Suchergebnisse

Editor's Note: The Summer 1997 issue of ROPPA was devoted to a comparative analysis of personnel reforms in several European countries The symposium editor, David Farnham of the University of Portsmouth (UK), included selections dealing with "employment flexibilities" in the UK, Germany, Norway, and Spain For the most part, the authors of the various articles presented a relatively upbeat and positive outlook on personnel system reforms in their respective countries The following Professional Note, in contrast, provides a gloomier view of how reinvention-like reforms are altering public management practices in at least one European nation Jose Rocha, professor of public administration at the University of Minho, describes how moves to debureaucratize and decentralize Portuguese public administration have led to some unanticipated consequences. Increased levels of corruption, inefficiency, and politicization of the civil service are attributed to the "reforms" that emerged from the New Public Management movement sweeping Europe As such, Rocha's Professional Note is essentially intended as an indirect rebuttal to the earlier symposium. By pointing out some of the inconsistencies in the reform agenda, he identifies dilemmas that have also become apparent in the American experience with personnel system transformations.

Introduction: Traumatic brain injury has a considerable socio-economic impact, being a major cause of morbi-mortality, often with permanent disability. We sought to characterize health resource utilization of adult traumatic brain injury patients in Portugal between 2000 and 2010. Material and Methods: Retrospective study of medical records of adult patients with ICD9 diagnostic code of traumatic brain injury included in the National Diagnosis Related Groups Database from 2000-2010. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed and trends during the decade were evaluated. Results: We analysed 72 865 admissions to 111 hospitals, 64.1% males, mean age 57.9 ± 21.8 years (18-107). We found a decrease in number of traumatic brain injury in younger patients and an increase in older ones. The number of traffic accidents decreased and the number of falls increased. There was an increase of moderate to severe traumatic brain injury admissions: 47.2% in 2000 / 80% in 2010. Patients admitted in Intensive Care have nearly doubled (15.8% vs 29.5%) as well as the number submitted to neurosurgical procedures (8.2% vs 15.2%). Total mortality increased from 7.1% to 10.6%. Discussion: The decrease of traumatic brain injury may be associated with the trauma prevention campaigns, road network improvement and health politics. The increase in mortality may be related to better pre-hospital care, enabling more severe cases to arrive in hospital alive, and although treated more frequently in Intensive Care and requiring more neurosurgical procedures, they end up having higher mortality. Also this may be due to an increase in patients' age and worse pre-morbid status. Conclusion: Traumatic brain injury in Portugal is changing. Although hospital admissions due to global traumatic brain injury have decreased, mortality rate has increased.

A woman's nutritional status before and during pregnancy can affect the health of her progeny. Phenylketonuria (PKU), a rare disorder causing high blood and brain phenylalanine (Phe) concentrations, is associated with neurocognitive disability. Lifelong treatment is mainly dietetic with a Phe-restricted diet, supplemented with a low-Phe protein substitute. Treatment adherence commonly decreases in adolescence, with some adults ceasing dietary treatment. In maternal PKU, elevated blood Phe is harmful to the fetus so a strict Phe-restricted diet must be re-established preconception, and this is particularly difficult to achieve. A woman's reproductive years introduces an opportunity to adopt healthier behaviours to prepare for successful pregnancies and positive health outcomes for both themselves and their children. Several factors can influence the health status of women with PKU. Political, socioeconomic, and individual food and lifestyle choices affect diet quality, metabolic control, and epigenetics, which then pre-condition the overall maternal health and long-term health of the child. Here, we reflect on a comprehensive approach to treatment and introduce practical recommendations to optimize the wellbeing of women with PKU and the resultant health of their children. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Administrative reform has been an important issue for several decades in Western countries. Like other Western countries, Portugal developed an increasing interest in administrative reform. This article is a contemporary analysis of Portuguese administrative reform. It introduces the Portuguese system and outlines its major features. Briefly stated, the decrease in State expenditure is represented by the proletarization of the middle class that lives off the State; there is an increase in party clientelism, since the old systems based on legal statutes are subject to flexibilization; and, finally, privatizations increase economic monopolies because the regulatory agencies do not work. This means that if this therapy was to be applied to small countries like Portugal, it could have serious consequences for Europe.Points for practitionersThe article reflects the consequences of New Public Management when applied to a traditional bureaucracy. The introduction of administrative reform is more difficult in legal systems such as Portugal. So practitioners and politicians can learn from this case study when dealing with reforms in similar systems.

11 páginas, 7 figuras, 2 tablas ; The paper develops and analyses a dynamic general equilibrium model with heterogeneous agents that can be used for assessment of the economic consequences of fish stock-rebuilding policies within the EU. In the model, entry and exit processes for individual plants (vessels) are endogenous, as well as output, employment and wages. This model is applied to a fishery of the Mediterranean Sea. The results provide both individual and aggregate data that can help managers in understanding the economic consequences of rebuilding strategies. In particular, this study shows that, for the application presented, all aggregate results improve if the stock rebuilding strategy is followed, while individual results depend on the indicator selected ; José-María Da-Rocha has received funding from the European Commission Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No. 634495 for the project Science, Technology, and Society Initiative to minimize Unwanted Catches in European Fisheries (MINOUW), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (ECO2016-78819-R) and Xunta de Galicia (ref. GRC 2015/014 and ECOBAS). Raúl Prellezo gratefully acknowledges financial support from the Basque Government project MULTIPLAN of the Department of Economic Development and Infrastructures of the Basque Government. Luis Taboada Antelo gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Ramón y Cajal Programme of the Spanish Government ; Peer reviewed

Abstract. This paper presents a work that aims to monitor seismo-electromagnetic phenomena in the Western Part of the Eurasia-Nubia Plate Boundary. This region has a significant tectonic activity combined with relatively low electromagnetic noise levels, rendering high quality seismo-electromagnetic measurements possible. An overview of the seismicity of this region is presented and the research plan is discussed accordingly.