This study examined the relationship between the total fertility rate and under-five child sex ratio to understand the role of fertility in the phenomenon of missing girls in India. Using data from the last four decennial censuses for the fifteen major states of India and their districts, covering more than 90% of the population of India, the study showed that there was a major decline in the female to male child sex ratio from 1981 to 2011 in most of the major Indian states and their districts. The panel regression model showed that the total fertility rate was significantly associated with the under-five child sex ratio at the district level for the 30-year period from 1981 to 2011 in India, even after controlling for other factors and any other unobserved heterogeneity. This indicates that areas of India with the highest fertility had the higher female to male child sex ratio, while low-fertility districts had a more male-biased sex ratio.

To analyze fresh vegetable consumption using household survey data, the tobit model and a more flexible parameterization to the tobit model—the “double hurdle” model—were considered. Based on the likelihood ratio test, the tobit model was rejected against the “double hurdle” specification. Moreover, the results suggest that the tobit model underestimated the impact of the explanatory variables on fresh vegetable expenditures. Other results indicate that total food expenditures (proxy for income), age, household composition, sex, race, marital status, urbanization, region, and seasonality are all important determinants of fresh vegetable expenditures.

This study examines imposing and testing restrictions on preference variables in the Rotterdam model through the impacts of these variables on marginal utilities. An empirical analysis of the impact of a female labor force participation variable in a Rotterdam demand system for fresh fruit illustrates the methodology. This variable was modeled through its impact on marginal utilities via “adjusted” prices, following theoretical work by Basmann and Barten, among others. Results show that the female labor participation has negatively impacted the demands for citrus, while positively impacting the demands for other fresh fruit.

Later-life loneliness is becoming an area of great concern in Uganda in light of gradual weakening of extended family as a source of old-age human support. Although information about the effects of feeling lonely exists, little is known about the associated risk factors within the country's social and cultural setting. This paper discusses prevalence and correlates of feeling lonely among older persons. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on 605 older persons in a 2012 cross-sectional study. Respondents were asked to evaluate how they felt in terms of loneliness during the administration of the questionnaire. A total of ten focus group discussions and 12 key informant interviews were also conducted to collect qualitative data. Binary logistic regression was used to predict factors affecting loneliness. Findings indicate that approximately seven in ten older persons felt lonely. Elderly people residing in the urban area were more likely to be lonely than their counterparts staying in the rural environment. In comparison with married older persons, elderly people who were widowed were more likely to be lonely. Absence of a television and pension benefits and prevalence of limb joint ill-health predicted loneliness. The findings have several implications, including developing age-friendly urban centres, encouraging old-age social organisations, decentralising the elderly health-care system and establishing a special old-age fund.

Using the South Korean national live birth data for the years 2003 to 2007, monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twin birth rates were estimated and analyzed by maternal age, and parents of twins and those of singletons were compared in their level of education. During this period, while the MZ twin birth rate showed no change, the DZ twin birth rate increased up to 9.4 pairs per thousand births. This rate is close to five times as high as the natural DZ twinning rate in the South Korean population. The highest twinning rate occurred among mothers aged 30 to 34 years, followed by mothers aged 25 to 29. These results represented the first evidence for the downward trend in ages of mothers of twins. In each year between 2003 and 2006, percentages of parents who completed college or higher level of education were higher in the twin than in the singleton group, suggesting that the parental socioeconomic level became higher in twins than in singletons. We speculated that these demographic changes occurred because assisted reproductive technology was more easily available among parents of high socioeconomic status. In their sampling strategies, twin researchers should consider our findings of recent changes in demographic characteristics of parents of twins as well as increased DZ twin birth rates.

Objective – The study aims to identify the predicting factors of hospitalization in patients who come in Emergency Room with psychiatric symptoms. Method – Cross-sectional study using data collected by E.R. of S.Gerardo Hospital in Monza from 1st of June 1995 to 31 May 1997. Inclusion criteria were age older than 18 and the need for psychiatric evaluation. The influence on disposition decision of demographic, clinical and service variables were assessed. Main outcome measures – Data were collected by a questionnaire designed for the study and administered by a trained psychiatrist. Statistical analysis was performed by univariate analysis and logistic regression. Results – 2076 cases were evaluated. Univariate analysis yielded higher odds of hospitalization for patients between 39 and 48 years of age, unmarried, unemployed, affected by schizophrenia, mood disorders or personality disorders. A linear trend was reported between hospitalization and severity of illness, siucide risk and aggressivness. While anxiety proved to be a protective factor, hallucination, delusion, lack of insight, psychomotor inhibition, agitation, confusion, destructive behaviour, odd behaviour, abnormal consciousness and previous hospitalization increase inpatient disposition. On Monday and Friday higher frequency of hospitalization was observed. Logistic regression confirm the role of age, symptoms, aggressive behaviour, severity of illness, suicide risk, and, among services variables, days of the week. Conclusion – Clinical variables proved to be the main predictors of hospitalization, and an important role is played by the availability of outpatients services: hospitalization was more frequent in the days closer the week-end, when the outpatient services are closed.

The aim of this study was to examine discrepancies between immediate/delayed recall and recall/working memory in middle-aged and older persons by age and education. Participants were 322 healthy individuals from the community who were stratified into three age and three education groups. Immediate and delayed recall distributions of WMS-III Logical Memory (LM) scores approximated normal curves, and LM savings scores showed a significant, but small, effect of age. LM (immediate, delayed) and Letter-Number Sequencing (LNS) discrepancies varied as a function of age and education. The difference between LM and LNS was not significant in the younger and less educated participants, but increased with age in the most educated group, and in the oldest group LNS exceeded LM (immediate and delayed). The results indicate deterioration in encoding and retrieval, rather than storage, with age, and show a differential, but small, effect of age and education on the memory measures. Working memory was resistant to age-related decline relative to immediate and delayed recall in the oldest, most educated group. Delayed recall–working memory discrepancy is relatively stable with age and education and may be a useful index of the onset of memory pathology across different ages and levels of education.(JINS, 2009, 15, 963–972.)

Metabolic syndrome (MS) is more common among socio-economically disadvantaged individuals and is associated with certain risky lifestyle practices. MS also appears to be triggered by adverse social circumstances and chronic stress. The present paper reviews accumulating evidence to imply that individuals who have certain personality and behaviour traits are particularly predisposed to develop MS, and brings together theories that relate to possible psychological mechanisms underlying MS. It considers how such factors might interact causally to encourage the development of MS. As part of the EU-funded LIPGENE Integrated Project, multi-level modelling will be undertaken to explore potential pathways to MS, taking into consideration the interplay between a range of psycho-social, demographic, cultural and lifestyle factors thought to contribute to the development of MS. Data will be gathered for this purpose from a representative sample of >50-year-olds living in Britain (n 1000) and Portugal (n 500). It is anticipated that this information will assist in the development and targetting of future intervention to prevent and treat MS in the normal population.