The Connected Hippocampus, 1st Edition | Shane O’Mara, Marian Tsanov | ISBN 9780444635495
The Connected Hippocampus, 1st Edition | Shane O’Mara, Marian Tsanov | ISBN 9780444635495
The purpose of this volume is to encourage researchers to situate the hippocampus as part of a network connected to the rest of the brain and not to consider it in isolation. We therefore present a selection of chapters that concentrate on understanding the functions of the hippocampus in terms of the connectivity of the hippocampus itself: in other words, in terms of its cortical and subcortical inputs and outputs.
The Truth About The Left Brain / Right Brain Relationship : 13.7: Cosmos And Culture : NPR
The Truth About The Left Brain / Right Brain Relationship : 13.7: Cosmos And Culture : NPR
via The Truth About The Left Brain / Right Brain Relationship : 13.7: Cosmos And Culture : NPR.
Minding Our Minds, Ctd
This week, the National Institutes of Health released a report on the future of neuroscience, which Gary Marcus calls “the first substantive step in developing President Obama’s BRAIN Initiative.” Marcus considers the report’s nine outlined goals:
The most important goal, in my view, is buried in the middle of the list at No. 5, which seeks to link human behavior with the activity of neurons. This is more daunting than it seems: scientists have yet to even figure out how the relatively simple, three-hundred-and-two-neuron circuitry of the C. Elegans worm works, in part because there are so many possible interactions that can take place between sets of neurons. A human brain, by contrast, contains approximately eighty-six billion neurons.
To progress, we need to learn how to combine the insights of molecular biochemistry, which has come to dominate the lowest reaches of neuroscience, with the study of computation and cognition, which…
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Science, technology and industry scoreboard: how do countries compare? | News | guardian.co.uk
Science, technology and industry scoreboard: how do countries compare? | News | guardian.co.uk.
Where are people losing their jobs? Which are the university hotspots for sciences? Find the latest statistics from the OECD showing how science, technology and industry trends compare by country
• Get the data
Is it worth going to university? Part I (via CMPO Viewpoint)
via CMPO Viewpoint
Is it worth going to university? Part II (via CMPO Viewpoint)
via CMPO Viewpoint
Kelly says cost of mortgage forgiveness ‘not enormous’ – The Irish Times – Fri, Aug 19, 2011
Kelly says cost of mortgage forgiveness ‘not enormous’ – The Irish Times – Fri, Aug 19, 2011.
GENEVIEVE CARBERY
A DEBT forgiveness scheme to relieve homeowners in mortgage distress would cost “in the region of €5-€6 billion”, UCD professor of economics Morgan Kelly has said.
In a keynote address to the Irish Society of New Economists in Dublin yesterday, Prof Kelly delivered what he described as some “good news”.
“We are talking sums in the region of €5 billion to €6 billion which would be necessary to spend on mortgage forgiveness, which by our standards are not very large,” he said.
You read it here first, folks!
Where did it all go so badly wrong? (Part V – Language)
February 11, 2011 Shane O’Mara(V)
Language has the important property of ‘framing’ arguments and discussions.
The crime debate in the UK was dominated by the phrase ‘short, sharp, shock’, which relied on the folk theory that quick and severe punishment would shock teenagers out of criminal tendencies. (The pleasing alliteration of the successive sibilants was an important, but useless, selling point too). Short, sharp shocks, of course, predictably have no such effect, but why let data from the psychology of punishment and from criminology influence debate?
The phrase ‘cut and run’ was used to forestall debate about the palpably-failing US military strategy in Iraq, until empirical reality forced a change of direction.
The debate in Ireland over privatisation uses phrases designed to prevent discussion, such as ‘selling off the family silver ware’* or, much less analytically, that privatisation is ‘stupid’ (Ex-Minister Ryan). Who wants to be stupid? O course silver plates aren’t much good if you don’t have the food to eat from them. In the UK, the privatisation debate is about how a ‘war chest’ can be created for stimulus purposes. The consequences of the language used about privatisation frames very different outcomes. Unless one believes that the current configuration of Government ownership of assets is exactly optimal (an unfalsifiable position), then privatisation is reasonable to consider. It is our capital after all, and can be used to solve problems. By some estimates, the ESB is worth about €7.5 B**; there are perhaps 750,000 mortgages in the country. Privatisation would allow the quick writing down of these mortgages by €100,000 a piece, relieving enormous and growing distress, and giving the banks additional working capital to relieve other logjams in the economy. I am sure there are a thousand good reasons why this policy can’t be enacted, but there are 750,000 reasons why it could. And it is our money anyway, isn’t it?!
*This remark is in comment # 1, not the article itself, which makes a good argument against privatisations. However, things have changed a bit since August 3rd.
**I can’t find where I read this estimate, but there are relevant numbers here.
The full series is available as an article: Where did it all go wrong article in pdf.
Funding for scientific research holding – Forfás – The Irish Times – Tue, Aug 16, 2011
Funding for scientific research holding – Forfás – The Irish Times – Tue, Aug 16, 2011.
Funding for scientific research holding – Forfás
DICK AHLSTROM, Science Editor
STATE FUNDING for scientific research has held up well in spite of the recession, the head of Forfás has said.
Forfás, the policy advisory board for enterprise and science, has released the latest figures for State sector research funding, with detailed returns for 2009 and estimated figures for 2010.
Report available here.
Irish health system is ‘most efficient’ in world
Here’s a remarkable story, via The Guardian. It seems to have not been reported in the press here at all (at least I haven’t found a reference to it). I wonder why the HSE hasn’t been all over it?
The NHS is one of the most cost-effective health systems in the developed world, according to a study (pdf) published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.
The “surprising” findings show the NHS saving more lives for each pound spent as a proportion of national wealth than any other country apart from Ireland over 25 years. Among the 17 countries considered, the United States healthcare system was among the least efficient and effective. [emphasis added]
Here’s the paper. And below is the abstract:
Comparing the USA, UK and 17 Western countries’ efficiency and effectiveness in reducing mortality
Colin Pritchard1 and Mark S Wallace2
1School of Health & Social Care, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, UK
2Department of Economics, Latymer School, London, UK
Correspondence to: Colin Pritchard. Email: cpritchard@bournemouth.ac.uk
Abstract
Objectives To test the hypothesis that the USA healthcare system was superior to the NHS and 17 other Western countries in reducing feasible mortality rates over the period 1979–2005.
Design Economic inputs into healthcare, GDP health expenditure (GDPHE) were compared with clinical outputs, i.e. total ‘adult’ (15–74 years) and ‘older’ (55–74 years) mortality rates based upon three-year average mortality rates for 1979–81 vs. 2003–2005. A cost-effective ratio was calculated by dividing average GDPHE into reduced mortality rates over the period.
Setting Nineteen Western countries’ mortality rates compared between 1979–2005.
Participants Mortality of people by age and gender.
Main outcome measures A cost-effective ratio to measure efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare systems in reducing mortality rates. Chi-square tested any differences between the USA, UK and other Western countries.
Results Input: The USA had the highest current and average GDPHE; the UK was 10th highest but joint 16th overall, still below the Western countries’ average. Output: Every country’s mortality rate fell substantially; but 15 countries reduced their mortality rates significantly more than the US, while UK ‘adult’ and ‘older’ mortality rates fell significantly more than 12 other countries. Cost-effectiveness: The USA GDPHE: mortality rate ratio was 1:205 for ‘adults’ and 1:515 for ‘older’ people, 16 Western countries having bigger ratios than the US; the UK had second greatest ratios at 1:593 and 1:1595, respectively. The UK ratios were >20% larger than 14 other countries.
Conclusions In cost-effective terms, i.e. economic input versus clinical output, the USA healthcare system was one of the least cost-effective in reducing mortality rates whereas the UK was one of the most cost-effective over the period.
© 2011 Royal Society of Medicine Press
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