VoxSton—A New Water Clarification System

A new water clarification system for industrial and communal wastewater is presented here. The system consists of two centrifugal separators, a screw separator and two vortex flow flotation units. It can separate the solids like fibers out of the sludge and press them to dry matter content of up to 30 percent and clean the sludge water for recycling and discharge to nature. The clarification system can, in most cases, treat process and communal sludge continuously or daily basis directly from outlets of the wastewater to be treated to finish without equalization and precipitation. The objective is to recycle the process and wastewater, and to collect different ingredients for reuse as much as possible, and to prevent microbe growth. The new system saves in energy and space as well as in operational costs by roughly 50 percent compared to present advanced systems. The capital costs are estimated to be lower too. The new treatment or part of it has been applied for purification of various water matrices from city and industrial wastewaters to natural lake waters

Representing Causatives

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The importance of and satisfaction with sex life among breast cancer survivors in comparison with healthy female controls and women with mental depression or arterial hypertension : results from the Finnish nationwide HeSSup cohort study

Introduction Breast cancer (BC) and its treatment is associated with several physical and psychosocial changes that may influence sexuality for years after treatment. Women with BC show significantly greater rates of sexual dysfunction than do healthy women. The purpose of the study was to evaluate how a BC diagnosis associates with women's perceived sexuality and sexual satisfaction. Material and methods The data of the ongoing prospective Health and Social Support (HeSSup) survey was linked with national health registries. Respondents with registry data confirmed BC (n = 66), mental depression (n = 612), arterial hypertension (n = 873), and healthy women (n = 9731) formed the study population. The importance of and satisfaction with sex life were measured by a self-report questionnaire modified from the Schover's and colleagues' Sexual History Form. Results Women with BC considered sex life less important than did healthy women (p <0.001). They were significantly less satisfied with their sex life than healthy women (p = 0.01) and women with arterial hypertension (p = 0.04). Living single or educational level did not explain the differences between the groups. Conclusions BC survivors depreciate their sex life and experience dissatisfaction with it. Sexuality can be a critical issue for the quality of life of women surviving from BC, and hence, the area deserves major attention in BC survivorship care. Health care professionals should regularly include sexual functions in the assessment of BC survivors' wellbeing.Peer reviewe

Capturing impacts of Leader and of measures to improve Quality of Life in rural areas

The Helpdesk of European Evaluation Network for Rural Development supported by a group of external experts has prepared a Working Paper on ”Capturing the impacts of Leader and measures to improve the Quality of life (QoL) in rural areas”. The working paper provides methodological support for evaluators, managing authorities and other interested parties. The main evaluation challenges include: assessing the “double scope” of Leader (it is both a process and generates impacts); the need to adequately define what is QoL in the context of Rural Development Programmes (RDPs); tackling the qualitative nature of the effects; identifying contributions from small-scale interventions; and the fact that the EU’s Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (CMEF) requires assessment of impacts ultimately at programme level. The working paper is targeted primarily at practitioners involved in the evaluation of the current RDPs (2007-2013). It proposes a framework of reference which provides a conceptual model in order to assess Quality of Life around four dimensions – environment, socio-culture, economy and governance.Rural development, impact evaluation, leader, quality of life, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q18,

Report on the call for feedback about The Scope of the European guidelines for breast cancer screening and diagnosis: European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer

In 2015, the European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer (ECIBC) started the development of the European guidelines for breast cancer screening and diagnosis (henceforth the European Breast Guidelines) under the auspices of the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) and the technical and scientific coordination of the Directorate-General Joint Research Centre (JRC). To support the JRC in this task, a Guidelines Development Group (GDG), consisting of independent experts and individuals, was established. The European Breast Guidelines’ scope (The Scope) represented the first output of the development process of the European Breast Guidelines. Via a public call for feedback, stakeholders and individual citizens were invited to provide their feedback on The Scope. The call for feedback was open from 18 December 2015 to 17 January 2016 and an online questionnaire was made available on the ECIBC web hub via the EU Survey platform. The JRC received a total of 82 valid responses, from 40 individuals from 18 different countries and from 42 organisations from 20 different countries. During a meeting held in Varese (Italy) in March 2016, the GDG discussed the new version of The Scope which was prepared taking into account the results of the call for feedback. The Scope was finalised and approved by the GDG after some minor editing on 6 September 2016 and was later made publicly available together with this report.JRC.F.1-Health in Societ

Epidemiology and Outcome of Fungemia in a Cancer Cohort of the Infectious Diseases Group (IDG) of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC 65031)

In a prospective cohort study of 145 030 admissions of cancer patients from 13 European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer centers fungemia occurred in 0.23%. Candida albicans was the predominant pathogen. Fungemia was associated with substantial mortality. Antifungal prophylaxis and remission of cancer predicted better surviva

European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer: Concept document

The European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer (ECIBC) is aimed at ensuring and harmonising breast cancer services quality across European countries. It is coordinated by Commission’s Joint Research Centre, under the supervision of the Directorate-General Health and Food Safety. This document describes the background of the initiative, its general goals and objectives, and its foreseen outcomes.JRC.F.1-Health in Societ

Alarming development of dual snus and cigarette usage among young Finnish males

Background The consumption of tobacco products has evolved to include more complex combinations of different products. We investigated the tobacco habits of a representative population of young Finnish male conscripts in order to evaluate the prevalence of dual use of cigarettes and snus as well as the transition from one tobacco product to another. In addition, we evaluated the correlation between the level of education and the use of cigarettes and snus. Methods A questionnaire-based survey was carried out in three out of 17 garrisons among conscripts during their first week of service in 2014. A total of 1971 male conscripts were selected by simple random sampling of the 9013 males in the selected garrisons. Of them 1916 participated and filled in the questionnaire. The response rate was 97.2%. The questionnaire consisted of 25 questions including age, gender, basic education, use of tobacco products as well as questions assessing nicotine dependency. Results The amount of dual users of cigarettes and snus was 21%. There was a higher probability of dual use of cigarettes and snus among smokers compared to snus users (p <0.001). One third (35%) of former smokers reported daily snus use and over 40% of the former snus users smoked daily. One third (34%) of the participants reported snus usage and 14% of the study subjects used snus daily. 40% of the study population were smokers and over 25% smoked daily. Of the participants with basic educational background 57% smoked daily (p <0.001), however, no association between snus and level of education was found (p = 0.69). Conclusions This study provides better understanding of the complex tobacco habits of young adult males. The simultaneous usage of multiple tobacco products as well as the high tendency to transition from one tobacco product to another should be taken into consideration when planning cessation interventions in health care settings and tobacco control policies at societal levels.Peer reviewe

Systematic review on women's values and preferences concerning breast cancer screening and diagnostic services

Background: There is still lack of consensus on the benefit‐harm balance of breast cancer screening. In this scenario, women's values and preferences are crucial for developing health‐related recommendations. In the context of the European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer, we conducted a systematic review to inform the European Breast Guidelines. Methods: We searched Medline and included primary studies assessing women's values and preferences regarding breast cancer screening and diagnosis decision making. We used a thematic approach to synthesise relevant data. The quality of evidence was determined with GRADE, including GRADE CERQual for qualitative research. Results: We included 22 individual studies. Women were willing to accept the psychological and physical burden of breast cancer screening and a significant risk of overdiagnosis and false‐positive mammography findings, in return for the benefit of earlier diagnosis. The anxiety engendered by the delay in getting results of diagnostic tests was highlighted as a significant burden, emphasising the need for rapid and efficient screening services, and clear and efficient communication. The confidence in the findings was low to moderate for screening and moderate for diagnosis, predominantly because of methodological limitations, lack of adequate understanding of the outcomes by participants, and indirectness. Conclusions: Women value more the possibility of an earlier diagnosis over the risks of a false‐positive result or overdiagnosis. Concerns remain that women may not understand the concept of overdiagnosis. Women highly value time efficient screening processes and rapid result delivery and will accept some discomfort for the peace of mind screening may provide