Open Journal Systems Trinity College Dublin
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An Oncologist’s Dilemma: How to Effectively Eliminate CNS Cancers in Children with Radiation Therapy Whilst Preserving Cognitive Function?
Get PDFCranial irradiation is commonly adopted in the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) tumours, even in younger cancer patients, despite its severe early and late side effects. One of the major consequences of using radiation therapy in the CNS is the inevitable occurrence of normal tissue toxicity and resultant morbidities including cognitive dysfunction, learn- ing impairments and a lower quality of life. These symptoms are in part due to an arrest in the production or survival of neural precursor cells in particular proliferative regions of the brain including the hippocampus. As the population of childhood survivors of CNS or metastatic malignancy grows, more attention must be paid to the debilitating cognitive co-morbidities resulting from radiation therapy in particular. Protective prophylactic pharmaco- logical agents and precise ‘hippocampal-sparing’ radiation techniques should be considered during treatment, while drug or behavioral interventions may be indicated during a patient’s long term follow up period. This brief review overviews radiation therapy uses and mechanisms, investigates some of the currently known cellular and molecular events that lead to functional decline post-irradiation, examines the scarce therapies available to childhood CNS cancer survivors for their long-term cognitive morbidities to date and identifies possible therapeutic niches that could be targeted either during or post-radiation therapy to attenuate its long term consequences in the human brain
Socio-economic Differentials in Male Mortality in Ireland 1984-2008
Get PDFThe presence of pronounced inequalities in mortality and life expectancy across income, education and social groups has long been a “stylized fact” of demography. Research across a large number of developed and wealthy countries, including Ireland, has shown that those with fewer resources, less education or a lower occupational class have higher standardised mortality rates (SMRs) than more advantaged individuals. The last analysis of Irish adult mortality differentials across social classes, carried out by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and based on data for 2006, found that men in the unskilled manual social class had an SMR that was 1.8 times higher than males in the professional social class. However, little is known about how socio-economic inequalities in mortality in Ireland have changed since the mid-1990s, a period characterised by an unprecedented boom and bust in economic activity. In addition, previous analyses have made no attempt to adjust the SMRs to take account of those reporting missing or “unknown” occupation/socio-economic group (SEG). Using annual mortality data from the CSO over the period 1984-2008, a period of economic recovery and boom, this paper examineswhether the general downward trend in mortality observed over this period was experienced equally by all SEGs. We find that the SMR for all groups fell between the 1980s and 2000s but that the extent of this fall was largest for Employer and Manager and Professional SEGs leading to a growing differential between these groups and all others
Applying for Research Electives
Get PDFUndertaking a summer research elective is a great way to assess whether academic research is something you would be interested in incorporating into your future training or career. It can also add something different to your CV when applying for more academically oriented specialisation training programmes. Despite this, very few people take advantage of the opportunities available to them and many that are interested in summer research simply don’t know where to start looking.
This article will give a brief overview of where to start when considering a research elective, followed by first-hand accounts from students who have previously completed research electives
Searching for the Inclusive Growth Tax Grail: The Distributional Impact of Growth Enhancing Tax Reform in Ireland
Get PDFThe economic literature suggests that a revenue-neutral shift of tax revenues from income taxes to property taxes would increase GDP per capita in the medium term. This paper analyses for Ireland the consequences of such a shift in the tax mix. In particular, it examines whether this can be carried out in a way that would neither undermine income distribution nor depress government revenue. Simulations using the ESRI tax-benefit model, SWITCH, suggest it is possible to achieve such a broadly revenue-neutral tax shift in a non-regressive way, while lowering marginal tax rates for most taxpayers. In particular, reductions in the Universal Social Charge would reduce marginal and average tax rates and have a positive impact for the income of most households. This could be funded by shifting the tax base toward residential properties, though this might have an adverse effect on income distribution, due to Ireland’s high rates of home ownership throughout the income distribution. The analysis shows that low income groups could be protected through the careful introduction of income-related supports, with revenue losses recovered through a more progressive property tax rate structure. Overall, the simulations show that a shift from labour to property tax can be pro-growth and pro-employment, without equity losses. The paper therefore suggests that tax reform can be inclusive
The Introduction of Macroprudential Measures for the Irish Mortgage Market
Get PDFIn February 2015 the Central Bank of Ireland introduced macroprudential measures for the Irish mortgage market in the form of limits on new lending at high loan-to-value and loan-toincome ratios. The objectives of the measures are to enhance resilience of banks and households to financial shocks and to curb cyclical tendencies in the mortgage market. The timing of the introduction of the measures was carefully considered and reflected emerging imbalances in the market as well as existing vulnerabilities in the household and banking sectors. While similar measures have been introduced in other jurisdictions, the design and application of the measures differ across countries. Some specific aspects of the design of the Irish measures include differentiated treatment for first-time buyers, buy-to-let borrowers and homeowners in negative equity. This paper discusses the rationale for the introduction of the measures as well as issues relating to their design and implementation
Spillover in Euro Area Sovereign Bond Markets – Corrigendum
Get PDFIn the above titled paper published in this journal Issue No. 2, Summer 2015 Figure 2a was repeated as Figure 2b. The correct figures are presented below. Original article:- http://www.esr.ie/article/view/34
An Analysis of Local Public Finances and the 2014 Local Government Reforms
Get PDFIn this paper we set out to analyse changes in local government expenditures and income in the context of central government austerity measures, local government budgetary adjustments and, most especially, the 2014 local government reforms. More specifically we outline the effect of the local government reforms, and, in particular, the redesign of intergovernmental fiscal relations (namely, territorial rescaling, expenditure and revenue re-assignment, changes in central government transfers) on the local public finances. Using data from the Local Authority Budgets we examine changes to the main service divisions, income sources and cross-council variations in expenditures and income, pre and post the 2014 reforms. Our results show that local government fiscal changes and recovery lag central government patterns, a general shift from central grants to local own-source revenues, and cross-council differences with respect to dependency and selfreliance persist. The establishment of Irish Water and the Local Property Tax have, at least initially, made the local government fiscal accounts, and in particular the Local Government Fund, less transparent and more complex, making an objective and accurate assessment of local authority budgets more difficult than before the reforms. Earlier publication of the consolidated Annual Financial Statements of the local authorities is called for so as to ensure continued scrutiny of the local public finances
Blowing the Bubble: The Global Funding of the Irish Credit Boom
Get PDFEuropean global banks played a significant role in the international transmission of liquidity during the period prior to the global financial crisis. This paper examines how European global banks channelled finance, raised in US wholesale funding markets, via cross-border banking flows to Irish retail banks during the first decade of the euro. The results indicate that global factors, namely the US-sourced funding of European global banks and global risk, were influential in driving cross-border banking inflows to Ireland. Furthermore, the empirical analysis suggests these global factors contributed to changes in domestic private non-financial sector credit during the Irish credit boom. These results shed new light on the factors influencing the international funding of Irish retail banks and changes in domestic credit during the credit boom
Conor Newman
Get PDFConor Newman, archaeologist, academic, and then chairman of the Heritage Council, wanted to drive home the message that investment in culture is investment in society and that cultural education should lie at the heart of cultural policy
Thank you very much to the organisers for inviting me to be here. I’m not going to speak from the perspective of the Heritage Council, per se, because this is about cultural policy; it is not about any one particular group of people