We aimed to investigate the prevalence rate of abuse (psychological, physical, sexual, financial, neglect) of older persons (AO) in seven cities from seven countries in Europe (Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain, Sweden), and to assess factors potentially associated with AO.
A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2009 (n = 4,467, aged 60-84). Potentially associated factors were grouped into domains (domain 1: age, gender, migration history; domain 2: education, occupation; domain 3: marital status, living situation; domain 4: habitation, income, financial strain). We calculated odds ratios (OR) with their respective 95 % confidence intervals (CI).
Psychological AO was the most common form of AO, ranging from 10.4 % (95 % CI 8.1-13.0) in Italy to 29.7 % (95 % CI 26.2-33.5) in Sweden. Second most common form was financial AO, ranging from 1.8 % (95 % CI 0.9-3.2) in Sweden to 7.8 % (95 % CI 5.8-10.1) in Portugal. Less common was physical AO, ranging from 1.0 % (95 % CI 0.4-2.1) in Italy to 4.0 % (95 % CI 2.6-5.8 %) in Sweden. Sexual AO was least common, ranging from 0.3 (95 % CI 0.0-1.1) in Italy and Spain to 1.5 % (95 % CI 0.7-2.8) in Greece. Being from Germany (AOR 3.25, 95 % CI 2.34-4.51), Sweden (OR 3.16, 95 % CI 2.28-4.39) or Lithuania (AOR 2.45, 95 % CI 1.75-3.43) was associated with increased prevalence rates of AO.
Country of residence of older people is independent from the four assessed domains associated with AO. Life course perspectives on AO are highly needed to get better insight, and to develop and implement prevention strategies targeted at decreasing prevalence rates of AO.
Achenbach's Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Teachers' Report Form (TRF) were administered to 6-12 year old school children comprising a large random community sample (n = 1200) drawn from the whole of Greece. These are the first data on the TRF in Greece and the first nation-wide data on the CBCL. Appropriate cutoff points for the behavioral problems and competence scales of both questionnaires were obtained for boys and girls. These were considerably higher than USA cutoffs for the CBCL but not for the TRF. Analysis of scores in relation to degree of urbanization showed that it was not necessary to define different cutoffs in different strata. Parents' and teachers' ratings of the same child were most highly correlated for Externalizing and Aggressive behavior for boys and for Attention problems for both sexes.
Division of Neuro-rehabilitation, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. anestis.divanoglou@ki.se
Prospective, population-based study. This paper is part of the Stockholm Thessaloniki Acute Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury Study (STATSCIS).
To characterize patient populations and to compare acute management after traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI).
The Greater Thessaloniki region in Greece and the Greater Stockholm region in Sweden.
Inception cohorts with acute TSCI that were hospitalized during the study period, that is September 2006 to October 2007, were identified. Overall, 81 out of 87 cases consented to inclusion in Thessaloniki and 47 out of 49 in Stockholm. Data from Thessaloniki were collected through physical examinations, medical record reviews and communication with TSCI cases and medical teams. Data from Stockholm were retrieved from the Nordic Spinal Cord Injury Registry.
There were no significant differences between study groups with regard to core clinical characteristics. In contrast, there were significant differences in (1) transfer logistics from the scene of trauma to a tertiary-level hospital (number of intermediate admissions, modes of transportation and duration of transfer) and (2) acute key therapeutic interventions, that is, the use of mechanical ventilation (49% in Thessaloniki versus 20% in Stockholm), and performance of tracheostomy (36% in Thessaloniki versus 15% in Stockholm); spinal surgery was performed significantly more often and earlier in Stockholm than in Thessaloniki.
Despite largely similar core clinical characteristics, Stockholm and Thessaloniki cases underwent significantly different acute management, most probably to be attributed to adaptations to the differing regional approaches of care one following a systematic approach of SCI care and the other not.
The adjustment and behaviour of immigrant schoolchildren were studied by means of teacher interviews. The material consisted of 50 Finnish and 37 southern European children. For comparison, 44 Swedish migrant children were also sampled. All had settled in the County of Stockholm three years prior to the study. Swedish children who had lived in the county for more than four years served as controls. In the teachers' opinions the immigrants as a whole had adjustment difficulties more often than the controls, but the proportion of children with such difficulties was no higher among the immigrant children. Compared with the controls the immigrant children showed a higher frequency of symptoms relating to a disordered self-esteem. The immigrant children were also considered to have a lower status and to be less trustworthy than the controls. The schooling of these children demands serious attention in order to prevent discrimination and to promote a feeling of personal worth among the children.
To predict further invasions of pests it is important to understand what factors contribute to the genetic structure of their populations. Cosmopolitan pest species are ideal for studying how different agroecosystems affect population genetic structure within a species at different climatic extremes. We undertook the first population genetic study of the greenhouse whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum), a cosmopolitan invasive herbivore, and examined the genetic structure of this species in Northern and Southern Europe. In Finland, cold temperatures limit whiteflies to greenhouses and prevent them from overwintering in nature, and in Greece, milder temperatures allow whiteflies to inhabit both fields and greenhouses year round, providing a greater potential for connectivity among populations. Using nine microsatellite markers, we genotyped 1274 T. vaporariorum females collected from 18 greenhouses in Finland and eight greenhouses as well as eight fields in Greece.
Populations from Finland were less diverse than those from Greece, suggesting that Greek populations are larger and subjected to fewer bottlenecks. Moreover, there was significant population genetic structure in both countries that was explained by different factors. Habitat (field vs. greenhouse) together with longitude explained genetic structure in Greece, whereas in Finland, genetic structure was explained by host plant species. Furthermore, there was no temporal genetic structure among populations in Finland, suggesting that year-round populations are able to persist in greenhouses.
Taken together our results show that greenhouse agroecosystems can limit gene flow among populations in both climate zones. Fragmented populations in greenhouses could allow for efficient pest management. However, pest persistence in both climate zones, coupled with increasing opportunities for naturalization in temperate latitudes due to climate change, highlight challenges for the management of cosmopolitan pests in Northern and Southern Europe.
Data from 12 different European countries show a rapid increase in HIV antibody positivity among drug users or a high degree of contamination already reached wherever studies have been made. Until 31 December 1986, 698 (18%) of AIDS cases were among drug users, of which 600 (15%) of AIDS cases were solely drug users, and 98 (3%) were in addition homosexual or bisexual. A further increase is expected. Because of the epidemiological importance for transmission to the heterosexual population, this problem has become a focus of attention. Drug abusing prostitutes constitute a major source of infection for the heterosexual population and newborns. The increase in the number of AIDS cases in 1986 among male drug abusers was 98 - that is up 61% compared to previous years; among women, the increase was 56%. The 3 main approaches to solution of this problem, i.e. interdiction of the drug trade, availability of sterile needles, and an education program have not proven as successful as anticipated. Relevant indications of the progress of infection in society can only be obtained by systematic observation of conversion rates in differential subgroups, i.e. drug abusers, newly incarcerated drug abusers, male and female prostitutes who use drugs, and individuals newly reporting for treatment. Separation of HIV antibody positives and negatives in therapeutic communities which are not drug free is recommended for epidemiological purposes in view of the developments to date. Nor should forced segregation of the infected from noninfected be dismissed out of hand.
It is possible to determine alpha1-antitrypsin Pi types from serum obtained at necropsy. The Pi types were identical in 37 paired antemortem and postmortem samples. Blood transfusion in the 72 hours preceeding death may produce serum that cannot be typed. The frequency of the Pis allele was high in this study (0.074) and may reflect terminal alterations in alpha1-antitrypsin mobility and thus Pi typing, or a higher frequency in the population studied. The Pis allele was particularly frequent among Canadians with French names and Canadians born in Italy, Greece, and Portugal. The prevalence and severity of emphysema were not increased in PiA and Pis heterozygotes, but the groups studied were small and the variable, smoking, could not be adequately controlled. Studies of larger groups are recommended.
Hypertension Center STRIDE-7, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Medicine, Third Department of Medicine, Sotiria Hospital, Athens, Greece.
Out-of-office blood pressure evaluation assessed using ambulatory (ABP) or home (HBP) monitoring is currently recommended for hypertension management. We evaluated the frequency and determinants of diagnostic disagreement between ABP and HBP measurements.
Cross-sectional data from 1971 participants (mean age 53.8?±?11.4 years, 52.6% men, 32% treated) from Greece, Finland and the United Kingdom were analyzed. The diagnostic disagreement between HBP and daytime ABP was regarded as certain when (i) the two methods diagnosed a different blood pressure phenotype, (ii) the absolute HBP-ABP difference was more than 10/5?mmHg (systolic/diastolic) and (iii) ABP and HBP had a more than 5?mmHg difference from the respective hypertension threshold.
In 1574 participants (79.9%), there was agreement between HBP and ABP in diagnosing hypertensive phenotypes (kappa 0.70). Of the remaining 397 participants (20.1%) with diagnostic disagreement, 95 had clinically irrelevant HBP-ABP differences, which reduced the disagreement to 15.3%. When cases with ABP and/or HBP differing =5?mmHg from the respective hypertension threshold were excluded, the certain disagreement between the two methods was reduced to 8.2%. Significant determinants of the HBP-ABP difference were age, sex, study center, BMI, cardiovascular disease history, office hypertension and antihypertensive treatment. Antihypertensive drug treatment, alcohol consumption and office normotension independently increased the odds of diagnostic disagreement.
These data suggest that there is considerable diagnostic agreement between HBP and ABP, and that these methods are interchangeable for clinical decisions in most patients. However, considerable disagreement between the two methods occurs in an appreciable minority, most likely due to methodological and patient-related factors.
Around 20% of those who seek health information online, search specifically for mental health. However, little is known about the nature of the online health information offered by two European countries, Finland and Greece, which are characterized by markedly differing levels of Internet access and online health information seeking. This study aims to assess, describe and compare websites, written in two European, non-English languages (Finnish and Greek) that appear first after performing an online search concerning schizophrenia or related conditions.
The first 20 results from four search terms (searched in Finnish and Greek) in the Web search engine 'Google' were screened. A total of 160 websites were retrieved (80 Finnish, 80 Greek) and evaluated using a preformulated coding system which consisted of websites' indicators, such as: types, characteristics, accountability, interactivity, aesthetics and content. Differences between websites were evaluated with Chi-Square or Fisher's Exact tests for categorical data and independent t-tests for parametric data.
Twenty-four Finnish and thirty-four Greek websites (36% in total) were included. Almost two-thirds (62%, n=36) were owned by an organization, compared to 17% (n=10) by an individual. In both countries, aesthetics had the highest score (possible range 0-4, mean = 2.6, SD = .62), while interactivity the lowest (range 0-5, mean = 1.79, SD = .87). There were no statistically significant differences among the accountability, interactivity and aesthetics scores of the Finnish and Greek websites.
All assessed indicators suggest there is a need to improve Finnish and Greek online information about schizophrenia or related conditions. The poor website interactivity is of particular concern given the challenges faced by the target group. The findings can be used to guide the development and dissemination of online mental health information aimed at Finnish and Greek online health-seekers.
Lateral radiographs of the airways were taken in 20 men and 24 women lying supine with the neck in the normal position. The mean configuration of the airways for men and women is presented in a standard coordinate system. The results (contours of the airways) are compared to those of a Swedish study since the same method was applied in order to find out, if the established model is valid for other populations. Significant differences were found between the two population groups as well as between males and females. This indicates both inter-racial and inter-sexual modification of the anatomical shape of the airways.
