To examine the causes of prescribing and monitoring errors in English general practices and provide recommendations for how they may be overcome. Design: Qualitative interview and focus group study with purposive sampling and thematic analysis informed by Reason’s accident causation model. Participants: General practice staff participated in a combination of semi-structured interviews (n=34) and six focus groups (n=46). Setting: Fifteen general practices across three primary care trusts in England. Results: We identified seven categories of high-level error-producing conditions: the prescriber, the patient, the team, the task, the working environment, the computer system, and the primary-secondary care interface. Each of these was further broken down to reveal various error-producing conditions. The prescriber’s therapeutic training, drug knowledge and experience, knowledge of the patient, perception of risk, and their physical and emotional health, were all identified as possible causes. The patient’s characteristics and the complexity of the individual clinical case were also found to have contributed to prescribing errors. The importance of feeling comfortable within the practice team was highlighted, as well as the safety of general practitioners (GPs) in signing prescriptions generated by nurses when they had not seen the patient for themselves. The working environment with its high workload, time pressures, and interruptions, and computer related issues associated with mis-selecting drugs from electronic pick-lists and overriding alerts, were all highlighted as possible causes of prescribing errors and often interconnected. Conclusion: This study has highlighted the complex underlying causes of prescribing and monitoring errors in general practices, several of which are amenable to intervention.

The in vitro effects of dexamethasone, insulin and triiodothyronine on degenerative human intervertebral disc cells under normoxic and hypoxic conditions

Degeneration of intervertebral discs (IVD) is one of the main causes of back pain and tissue engineering has been proposed as a treatment. Tissue engineering requires the use of highly expensive growth factors, which might, in addition, lack regulatory approval for human use. In an effort to find readily available differentiation factors, we tested three molecules – dexamethasone, triiodothyronine (T3) and insulin – on human IVD cells isolated after surgery, expanded in vitro and transferred into alginate beads. Triplicates containing 40 ng/ml dexamethasone, 10 nM T3 and 10 µg/ml insulin, together with a positive control (10 ng/mL transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta 1), were sampled weekly over six weeks and compared to a negative control. Furthermore, we compared the results to cultures with optimized chondrogenic media and under hypoxic condition (2% O2). Glycosaminoglycan (GAG) determination by Alcian Blue assay and histological staining showed dexamethasone to be more effective than T3 and insulin, but less than TGF-beta1. DNA quantification showed that only dexamethasone stimulated cell proliferation. qPCR demonstrated that TGF-beta1 and the optimized chondrogenic groups increased the expression of collagen type II, while aggrecan was stimulated in cultures containing dexamethasone. Hypoxia increased GAG accumulation, collagen type II and aggrecan expression, but had no effect on or even lowered cell number. In conclusion, dexamethasone is a valuable and cost-effective molecule for chondrogenic and viability induction of IVD cells under normoxic and hypoxic conditions, while insulin and T3 did not show significant differences.