Trust and the quality of formal institutions

Motivation: Trust plays an important role in the functioning of individuals at every level and research confirms that it is linked to economic development. As the levels of trust differ across the countries it is crucial to explore the reasons for such variation and to identify determinants of trust. Trust is often used in research to operationalise informal institutions, however, it can also reflect the quality of formal institutions. Therefore, it is vital to investigate whether trust is to a large extent a deeply rooted attitude, which does not lend itself to intentional shaping or it can be generated by better institutional performance. It remains unclear how institutional performance influences trust, there are many doubts concerning for example the diversion of this relation. The evidence on the relationships between generalised and institutional trust also persists mixed.Aim: The paper aims to investigate the relationship between generalised and institutional trust with the quality of formal institutions.Results: The research confirms the positive relationship between generalised and institutional trust for the total group of 22 European countries. Similarly, higher levels of both kinds of trust are related to better institutional performance. However, when the countries are analysed separately as capitalist and post-socialist, the results differ. The aforementioned relationships are confirmed for capitalist countries. Post-socialist countries are characterized by a lower level of trust and lower quality of institutions. Nevertheless, for this group, there is no evidence for the relationship between generalised and institutional trust, and only partial evidence for the relationship between institutional trust and institutional performance. The results support the concepts underlining the influence of institutions’ quality on trust but some observations are inclined to concepts suggesting that trust is culturally determined and regardless of institutional performance decades are needed for its development

Digital Techniques for Documenting and Preserving Cultural Heritage

In this unique collection the authors present a wide range of interdisciplinary methods to study, document, and conserve material cultural heritage. The methods used serve as exemplars of best practice with a wide variety of cultural heritage objects having been recorded, examined, and visualised. The objects range in date, scale, materials, and state of preservation and so pose different research questions and challenges for digitization, conservation, and ontological representation of knowledge. Heritage science and specialist digital technologies are presented in a way approachable to non-scientists, while a separate technical section provides details of methods and techniques, alongside examples of notable applications of spatial and spectral documentation of material cultural heritage, with selected literature and identification of future research. This book is an outcome of interdisciplinary research and debates conducted by the participants of the COST Action TD1201, Colour and Space in Cultural Heritage, 2012–16 and is an Open Access publication available under a CC BY-NC-ND licence.https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/mip_arc_cdh/1000/thumbnail.jp

Health and its significance in the modern concept of wellness and spa

The aim of the study is to present selected issues related to health that are significant in the modern concept of wellness and spa. The World Health Organization has adopted the so-called positive definition of health, which encompasses it as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, rather than merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Wellness is one of the contemporary approaches to health related to quality of life and actions for health (aspiring towards wellness). On the other hand, spa is an idea of a holistic approach to health, where the harmony of mind and body is to be ensured through the use of relaxing, cosmetic, and biological renewal treatments, often involving water. Spa centers combine relaxation with the care for psychophysical health. The purpose of these centers is to improve health, well-being, and appearance. These aspects are extremely important in the holistic understanding of health

Pro-health Behaviours in Time Budget of Ex-cyclists

The study involved 50 ex-cyclists at age 22-66, there were 17 women and 33 men. This survey-based study was performed using two standardized tools: Health Behaviour Inventory (IZZ) and The questionnaire on daily routines (chronocard).The most of the studied group (58%) undertook pro-health behaviours at the median level, 24% presented the maximum level of health behaviours, and the smallest studied group (18%) presented the minimum level of IZZ. It showed that gender didn’t influence the health behaviour of ex-cyclists (p=0,784). An amount of time for different activities (work/study, activities at home, relax, entertainment, physical activity and others) is different during each weekdays. The dominance in the time budget of ex-cyclists was work (study).The most of the leisure time, the studied group spent for amusements and the less for relax and physical activity.The dominance of the studied group were in median and minimum level of health behaviours with the most escalated behaviours in positive mental attitude and lower in nutritional habits, prophylactic behaviours and healthy habits. The studied group presented very restricted pro-healthy lifestyle

Health and its significance in the modern concept of wellness and spa

The aim of the study is to present selected issues related to health that are significant in the modern concept of wellness and spa. The World Health Organization has adopted the so-called positive definition of health, which encompasses it as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, rather than merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Wellness is one of the contemporary approaches to health related to quality of life and actions for health (aspiring towards wellness). On the other hand, spa is an idea of a holistic approach to health, where the harmony of mind and body is to be ensured through the use of relaxing, cosmetic, and biological renewal treatments, often involving water. Spa centers combine relaxation with the care for psychophysical health. The purpose of these centers is to improve health, well-being, and appearance. These aspects are extremely important in the holistic understanding of health

A DNA methylation classifier of cervical precancer based on human papillomavirus and human genes

Cancer Research UK. Grant Number: C569/A1040

HPV16 L1 and L2 DNA methylation predicts high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia in women with mildly abnormal cervical cytology

Cancer Research UK, Queen Mary University of London. Grant Number: project grant C8162/A4609 and programme grants C8162/A10406, C569/A10404 and C236/A1179

Long-term prediction by DNA methylation of high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia: Results of the ARTISTIC cohort.

Methylation markers have shown potential for triaging high-risk HPV-positive (hrHPV+) women to identify those at increased risk of invasive cervical cancer (ICC). Our aim was to assess the performance of the S5 DNA methylation classifier for predicting incident high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and ICC among hrHPV+ women in the ARTISTIC screening trial cohort. The S5 classifier, comprising target regions of tumour suppressor gene EPB41L3 and L1 and L2 regions of HPV16, HPV18, HPV31, and HPV33, was assayed by pyrosequencing in archived hrHPV+ liquid-based samples from 343 women with high-grade disease (139 CIN2, 186 CIN3, and 18 ICC) compared to 800 hrHPV+ controls. S5 DNA methylation correlated directly with increasing severity of disease and inversely with lead time to diagnosis. S5 could discriminate between hrHPV+ women who developed CIN3 or ICC and hrHPV+ controls (p <.0001) using samples taken on average 5 years before diagnosis. This relationship was independent of cytology at baseline. The S5 test showed much higher sensitivity than HPV16/18 genotyping for identifying prevalent CIN3 (93% vs. 61%, p = .01) but lower specificity (50% vs. 66%, p <.0001). The S5 classifier identified most women at high risk of developing precancer and missed very few prevalent advanced lesions thus appearing to be an objective test for triage of hrHPV+ women. The combination of methylation of host and HPV genes enables S5 to combine the predictive power of methylation with HPV genotyping to identify hrHPV-positive women who are at highest risk of developing CIN3 and ICC in the future

DNA methylation testing with S5 for triage of high-risk HPV positive women

Methylation of host and viral genes is promising for triage of women with high‐risk human papillomavirus infections (hrHPV). Using a population‐based sample of hrHPV positive women with cervical biopsies within 12 months after cervical screening, the clinical value of the S5 methylation classifier (S5), HPV genotyping and cytology were compared as potential triage tests, for outcomes of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) grade 3 or greater (CIN3+), CIN2+ and CIN2, and the area under the curve (AUC) calculated. S5 scores increased with histopathology severity (P (trend) < .001). For CIN3+, the AUC was 0.780 suggesting S5 provides good discrimination between <CIN3 and CIN3+. AUCs were significant for all pairwise comparisons of <CIN2, CIN2 and CIN3+ (P < .001). The positive predictive value (PPV) of HPV16/18 genotyping for women with any abnormal cytology was greater than S5 (25.36% vs 20.87%, P = .005) for CIN3+, while sensitivity was substantially greater for S5 (83.33% vs 59.28%, P < .001). Restricting to women with abnormal cytology, but excluding those with high‐grade cytology, both S5 and HPV16/18 provided CIN3+ PPVs high enough to recommend colposcopy. Triage with S5 also appeared useful for hrHPV positive women negative for HPV16/18 (CIN3+ PPV: 7.33%, sensitivity: 57.52%). S5 provided increased sensitivity for CIN3+ compared to HPV16/18 genotyping for hrHPV positive women, overall and when restricted to women with abnormal cytology, suggesting S5 may improve colposcopy referral. S5 also has the ability to distinguish between <CIN2, CIN2 and CIN3+, a finding of importance for managing CIN2, given the complexity and uncertainty associated with this diagnosis