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The analysis of international and collaborative publication trends in prominent behavior‐analytic journals has been a topic of interest for behavioral researchers. This paper focuses on publication trends from 1997 through 2020 in three prominent journals: Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB), Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA), and Perspectives on Behavior Science (PBS). The variable of interest was the percentage of articles published per geographical category—Australasia/East Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, North America, and Africa. The results showed that 79, 96, and 87% of the published articles in JEAB, JABA, and PBS, respectively, were conducted by researchers with a North American affiliation. Furthermore, 12, 4, and 4% of the articles in JEAB, JABA, and PBS, respectively, were coauthored by at least two researchers from different geographical categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about the use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) among refugees, despite the common practice of CAM in many non-Western countries. We performed a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature using nine electronic databases. We included articles pertaining to refugees and CAM (whole medical systems, mind body medicine, herbal remedies, manipulative therapies, energy medicine). Qualitative and quantitative data were compiled and analyzed through descriptive statistics and chi square distribution tables. We reviewed 237 abstracts, and 47 publications met our inclusion criteria. Twenty-six papers documented whole medical systems; 11 mind-body medicine; 5 biologically based practices; 4 manipulative and body-based therapies; and 1 study documented the use of energy medicine. There were 3 clinical trials, 20 surveys, 12 case reports, 2 participant-observer qualitative papers, and 10 review papers. Most studies focused on Asian refugee populations (66%; n = 31). Mental problems related to trauma accounted for 36% of CAM use (17). Among included articles, methodological quality was extremely low. Our results show evidence that type of CAM used by refugees may vary based on ethnicity, yet this is most likely due to a bias in the medical literature. Efforts are needed to further explore these results and expand research within this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses recent migration to North America with reference to the 1962 and 1967 Canadian immigration regulations and the 1965 United States Immigration and Nationality Act. Despite the similar emphasis on manpower and kinship criteria as the basis for the admission of immigrants, differences between Canada and the United States exist with respect to the importance of immigration for the respective economies, the organization of immigration, the formal regulations, and the size and composition of migrant streams. After an examination of the volume, origin, and occupational composition of immigration to Canada and the United States, flows between the two countries are studied. The paper concludes with a scrutiny of changes in immigration regulations which are pending in both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of inclusive education receives global acceptance. The current paper presents a bibliometric analysis of 8398 papers dealing with inclusive education between 1980 and 2019. The research aim is to gain information on scientific productivity, international collaboration activities, and the conceptual structure of this research field. Descriptive analyses, co-authorship collaboration analysis and co-word analysis were conducted to obtain a comprehensive knowledge map of inclusive education research. The results show a fast growing body of research in inclusive education over the years with intensive international collaboration patterns. Six research clusters could be identified. Major and intensively studied research themes are disability issues, teacher professionalisation, teacher practices, attitudes towards inclusive education, social processes, support, curricular issues, student perspective, parent perspective, intercultural education, policy, etc. Research addressing inclusive education from a queer perspective, bullying, stigmatisation, digital education and emerging technologies in inclusive settings are under-represented and should be intensified in future studies.

On every continent, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is being practiced in a historical manner for several decades. While in some regions philanthropic activities have been taking place even before using the concept of CSR, in other areas this concept has become familiar at a later date as it has appeared and developed while being brought mostly by multinational operating in the area. The aim of this paper is to briefly draw some elements related to the emergence of CSR practices on different continents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revisits the relationship between human capital and income inequality, using an updated data set on human capital inequality and a novel database on earnings inequality. We find an inverted U-shaped relationship between these two inequality indicators, but with significant differences across countries regarding the turning point. Skill-biased technological change is found to be an additional force that may blur the relationship between human capital and earnings inequality. Over and above the effect exerted through earnings inequality, the paper shows that human capital inequality has a direct positive effect on income inequality.

The paper addresses the impact of COVID-19 on vocational education and training, seeking to discern the outline of possible directions for its future development within the debates about VET responses to the pandemic. The discussion is set in its socio-economic context, considering debates that engage with the social relations of care and neo-liberalism. The paper analyses discourses that have developed around VET across the world during the pandemic, illustrating both possible continuities and ruptures that may emerge in this field, as the health crisis becomes overshadowed in public policy by the prioritisation of economic recovery and social restoration. The paper concludes that, alongside the possibility of a narrowing of VET to its most prosaic aims and practices, the health crisis could also lead to a re-conceptualisation that develops its radical and emancipatory possibilities in both the global south and north.

In this paper we consider the experiences of international students studying in Norway, analysing data from more than 5,000 survey respondents. Variations according to students' region of origin and whether they are full degree students or exchange students are the focus. Students report a high level of overall satisfaction, exchange students in particular, and the vast majority of students are content with the quality of teaching. Students from the African continent report being more content than others, despite struggling somewhat more with academic demands and having weaker social networks, something they have in common with Asian students. Multivariate analyses show that type of mobility (full degree cf. exchange), region of origin, coping with academic demands, satisfaction with teaching and interaction with Norwegians are predictors of overall satisfaction with studying in Norway. The patterns observed are assumed to be related to prior experiences and expectations.

A documentary review was conducted on the production and publication of research papers on studying the variable Digital Transformation, Education and COVID-19. The bibliometric analysis proposed in this document aims to know the main characteristics of the volume of publications registered in the Scopus database from 2020 to 2022, achieving the identification of 464 publications in total. The information provided by this platform was organized using tables and figures, categorizing the information by Year of Publication, Country of Origin, Area of Knowledge and Type of Publication. Once these characteristics were described, the position of different authors regarding the proposed topic was referenced through qualitative analysis. Among the main findings of this research, it is found that Spain, with 49 publications, was the country with the highest global production. The area of knowledge that made the most significant contribution to the construction of bibliographic material related to the study of Digital Transformation, Education and COVID-19 was the area of Social Sciences with 253 published documents, and the type of publication that was most used during the period mentioned above was the journal article, representing 54% of the total scientific production.

Background: Within the current labor market, continuously changing and accelerating since the COVID-19 crisis (World Economic Forum, 2021), the educational system must offer a pedagogical alternative to face and anticipate these 21st century changes and demands (OECD, 2018). Based on the four-dimensional education framework, from the Center for Curriculum Redesign (CCR), the online learning literature, and students' perspectives, the Beyond Education (BE) organization has proposed a series of interactive online pedagogical programs aiming to develop 21st-century competencies in school-age students. Methods: The aim of this paper is to propose both quantitative and qualitative data analyses of the first pilot program: "BE a Global Citizen" through a semi-experimental study, using a mixed-method approach, analyzing the pre- and post-tests results of 26 students aged 16 to 18 years old. Results: Analyses presented evidence of the program's efficacy at developing 21st century competencies in students, particularly those competencies targeted by the program, which were significantly increased. Conclusions: Although these are promising results, a replicability study needs to be done on a larger sample in order to generalize the results.

Students' action competence must be taught and developed, particularly for prospective science teachers, to have a pedagogical perspective as environmental educators. As indicated by publications in respected journals, researchers' focus and alignment on the issue of action competence are highly expected. This systematic literature review aims to compare the findings of research articles published by Web of Science-indexed journals. The keyword used to find the articles on the Web of Science's database was "action competence," which discovered 193 publications. Furthermore, 25 articles met the criteria to be analyzed. Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis was the inclusion and exclusion model used. In the last three years, research focused on action competence has increased. The research employed several methods, i.e., qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods, and development research. Jelle Boevede Pauw and Wanda Sass were the authors who frequently published research that focused on action competence. The keyword action competence was directly associated with environmental education, sustainable development, education-based learning for sustainable development, and evaluation. The authors who published their research with this focus were from 16 countries, mainly from Europe, i.e., Sweden, Belgium, and Denmark. The continent diversity of authors who contributed articles indicated that the action competence issue had become a global concern. Furthermore, it was found that the number of non-collaborating publications (universities or countries) was higher than those collaborating, even though single authors rarely wrote the articles. The recent trend shows that publications are authored by scientists with various backgrounds such as fields, universities, and even countries. The authors of this paper developed and proposed eight ideas to be reflected by prospective science teachers or science teacher education providers in educating future science teachers concerned about action competence about sustainable development.

The study discussed in this paper is a systematic literature review related to the role of dual language programme (DLP) in mathematics education which has been published within the last 5 years. This study was conducted to identify the distribution of DLP studies in terms of year of publication, the study context covered in previous studies, the context of study areas used, focus and trends of past studies, research methods used in previous studies and the role of language in school mathematics education. This review study followed the guidelines of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyzes (PRISMA) to analyze articles from Scopus and Web of Science. The findings of the study indicate that research trends in the implementation of the DLP on mathematics education for secondary school students showed an increase from 2017 to 2019. Most DLP-related articles are widely developed in the United States and Germany. The findings indicate that previous studies are more interested in studying the implementation of DLP in rural areas. Past studies have also preferred to use the design of either a qualitative study or a quantitative study to be implemented. Questionnaires, tests and interviews are among the research instruments that are often used for a study.

Research on augmented reality (AR) in education is gaining momentum worldwide. This field has been actively growing over the past decades in terms of the research and development of new technologies. Reviews in the field of AR in education consist of systematic literature reviews and meta-analyses (around 45), surveys (around 33), and only one bibliometric analysis. However, these reviews do not provide a general synthesis of the research published in the field to depict its evolution over the years. This study used the metadata of articles from a 25-year period (1995-2020) to conduct a bibliometric analysis. A total of 3,475 studies were considered. In this study, we used tools such as the Scopus database, the bibliometrix R package, and the VOSviewer analysis tool. The analysis of the literature is based on the metadata, author, content, and citation information extracted from the dataset. In addition, we focus on comparing literature published mainly in journals (articles, articles in press, and reviews) and those published in other sources (conference papers, books, and book chapters). Practitioners could use the results of this study to make decisions about the adoption of AR technologies in education.

A growing proportion of immigrants enter Canada on temporary resident permits to study or work, or they enter as asylum seekers—all with limited rights or access to permanent residence. As a result, transnational family separation is a growing phenomenon among immigrants who are unable to migrate as a family or who face barriers to family reunification. Using a systems-centered intersectional lens, the authors examine pathways to transnational family separation among immigrant women who arrived in Canada with precarious immigration status. Analysis draws from qualitative interviews with 35 immigrant women living in different regions of Ontario, Canada. Through examining intersecting social systems and processes, the authors analyze how transnational family separation is constituted through embedded gendered, racial, and class processes in Canada's immigration system and labor market, which normalize family separation as a common experience for racialized immigrants in Canada. Given the harms associated with prolonged family separation, the authors urge the social work profession to advocate for immigration policies that prioritize family reunification and uphold the rights of migrants to maintain family unity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies in different science fields have examined the various aspects of educational interventions designed to facilitate learning outcomes in students with dyslexia. The aim of this study was to present an overview of empirical research related to interventions aimed at primary school students with dyslexia. Mapping was conducted to identify studies on this topic published from 2015 to 2019 and included in the Scopus database. The descriptive data from 57 studies were analyzed to present a classification scheme of research design, type of educational intervention, implementation of technology in educational interventions, and aim of the intervention. The results indicated an increasing trend in the last 5 years in the publication of papers in researched areas related to educational interventions for students with dyslexia, with uneven representation among countries. The analyzed empirical studies were mostly analytic, using different designs, with a slightly higher prevalence of (quasi) experimental versus descriptive designs. As expected, the goal of most educational interventions was directed toward the development of (pre)reading skills, with a wider prevalence of structured language-based programs, followed by software specialized to support learning, whereas adaptations of instructional materials and innovative information and communication technology (ICT) were less used. Mapping indicated the frequent use of ICT in all educational interventions, and more evidence is needed for complex rigorous experimental designs and interventions related to teaching in the classroom, as well as interventions aimed at facilitating the self-regulation of students with dyslexia.

Calls continue for the decolonisation of higher education (HE). Based on internationalisation debates, a research team from Africa, Europe and Latin America reviewed published decolonisation voices. Using bibliometric analysis and a conceptual review of abstracts, the authors examined the drivers framing decolonisation in HE and identified the voices in those debates which involved the historically oppressed and those wishing to elicit change in these debates. The paper recognises the importance for decolonisation in education as the tensions explored by the authors often intersect through HE into other domains of the political, social, economic and culturally important areas for replication and change in society.

The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) captures important individual beliefs (attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behaviour control), which influence people's intentions towards performing a given behaviour. Due to the successful application of TPB to a number of areas of human activity, it has been adopted as a framework in a number of studies assessing teachers' intentions towards implementing inclusive education. However, little work has been done to synthesise these studies. In this study, we reviewed published studies on inclusive education (2007 to 2019), which used the TPB as a framework to understand reporting trends and identify research gaps. We followed the guidelines for the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA). Five keywords were used to search for studies in nine databases, which resulted in the identification of 604 papers, of which 22 satisfied the pre-set inclusion and quality assessment criteria. Although the findings from some studies confirm the ability of TPB to predict teachers' intentions, the link between the predictors and actual behaviour was unclear. Moreover, there was divergence between the findings of the qualitative and quantitative studies. Limitations, recommendations for future studies and implications for inclusive practice are discussed.

Purpose: The Farmer Field School (FFS) has been used to enable farmers to adapt their farming decisions according to the field situation. This paper explores the methodological state, challenges and lessons learned, of the FFS around the World. Design/methodology/approach: We used a 52-item questionnaire to capture issues of design, implementation and evaluation of the FFS. Completed questionnaires were received from 57 ongoing or recent FFS programmes. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Findings: FFS programmes have diversified, including multiple crops and livestock. Farmer involvement in the design and planning of interventions was found to be critical. FFS programmes increasingly relied on farmers as FFS facilitators. Short training duration for FFS facilitators raised concern about FFS quality. Even though mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation were mostly in place, capacity for data analysis and data utilization were a concern. Practical implications: Results highlight strengths and shortcomings in design, implementation and evaluation of the FFS. The information acquired can be used to support the quality of ongoing and future programmes. Theoretical implications: This research contributed to understanding that the educational foundations of the FFS should be reflected in programme design and evaluation. Originality/value: Many studies of the FFS exist, but this is the first global overview on how farmer field school programmes are carried out, with various lessons learned.

This article describes the experience of two years of working with migrants residing in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. Three different groups, with participants from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe, students, migrants and asylum seekers, converged in three different spaces and frameworks. A total of 51 participants, six men and 41 women between 20 and 50 years of age, took part in spontaneous movement workshops to promote their health, body awareness and well-being, the strengthening of affective bonds and creativity. The impact of the sessions was assessed through an anonymous survey, a semi-structured interview and a facilitator's diary of the sessions. The settings of the three groups were not identical and, thus, did not allow for a comparison between them. However, the results showed that the sessions helped participants to increase their sense of well-being and confidence, facilitate their integration process and strengthen their bonds with other participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To report the level and trends of prevalence, incidence and years lived with disability (YLDs) for osteoarthritis (OA) in 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2017 by age, sex and Socio-demographic index (SDI; a composite of sociodemographic factors).Methods: Publicly available modelled data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017 were used. The burden of OA was estimated for 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2017, through a systematic analysis of prevalence and incidence modelled data using the methods reported in the GBD 2017 Study. All estimates were presented as counts and age-standardised rates per 100 000 population, with uncertainty intervals (UIs).Results: Globally, the age-standardised point prevalence and annual incidence rate of OA in 2017 were 3754.2 (95% UI 3389.4 to 4187.6) and 181.2 (95% UI 162.6 to 202.4) per 100 000, an increase of 9.3% (95% UI 8% to 10.7%) and 8.2% (95% UI 7.1% to 9.4%) from 1990, respectively. In addition, global age-standardised YLD rate in 2017 was 118.8 (95% UI 59.5 to 236.2), an increase of 9.6% (95% UI 8.3% to 11.1%) from 1990. The global prevalence was higher in women and increased with age, peaking at the >95 age group among women and men in 2017. Generally, a positive association was found between the age-standardised YLD rate and SDI at the regional and national levels. Age-standardised prevalence of OA in 2017 ranged from 2090.3 to 6128.1 cases per 100 000 population. United States (6128.1 (95% UI 5729.3 to 6582.9)), American Samoa (5281 (95% UI 4688 to 5965.9)) and Kuwait (5234.6 (95% UI 4643.2 to 5953.6)) had the three highest levels of age-standardised prevalence. Oman (29.6% (95% UI 24.8% to 34.9%)), Equatorial Guinea (28.6% (95% UI 24.4% to 33.7%)) and the United States 23.2% (95% UI 16.4% to 30.5%)) showed the highest increase in the age-standardised prevalence during 1990-2017.Conclusions: OA is a major public health challenge. While there is remarkable international variation in the prevalence, incidence and YLDs due to OA, the burden is increasing in most countries. It is expected to continue with increased life expectancy and ageing of the global population. Improving population and policy maker awareness of risk factors, including overweight and injury, and the importance and benefits of management of OA, together with providing health services for an increasing number of people living with OA, are recommended for management of the future burden of this condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although the prevalence of child stunting is falling in Latin America, socioeconomic inequalities persist. However, there is limited evidence on ethnic disparities. We aimed to describe ethnic inequalities of stunting and feeding practices in thirteen Latin American countries using recent nationally representative surveys. Methods: We analyzed national surveys carried out since 2006. Based on self-reported ethnicity, skin color or language, children were classified into three categories: indigenous/ afrodescendant/reference group (European or mixed ancestry). Stunting was defined as height (length)-for-age < − 2 standard deviations relative to WHO standards. Family wealth was assessed through household asset indices. We compared mean length/height-for-age and prevalence of stunting among the three ethnic groups. Results: Thirteen surveys had information on indigenous and seven on afrodescendants. In all countries, the average length/height-for-age was significantly lower for indigenous, and in eleven countries there were significant differences in the prevalence of stunting: the pooled crude stunting prevalence ratio between indigenous and the reference group was 1.97 (95% CI 1.89; 2.05); after adjustment for wealth and place of residence, prevalence remained higher among indigenous (PR = 1.34, 95% CI 1.28; 1.39) in eight countries. Indigenous aged 6–23 months were more likely to be breastfed, but with poor complementary feeding, particularly in terms of dietary diversity. Afrodescendants showed few differences in height, and in two countries tended to be taller compared to the reference group. Conclusions: In all Latin American countries studied, indigenous tended to be shorter and afrodescendants presented few differences with relation to the reference group. In order to reach the SDG's challenge of leaving no one behind, indigenous need to be prioritized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose: The purpose of this work is to summarize cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) research trends and highlights presented at the annual Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) scientific sessions over the past 20 years. Methods: Scientific programs from all SCMR Annual Scientific Sessions from 1998 to 2017 were obtained. SCMR Headquarters also provided data for the number and the country of origin of attendees and the number of accepted abstracts according to type. Data analysis included text analysis (key word extraction) and visualization by 'word clouds' representing the most frequently used words in session titles for 5-year intervals. In addition, session titles were sorted into 17 major subject categories to further evaluate research and clinical CMR trends over time. Results: Analysis of SCMR annual scientific sessions locations, attendance, and number of accepted abstracts demonstrated substantial growth of CMR research and clinical applications. As an international field of study, significant growth of CMR was documented by a strong increase in SCMR scientific session attendance (> 500%, 270 to 1406 from 1998 to 2017, number of accepted abstracts (> 700%, 98 to 701 from 1998 to 2018) and number of international participants (42-415% increase for participants from Asia, Central and South America, Middle East and Africa in 2004-2017). 'Word clouds' based evaluation of research trends illustrated a shift from early focus on 'MRI technique feasibility' to new established techniques (e.g. late gadolinium enhancement) and their clinical applications and translation (key words 'patient', 'disease') and more recently novel techniques and quantitative CMR imaging (key words 'mapping', 'T1', 'flow', 'function'). Nearly every topic category demonstrated an increase in the number of sessions over the 20-year period with 'Clinical Practice' leading all categories. Our analysis identified three growth areas 'Congenital', 'Clinical Practice',and 'Structure/function/flow'. Conclusion: The analysis of the SCMR historical archives demonstrates a healthy and internationally active field of study which continues to undergo substantial growth and expansion into new and emerging CMR topics and clinical application areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It is important to know whether the relationships between experienced and evaluative well-being and health are consistent across countries with different income levels. This would allow to confirm whether the evidence found in high income countries is the same as in low- and middle-income countries and to suggest policy recommendations that are generalisable across countries. We assessed the association of well-being with health status; analysed the differential relationship that positive affect, negative affect, and evaluative well-being have with health status; and examined whether these relationships are similar across countries.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, interviews were conducted amongst 53,269 adults from nine countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Evaluative well-being was measured with a short version of the World Health Organization (WHO) Quality of Life instrument, and experienced well-being was measured with the Day Reconstruction Method. Decrements in health were assessed with the 12-item version of WHO Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0. Block-wise linear regression and structural equation models were employed.Results: Considering the overall sample, evaluative well-being was more strongly associated with health (β = -0.35) than experienced well-being (β = -0.14), and negative affect was more strongly associated with health (β = 0.10) than positive affect (β = -0.02). The relationship between health and well-being was similar across countries. Lower scores in evaluative well-being and a higher age were the factors more strongly related with a worse health.Conclusions: The different patterns observed across countries may be related to differences in the countries' gross domestic product, social protection system, economic situation, health care provision, lifestyle behaviours, or living conditions. The fact that evaluative well-being is more predictive of health than experienced well-being suggests that our level of satisfaction with our lives might be more important for our health than the actual emotions than we experience in our day-to-day lives and points out the need of interventions that improve the way people evaluate their lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigrant men who have sex with men (MSM) are vulnerable to HIV. In the last decade, several rapid HIV-testing facilities targeting MSM have been established around the world and seem popular among immigrants. This study analyzes factors contributing to immigrant MSM's use of Actuel sur Rue (AsR), a community-based rapid HIV-testing site in Montreal's gay village, where 31% of clients are immigrants. From October 2013 to January 2014, AsR staff compiled a list of new clients born outside of Canada. With their consent, 40 immigrant MSM were reached among these new clients for a 15-minute phone survey entailing open-ended and multiple-choice questions. The survey sought immigrant MSM's reasons for visiting AsR; satisfaction with service and staff; and open comments. An inductive thematic analysis was conducted with the qualitative data, and descriptive statistics were produced with the quantitative data. The qualitative findings indicate that the main reasons for seeking an HIV test were a recent risk, routine testing, or being in a new relationship. Clients chose AsR mainly because it is easily accessible, service is fast or they heard about it from a friend. The quantitative findings indicate that rates of satisfaction were high (over 90% were satisfied about all aspects except for openings hours) and more than 80% felt comfortable while receiving services at AsR. Nevertheless, this study's findings have implications for improving services. They stress the importance of offering rapid yet comprehensive service and of taking into account immigrant MSM's concerns for confidentiality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research had the primary goal of investigating the difference in police reporting patterns by sexual assault victims in Western and in non-Western countries. The data for the present study were obtained from the International Crime Victimization Survey. The present work found a significant difference in police reporting behavior by sexual assault victims in Western and in non-Western countries. Gender, urban residency, and the number of offenders were important factors for victims in non-Western countries, but not for those in Western countries. On the other hand, a victim's prior relationship with his or her offender and family income level were significantly related to police reports in Western countries, but not in non-Western countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a report from the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development on the promotion of social and economic equalities. It presents several regional perspectives including the recognition of social development activity in Africa, the formal regulation of social work in Asia Pacific countries including Australia, Japan and South Korea, and the apparent decline the quality of service under social work and welfare across Europe following the financial crisis in 2008-2009.

The article analyzes the effect of worker remittances (WR) on the equilibrium real exchange rate (ERER) in recipient countries. It shows that in many countries, WR arrests official development assistance and private capital flows, which could cause macroeconomic problems by raising ERER. One conclusion drawn is that Dutch disease problems may not be a necessary side effect of remittance inflows, which are said to be larger in Asia and Latin America than in Africa and eastern Europe, mainly because countries such as India and Mexico receive more WR.

The theoretically necessary and sufficient condition for the correspondence between 'revealed' comparative advantage and pre-trade relative prices derived by Hillman (1980) is analysed empirically for virtually all countries of the world over an extended period of time. This yields 10 stylized facts, including that (i) violations of the Hillman condition are small as a share of the number of observations, but substantial as a share of the value of world exports, (ii) violations occur relatively frequently in the period 1970-1984 and more rarely in the period 1985-1997 and (iii) violations occur foremost in primary product and natural resource intensive sectors and for countries in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe. An additional bonus of verifying the Hillman condition in empirical research is its ability to identify erroneously classified trade flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cross-sectional survey was carried out between April 1997 and February 1998 among street prostitutes in Rome. The study population (n = 142) consisted of 102 women and 40 transsexuals: 20% from Western Europe, 38% Eastern Europe, 23% Latin America and 17% Africa. Two-thirds of the population had more than 20 clients during the last week and most respondents (95%) reported always using condoms with clients. Eight per cent of the women and 2% of the transsexuals report a history of injecting drug use. Only 38% of the women with a stable partner reported use of contraceptives and 33% of them had undergone a voluntary abortion during the last year. Only 38% of the women had been checked for STDs during the last year, compared with 80% of the transsexuals. The HIV-prevalence was 6% among the women and 20% among the transsexuals. Four out of the six positive women and one of the positive transsexuals had a history of injecting drug use. Five out of the six HIV-positive women were Italian. Transsexual prostitutes seem to pay more attention to their medical wellbeing compared with females who rarely go for medical check-ups and only a minority uses efficient contraceptive methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis of trends in sexual activity by marital status and age, and their associations with contraceptive use. Understanding levels of, and trends in, sexual activity is important for assessing the needs for family planning services and for analysing commonly used family planning indicators. Data were taken from 220 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHSs) and 62 Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICSs) to provide insights into sexual activity by marital status and age in a total of 94 countries in different regions of the world. The results show the sensitivity of the indicator with respect to the definition of currently sexually active, based on the timing of last sexual intercourse (during the last 4 weeks, 3 months, or 1 year). Substantial diversity in sexual activity by marital status and age was demonstrated across countries. The proportion of married women reporting recent sexual activity (sexual intercourse during the last 4 weeks) ranged from 50% to 90%. The proportion of unmarried women reporting recent sexual activity did not exceed 50% in any of the 94 countries with available data, but showed substantial regional differences: it appeared to be rare in Asia and extremely varied within Africa, Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean. Among married women, sexual activity did not vary much by age group, while for unmarried women, there was an inverted U-pattern by age, with the youngest age group (15-19 years old) having the lowest proportion sexually active. The proportion of women who reported currently using contraception and reported not being sexually active varied by the contraceptive method used and was overall much greater among unmarried women. The evidence presented in this paper can be used to improve family planning policies and programmes to serve the diverse needs, for example regarding method choice and service provision, of unmarried women.

Objective: Traumatic spinal injury (TSI) is a global health issue contributing to morbidity and mortality, especially in low- and middle-income countries. The aim of this study is to compare the epidemiological estimates of TSI with the corresponding amount of published papers for different regions., Methods: A bibliometric analysis was performed by collecting the number of publications concerning TSI from the PubMed database. Results were sorted according to the different geographical World Health Organization regions. A "publication-to-volume ratio" was obtained by comparing the average number of documents per year with the number of TSI cases across each region., Results: A total of 2304 articles were detected from 2008 to 2018. The major publishing regions were North America (AMR-US/Can: 843 articles, 36.6%) and Europe (EUR: 833, 36.2%), then Western Pacific (WPR: 410, 17.8%), Eastern Mediterranean (EMR: 73, 3.2%), South-East Asia (SEAR: 71, 3.1%), Latin America (AMR-L: 55, 2.4%), Africa (AFR: 19, 0.8%). The United States is the most publishing country in AMR-US/Can (86.0%), and Germany in EUR (22.4%). In 2018, EUR published 36.6% of papers versus AMR-US/Can 26.5% and WPR 25.7%, thanks to an increase in Chinese publications. The highest publication ratios of 4.63 and 2.68 were found for AMR-US/Can and EUR, respectively. The other were EMR (0.22), WPR (0.18), AMR-L (0.07), SEAR (0.03), and AFR (0.01)., Conclusions: A marked divide is currently found between countries with a high burden of TSI and those where there is most research interest, estimated as amount of publications. Data demonstrate the need for increased inclusiveness in guidelines generation from high-income countries including collection and analysis from low- and middle-income countries., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Modern global cropland products have been widely used to assess the impact of land use and cover change (LUCC) on carbon budgets, climate change, terrestrial ecosystems, etc. However, each product has its own uncertainty, and inconsistencies exist among different products. Understanding the reliability of these datasets is essential for knowing the uncertainties that exist in the study of global change impact forced by cropland reclamation. In this paper, we propose a set of coincidence assessments to identify where reliable cropland distribution is by overlaying ten widely used global land cover/cropland datasets around 2000 AD. A quantitative assessment for different spatial units is also performed. We further discuss the spatial distribution characteristics of different coincidence degrees and explain the reasons. The results show that the high-coincidence proportion is only 40.5% around the world, and the moderate-coincidence and low-coincidence proportion is 18.4% and 41.1%, respectively. The coincidence degrees among different continents and countries have large discrepancies. The coincidence is relatively higher in Europe, South Asia and North America, while it is very poor in Latin America and Africa. The spatial distribution of high and moderate coincidence roughly corresponds to the regions with suitable agricultural conditions and intensive reclamation. In addition to the random factors such as the product's quality and the year it represented, the low coincidence is mainly caused by the inconsistent land cover classification systems and the recognition capability of cropland pixels with low fractions in different products., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Background: In this review we discuss how the study of dementia epidemiology in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) has changed in the last 20 years, and specifically to review the evidence created by the 10/66 Dementia Research Group (DRG) and discuss future directions for research., Methods: We identified and collated all the papers related to the 10/66 Dementia Research Group, including papers from groups who adopted the 10/66 methodology, that have been published in peer-reviewed journals., Results: Over 200 papers including data from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean were identified by this review. Many of the findings revolved around the epidemiology of dementia, mental health and non-communicable diseases, including the cross-cultural development and validation of measurement tools of cognition and functioning, need for care, care arrangements and mental health. Social ageing, care dependence and caregiver interventions were also topics that the group had published on., Discussion: A body of evidence has been generated that has challenged the view, prevalent when the group started, that dementia is comparatively rare in LMICs. The experience of the 10/66 DRG has shown that descriptive epidemiological research can be important and impactful, where few data exist. Monitoring population trends in the prevalence and incidence of dementia may be our best chance to confirm hypotheses regarding modifiable risk factors of dementia.

A substantial number of studies have been performed across the world to determine transmitted drug resistance. Large variations between different parts of the world can be expected because of differences in availability over time of treatment. Time trend analyses are often not possible because of small numbers of included patients. In this review, we present the available data on the transmission of drug-resistant HIV, with a major emphasis on the time trends of drug resistance prevalences. We identified relevant literature by searching in PubMed through September 2009. Studies were grouped, according to the year of data collection, into the following time periods: < 2001, 2001-2003, > 2003. We selected a total of 215 studies, which included 43,170 patients. The following prevalences of transmission of drug-resistant HIV were found, in rank order: North America (12.9%), Europe (10.9%), Latin America (6.3%), Africa (4.7%), and Asia (4.2%). Changes over time in particular drugs classes were found in all parts of the world. Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor resistance declined over time in North America (p = 0.03), Europe (p < 0.001), and Latin America (p < 0.001). The decline in nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor resistance reflects the improvement of treatment regimens in resource-rich settings. In contrast the resistance prevalence increased in Asia (p = 0.047) and Africa (p < 0.001). This can be explained by the antiretrovirals becoming more available during recent years in these continents. Nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor resistance rose over time in North America (p < 0.001), Europe (p < 0.001), Latin America (p < 0.001), and Asia (p = 0.01). This paper gives a complete overview of the epidemiology of resistance of antiretroviral drugs in drug-naive patients worldwide. The time trends that were observed seem to reflect changes in describing prescriptions over time. Changes include the more wide-spread use of antiretroviral drugs in developing countries and the development of therapies from low-active mono-therapies to highly active antiretroviral regimens in the industrialized countries.