Cross-national variations in reported discrimination among people treated for major depression worldwide: The ASPEN/INDIGO international study

Background: No study has so far explored differences in discrimination reported by people with major depressive disorder (MDD) across countries and cultures. Aims: To (a) compare reported discrimination across different countries, and (b) explore the relative weight of individual and contextual factors in explaining levels of reported discrimination in people with MDD. Method: Cross-sectional multisite international survey (34 countries worldwide) of 1082 people with MDD. Experienced and anticipated discrimination were assessed by the Discrimination and Stigma Scale (DISC). Countries were classified according to their rating on the Human Development Index (HDI). Multilevel negative binomial and Poisson models were used. Results: People living in 'very high HDI' countries reported higher discrimination than those in 'medium/low HDI' countries. Variation in reported discrimination across countries was only partially explained by individual-level variables. The contribution of country-level variables was significant for anticipated discrimination only. Conclusions: Contextual factors play an important role in anticipated discrimination. Country-specific interventions should be implemented to prevent discrimination towards people with MDD

Plasma-catalytic degradation of anthraquinonic acid green 25 in solution by gliding arc discharge plasma in the presence of tin containing aluminophosphate molecular sieves.

International audienc

Fish canning industry wastewater variability assessment using multivariate statistical methods

Usually, fish canning industrial wastewaters have a highly variable composition over time. For a good performance of treatment processes it is necessary to limit that variation. However, extended wastewater monitoring, including all relevant analytical parameters, is expensive. This work proposes an efficient approach to minimize the analytical determina-tions number without compromising the global characterization goal. This way, fish canning industry wastewaters variability was assessed and interpreted through multivariate statistical tools application to analytical data obtained from a monitoring program carried out in a fish canning industry of northern Portugal. 23 physicochemical parameters were determined in 20 samples collected on an 8 months period. The results achieved by correlation analysis, principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) led to the main water pollution sources identification and to the minimization of physical and chemical parameters number to be analyzed in order to achieve a correct wastewater characterization, at minimum cost. The main pollution sources proved to be the brine and eviscerating step waters. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total suspended solids (TSS), conductivity, pH, Ca2+, F−and one of the parameters SO4 ,NO3 and PO4 were identified as important parameters that must be monitored in order to obtain an accurate characterization allowing to define themost appropriate wastewater treatment.This work is partially supported by project PEst-C/EQB/LA0020/2013, financed by FEDER through COMPETE – Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade and by FCT– Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia and by ValorPeixe –Valorização de Subprodutos e Águas Residuais da Indústria de Conservas de Peixe, project in co-promotion I&DT QREN, n◦ 13634, financed by FEDER through POFC – Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade for which the authors are thankful. The authors also wish to thank the cannery in study for wastewater samples. Raquel O. Cristóvão thanks FCT for the Post-doc Scholarship (SFRH/BPD/81564/2011).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Association between polarity of first episode and solar insolation in bipolar I disorder

Circadian rhythm disruption is commonly observed in bipolar disorder (BD). Daylight is the most powerful signal to entrain the human circadian clock system. This exploratory study investigated if solar insolation at the onset location was associated with the polarity of the first episode of BD I. Solar insolation is the amount of electromagnetic energy from the Sun striking a surface area of the Earth. Data from 7488 patients with BD I were collected at 75 sites in 42 countries. The first episode occurred at 591 onset locations in 67 countries at a wide range of latitudes in both hemispheres. Solar insolation values were obtained for every onset location, and the ratio of the minimum mean monthly insolation to the maximum mean monthly insolation was calculated. This ratio is largest near the equator (with little change in solar insolation over the year), and smallest near the poles (where winter insolation is very small compared to summer insolation). This ratio also applies to tropical locations which may have a cloudy wet and clear dry season, rather than winter and summer. The larger the change in solar insolation throughout the year (smaller the ratio between the minimum monthly and maximum monthly values), the greater the likelihood the first episode polarity was depression. Other associated variables were being female and increasing percentage of gross domestic product spent on country health expenditures. (All coefficients: P ≤ 0.001). Increased awareness and research into circadian dysfunction throughout the course of BD is warranted. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Variations in seasonal solar insolation are associated with a history of suicide attempts in bipolar I disorder

Background: Bipolar disorder is associated with circadian disruption and a high risk of suicidal behavior. In a previous exploratory study of patients with bipolar I disorder, we found that a history of suicide attempts was associated with differences between winter and summer levels of solar insolation. The purpose of this study was to confirm this finding using international data from 42% more collection sites and 25% more countries. Methods: Data analyzed were from 71 prior and new collection sites in 40 countries at a wide range of latitudes. The analysis included 4876 patients with bipolar I disorder, 45% more data than previously analyzed. Of the patients, 1496 (30.7%) had a history of suicide attempt. Solar insolation data, the amount of the sun’s electromagnetic energy striking the surface of the earth, was obtained for each onset location (479 locations in 64 countries). Results: This analysis confirmed the results of the exploratory study with the same best model and slightly better statistical significance. There was a significant inverse association between a history of suicide attempts and the ratio of mean winter insolation to mean summer insolation (mean winter insolation/mean summer insolation). This ratio is largest near the equator which has little change in solar insolation over the year, and smallest near the poles where the winter insolation is very small compared to the summer insolation. Other variables in the model associated with an increased risk of suicide attempts were a history of alcohol or substance abuse, female gender, and younger birth cohort. The winter/summer insolation ratio was also replaced with the ratio of minimum mean monthly insolation to the maximum mean monthly insolation to accommodate insolation patterns in the tropics, and nearly identical results were found. All estimated coefficients were significant at p < 0.01. Conclusion: A large change in solar insolation, both between winter and summer and between the minimum and maximum monthly values, may increase the risk of suicide attempts in bipolar I disorder. With frequent circadian rhythm dysfunction and suicidal behavior in bipolar disorder, greater understanding of the optimal roles of daylight and electric lighting in circadian entrainment is needed. © 2021, The Author(s)