Loss and psychosocial factors as determinants of quality of life in a cohort of earthquake survivors.

BACKGROUND: Despite the existing evidence of a long lasting effect of disaster related experiences on physical and psychological health, few studies have evaluated long-term quality of life (QOL) outcomes of disaster survivors and the factors associated with such outcomes. METHODS: 23 years after the 1988 Spitak earthquake in Armenia, the associations of demographic characteristics, trauma exposure and psychosocial variables on QOL were explored among a cohort of 725 exposed individuals. The EQ-5D-5 L instrument was applied to measure QOL of participants. Multivariate linear and ordinal logistic regressions were applied to evaluate the determinants of QOL and its underlying five domains (mobility, self-care, usual activity, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression). RESULTS: Older age, current depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety symptoms were negatively associated with QOL. Additionally, those with severe losses (who did not receive any financial/material aid) had significantly poorer QOL outcomes, with higher odds of mobility difficulties (OR = 1.86, p < 0.05), self-care difficulties (OR = 2.85, p < 0.05), and mood problems (OR = 2.69, p < 0.05). However, those with severe earthquake related losses who received financial/material aid reported less self-care difficulties (OR = 0.21, p < 0.05) usual activity difficulties (OR = 0.40, p < 0.05), and mood problems (OR = 0.44, p < 0.05). Finally, each unit increase in current social support score was found to be significantly associated with a better QOL outcome and better self-reported outcomes across all underlying domains of QOL. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that earthquake related loss and concurrent psychopathology symptoms can have adverse impact on the QOL of survivors. They also indicate that well-targeted post-disaster financial/material aid and social support should be considered as means for improving the long-term QOL outcomes of disaster survivors

Legal opinion/expert report in the case of Rocio San Miguel Sosa and others v. Venezuela, case nr. 12.923, on request of the Inter-American Court on Human Rights : Expert report in the case of Rocio San Miguel Sosa and others v. Venezuela

First the report examines the preliminary question whether signing a statement or a petition in a political context, such as a petition to carry out a recall referendum on the term of office of a head of state, is to be considered as an act of exercising the right to express a (political) opinion (by a civil servant or employee in the public sector), guaranteed by Article 19.2 ICCPR and/or Article 10 § 1 ECHR. Second it analyzes under what circumstances a termination of employment contract or dismissal of an employer or civil servant is to be regarded as an interference with the right to freedom of expression, and in particular in case the public authority or employer bring forward that the termination of contract or dismissal is unrelated to the exercise of the right to freedom of expression by the employee or civil servant. - Next this report will focus on the (limits of the) right to political freedom of expression in the employment relation, including the public sector, and on the (limitations of the) right to express political, critical or non-neutral opinions about the head of state, the government or other public institutions. Therefore it will elaborate on the criteria and conditions that may justify an interference with the right to (political) freedom of expression of public servants and employees in the public sector. It will also clarify in what circumstances an interference with this right amounts to a violation of Article 19 ICCPR or Article 10 ECHR, with references to the UN Human Rights Committee General Comment No. 34 “Article 19. Freedoms of opinion and expression” and especially analyzing and reporting the relevant case law of the European Court of Human Rights

Elevated systemic antibodies towards commensal gut microbiota in autoinflammatory condition

Article No. e3172Non peer reviewedPublisher PD

Radiology education in Europe: Analysis of results from 22 European countries.

AimTo assess the state of radiology education across Europe by means of a survey study.MethodsA comprehensive 23-item radiology survey was distributed via email to the International Society of Radiology members, national radiological societies, radiologists and medical physicists. Reminders to complete the survey were sent and the results were analyzed over a period of 4 mo (January-April 2016). Survey questions include length of medical school and residency training; availability of fellowship and subspecialty training; number of residency programs in each country; accreditation pathways; research training; and medical physics education. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze and summarize data.ResultsRadiology residency training ranges from 2-6 years with a median of 5 years, and follows 1 year of internship training in 55% (12 out of 22) European countries. Subspecialty fellowship training is offered in 55% (12 out of 22) European countries. Availability for specialization training by national societies is limited to eight countries. For nearly all respondents, less than fifty percent of radiologists travel abroad for specialization. Nine of 22 (41%) European countries have research requirements during residency. The types of certifying exam show variation where 64% (14 out of 22) European countries require both written and oral boards, 23% (5 out of 22) require oral examinations only, and 5% (1 out of 22) require written examinations only. A degree in medical physics is offered in 59% (13 out of 22) European countries and is predominantly taught by medical physicists. Nearly all respondents report that formal examinations in medical physics are required.ConclusionComparative learning experiences across the continent will help guide the development of comprehensive yet pragmatic infrastructures for radiology education and collaborations in radiology education worldwide

The Development Gap Between the CIS and EU

Current report aims to identify major existing gaps in the five socio-economic dimensions (economic, human, openness, environmental, and institutional) and to reveal those gaps which could potentially hinder social and economic integration of neighbor states with the EU. To achieve this, the authors aim to assess the existing trends in the size of the gaps across countries and problem areas, taking into consideration the specific origin of the gap between EU15/EU12, on the one hand, and FSU republics, EU candidates and West Balkan countries, on the other hand. The paper is structured as follows: 1. A review of literature on the determinants of growth and development and the analysis of the catching up process between countries or groups of countries. 2. An analysis of the historic roots and origins of the development gap, and its evolvement over time. 3. A review of literature sources, draft analysis of primary statistical data, and qualitative explanations of gaps and divergences in selected development issues across the following socio-economic dimensions: level of economic development and convergence rates based on Real GDP (application of methodology testing ß and ? convergence to the set of countries analyzed); • quality of life and its components (poverty, inequality, health status and health care, access to fresh water and sanitation facilities, subjective perceptions of well-being); • human capital and labor market development, including level of education and public spending on education, its accessibility and quality, main differences in labor market development (employment participation rates and levels of unemployment, new jobs creation and labor protection legislation); • innovation potential, including R&D, information and communication technologies, and institutional environment; • openness and trade potential, including trade in goods and services, FDI stocks, trade regime and performance in logistics and infrastructure; THE DEVELOPMENT GAP BETWEEN THE CIS AND EU 15 CASE Network Reports No. 81 • environmental performance in terms of environmental stresses, efforts aimed at their reduction, and institutional capacity; • business climate, political institutions, and other institutional indicators (econometric analysis). 4. A test econometric analysis of development gaps across selected dimensions by using a Principal Components Method (PCM). The results are further presented in the form of ranks of countries analyzed reflecting their distances from EU15 in respective aggregate averages. Special attention is paid to gender-related development issues. Respective issues in human capital and labor market study, as well as variables included into PCM analysis were supplemented with relative gender data. Several conclusions finalize the report.EU, CIS, development gap, GDP, convergence, quality of life, human capital, innovation, environment, institutions, Principal Components Method

Entangled light in transition through the generation threshold

We investigate continuous variable entangling resources on the base of two-mode squeezing for all operational regimes of a nondegenerate optical parametric oscillator with allowance for quantum noise of arbitrary level. The results for the quadrature variances of a pair of generated modes are obtained by using the exact steady-state solution of Fokker-Planck equation for the complex P-quasiprobability distribution function. We find a simple expression for the squeezed variances in the near-threshold range and conclude that the maximal two-mode squeezing reaches 50% relative to the level of vacuum fluctuations and is achieved at the pump field intensity close to the generation threshold. The distinction between the degree of two-mode squeezing for monostable and bistable operational regimes is cleared up.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures; Content changed: more details added to the discussion. To be published in Phys. Rev.

OntoBrowse: A World of Knowledge

This paper describes the creation and function of OntoBrowse, a domain-independent ontology browser system that was developed to provide generic access to any triplestore ontology without the need to create a bespoke interface. It features support for accessing multiple triplestores in one query session, bookmarks, Rendezvous sharing of bookmarks, multiple tabs, multiple windows, namespace caching and automatic generation of RDQL queries. OntoBrowse automatically loads images when referenced by URI and has a fully customisable user interface. In addition, the CIA World Factbook was asserted into a triplestore in order to gain a conceptual understanding of knowledge systems and for use as a controllable testing ground for the ontology browser