The Future Population Health of the Industrialized Countries

The more developed countries are experiencing an inexorable decline with respect to population. Aging is reaching intolerable levels in the economy, both from the active (available workers) and the passive (e.g. health costs, pensions) point of view, redesigning a worrying scenario for the near future. On the other hand, fertility in many countries, and particularly in Italy, reaches such low levels that the prospects of a recovery, in terms of quantity, now seem impractical, unless of socio-demographic upheavals rather unlikely. In this context, most likely, from the point of view of demographic and social, he is starting a new era in which the main actors on the global stage will certainly be different from those in the field today, with completely obscure scenarios and still in the making. Surely, however, this situation has generated fears and concerns about the future of the population, especially for some signals that in the course of 2015 were recorded in Italy, such as the surge in mortality, especially with regard to older ages, where some observers have linked this phenomenon to a reduction in public spending in the health sector, a situation that would have penalized, certainly, the older age groups. On closer analysis, however, we realize that, precisely due to aging of the population of elderly, quotas have gradually increased, causing a swollen available to die, with the same probability of death

Bioinformatics Solutions for Image Data Processing

In recent years, the increasing use of medical devices has led to the generation of large amounts of data, including image data. Bioinformatics solutions provide an effective approach for image data processing in order to retrieve information of interest and to integrate several data sources for knowledge extraction; furthermore, images processing techniques support scientists and physicians in diagnosis and therapies. In addition, bioinformatics image analysis may be extended to support several scenarios, for instance, in cyber-security the biometric recognition systems are applied to unlock devices and restricted areas, as well as to access sensitive data. In medicine, computational platforms generate high amount of data from medical devices such as Computed Tomography (CT), and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI); this chapter will survey on bioinformatics solutions and toolkits for medical imaging in order to suggest an overview of techniques and methods that can be applied for the imaging analysis in medicine

Aspects de l'évolution démographique en Albanie

Meksi Ermelinda, Iaquinta Pietro. - Aspects of Demographic Trends in Albania This paper deals with birth, marriage, and death rates and other major structural characteristics of the population of Albania. The size of the Albanian population was estimated at 3.2 million at the last census (2 April, 1989). Its size has tripled during the last half-century. The growth rate reached a maximum (three per cent per annum) around 1960 ; it is about two per cent at present. Until 1960, birth rates remained very high (total fertility was more than six children per woman) ; since then it has fallen to a curren estimated value of three children per woman. Marriage rates are very high, but early marriage for women (often associated with a significant difference between the ages of the two spouses) is far less frequent. Life expectancy (for both sexes) has increased from 53.5 to 71.6 years since 1950, but the rate of increase has become lower after 1980. The population's age structure is young (33 per cent are less than 14 years old, and 8 per cent are over 60 years old), and the population remains largely rural, with more than 65 per cent living in rural areas.Meksi Ermelinda, Iaquinta Pietro. - Aspects de l'évolution démographique en Albanie Présentation des facteurs de la croissance démographique en Albanie : fécondité, nuptialité, mortalité et des principales caractéristiques de la structure de la population. La population de l'Albanie comptait 3,2 millions d'habitants lors de son dernier recensement (2 avril 1989). En un demi-siècle, son effectif a été multiplié par trois. Le taux de croissance a atteint son maximum vers I960 (3 %) ; il est aujourd'hui de 2%. Jusque vers 1960, la fécondité est demeurée très forte (plus de 6 enfants par femme, en moyenne) ; depuis cette date, elle diminue (la somme des taux de fécondité est actuellement de 3 enfants par femme). La nuptialité est très élevée, mais les mariages féminins très précoces (souvent associés à une grande différence d'âge entre époux) sont beaucoup moins fréquents. Depuis 1950, la vie moyenne (sexes réunis) est passée de 53,5 ans à 71,6, le rythme des progrès se ralentissant depuis 1980. La population de l'Albanie est jeune (moins de 14 ans : 33 %, plus de 60 ans : 8 %), et demeure rurale (65 % vit en zone rurale).Meksi Ermelinda, Iaquinta Pietro. - Aspectos de la evolución demográfica en Albania Presentación de los factores del crecimiento demográfico en Albania : fecundidad, nupcialidad, mortalidad y principales caracterfsticas de la estructura de la población. La población de Albania en el ultimo censo del 2 de Abril 1989, contaba con 3,2 millones de per- sonas. En medio siglo, el numero de habitantes ha sido multiplicado por très. La tasa de crecimiento alcanzó su ni vel maximo en I960 (3 %) ; y actualmente es de 2 рог ciento. Hasta 1960, la fecundidad se mantuvo a un nivel muy elevado (en termine medio, más de 6 hijos por mujer) ; desde entonces, ha ido disminuyendo (actualmente la tasa de fecundidad es de 3 hijos por mujer). La nupcialidad es muy e le vada, pero, para el sexo femenino, los matrimonios précoces (asociados a una gran diferencia de edades entre los cónyugues) son menos fre- cuentes. Desde 1950, la esperanza de vida (ambos sexos) ha pasado de 53,5 afios a 71,6 pero este ritmo de progreso se encuentra en regresión desde de 1980. La población de Albania es jóven (33 % de ménos de 14 afios, 8 % de más de 60 afios) y concentrada en el area rural (65 %).Meksi Ermelinda, Iaquinta Pietro. Aspects de l'évolution démographique en Albanie. In: Population, 46ᵉ année, n°3, 1991. pp. 679-692

Female Employment and Reproductive Behavior in Italy

In Italy in 2011, the employment rate for women between the ages of 25 and 54 was 64%, compared with an average of almost 76% in the EU-27. Furthermore, in the EU the total employment rate was 64.2%, with women at 58.2% - while in Italy the total employment rate was 57.2% and only 46.7% for women (Eurostat). Female employment performance in Europe is worse than the male one, but data shows in Italy this gap is significantly larger. According to ISTAT, the lack of family support services (kindergartens, nursery schools, etc.) is an obstacle to the entry into the labor market for nearly 500,000 unemployed women. In Italy, less than 1.4% of the GDP is allocated to households' contributions, services and tax deductions: far lower than 1.8% of the other low fertility countries in OECD. An additional potential obstacle comes from Nora Federici’s study (dated 1980s), which indicates that among the causes of the already substantial reduction in fertility, the objective necessity for women to choose between work and family plays a large role. This study hypothesizes a reverse relationship between feminine work and fertility, and this relationship has since found various experimental confirmations. Is this relationship still working, in this new millennium undergoing heavy changes in the world of work? And if it is, does it work in the same way for all women? Some recent remarks suggest discordant behaviors: for example, a recent survey showed a greater employment of female graduates with children than those without children and women with lower or lower grades. This shows that the study of fertility, as well as of its determinants, must try to understand many different mechanisms. This essay (concerning the relationship between female occupation and fertility by age group) is a preliminary analysis to a much more complex and ambitious study, the completion of which will involve numerous analyzes of data from different sources - but already the results provide food for thought

Asthma in patients admitted to emergency department for COVID-19: prevalence and risk of hospitalization

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