Family caregivers: a shadow workforce in the geriatric health care system?

Based on two years of fieldwork, conducted between March 2003 and March 2005 in the health care industry of the northeastern United States, this study shows that the work of family caregivers of elders goes far beyond previously recognized care in the home to acknowledge care inside health care facilities and in conjunction with community services. It reveals that family caregivers--untrained, undersupported, and unseen--constitute a "shadow workforce," acting as geriatric case managers, medical record keepers, paramedics, and patient advocates to fill dangerous gaps in a system that is uncoordinated, fragmented, bureaucratic, and often depersonalized. Detailed examination of what family caregivers actually do in traversing multiple domains reveals the extent of their contribution to and the weaknesses in the present geriatric health care system. It suggests that the experiences of family caregivers must be central to the creation of new policies and a more coordinated system that uses the complex work of family caregivers by providing the training and support that they need.     

Population data on 14 STR loci from population of Serbia and Montenegro (new and renewed data)

A renewed and new population study of fourteen short tandem repeat loci (TH01, TPOX, CSF1P0, vWA, FES/FPS, F13A01, D13S317, D7S820, D16S539, LPL, F13B, CD4, D5S818 and D8S1179) were performed in a sample of 296-531 unrelated individuals from Serbia and Montenegro. Population data were compared to previously published data from Vojvodina province and neighboring Croatia.     

Human Y-specific STR haplotypes in population of Serbia and Montenegro

Nine Y chromosome short tandem repeat (STR) loci (DYS19, DYS385, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392 and DYS393) were analyzed in group of 237 unrelated healthy males from population of Serbia and Montenegro in order to assess the frequencies of Y haplotypes. We observed 174 different haplotypes of which 146 (61.6%) were seen only once. Y-STR allelic frequencies in Serbia and Montenegro, in general, correspond to other European populations, except for the DYS19, DYS385 and DYS389II loci.