Institutionalization of persons with Alzheimer's disease in the Czech and Slovak Republics.

Editorial: New drugs for Alzheimer's disease in Japan

To we examine the temporal patterns of the burden of Alzheimer's disease and their association with Sociodemographic Index in countries with varying rates of aging. Data were obtained from Global Burden of Diseases studies (GBD) 2019 and were used to compare countries with different rates of change in aging population from 1990 to 2019. We collected the data of the age-standardized rates per 100,000 of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), incidence, prevalence of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, and the age-specific population rates per 100,000. Countries with high rates of change in their aging populations had an increase in DALYs, incidence, and prevalence of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias over the last 30 years. Countries with a high rate of change in aging population had a significantly positive association among DALYs, incidence, and prevalence of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. In contrast, countries with a medium and low rate of change in aging population had negative associations between DALYs and incidence of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. This study highlights the significant impact of demographic changes on the burden, prevalence, and incidence of Alzheimer's disease and other dementia. The study also found that robust health care and social systems, as reflected by a higher Sociodemographic Index, can contribute to reducing the burden of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias in medium to low rates of aging populations. The findings underscore the importance of investing in health care and social systems to address the growing burden of these conditions, especially in countries with a high rate of change in the aging population.

Background: The aim of the present study was to estimate the prevalence of impaired cognitive function and Alzheimer's disease (AD) in diabetic subjects from Japan.Methods: In the present study, 386 Japanese diabetic subjects aged more than 50 years were initially screened with the ‘brief screening test’ for AD, and were diagnosed with AD and vascular dementia (VaD) according to the criteria of the NINCDS‐ADRDA and the NINDS‐AIREN. We compared the prevalence of dementia in diabetic patients with that in ordinary subjects, and analyzed the association of the status of diabetes with dementia including AD and VaD.Results: Forty‐six (11.9%) patients were diagnosed with dementia, including 13 (3.4%) patients with AD and nine (2.3%) patients with VaD. Of the 221 subjects aged more than 65 years, 39 (17.6%) patients had dementia, including 13 (5.9%) patients with AD and eight (3.6%) patients with VaD. Compared with ordinary subjects, the prevalence of dementia in the present study was more frequent than the prevalence of dementia for the general population in almost each age group examined. There was also a greater prevalence of AD and VaD in subjects aged over 65 years in the present study. In the present study, AD subjects had significantly higher levels of fasting plasma glucose (FPG; 247.5 ± 116.3 mg/dL; P < 0.05) and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c; 8.8 ± 1.9%; P < 0.01) compared with non‐demented subjects. In AD patients, the odds ratios of FPG and HbA1c were also significantly higher (1.02 and 2.07, respectively; both P < 0.01).Conclusion: The present study shows that diabetes can be associated with impaired cognitive function, particularly AD, in Japanese subjects.

This paper deals with the influence of air accidents on legislation in civil aviation in the Slovak Republic and Czech Republic. Firstly, it focuses on defining essential terms, organizations, laws, and regulations which are affecting air accidents investigation. All these elements are based on the aviation regulation L13 (ANNEX 13). Then it deals with detailed analysis of chosen air accidents that happened in Czech or Slovak Republic. As a result of previous research have been defined categories of the most common causes of air accidents between the year 2016 and 2020 which occurred in Czech and Slovak Republic and created their classification. The main goal of the paper was to identify new legislation measures and changes, which have been propounded or adopted to prevent another air accidents with the same or similar causes in the future. Among those regulations belongs for example area 100 KSA, AUPRT or background checks. Lastly it deals with the upcoming legislation changes affecting civil aviation in Slovak Republic.

This study aims to identify the differences in the use of HPV vaccination between female medical students in the Czech and Slovak Republics and their possible causes. We performed a cross-sectional survey among female students of general medicine in all faculties of medicine in the Czech and Slovak Republics. We obtained 630 questionnaires from the Czech Republic and 776 questionnaires from the Slovak Republic. In the Czech Republic, 65.4% of female medical students underwent HPV vaccination, while in the Slovak Republic, the figure was 21.1%. In the Czech Republic, residency and religion of students did not influence their rate of vaccination. However, in the Slovak Republic, village residency with less than 5,000 inhabitants lowered the probability of vaccination with OR = 0.56 (95% CI: 0.38-0.84), and the Catholic religion lowered the probability of vaccination with OR = 0.40 (95% CI: 0.28-0.57). Czech students were informed about the possibility of vaccination by a paediatrician in 55.7% of cases, while the figure for Slovak students was 26.8%. In the Czech Republic, 75.7% of students participated in regular cervical oncologic screening, while in the Slovak Republic, the figure was 57.7%. Vaccination of relatives would be recommended by 86.5% and 80.5% of Czech and Slovak students, respectively. The adoption of an oncologic prevention programme and the more extensive propagation by paediatricians are probably the medical reasons for the higher HPV vaccination among Czech students. Demographic factors - village residency and religion - are also important.

At the beginning of 1999, the new Framework 5 research program of the European Union was launched. Ten formerly socialist European countries have been admitted as associated participants. On this occasion, Robert Koenig published an article (News Focus, 1 Jan. p. [22][1]) discussing the level and current problems of science in those countries. We would like to point out some problems with the treatment of the data on citation statistics and offer a few additional comments on the subject. Having analyzed in detail the data provided by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), we conclude that the table on citation impacts in Koenig's article is based on an option that allows the user to extract the citation impact for a 5-year period, 1993 to 1997. This particular choice seems unfair, specifically for the Czech and Slovak republics. Czechoslovakia split into two states, the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, at the beginning of 1993. ISI provides independent statistics for the Czech and Slovak republics only from 1994 on. The split of the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia occurred earlier. Therefore, the new states formed on these territories have had separate representations in the ISI database since 1993. Consequently, only the 4-year citation impact for the Czech and Slovak Republic was compared with the 5-year impact for the other countries in the table. We recalculated the citation impacts for all the countries listed in the table for the 4-year period 1994 to 1997 to make them directly comparable with the data available for the Czech and Slovak republics. After this recalculation, the Czech Republic becomes 22nd and the Slovak Republic 27th out of 33 European countries, instead of 29th and 33rd, as stated in Koenig's article. It may be useful to recall that the typical citation half-time of the journals followed by ISI is 4 to 10 years or even more. Therefore, the citation impact from a recent period may not be the most suitable measure of scientific output. Perhaps more interesting is the secular evolution of the citation impact for Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic. The acceleration, starting around 1991, that is, after the fall of the communist system, is notable. This acceleration started at the same time that the political barriers preventing free contacts of Czechoslovak scientists and their Western colleagues were removed, a promising indication for the future. No doubt the community of Czech scientists cannot be satisfied with their current citation impact. Even among ex-socialist countries, the Czech Republic falls behind Hungary, Estonia, and Poland. A more detailed study will be needed to find out how much this can directly be ascribed to a lower quality of Czech publications in comparison with those from other countries. Many of us still remember too well that especially in the period after the Soviet invasion in 1968, Czechoslovakia became one of the most isolated socialist countries. Many Czech and Slovak scientists who had been working abroad, often with remarkable success, were forced to sever contacts with science in their home country. The situation was better in Poland and Hungary. Polish and Hungarian scientists who decided to live abroad, even without the permission of their Soviet-controlled governments, did not lose the links to their home institutions. There were also other barriers that should be considered in a comprehensive study of the subject. Yet, we prefer to see positive signs of future development. For example, in 1991, Czechoslovak astronomers decided to be the first community from all the ex-socialist countries to join their national journal, Bulletin of the Astronomical Institutes of Czechoslovakia, with the largest European astronomical journal, Astronomy and Astrophysics. This change was followed by an increase in the number of their accepted and published papers. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.283.5398.22

In this paper we provide a new list of all the mollusc species recorded outdoors in the Czech and Slovak Republics. This work is a supplement of the Ložek’s key on molluscs of the former Czechoslovakia. For the species recorded after the publishing of the book, publications of their first records in the Czech and Slovak Republics are given. Species which are either not included in this Ložek’s book or whose current taxonomical status highly differs from that published in the book are supplied with Czech commentaries, photographs of their shells or bodies, and drawings of important identification characters. This material is aimed at Czech and Slovak malacologists to provide information, missing or scattered in the literature, on currently known mo­llusc fauna of the Czech and Slovak Republics. The Ložek’s book and this supplement should provide necessary information on identification, ecology and also distribution of all mollusc species currently known from the Czech and Slovak Republics. If the species names used in this paper differ from the ones used in the Ložek’s book, we mention both. So far 247 species of molluscs, including 219 species of gastropods (50 aquatic and 169 terrestrial) and 28 species of bivalves, have been found outdoors in the Czech Republic. The fauna of Slovakia comprises 247 species, including 219 gastropods (51 aquatic and 168 terrestrial) and 28 bivalves. Altogether 282 species occur in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, 212 of them being common to both countries.

Objective: To determine if the application of guidelines for obstetrical anal sphincter injuries (OASIS) management adopted by professional society in a country improves healthcare compared to a country where the guidelines are not adopted. Materials and Methods: In 2008 and 2016, a questionnaire was sent to every maternity ward in the Czech and Slovak Republics. In 2011, the guidelines for OASIS management were published in the Czech Republic. The authors compared the changes in the management of OASIS in both countries and evaluated the effect of the guidelines on healthcare improvement. Results: In 2008, the current Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) classification of OASIS was not used by any hospital in both countries. In 2016, the classification was used by 48.8% of hospitals in the Czech Republic and by 11.5% of hospitals in the Slovak Republic. The percentage of hospitals in the Czech Republic which used antibiotic prophylaxis while treating OASIS increased from 87.3% in 2008 to 100% in 2016. In the Slovak Republic, the percentage decreased from 85.7% to 73.1%. Active follow-up increased in the Czech Republic from 40% to 70.8%. In the Slovak Republic, it increased from 33.3% to 38.5%. In 2008, the management according to EBM was not performed by any of centres participating in the survey. In 2016, this percentage increased to 34.1% in the Czech Republic and to 3.8% in the Slovak Republic. Conclusion: The introduction of guidelines improved healthcare more significantly compared to the country where guidelines are not yet adopted.

This article is focused on the real estate tax in the Czech and Slovak Republics. Different approaches to the tax are applied (determination of construction elements and tax collection method) in both states, hence the reason for conducting research in these states. Many researchers deal with real estate taxes from the perspective of municipalities or states. The motivation for this research was finding solutions for real estate tax reform in the Czech Republic from the perspective of taxpayers. 1352 questionnaires were evaluated (839 from the Czech Republic and 513 from the Slovak Republic). The tax justification was reviewed with regard to investing the revenues from real estate tax into improving the life of citizens in the municipality. The questionnaire using was assessed within the descriptive statistics, the Kruskal-Wallis test and the Pearson chi-square test. Based on empirical research, the median real estate tax is lower in the Czech Republic when compared to Slovakia. Nevertheless, the percentage of respondents who perceive the tax burden as high is 3.3% higher in the Czech Republic than in Slovakia. The perception of tax justice varies. Respondents in the Czech Republic perceive less improvement in their municipal infrastructure. Conversely, almost half of the respondents from Slovakia mentioned improvements in infrastructure in the municipality. The majority of respondents in both countries knew how collected funds are utilized and what specific projects were carried out in their respective municipalities.

The PREMAP Study investigated the prevalence and risk factors of dementia and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) in a random sample of 1062 residents 70 year old or more, living in south-eastern France (private homes and institutions). All persons living in institutions for the elderly (n = 258) and community dwellers (n = 804) scoring less than 24 points on the MMSE (18.4%) were invited to undergo a medical evaluation at home by a qualified neurologist using the CERAD battery. We found 177 cases of dementia (9.2%), including 82 cases of AD (5.5%). Prevalence of AD increased significantly with age and was higher among women (OR: 4.24) and persons with no formal educational level (OR: 2.47). While a MMS score less than 24 was more frequent among persons with a foreign native language (OR: 3.05), the OR and AD was not significantly associated with native language. The proportion of AD among persons suffering from senile dementia was 45% among elderly living in institutions and 69% among those living in the community. Prevalence rates in south-eastern France are similar to the average rates for Europe. This study underlines the need to investigate the relationships between native language, MMSE and AD on the one hand, and the link between a low MMSE score and institutionalisation of patients suffering from AD on the other.

Decision letter: Model-based whole-brain perturbational landscape of neurodegenerative diseases

Editor's evaluation: Model-based whole-brain perturbational landscape of neurodegenerative diseases

The basis of neoclassical theory of fiscal policy is the significant rationality of economic subjects. Rationality results from the ability of these entities to optimize their decisions within a long time horizon, taking into account the activities of other entities, for example Government. An important economic entity is also municipalities and cities as representatives of local self-government. In most countries, fiscal decentralization has taken place in relation to local self-government which aim was reducing the local government's dependence on the state's financial management. Nevertheless, the state's incomes are still identifying as an important part of local budgets. The objective of the contribution is to evaluate the tax incomes of municipalities on the basis of selected indicators in the conditions of the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic in the period 2009 - 2016. The basis for the analysis was cumulative data from municipalities in the Slovak Republic (2 890 municipalities) and cumulative data from municipalities in the Czech Republic (6 271 municipalities) processed in MS Excel. The analysis showed that incomes from tax of personal income represent on average over the analysed period 70% on tax incomes for municipalities in the Slovak Republic and 22% on tax incomes of municipalities in the Czech Republic. Within the structure of the current incomes of municipalities in the Slovak and Czech Republic, tax incomes represent an important component. At the level of municipalities in the Slovak Republic tax incomes represent on average over the analysed period 53% on total current incomes of municipalities and in municipalities in the Czech Republic tax incomes represent 52% on total current incomes of municipalities. Within the analysed period, we register a faster increase of the total current incomes in the municipalities in the Slovak Republic in comparison with the municipalities of the Czech Republic.

Epidemiology of Alzheimer's disease in Wales

As two neighboring countries in central Europe with national cancer registries, the Slovak (SR) and Czech Republics (CR) are countries with a medium global rate in the occurrence of prostate cancer. This paper analyzes the incidence of prostate cancer and mortality before and after the introduction of PSA testing in the two Republics and the possible reasons for any differences discovered and compares the results with selected regions and countries of the world. In the Slovak Republic, prostate cancer incidence (age-adjusted to the world standard population) has risen from 14.6/100,000 in 1968 (95% CI, ±1.5772) to 36.2/100,000 in 2005 (95% CI, ±2.0678). The estimated annual increase in the incidence during the period 1968-1991 (before nationwide PSA testing) was 0.421; from 1991 (when nationwide PSA testing began) to up to 2003 it was 0.941. Mortality rates grew from 7.3/100,000 in 1968 to 14.9/100,000 in 2005. In spite of the geographic proximity of the two countries, the increase in incidence occurred faster in the Czech than in the Slovak Republic, from 15.8/100,000 in 1977 (95% CI, ±0.9748) to 59.5/100,000 in 2005 (95% CI, ±1.7187). The estimated annual increase in incidence in the Czech Republic for the period of 1977-1991 was 0.581. From 1991 (when national PSA testing began) until 2003, it was 1.981. In the period before 1991, mortality rose more sharply in the Czech than in the Slovak Republic, whereas after the introduction of PSA testing mortality stabilized more quickly in the Czech than in the Slovak Republic. In the Slovak Republic, a significant reduction in mortality was observed after 2002 and has continued to the present and probably is not affected only by the results connected with the increase in PSA testing. The difference in the incidence and mortality of prostate cancer in the Slovak and the Czech Republics results from a difference in the intensity of PSA testing as well as from the introduction of complex, more effective treatment in advanced clinical stages.