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Context: The increase in the population aging has brought more significant concern about how proper care will be provided to the elderly in the future. Thus, the development of technological solutions for the health domain has gained more prominence. Joining this scenario to the growing use of mobile devices for daily activities, several mobile applications focused on the elderly healthcare have been developed with healthcare and software engineer professionals involved. However, there is no survey to help both professionals to take decisions on the target of application, elderly profile, empirical validation techniques, among others. Thus, the following question arises: how have mobile applications for elderly healthcare been addressed in the literature in the past years? Objective: To identify the state of the art in the literature concerned with the development of mobile applications for elderly healthcare, considering healthcare and software Engineering viewpoints. Method: We performed a systematic mapping conducted by health and software engineering researchers to provide an interdisciplinary investigation of the papers that address mobile applications for elderly healthcare, summarizing the data collected under the following classification: target of application, older adult profile, spatial-temporal distribution, techniques for empirical validation and type of software engineering research. Results: We found a total of 2533 papers and, after applying our eligibility criteria, we got 149. We observed aspects related to the digital health initiative type, using the classification proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO), the elderly profile prioritized by the application, the spatial-temporal distribution of the studies, the empirical validation type, and the research contribution of each analyzed paper to the software engineering area. Conclusions: Regarding the WHO classification, we noticed that two categories were more frequently found, Clients and Data Services, and that none of the mobile apps were classified in the Health System Manager category. The data extraction result also reveals that most of the applications found in the literature focused on the independent elderly. Moreover, we observed that most of the studies were proposals of solutions for elderly health and the validation process of these solutions generally consisted of controlled experiments and usability evaluations. At last, the research focused on mobile applications for elderly healthcare has been performed mostly by developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International industrial transfer (IIT) has spawned changes in the deep-seated structural power of value-added. We creatively construct an IIT index which includes both scale and direction, and constructs the structural power (SP) of value-added based on added value. Furthermore, based on 15 RECP countries from 1995 to 2018, this study uses a two-fixed-effect regression model to investigate the IIT on the structural power of value-added of RCEP countries. The results show that: (1) IIT can significantly promote the structural power of value-added of RCEP countries, and the benchmark regression conclusion is still valid after a series of robustness tests; (2) Heterogeneity analysis shows that IIT has a more significant promoting effect on the structural power of value-added in developed countries than in developing countries and a more significant promoting effect on the structural power of value-added inward than on the structural power of value-added outward; (3) Intermediary mechanism test shows that IIT mainly affects the structural power of value-added through trade openness and foreign direct investment. The conclusions of this paper provide useful enlightenment for enhancing the structural power of manufacturing value-added in RCEP countries in the context of global value chain division. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the magnitude impact of global value chains (GVCs) in reconstructing the pattern of world trade, its employment implications deserve thorough study. In this paper we explore the impact of GVCs position on employment across countries and its heterogeneous mechanisms. We perform an in-depth theoretical analysis followed by an empirical test using panel data for 56 industries in 42 countries from 2000 to 2014. The results show that enhancing the GVCs position will significantly increase employment, with a more pronounced effect in developing countries. Mechanical tests demonstrate a positive wage effect for developed countries. For developing countries, there is a positive demand effect and a negative factor substitution effect. Heterogeneity tests show that developed countries promote employment primarily by improving the forward GVCs position. Developing countries boost employment mainly by reducing the backward GVCs position. Further research has revealed that employment in developed countries has a clear preference for industries with higher GVCs, crowding out employment in other industries. This paper has enriched research on the employment implications of GVCs position and exploring the possible crowding effect during the evolution of the position of GVCs, which has been informative and insightful for countries in formulating GVCs participation and employment policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we check whether social capital changes the association of subjective well-being with own income and social comparisons. We use panel data from Germany and publicly available data from three international surveys, for a total of nearly 500,000 respondents from industrial countries. Results show that the association of own income and social comparisons to subjective well-being weakens for individuals with high social capital. This finding holds in a variety of settings, and is robust to various measures of subjective well-being, of social capital, and of social comparisons. We also find evidence indicating that the role of social capital is, at least in part, causal. Finally, our findings support the macro-level implication that income differences are less related to subjective well-being differences in countries with high social capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses firm-level data worldwide to investigate productivity gaps between female and male-managed companies in developing and developed countries and compare the outcomes obtained for different regions in the world. The main aim is to shed some light on the debate around the existence of performance differences when females participate in managerial activities. The main results indicate that it is crucial to distinguish between female management and female ownership and the confluence between both. We find that when the firms have a top female manager and ownership is exclusively male, firms show higher average labor productivity. We argue that firms owned by males belong to male-dominated corporate culture and would only select a female manager if she is more competent than potential male candidates. These results are very heterogeneous among regions, of which South Saharan Africa, East Asia, and South Asia are driving the main results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare accounts for approximately 5% of emissions in developed nations, and the public healthcare provider in the United Kingdom (UK), the National Health Service (NHS), has set a target to reach net-zero emissions by 2040 without detriment to its quality of patient care. With Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs; a.k.a. drones, UAS, or RPAS) starting to be used in healthcare systems outside the UK, there is interest in how they could be integrated into NHS operations to transport diagnostic specimens. Reflecting on a business-as-usual analysis of current NHS diagnostic specimen logistics across the Solent region (southern UK), this paper critically evaluates the practical reality of integrating UAV deliveries of this commodity, identifying the benefits and challenges that must be addressed to realise commercial services, including dangerous goods legislation, cargo stability, routing, and weather. In the analysis, 14 out of 79 surgeries could be realistically served by a 5m wingspan vertical take-off/landing (VTOL) UAV: seven directly, and seven via ground-based transfers. The results suggested that an average of 1,628 samples could be served by UAV each week, resulting in 42 flights/week with 10 taxi services to cover periods where weather limited flying. This equated to an approximate total service cost of £2,964/week if regulations develop to relax UAV personnel constraints. The introduction of UAVs reduced the marginal external costs (greenhouse gas emissions, congestion, and air pollution) by £196 per week and cut travel times to UAV served sites by 72% (weather permitting). Tailpipe emissions (excl. taxis), vehicle-kilometres travelled, and van costs were reduced by 20%, 20%, and 23% (respectively), but the overall system cost increased by 56%. Whilst this increase is likely to make the introduction of UAV services financially challenging, the benefits in terms of emissions and journey time savings may offset some of the additional cost and warrant further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the effect of mortality rates (under-five and adult mortality) and population growth on the population ageing in a pooled sample of nine lower and upper middle European countries. Therefore, the main goal of this research is to investigate the ageing process of the population in the context of mortality mechanisms (under five and adult mortality) and of population growth in nine European LUMIs. The analysis is implemented in terms of Pooled least squares with cross-section fixed effects methodology. The novelty used within this research is White two-way cluster standard errors & covariance. This study is based on a database from the World Bank and UN covering the period 1995-2019. The expected results are making available quantitative analysis and insights in the context of mechanisms between the ageing process of population, mortality and population growth across these European LUMIs. Results are consistent with the notion that the increasing ageing process within these countries may be a consequence of the negative impact of population growth and from the influence of adult mortality for both sexes. The research results confirm the presence of solid ties of the mechanism between mortality, population growth and population ageing. Therefore, a clear point was provided that mortality acceleration will depend primarily on the level of population growth., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Increasing economic integration and global synchronization can be key for countries aiming to catch up in GDP per capita terms. Little attention has hitherto been placed in synchronization as determinant of convergence. In this paper we estimate the effect of economic globalization and synchronization on income convergence for a sample of 89 developed and developing countries in the period 1970-2015. We use a dynamic factor model and panel data techniques to undertake the objectives of the paper. We show that synchronized countries (those correlated with the factor) exhibit a higher response on GDP per capita growth with variations on the global business cycle. This implies that synchronization improves growth for that group in global expansionary phases, but also implies risks during global recessions. On the contrary, the effect on growth of an economic globalization index is less relevant for synchronized countries than for asynchronized countries. The latter result implies that asynchronized countries can benefit more increasing their levels of economic globalization., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The province of Sindh reported the first COVID-19 case in Pakistan on 26th February 2020. The Government of Sindh has employed numerous control measures to limit its spread. However, for low-and middle-income countries such as Pakistan, the management protocols for controlling a pandemic are not always as definitive as they would be in other developed nations. Given the dire socio-economic conditions of Sindh, continuation of province-wise lockdowns may inadvertently cause a potential economic breakdown. By using a data driven SEIR modelling framework, this paper describes the evolution of the epidemic projections because of government control measures. The data from reported COVID-19 prevalence and google mobility is used to parameterize the model at different time points. These time points correspond to the government's call for advice on the prerequisite actions required to curtail the spread of COVID-19 in Sindh. Our model predicted the epidemic peak to occur by 18th June 2020 with approximately 3500 reported cases at that peak, this projection correlated with the actual recorded peak during the first wave of the disease in Sindh. The impact of the governmental control actions and religious ceremonies on the epidemic profile during this first wave of COVID-19 are clearly reflected in the model outcomes through variations in the epidemic peaks. We also report these variations by displaying the trajectory of the epidemics had the control measures been guided differently; the epidemic peak may have occurred as early as the end of May 2020 with approximately 5000 reported cases per day had there been no control measures and as late as August 2020 with only around 2000 cases at the peak had the lockdown continued, nearly flattening the epidemic curve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes cross-country data encompassing 130 countries and regions from 2000 to 2019 to investigate the correlation between financial crises, labor market frictions, and economic volatility. The empirical findings demonstrate that financial crises have a milder impact on real gross domestic product (GDP) in developing countries with flexible labor markets. This trend also applies to non–eurozone developed countries, where labor market flexibility aids crisis mitigation. However, this pattern doesn't hold for eurozone countries. Further examination of developing nations reveals that those with heightened labor market flexibility tend to experience reduced adverse effects on non-tradable sectors, thereby mitigating the impact on real GDP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the data of China's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in energy sector to 133 countries from 2005 to 2014, this paper uses a gravity model to investigate the impact of "intimate" relations on China's OFDI locations in energy sector. We find that the "intimate" relations have significant effects on China's OFDI locations in energy sector, namely: bilateral senior leaders' visits, institutional distance, genetic distance, and immigration. Holding other factors fixed, for each one more bilateral senior leaders' visit between China and the host country, China's OFDI in energy sector for the host country will increase by 5.44%. If the genetic distance from China and host country increases by 1%, China's OFDI in energy sector will fall by 1.69%. For every 1% increase in the institutional distance between China and host country, China's energy OFDI will decrease by 1.09%. For every 1% increase in a country's immigration to China, China's energy OFDI will increase by 0.46%. Further, after distinguishing developed and developing countries, we find that compared with developed countries, "intimate" relations have greater impacts on China's energy OFDI in developing countries. Finally, based on the dominance analysis, considering China's "intimate" relations with countries along the "Belt and Road" and current locations of China's OFDI, we find that China should further expand energy investment in countries along the "Belt and Road". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capital flows is an important aspect of the international monetary system because they provide great direct and indirect benefits, and at the same time, they carry risks of vulnerability for countries with an open economy. Numerous works have studied the behavior of these flows and have developed models to predict sudden stop events. However, the existing models have limitations and the literature demands more research on the subject given that the accuracy of the models is still poor, and they have only been developed for emerging countries. This paper presents a new prediction model of sudden stop events of capital flows for both emerging countries and developed countries with the ability to estimate accurately future sudden stop scenarios globally. A sample of 103 countries was used, including 73 emerging countries and 30 developed countries, which has allowed the use of sample combinations that consider the regional heterogeneity of the warning indicators. To the sample under study, a method of decision trees has been applied, which has provided excellent prediction results given its ability to learn characteristics and create long-term dependencies from sequential data and time series. Our model has a great potential impact on the adequacy of macroeconomic policy against the risks derived from sudden stops of capital flows, providing tools that help to achieve financial stability at the global level., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The number of suicides has increased in the last decades in several developed countries. For instance, Spain has experienced a gradual but steady increase in suicides since the 80's and it is currently the leading external cause of death in the country. At the same time, the dualisation of the labor market, with a strong and persistent incidence of temporary contracts, has increased the instability of employment conditions. Both developments have a stronger incidence for individuals with lower levels of education. Therefore, in this paper we use rich administrative data in order to estimate the impact of the wide spread use of temporary contracts on suicides. In order to do that we exploit a reform that liberalised the use of fix-term contracts in Spain in 1984. Our results show strong long-term effects of the reform, which increased the suicide mortality rate of affected cohorts (those entering the labor market just after the liberalisation) by at least 25.3%. We believe that this result has important policy implications and should be taken into account in the design of the national suicide prevention plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Providing for the needs of the vulnerable is a critical component of social and health policy-making. In particular, caring for children and for vulnerable older people is vital to the wellbeing of millions of families throughout the world. In most developed countries, this care is provided through both formal and informal means, and is therefore governed by complex policies that interact in non-obvious ways with other areas of policy-making. In this paper we present an agent-based model of social and child care provision in the UK, in which agents can provide informal care or pay for private care for their relatives. Agents make care decisions based on numerous factors including their health status, employment, financial situation, and social and physical distance to those in need. Simulation results show that the model can produce plausible patterns of care need and availability, and therefore can provide an important aid to this complex area of policy-making. We conclude that the model's use of kinship networks for distributing care and the explicit modelling of interactions between social care and child care will enable policy-makers to develop more informed policy interventions in these critical areas. "The moral test of government is how it treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped." — Hubert Humphrey Jr. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationships between spatial production, urbanization and sustainable development are becoming a focus of the international academic cycle. Urbanization dominated by spatial production driven by capital and power often produces and enlarges uneven development, which leads to multiple eco-environmental problems. Thus, the key to development lies in whether the pattern of urbanization is in harmony with the ecological environment. However, previous researches mainly concentrate on spatial production in developed countries or regions. The urbanization and sustainable development of less-developed regions, with complex and fragile ecological environments, are often overlooked. It is a new idea to explain the relationships and interactions between spatial production, urbanization and sustainable development based on less-developed regions by the theory of spatial production. The paper chooses the Hexi Corridor as a typical case, puts forward a conceptual framework and explores the process of spatial production from 2000 to 2017. The results reveal that urbanization in the Hexi Corridor is a multidimensional socio-spatial process: power and capital gave birth to a higher urbanization and accelerated the process of urbanization, however, the urban-rural gap between regions has not narrowed accordingly. Driven by comprehensive interests, local governments often take some extreme measures to forcefully promote the urbanization process, thereby violating the goals and requirements of sustainable development. At present, there is an urgent need to coordinate the relationship between urban and rural regions on different scales and transform the urbanization model from traditional spatial production to a new-type of urbanization with people-oriented and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects over 10% of the global population and poses significant challenges for societies and health care systems worldwide. To illustrate these challenges and inform cost-effectiveness analyses, we undertook a comprehensive systematic scoping review that explored costs, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and life expectancy (LE) amongst individuals with CKD. Costs were examined from a health system and societal perspective, and HRQoL was assessed from a societal and patient perspective. Papers published in English from 2015 onward found through a systematic search strategy formed the basis of the review. All costs were adjusted for inflation and expressed in US$ after correcting for purchasing power parity. From the health system perspective, progression from CKD stages 1–2 to CKD stages 3a-3b was associated with a 1.1–1.7 fold increase in per patient mean annual health care cost. The progression from CKD stage 3 to CKD stages 4–5 was associated with a 1.3–4.2 fold increase in costs, with the highest costs associated with end-stage renal disease at $20,110 to $100,593 per patient. Mean EuroQol-5D index scores ranged from 0.80 to 0.86 for CKD stages 1–3, and decreased to 0.73–0.79 for CKD stages 4–5. For treatment with renal replacement therapy, transplant recipients incurred lower costs and demonstrated higher HRQoL scores with longer LE compared to dialysis patients. The study has provided a comprehensive updated overview of the burden associated with different CKD stages and renal replacement therapy modalities across developed countries. These data will be useful for the assessment of new renal services/therapies in terms of cost-effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Waiting time for non-emergency medical care in developing countries is rarely of immediate concern to policy makers that prioritize provision of basic health services. However, waiting time as a measure of health system responsiveness is important because longer waiting times worsen health outcomes and affect utilization of services. Studies that assess socio-economic inequalities in waiting time provide evidence from developed countries such as England and the United States; evidence from developing countries is lacking. In this paper, we assess the relationship between social class i.e. caste of an individual and waiting time at health facilities—a client orientation dimension of responsiveness. We use household level data from two rounds of the Indian Human Development Survey with a sample size of 27,251 households in each wave (2005 and 2012) and find that lower social class is associated with higher waiting time. This relationship is significant for individuals that visited a male provider but not so for those that visited a female provider. Further, caste is positively related to higher waiting time only if visiting a private facility; for individuals visiting a government facility the relationship between waiting time and caste is not significant. In general, caste related inequality in waiting time has worsened over time. The results are robust to different specifications and the inclusion of several confounders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term social security statistical forecasts produced and disseminated by the Brazilian government aim to provide accurate results that would serve as background information for optimal policy decisions. These forecasts are being used as support for the government's proposed pension reform that plans to radically change the Brazilian Constitution insofar as Social Security is concerned. However, the reliability of official results is uncertain since no systematic evaluation of these forecasts has ever been published by the Brazilian government or anyone else. This paper aims to present a study of the accuracy and methodology of the instruments used by the Brazilian government to carry out long-term actuarial forecasts. We base our research on an empirical and probabilistic analysis of the official models. Our empirical analysis shows that the long-term Social Security forecasts are systematically biased in the short term and have significant errors that render them meaningless in the long run. Moreover, the low level of transparency in the methods impaired the replication of results published by the Brazilian Government and the use of outdated data compromises forecast results. In the theoretical analysis, based on a mathematical modeling approach, we discuss the complexity and limitations of the macroeconomic forecast through the computation of confidence intervals. We demonstrate the problems related to error measurement inherent to any forecasting process. We then extend this exercise to the computation of confidence intervals for Social Security forecasts. This mathematical exercise raises questions about the degree of reliability of the Social Security forecasts.

The importation of rescue dogs has become an increasingly common occurrence in recent years, often involving industrialized countries as the ultimate destination. However, international dog rescue activities have attracted considerable criticism from the veterinary community and the public due to the associated zoonotic disease and public health risks, as well as the potential poor behaviour of international rescue dogs. The Government of Canada has also recently placed a temporary suspension on all commercial dog imports from non-rabies free countries due to the growing concerns of the zoonotic disease risks. To understand the perspectives and experiences of stakeholders involved in dog import activities in Canada, we interviewed nine members in leadership positions of Canadian-based international dog rescue organizations. Thematic analysis of interview dialogue yielded three themes: 1) Motive, which described the reason behind participants' involvement in international dog rescue; 2) Challenge, which described the major difficulties faced in participants' dog rescue work; 3) Duty, which described participants' beliefs on responsible dog rescue practices. Members of international dog rescue organizations described being driven by strong desires to provide animal and humanitarian aid. However, local dog rescue efforts were constrained by logistical and societal barriers unique to the Canadian context. Additionally, the current study revealed both similarities and differences in occupational experiences between international dog rescue organizations and other animal care professions. Specifically, difficulties with the emotional burden associated with caregiving professions was also present within dog rescue work. However, international dog rescue members also experienced additional challenges due to the stigma surrounding international dog rescue operations. Further research on attitudes held by other stakeholders involved in dog import activities, as well as members of Canadian communities needing dog rescue aid may provide meaningful inputs on how to better support and facilitate local and international dog rescue efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vaccination willingness against COVID-19 is generally perceived as low. Moreover, there is large heterogeneity across and within countries. As a whole, Germany has average vaccination rates compared to other industrialized countries. However, vaccination rates in the 16 different German federal states differ by more than 20 percentage points. We describe variation in vaccination rates on the level of the 400 German counties using data on all vaccinations carried out until December 2022. Around 52-72% of that variation can be explained by regional differences in demographic characteristics, housing, education and political party preferences. We find indications that the remaining part may be due to differences in soft factors such as risk aversion, trust in the German government, trust in science, and beliefs in conspiracy theories regarding the origins of the Corona virus. We conclude that improving the trust in science and the fight against conspiracy theories may possibly be effective tools to improve vaccination rates and effectively fight pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widespread dissemination of misinformation on social media is a serious threat to global health. To a large extent, it is still unclear who actually shares health-related misinformation deliberately and accidentally. We conducted a large-scale online survey among 5,307 Facebook users in six sub-Saharan African countries, in which we collected information on sharing of fake news and truth discernment. We estimate the magnitude and determinants of deliberate and accidental sharing of misinformation related to three vaccines (HPV, polio, and COVID-19). In an OLS framework we relate the actual sharing of fake news to several socioeconomic characteristics (age, gender, employment status, education), social media consumption, personality factors and vaccine-related characteristics while controlling for country and vaccine-specific effects. We first show that actual sharing rates of fake news articles are substantially higher than those reported from developed countries and that most of the sharing occurs accidentally. Second, we reveal that the determinants of deliberate vs. accidental sharing differ. While deliberate sharing is related to being older and risk-loving, accidental sharing is associated with being older, male, and high levels of trust in institutions. Lastly, we demonstrate that the determinants of sharing differ by the adopted measure (intentions vs. actual sharing) which underscores the limitations of commonly used intention-based measures to derive insights about actual fake news sharing behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, the world faces an existential threat of climate change, and every government across the globe is trying to come up with strategies to tackle the severity of climate change in every way possible. To this end, the use of clean energy rather than fossil fuel energy sources is critical, as it can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pave the way for carbon neutrality. This study examines the impact of the energy cleanability gap on four different climate vulnerabilities, such as ecosystem, food, health, and housing vulnerabilities, considering 47 European and non-European high-income countries. The study considers samples from 2002 to 2019. This study precedes the empirical analysis in the context of a quadratic relationship between the energy cleanability gap and climate vulnerability. The study uses system-generalized methods of the moment as the main technique, while panel quantile regression is a robustness analysis. Fixed effect and random effect models have also been incorporated. The study finds that the energy cleanability gap and all four climate vulnerabilities demonstrate a U-shaped relationship in both European and non-European countries, implying that when the energy cleanability gap increases, climate vulnerability decreases, but after reaching a certain threshold, it starts to increase. Development expenditure is found to be negatively affecting food and health vulnerabilities in European nations, while it increases food vulnerability and decreases health vulnerability in non-European nations. Regarding industrialization's impact on climate vulnerabilities, the study finds opposite effects for the European and non-European economies. On the other hand, for both groups, trade openness decreases climate vulnerabilities. Based on these results, the study recommends speeding up the energy transition process from fossil fuel energy resources towards clean energy resources to obtain carbon neutrality in both European and non-European groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the factors influencing specialization in artificial intelligence (AI) technology, a critical element of national competitiveness. We utilized a revealed comparative advantage matrix to evaluate technological specialization across countries and employed a three-way fixed-effect panel logit model to examine the relationship between AI specialization and its determinants. The results indicate that the development of AI technology is strongly contingent on a nation's pre-existing technological capabilities, which significantly affect AI specialization in emerging domains. Additionally, this study reveals that scientific knowledge has a positive impact on technological specialization, highlighting the necessity of integrating scientific advancements with technological sectors. Although complex technologies positively influence AI specialization, their effect is less pronounced than that of scientific knowledge. This suggests that in rapidly advancing fields, such as AI, incorporating new scientific knowledge into related industries may be more advantageous than simply advancing existing technologies to outpace competitors. This insight points nations toward enhancing AI competitiveness in new areas, emphasizing the vital importance of both scientific and technological capabilities, and the integration of novel AI knowledge with established sectors. This research offers critical guidance for policymakers in less technologically and economically developed countries, as these nations may not have the technological infrastructure required to foster AI specialization through increased technical complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Currently there is increasing recognition of the need for research in developing countries where disease burden is high. Understanding the role of local factors is important for undertaking ethical research in developing countries. We explored factors relating to information and communication during the process of informed consent, and the approach that should be followed for gaining consent. The study was conducted prior to a family-based genetic study among people with podoconiosis (non-filarial elephantiasis) in southern Ethiopia. Methodology/Principal Findings: We adapted a method of rapid assessment validated in The Gambia. The methodology was entirely qualitative, involving focus-group discussions and in-depth interviews. Discussions were conducted with podoconiosis patients and non-patients in the community, fieldworkers, researchers, staff of the local non-governmental organisation (NGO) working on prevention and treatment of podoconiosis, and community leaders. We found that the extent of use of everyday language, the degree to which expectations of potential participants were addressed, and the techniques of presentation of information had considerable impact on comprehension of information provided about research. Approaching podoconiosis patients via locally trusted individuals and preceding individual consent with community sensitization were considered the optimal means of communication. Prevailing poverty among podoconiosis patients, the absence of alternative treatment facilities, and participants' trust in the local NGO were identified as potential barriers for obtaining genuine informed consent. Conclusions: Researchers should evaluate the effectiveness of consent processes in providing appropriate information in a comprehensible manner and in supporting voluntary decision-making on a study-by-study basis. Author Summary: Informed consent to biomedical research in developing countries is a highly topical issue. When consent forms and processes are simply borrowed from developed countries, obtaining genuine informed consent becomes extremely challenging. This paper examines how a quick and relatively simple intervention (Rapid Assessment) can influence the design and implementation of informed consent processes in the context of biomedical research involving poor, socially stigmatized and illiterate communities in a developing country. The paper goes on to discuss the effect of social, cultural, and economic factors identified by the intervention in a particular context and demonstrates how knowledge of these influences helped to develop a socially relevant and practical consent process prior to conducting a programme of community-based genetic research. The paper concludes that this intervention is an effective and economical means by which to ensure the efficacy and ethical integrity of consent processes when recruiting participants to new research sites, even within countries with which researchers are already acquainted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neonatal birth trauma, although it has steadily decreased in industrialized nations, constitutes a significant health burden in low-resource settings. Keeping with this, we sought to determine the pooled cumulative incidence (incidence proportion) of birth trauma and identify potential contributing factors in low and middle-income countries. Besides, we aimed to describe the temporal trend, clinical pattern, and immediate adverse neonatal outcomes of birth trauma. We searched articles published in the English language in the Excerpta Medica database, PubMed, Web of Science, Google, African Journals Online, Google Scholar, Scopus, and in the reference list of retrieved articles. Literature search strategies were developed using medical subject headings and text words related to the outcomes of the study. The Joana Briggs Institute quality assessment tool was employed and articles with appraisal scores of seven or more were deemed suitable to be included in the meta-analysis. Data were analyzed using the random-effect Dersimonian-Laird model. The full search identified a total of 827 articles about neonatal birth trauma. Of these, 37 articles involving 365,547 participants met the inclusion criteria. The weighted pooled cumulative incidence of birth trauma was estimated at 34 per 1,000 live births (95% confidence interval (CI) 30.5 to 38.5) with the highest incidence observed in Africa at 52.9 per 1,000 live births (95% CI 46.5 to 59.4). Being born to a mother from rural areas (odds ratio (OR), 1.61; 95% CI1.18 to 2.21); prolonged labor (OR, 5.45; 95% CI 2.30, 9.91); fetal malpresentation at delivery (OR, 4.70; 95% CI1.75 to 12.26); shoulder dystocia (OR, 6.11; 95% CI3.84 to 9.74); operative vaginal delivery (assisted vacuum or forceps extraction) (OR, 3.19; 95% CI 1.92 to 5.31); and macrosomia (OR, 5.06; 95% CI 2.76 to 9.29) were factors associated with neonatal birth trauma. In conclusion, we found a considerably high incidence proportion of neonatal birth trauma in low and middle-income countries. Therefore, early identification of risk factors and prompt decisions on the mode of delivery can potentially contribute to the decreased magnitude and impacts of neonatal birth trauma and promote the newborn's health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A substantial body of research has demonstrated that science knowledge is correlated with attitudes towards science, with most studies finding a positive relationship between the two constructs; people who are more knowledgeable about science tend to be more positive about it. However, this evidence base has been almost exclusively confined to high and middle-income democracies, with poorer and less developed nations excluded from consideration. In this study, we conduct the first global investigation of the science knowledge-attitude relationship, using the 2018 Wellcome Global Monitor survey. Our results show a positive knowledge-attitude correlation in all but one of the 144 countries investigated. This robust cross-national relationship is consistent across both science literacy and self-assessed measures of science knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International trade has a significant impact on global environmental quality and sustainable economic development. Global value chains (GVCs) have become a crucial component of international trade and development policy. The global production structure has become more complicated with the inclusion of domestic markets in GVC, putting significant pressure on world energy resources and environmental sustainability. Therefore, traditional trade measures no longer accurately reflect how global trade affects the energy security of developing and developed countries. Thus, this study is the first to use a panel-corrected standard error method to look at the relationship between GVC participation and energy security by using a global sample of 35 developed and 27 developing nations from 1995 to 2018. A feasible generalized least squares model was also applied to confirm the robustness of the model. Six indicators—foreign direct investment, industrialization level, capital formation, human capital index, political stability, and GVC—were used in this research to look at their impact on the four fundamental pillars of energy security (availability, applicability, sustainability, and affordability) for sustainable economic development. For developed countries, it was confirmed that there is a non-linear relationship between GVC participation and energy intensity, renewable energy consumption, and non-fossil fuel use. In the case of developing countries, the non-linear relationship in terms of all aspects of energy security was also confirmed. The findings also indicated that GVC's involvement benefits all four dimensions of energy security in both developing and developed countries once it reaches a certain threshold. Our findings further support the impacts of long-term cointegration between GVC and energy security for sustainable economic development. Therefore, the nations must promote technology transfer and capacity building within GVCs for inclusive energy security. Similarly, they may foster sustainable practices through collaborative governance for a stable global energy network by acknowledging the positive impact of income levels on energy security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Smoking, alcohol consumption, poor diet and low levels of physical activity significantly contribute to the burden of illness in developed countries. Whilst the links between specific and multiple risk behaviours and individual chronic conditions are well documented, the impact of these behaviours in mid-life across a range of later life outcomes has yet to be comprehensively assessed. This review aimed to provide an overview of behavioural risk factors in mid-life that are associated with successful ageing and the primary prevention or delay of disability, dementia, frailty and non-communicable chronic conditions. Methods: A literature search was conducted to identify cohort studies published in English since 2000 up to Dec 2014. Multivariate analyses and a minimum follow-up of five years were required for inclusion. Two reviewers screened titles, abstracts and papers independently. Studies were assessed for quality. Evidence was synthesised by mid-life behavioural risk for a range of late life outcomes. Findings: This search located 10,338 individual references, of which 164 are included in this review. Follow-up data ranged from five years to 36 years. Outcomes include dementia, frailty, disability and cardiovascular disease. There is consistent evidence of beneficial associations between mid-life physical activity, healthy ageing and disease outcomes. Across all populations studied there is consistent evidence that mid-life smoking has a detrimental effect on health. Evidence specific to alcohol consumption was mixed. Limited, but supportive, evidence was available relating specifically to mid-life diet, leisure and social activities or health inequalities. Conclusions: There is consistent evidence of associations between mid-life behaviours and a range of late life outcomes. The promotion of physical activity, healthy diet and smoking cessation in all mid-life populations should be encouraged for successful ageing and the prevention of disability and chronic disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rates of Multimorbidity (also called Multiple Long Term Conditions, MLTC) are increasing in many developed nations. People with multimorbidity experience poorer outcomes and require more healthcare intervention. Grouping of conditions by health service utilisation is poorly researched. The study population consisted of a cohort of people living in Wales, UK aged 20 years or older in 2000 who were followed up until the end of 2017. Multimorbidity clusters by prevalence and healthcare resource use (HRU) were modelled using hypergraphs, mathematical objects relating diseases via links which can connect any number of diseases, thus capturing information about sets of diseases of any size. The cohort included 2,178,938 people. The most prevalent diseases were hypertension (13.3%), diabetes (6.9%), depression (6.7%) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (5.9%). The most important sets of diseases when considering prevalence generally contained a small number of diseases, while the most important sets of diseases when considering HRU were sets containing many diseases. The most important set of diseases taking prevalence and HRU into account was diabetes & hypertension and this combined measure of importance featured hypertension most often in the most important sets of diseases. We have used a single approach to find the most important sets of diseases based on co-occurrence and HRU measures, demonstrating the flexibility of the hypergraph approach. Hypertension, the most important single disease, is silent, underdiagnosed and increases the risk of life threatening co-morbidities. Co-occurrence of endocrine and cardiovascular diseases was common in the most important sets. Combining measures of prevalence with HRU provides insights which would be helpful for those planning and delivering services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Community level interventions to improve maternal and child health have been supported and well evaluated in resource poor settings, but less so in developed countries. PRISM - Program of Resources, Information and Support for Mothers - was a primary care and community-based cluster-randomised trial in sixteen municipalities in Victoria, Australia, which aimed to reduce depression in mothers and improve their physical health. The aim of this paper is to report the longer term outcomes of PRISM and to reflect on lessons learned from this universal community intervention to improve maternal health. Methods: Maternal health outcome data in PRISM were collected by postal questionnaire at six months and two years. At two years, the main outcome measures included the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the SF-36. Secondary outcome measures included the Experience of Motherhood Scale (EOM) and the Parenting Stress Index (PSI). A primary intention to treat analysis was conducted, adjusting for the randomisation by cluster. Results: 7,169/18,424 (39%) women responded to the postal questionnaire at two years −3,894 (40%) in the intervention arm and 3,275 (38%) in the comparison arm. Respondents were mostly representative on available population data comparisons. There were no differences in depression prevalence (EPDS≥13) between the intervention and comparison arms (13.4% vs 13.1%; ORadj = 1.06, 95%CI 0.91–1.24). Nor did women's mental health (MCS: 48.6 vs 49.1) or physical health scores (PCS: 49.1 vs 49.0) on the SF-36 differ between the trial arms. Conclusion: Improvement in maternal mental and physical health outcomes at the population level in the early years after childbirth remains a largely unmet challenge. Despite the lack of effectiveness of PRISM intervention strategies, important lessons about systems change, sustained investment and contextual understanding of the workability of intervention strategies can be drawn from the experience of PRISM. Trial Registration. Controlled-Trials.com ISRCTN03464021 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Abstinence-plus (comprehensive) interventions promote sexual abstinence as the best means of preventing HIV, but also encourage condom use and other safer-sex practices. Some critics of abstinence-plus programs have suggested that promoting safer sex along with abstinence may undermine abstinence messages or confuse program participants; conversely, others have suggested that promoting abstinence might undermine safer-sex messages. We conducted a systematic review to investigate the effectiveness of abstinence-plus interventions for HIV prevention among any participants in high-income countries as defined by the World Bank., Methods and Findings: Cochrane Collaboration systematic review methods were used. We included randomized and quasi-randomized controlled trials of abstinence-plus programs for HIV prevention among any participants in any high-income country; trials were included if they reported behavioural or biological outcomes. We searched 30 electronic databases without linguistic or geographical restrictions to February 2007, in addition to contacting experts, hand-searching conference abstracts, and cross-referencing papers. After screening 20,070 abstracts and 325 full published and unpublished papers, we included 39 trials that included approximately 37,724 North American youth. Programs were based in schools (10), community facilities (24), both schools and community facilities (2), health care facilities (2), and family homes (1). Control groups varied. All outcomes were self-reported. Quantitative synthesis was not possible because of heterogeneity across trials in programs and evaluation designs. Results suggested that many abstinence-plus programs can reduce HIV risk as indicated by self-reported sexual behaviours. Of 39 trials, 23 found a protective program effect on at least one sexual behaviour, including abstinence, condom use, and unprotected sex (baseline n = 19,819). No trial found adverse program effects on any behavioural outcome, including incidence of sex, frequency of sex, sexual initiation, or condom use. This suggests that abstinence-plus approaches do not undermine program messages encouraging abstinence, nor do they undermine program messages encouraging safer sex. Findings consistently favoured abstinence-plus programs over controls for HIV knowledge outcomes, suggesting that abstinence-plus programs do not confuse participants. Results for biological outcomes were limited by floor effects. Three trials assessed self-reported diagnosis or treatment of sexually transmitted infection; none found significant effects. Limited evidence from seven evaluations suggested that some abstinence-plus programs can reduce pregnancy incidence. No trial observed an adverse biological program effect., Conclusions: Many abstinence-plus programs appear to reduce short-term and long-term HIV risk behaviour among youth in high-income countries. Programs did not cause harm. Although generalisability may be somewhat limited to North American adolescents, these findings have critical implications for abstinence-based HIV prevention policies. Suggestions are provided for improving the conduct and reporting of trials of abstinence-plus and other behavioural interventions to prevent HIV.

Introduction: Malnutrition is a clinical condition due to the imbalance among needs, intake and use of nutrients, leading to the increase of morbidity and mortality, and to the impairment of quality of life. Even in industrialized countries undernutrition is becoming an alarming phenomenon, especially involving elderly institutionalized subjects. A multicentric study called PIMAI (Project Iatrogenic MAlnutrition in Italy), was carried out in Italy over 2005. The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of malnutrition in hospitals and in nursing care homes (NH), to assess the level of nutritional attention and to measure the perceived quality in food and nutritional care. This paper represents a preliminary analysis of data collected in a NH included in the PIMAI project. Materials and methods: A total of 100 subjects (29 males and 71 females, aged 80.2±10 years), were recruited from January to June 2005 at the Clinical Rehabilitation Institute “Villa delle Querce” in Nemi (Rome), among patients in the NH facility. All the participants underwent a multidimensional geriatric evaluation (considering nutritional, clinical, functional and cognitive parameters), and a survey on “perceived quality” of nutritional care. Results and discussion: According to nutritional status defined by the Mini Nutritional Assessment®, data analysis showed a high prevalence of malnutrition (36%) especially related to advanced age, chewing, cognitive and functional impairments. Patients seemed to consider nutrition to be important for their health; on the other hand, they were not thoroughly satisfied with the quality of food. Particularly, it was observed scarce attention to nutritional status from medical and nursing staff. Conclusions: Our study confirms the need to pay greater attention to nutritional status in elderly institutionalized subjects. Medical and nursing teams need to be aware of the importance to perform an evaluation of nutritional status in these subset of subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Studies have widely documented the socioeconomic inequalities in maternal and child health related outcomes in developing countries including India. However, there is limited research on the inequalities in advice provided by public health workers on maternal and child health during antenatal visits. This paper investigates the inequalities in advice provided by public health workers to women during antenatal visits in rural India. Methods and Findings: The District Level Household Survey (2007-08) was used to compute rich-poor ratios and concentration indices. Binary logistic regressions were used to investigate inequalities in advice provided by public health workers. The dependent variables comprised the advice provided on seven essential components of maternal and child health care. A significant proportion of pregnant women who attended at least four ANC sessions were not advised on these components during their antenatal sessions. Only 51%-72% of the pregnant women were advised on at least one of the components. Moreover, socioeconomic inequalities in providing advice were significant and the provision of advice concentrated disproportionately among the rich. Inequalities were highest in the case of advice on family planning methods. Advice on breastfeeding was least unequal. Public health workers working in lower level health facilities were significantly less likely than their counterparts in the higher level health facilities to provide specific advice. Conclusion: A significant proportion of women were not advised on recommended components of maternal and child health in rural India. Moreover, there were enormous socioeconomic inequalities. The findings of this study raise questions about the capacity of the public health care system in providing equitable services in India. The Government of India must focus on training and capacity building of the public health workers in communication skills so that they can deliver appropriate and recommended advice to all clients, irrespective of their socioeconomic status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Human toxocariasis is a zoonotic infection caused by the larval stages of Toxocara canis (T. canis) and less frequently Toxocara cati (T. cati). A relationship between toxocariasis and epilepsy has been hypothesized. We conducted a systematic review and a meta-analysis of available data to evaluate the strength of association between epilepsy and Toxocara spp. seropositivity and to propose some guidelines for future surveys. Data Sources: Electronic databases, the database from the Institute of Neuroepidemiology and Tropical Neurology of the University of Limoges (http://www.ient.unilim.fr/) and the reference lists of all relevant papers and books were screened up to October 2011. Methods: We performed a systematic review of literature on toxocariasis (the exposure) and epilepsy (the outcome). Two authors independently assessed eligibility and study quality and extracted data. A common odds ratio (OR) was estimated using a random-effects meta-analysis model of aggregated published data. Results: Seven case-control studies met the inclusion criteria, for a total of 1867 participants (850 cases and 1017 controls). The percentage of seropositivity (presence of anti-Toxocara spp. antibodies) was higher among people with epilepsy (PWE) in all the included studies even if the association between epilepsy and Toxocara spp. seropositivity was statistically significant in only 4 studies, with crude ORs ranging 2.04–2.85. Another study bordered statistical significance, while in 2 of the included studies no significant association was found. A significant (p<0.001) common OR of 1.92 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.50–2.44] was estimated. Similar results were found when meta-analysis was restricted to the studies considering an exclusively juvenile population and to surveys using Western Blot as confirmatory or diagnostic serological assay. Conclusion: Our results support the existence of a positive association between Toxocara spp. seropositivity and epilepsy. Further studies, possibly including incident cases, should be performed to better investigate the relationship between toxocariasis and epilepsy. Author Summary: Human toxocariasis is an infection caused by the larval stage of the worms Toxocara canis and less frequently Toxocara cati, common parasites of domestic and peridomestic dogs and cats. It is a cosmopolitan infection, occurring whenever the man-soil-dog relationship is particularly close, especially in tropical countries, where the humid climate favours the survival of parasite eggs in the soil, and in rural settings, where the poor hygiene increases the probability of human infection. Epilepsy affects nowadays at least 65 million of people worldwide and is particularly common in tropical areas, probably because of the presence of cases caused by infectious diseases largely absent in industrialized countries. For several decades, researchers have investigated the possible association between toxocariasis and epilepsy. In this study we conducted a statistical analysis of all the data available on the relationship between these two conditions. The combined results of the 7 studies included indicate an association between the two diseases. Further studies are necessary to demonstrate a causal relationship (i.e. toxocariasis causes epilepsy). Considering that toxocariasis is a preventable and common disease, a better understanding of the relationship between toxocariasis and epilepsy may contribute to improving prevention of epilepsy worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Relative to the attention given to improving the quality of and access to maternal health services, the influence of women's socio-economic situation on maternal health care use has received scant attention. The objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between women's economic, educational and empowerment status, introduced as the 3Es, and maternal health service utilization in developing countries. Methods/Principal Findings: The analysis uses data from the most recent Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in 31 countries for which data on all the 3Es are available. Separate logistic regression models are fitted for modern contraceptive use, antenatal care and skilled birth attendance in relation to the three covariates of interest: economic, education and empowerment status, additionally controlling for women's age and residence. We use meta-analysis techniques to combine and summarize results from multiple countries. The 3Es are significantly associated with utilization of maternal health services. The odds of having a skilled attendant at delivery for women in the poorest wealth quintile are 94% lower than that for women in the highest wealth quintile and almost 5 times higher for women with complete primary education relative to those less educated. The likelihood of using modern contraception and attending four or more antenatal care visits are 2.01 and 2.89 times, respectively, higher for women with complete primary education than for those less educated. Women with the highest empowerment score are between 1.31 and 1.82 times more likely than those with a null empowerment score to use modern contraception, attend four or more antenatal care visits and have a skilled attendant at birth. Conclusions/Significance: Efforts to expand maternal health service utilization can be accelerated by parallel investments in programs aimed at poverty eradication (MDG 1), universal primary education (MDG 2), and women's empowerment (MDG 3). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Representing over 50% of the healthcare workforce, nurses provide care to people at all ages. This study advances, at a population level, that high levels of nursing services, measured by nurse density may significantly promote population ageing measured by the percentage of a population over 65 years of age (65yo%). Methods: Population level data was examined to explore the correlation between nurse density and 65yo%. The confounding impacts on ageing such as the effects of economic affluence, physician density, fertility rate, obesity and urban advantages were also considered. Scatter plots, bivariate correlation, partial correlation and multiple linear regression analyses were performed for examining the correlations. Results: Nurse density correlated to 65yo%; this relationship was independent of other influences such as fertility rate, economic affluence, obesity prevalence, physician density and urban advantages. Second to fertility rate, nursing density had the greatest influence on 65yo%. The predicting and confounding variables explain 74.4% of the total 65yo% variance. The universal correlations identified in country groupings suggest that low nurse density may be a significant global concern. Conclusions: While nurse density might contribute significantly to 65yo% globally, the effect was more prominent in developed countries. Ironically, countries with higher nurse densities and therefore greater levels of 65yo%, were countries with an increased need for more nursing staff. To highlight the profound implications for the role the nursing profession plays especially at a time of global nursing shortage, further study into the effects of long-run elasticity of nurse staffing level on population ageing may be needed. For instance, what percentage of nursing staff increase would be required to meet every 1% increase of an ageing population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Girls typically show much lower suicide rates than boys in most OECD countries. However, in South Korea, the suicide rate of girls almost reaches that of boys. Moreover, Korean girls' suicide rate is remarkable even among other advanced countries. One potential approach to explaining Korean girls' relatively high suicide rate is to investigate how their peer groups affect suicidal ideation, but this approach has rarely been explored in Korean adolescents. We tested how the gender heterogeneity of peer groups is associated with suicidal ideation by analyzing 2,990 adolescents from the 2018 Korean Children and Youth Well-Being Index Survey. For the analysis, logistic regression models with survey weights were used. The analysis revealed that adolescents with different-gender friends were associated with a higher likelihood of suicidal ideation than those with exclusively same-gender friends when adjusting for covariates. In addition, an analysis stratified by gender found that this association was significant only among girls. Furthermore, the protective power of having a mentor against suicidal ideation was significantly lower in girls with male and female friends than in girls with only female friends. The findings suggest a less protective role of different-gender peer groups for suicidal ideation among girls. During adolescent suicidality consultations, school counselors and practitioners should pay attention to the characteristics of adolescents' peers, particularly their gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The reduction in severe and moderate acute malnutrition (SAM and MAM) rates in Pakistan has been sub-optimal compared to other low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Specially-formulated products have been designed globally to manage SAM and MAM, such as ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) and ready-to-use supplementary food (RUSF), with variable efficacies. RUTF is primarily produced and patented in industrialized countries, raising supply challenges in resource-constrained regions with a high burden of acute malnutrition. RUSF minimizes costs by using locally-available ingredients while providing similar nutritional value. In this study, we compared the efficacy, side effects, and compliance of two months of supplementation with either RUTF or RUSF. Methods: Children aged nine months in the rural district of Matiari, Pakistan, with a weight-for-height z-score (WHZ) <-2 received either RUTF (500 kcal sachet) for two months in 2015 or RUSF (520 kcal sachet) for two months in 2018. Results: The RUSF group had a higher height gain and mid-upper arm circumferences (MUAC) score. Higher compliance was noted with lower side effects in the RUSF group. A higher compliance rate did correlate with the growth parameters in respective groups. Conclusion: Our study found that both RUTF and RUSF partially improve the anthropometric status of acutely malnourished children, with neither being superior to the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food insecurity is one of the main factors affecting multimorbidity. Previous studies have shown that food insecurity may lead to multimorbidity due to person's inability to consume nutritious diet. However, considering that multimorbidity may cause work-related disabilities and an unstable income, others support the possible effect that multimorbidity has on food insecurity. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to examine the relationship between food insecurity and multimorbidity in adults. A systematic literature review of studies was performed using the PubMed, EBSCO and SCOPUS for all articles including adults ≥ 18-year-old with multimorbidity living in developed countries published from August 5th until December 7th 2022. Meta-analysis was performed considering results from the fully adjusted model. The methodological quality was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale adapted for cross-sectional studies. This systematic review was not registered. This research received no specific grant from any funding agency. Four cross-sectional studies involving 45,404 participants were included in order to investigate the possible impact that food insecurity has on multimorbidity. The study findings showed an increased probability of multimorbidity 1.55 (95% CI:1.31–1.79, p<0.001, I2 = 44.1%) among people with food insecurity. Conversely, three of the included studies, involving 81,080 participants concluded that people with multimorbidity, have 2.58 (95% CI: 1.66–3.49, p<0.001, I2 = 89.7%) times higher odds to present food insecurity. This systematic review and meta-analysis provide evidence of a reverse association between food insecurity and multimorbidity. Further cross-sectional studies must be conducted in order to elucidate the association between multimorbidity and food insecurity across age groups and between the two genders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recovery-oriented mental health service has become the focus of global change in mental health services. Most of North industrialized countries have adopted and implemented this paradigm in the last two decades. Only recently that some developing countries are trying to follow this step. In Indonesia's case, there has been little attention to developing a recovery orientation by mental health authorities. The aim of this article is to synthesize and analyze the recovery-oriented guidelines from five industrialized countries that we can use as a primary model for developing a protocol to be implemented in community health centre in Kulonprogo District, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Method: We used a narrative literature review by searching for guidelines from many different sources. We found 57 guidelines, but only 13 from five countries met the criteria, including five guidelines from Australia, one from Ireland, three from Canada, two from the UK, and two from the US. To analyze the data, we used an inductive thematic analysis to explore the themes of each principle as described by the guideline. Result: The results of the thematic analysis revealed seven recovery principles, including (1) cultivating positive hope, (2) establishing partnerships and collaboration, (3) ensuring organizational commitment and evaluation, (4) recognizing the consumer's rights, (5) focusing on person-centeredness and empowerment, (6) recognizing an individual's uniqueness and social context, and (7) facilitating social support,. These seven principles are not independent, rather they are interrelated and overlap each other. Conclusion: The principle of person-centeredness and empowerment is central to the recovery-oriented mental health system, while the principle of hope is also essential to embracing all the other principles. We will adjust and implement the result of the review in our project focusing on developing recovery-oriented mental health service in the community health center in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. We hope that this framework will be adopted by the central government in Indonesia and other developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The future of work has become a prominent topic for research and policy debate. However, the debate has focused entirely on paid work, even though people in industrialized countries on average spend comparable amounts of time on unpaid work. The objectives of this study are therefore (1) to expand the future of work debate to unpaid domestic work and (2) to critique the main methodology used in previous studies. To these ends, we conducted a forecasting exercise in which 65 AI experts from the UK and Japan estimated how automatable are 17 housework and care work tasks. Unlike previous studies, we applied a sociological approach that considers how experts' diverse backgrounds might shape their estimates. On average our experts predicted that 39 percent of the time spent on a domestic task will be automatable within ten years. Japanese male experts were notably pessimistic about the potentials of domestic automation, a result we interpret through gender disparities in the Japanese household. Our contributions are providing the first quantitative estimates concerning the future of unpaid work and demonstrating how such predictions are socially contingent, with implications to forecasting methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in sustainable food consumption has gradually increased over the previous third decades. Despite substantial studies addressing various topics connected to sustainable food consumption, little research systematically evaluates which factors influence consumers' purchase of sustainable food. We aim to integrate preliminary findings, compare four original and extended models of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) in the context of sustainable food consumption, and identify measurement and situational moderators using a meta-analytic structural equation modeling approach. The results show that attitude (ATT), subjective norms (SN), and perceived behavioral control (PBC) were most strongly positively correlated with a purchase intention (PI) of sustainable food. Furthermore, the analysis of the moderating effects revealed significant differences in the relationship between PBC and purchase behavior (PB) and between SN and PI in developing and developed countries. In addition, by comparing four original and extended TPB models, this study proposes a theoretical framework to affect customers' PI of sustainable food. The findings of this study can be used as a foundation for company marketing and government environmental protection promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migrants and refugees living in high income countries (HICs) have an increased risk of developing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) due to malnutrition at different stages over their life course. This systematic review aims to examine the double burden of malnutrition (DBM) among migrants and refugees in developed countries. This review was informed by the standard Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA 2020) guidelines. Eligible studies were peer-reviewed observational studies that focused on the DBM in refugee or migrant populations; and were written in English with full texts available and accessible. A combination of keywords was used to search 8 electronic bibliographic databases including Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, ProQuest, Scopus, PubMed, and web of science. There is a paucity of research into the DBM among migrants and refugees residing in HICs. Of a total of 2344 articles retrieved from eight databases, 5 studies met the inclusion criteria. All included studies showed the co-existence of some form of undernutrition and overnutrition within the same population. Overnutrition (overweight and obesity) in the studied populations ranged from 11.1% to 42% while undernutrition (stunting, wasting and underweight) ranged from 0.3% to 17%. Standard measures for anthropometry as determined by World Health Organization (WHO) were used for data collection in all included studies. A piloted form informed by the Cochrane Public Health Group Data Extraction and Assessment Template was used in the extraction of data from retrieved studies. Quality assessment of included studies was performed using the study assessment tools of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and showed that all studies were of fair quality. Interventions that simultaneously target more than one form of malnutrition especially amongst migrant and refugee populations must be implemented for policy solutions to be effective. This review has been registered by the PROSPERO international prospective registry for systematic reviews, reference CRD42020192416. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pertussis cases have been reported most frequently in developed countries, but they are predicted to be the most prevalent in developing countries. Indonesia, a developing country, routinely conducts case-based surveillance for pertussis. We reviewed the data on pertussis cases and close contacts based on clinical sample documents examined in the National Reference Laboratory for pertussis, Indonesia (2016–2020). Our objective was to analyze the laboratory and epidemiological aspects of pertussis cases and close contacts, particularly to evaluate the implementation of a 5-year case-based surveillance of pertussis in Indonesia. Data were collected from sample documents and annual laboratory reports between January 2016 and December 2020. We analyzed the proportion of pertussis cases and close contacts by geographic region, year, age, and sex. We used the χ2 test to correlate the laboratory and epidemiological data. In total, 274 clinical cases of pertussis and 491 close contacts were recorded in 15 provinces. The peak number of cases occurred in 2019, with a positivity rate (percentage of laboratory-confirmed cases) of 41.23% (47/114). Clinical cases were dominated by infants aged <1 year (55.5%), and 52.9% of them were aged <6 months. Similarly, 72.3% (68/94) of the laboratory-confirmed cases were infants. Both clinical cases and positivity rates tended to be higher in females (155 cases, 38.1%) than in males (119 cases, 29.4%). No confirmed cases were found in children aged ≥10 years, although positive results still occurred in close contact. Age-group and laboratory-confirmed cases were correlated (p = 0.00). Clinical and confirmed cases of pertussis occurred mostly in the early age group and may be lower in those aged ≥10 years, especially in confirmed cases. New policies are needed for pertussis prevention at an early age, as well as the application of serology tests to increase laboratory-confirmed cases in children aged ≥10 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the various aspects of Giardiasis, a neglected disease that spreads worldwide from the Arctic to the Tropics. An overview about the prevalence of the disease in developed countries worldwide, and its causes is provided. Also tackled is the role of physician Vilém Dušan Lambl in scientifically documenting the parasite by microscopy drawing.

This study uses largescale cross-national time-diary data from the Multinational Time Use Study (MTUS) (N = 201,972) covering the period from 2005 to 2015 to examine gender differences in time use by age groups. The study compares ten industrialized countries across Asia, Europe, and North America. In all ten countries, gender differences in time use are smaller in personal care, sleeping and meals, followed by leisure time (including screen-based leisure and active leisure), and largest in housework, care work and paid work activities. Gender disparities in time use are higher in South Korea, Hungary, and Italy, followed closely by Spain, with moderate gender gaps in Western European countries like France and Netherlands, and lowest differences in Finland and Anglo-Saxon countries, including Canada, US, and the UK. Gender differences in housework and caring time increase from adolescence (10–17 years) to early adulthood (18–29 years), showing strong gender gaps in early/middle adulthood (30–44 years), but narrow again during late adulthood (65 years or older). However, the age gradient in care work and housework is most pronounced in Italy and South Korea, being less prominent in Canada and Finland. Gender gaps in paid work are larger in early/middle adulthood (30–44) and middle/late adulthood (45–64), with strongest age gradients observed in the Netherlands and weaker gradients for the US. Gender differences in active leisure increase by age, especially in Southern European countries, while screen-based leisure shows more stable gender gaps by age groups across different countries. Overall, this study shows that age and gender intersect strongly in affecting time-use patterns, but also that the national context plays an important role in shaping gender-age interactions in time use allocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of sampling from globally representative populations has been well established in human genomics. In human microbiome research, however, we lack a full understanding of the global distribution of sampling in research studies. This information is crucial to better understand global patterns of microbiome-associated diseases and to extend the health benefits of this research to all populations. Here, we analyze the country of origin of all 444,829 human microbiome samples that are available from the world's 3 largest genomic data repositories, including the Sequence Read Archive (SRA). The samples are from 2,592 studies of 19 body sites, including 220,017 samples of the gut microbiome. We show that more than 71% of samples with a known origin come from Europe, the United States, and Canada, including 46.8% from the US alone, despite the country representing only 4.3% of the global population. We also find that central and southern Asia is the most underrepresented region: Countries such as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh account for more than a quarter of the world population but make up only 1.8% of human microbiome samples. These results demonstrate a critical need to ensure more global representation of participants in microbiome studies. The importance of sampling from globally representative populations has been well established in human genomics, but what about the microbiome? This study shows that metadata from almost half a million samples reveals worldwide human microbiome research is skewed heavily in favor of Europe and North America and excludes large but less developed nations in Asia and Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study explores the causal relationship between monetary policy effectiveness and financial inclusion in developed and under-developed countries. Structural Vector Auto-regressive techniques have been inducted to explore the relationship between monetary policy effectiveness and financial inclusion. The study covers the secondary data of 10 developed and 30 underdeveloped countries throughout 2004–2018. It is concluded that monetary policy effectiveness and financial inclusion do not have a contemporaneous impact on each other. Nevertheless, the reduced-form Vector Auto-regressive witness the reverse causality between financial inclusion and monetary policy effectiveness in developed countries. Thus, effective monetary policy enhances financial inclusion in a country, and a higher degree of financial inclusion lowers the inflation rate and makes monetary policy effective. One way causality from monetary policy effectiveness to financial inclusion can be observed in under-developed countries. Using the Structural Vector auto-regressive technique and financial inclusion index composed of three-dimension to examine the relationship of monetary policy effectiveness and financial inclusion in developed and developing countries is considered the study's significant contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider a simple theoretical model to investigate the impact of inheritances on the wealth distribution. Wealth is described as a finite resource, which remains constant over different generations and is divided equally among offspring. All other sources of wealth are neglected. We consider different societies characterized by a different offspring probability distribution. We find that, if the population remains constant, the society reaches a stationary wealth distribution. We show that inequality emerges every time the number of children per family is not always the same. For realistic offspring distributions from developed countries, the model predicts a Gini coefficient of G ≈ 0.3. If we divide the society into wealth classes and set the probability of getting married to depend on the distance between classes, the stationary wealth distribution crosses over from an exponential to a power-law regime as the number of wealth classes and the level of class distinction increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countries across the world responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with what might well be the set of biggest state-led mobility and activity restrictions in the history of humankind. But how effective were these measures across countries? Compared to multiple recent studies that document an association between such restrictions and the control of the contagion, we use an instrumental variable approach to estimate the causal effect of these restrictions on mobility, and the growth rate of confirmed cases and deaths during the first wave of the pandemic. Using the level of stringency in the rest of the world to predict the level of stringency of the restriction measures in a country, we show while stricter contemporaneous measures affected mobility, stringency in seven to fourteen days mattered most for containing the contagion. Heterogeneity analysis, by various institutional inequalities, reveals that even though the restrictions reduced mobility more in relatively less-developed countries, the causal effect of a reduction in mobility was higher in more developed countries. We propose several explanations. Our results highlight the need to complement mobility and activity restrictions with other health and information measures, especially in less-developed countries, to combat the COVID-19 pandemic effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]