Rates In European Countries Research Articles

The Clinical Characteristics and Manifestation of Anxious Depression Among Patients With Major Depressive Disorders-Results From a Taiwan Multicenter Study.

Anxious depression is a prevalent characteristic observed in Asian psychiatric patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD). This study aims to investigate the prevalence and clinical presentation of anxious depression in Taiwanese individuals diagnosed with MDD. We recruited psychiatric outpatients aged over 18 who had been diagnosed with MDD through clinical interviews. This recruitment took place at five hospitals located in northern Taiwan. We gathered baseline clinical and demographic information from the participants. Anxious depression was identified using a threshold of an anxiety/somatization factor score ≥7 on the 21-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D). In our study of 399 patients (84.21% female), 64.16% met the criteria for anxious depression. They tended to be older, married, less educated, with more children, and an older age of onset. Anxious depression patients had higher HAM-D and Clinical Global Impression-Severity scale score, more panic disorder (without agoraphobia), and exhibited symptoms like agitation, irritability, concentration difficulties, psychological and somatic anxiety, somatic complaints, hypochondriasis, weight loss, and increased insight. Surprisingly, their suicide rates did not significantly differ from non-anxious depression patients. This highlights the importance of recognizing and addressing these unique characteristics. Our study findings unveiled that the prevalence of anxious depression among Taiwanese outpatients diagnosed with MDD was lower compared to inpatients but substantially higher than the reported rates in European countries and the United States. Furthermore, patients with anxious depression exhibited a greater occurrence of somatic symptoms.

The influence of government ideology on the rate of e-waste recycling in the European Union countries.

This study examines the impact of government ideology on e-waste recycling in 30 European countries from 2008 to 2018. This study seeks to enhance the e-waste recycling literature by introducing a novel determinant, examining the unexplored relationship between government ideology and e-waste recycling rates in European countries, thus addressing a substantial research gap. Utilizing panel quantile regression on an unbalanced dataset, the findings revealed that the increased influence of right-wing parties in government was associated with lower e-waste recycling rates. Conversely, greater influence of left-wing or center-wing parties was correlated with higher recycling rates across all quantiles analyzed. The estimation results remain robust when different indicators of government ideology were employed. Overall, the study underscores the importance of political ideology in shaping e-waste recycling policies and environmental sustainability efforts. It emphasizes that effective policies should align with the political commitment of the governing body.

Beyond MPOWER: a systematic review of population-level factors that affect European tobacco smoking rates.

Population-level factors within and beyond the scope of the World Health Organization's (WHO) MPOWER policy package have significant impacts on smoking rates. However, no synthesis of the existing evidence exists. This systematic review identifies population-level factors that influence cigarette smoking rates in European countries. We searched the ProQuest database collection for original, peer-reviewed quantitative evaluations that investigated the effects of population-level exposures on smoking rates in European countries. Of the 3122 studies screened, 62 were ultimately included in the review. A standardized data extraction form was used to identify key characteristics of each study including publication year, years evaluated, countries studied, population characteristics, study design, data sources, analytic methods, exposure studied, relevant covariates and effects on tobacco smoking outcomes. One hundred and fifty-five population-level exposures were extracted from the 62 studies included in the review, 99 of which were related to WHO MPOWER measures. An additional 56 exposures fell into eight policy realms: economic crises, education policy, macro-economic factors, non-MPOWER tobacco regulations, population welfare, public policy, sales to minors and unemployment rates. About one-half of the MPOWER exposures affected smoking rates (55/99) and did so in an overwhelmingly positive way (55/55). Over three-quarters of the non-MPOWER exposures were associated with statistically significant changes in smoking outcomes (43/56), with about two-thirds of these exposures leading to a decrease in smoking (29/43). Population-level factors that fall outside of the WHO's MPOWER measures are an understudied research area. The impacts of these factors on tobacco control should be considered by policymakers.

Incidence and prevalence of systemic lupus erythematosus in New Zealand from the national administrative datasets.

This study aims to provide updated data on the incidence and prevalence of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in New Zealand and to examine the difference between ethnic groups. We identified the SLE cases from the national administrative datasets. The date of first identification of SLE was the earliest date of a related inpatient event or the earliest date of a related outpatient event. The crude incidence and prevalence of SLE in 2010-2021 were estimated by gender, age group and ethnicity. The WHO (World Health Organization) age-standardised rate (ASR) of incidence and prevalence of SLE was calculated, after stratifying the cases by ethnicity and gender. The average ASR of incidence and prevalence of SLE in 2010-2021 was 2.1 and 42.1 per 100,000 people in New Zealand. The average ASR of incidence for women was 3.4 per 100,000 for women and 0.6 for men. It was highest for Pacific women (9.8), followed by Asian women (5.3) and Māori women (3.6), and was lowest for Europeans/Others (2.1). The average ASR of prevalence was 65.2 per 100,000 for women and 8.5 for men. It was highest for Pacific women (176.2), followed by Māori women (83.7) and Asian women (72.2), and was lowest for Europeans/Others (48.5). The ASR of prevalence of SLE has been increasing slightly over time: from 60.2 in 2010 to 66.1 per 100,000 in 2021 for women and from 7.6 in 2010 to 8.8 per 100,000 in 2021 for men. The incidence and prevalence of SLE in New Zealand were comparable to the rates in European countries. Pacific people had the highest incidence and prevalence of SLE, more than three times the rates for Europeans/others. The high incidence of SLE in Māori and Asian people also has implications for the future as these populations increase as a proportion to the total population.

The Link between Bitcoin Price Changes and the Exchange Rates in European Countries with Non-Euro Currencies

This paper contributes to the literature dedicated to the interlinkages between cryptocurrencies and currencies by investigating whether Bitcoin price movements affect the exchange rates of a sample of nine European countries with non-euro currencies. By resorting to the novel unconditional quantile regression, we show that there is a statistically significant link between Bitcoin price movements and changes in nominal exchange rates. In normal market conditions, an increase in the price of Bitcoin can be associated with an appreciation of the currencies from our sample, while during the COVID-19 pandemic, the relationship inversed. In addition, we find heterogeneities in this relationship, depending on the level of change in the nominal exchange rate. The results emphasize the relevance of Bitcoin price movements to the conduct of monetary policy through the exchange rate channel and that investors in cryptocurrencies and various financial assets denominated in the currencies from our sample can benefit from diversification by including both types of assets in their portfolios.

Genetic Diversity of the Family <i>Francisellaceae</i>, Analysis of the situation on tularemia Incidence in the Russian Federation in 2021, and Forecast for 2022

The review briefly outlines the current taxonomy of the most studied strains of the species belonging to the family Francisellaceae. Due to the significant genetic diversity within the family, the detection of Francisella tularensis, especially in environmental samples, becomes even more difficult and may lead to false positive results. A comparison of the incidence rates in European countries, in which the extensive epidemic manifestations of tularemia are recorded annually, namely Sweden, Finland, Norway and the Czech Republic, and in Russia over the past five years is provided. The paper presents the comparative dynamics of tularemia incidence in the territories of the Federal Districts of the Russian Federation in recent years. The dynamics of the incidence during epidemic outbreaks in the Republic of Karelia and the Omsk Region over the past few years is shown. 17 cases of human infection with the causative agent of tularemia were registered on the territory of the Russian Federation in 2021. Epizootic manifestations of the infection of varying degrees of intensity were detected in 45 constituent entities of the Federation. Against that background, sporadic cases of tularemia in humans were reported in 11 regions of the country. Six cultures of Francisella tularensis subsp. mediasiatica from different types of ticks were isolated in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Republic of Altai and the Altai Territory. Based on the analysis of the data presented, in 2022, epidemic complications in the form of sporadic cases of the disease are most likely to occur among the unvaccinated population in the territories of the Central Federal District – the Voronezh, Ryazan, Smolensk Regions and in Moscow; Northwestern Federal District – in the Arkhangelsk Region, the Republic of Karelia and in St. Petersburg; Volga Federal District – in the territories of Samara, Kirov Regions and Republic of Tatarstan; Ural Federal District – in the Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Districts; Siberian Federal District – in certain districts of the Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Omsk and Tomsk Regions, Altai and Krasnoyarsk Territories.

Sleep-Wake and Circadian Disorders after Tick-Borne Encephalitis.

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is an infectious disease affecting the central nervous system. Recently, the occurrence of TBEV infections has steadily increased, reaching all-time high incidence rates in European countries. Up to 50% of patients with TBE present neurological sequelae, among them sleep–wake and circadian disorders (SWCD), which are poorly characterized. The aim of this review is to investigate the prevalence, clinical characteristics, and prognosis of SWCD after TBE. The literature review was performed in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. The quality of the paper was assessed using a standardized quality assessment. The analysis of SWCD was categorized into four different time intervals and two age groups. The literature search identified 15 studies, five including children and 10 including adults. In children, fatigue was most frequently observed with a prevalence of 73.9%, followed by somnolence/sleepiness, restlessness, and sleep-wake inversion. In adults, tiredness/fatigue was the most reported sequela with a prevalence of 27.4%, followed by extensive daytime sleepiness/somnolence, and insomnia (3.3%). Two studies showed impaired social outcomes in patients after TBE infections. SWCD after TBE in children and adults is a newly recognized sequela. Additional clinical and experimental research is needed to gain more precise insight into the clinical burden of SWCD after TBE and the underlying mechanisms.

УДОСКОНАЛЕННЯ ОПОДАТКУВАННЯ ОПЛАТИ ПРАЦІ І СОЦІАЛЬНОГО СТРАХУВАННЯ В УКРАЇНІ: ПРОБЛЕМИ ТА ПЕРСПЕКТИВИ

For the productive functioning of each state, there are a number of elements of regulation of socioeconomic phenomena and relations, among which the central place is occupied by taxes. Guided by the need to create and maintain a rational level of socio-economic level in Ukraine, the question arises of the completeness and sufficiency of available sources of funding for both the state budget and strategically important trust funds. Taking into account previous domestic and introduced foreign experience in terms of progressive rates, new approaches and different types of taxation, it is necessary to make a number of improvements and incentives to harmonize the economic situation in Ukraine and increase welfare. The article examines the problems and prospects of development of the current state of regulatory mechanisms as a way of state influence, the system of taxation of wages and social insurance. Their role and special significance among a number of other tax revenues in the structure of both local and state budgets are analyzed. Improvements were sought, in particular, in the context of the experience of progressive personal income tax rates in European countries, proposals to reflect in the accounting of personal income tax calculations with social benefits and without social benefits, which will improve control and transparency of its application. Emphasis is placed on the illogicality of the presence of the maximum value of the base for accrual of unified social tax, but the lack of such for personal income tax and military tax. The shortcomings of the regulatory framework for the new tax burden – military tax. Also, the own approach to the improvement of accrual and payment of unified social tax through the introduction of a progressive scale of this tax rate in accordance with the size of the enterprise is substantiated and proposed. Conclusions were made on the observance of the course of decentralization of power and, as a result, the growth of productivity of financial, economic, political and social properties of taxes on wages and social insurance (personal income tax, military levy and unified social tax).

Investigation of multiple Felis catus papillomavirus types (-1/-2/-3/-4/-5/-6) DNAs in feline oral squamous cell carcinoma: a multicentric study.

Recent evidence suggests a possible association of Felis catus papillomavirus type 2 (FcaPV-2) DNA with feline oral squamous cell carcinoma (FOSCC). In this study, type-specific PCR targeting two genes (L1/E6 or E1/E6) of FcaPV-1/-2/-3/-4/-5/-6 was performed to detect viral DNA in a large amount of FOSCC samples collected in Italy and Austria. FcaPV-1/-2/-3/-4/-5 were detected in 7/113 (6.2%), 7/93 (7.5%), 6/113 (5.3%), 1/113 (0.9%) and 2/113 (1.8%) specimens, respectively, with different prevalences in Italian vs. Austrian samples, whilst FcaPV-6 went undetected. Our results confirms that FcaPV-2 is the most prevalent in FOSCC, followed by FcaPV-1/-3 and suggest that FcaPVs have variable circulation rates in European countries.

Towards a target employment rate within age and gender groups

Abstract Quarterly employment rates in European countries are analysed in terms of the likelihood of achieving a specific employment rate within age and gender groups in a five-year horizon. The German employment rate serves as a benchmark for this research. The likelihood is estimated by a Monte-Carlo simulation based on the class of exponential smoothing models. The research presents a pessimistic prognosis of employment rates in European countries with respect to young and partly to older workers.

A critical update on the role of mild and serious Vitamin D deficiency prevalence and the Covid-19 epidemic in Europe

Rationale: COVID-19 has emerged as a pandemic, affecting nearly 120 million people worldwide as of March 14th, 2021. In previous studies, the association between the mean Vitamin D (Vit D) concentration of each country and COVID-19 infection and mortality rate in European countries was examined. The aim of this study was to critically evaluate the relationship between Vit D mild and severe deficiency prevalence in each country and COVID-19 infection, recovery, and mortality using updated data and a different methodological approach.

Differences in Organ Donation and Transplantation in States Within the United States and in European Countries: Is There a Benefit to Opting Out?

Organ donation in the United States currently requires explicit consent by an "opt-in" approach. Some European countries have reported an increase in donation rates with an "opt-out" strategy. We hypothesized that regional differences in decision making affect organ donation rates in different countries and suggest no single approach will reliably increase organ donation rates. Donation and transplantation rates in European countries and states within the United States with populations of >10 million and a minimum organ donation rate of 10 donors per million were compared. 2016 International Registry in Organ Donation and Transplantation data and the 2016 Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients annual report were used for European countries and US states, respectively. Comparisons by region and donation model were made. Deceased organ donor rates and transplants did not differ between opt-in and opt-out models. Living donation was increased in all opt-in entities. When comparing European countries, there was a trend toward higher organ donation rates in opt-out countries than in opt-in countries. Donation and transplantation rates of US states were higher than both European opt-in and opt-out countries. There were no differences in deceased donor organ donation when considering the donation consent model. These data do not support that an opt-out approach will increase the number of transplants in the United States.

The Effect of International Migration on Unemployment: An Empirical Analysis on the European Countries

Europe attracts attention in terms of geography where immigrant movements are intense. The region received international migrant heavily because of World War II, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and its connections with Africa and Latin America. After the 2000s, the war, civil conflict and political instability in especially Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa increased the migration movements. Migration movements have important social and political consequences as well as economic consequences. The most essential of these is the fluctuations in the labour market. The study aims to empirically investigate the effect of international migration on unemployment rates in European countries. Panel regression analysis is preferred as a method. The analysis performed for 27 European countries and between 2000-2017 years. Empirical analysis results show that international migration does not have a statistically significant effect on unemployment. In addition, increases in GDP, public expenditures, education expenditures and wage rises reduce unemployment rates.

Вплив адміністрування екологічного податку на вартість теплової енергії в Україні

The article provides an overview of approaches to greenhouse gas emissions taxation and tax rates in European countries. To compare heated boilers with different characteristics, which run on different fuels the average cost of thermal energy for the life cycle LCOH was used. Environmental tax on environmental pollution (as a component of LCOH) is calculated for the three most common types of boilers in Ukrainian boilers with a capacity of 4.65 to 58 MW, burning natural gas, coal, and fuel oil, as well as for low-power boilers (0.5 and 1 MW ), burning fossil fuels and biofuels. The eco-tax for biofuel boilers is calculated under current taxation and subject to the adoption of a European approach to taxation of carbon dioxide emissions. It is established that at the current rates there are almost no economic incentives for the introduction of technologies to reduce the concentration of pollutants in emissions, but increasing the rates of environmental tax may change this situation. However, provided that rates are evenly increased for all types of boilers, the eco-tax for natural gas boilers will remain the lowest, while for biofuel boilers it will increase significantly, which contradicts the stated goal of decarbonizing the economy. It is shown that not only the change of environmental tax rates can be an effective tool for achieving the goals of sustainable development, as the principles of its administration are also important.

Regional TMPRSS2 V197M Allele Frequencies Are Correlated with COVID-19 Case Fatality Rates.

Coronavirus disease, COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), caused by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), has a higher case fatality rate in European countries than in others, especially East Asian ones. One potential explanation for this regional difference is the diversity of the viral infection efficiency. Here, we analyzed the allele frequencies of a nonsynonymous variant rs12329760 (V197M) in the TMPRSS2 gene, a key enzyme essential for viral infection and found a significant association between the COVID-19 case fatality rate and the V197M allele frequencies, using over 200,000 present-day and ancient genomic samples. East Asian countries have higher V197M allele frequencies than other regions, including European countries which correlates to their lower case fatality rates. Structural and energy calculation analysis of the V197M amino acid change showed that it destabilizes the TMPRSS2 protein, possibly negatively affecting its ACE2 and viral spike protein processing.

A critical update on the role of mild and serious vitamin D deficiency prevalence and the COVID-19 epidemic in Europe

ObjectivesCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has emerged as a pandemic, affecting nearly 180 million people worldwide as of June 22, 2021. Previous studies have examined the association between the mean vitamin D (Vit D) concentration of each country and COVID-19 infection and mortality rate in European countries. The aim of the present study was to critically evaluate the relationship between prevalence of mild and severe Vit D deficiency in each country and COVID-19 infection, recovery, and mortality using updated data and a different methodological approach. MethodsInformation on Vit D concentration or deficiency for each country was retrieved through a literature search. COVID-19 infections and mortalities per million people and total recoveries, as of June 22, 2021, were obtained. The associations between Vit D deficiency and COVID-19 infection, recovery, and mortality were explored using correlation coefficients and scatterplots. ResultsNon-significant correlations were observed between both number of COVID-19 infections (r = 0.363, P = 0.116) and number of recoveries (r = 0.388, P = 0.091) and the prevalence of mild Vit D deficiency (<50 nmol/L). Similarly, non-significant correlations were observed between both infections (r = 0.215, P = 0.392) and recoveries (r = 0.242, P = 0.332) and the prevalence of severe Vit D deficiency (<30 nmol/L). Significant correlations were found between COVID-19 mortality and prevalence of both mild Vit D deficiency (r = 0.634, P = 0.003) and severe Vit D deficiency (r = 0.538, P = 0.021). ConclusionsThe prevalence of neither mild nor severe Vit D deficiency was associated with the number of COVID-19 infections in European countries. Thus, it is an important parameter to consider when implementing preventive measures to face COVID-19.

Does educational expansion decrease suicide rates in European countries? The compositional effect in educational stratification of suicides

Does educational expansion decrease suicide rates in European countries? The compositional effect in educational stratification of suicides

Robust estimation of diagnostic rate and real incidence of COVID-19 for European policymakers.

Policymakers need clear, fast assessment of the real spread of the COVID-19 epidemic in each of their respective countries. Standard measures of the situation provided by the governments include reported positive cases and total deaths. While total deaths indicate immediately that countries like Italy and Spain had the worst situation as of mid-April, 2020, reported cases alone do not provide a complete picture of the situation. Different countries diagnose differently and present very distinctive reported case fatality ratios. Similar levels of reported incidence and mortality might hide a very different underlying pictures. Here we present a straightforward and robust estimation of the diagnostic rate in each European country. From that estimation we obtain a uniform, unbiased incidence of the epidemic. The method to obtain the diagnostic rate is transparent and empirical. The key assumption of the method is that the infection fatality ratio of COVID-19 in Europe is not strongly country-dependent. We show that this number is not expected to be biased due to demography nor to the way total deaths are reported. The estimation protocol is dynamic, and it has been yielding converging numbers for diagnostic rates in all European countries as from mid-April, 2020. Using this diagnostic rate, policy makers can obtain Effective Potential Growth updated every day, providing an unbiased assessment of the countries at greater risk of experiencing an uncontrolled situation. The method developed has been and will be used to track possible improvements in the diagnostic rate in European countries as the epidemic evolves.

Changes in the Suicide Rate under the Influence of Daily Activities in EU Countries

The article examines the impact of daily activities on the suicide rate on the basis of data from the European Detailed Mortality Database of the World Health Organization and the Harmonized European Time Use Survey.Purpose. To evaluate the relation between the suicide rate and duration of the main daily activities of employees in the spheres of work, household and leisure activities in terms of the multifactor models. Materials and methods. Daily activities are understood as time spent on work, household and leisure activities. In order to analyze the relation between the variables an end-to-end linear regression model arranged by all years and countries is used; the panel data structures are not taken into account in the model (as we have to deal with pseudo panel data). In addition, in order to weaken prerequisites of parametric models, a non-parametric estimate is used. The calculations are made in the econometric package STATA IC 16. The source of the data on the suicide rate (total, men, women) at the ages of 15-74 is the European Detailed Mortality Database of the World Health Organization; the source of the data on time spent on the main daily activities of employees in the spheres of work, household and leisure activities and the level of employees’ occupation is Eurostat.Results. The analysis revealed that with the increase in time spent on TV and video the suicide rate increases for the employed men; and with the increase in time spent on housekeeping the suicide rate increases for the employed women. In addition, during working days employed men are expected to be at risk of suicide due to the time spent on work, related activities and travel to and from work; employed women remain at risk due to the time spent on housekeeping. The duration of TV and video watching and housekeeping is a referent of suicide risk factors – loneliness and retreat from the society. It has been established that a possible shift to a four-day working week with an increase in the working hours while maintaining weekly hours leads to the suicide rate increase. Conclusion. In order to reduce the suicide rate in European countries, it is necessary to have such an organization of labour, daily routine and leisure activities, which will allow male employees to reduce their working hours to a minimum of 7.4 hours and to displace watching TV and video on the periphery of the hierarchy of occupations, primarily on weekends, as well as to eradicate "kitchen slavery" among female employees. While evaluating the possible shift to a four-day working week, it is necessary to conduct more research on the impact of the number (ratio) of working days and full days off on the suicide rate.

Global COVID-19 trends: Gender and age impacts

COVID -19 pandemic is creating an uncertainty about the demographic trends of morbidity and mortality rates across countries worldwide. Hence, this study is aimed to characterize the gender and age distribution of morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 across populations. This cross-sectional study uses aggregate data on COVID-19 cases and deaths by gender and age. Considering gender-based morbidity, men diagnosed with COVID-19 substantially outnumber infected women with statistically significant findings (*p=&lt;0.05, □ RR&gt;2) in Asian, American, and African countries, whereas women diagnosed higher morbidity rate in European countries. However, gender-based fatality showed higher among men in most of the analyzed countries of all those continents except Australia where female fatality was higher. This study revealed 50 years old were mostly associated with the infection and death in all continents except Australia, showing more morbidity above 20 years of age, whereas, fatality rate was more in the above 80 years group. The study concludes that, across countries, COVID-19 morbidity and fatality rate is age specific rather than gender specific. Infection rates showed rising steeply with age; nevertheless, children do not stand on equal footing when COVID-19 crisis is transforming their day-to-day lives.