Ireland has fewer doctors & hospital beds
BUT HAS MORE NURSES THAN OECD AVERAGE
The OECD report details doctor, nurse and hospital bed numbers as well as average salaries in health.
New figures show that Ireland has fewer doctors, fewer beds and more nurses than the average across the 34 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
On average hospital consultant here earned €170,784 last year in public work alone, according to the OECD report.
The figures for consultants exclude emergency call-out and on-call fees, which range between €2,430 and €22,303 a year, as well as any private practice income a consultant may have.
The average income for GPs is put at €118,677 for last year.
GP income is based on self-assessed income tax declared to the Revenue Commissioners.
The average income for a nurse is €51,202.
The figures for consultants, GPs and nurses are gross annual income.
The OECD Health Statistics 2014 report says that in 2012 total health spending in Ireland was slightly less than the OECD average.
It says that most reductions in public spending have been achieved through cuts in wages and fees paid to health professionals and drug companies.
The OECD suggests that health spending in Ireland has started to rise again in real terms but at a very modest rate.
The OECD takes this view despite the fact that €4bn in cuts have been applied to the health service since 2008.
14% more company start-ups in Ireland for first half of 2014
14% more company start-ups in first half of 2014 says Vision-net.ie.
The number of company start-ups formed in the first half of this year is up 14pc to 8,684 compared with the same period in 2013, according to risk analyst Vision-net.ie.
This figure contributed to the total of 21,834 company and business start-ups formed since 1 January, an average of 124 start-ups a day and a 2.6pc increase on the same period in 2013.
Company start-ups refer to those requiring two company directors while business start-ups are usually sole traders.
The professional services sector accounted for a quarter of all new company start-ups, followed by wholesale and retail at 10pc and social and personal services at 9pc.
Both the construction and real estate sectors experienced a significant rise of 39pc and 32pc respectively in company start-ups.
The construction industry has experienced the highest growth this year, with as many as three new start-ups formed each day.
Coupled to this rise in start-ups was the overall decline in company insolvencies, a figure that dropped by 10.5pc in the first half of 2014 compared to the same period in 2013. Nearly half (43pc) of these insolvencies were Dublin-based companies.
Christine Cullen, managing director of Vision-net.ie, said that the increase in company start-ups combined with the decrease in insolvencies indicated “the hallmarks of an economic recovery”.
“Most positive are the strong increases in start-ups in the construction and real estate sectors.”
Sleeping positions “the pros and cons”
Anyone who’s ever woken up with a stiff neck will know the resulting pain is enough to make you feel like you got up on the wrong side of the bed for the rest of the day. But which sleeping position is best for you?
We’ve picked out the pros and cons of every kind of position so you can work out which one will give you the best night’s slumber.
Sleeping on your side
the PROS: THE RISK OF BACK AND NECK PAIN IS MINIMISED, YOU’RE LIKELY TO SNORE LESS AND AVOID ACID REFLUX.
Cons: It’s not the best position for your breasts or your skin.
Overall: Side sleepers are almost getting it right. It’s great for people who suffer from snoring and acid reflux and is overall pretty healthy. It also keeps your spine elongated, which is good for preventing back pain. The downside is that it can cause wrinkles, as your face is pressed up against the pillow. Larger breasted women should also consider that their boobs will be hanging down, which could cause sagging.
Sleeping on your back
the PROS: NECK AND BACK PAIN IS LESS OF A RISK, AS IS ACID REFLUX. UNLIKE THE SIDE POSITION, YOU’LL ALSO AVOID WRINKLES AND BE MORE LIKELY TO KEEP YOUR BREASTS PERKY.
Cons: You might get nudged by your bed partner, as you’re more likely to snore.
Overall: Ultimately, this is the healthiest sleeping position. Your head, back and spine remain neutral and you’re not forcing your back to curve. Keep your head a little elevated and you’ll also avoid acid reflux.
Sleeping in the foetal position
the PROS: SNORING IS MINIMISED AND IT’S COMFORTABLE FOR PREGNANT WOMEN.
Cons: There are no beauty benefits and it could cause back and neck pain.
Overall: To get into the foetal position you’re basically curling up into a ball, which puts strain on your spine and knees. This means you might have aching joins in the mornings. It also restricts diaphragmatic breathing and is bad for anyone looking to prevent wrinkles and sagging breasts. Instead, you could just try straightening out a little bit to ease the pressure on your joints and also invest in a nice plump pillow to support your head and neck.
Sleeping on your front
the PROS: YOU’RE LESS LIKELY TO SNORE.
Cons: You might feel it in your neck and back and yet again it’s not great for your skin or breasts either.
Overall: If you sleep stomach down, it’s pretty hard for your spine to remain neutral, which means you could wake up with a stiff back. It also puts pressure on your joints and nerves, which means you might have pins and needles in the morning. If you suffer from bad snoring and don’t find sleeping on your front is affecting your back, it could actually be a good position for you, as it opens up your airways. Make sure you just use a thin pillow so there’s not too much pressure on your neck, which will constantly be twisted to one side.
Magnet Telecom experiments with 1-Gbps speed broadband in Dublin
Telecoms firm Magnet has fitted out a South Dublin apartment block with 1Gbps broadband as part of a wider experiment to see what residents would do with such speeds.
The 1Gbps fibre service is being deployed at the Jade apartments at The Grange, off the Stillorgan Road, and will service 120 apartments.
A spokesman for Magnet told Siliconrepublic.com that a similar development is planned for the Beacon apartments in Sandyford.
The service will cost €50 per month, to encourage people to sign up.
The fibre is being installed in the Jade apartments in collaboration with construction company JJ Rhatigan & Co.
Magnet will provide the 1Gbps service in a synchronous fashion, meaning users will be able to receive 1,000Mbps upstream and downstream.
The 1Gbps service is being deployed under the auspices of Magnet Project Leap to determine the impact of ultra-fast speeds on consumers’ use of devices and applications.
According to Magnet, 1Gbps will allow potentially 200 Netflix movies to be streamed simultaneously, 100 songs to be downloaded in three seconds, and 200 family photos to be uploaded to Facebook in just one second.
While companies such as Apple and Google prepare apps and services for the connected home, Magnet predicts the data demands of ‘smart living’ could require this speed of broadband within five years, as 4K video content, video chatting, cloud storage access and streaming, in particular, become part and parcel of everyday family life.
“This project is the latest in Magnet’s history of ‘firsts’ in Ireland, as we transfer our leading-edge capability and corporate fibre horsepower in the business sector to the residential environment,” said Magnet chief executive Mark Kellett.
“This capability puts us in a unique position, being more agile and able to go anywhere in a market where other providers are limited to 100Mb, and allows us to provide a competitive advantage to companies locating here, to the direct benefit of Ireland Inc.”
Fish reveal a long-term memory span
SOME FISH MAY NOT HAVE A TINY MEMORY, RESEARCHERS BELIEVE
The famously minuscule memory span of fish may be a myth, new research suggests.
At least one fish species is able to remember where it was given food for at least 12 days, scientists discovered.
The research on African cichlids was inspired by anecdotal reports of their intelligence from aquarium owners.
“Some people even believe that their cichlids watch television with them,” said study leader Dr Trevor Hamilton, from MacEwan University in Canada.
For the research, cichlids were trained to enter a particular zone of an aquarium to receive a food reward.
After a 12 day rest period, they were re-introduced to the aquarium and their movements were tracked.
The fish showed a distinct preference for the area previously associated with the food reward, suggesting they remembered being fed there.
They were also able to stop making the association after further training when the food was linked to a different stimulus.
“Fish that remember where food is located have an evolutionary advantage over those that do not,” said Dr Hamilton, who presented the findings at the Society for Experimental Biology’s annual meeting in Manchester.
“If they are able to remember that a certain area contains food without the threat of a predator, they will be able to go back to that area. Decreases in the availability of food would promote the survival of species that can remember the location of food sources.”
Wild cichlids have a varied diet that includes snails, small fish, insects and plants and are thought to associate locations with preferred sources of food.
The scientists are now investigating whether the strength of fish memories are affected by environmental conditions or drugs.
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