Skin melanoma survival is improving in Europe but regional differences persist: Results of the EUROCARE-6 study.

Survival of patients with skin melanoma in Europe increases further: Results of the EUROCARE-5 study

PurposeThis paper aims to assess how a hotel geographical location in different parts of Central and Eastern Europe influences the complexity of perception of pro-environmental behavior.Design/methodology/approachTo find out, whether hotel location in a specific country influences the complexity of environmental practices, this study used two closely connected multivariate statistical techniques analyzing gradients: principal components analysis and partial redundancy analysis. The research comprises data collection from seven countries in Central and Eastern Europe. In all, 25 randomly selected hotels (based on star rating) from various countries were approached to complete a questionnaire. Environmental practices were studied based on motivations, perception of barriers, perception of support from different levels of public sector, will of managers to promote pro-environmental measures based on sufficient funding, perception of legislation and perception of various other important factors.FindingsThe study reveals significant differences between hotels in Central Europe and Eastern Europe in the perception of the complexity in implementation of the environmental practices by hotel managers. The character of the present study, however, needs to address the identification of particular aspects that are relevant to the geographical differences among the studied countries.Research limitations/implicationsResearch was limited to a selection of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. There is still probability that managers in hotels from Poland and Croatia could possess different preferences. Other limitation of this study is that only special part of hotels were asked – hotels certified by star grading, out of our scope remained other hotels. It is also known that important factor is precise location of hotel within country – hotels in established tourism destination behave other way that those outside recreational areas. These factors deserve further study within this topic. There are many aspects of sustainability and environmental protection regarding hotel industry. As we have found in our principal correspondence analysis, different environmental measures were different location in biplot – some were affected by country, the other by star grading and affiliation to hotel chain. The complexity deserves to be studied in depth.Practical implicationsThe importance lies first in the identification of the aspects that are governed by geographical differences among the countries studied. These aspects are the initiatives and support from the government and the local governments, which counteract the perception that there is a lack of financial resources and the return on investments is slow. So, based on the data, which included information from various types of hotels from seven CEE countries, the activities of national and local authorities were identified to be the main differentiating variable. The support of the environment-friendly conduct of business in the hotel industry is appreciated by hotel managers from Central Europe. On the other hand, hotel managers from Eastern Europe do not feel any significant support from either national or other public institutions. The second factor of differentiation is represented by the perception of the lack of funds. Hotel managers from Eastern Europe feel strongly about funds limitation. The coherence of both those factors is obvious in the results, as they show the same direction but opposite orientation. It has already been discussed above. When looking at the results, the authors find the perception of availability of funds to be a fundamental difference between hotel management in Central Europe and in Eastern Europe. The lack of funds is perceived more intensively in Eastern Europe than in Central Europe, particularly because of a stronger awareness of direct or indirect support for such activities by national and other public institutions in Central Europe.Social implicationsThe differentiation of the aspects mentioned above comes from the social and culture policies, company policies and business cultures between these two sub-realms. Pro-environmental actions are apparently promoted less publicly in Eastern European countries than in Central European countries. The reaction to the trend for demand of greener hotels is stronger in the West, and its hotels are more likely to have legislation requirements and public support as an incentive to adopt pro-environmental measures in their business operations.Originality/valueThe study is based on data obtained from seven countries. The results revealed a problem of the macro-environmental influence on hotels’ potential to implement environmentally sustainable approaches and procedures throughout the industry.

In the last decade, substantial differences in the epidemiology of, antiretroviral therapy (ART) for, cascade of care in and support to people with HIV in vulnerable populations have been observed between countries in Western Europe, Central Europe (CE) and Eastern Europe (EE). The aim of this study was to use a survey to explore whether ART availability and therapies have evolved in CE and EE according to European guidelines. The Euroguidelines in Central and Eastern Europe (ECEE) Network Group conducted two identical multicentre cross-sectional online surveys in 2019 and 2021 concerning the availability and use of antiretroviral drugs (boosted protease inhibitors [bPIs], integrase inhibitors [INSTIs] and nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors [NRTIs]), the introduction of a rapid ART start strategy and the use of two-drug regimens (2DRs) for starting or switching ART. We also investigated barriers to the implementation of these strategies in each region. In total, 18 centres participated in the study: four from CE, six from EE and eight from Southeastern Europe (SEE). Between those 2 years, older PIs were less frequently used and darunavir-based regimens were the main PIs (83%); bictegravir-based and tenofovir alafenamide-based regimens were introduced in CE and SEE but not in EE. The COVID-19 pandemic did not significantly interrupt delivery of ART in most centres. Two-thirds of centres adopted a rapid ART start strategy, mainly in pregnant women and to improve linkage of care in vulnerable populations. The main obstacle to rapid ART start was that national guidelines in several countries from all three regions did not support such as strategy or required laboratory tests first; an INSTI/NRTI combination was the most commonly prescribed regimen (75%) and was exclusively prescribed in SEE. 2DRs are increasingly used for starting or switching ART (58%), and an INSTI/NRTI was the preferred regimen (75%) in all regions and exclusively prescribed in SEE, whereas the use of bPIs declined. Metabolic disorders and adverse drug reactions were the main reasons for starting a 2DR; in the second survey, HIV RNA <500 000 c/ml and high cluster of differentiation (CD)-4 count emerged as additional important reasons. In just 2 years and in spite of the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, significant achievements concerning ART availability and strategies have occurred in CE, EE and SEE that facilitate the harmonization of those strategies with the European AIDS Clinical Society guidelines. Few exceptions exist, especially in EE. Continuous effort is needed to overcome various obstacles (administrative, financial, national guideline restrictions) in some countries.

The frequency and intensity of extreme hot events have increased worldwide, particularly over the past couple of decades. Europe has been affected by unprecedented mega heatwaves, namely the events that struck Western Europe in 2003 and Eastern Europe in 2010. The year 2018 was also reported as an unusually hot year, with record-breaking temperatures in many parts of Europe during spring and summer, associated with severe and unusual wildfires and significant crop losses in central and northern Europe. We show the ability of Land Surface Temperature (LST), retrieved from the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) onboard Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) to monitor heat extremes, using the 2018 European event as a showcase. The monitoring approach relies on monthly anomalies performed as departures from the median and the monthly number of hot days (NHD), both computed for satellite LST derived from MSG and MODIS, and for 2 m air temperature (T2m) from ERA5 reanalysis, using as threshold the 90th percentiles. Results show strong monthly LST anomalies during the spring and summer of 2018 extending over central and north Europe. Over a vast region in Central and Northern Europe, LST reached the last 15 years high record. Moreover, those outstanding warm LSTs persisted for more than four months. Results obtained using MODIS LST and ERA5 T2m show similar patterns, which, although slightly less intense, corroborate the exceptionality of the heat extremes observed over central and northern Europe during 2018. The spatial pattern of the number of monthly record high anomalies over the MSG observations period clearly depicts the regions in Northern and Central Europe affected by the complex phenomena that occurred in 2018, which resulted from the combined effect of an extreme heatwave in spring and summer with extensive dry conditions. Therefore, the results highlighted the suitability of MSG LST to evaluate and monitor heat extremes alone or combined with dry and bright conditions and prompts the potential of other climate data records from geostationary satellites to characterize these climate extremes that could become the norm in the near future over central and northern Europe.

Introduction: Ischemic stroke accounts for approximately 80% of all stroke cases and remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality among adults. At the beginning of the 21st century, the age-standardized incidence of stroke in Europe ranged from 95 to 290 cases per 100,000 population. Objective: Our aim was to examine trends in the incidence of ischemic stroke in Europe between 1991 and 2021, by country group, gender, and age group. Method: In our retrospective, quantitative study, we analyzed data from 44 countries in three European country groups (Eastern, Central, and Western Europe) per 100 000 people based on the Global Burden of Disease 2021 database. Descriptive statistics, time series analysis and Kruskal–Wallis test were performed. Results: Between 1991 and 2021, the age-standardized incidence per 100 000 population in men decreased from 206.7 to 147.1 (−28.8%) in Eastern Europe, from 172.1 to 123.8 (−28.1%) in Central Europe, and from 120.7 to 62.3 (−48.4%) (p<0.05) in Western Europe. In women, during the same period, it decreased from 169.8 to 113.9 (−32.9%) in Eastern Europe, from 142.4 to 106.0 (−25.6%) in Central Europe, and from 89.5 to 47.2 (−47.3%) in Western Europe (p<0.05). Significant differences were found between Eastern and Western European countries and between Central and Western European countries for both sexes (1991, 2001, 2011, 2021: p<0.05). The incidence was higher in men than in women every year, especially in the age groups over 55. The largest decrease for both sexes was observed in the 65–69 age group. Based on the analysis by country, the largest decrease was in Portugal (men: –71.1%; women: –69.9%), while in Montenegro, increases of +4.1% for men and +6.3% for women were observed. Conclusion: During the study period, the incidence of ischemic stroke decreased in all three country groups, but the improvement was greater in the Western European country group, which had lower (more favorable) baseline values, than in Central or Eastern Europe. Nevertheless, in 2021, the incidence in Eastern and Central Europe still exceeded the level measured in Western European countries in 1991. Orv Hetil. 2025; 166(42): 1642–1652.

Changes in dynamics of excess mortality rates and net survival after diagnosis of follicular lymphoma or diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: comparison between European population-based data (EUROCARE-5)

Survival for oesophageal, stomach and small intestine cancers in Europe 1999–2007: Results from EUROCARE-5

Aim. The work aimed to assess the impact of industrial production in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) on the dynamics of trade in mechanical engineering products between these countries and the Russian Federation (RF) in the context of the latest geopolitical conditions.Objectives. The work seeks to analyze statistical data on the dynamics of trade relations between Russia and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the field of mechanical engineering at the current stage; to construct econometric models for regression analysis of the impact of industrial production on the dynamics of trade in mechanical engineering products; to determine the main trends in trade interaction between Russia and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the mechanical engineering sector in 2022–2024.Methods. The study employed research methods, namely statistical and econometric analysis, syntax, description, graphical modeling.Results. The econometric analysis provided reliable coefficients of regression models; however their values were small. This indicates that the impact of industrial production in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe on the key indicators of trade in engineering products between these countries and Russia was ambiguous and unclear.Conclusions. Current geopolitical realities have determined unfavorable medium-term trends in the trade interaction between Russia and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the engineering sector. The regression models coefficients obtained as a result of econometric analysis showed a small correlation between industrial production in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the export of engineering products to Russia. It implies that the decline in industrial production in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe had little effect on the volume of engineering products exported by them to Russia.

Survival for haematological malignancies in Europe between 1997 and 2008 by region and age: results of EUROCARE-5, a population-based study

Abstract. Dermacentor marginatus is a vector disease of both humans and animals and transmits the causative agents of Q fever (Coxiella burnetii) and the spotted fever group (Rickettsia raoultii and R. slovaca), as well as of Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever. Dermacentor reticulatus can transmit various pathogens such as Francisella tularensis, Babesia spp., tick encephalitis virus, Coxiella burnetii, Omsk hemorrhagic fever virus, and Rickettsia spp. and can cause serious skin lesions. Herein, ecological niche modeling (ENM) is used to characterize the niches of these two ticks and describe their potential distributional patterns under both current and future climate conditions, as a means of highlighting geographic distributional shifts that may be of public health importance. We assessed distributional implications of five general circulation models (GCMs), under two shared socio-economic pathways (SSP245 and SSP585) for the period 2041–2060. Predictions for D. marginatus showed broad suitable areas across western, central, and southern Europe, with potential for expansion in northern and eastern Europe. Dermacentor reticulatus has suitable areas across western, central, and northern Europe. Under future scenarios, new expansions were observed in parts of northern and eastern Europe and highland areas in central Europe. Despite broad overlap between the niches of the ticks, D. marginatus has a broader niche, which allows it to show greater stability in the face of the changing climate conditions. Areas of potential geographic distributional expansion for these species should be monitored for actual distributional shifts, which may have implications for public health in those regions.

FISHERIES DEVELOPMENT AND THE FORMATION OF THE FISH PRODUCTS MARKET IN UKRAINE AND IN THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Radiation Oncology in the Developing Economies of Central and Eastern Europe

Hydatidosis (also known as echinococcosis or hydatid disease) is one of Europe’s neglected infections of poverty. Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is endemic in Southwestern and Eastern parts of Europe. Although alveolar echinococcosis was considered a rare disease in Central Europe, recent studies have shown its emerging nature and demonstrated that the endemic areas for this parasite are broader than previously thought. This chapter aims not only to review but also to bring to light new epidemiological and clinical data regarding hydatidosis of the central nervous system (CNS) in the countries of Eastern and Central Europe where information was available. At the same time, we intend to shed light on particular or interesting cases reported in the literature. Special emphasis will be given to the casuistic from Romania, listed in 1995 among the countries with the highest prevalence of CE worldwide and where, in the past, at least one person from 45.5 % of its localities underwent surgery for CE. Although rare in Central and Eastern Europe, hydatidosis of the CNS should always be considered in the differential diagnosis of any patient with seizures, focal neurological deficits, and symptoms of increased intracranial pressure, especially when that person comes from regions with high disease prevalence.

The receipts generated by the development of tourism as compared to other forms of international transactions represent a significant potential growing source of foreign currency earnings for all countries of Eastern and Central Europe. To these countries, international tourism offers yet unexplored opportunities and challenges. The opportunity consists in making the best use of their natural and cultural heritage to secure the needed foreign currencies. The challenge resides in channeling the receipts obtained from tourism into productive investments providing the infrastructure for accelerating their economic development. This Seminar is the first technical meeting at the regional level organized by WTO as part of its plan for implementing the Resolutions of the 1991 Ottawa Conference on Travel and Tourism Statistics. It was also the first Seminar on tourism statistics held for Central and Eastern Europe since WTO’s inception. Its main objective was to assist these countries in taking up this challenge. The effective design and planning of the amount and type of resources to be devoted to the development and promotion of tourism requires the accurate knowledge of tourism supply and demand and of the economic impact of tourism.

The process of transformation in the former East Germany has in many ways been fundamentally different from the developments experienced by the other countries of eastern and central Europe after the dissolution of the Soviet bloc. The following article takes a look at the special character of the East German transformation process in the context of German unification, focusing on the role of institutional transfer in the field of labour relations. Of importance are the questions of how union membership has developed and what kind of relationship has evolved between the unions and enterprise-level representation of workers (works councils). On this basis, some thoughts are presented on the lessons to be learned from this exogenous transformation which may be generalised to apply to the transformation process in the countries of central and eastern Europe as well.