Anti-Paper Prophet: Comments on The Curse of Cash
ConclusionRogoff raises many other interesting issues in his response, and trying to cover them all would make this article much too lengthy. His arguments are generally sophisticated and sometimes challenging, even when I disagree with him or believe he hasn’t adequately addressed my concerns. Our most fundamental difference remains our analysis of the State. Rogoff unreflectively adopts what Harold Demsetz characte rizes as the“nirvana” approach to public policy. This makes him far more optimistic than is justified about the overall benevolence and competence of governments, particularly in developed countries. H...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - August 15, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey Rogers Hummel Source Type: blogs
PhysioSensing Smart Pressure Pad to Improve Rehab: Interview with Sensing Future ’s Pedro De Jesus Mendes
Sensing Future Technologies, a startup company based in Coimbra, Portugal, has developed a system called PhysioSensing that relies on a dense electronic pressure pad to assess a variety of characteristics about a person’s physical state, including balance, limits of stability, and related parameters. It can also be used, in a combination with gaming software, to help people with neurological and musculoskeletal conditions to rehabilitate. We had a chance to speak with one of the company founders, Pedro De Jesus Mendes, about PhysioSensing and to find out how it works and what it can offer to patients and rehabilitat...
Source: Medgadget - August 8, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Exclusive Rehab Sports Medicine Source Type: blogs
Sens. Cotton and Perdue ’s Bill to Cut Legal Immigration Won't Work and Isn't an Effective Bargaining Chip
ConclusionThe Cotton-Perdue bill wouldnot create a skills-based immigration system as President Trump has said hewants, it will not increase American wages, and it is not a credible bargaining chip in any future negotiations in Congress. Interestingly, thecurrent U.S. immigration system is gradually selecting a higher proportion of skilled immigrants over time without Congressional reform. The Cotton-Perdue bill deserves to be criticized but it is not a serious threat that should gain concessions from Congressmen or Senators in both parties who either support immigration reform or the current level of admissions. (So...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - August 2, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Alex Nowrasteh Source Type: blogs
Can you use diaper rash cream as sunscreen? Episode 162
Can you use diaper rash cream as sunscreen?
Mari asks…Today a customer came into the retail pharmacy where I work and demanded that we sell him zinc oxide diaper rash paste so he could use it as sunscreen. I tried to steer him in the direction of actual sunscreens with listed SPFs, but he was not to be dissuaded and ended up leaving with a tube of generic diaper rash cream (with no listed SPF) in hand. His rationale was that diaper rash paste has a higher percentage of zinc oxide than zinc oxide sunscreens. Although this is sometimes true, depending on the brand, my concern is that (a) the formulation of a diaper rash pa...
Source: thebeautybrains.com - July 20, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Perry Romanowski Tags: Podcast Source Type: blogs
10 Zika Free Destinations
If you are pregnant or are thinking of becoming pregnant it is very important to know the risk associated with zika virus and where it is safe to travel.
Zika Virus is becoming more known and is spread mostly by the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito. It can be transmitted through sex and can be passed from a pregnant woman to her fetus. This is very serious because infection during pregnancy can cause certain birth defects. Currently there is no vaccine or medicine for Zika. While zika is a risk in many countries, we have compiled a list of 10 destinations that are Zika free!
Bermuda
Looking for a quick flight? ...
Source: Cord Blood News - June 19, 2017 Category: Perinatology & Neonatology Authors: Maze Cord Blood Tags: parents pregnancy pregnancy health zika Source Type: blogs
17 years of systems biology
I know that 17 years is not a very round number. It is also fairly arbitrary as I am assuming systems biology started around 2000 (see below). I was last week in Portugal, where every year for the past 8 years I have been teaching a week long course on Systems and Synthetic Biology to theGABBA PhD program. This might be the last year I take part in this course and so I felt it would be a good time to try to put some thoughts in a blog post. This course has been jointly co-organised from the beginning withSilvia Santosand we had several guests throughout the years including Mol Sys Bioeditors Thomas Lemberger and Maria Poly...
Source: Evolution of Cellular Networks - April 10, 2017 Category: Cytology Source Type: blogs
Portugal-Style Bail-ins: The New Norm under Dodd-Frank?
As 2015 came to an end, so perhaps did a central tenet of resolving failed companies, the notion that “similarly situated” creditors ought to be treated equally, or, as the lawyers like to say “pari passu” (Latin for “on the same footing”).* The turning point was Portugal’s treatment of creditors of Novo Banco SA.
Until its failure in August of 2014, Banco Espirito Santo SA had been Portugal’s second largest bank. When it failed, the Banco de Portugal, acting as receiver, divided the failed bank into “good” and “bad” components, as the FDIC commonly does in the event of a large U.S. bank failu...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - January 20, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Mark A. Calabria Source Type: blogs
When Portugal Decriminalized Drugs
The Economist has produced a short film about Portugal’s pathbreaking decriminalization policy.
What happened when Portugal decriminalised drugs?
In 2009, Cato brought attention to Portugal policy when we published this paper by Glenn Greenwald. (Source: Cato-at-liberty)
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 2, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Tim Lynch Source Type: blogs
SciELO and LILACS - a way into the Latin American literature
SciELO and LILACS are databases covering literature from Latin America and the Caribbean, and in the case of SciELO, other places. It will include material that Medline, Embase and other “usual” sources miss. I have seen both mentioned as sources searched for systematic reviews. In addition to that, of course, they will be useful if you have an interest in those parts of the world or health issues endemic there.SciELO SciELO (“Scientific Electronic Library Online”) is a database of open access journal articles published in Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain, Portugal and South Afr...
Source: Browsing - February 27, 2015 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: Caribbean Latin America literature searching Portugal South Africa Spain Source Type: blogs
Eye-Opening Medical Missions in India and China
By Zubair Chao, MD
I had an opportunity to visit India as part of George Washington University’s International Emergency Medicine & Global Public Health Fellowship Program in April 2013. I gave lectures on endocrinology and HEENT as teaching faculty. I had already planned to go to China with my residency program and ultrasound fellowship directors, Drs. Cook and Hunt, respectively, and it was an easy decision for me to combine the trips for a firsthand view of emergency medical services in the world’s two most populated countries.
Emergency medicine is new in India, and it is not widely accepted as a reco...
Source: Going Global - March 5, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Portugal Drug Decriminalization Back in the News
Tim Lynch
Yesterday on Bloomberg TV’s Street Smart, Hanna Hetzer of the Drug Policy Alliance gave an interview about 10 years of drug decriminalization in Portugal. You can watch the video here.
Cato published the landmark study on Portugal’s drug decriminalization policy in 2009. Check it out. (Source: Cato-at-liberty)
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 25, 2014 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Tim Lynch Source Type: blogs
Vermont's Chief Justice Cites Cato Portugal Study
Tim Lynch
From the Seven Days publication:
In recent weeks, Vermont Chief Justice Paul Reiber has gone public with an unusually assertive critique of the war on drugs and the “tough on crime” approach that has defined criminal justice for decades.
Reiber, who holds an office in which occupants usually avoid saying anything remotely controversial, has stopped short of recommending policy or criticizing any individuals or government bodies. But in a pair of speeches and a brief interview with Seven Days, he has declared ineffective the current reliance on police and punishment, and touted the merits of treatment-based ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 19, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Tim Lynch Source Type: blogs
A Mission to One of the Most Devastated Places in the World
By Josh Skaggs, MD
I went on a medical mission to East Africa’s South Sudan this past January and February. The country is one of the most undeveloped, isolated, and devastated places in the world, and it was an amazing experience even though being there was incredibly tough.
South Sudan and Sudan used to be under the control of Egypt, and were overseen by Great Britain. Great Britain withdrew from Sudan, its former colony, in 1956. Sudan had two regions at that time, the Arab north and the tribal south. War broke out after the northern Sudanese government began killing all non-Arabs in the south who would not ...
Source: Going Global - July 15, 2013 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Class Warfare Tax Policy Causes Portugal to Crash on the Laffer Curve, but Will Obama Learn from this Mistake?
Daniel J. Mitchell
Back in mid-2010, I wrote that Portugal was going to exacerbate its fiscal problems by raising taxes.
Needless to say, I was right. Not that this required any special insight. After all, no nation has ever taxed its way to prosperity.
We’re now at the end of 2012 and Portugal is still saddled with a weak economy. And the higher taxes haven’t resulted in less red ink. Indeed, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, government debt has jumped from 93 percent of GDP in 2010 to 124 percent of GDP this year.
Why did higher taxes backfire in Portugal? For the same reasons that higher ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 31, 2012 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Daniel J. Mitchell Source Type: blogs
SurgeXperiences 3.23
It’s an honor and pleasure to bring you this new edition of The Best Surgical Grand Rounds Carnival.
FIFA WORLD CUP – SOUTH AFRICA 2010
I would like to express my gratitude to Jeffrey Leow of Vagus Surgicalis (Australian medical student with lots of interest and knowledge of surgery) and the creator of this Great Carnival. Australia is in Group D.
Bongi, a lucky SouthAfrican general surgeon who will host the FIFA World Cup in 12 days, shares a story that will push you to learn Afrikaans. South Africa will be head of the Group A and will play with México, Uruguay and France.
rlbates, my favorite (femal...
Source: Unbounded Medicine - May 30, 2010 Category: Surgery Authors: Jon Mikel I ñarritu Tags: Grand Rounds surgeXperiences Medlinks south africa world cup Source Type: blogs
