Topsy - Turvy : Caprice

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-ps/2278/thumbnail.jp

Mental hospital admission rates of immigrants in Switzerland

Purpose: This epidemiological study aims to assess the utilisation of inpatient psychiatric services by immigrants. Specifically, we address the question of gender-specific differences in immigrants and compare the population-based rates of males and females from different countries of origin. Methods: We analysed inpatient admission rates from a defined catchment area over a 6-year period by means of psychiatric register data. Poisson regression analysis was used to model effects of gender, age and country group (immigrants grouped into six categories according to their country of origin). Results: Of the total of 28,511 subjects consecutively referred to psychiatric inpatient treatment, 4,814 were foreign nationals (16.9%). Among immigrants the proportion of female inpatients (38.7%) was far lower than in the general population (45.6%; equal proportion of female-to-total among Swiss inpatients). Immigrants were 37.4years old on average at index admission (Swiss people: 46.3years), but there were considerable differences across country groups. We found three groups with particularly high admission rates: male immigrants originating from Turkey, Eastern European and ‘Other' countries (rates >6 per 1,000 population/year). These were admitted as inpatients at far higher rates than females from the same countries. In women, there was no immigrant group utilising inpatient treatment at a higher level than Swiss females. The rates of inpatient admission in males and females was almost equal among the Swiss (4.3 per 1,000), as was the case for immigrants from Southern, Western/Northern Europe and former Yugoslavia, although on a lower level (2.26-3.15 per 1,000). Regression analysis further suggests that country effects and age effects are different for males and females, and age effects are specific to the country of origin. Discussion: These gender- and interaction effects point to inequalities in psychiatric service use in people with different migration background. Further research is needed, particularly to understand the reasons for the markedly different gender-specific utilisation of psychiatric services by some immigrant group

Patterns of inpatient care for immigrants in Switzerland: A case control study

Background: Migration has become a major political and social concern in West European societies. Methods: A case-control method was used to analyse the utilisation of inpatient mental health services by immigrants from a catchment area in Switzerland over a 7-year period. Results: Compared to natives, immigrants had fewer psychiatric hospitalisations, but more emergency and compulsory admissions. During inpatient treatment, they received less psycho-, ergo- and physiotherapy. Other therapies as well as compulsory measures were at comparable rates, as was the frequency of irregular discharge. They spent shorter periods as inpatients and the rate of psychiatric readmissions was significantly lower. Comparison of different countries of origin revealed that only patients from West and North Europe were comparable to natives regarding type of referral, inpatient treatment, and longitudinal measures of service utilisation. Even after accounting for effects of social class, immigrants from South Europe, former Yugoslavia, Turkey, East Europe and more distant countries spent significantly shorter time in inpatient treatment, compared to Swiss control patients. Conclusions: Results of this study clearly point to an underutilisation of inpatient facilities among immigrants with mental disorders, and to disadvantages in psychiatric inpatient care. This, however, does not pertain to all foreign patients to the same extent: inequalities of mental health service use are particularly pronounced in immigrants from more distant countrie

Nestling begging strategies in Wilson's storm-petrels (Oceanites oceanicus): insights from a supplementary feeding experiment

Whether parents or their dependent offspring control provisioning and how resource allocation is mediated behaviourally are fundamental questions in the context of parent – offspring conflict. Vocalisations during feeding of chicks of a small long-lived seabird, the Wilson’s storm-petrel (Oceanites oceanicus), were recorded on King George Island, maritime Antarctic, to evaluate their information content and effects on regulating provisioning by the attending adult. A supplemental feeding experiment was conducted in order to verify empirical findings. During the control period chicks honestly signalled their nutritional need, they conveyed information about their body condition through the number and sound frequency of begging calls uttered during feeding sessions. Parents were responsive to the information communicated through solicitation behaviour and delivered larger meals to nestlings in a poorer state but within a certain range under the constraints of food availability. Adults attending artificial fed nestlings increased delivered meal sizes by 2 g, which equals one third of a usual feeding, as response to intensified begging of their supplemented chicks

Differences in Medical Marijuana Card Registration by Geographic Regions in California

California was the first state to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. Individuals are issued identification card for medical marijuana use for patients with chronic medical conditions if directed by a physician. Surveys have suggested there are regional differences between northern California residents, particularly the Bay Area, and southern California residents with respect to medical marijuana use and legalization. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the California Department of Public Health statistics regarding medical marijuana card registrations over various geographic areas of California. The California Department of Public Health Medical Marijuana Card Registration database reflects this with more individuals in the Bay Area registered compared to those in the ten southernmost counties of California. The reasons for this are unclear but could fall along political party lines as more registered Democrats support medical marijuana legalization compared to registered Republicans. The benefits of medical marijuana and potential adverse medical and socioeconomic effects have not been fully elucidated. Conclusion: There is a need for further study of the potential benefits for medical marijuana use and the reasons for apparent regional different beliefs of medical marijuana use and medical marijuana card registration

A new Determination of the Extragalactic Background of Diffuse Gamma Rays taking into account Dark Matter Annihilation

The extragalactic background (EGB) of diffuse gamma rays can be determined by subtracting the Galactic contribution from the data. This requires a Galactic model (GM) and we include for the first time the contribution of dark matter annihilation (DMA), which was previously proposed as an explanation for the EGRET excess of diffuse Galactic gamma rays above 1 GeV. In this paper it is shown that the newly determined EGB shows a characteristic high energy bump on top of a steeply falling soft contribution. The bump is shown to be compatible with a contribution from an extragalactic DMA signal from weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with a mass between 50 and 100 GeV in agreement with the EGRET excess of the Galactic diffuse gamma rays and in disagreement with earlier analysis. The remaining soft contribution of the EGB is shown to resemble the spectra of the observed point sources in our Galaxy.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. Accepted by A&A, made Fig. 4 and table 1 consisten