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Eruptions of young stellar objects (YSOs) are rare events, therefore a new outburst is always noteworthy. We present two new high-amplitude variable YSOs, J183421.85−055951.0 (#1) and J183421.39−055937.7 (#2), in the RAFGL 7009S star-forming region. We find them in the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope Infrared Deep Sky Survey Galactic Plane Survey data base, and supplement these data with archived infrared and millimetre photometric and spectral images and data from the Spitzer Infrared Array Camera, the K -band Multi-Object Spectrograph, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array data bases. The outburst in #1 occurred in the period 2007–2011, during which the brightness increased by ∼2.7 mag in the K band and by ∼2.5 mag in the 3.6 μm band. The colour indices indicate a YSO in Class I/II evolutionary stage. After outburst, the K -band spectrum shows the CO band, Brγ, Mg  i in absorption and H2 in emission – characteristics associated with a FU Orionis (FUors)-type eruptive variable. Object #1 is associated with an outflow detected in the near-infrared and millimetre ranges, mainly in the H2, SiO, HCO+, and HCN lines. Object #2 only shows high-amplitude variability in the K band (Δ K   =  2.0 mag) while its colour indices before outburst indicate a YSO at an early evolutionary stage. There is no obvious outflow activity associated with this object. We classify #1 as a FUor-type eruptive variable based on the obtained data. The limited information on #2 makes it difficult to draw definite conclusions about the nature of its variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Enabling, supporting and promoting positive health-related behaviours is critical in addressing the major public health challenges of our time, and the multifaceted nature of behaviours requires an evidence-based approach. This statement seeks to suggest how a much-needed enhanced use of behavioural and cultural science and insights for health could be advanced., Study Design and Methods: and methods: Public health authorities of Europe and Central Asia and international partner organizations in September 2023 met in Copenhagen, Denmark, to discuss the way forward. Drawing on 1) country reporting to WHO, 2) interview study with public health authorities and 3) the meeting deliberations, this meeting statement was developed., Results: The meeting statement presents a joint call for step-change accelerated use of evidence-based approaches for health behaviours. Actionable next steps for public health authorities and international and regional development partners in health are presented., Conclusions: The way forward involves increased resource allocation, integration of behavioural insights into health strategies, advocacy through case and cost-effectiveness examples and capacity building., (© 2024 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Royal Society for Public Health.)

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a leading health and development challenge worldwide. Since 2015, WHO and the United Nations Development Programme have provided support to governments to develop national NCD investment cases to describe the socioeconomic dimensions of NCDs. To assess the impact of the investment cases, semistructured interviews and a structured process for gathering written feedback were conducted between July and October 2022 with key informants in 13 countries who had developed a national NCD investment case between 2015 and 2020. Investment cases describe: (1) the social and economic costs of NCDs, including their distribution and projections over time; (2) priority areas for scaled up action; (3) the cost and returns from investing in WHO-recommended measures to prevent and manage NCDs; and (4) the political dimensions of NCD responses. While no country had implemented all the recommendations set out in their investment case reports, actions and policy changes attributable to the investment cases were identified, across (1) governance; (2) financing; and (3) health service access and delivery. The pathways of these changes included: (1) stronger collaboration across government ministries and partners; (2) advocacy for NCD prevention and control; (3) grounding efforts in nationally owned data and evidence; (4) developing mutually embraced 'language' across health and finance; and (5) elevating the priority accorded to NCDs, by framing action as an investment rather than a cost. The assessment also identified barriers to progress on the investment case implementation, including the influence of some private sector entities on sectors other than health, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and changes in senior political and technical government officials. The results suggest that national NCD investment cases can significantly contribute to catalysing the prevention and control of NCDs through strengthening governance, financing, and health service access and delivery., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© World Health Organization 2024. Licensee BMJ.)

Objective: To inform strategies aimed at improving blood pressure (BP) control and reducing salt intake, we assessed educational inequalities in high blood pressure (HBP) awareness, treatment and control; physician's advice on salt reduction; and salt knowledge, perceptions and consumption behaviours in Eastern Europe and Central Asia., Design: Data were collected in cross-sectional, population-based nationally representative surveys, using a multi-stage clustered sampling design. Five HBP awareness, treatment and control categories were created from measured BP and hypertension medication use. Education and other variables were self-reported. Weighted multinomial mixed-effects regression models, adjusted for confounders, were used to assess differences across education categories., Settings: Nine Eastern European and Central Asian countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan)., Participants: Nationally representative samples of 30 455 adults aged 25-65 years., Results: HBP awareness, treatment and control varied substantially by education. The coverage of physician's advice on salt was less frequent among participants with lower education, and those with untreated HBP or unaware of their HBP. The education gradient was evident in salt knowledge and perceptions of salt intake but not in salt consumption behaviours. Improved salt knowledge and perceptions were more prevalent among participants who received physician's advice on salt reduction., Conclusions: There is a strong education gradient in HBP awareness, treatment and control as well as salt knowledge and perceived intake. Enhancements in public and patient knowledge and awareness of HBP and its risk factors targeting socio-economically disadvantaged groups are urgently needed to alleviate the growing HBP burden in low- and middle-income countries.

Background: Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) countries have higher cervical and breast cancer mortality rates and later stage at diagnosis compared with the rest of WHO European Region. The aim was to explore current early detection practices including "dispensarization" for breast and cervix cancer in the region., Methods: A questionnaire survey on early detection practices for breast and cervix cancer was sent to collaborators in 11 countries, differentiating services in the primary health setting, and population-based programs. Responses were received from Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation (Arkhangelsk, Samara and Tomsk regions), Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan., Results: All countries but Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, and the Russian Federation had opportunistic screening by clinical breast exam within "dispensarization" program. Mammography screening programs, commonly starting from age 40, were introduced or piloted in eight of nine countries, organized at national oncology or screening centres in Armenia, Belarus and Georgia, and within primary care in others. Six countries had "dispensarization" program for cervix cancer, mostly starting from the age 18, with smears stained either by Romanowsky-Giemsa alone (Belarus, Tajikistan and Ukraine), or alternating with Papanicolaou (Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation). In parallel, screening programs using Papanicolaou or HPV test were introduced in seven countries and organized within primary care., Conclusion: Our study documents that parallel screening systems for both breast and cervix cancers, as well as departures from evidence-based practices are widespread across the EECA. Within the framework of the WHO Initiatives, existing opportunistic screening should be replaced by population-based programs that include quality assurance and control., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

The objective of this study was to characterize fruit and vegetable consumption in 9 selected countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region. We analyzed data on fruit and vegetable intake and participant sociodemographic characteristics for 30,455 adults in 9 Eastern European and Central Asian countries via standardized STEPS survey methodology. Fruit and vegetable consumption across all countries was suboptimal, with a high percentage of populations not meeting the WHO-recommended intake of at least 5 servings (400 g) per day. Strengthened implementation of evidence-based policies to increase intake of fruit and vegetables is needed to reduce the burden of and disparities in NCDs.

Objective: Leukemia represents a serious public health concern as the incidence is increasing worldwide. In this study we aimed to describe the epidemiological profile of acute lymphoblastic (ALL) and myeloid (AML) leukemia, identify disease clusters and find association with possible risk factors., Methods: Data on leukemia cases were provided by the National Institute of Health of the Republic of Armenia for the period of 2012-2018. Age-standardized incidence rate was calculated using Segi World Population. SaTScan purely spatial analysis was applied to find leukemia clusters. To find association between leukemia and agricultural and mining activities and demographic data Poisson regression model was used., Results: During the studied period 259 new cases of ALL and 478 AML were recorded. The age-standardized incidence rate was 1.5 and 1.9 per 100,000 inhabitants with male to female ratio of 0.97 and 1.1 for ALL and AML, respectively. No significant changes in ALL or AML incidence trends were found. For ALL significant cluster encompassing Shirak, Lori, Tavush and Armavir provinces of Armenia was identified, while Kotayk and Ararat was provinces with the highest incidence of AML. We found significant positive association of ALL with crop density, while no elevated risk estimates were found between AML and exposure variables., Conclusion: Altogether, our results suggested that acute leukemias incidence in Armenia follows the pattern described for developing countries.

Objectives: As unrecorded alcohol use contributes to a substantial burden of disease, this study characterises this phenomenon in newly independent states (NIS) of the former Soviet Union with regard to the sources of unrecorded alcohol, and the proportion of unrecorded of total alcohol consumption. We also investigate associated sociodemographic characteristics and drinking patterns., Design: Cross-sectional data on overall and unrecorded alcohol use in the past 7 days from WHO STEPwise Approach to NCD Risk Factor Surveillance (STEPS) surveys. Descriptive statistics were calculated at the country level, hierarchical logistic and linear regression models were used to investigate sociodemographic characteristics and drinking patterns associated with using unrecorded alcohol., Setting: Nine NIS (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) in the years 2013-2017., Participants: Nationally representative samples including a total of 36 259 participants., Results: A total of 6251 participants (19.7%; 95% CI 7.9% to 31.5%) reported alcohol consumption in the past 7 days, 2185 of which (35.1%; 95% CI 8.2% to 62.0%) reported unrecorded alcohol consumption with pronounced differences between countries. The population-weighted average proportion of unrecorded consumption in nine NIS was 8.7% (95% CI 5.9% to 12.4%). The most common type of unrecorded alcohol was home-made spirits, followed by home-made beer and wine. Older (45-69 vs 25-44 years) and unemployed (vs employed) participants had higher odds of using unrecorded alcohol. More nuanced sociodemographic differences were observed for specific types of unrecorded alcohol., Conclusions: This contribution is the first to highlight both, prevalence and composition of unrecorded alcohol consumption in nine NIS. The observed proportions and sources of unrecorded alcohol are discussed in light of local challenges in policy implementation, especially in regard to the newly formed Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), as some but not all NIS are in the EAEU., Competing Interests: Competing interests: IR reports grants from WHO is funded by all Governments of Member States. WHO NCD Office is funded by voluntary donation from the Government of the Russian Federation during the conduct of the study. All other authors declare no competing interests., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) accounts for roughly 10% of all lymphomas and 0.6% of all malignant tumours analysed worldwide yearly. Data regarding HL in developing world are exceptionally constrained. The main objective of this research is to investigate the incidence patterns of HL within the Republic of Armenia and to portray disease distribution according to age and sex. There is a very strict evidence on the frequency of HL in Armenia. The results of our research find out that the frequency of HL in Armenia has not changed altogether over the past 15 years and is comparable to that detailed from the USA and Europe., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to report., (© the authors; licensee ecancermedicalscience.)

Background: Screening programs play an important role in a comprehensive strategy to prevent cervical cancer, a leading cause of death among women of reproductive age. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of information about rates of cervical cancer testing, particularly in Eastern Europe and Central Asia where levels of cervical cancer are among the highest in the WHO European Region. The purpose of this article is to report on the lifetime prevalence of cervical cancer testing among females aged 30-49 years from across the WHO European region, and to describe high-level geographic and socioeconomic differences., Methods: We used data from the European Health Information Survey and the WHO STEPwise approach to Surveillance survey to calculate the proportions of women who were tested for cervical cancer., Results: The percentage of tested women ranged from 11.7% in Azerbaijan to 98.4% in Finland, with the lowest percentages observed in Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Testing was lower in Eastern Europe (compared to Western Europe), among low-income countries and among women with lower levels of education., Conclusion: Effective cervical cancer screening programs are one part of a larger strategy, which must also include national scale-up of human papilloma virus vaccination, screening and treatment., (© World Health Organization, [2021]. All rights reserved. The World Health Organization has granted the Publisher permission for the reproduction of this article. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.)

Background: Physical inactivity is a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases. However, recent and systematically obtained national-level data to guide policy responses are often lacking, especially in countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. This article describes physical inactivity patterns among adults in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan., Methods: Data were collected using the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire drawing nationally representative samples of adults in each country. The national prevalence of physical inactivity was calculated as well as the proportional contribution to total physical activity (PA) during work, transport and leisure-time. An adjusted logistic regression model was applied to analyze the association of age, gender, education, household status and income with physical inactivity., Results: National prevalence of physical inactivity ranged from 10.1% to 43.6%. The highest proportion of PA was registered during work or in the household in most countries, whereas the lowest was during leisure-time in all countries. Physical inactivity was more likely with older age in eight countries, with female gender in three countries, and with living alone in three countries. There was no clear pattern of association with education and income., Conclusion: Prevalence of physical inactivity is heterogeneous across the region. PA during leisure-time contributes minimally to total PA in all countries. Policies and programs that increase opportunities for active travel and leisure-time PA, especially for older adults, women and people living alone will be an essential part of strategies to increase overall population PA., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association.)

Background: Screening for breast cancer and cervical cancer in the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union is largely opportunistic, and countries in the region have among the highest cervical cancer incidence in the WHO European Region. We aimed to compare the stage-specific distributions and changes over time in breast cancer and cervical cancer incidence in the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union., Methods: We collected breast cancer and cervical cancer incidence data from official statistics from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan for the years 2008-17 by tumour, node, metastasis (TNM) stage, and by age where population-based cancer registry data were available. We used log-linear regression to quantify the changes over time in age-standardised rates., Findings: During the period 2013-17, more than 50% of breast cancer cases across the analysed countries, and more than 75% of breast cancer cases in Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine, were registered at stages I-II. The proportion of stage I breast cancer cases was highest in the screening age group (50-69 years) compared with other ages in Moldova and the Russian registries, but was highest in those aged 15-49 years in Georgia and Ukraine. Breast cancer stage-specific incidence rates increased over time, most prominently for stage I cancers. For cervical cancer, the proportions of cancers diagnosed at a late stage (stages III and IV) were high, particularly in Moldova and Armenia (>50%). The proportion of stage I cervical cancer cases decreased with age in all countries, whereas the proportions of late stage cancers increased with age. Stage-specific incidence rates of cervical cancer generally increased over the period 2008-17., Interpretation: Our results suggest modest progress in early detection of breast cancer in the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union. The high proportions of early-stage disease in the absence of mammography screening (eg, in Belarus) provide a benchmark for what is achievable with rapid diagnosis. For cervical cancer, there is a need to tackle the high burden and unfavourable stage-specific changes over time in the region. A radical shift in national policies away from opportunistic screening toward organised, population-based, quality-assured human papillomavirus vaccination and screening programmes is urgently needed., Funding: Union for International Cancer Control, WHO Regional Office for Europe, and Ministry of Health of Ukraine., (© 2021 World Health Organization; licensee Elsevier. This is an Open Access article published under the CC BY 3.0 IGO license which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In any use of this article, there should be no suggestion that WHO endorses any specific organisation, products or services. The use of the WHO logo is not permitted. This notice should be preserved along with the article's original URL.)

Physical inactivity and sedentary behavior are risk factors for developing non-communicable diseases. This study analyzed current levels of physical inactivity and sedentary behaviors among the adult population of Armenia. Data were collected through a national STEPS survey of non-communicable diseases risk factors on a nationally-representative sample of 2,380 participants aged 18-69 years in Armenia in 2016. The Global Physical Activity Questionnaire was used to assess physical activity levels. Two out of ten people (21.6%) in Armenia did not meet the minimum levels of physical activity recommended by WHO to protect health. 13.2% of population spent over 8 h per day sitting, 47.2% were inactive at work and 32.4% did not do any transport-related physical activity. Only 13.8% of participants were physically active during leisure time. Specific groups with relatively high levels of physical inactivity were older adults, residents of Yerevan, people with lower levels of education, the unemployed and people who were retired. Sedentary behavior was more common among men, students, people who were retired, unemployed, residents of Yerevan, and adults aged under 30 and over 45 years., (Copyright © 2020 Tcymbal, Andreasyan, Whiting, Mikkelsen, Rakovac and Breda.)

Introduction: The "Child Certificate" program, launched in Armenia in 2011, made hospitalization for children less than seven years free in order to improve access to hospitalization, reduce out-of-pocket expenses and ensure Universal Health Coverage. We aimed to estimate trends in the number of outpatient and hospitalized acute respiratory infection (ARI) cases and related under-five mortality., Methodology: Cross-sectional study using data from national databases before (2008-2011) and after (2012-2017) Program implementation. The diagnosis of ARI was based on the International Classification of Disease (ICD-10)., Results: The average hospitalization per 1000 children under 14 and infants increased by 85% and 75% respectively, compared with the period before the introduction of the Program, while the frequency of outpatient visits remained unchanged. The ARI-related mortality in children less than five years and in infants decreased by 11% and 19%, respectively. Financial allocations for ARI-associated hospitalizations amounted to 2.1 billion Armenian drams in 2011 and increased to 3.3 billion drams in 2016 (an increase of 57%). For pneumonia, this increase was 108% (from 0.35 to 0.72 billion)., Conclusions: The introduction of free hospitalization for ARI led to an increase in the hospitalization rates. There was a favorable decline in under-five mortality and an exponential increase in financial allocations. The reasons for hospitalization should be investigated to ensure rational hospitalization with parallel improvement of primary care to reduce delayed presentations. It is necessary to find ways addressing the growing financial allocations for ARI-associated hospitalization., Competing Interests: No Conflict of Interest is declared, (Copyright (c) 2019 Sergey Gerasim Sargsyan, Diana Andreasyan, Samvel Kharazyan, Olga Denisiuk, Karapet Davtyan, Roni Zachariah.)