Operaatio poliosokeri:Suomen kamppailu poliovirusta vastaan vuosien 1984–1985 aikana

Tiivistelmä. Kandidaatintutkielmassani perehdyn Suomessa vuosien 1984–1985 välisenä aikana tapahtuneeseen poliovirusepidemiaan ja epidemian pysäyttämiseksi suoritettuun kansanterveysoperaatioon. Suomalaiset rokotettiin Albert Sabinin eläviä polioviruksia sisältävällä rokotteella, joka tarjoiltiin väestölle sokeripalaan liuotettuna. Ensimmäisellä tutkimuskysymykselläni selvitän, mitkä tekijät mahdollistivat villin polioviruksen leviämisen Suomessa 1980-luvulla. Toinen tutkimuskysymykseni käsittelee sitä, mitkä olivat edellytykset kansanterveysoperaation onnistumiselle. Perehdyn aiheeseen tutkimalla Helsingin Sanomien Kotimaa- ja Mielipide -osioiden kirjoituksia aikaväliltä 13.11.1984–13.6.1985 sekä lukemalla aiheeseen liittyvää tutkimuskirjallisuutta. Aikaisempaa historiatieteellistä Suomen vuosien 1984–1985 polioepidemiaa käsittelevää tutkimusta ei ole, minkä vuoksi käyttämäni tutkimuskirjallisuus käsittelee aihepiiriä yleisemmin. Per Axelssonin väitöskirja Höstens spöke: De svenska polioepidemiernas historia vuodelta 2004 tuo tutkielmaani pohjoismaalaista näkemystä polion historiasta ja Ruotsin epidemioista. Dora Varghan teos Polio across the iron curtain: Hungary’s cold war with an epidemic (2018) puolestaan käsittelee Itä-Euroopassa ilmenneitä polioepidemioita. Stuart Blumen sekä Ingrid Geesinkin poliorokotteeseen keskittyvät artikkelit sekä Seppo Utriaisen ja Hannu Vuoren poliota käsittelevät teokset toivat oleellista tietoa rokotteiden lääketieteellisestä puolesta. Sosiaalihistoriallista näkemystä tutkielmaani toivat Malte Thießenin sekä Wyatt Harold Vivianin artikkelit. Tutkielmani tulokset osoittavat, että 1980-luvun poliovirusepidemia yllätti suomalaiset lääkintäviranomaiset, asiantuntijat sekä kansalaiset. Edellisen kerran polioepidemia koettiin Suomessa 1960-luvulla, minkä jälkeinen pitkä polioton ajanjakso johti siihen, että erinäisiä toimia poliolta suojautumiseen lakkautettiin. Esimerkiksi poliovirusta koskevat jätevesitutkimukset lopetettiin Suomessa vuonna 1982, sillä tautia ei uskottu enää esiintyvän. Samasta syystä myös useat vanhemmat saattoivat jättää lapsensa rokottamatta poliota vastaan. Lisäksi Suomessa käytössä ollut Jonas Salkin inaktivoitu poliorokote ei ollut tarpeeksi tehokas suojaamaan uudelta virusmuunnokselta, joka Suomeen rantautui. Vaikka suomalaiset terveysviranomaiset ja väestö olivat uuden äärellä, kansanterveysoperaatio onnistui lopulta hyvin, sillä 90 % väestöstä otti elävän poliovirusrokotteen, eivätkä polioepidemiat enää 1980-luvun jälkeen palanneet Suomeen

Effect of remdesivir post hospitalization for COVID-19 infection from the randomized SOLIDARITY Finland trial

We report the first long-term follow-up of a randomized trial (NCT04978259) addressing the effects of remdesivir on recovery (primary outcome) and other patient-important outcomes one year after hospitalization resulting from COVID-19. Of the 208 patients recruited from 11 Finnish hospitals, 198 survived, of whom 181 (92%) completed follow-up. At one year, self-reported recovery occurred in 85% in remdesivir and 86% in standard of care (SoC) (RR 0.94, 95% CI 0.47-1.90). We infer no convincing difference between remdesivir and SoC in quality of life or symptom outcomes (p > 0.05). Of the 21 potential long-COVID symptoms, patients reported moderate/major bother from fatigue (26%), joint pain (22%), and problems with memory (19%) and attention/concentration (18%). In conclusion, after a one-year follow-up of hospitalized patients, one in six reported they had not recovered well from COVID-19. Our results provide no convincing evidence of remdesivir benefit, but wide confidence intervals included possible benefit and harm.Peer reviewe

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

How Do You Make a Time Series Sing Like a Choir? Using the Hilbert-Huang Transform to Extract Embedded Frequencies from Economic or Financial Time Series

The Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT) was developed late last century but has still to be introduced to the vast majority of economists. The HHT transform is a way of extracting the frequency mode features of cycles embedded in any time series using an adaptive data method that can be applied without making any assumptions about stationarity or linear data-generating properties. This paper introduces economists to the two constituent parts of the HHT transform, namely empirical mode decomposition (EMD) and Hilbert spectral analysis. Illustrative applications using HHT are also made to two financial and three economic time series

Credit Allocation, Capital Requirements and Procyclicality

Although beneficial allocational effects have been a central motivator for the Basel II capital adequacy reform, the interaction of these effects with Basel II's procyclical impact has been less discussed. In this paper, we investigate the effect of capital requirements on the allocation of credit and its interaction with procyclicality, and compare Basel I and Basel II type capital requirements. We consider competitive credit markets where entrepreneurs of varying ability can apply for loans for one-period investment projects of two different risk types. The risk of a project further depends on the state of the economy, modelled as a two-state Markov process. In this type of setting, excessive risk taking typically arises because higher-type borrowers cross-subsidize lower-type borrowers via a pricing regime based on average success rates. We find that risk-based capital requirements (such as Basel II) alleviate the cross-subsidization effect and can be chosen so as to implement first-best allocation. This implies that the ensuing reduction in the proportion of high-risk investments may mitigate the procyclical effect of Basel II on economic activity. Moreover, we find that optimal risk-based capital requirements should be set lower in recessions than in normal times. Our simulations show that when measured by either cumulative output or output variation, Basel II type capital requirements may actual be slightly less procyclical than flat capital requirements. The biggest reduction in procyclicality is however achieved with optimal risk-based capital requirements which are considerably higher than Basel II requirements and which are adjusted downwards in recession periods

Financial Crises and Bank Failures: A Review of Prediction Methods

In this article we provide a summary of empirical results obtained in several economics and operations research papers that attempt to explain, predict, or suggest remedies for financial crises or banking defaults, as well as outlines of the methodologies used. We analyze financial and economic circumstances associated with the US subprime mortgage crisis and the global financial turmoil that has led to severe crises in many countries. The intent of the article is to promote future empirical research that might help to prevent bank failures and financial crises

Genetic studies of body mass index yield new insights for obesity biology

Note: A full list of authors and affiliations appears at the end of the article. Obesity is heritable and predisposes to many diseases. To understand the genetic basis of obesity better, here we conduct a genome-wide association study and Metabochip meta-analysis of body mass index (BMI), a measure commonly used to define obesity and assess adiposity, in up to 339,224 individuals. This analysis identifies 97 BMI-associated loci (P 20% of BMI variation. Pathway analyses provide strong support for a role of the central nervous system in obesity susceptibility and implicate new genes and pathways, including those related to synaptic function, glutamate signalling, insulin secretion/action, energy metabolism, lipid biology and adipogenesis.</p