In birds with altricial young an important stage in the life history is the age at fledging. In this paper we use an approach proven successful in the prediction of the optimal age at maturity in fish and reptiles to predict the optimal age of fledging in passerines. Integrating the effects of growth on future fecundity and survival leads to the prediction that the optimal age at fledging is gi...

Several countries of Asia, including Malaysia, have in recent years experienced spectacular economic growth and social change. This, together with declining fertility rates and mortality rates, and accompanying increased expectation of life at birth have resulted in rapid population ageing of these countries. However, relative to the developed countries, where fertility and mortality declines, ...

1% in 2000. Although the objective was far from being reached (the current rate being close to 2%), in 2000 Mexico had 53 million inhabitants fewer than it would have had if fertility had remained at its 1970 level. The population pyramids of 1930, 1970 and 2000 clearly illustrate this dynamics (Figure 2). In 1930 the population was beginning to recover from the aftereffects of the Revolution a...

This paper explores the welfare consequences of unemployment insurance when private insurance markets are subject to enforcement frictions that limit debt accumulation, endogenously determining individual borrowing limits as a function of the length of unemployment. Reducing the replacement rate in the model initially increases borrowing, as the value of default declines significantly. As the r...

"The paper examines the mother's health-seeking behaviour and childhood mortality in Pakistan. This is based on the 1990-91 Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS).... It was found that neonatal, infant, and child mortality rate is the highest among children of mothers aged less than 20 years. Infant and child mortality rate is likewise higher among first and higher order births than amon...

Ecologic studies of cancer screening examine cancer mortality rates in relation to use of population screening. These studies can be confounded by treatment patterns or influenced by choice of outcome and time horizon. Interpretation can be complicated by uncertainty about when mortality differences might be expected. The authors examined these issues in an ecologic analysis of prostate-specifi...

Between 1950 and 1980, China experienced the most rapid sustained increase in life expectancy of any population in documented global history. We know of no study that has quantitatively assessed the relative importance of the various explanations proposed for this gain in survival. We have created and analysed a new, province-level panel data set spanning the decades between 1950 and 1980 by co...

In the early years of the twentieth century, enormous concern was focused on the relationship between the health of the child and the welfare of the nation. In 1902, Leslie Mackenzie and Matthew Hay informed the Royal Commission on Physical Training (Scotland) that large numbers of children in Aberdeen and Edinburgh were suffering from serious medical conditions which could pose a threat to the...

Knowledge of future mortality levels and trends is important for actuarial practice but poses a challenge to actuaries and demographers. The Lee-Carter method, currently used for mortality forecasting, is based on the assumption that the historical evolution of mortality at all age groups is driven by one factor only. This approach cannot capture an additive manner of mortality decline observed...

OBJECTIVES Coeliac disease has emerged as an increasingly recognised public health problem over the last half-century, and is now coming to be seen as a global phenomenon, despite a profound lack of globally representative epidemiological data. Since children with coeliac disease commonly present with chronic diarrhoea and malnutrition, diagnosis is often overlooked, particularly in poorer sett...