Level of Living and Well-being as Measures of Welfare: Evidence from European Countries

The aim of the present study is to elaborate generalized indicators describing objective and subjective aspects of welfare and analyze the relationships between them based on the sample of European countries. While applying the quality of life approach we differentiate economic, human capital, social capital and emotional aspects of welfare. With help of confirmatory factor analysis generalized objective level of living and subjective well-being indicators to measure all mentioned aspects will be composed. Our results show that in countries with objectively lower positions the subjective assessments on welfare tend to be higher. Although an ideal situation could be imagined where objective and subjective assessments were equal, there are deviations from the equilibrium to both directions

Doktoriõppe tulemuslikkuse analüüs

Uuringu 2.4 lõppraportUuringu eesmärgiks on analüüsida doktoriõppe tulemuslikkust Eesti avalik-õiguslikes ülikoolides ning sellest tulenevalt teha ettepanekuid tulevaste doktoriõppe toetusmeetmete arendamiseks. Uuringus antakse ülevaade Eesti ülikoolide doktoriõppe vastuvõtutingimuste eripäradest ja doktoriõppe rahastamise skeemist, otsitakse seoseid doktoriõppe meetmete ja doktoriõppe tulemuslikkuse vahel õppeprotsessi, teadustegevuse ja doktorantide materiaalse toimetuleku aspektist, analüüsitakse põhjalikumalt doktorikoolide poolt antavat lisandväärtust ja nende tegevusega seonduvaid probleeme ja pakutakse välja poliitikasoovitused doktoriõppe tulemuslikkuse tõstmiseks.http://tips.ut.ee/index.php?module=32&op=1&id=366

Pneumokokkinfektsioonivastaste vaktsiinide kulutõhusus Eestis

Taust. Streptococcus pneumoniae ehk pneumokokk põhjustab otiiti, põskkoopapõletikku, pneumooniat, meningiiti ja baktereemiat. Nende haiguste vastu on võimalik lapsi vaktsineerida alates esimestest elukuudest pneumokoki konjugeeritud polüsahhariidvaktsiinidega. Eesmärk. Hinnata Eesti andmete alusel ja tervishoiusüsteemi rahastaja perspektiivist pneumokokkinfektsioonivastase vaktsineerimise kulutõhusust 7-, 10- või 13valentse vaktsiini (PCV7, PCV10, PCV13) kasutamisel võrreldes mittevaktsineerimisega. Metoodika. Vaktsiinide kulutõhususe hindamiseks koostati Markovi mudel, mille abil kirjeldati vastsündinute aastase sünnikohordi (16 000 last) haigestumist pneumokokkinfektsioonidesse, elukvaliteedi halvenemist ja haigestumisega kaasnevaid kulusid viie aasta perspektiivis. Eeldati, et vaktsineeritakse 95% sihtrühma lastest. Tulemused. Võrreldes mittevaktsineerimisega vähendab vaktsineerimine viie aasta jooksul otiidi ja pneumoonia haigusjuhtusid 11–33% võrra ning invasiivse pneumokokkinfektsiooni haigusjuhtusid ligikaudu 65%. Sõltuvalt vaktsiinist võidetakse 16 000 lapse vaktsineerimise korral viie aasta jooksul kokku 35–37 täiskvaliteetset eluaastat (quality-adjusted life year, QALY). Täiendkulu tõhususe määr (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, ICER) jääb vaktsiinide kasutamisel vahemikku 29 000 – 62 000 eurot iga lisanduva QALY kohta. Järeldused. Pneumokokknakkuste vastu vaktsineerimine võimaldab oluliselt vähendada haigestumist erineva raskusastmega otiiti, pneumooniasse ning invasiivsesse pneumokokkinfektsiooni. Vaktsiinide kõrge hinna tõttu ületavad kulutused vaktsineerimisele enam kui kümme korda ravikuludelt saavutatava kokkuhoiu. Eesti Arst 2012; 91(10):539–54

Uurimisprojekti "Süstemaatiline kirjanduse ülevaade õpikäsituse nüüdisaegsuse hindamiseks sobivate mõõtevahendite leidmiseks" raport

Raportis koosneb kahest erinevast peatükist: 1) nüüdisaegne õpikäsitus - vaatleb õppimist läbi viie erineva metafoori (omandamine, osalemine, avastamine, tajumine ja harjutamine) ning esitab nüüdisaegse õpikäsituse mudeli, milles on määratletud nii õpikäsituse elemendid kui nende kaudu saavutatavd eesmärgid ja sihid. 2) nüüdisaegse õpikäsituse mõõtmine, milles kirjeldatakse õpikäsituse hindamise võimalusi ning antakse süstemaatilised kirjanduse ülevaated kahe õpikäsituse hindamise parameetri (emotsioonid ja eneseregulatsioon) kohta

Anti-Fibrotic Effect of SDF-1β Overexpression in Bleomycin-Injured Rat Lung.

Rational: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive interstitial lung disease and is associated with high mortality due to a lack of effective treatment. Excessive deposition of the extracellular matrix by activated myofibroblasts in the alveolar space leads to scar formation that hinders gas exchange. Therefore, selectively removing activated myofibroblasts with the aim to repair and remodel fibrotic lungs is a promising approach. Stromal-derived growth factor (SDF-1) is known to stimulate cellular signals which attract stem cells to the site of injury for tissue repair and remodeling. Here, we investigate the effect of overexpression of SDF-1β on lung structure using the bleomycin-injured rat lung model. Methods: Intratracheal administration of bleomycin was performed in adult male rats (F344). Seven days later, in vivo electroporation-mediated gene transfer of either SDF-1β or the empty vector was performed. Animals were sacrificed seven days after gene transfer and histology, design-based stereology, flow cytometry, and collagen measurement were performed on the tissue collected. For in vitro experiments, lung fibroblasts obtained from IPF patients were used. Results: Seven days after SDF-1β gene transfer to bleomycin-injured rat lungs, reduced total collagen, reduced collagen fibrils, improved histology and induced apoptosis of myofibroblasts were observed. Furthermore, it was revealed that TNF-α mediates SDF-1β-induced apoptosis of myofibroblasts; moreover, SDF-1β overexpression increased alveolar epithelial cell numbers and proliferation in vivo and also induced their migration in vitro. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates a new antifibrotic mechanism of SDF-1β overexpression and suggests SDF-1β as a potential new approach for the treatment of lung fibrosis

Basal-Like Cell-Conditioned Medium Exerts Anti-Fibrotic Effects In Vitro and In Vivo.

In idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), basal-like cells are atypically present in the alveolar region, where they may affect adjacent stromal cells by paracrine mechanisms. We here aimed to confirm the presence of basal-like cells in peripheral IPF lung tissue in vivo, to culture and characterize the cells in vitro, and to investigate their paracrine effects on IPF fibroblasts in vitro and in bleomycin-injured rats in vivo. Basal-like cells are mainly localized in areas of pathological bronchiolization or honeycomb cysts in peripheral IPF lung tissue. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) demonstrated an overall homogeneity, the expression of the basal cell markers cytokeratin KRT5 and KRT17, and close transcriptomic similarities to basal cells in the majority of cells cultured in vitro. Basal-like cells secreted significant levels of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), and their conditioned medium (CM) inhibited alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and collagen 1A1 (Col1A1) and upregulated matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) by IPF fibroblasts in vitro. The instillation of CM in bleomycin-injured rat lungs resulted in reduced collagen content, improved lung architecture, and reduced α-SMA-positive cells. Our data suggested that basal-like cells may limit aberrant fibroblast activation and differentiation in IPF through paracrine mechanisms

Origin and spread of human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup U7

Human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup U is among the initial maternal founders in Southwest Asia and Europe and one that best indicates matrilineal genetic continuity between late Pleistocene hunter-gatherer groups and present-day populations of Europe. While most haplogroup U subclades are older than 30 thousand years, the comparatively recent coalescence time of the extant variation of haplogroup U7 (~16–19 thousand years ago) suggests that its current distribution is the consequence of more recent dispersal events, despite its wide geographical range across Europe, the Near East and South Asia. Here we report 267 new U7 mitogenomes that – analysed alongside 100 published ones – enable us to discern at least two distinct temporal phases of dispersal, both of which most likely emanated from the Near East. The earlier one began prior to the Holocene (~11.5 thousand years ago) towards South Asia, while the later dispersal took place more recently towards Mediterranean Europe during the Neolithic (~8 thousand years ago). These findings imply that the carriers of haplogroup U7 spread to South Asia and Europe before the suggested Bronze Age expansion of Indo-European languages from the Pontic-Caspian Steppe region