Treatment Outcome Evaluation in Therapeutic Communities in the Czech Republic: Alcohol Consumption and Other Results One Year After Discharge

2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Šefránek ◽  
Michal Miovský
Author(s):  
Beata Gavurova ◽  
Miriama Tarhanicova

Background: Alcohol is a risk factor with serious consequences for society and individuals. This study aims to present methods and approaches that might be used to estimate the costs related to excessive alcohol consumption. It emphasizes the need for general methods and approaches that are easily applicable, because the level of digitalization and data availability vary across regions. The lack of data makes many methods inapplicable and useless. The ease of applicability will help to make cost-of-illness studies and their results comparable globally. Methods: This study is based on data from the Czech Republic in 2017. Drinking alcohol results in costs of healthcare, social care, law enforcement, and administrative costs of public authorities. To quantify the cost of drinking in the Czech Republic, the top-down approach, bottom-up approach, human capital approach and attributable fractions were used. Results: In 2017, the cost related to alcohol was estimated at 0.66% of the national GDP. Lost productivity represented 54.45% of total cost related to alcohol. All cost related to alcohol is considered to be avoidable. Conclusions: The methods and approaches applied to estimate the cost of disease or any other health issue should be generalized regarding the availability of data and specifics of provided services to people who are addicted or have any kind of disability.


2011 ◽  
Vol 56 (No. 4) ◽  
pp. 149-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Alexa ◽  
L. Konstantinova ◽  
Z. Sramkova-Zajacova

A survey to estimate the prevalence of verotoxigenic E. coli (VTEC) or enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) in rectal swabs from healthy dairy cattle aged three weeks, three months and one year was conducted in three herds from the Czech Republic. Screening for the presence of the stx1, stx2 and eaeA genes in faecal swab cultures was performed by PCR, and in positive samples, isolated colonies were examined. Immunomagnetic separation was used for the isolation of the VTEC serogroup O157 from samples. VTEC were detected in animals from all three herds under study. In the group of 3-week-old calves, VTEC were only detected in samples collected in the summer months. However, in the other age-groups, VTEC were detected in both the summer and winter months. EHEC shedding was observed in 30 to 100% of the total samples collected from cattle aged three months and one year in the summer months, and in 30 to 60% of samples taken in the winter months. EHEC strains of serogroup O157 were detected in two herds. The range of verotoxins shed by VTEC isolates of serogroup O157 differed between herds. Besides serogroup O157, additional EHEC belonging to the antigen groups O26, O103, O128 and O153 have been identified, and in some of them, no somatic antigen was detected.


Author(s):  
Petra Solarová

This paper deals with long term loyalty programmes of selective grocery retailers who operate in the market within the Czech Republic. Only those loyalty programmes designed for the end customers are taken into account, so this study is concerned with the B2C area. A long term loyalty programmes last at least for one year, i.e. twelve months (this time determination is valid for purposes of this paper). The main aim of this paper is to identify the single elements and principles occurring in long term loyalty programmes and then to develop an illustrative model. The presented output is a model of long term loyalty programmes that captures the three following phases: the establishment, development (or building) and termination of the relationship. In addition, from the empirical research, an interesting fact has emerged: two of the analysed long term loyalty programmes were launched at a similar time. This could be explained through the tendency for companies to copy the successful activities insigated by their competitors. Furthermore, the next remarkable phenomenon is that one grocery chain runs two long term loyalty programmes at the same time and the target groups of these programmes overlap. A possible explanation could be that the chain is making efforts to interest as many as possible of its different customers.


Author(s):  
Tereza Slováčková ◽  
Naďa Birčiaková ◽  
Jana Stávková

The paper deals with a forecast of developments in alcohol consumption based on current alcohol consumption per capita (expressed in litres of pure alcohol), and time series extrapolations. Alcohol consumption is to be considered from the vantage point of knowing the specifics of the product and the consequences of its excessive consumption. The predictive methodology makes use of the Box‑Jenkins method; the ARIMA model, taking into account the autocorrelation and partial autocorrelation process, which is a prerequisite for the successful identification of a time series model; model parameter estimation; appropriate transformations of time series; determining the order of differentiation and subsequent verification of the model. The chosen methodology for future trends in alcohol consumptions is a prerequisite for the proposed optional measures to control alcohol consumption in the Czech Republic. Due to the long term nature of the process to draw up and implement alcohol consumption regulation measures, the forecast covers the forthcoming 10 years.


Author(s):  
Tomas Bryndziar ◽  
Petra Sedova ◽  
Robert D. Brown ◽  
Eva Fiserova ◽  
Miroslav Zvolsky ◽  
...  

1999 ◽  
Vol 35 (No. 2) ◽  
pp. 57-62
Author(s):  
K. Klem

In 1995–1998, the frequency of selected virulences in the powdery mildew ( Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici ) population on wheat in the Czech Republic was investigated. Samples of conidia were collected by a mobile version of a spore-trap. A total of 1739 one-colony isolates were analysed on a set of five varieties as differentials. High frequencies (> 50%)  were found for virulences Vm2, Vm3a, Vm5 and Vml7, lower frequencies(< 50%) for combinations Vm9,2,1 and Vm2,6 and for Vm4b. There were no significant changes in virulence frequencies except for genes Vm5 and Vm9,2,1 that showed one-year variations. Differences between the eastern part (Moravia) and western part (Bohemia) of the Czech Republic were mostly insignificant for most exam­ ined genes. A significantly higher virulence frequency was found in Moravia for genes Vm3a (in 1995) and Vml7 (in 1996), and in Bohemia for the combination Vm9,2,1 (in 1995). A significant correlation (tested by Kendall's tau B values) existed between Vm2 and Vm5 in 1997 and 1998, and between Vm4b and Vm5 in 1995 and 1998. Values of gametic disequilibrium were also studied. Changes in the complexity of isolate virulence were determined to be small and showed no definite trend.  


2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (No. 1) ◽  
pp. 25-32
Author(s):  
D. Lobova ◽  
V. Kleinova ◽  
J. Konvalinova ◽  
P. Cerna ◽  
D. Molinkova

Respiratory problems in cats have a multifactorial character. Therapy without the detection of pathogen is often ineffective. Our study was therefore focused on the detection of important feline respiratory bacterial pathogens such as Mycoplasma felis, Chlamydia felis and Bordetella bronchiseptica and viral pathogens such as Felid alphaherpesvirus-1 and feline calicivirus. The goal of this study was to map the occurrence of these pathogens in cat populations in the Czech Republic with the aim of introducing rapid and highly sensitive methods into routine diagnostics and to provide consulting services to animal health professionals based on the acquired data. A total of 218 cats were investigated in the study: 69 were outdoor and 149 were indoor cats. Three groups of animals were compared: up to one year of age (60 cats), one to three years of age (68 cats) and more than three years of age (90 cats). Samples were taken from conjunctiva and/or the oropharynx. Samples originated from cats with various forms of respiratory disease or from healthy cats from different parts of the Czech Republic. Real-Time RT-PCR, multiplex Real-Time PCR, nested PCR and sequencing analyses were performed. Outdoor cats were infected more often (84 detected pathogens in 69 cats) than indoor cats (110 detected infections in 149 cats). More than one pathogen was detected in a total of 38 cats, and six cats were infected with more than two pathogens. The difference was statistically significant in the case of co-infections, but not for mono-infections (P < 0.05). Kittens and young adults up to the age of one year were the most common reservoirs of respiratory infections (only 19 cats out of 60 were negative and positive cats often harboured coinfections). The difference in age groups were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Concerning the site of the sampling, feline calicivirus, M. felis and B. bronchiseptica were detected more often from oropharynx than from conjunctival swabs. M. felis was slightly more common in clinically diseased animals (39.6%) than in healthy ones (26.1%). The obtained results reveal the frequency of individual pathogens and their co-infections in cats kept on the territory of the Czech Republic, data which can be used to make the treatment of respiratory infections and breeding measures more effective. Therefore, the diagnostic methods are now available to veterinary surgeons with the possibility of consultation and discussion of the results.


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