64 research outputs found
Measuring geographical disparities in England at the time of COVID-19: results using a composite indicator of population vulnerability
No full textObjectives The growth of COVID-19 infections in England raises questions about system vulnerability. Several factors that vary across geographies, such as age, existing disease prevalence, medical resource availability and deprivation, can trigger adverse effects on the National Health System during a pandemic. In this paper, we present data on these factors and combine them to create an index to show which areas are more exposed. This technique can help policy makers to moderate the impact of similar pandemics.
Design We combine several sources of data, which describe specific risk factors linked with the outbreak of a respiratory pathogen, that could leave local areas vulnerable to the harmful consequences of large-scale outbreaks of contagious diseases. We combine these measures to generate an index of community-level vulnerability.
Setting 91 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in England.
Main outcome measures We merge 15 measures spatially to generate an index of community-level vulnerability. These measures cover prevalence rates of high-risk diseases; proxies for the at-risk population density; availability of staff and quality of healthcare facilities.
Results We find that 80% of CCGs that score in the highest quartile of vulnerability are located in the North of England (24 out of 30). Here, vulnerability stems from a faster rate of population ageing and from the widespread presence of underlying at-risk diseases. These same areas, especially the North-East Coast areas of Lancashire, also appear vulnerable to adverse shocks to healthcare supply due to tighter labour markets for healthcare personnel. Importantly, our index correlates with a measure of social deprivation, indicating that these communities suffer from long-standing lack of economic opportunities and are characterised by low public and private resource endowments.
Conclusions Evidence-based policy is crucial to mitigate the health impact of pandemics such as COVID-19. While current attention focuses on curbing rates of contagion, we introduce a vulnerability index combining data that can help policy makers identify the most vulnerable communities. We find that this index is positively correlated with COVID-19 deaths and it can thus be used to guide targeted capacity building. These results suggest that a stronger focus on deprived and vulnerable communities is needed to tackle future threats from emerging and re-emerging infectious disease
AHI1, a pivotal neurodevelopmental gene, and C6orf217 are associated with susceptibility to schizophrenia
No full textSchizophrenia, a severe neuropsychiatric disorder, is believed to involve multiple genetic factors. A significant body of evidence supports a pivotal role for abnormalities of brain development in the disorder. Linkage signals for schizophrenia map to human chromosome 6q. To obtain a finer localization, we genotyped 180 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a young, inbred Arab-Israeli family sample with a limited number of founders. The SNPs were mostly within a approximately 7 Mb region around the strong linkage peak at 136.2 Mb that we had previously mapped. The most significant genetic association with schizophrenia for single SNPs and haplotypes was within a 500 kb genomic region of high linkage disequilibrium (LD) at 135.85 Mb. In a different, outbred, nuclear family sample that was not appropriate for linkage analysis, under-transmitted haplotypes incorporating the same SNPs (but not the individual SNPs) were significantly associated with schizophrenia. The implicated genomic region harbors the Abelson Helper Integration Site 1 (AHI1) gene, which showed the strongest association signal, and an adjacent, primate-specific gene, C6orf217. Mutations in human AHI1 underlie the autosomal recessive Joubert Syndrome with brain malformation and mental retardation. Previous comparative genomic analysis has suggested accelerated evolution of AHI1 in the human lineage. C6orf217 has multiple splice isoforms and is expressed in brain but does not seem to encode a functional protein. The two genes appear in opposite orientations and their regulatory upstream regions overlap, which might affect their expression. Both, AHI1 and C6orf217 appear to be highly relevant candidate genes for schizophrenia
Health misperception and healthcare utilisation among older europeans
No full textHealth perception biases can have serious consequences on health. Despite their relevance, the role of such biases in determining healthcare utilisation is severely underexplored. Here we study the relationship between health misperception, doctor visits, and concomitant out-of-pocket expenditures for the population 50+ in Europe. We conceptualise health misperception as arising from either overconfidence or under confidence, where overconfidence is measured as overestimation of health and under confidence is measured as underestimation of health. Comparing objective performance measures and their self-reported equivalents from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, we find that individuals who overestimate their health visit the doctor 14% less often than individuals who correctly assess their health, which is crucial for preventive care such as screenings. Lower health care utilization is accompanied by lower out-of-pocket spending (38% less). In contrast, individuals who underestimate their health visit the doctor more often (28% more) and have higher out-of-pocket spending (17% more). We project that underestimating health of the population 50+ will cost the average European country Intl 81million by 2060. Country-specific estimates based on population and demographic projections show that countries such as Germany, Denmark and The Netherlands will experience significantly large costs of such misperception. The results are robust to several sensitivity tests and, more important, to various conceptualisations of the misperception measure
Vertical and horizontal equity of funding for malaria control: a global multi source funding analysis for 2006-2010
No full textBackground International and domestic funding for malaria is critically important to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Its equitable distribution is key in ensuring that the available, scarce, resources are deployed efficiently for improved progress and a sustained response that enables eradication.
Methods We used concentration curves and concentration indices to assess inequalities in malaria funding by different donors across countries, measuring both horizontal and vertical equity. Horizontal equity assesses whether funding is distributed in proportion to health needs, whereas vertical equity examines whether unequal economic needs are addressed by appropriately unequal funding. We computed the Health Inequity Index and the Kakwani Index to assess the former and the latter, respectively. We used data from the World Bank, Global Fund, Unicef, President’s Malaria Initiative and the Malaria Atlas Project to assess the distribution of funding against need for 94 countries. National gross domestic product per capita was used as a proxy for economic need and ‘population-at-risk’ for health need.
Findings The level and direction of inequity varies across funding sources. Unicef and the President’s Malaria Initiative were the most horizontally inequitable (pro-poor). Inequity as shown by the Health Inequity Index for Unicef decreased from −0.40 (P0.10) in 2006 to −0.38 (P<0.05) in 2008, and decreased to −0.36 (P<0.10) in 2010. Domestic funding was inequitable (pro-rich) with inequity increasing from 0.28 (P<0.01) in 2006 to 0.39 (P<0.01) in 2009, and then decreasing to 0.22 (P<0.10) in 2010. Funding from the World Bank and the Global Fund was distributed proportionally according to need. In terms of vertical inequity, all sources were progressive: Unicef and the President’s Malaria Initiative were the most progressive with the Kakwani Indices ranging from −0.97 (P<0.01) to −1.29 (P<0.01), and −0.90 (P<0.01) to −1.10 (P<0.01), respectively.
Conclusion Our results suggest that external funding of malaria treatment tends to be allocated to countries with higher health and economic need but not in proportion to their relative health need and income when compared to other countries. While malaria eradication might require funders to disproportionally allocate funding that goes beyond (financial and health) need, our analysis highlights that funders might potentially be targeting in excess certain countries. Regular assessments of need and greater coordination among donors are necessary for equitable resource allocation, to improve and sustain progress with malaria control and elimination
Socioeconomic inequalities in arts engagement and depression among older adults in the United Kingdom: evidence from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing
No full textObjectives: Arts engagement has been positively linked with mental health and well-being; however, socio-economic inequalities may be prevalent in access to and uptake of arts engagement reflecting on inequalities in mental health. This study estimated socio-economic inequality and horizontal inequity (unfair inequality) in arts engagement and depression symptoms of older adults in England. Trends in inequality and inequity were measured over a period of ten years.
Study design: This is a repeated cross-sectional study.
Methods: In this analysis, we used data from six waves (waves 2 to 7) of the nationally representative English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. We estimated socio-economic inequality using concentration curves that plot the distribution of arts engagement and depression symptoms against the distribution of wealth. A concentration index was used to measure the magnitude of the inequality. Unfair inequality was then calculated for need-standardised arts engagement using a horizontal inequity index (HII).
Results: The study sample included adults aged 50 years and older from waves 2 (2004/2005, n = 6620) to 7 (2014/2015, n = 3329). Engagement with cinema, galleries and theatre was pro-rich unequal, i.e. concentrated among the wealthier, but inequality in depression was pro-poor unequal, i.e. concentrated more among the less wealthy. While pro-rich inequality in arts engagement decreased from wave 2 (conc. index: 0·291, 95% confidence interval 0·27 to 0·31) to wave 7 (conc. index: 0·275, 95% confidence interval 0·24 to 0·30), pro-poor inequality in depression increased from wave 2 (conc. index: −0·164, 95% confidence interval -0·18 to −0·14) to wave 7 (conc. index: −0·189, 95% confidence interval -0·21 to −0·16). Depression-standardised arts engagement showed horizontal inequity that increased from wave 2 (HII: 0·455, 95% confidence interval 0·42 to 0·48) to wave 7 (HII: 0·464, 95% confidence interval 0·42 to 0·50).
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that while socio-economic inequality in arts engagement might appear to have reduced over time, once arts engagement is standardised for need, inequality has actually worsened over time and can be interpreted as inequitable (unfair). Relying on need-unstandardised estimates of inequality might thus provide a false sense of achievement to policy makers and lead to improper social prescribing interventions being emplaced
Kerangka Kaedah Kajian Penyelidikan: Faktor-faktor yang Mempengaruhi Komitmen Prestasi Kerja
No full textPrestasi kerja dilihat sebagai suatu set tingkah laku yang relevan dengan pencapaian matlamat organisasi atau unit organisasi tempat seseorang itu bekerja. Kerajaan telah menyarankan budaya kerja berasaskan prestasi dengan menggunakan petunjuk-petunjuk prestasi utama atau Key Performance Indicators (KPI) yang diterapkan dalam perkhidmatan awam mahupun swasta bagi meningkatkan kualiti penyampaian perkhidmatan. Sejajar dengan visi, misi dan fungsi agensi, setiap organisasi perlu mengukur prestasi perkhidmatan yang diberikan bagi memastikan semua perkhidmatan berkenaan disampaikan kepada pelanggan dengan baik. Ini secara tidak langsung dapat memberikan gambaran yang jelas mengenai prestasi organisasi secara keseluruhannya. Menyedari akan kepentingan prestasi kerja dalam meningkatkan kecemerlangan sesebuah organisasi, maka kajian ini cuba menghasilkan kerangka kaedah kajian penyelidikan bagi mengkaji faktor komitmen kerja yang mempengaruhi prestasi kerja seseorang pekerja di dalam organisasi. Walaubagaimanapun, kerangka kajian penyelidikan ini hanya memberi penekanan kepada empat faktor komitmen kerja yang mempengaruhi prestasi kerja yang utama sahaja sebagai pemboleh ubah tidak bersandar iaitu faktor penyeliaan, rakan sekerja, pendapatan dan minat. Kajian ini juga akan menjadikan latar belakang seperti jantina, umur dan tempoh pekerjaan sebagai pembolehubah terdahulu yang akan dihubungkaitkan dengan prestasi kerja secara tidak langsung. Kaedah kajian penyelidikan yang digunakan adalah kaedah kuantitif dengan menggunakan borang soal selidik untuk mendapatkan maklumat daripada responden. Kerangka kajian di jangka mampu membantu sesebuah organisai mengenalpasti isu di dalam organisasi dan mengambil tindakan yang sewajarnya bagi meningkatkan prestasi kerja mereka
Konsep Kendiri dan Gaya Pembelajaran terhadap Motivasi Akademik dalam kalangan Mahasiswa
No full textKepercayaan terhadap diri sendiri adalah sangat penting untuk memastikan individu sentiasa berfikiran positif dan terus semangat dalam menjalani kehidupan seharian sebagai seorang pelajar. Gaya pembelajaran yang betul juga adalah penting untuk pastikan seseorang itu terus cemerlang dan yakin dalam urusan akademik. Statistik dunia menunjukkan bahawa seramai 11.5% pelajar Korea Selatan bunuh diri akibat tertekan dengan ujian sekolah. Terdapat kes di Malaysia di mana pelajar cemerlang SPM bunuh diri akibat tidak mempunyai keyakinan dalam pelajaran. Objektif kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji tahap, perhubungan dan perbezaan antara konsep kendiri, gaya pembelajaran dengan motivasi akademik. Kajian ini dilakukan di Universiti Putra Malaysia dalam kalangan mahasiswa tahun pertama sesi 2019/2020. Seramai 251 responden libatkan diri dalam kajian ini. Kajian ini adalah berbentuk kuantitatif dan responden dipilih melalui persampelan bertujuan mudah. Seterusnya, melalui persampelan rawak berstrata, 234 mahasiswa perempuan dan 117 mahasiswa lelaki telah dibahagikan. Instrumen kajian menggunakan borang soal selidik yang terdiri dari empat bahagian iaitu Bahagian A (latar belakang responden), Bahagian B (konsep kendiri), Bahagian C (gaya pembelajaran) dan Bahagian D (motivasi akademik). Hasil kajian dianalisis menggunakan analisis deskriptif, korelasi pearson dan ujian-T. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa mahasiswa tahun pertama di Universiti Putra Malaysia memiliki tahap konsep kendiri, motivasi akademik intrinsik dan motivasi akademik ekstrinsik yang tinggi. Responden juga didapati lebih cenderung dengan gaya pembelajaran visual dan kinestetik berbanding gaya pembelajaran auditori. Bagi perkaitan antara konsep kendiri dan motivasi akademik, didapati terdapat perhubungan yang positif di mana dilihat konsep kendiri mempengaruhi motivasi akademik. Dapatan kajian juga menunjukkan bahawa gaya pembelajaran visual dan kinestetik mempengaruhi motivasi akademik responden. Hasil kajian mendapati bahawa terdapat perbezaan yang signifikan antara konsep kendiri, gaya pembelajaran visual dan motivasi akademik dengan jantina. Berdasarkan skor min dapat dilihat perempuan mendapat skor min yang lebih tinggi berbanding lelaki. Secara keseluruhan, kajian ini telah berjaya mencapai objektif yang telah dinyatakan. Ibu bapa, guru dan pelajar itu sendiri haruslah memainkan peranan yang penting untuk memastikan motivasi akademik sentiasa berada di tahap yang tinggi
Retirement and Household Expenditure in Turbulent Times
No full textWe examine how expenditure changes at retirement during an institutionally and economically uncertain period when a series of pension reforms and cuts were implemented. Overall, we fail to confirm that consumption declines at retirement using data from Greece (2008–2018). Any estimated declines come from turbulent years when major pension cuts were applied. Expenditure drops at retirement were due to pension income shocks, especially for those who were particularly dependent on pension income. Further checks support the presence of an income shock mechanism for retirees who are relatively more treated during the crisis sub-period. Given an aging population and the ongoing global turbulence, our results offer valuable insights
A Pilot Study of the Relationship Between Parenting Style and Academic Procrastination Among Final Year Students of Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)
No full textAcademic procrastination is a behaviour which can be defined as putting off, delay, prolong, defer, stall, or postpone in performing tasks related to the academic. Academic procrastination is not a new phenomenon but it is a common behaviour especially among students as previous research has found that approximately 75% of students consider themselves as procrastinators. This issue is very much related to the “Student Syndrome” where student only starts to make themselves work in completing the task instantly right before the due date and leaving them with a very short period of time to complete it. There were many previous researchers that had investigated the factors that causing academic procrastination and one of the most common factors are parenting style. However, the pattern of the previous results was inconsistent. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate in deep on the relationship between the motivational aspects of parenting style to academic procrastination with focusing among the undergraduate students who are in their final year from Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra Malaysia. The research design of this study is a quantitative research and for that reason, a set of questionnaire was distributed to 148 respondents. Result shows that 52.7% of the final year students perceived at high level of academic procrastination. Apart from that, the result also shows that there is no significant relationship between gender and parenting styles to academic procrastination. As a conclusion, academic procrastination is a common behaviour among final year students. However, parenting styles does not affecting academic procrastination due to the students’ age which can be categorised as early adulthood which at this age, parenting style factors does not give an impact on academic procrastination
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