Medium term employment challenges of the Lisbon strategy

The focus of this study is the EU level and, as stated in the terms of reference, the findings are intended to contribute to the identification of reforms and policy measures which are potentially most significant for Europe to ensure growth and jobs in the medium-term. The adverse consequences of recession will be more easily surmounted in some Member States, while others will experience an enduring impact of the crisis that will call for more extensive adjustment to remain competitive and, in some cases, painful adaptation of priorities. In parallel, all Member States will have to encourage the development of new activities associated with adaptation to climate change, while also expanding services and products for older citizens

The rabbit in atherosclerosis research

The rabbit was the first animal model in atherosclerosis research and it has been the most popular species during the last nine decades despite some critique concerning the nature ofthe experimental atherosclerosis The rabbit fulfils a number ofpractical and biological criteria for being an ideal animal model tor human atherosclerosis. The shortcomings of the Classical rabbit model, the Cholesterol-fed rabbit, concerning the morphology of the lesions have been overcome. and new  genetic variants which offer expanded possibilities of exploring the relationship between lipid metabolism and development of atherosclerosis have been developed. At present the mostly used rabbit models are: the eholesterol-l‘ed rabbit. the Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic rabbit, and St. Thomas’ Hospital rabbit Different study designs can be applied to the eholesterol-fed rabbit. Atherosclerosis in rabbit models can be evaluated by macroscopic, biochemical and microseopie methods

Extravascular lipid deposition and morphology of atherosclerosis in heterozygous WHHL rabbits fed vegetable (n-6) and marine (11-3) oils

The aim of this experiment was to test the cholesterol-fed heterozugous WHHL rabbit as a model for investigation of atherogenicity of different fats. Twentytwo rabbits of both sexes, 8—9.5 months old were randomized in 3 groups, and fed 100 g diet daily: cholesterol enriched standard diet (group I, n=8), cholesterol enriched diet with added vegetable (group II, n=7). or marine (group III, n=7) oils during 14 weeks. The vegetable oil (n-6 = 33 %, n—3 less than 1 %) and a marine oil(n-6 = 18 %, n-3 = 17 %) were adjusted to contain equal amounts of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids. One percent cholesterol in the diet caused a pronounced hypercholesterolemia which was significantly enhanced by addition of oils.The increase in total cholesterol was especially reflected in the increase in the VLDL concentration. The blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels were comparable between the two of fed groups apart from a transitory lowering in the marine oilfed rabbits. The atherosclerotie lesions caused by 1 % cholesterol in the diet were fibrous plaques and plaques with foam cells. The added oils aggravated the atherosclerosis caused by cholesterol. Based on morphological appearance of the aorticand coronary atherosclerosis the marine oil was more atherogcnic than the vegetable oil. In pulmonary arteries, however, the less severe atherosclerotic changes were found in the marine oil group. In this group no lipid infiltrations were seen in the myocardium but very severe infiltrations were seen in the liver. In the vegetable oil group these infiltrations were severe in the myocardium and less pronounced in the liver. The massive hypereholesterolemia and extravascular lipid deposition in different parenchymatous organs suggest that lower doses of dietary cholesterol should be used when the cholesterol-fed heterozygous WHHL rabbit is chosen to study the ellect ot'van'ous fats on blood lipids and developmentof atherosclerosis

Height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 countries and territories: a pooled analysis of 2181 population-based studies with 65 million participants

Summary Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods For this pooled analysis, we used a database of cardiometabolic risk factors collated by the Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends from 1985 to 2019 in mean height and mean BMI in 1-year age groups for ages 5–19 years. The model allowed for non-linear changes over time in mean height and mean BMI and for non-linear changes with age of children and adolescents, including periods of rapid growth during adolescence. Findings We pooled data from 2181 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in 65 million participants in 200 countries and territories. In 2019, we estimated a difference of 20 cm or higher in mean height of 19-year-old adolescents between countries with the tallest populations (the Netherlands, Montenegro, Estonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina for boys; and the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark, and Iceland for girls) and those with the shortest populations (Timor-Leste, Laos, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea for boys; and Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Timor-Leste for girls). In the same year, the difference between the highest mean BMI (in Pacific island countries, Kuwait, Bahrain, The Bahamas, Chile, the USA, and New Zealand for both boys and girls and in South Africa for girls) and lowest mean BMI (in India, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Ethiopia, and Chad for boys and girls; and in Japan and Romania for girls) was approximately 9–10 kg/m2. In some countries, children aged 5 years started with healthier height or BMI than the global median and, in some cases, as healthy as the best performing countries, but they became progressively less healthy compared with their comparators as they grew older by not growing as tall (eg, boys in Austria and Barbados, and girls in Belgium and Puerto Rico) or gaining too much weight for their height (eg, girls and boys in Kuwait, Bahrain, Fiji, Jamaica, and Mexico; and girls in South Africa and New Zealand). In other countries, growing children overtook the height of their comparators (eg, Latvia, Czech Republic, Morocco, and Iran) or curbed their weight gain (eg, Italy, France, and Croatia) in late childhood and adolescence. When changes in both height and BMI were considered, girls in South Korea, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and some central Asian countries (eg, Armenia and Azerbaijan), and boys in central and western Europe (eg, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, and Montenegro) had the healthiest changes in anthropometric status over the past 3·5 decades because, compared with children and adolescents in other countries, they had a much larger gain in height than they did in BMI. The unhealthiest changes—gaining too little height, too much weight for their height compared with children in other countries, or both—occurred in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, New Zealand, and the USA for boys and girls; in Malaysia and some Pacific island nations for boys; and in Mexico for girls. Interpretation The height and BMI trajectories over age and time of school-aged children and adolescents are highly variable across countries, which indicates heterogeneous nutritional quality and lifelong health advantages and risks

Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults

Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities(.)(1,2) This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity(3-6). Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean BMI segregated by place of residence (a rural or urban area) from 1985 to 2017. We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55% of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017-and more than 80% in some low- and middle-income regions-was due to increases in BMI in rural areas. This large contribution stems from the fact that, with the exception of women in sub-Saharan Africa, BMI is increasing at the same rate or faster in rural areas than in cities in low- and middle-income regions. These trends have in turn resulted in a closing-and in some countries reversal-of the gap in BMI between urban and rural areas in low- and middle-income countries, especially for women. In high-income and industrialized countries, we noted a persistently higher rural BMI, especially for women. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to rural nutrition that enhances financial and physical access to healthy foods, to avoid replacing the rural undernutrition disadvantage in poor countries with a more general malnutrition disadvantage that entails excessive consumption of low-quality calories.Peer reviewe

Investigating the possible causal association of smoking with depression and anxiety using Mendelian randomisation meta-analysis : the CARTA consortium

Peer reviewe

Economic Policy Coordination in EMU: What Role for the SGP?. CEPS Working Documents No. 202, 1 June 2004

The implications of the recent institutional crisis in the EU provoked by the failure of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) to impose the sanctions on Germany and France provided for in the Stability and Growth Pact are the subject of this Working Document. The paper situates the debate concerning the application of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) in a broader evolution of the struggle between two schools of thought concerning macroeconomic policy-making in the EU: the school calling for a strengthening of competences at the EU level (federal economic government) and the school arguing for preserving national competences for budgetary policy even in the face of the transfer of competence for monetary policy to the European Central Bank (ECB). The paper argues that the SGP is an acceptable comprise between the two schools in so far as it establishes rules to be respected without actually transferring competence to the Council in the field of budgetary policy. Consequently, the SGP has not and does not add to the ‘democratic deficit’ within the EU institutional framework. The paper argues, nevertheless, that the excessive deficit procedure (EDP) puts too strong an emphasis on the government budget deficit and suggests that emphasis on the sustainable level of public debt would ensure a stronger basis for assessing whether a given budget deficit may be considered excessive or not