Administration of drugs to newborns in an unapproved manner was common in the participating Slovak neonatal wards, reflecting the lack of appropriate pediatric drug labeling.
PurposeThe purpose of this research is to identify and test selected economic and organisational factors influencing the sustainability of participatory budgeting (PB) in Slovakia.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected from websites and publicly available documents from all local governments with urban municipality status in Slovakia, for a total of 155 municipalities, 59 of which have established a participatory budget. The main method applied was correlation analysis.FindingsThe findings indicate: (1) a weak inverse correlation between debt level and the continuous existence of PB in municipalities; (2) a moderate direct correlation between the duration of PB in a municipality and integration of PB in its programme budgeting; (3) a moderate direct correlation between the duration of PB in a municipality and the political experience of the mayor.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings are derived from a quantitative analysis of cases localised in a single country, and therefore interpretation requires an awareness of the context of local democracy in Slovakia. In this regard, any generalisation beyond the context under study needs to be considered with caution.Originality/valueThis research fills a gap in the role of PB in the context of sustainability, especially in the context of a post-communist country like Slovakia. It applies a quantitative approach to the analysis of PB, which is relatively rare in this field of study (qualitative case studies are predominant in PB research).
A total of 134 episodes of staphylococcal bacteremia (SBE) appearing among 9987 admissions, and 979 episodes of bacteremia in cancer patients within 5 years, were analyzed for risk factors, clinical course and outcome; 64 were monomicrobial and 70 polymicrobial. The most frequent risk factors were acute leukemia, catheter insertion, long-lasting neutropenia, and prior prophylaxis with quinolones. There was no significant difference between polymicrobial and monomicrobial SBE in risk factors. The two groups differed only in the source of bacteremia (gastrointestinal and respiratory-tract infections were more common in monomicrobial SBE) and etiology-Staphylococcus aureus appeared more frequently in monomicrobial than in polymicrobial bacteremia (20.3% compared to 4.3%, P < 0.05). More complications (14.3%) such as abscesses, endocarditis, etc. appeared in the group of polymicrobial SBE (P < 0.05). No difference was observed in clinical course and outcome between monomicrobial and polymicrobial SBE. The incidence of SBE has increased since 1991, when quinolones were first used in prophylaxis in afebrile neutropenia at our center; however, the infection-associated mortality in monomicrobial SBE was low (4.3%).
Participatory budgeting (PB) allows citizens to be a part of the decision-making processes on public money expenditure. It increases citizens ‘participation in public affairs, strengthens deliberation and engagement. Active participation can strengthen the role of the citizen, and in addition it can create a common knowledgebase of collective issues and help to prevent and solve power centralisation, leading to a democratic and equal society. In the academic literature, PB is often referred to as “traveling policy innovation”, and since the original case in Porto Alegre, it has taken a path that originated in values such as reduction of corruption and empowerment of marginalized groups. Nevertheless, there is currently a lively academic discussion about PB it lacks a connection of its impacts on youth segment in general. The aim of this case study of Kutná Hora in the Czech Republic, where the youth segment was included into the process. In this case not only students at high schools but also primary schools’ students with organizational help of student’s councils were participating in the budget allocation decision process and such contributed to the innovative and inclusive local government. Paper gives an overview of PB process creation and its structure in Kutná Hora that led to youth engagement on local level (local PB).
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