Are there differences in all-cause and coronary heart disease mortality between immigrants in Sweden and in their country of birth? A follow-up study of total populations

BACKGROUND: Mortality from cardiovascular diseases is higher among immigrants than native Swedes. It is not clear whether the high mortality persists from the country of birth or is a result of migration. The purpose of the present study was to analyse whether all-cause and coronary heart disease mortality differ between immigrants in Sweden and in the country of birth. METHODS: Two cohorts including the total population from Swedish national registers and WHO were defined. All-cause and CHD mortality are presented as age-adjusted incidence rates and incidence density ratios (IDR) in eight immigrant groups in Sweden and in their country of birth. The data were analysed using Poisson regression. RESULTS: The all-cause mortality risk was lower among seven of eight male immigrant groups (IDR 0.39–0.97) and among six of eight female immigrant groups (IDR 0.42–0.81) than in their country of birth. The CHD mortality risk was significantly lower in male immigrants from Norway (IDR = 0.84), Finland (IDR = 0.91), Germany (IDR = 0.84) and Hungary (IDR = 0.59) and among female immigrants from Germany (IDR = 0.66) and Hungary (IDR = 0.54) than in their country of birth. In contrast, there was a significantly higher CHD mortality risk in male immigrants from Southern Europe (IDR = 1.23) than in their country of birth. CONCLUSION: The all-cause mortality risk was lower in the majority of immigrant groups in Sweden than in their country of birth. The differences in CHD mortality risks were more complex. For countries with high CHD mortality, such as Finland and Hungary, the risk was lower among immigrants in Sweden than in their country of birth. For low-risk countries in South Europe, the risk was higher in immigrants in Sweden than in South Europe

A registry-based follow-up study, comparing the incidence of cardiovascular disease in native Danes and immigrants born in Turkey, Pakistan and the former Yugoslavia: do social inequalities play a role?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This study compared the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) between native Danes and immigrants born in Turkey, Pakistan and the former Yugoslavia. Furthermore, we examined whether different indicators of socioeconomic status (SES), such as employment, income and housing conditions influenced potential differences.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this registry-based follow-up study individuals were identified in a large database that included individuals from two major regions in Denmark, corresponding to about 60% of the Danish population. Incident cases of CVD and AMI included fatal and non-fatal events and were taken from registries. Using Cox regression models, we estimated incidence rates at 5-year follow-up.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Immigrant men and women from Turkey and Pakistan had an increased incidence of CVD, compared with native Danish men. In the case of AMI, a similar pattern was observed; however, differences were more pronounced. Pakistanis and Turks with a shorter duration of residence had a lower incidence, compared with those of a longer residence. Generally, no notable differences were observed between former Yugoslavians and native Danes. In men, differences in CVD and AMI were reduced after adjustment for SES, in particular, among Turks regarding CVD. In women, effects were particularly reduced among Yugoslavians in the case of CVD and in Turks in the case of CVD and AMI after adjustment for SES.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In conclusion, country of birth-related differences in the incidence of CVD and AMI were observed. At least some of the differences that we uncovered were results of a socioeconomic effect. Duration of residence also played a certain role. Future studies should collect and test different indicators of SES in studies of CVD among immigrants.</p

What lies beneath: exploring links between asylum policy and hate crime in the UK

This paper explores the link between increasing incidents of hate crime and the asylum policy of successive British governments with its central emphasis on deterrence. The constant problematisation of asylum seekers in the media and political discourse ensures that 'anti-immigrant' prejudice becomes mainstr earned as a common-sense response. The victims are not only the asylum seekers hoping for a better life but democratic society itself with its inherent values of pluralism and tolerance debased and destabilised

Are time-trends of smoking among pregnant immigrant women in Sweden determined by cultural or socioeconomic factors?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The widening socioeconomic gap in smoking during pregnancy remains a challenge to the Swedish antenatal care services. However, the influence of cultural factors in explaining the socioeconomic differences in smoking during pregnancy is not clear among the immigrant women. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the development of smoking prevalence among pregnant immigrant women in Sweden followed the trajectory which could be expected from the stages of the global smoking epidemic model in the women's countries of origin, or not.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Delivery data on pregnancies in Sweden from 1982 to 2001 was collected from the Swedish Medical Birth Registry. From a total of 2,224,469 pregnant women during this period, all immigrant pregnant women (n = 234,731) were selected to this study. A logistic regression analysis and attributable fraction were used to investigate the association between smoking during pregnancy and the socioeconomic differences among immigrant women.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Overall, the prevalence of smoking among pregnant immigrant women decreased from 30.3% in 1982 to 11.0% in 2001, albeit with remarkable differences between educational levels and country of origin. The greatest decline of absolute prevalence was recorded among low educated women (27,9%) and among other Nordic countries (17,9%). In relative terms, smoking inequalities increased between educational levels regardless of country of origin. The odds ratios for low educational level for women from other Nordic countries increased from 4.9 (95% CI 4.4-5.4) in 1982 to 13.4 (95% CI 11.2-16.2) in 2001, as compared to women with high education in the same group. Further, the total attributable fraction for educational difference increased from 55% in 1982 to 62% in 2001, demonstrating the strong effect of educational attainment.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our hypothesis that the socioeconomic time trend of smoking based on the stage of the world wide tobacco epidemic model related to country of origin of the immigrant women was not supported by our analyses. Our findings does not support a call for specific "culture sensitive" antismoking policies or interventions in Sweden or similar countries, but reinforce the existing evidence with a focus on women with a low educational level, regardless of cultural background.</p

Behavioural risk factors in two generations of non-Western migrants: do trends converge towards the host population?

Migrant mortality does not conform to a single pattern of convergence towards prevalence rates in the host population. To understand better how migrant mortality develops, it is necessary to further investigate how the underlying behavioural determinants change following migration. We studied whether the prevalence of behavioural risk factors over two generations of Turkish and Moroccan migrants converge towards the prevalence rates in the Dutch population. From a random sample from the population register of Amsterdam, 291 Moroccan and 505 Turkish migrants, aged 15–30, participated in a structured interview that included questions on smoking, alcohol consumption, physical inactivity and weight/height. Data from the Dutch population were available from Statistics Netherlands. By calculating age-adjusted Odds Ratio’s, prevalence rates among both generations were compared with prevalence rates in the host population for men and women separately. We found indications of convergence across generations towards the prevalence rates in the host population for smoking in Turkish men, for overweight in Turkish and Moroccan women and for physical inactivity in Turkish women. Alcohol consumption, however, remained low in all subgroups and did not converge towards the higher rates in the host population. In addition, we found a reversed trend among Turkish women regarding smoking: the second generation smoked significantly more, while the first generation did not differ from ethnic Dutch. In general, behavioural risk factors in two generations of non-Western migrants in the Netherlands seem to converge towards the prevalence rates in the Dutch population. However, some subgroups and risk factors showed a different pattern

A Common Model for Cytokine Receptor Activation: Combined Scissor-Like Rotation and Self-Rotation of Receptor Dimer Induced by Class I Cytokine

The precise mechanism by which the binding of a class I cytokine to the extracellular domain of its corresponding receptor transmits a signal through the cell membrane remains unclear. Receptor activation involves a cytokine-receptor complex with a 1∶2 stoichiometry. Previously we used our transient-complex theory to calculate the rate constant of the initial cytokine-receptor binding to form a 1∶1 complex. Here we computed the binding pathway leading to the 1∶2 activation complex. Three cytokine systems (growth hormone, erythropoietin, and prolactin) were studied, and the focus was on the binding of the extracellular domain of the second receptor molecule after forming the 1∶1 complex. According to the transient-complex theory, translational and rotation diffusion of the binding entities bring them together to form a transient complex, which has near-native relative separation and orientation but not the short-range specific native interactions. Subsequently conformational rearrangement leads to the formation of the native complex. We found that the changes in relative orientations between the two receptor molecules from the transient complex to the 1∶2 native complex are similar for the three cytokine-receptor systems. We thus propose a common model for receptor activation by class I cytokines, involving combined scissor-like rotation and self-rotation of the two receptor molecules. Both types of rotations seem essential: the scissor-like rotation separates the intracellular domains of the two receptor molecules to make room for the associated Janus kinase molecules, while the self-rotation allows them to orient properly for transphosphorylation. This activation model explains a host of experimental observations. The transient-complex based approach presented here may provide a strategy for designing antagonists and prove useful for elucidating activation mechanisms of other receptors

Immigrant status and increased risk of heart failure: the role of hypertension and life-style risk factors

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Studies from Sweden have reported association between immigrant status and incidence of cardiovascular diseases. The nature of this relationship is unclear. We investigated the relationship between immigrant status and risk of heart failure (HF) hospitalization in a population-based cohort, and to what extent this is mediated by hypertension and life-style risk factors. We also explored whether immigrant status was related to case-fatality after HF.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>26,559 subjects without history of myocardial infarction (MI), stroke or HF from the community-based Malmö Diet and Cancer (MDC) cohort underwent a baseline examination during 1991-1996. Incidence of HF hospitalizations was monitored during a mean follow-up of 15 years.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>3,129 (11.8%) subjects were born outside Sweden. During follow-up, 764 subjects were hospitalized with HF as primary diagnosis, of whom 166 had an MI before or concurrent with the HF. After adjustment for potential confounding factors, the hazard ratios (HR) for foreign-born were 1.37 (95% CI: 1.08-1.73, <it>p </it>= 0.009) compared to native Swedes, for HF without previous MI. The results were similar in a secondary analysis without censoring at incident MI. There was a significant interaction (<it>p </it>< 0.001) between immigrant status and waist circumference (WC), and the increased HF risk was limited to immigrants with high WC. Although not significant foreign-born tended to have lower one-month and one-year mortality after HF.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Immigrant status was associated with long-term risk of HF hospitalization, independently of hypertension and several life-style risk factors. A significant interaction between WC and immigrant status on incident HF was observed.</p

Vermiculite bio-barriers for Cu and Zn remediation: an eco-friendly approach for freshwater and sediments protection

The increase in heavy metal contamination in freshwater systems causes serious environmental problems in most industrialized countries, and the effort to find ecofriendly techniques for reducing water and sediment contamination is fundamental for environmental protection. Permeable barriers made of natural clays can be used as low-cost and eco-friendly materials for adsorbing heavy metals from water solution and thus reducing the sediment contamination. This study discusses the application of permeable barriers made of vermiculite clay for heavy metals remediation at the interface between water and sediments and investigates the possibility to increase their efficiency by loading the vermiculite surface with a microbial biofilm of Pseudomonas putida, which is well known to be a heavy metal accumulator. Some batch assays were performed to verify the uptake capacity of two systems and their adsorption kinetics, and the results indicated that the vermiculite bio-barrier system had a higher removal capacity than the vermiculite barrier (?34.4 and 22.8 % for Cu and Zn, respectively). Moreover, the presence of P. putida biofilm strongly contributed to fasten the kinetics of metals adsorption onto vermiculite sheets. In open-system conditions, the presence of a vermiculite barrier at the interface between water and sediment could reduce the sediment contamination up to 20 and 23 % for Cu and Zn, respectively, highlighting the efficiency of these eco-friendly materials for environmental applications. Nevertheless, the contribution of microbial biofilm in open-system setup should be optimized, and some important considerations about biofilm attachment in a continuous-flow system have been discussed.This work has been produced thanks to the collaboration of Dip.SA (University of Bologna) and IBB (University of Minho). A particular acknowledgment is due to Dr. E. Rosales. The work was partially financed by the FCT Strategic Project Pest-OE/EQB/LA0023 and the Project ‘‘BioEnv—Biotechnology and Bioengineering for a sustainable world,’’ co-funded by the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2–O Novo Norte), QREN, FEDER