Saving on health: two prosperous countries in the West - Germany and the United States - are in trouble over health costs

Article Abstract:

The increasing cost of medical care has become a political issue in both the US and Germany. The German government has decreed the the prices of drugs must go down while the price of health insurance must go up. In the US President Bush advocates relying on market forces to bring costs down while Bill Clinton favors imposing caps on some costs. None of these approaches is likely to work. A good first step toward an effective cost control policy would be to mandate that physicians must make the prices of services known ahead of time.

Editorial, Laws, regulations and rules, Germany, International aspects, Social policy, Medical care, Cost of, Health care costs, Medical fees

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Costs of conception in baboons

Article Abstract:

A study of baboons shows that high-ranking females conceive more readily than low-ranking ones but also have more frequent miscarriages. This is probably due to less social constraint on conception of a dominant female and social support of her offspring, irrespective of the time of birth. Therefore, dominant females have more opportunity to conceive socially but physiologically, lower progesterone levels that are enough for conception in dominant females may not be enough to maintain the pregnancy, resulting in miscarriages.

Physiological aspects, Miscarriage, Baboons, Conception, Conception (Human reproduction)

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Masculinization costs in hyaenas

Article Abstract:

A study conducted on reproduction success of spotted hyenas indicates that certain masculinization of the females causes occasionally fatal problems during birth. There is also evidence that abnormal labour in females giving birth for the first time decreases the reproductive capability by 24.8%. Dominant females, those exposed to high concentrations of androgen during development, are less susceptible than lower ranking females to birth problems.

Patient outcomes, Mortality, Infants (Newborn), Newborn infants, Infant mortality, Mothers, Maternal mortality, Reproductive organs, Female, Female genitalia, Hyenas

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