Staying on Course in Turbulent Times: National Political Elites and the Crisis of European Integration

European Integration is currently facing tremendous challenges caused by a series of cumulating crises. Their onset was the global financial and economic crisis in 2008 that rapidly evolved into a sovereign debt crisis, further into a crisis of the Eurozone and led eventually to a political crisis of the entire EU. National political elites have been among the core actors to cope with these challenges. Their behaviour is driven by their Europeanness, i.e. their emotionally and rationally determined attitudes, cognitions and strategies regarding European Integration. Given their pivotal role, the purpose of this introductory article is twofold: Firstly, providing an overview about the elitist approach to European integration by introducing the main concepts, the methodology and the data basis on which the country studies in this HSR Special Issue rely on; secondly, enfolding a comparative perspective on the development of national elites’ Europeanness during the course of the mentioned crises. The article shows that the crises have affected national elites’ Europeanness in complex ways that are determined by the diverging impact they had on the investigated countries and by how elites perceive the efficiency of supranational integration to cope with them. Beyond national differences, the general evaluations of Europeanness remain quite stable pro-European while preferences regarding the concrete organization of integration are rather prone to change. Elites’ Europeanness primarily shifts in countries, in which strong Eurosceptic parties gained ground during the mentioned crisis indicating that there is a challenge of responsiveness for the still overwhelmingly pro-European elites

But Still Enthusiastic: The Unchanged Europeanness of the Spanish Parliamentary Elite During the Eurozone Crisis

Since the adhesion of Spain to the EEC in 1986, the Spanish electorate has shown a high level of support for the European integration process. Even more enthusiastic than their fellow citizens, Spanish political elites also expressed a strong commitment to the European integration project, based in a pro-EU consensus beyond party and ideological divides. However, Spain has also been one of the countries most affected by the economic and financial crisis that has hit the EU (particularly the Eurozone) since 2010. The main questions we aim to answer in this paper is whether this crisis and its management by EU institutions has eroded the traditional support for the EU shown by Spanish domestic political elites and, if so, to what extent. To this end, we draw on survey data provided by the InTune and ENEC-2014 projects on the attitudes of Spanish MPs towards the EU in the years 2007, 2009, and 2014. Results show that the traditional pro-EU stance of Spanish MPs has remained mostly stable during the crisis, yet such stability has increased the representation gap with citizens in this area

Predicting long-term disease control in transplant-ineligible patients with multiple myeloma: impact of an MGUS-like signature

Disease control at 5 years would be a desirable endpoint for elderly multiple myeloma (MM) patients, but biomarkers predicting this are not defined. Therefore, to gain further insights in this endpoint, a population of 498 newly diagnosed transplant-ineligible patients enrolled in two Spanish trials (GEM2005MAS65 and GEM2010MAS65), has been analyzed. Among the 435 patients included in this post-hoc study, 18.6% remained alive and progression free after 5 years of treatment initiation. In these patients, overall survival (OS) rate at 10 years was 60.8% as compared with 11.8% for those progressing within the first 5 years. Hemoglobin (Hb) >= 12 g/dl (OR 2.74, p = 0.001) and MGUS-like profile (OR 4.18, p = 0.005) were the two baseline variables associated with long-term disease-free survival. Upon including depth of response (and MRD), Hb >= 12 g/dl (OR 2.27) and MGUS-like signature (OR 7.48) retained their predictive value along with MRD negativity (OR 5.18). This study shows that despite the use of novel agents, the probability of disease control at 5 years is still restricted to a small fraction (18.6%) of elderly MM patients. Since this endpoint is associated with higher rates of OS, this study provides important information about diagnostic and post-treatment biomarkers helpful in predicting the likelihood of disease control at 5 years

Interactions between genetic admixture, ethnic identity, APOE genotype and dementia prevalence in an admixed Cuban sample; a cross-sectional population survey and nested case-control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The prevalence and incidence of dementia are low in Nigeria, but high among African-Americans. In these populations there is a high frequency of the risk-conferring APOE-e4 allele, but the risk ratio is less than in Europeans. In an admixed population of older Cubans we explored the effects of ethnic identity and genetic admixture on APOE genotype, its association with dementia, and dementia prevalence.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional catchment area survey of 2928 residents aged 65 and over, with a nested case-control study of individual admixture. Dementia diagnosis was established using 10/66 Dementia and DSM-IV criteria. APOE genotype was determined in 2520 participants, and genetic admixture in 235 dementia cases and 349 controls.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Mean African admixture proportions were 5.8% for 'white', 28.6% for 'mixed' and 49.6% for 'black' ethnic identities. All three groups were substantially admixed with considerable overlap. African admixture was linearly related to number of APOE-e4 alleles. One or more APOE-e4 alleles was associated with dementia in 'white' and 'black' but not 'mixed' groups but neither this, nor the interaction between APOE-e4 and African admixture (PR 0.52, 95% CI 0.13-2.08) were statistically significant. Neither ethnic identity nor African admixture was associated with dementia prevalence when assessed separately. However, considering their joint effects African versus European admixture was independently associated with a higher prevalence, and 'mixed' or 'black' identity with a lower prevalence of dementia.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>APOE genotype is strongly associated with ancestry. Larger studies are needed to confirm whether the concentration of the high-risk allele in those with African ancestry is offset by an attenuation of its effect. Counter to our hypothesis, African admixture may be associated with higher risk of dementia. Although strongly correlated, effects of admixture and ethnic identity should be distinguished when assessing genetic and environmental contributions to disease risk in mixed ancestry populations.</p

Early mobilisation in critically ill COVID-19 patients: a subanalysis of the ESICM-initiated UNITE-COVID observational study

Background Early mobilisation (EM) is an intervention that may improve the outcome of critically ill patients. There is limited data on EM in COVID-19 patients and its use during the first pandemic wave. Methods This is a pre-planned subanalysis of the ESICM UNITE-COVID, an international multicenter observational study involving critically ill COVID-19 patients in the ICU between February 15th and May 15th, 2020. We analysed variables associated with the initiation of EM (within 72 h of ICU admission) and explored the impact of EM on mortality, ICU and hospital length of stay, as well as discharge location. Statistical analyses were done using (generalised) linear mixed-effect models and ANOVAs. Results Mobilisation data from 4190 patients from 280 ICUs in 45 countries were analysed. 1114 (26.6%) of these patients received mobilisation within 72 h after ICU admission; 3076 (73.4%) did not. In our analysis of factors associated with EM, mechanical ventilation at admission (OR 0.29; 95% CI 0.25, 0.35; p = 0.001), higher age (OR 0.99; 95% CI 0.98, 1.00; p ≤ 0.001), pre-existing asthma (OR 0.84; 95% CI 0.73, 0.98; p = 0.028), and pre-existing kidney disease (OR 0.84; 95% CI 0.71, 0.99; p = 0.036) were negatively associated with the initiation of EM. EM was associated with a higher chance of being discharged home (OR 1.31; 95% CI 1.08, 1.58; p = 0.007) but was not associated with length of stay in ICU (adj. difference 0.91 days; 95% CI − 0.47, 1.37, p = 0.34) and hospital (adj. difference 1.4 days; 95% CI − 0.62, 2.35, p = 0.24) or mortality (OR 0.88; 95% CI 0.7, 1.09, p = 0.24) when adjusted for covariates. Conclusions Our findings demonstrate that a quarter of COVID-19 patients received EM. There was no association found between EM in COVID-19 patients' ICU and hospital length of stay or mortality. However, EM in COVID-19 patients was associated with increased odds of being discharged home rather than to a care facility. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04836065 (retrospectively registered April 8th 2021)

Explaining change in party leadership selection rules

No abstract available

Layered Zirconium phosphate intercalated with Ru(bpy)3-viologen dyads as unusual materials for dye-sensitized solar cells: Improving efficiency by double sensitization

The intercalation materials prepared from the laminar salt gamma-zirconium phosphate and various dyads formed from Ru(bpy)(3) and viologens were tested as photoactive components in dye-sensitised solar cells. The efficiencies significantly increased, up to 0.2 %, when the materials were treated with the panchromatic N535 dye. A mechanism for this double sensitisation process is proposed, which should enable further improvement of these gamma-ZrP-based materials as a reasonable alternative to the usual Ti-based dye-sensitised solar cells.The group from Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (UAM) is grateful to ERCROS-Farmacia SA (Aranjuez, Spain) for sponsoring the UAM-ERCROS Chair in Chemistry that generously funded this work, in part. The group from Universidad del Pais Valenciano-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (UPV-CSIC) group is grateful to the Spanish former Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion de Espana (MICINN) for grant CTQ2012-32315. P.A. thanks the MICINN for a Juan de la Cierva research contract.De Victoria-Rodriguez, M.; Atienzar Corvillo, PE.; Juanes, O.; Rodriguez Ubis, JC.; Brunet, E.; García Gómez, H. (2014). Layered Zirconium phosphate intercalated with Ru(bpy)3-viologen dyads as unusual materials for dye-sensitized solar cells: Improving efficiency by double sensitization. Australian Journal of Chemistry. 67(3):389-397. https://doi.org/10.1071/CH13451S38939767