The Role of Cytokines and Chemokines in Shaping the Immune Microenvironment of Glioblastoma: Implications for Immunotherapy

Glioblastoma is the most common form of primary brain tumour in adults. For more than a decade, conventional treatment has produced a relatively modest improvement in the overall survival of glioblastoma patients. The immunosuppressive mechanisms employed by neoplastic and non-neoplastic cells within the tumour can limit treatment efficacy, and this can include the secretion of immunosuppressive cytokines and chemokines. These factors can play a significant role in immune modulation, thus disabling anti-tumour responses and contributing to tumour progression. Here, we review the complex interplay between populations of immune and tumour cells together with defined contributions by key cytokines and chemokines to these intercellular interactions. Understanding how these tumour-derived factors facilitate the crosstalk between cells may identify molecular candidates for potential immunotherapeutic targeting, which may enable better tumour control and improved patient survival.

Social Insurance in the Countries of the World and Prospects for Ukraine

The article is aimed at denfining the perspective approaches and evaluating the feasibility of using the world experience of social, in particular pension, insurance in Ukraine. On the basis of the analytical approach, the essence and content of social insurance are considered. In particular, social insurance schemes were studied, among which are distiguished the following: social security that covers all workers and is controlled and funded by the State authorities; scheme for the employed population – includes the relationship between the employer and the employee, which are provided as part of the conditions of employment; individual insurance scheme – concluded solely on the initiative of the insurer. It is determined that common schemes against the background of the COVID-19 crisis among the countries of the world (including Ukraine) are assistance in case of illness, unemployment benefits, pensions and disability payments, health insurance provision, social insurance contributions. It is proved that social insurance performs a protective function for society against external risks. In particular, in the context of the spread of coronavirus infection, thanks to the social insurance system, the degree of impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the income of vulnerable groups at the expense of public policy programs has been reduced. The experience of countries around the world as to social insurance programs, including pension schemes is researched along with their further consideration, namely: schemes with defined contributions (DC); schemes managed by non-governmental institutions; notional defined contributions (NDC) schemes; schemes managed by the public administration sector; schemes of defined benefits (DB); hybrid schemes that combine the characteristics of DC and DB pension schemes; schemes administered by an autonomous pension fund. It is determined that pension schemes are being implemented within terms of three systems: solidarity, accumulation and hybrid. In general, the results of the research indicate that the management of the social insurance system in the countries of the world in general and in Ukraine in particular is carried out under regulatory and legal control by the State, which acts as a guarantor of protection of the population in the conditions of national peculiarities of the economy.

Understanding the relationship between alternative pension systems and healthy ageing: cross-national and quasi-natural experimental analyses of 27 EU countries

How do pension systems contribute to healthy ageing? It is widely speculated that more generous and stable pensions could promote better ageing outcomes, as well as could potentially result in lowered healthcare costs. Yet little is known about how alternative pension regimes shape health and healthcare expenditures in older persons. Here, using multi-level, cross-country data from the European Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement (SHARE, n = 140,000) covering 27 nations, we test the hypotheses that more generous pensions, as well as systems with defined benefit (which are predictable and more stable) compared with defined contributions, associate with improvements in self-reported health, quality of life, better physical and mental health scores, and lowered healthcare utilization. To do so we report the results of two sets of studies. In the first, we evaluate cross-national longitudinal SHARE integrated with OECD pension generosity and replacement rate data. In the second, we perform a series of quasi-natural experimental studies in Ireland, Germany, and Greece, taking advantage of pension reforms mostly involving budgetary reductions that occurred in the wake of the Great Recessions in Europe. For the proposed workshop we present our results, as well as provide methodological insight into how to perform such integrated epidemiological-economic analysis. We will further discuss the implications for policy and for future research investigating the relations between pension and health systems.

International Welfare Spillovers of National Pension Schemes

We employ a two-country overlapping-generations model to explore the international dimension of household portfolio choices induced by the asymmetric provision of government-run pensions. We study the resulting patterns of risk-sharing and the corresponding welfare effects on both home and foreign agents. Introducing the defined benefits pay-as-you-go system at home increases the welfare of all other agents at the expense of the home workers and improves the degree of intergenerational risk sharing abroad. Conversely, a defined contributions system leads to welfare losses of both home cohorts accompanied by gains abroad, but does increase the extent of intergenerational risk sharing at home.

What is the Return Rate of a Corporate Pension Scheme? Generalized Annuity Factors Simplify Calculation

Corporate pension schemes are widely spread especially in Northern Europe, North America, Japan. Often the major portion of defined contributions to the scheme is shouldered by the employer. A crucial question for an employee is, whether the return from his/her corporate pension plan - taking into account the corporate engagement and eventually governmental savings promotion - is favourable in comparison to other capital products for the time of retirement. This question is not answered by the absolute return in form of the future pension amount. Additionally, the employee must know the relative return, the Pension Rate of Return (PRR), in relation to what he/she has invested in form of employee contributions into the pension plan during his/her work life. Focussing on better pension information and also on counteraction to melting interest return, two current topics will be addressed. A very useful evaluation instrument for this task is the Generalized Annuity Factor (GAF). It is a generalization of the well-known Annuity Factor, which is restricted to constant payments only. With GAF any time dependent payments, e.g. linear or more complex nonlinear payments over time can be valued by a compressed closed-form formula in the same manner as constant payments by the classic Annuity Factor. Pension payments regarding mortality are such complex payments depending systematically on age. Because of its computational efficiency the new instrument simplifies calculations to be done also in smaller funds, firms or public services with common spreadsheet programs.

Divergent occupational pensions in Bismarckian countries: the case of Germany and Austria

Pension reforms and the changing public/private pension mix of the last decades are well documented. However, a more detailed look at the design of occupational pensions reveals remarkable differences even in countries that are usually treated as similar in the literature. Germany and Austria share many similarities and are having to cope with similar reform pressure. However, the design of occupational pensions varies substantially. Why? In Germany, trade unions are regularly involved in occupational pension schemes and benefits are calculated on the basis of defined contributions (DC), but with minimum return guarantees preventing losses in times of financial turmoil. By contrast, trade unions rarely participate in Austrian occupational schemes. In Austria, pure DC schemes without guarantees resulted in heavy occupational pension cuts during the recent financial market crises. Following the method of difference, the article explains this difference by trade union structure, unions’ strategic thinking and (lacking) reform threats supported by employers.

Risk of Disability, Old-age and Death: Pension Sustainability in Colombia

This paper concludes that the sustainability of the public “pay-as-you-go” pension regime in Colombia (RPM) looks fragile and is threatened by massive transfers from the private “defined contributions” regime (RAIS) to the RPM. The fiscal deficit of the RPM could be rising from 140% of GDP (in NPV) to 228% of GDP during the next three decades on account of the migration of close to nine million retirees moving to the RPM. Pressure to the fiscal budget will increase towards 90% of GDP (in NPV) as a result of the pension shortfall, making it very difficult to comply with a fiscal target of 4% of GDP per year. In addition, the life annuities’ market is quite shallow in Colombia due to: i) the State guarantee of a pension equivalent to 100% of a legal-minimum-wage (1 LMW); which in turn is fully indexed to annual inflation; and ii) the risk of assuming longer periods of pension enjoyment via judicial sentences (elevating the current expectations of 20-25 year period of enjoyment). Limiting the pension guarantee to 50-75% of a LMW, allowing for life-annuities recalculation, and decreasing the cost-margin of insurance companies would help place the Colombian life annuities market in a more financially sustainable path.

AGING, RETIREMENT, AND PAY-AS-YOU-GO PENSIONS

In this paper, we consider the effects of population aging on a pay-as-you-go financed defined contributions pension scheme. We show that when retirement decisions are endogenous, aging increases the retirement age and the steady-state level of capital. The effect on pension payouts is in general ambiguous, except for the solution of full retirement, when this effect is unambiguously negative.