Alcohol consumption is associated with lower self-reported disease activity and better health-related quality of life in female rheumatoid arthritis patients in Sweden: data from BARFOT, a multicenter study on early RA

Background: Earlier studies have found a positive effect of alcohol consumption, with a reduced disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The aim of this study was to assess alcohol consumption and its association with disease activity and health related quality of life (HRQL) in Swedish RA patients. Methods: Between 1992 and 2005, 2,800 adult patients were included in the BARFOT study of early RA in Sweden. In 2010 a self-completion postal questionnaire was sent to all 2,102 prevalent patients in the BARFOT study enquiring about disease severity, HRQL, and lifestyle factors. Alcohol consumption was assessed using the validated AUDIT-C questionnaire. Results: A total of 1,238 out of 1,460 patients answering the questionnaire had data on alcohol consumption: 11% were non-drinkers, 67% had a non-hazardous drinking, and 21% were classified as hazardous drinkers. Women who drank alcohol reported lower disease activity and better HRQL, but there were no association between alcohol consumption and disease activity in men. For current smokers, alcohol use was only associated with fewer patient-reported swollen joints. The outcome was not affected by kind of alcohol consumed. Conclusions: There was an association between alcohol consumption and both lower self-reported disease activity and higher HRQL in female, but not in male, RA patients

Evaluation of the competitiveness and the business environment in Turkey.

Διπλωματική εργασία--Πανεπιστήμιο Μακεδονίας, Θεσσαλονίκη, 2012.The present paper is an evaluation of Turkey’s national competitiveness and business environment. It is based on data of two prominent Publications: Global Competitiveness Report (World Economic Forum) and Doing Business (World Bank), this paper presents a measurement of Turkey’s national economy in comparison to the economies of the Balkans, EU27 and China. Simultaneously, it attempts to find the positive and negative aspects of the performance of the Turkish economy and to propose possible scenarios of improvement. It shows Turkey’s position within the Balkans starting from almost eleven years back showing the improvements that might have been done throughout those years in several of areas such as institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment and the rest of the pillars of Global Competitiveness Index. At the same time, it calculates how easy is to start a business not only in the country but also in comparison with the rest of the Balkan countries calculated by the data of the ten pillars of Doing Business Index. From our research it is shown that Turkey moved up by 16 places in this year’s Global Competitiveness Index, securing the 43rd spot in the 144-country survey prepared by the World Economic Forum. It is characterized by a large market which classifies the country in the 15th position having an intense local competition and a vibrant business sector which derives important efficiency gains. Turkey also benefits from its developed infrastructure with a good average in the quality of overall infrastructure, the quality of roads and air transport. Turkey’s position is above the EU27 average according to the results in the global ranking. In addition, the results in the Balkan region place Turkey as the best performed Balkan country in competition leaving Slovenia, Bulgaria ahead

Social work students' conception on roles within the family in Greece

The present article is based on a small-scale research that took place with third-year students in the department of social work at Technological Educational Institute of Patras. During class the students, who undertake the laboratory course 'Social Work with Families', were asked to discuss family roles and depict them on drawings. Analysing their drawings in a qualitative approach the findings suggest that students adopt traditional views on family issues and the family roles. Various gender stereotypes and prejudices were reflected in students' drawings and this is alarming for both social work education and practice

The persistence of cognitive biases in financial decisions across economic groups.

Acknowledgements: We thank the Junior Researcher Programme, Global Behavioral Science (GLOBES), Department of Psychology, Columbia University; the Centre for Business Research, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge; Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; and Dr Ceren Sönmez, Michal Goldstein, Abby Yucht, and Anastasia Gracheva. This research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation (#2218595) and by Undergraduate Global Engagement at Columbia University. Additional support was provided to individual researchers from the Columbia University Office of the Provost, Masaryk University Centre for International Cooperation, and the Benjamin A. Gilman International Fund from the United States Department of State. This research was funded in part, by the UKRI [MR/N013468/1]. For the purpose of Open Access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.While economic inequality continues to rise within countries, efforts to address it have been largely ineffective, particularly those involving behavioral approaches. It is often implied but not tested that choice patterns among low-income individuals may be a factor impeding behavioral interventions aimed at improving upward economic mobility. To test this, we assessed rates of ten cognitive biases across nearly 5000 participants from 27 countries. Our analyses were primarily focused on 1458 individuals that were either low-income adults or individuals who grew up in disadvantaged households but had above-average financial well-being as adults, known as positive deviants. Using discrete and complex models, we find evidence of no differences within or between groups or countries. We therefore conclude that choices impeded by cognitive biases alone cannot explain why some individuals do not experience upward economic mobility. Policies must combine both behavioral and structural interventions to improve financial well-being across populations

The persistence of cognitive biases in financial decisions across economic groups

Abstract While economic inequality continues to rise within countries, efforts to address it have been largely ineffective, particularly those involving behavioral approaches. It is often implied but not tested that choice patterns among low-income individuals may be a factor impeding behavioral interventions aimed at improving upward economic mobility. To test this, we assessed rates of ten cognitive biases across nearly 5000 participants from 27 countries. Our analyses were primarily focused on 1458 individuals that were either low-income adults or individuals who grew up in disadvantaged households but had above-average financial well-being as adults, known as positive deviants. Using discrete and complex models, we find evidence of no differences within or between groups or countries. We therefore conclude that choices impeded by cognitive biases alone cannot explain why some individuals do not experience upward economic mobility. Policies must combine both behavioral and structural interventions to improve financial well-being across populations