scholarly journals Spatiotemporal epidemiology of cryptosporidiosis in the Republic of Ireland, 2008–2017: development of a space–time “cluster recurrence” index

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Boudou ◽  
E. Cleary ◽  
C. ÓhAiseadha ◽  
P. Garvey ◽  
P. McKeown ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Ireland frequently reports the highest annual Crude Incidence Rates (CIRs) of cryptosporidiosis in the EU, with national CIRs up to ten times the EU average. Accordingly, the current study sought to examine the spatiotemporal trends associated with this potentially severe protozoan infection. Methods Overall, 4509 cases of infection from January 2008 to December 2017 were geo-referenced to a Census Small Area (SA), with an ensemble of geo-statistical approaches including seasonal decomposition, Local Moran’s I, and space–time scanning used to elucidate spatiotemporal patterns of infection. Results One or more confirmed cases were notified in 3413 of 18,641 Census SAs (18.3%), with highest case numbers occurring in the 0–5-year range (n = 2672, 59.3%). Sporadic cases were more likely male (OR 1.4) and rural (OR 2.4), with outbreak-related cases more likely female (OR 1.4) and urban (OR 1.5). Altogether, 55 space–time clusters (≥ 10 confirmed cases) of sporadic infection were detected, with three “high recurrence” regions identified; no large urban conurbations were present within recurrent clusters. Conclusions Spatiotemporal analysis represents an important indicator of infection patterns, enabling targeted epidemiological intervention and surveillance. Presented results may also be used to further understand the sources, pathways, receptors, and thus mechanisms of cryptosporidiosis in Ireland.

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Jiang ◽  
Zhoulin Li ◽  
Jin Huang ◽  
Bang Liu ◽  
Yingbo Yang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Ruili is a border city in southwest China along the heroin trafficking route. In recent decades, the city has witnessed increased in HIV transmission. The current study aims to explore the spatiotemporal trends in HIV prevalence identify and map the spatial variation and clustering of factors associated with HIV transmission through drug use and heterosexual contact transmissions at the village level from 1989 through 2016. Methods Geographic information system-based spatiotemporal analyses, including global and local spatial autocorrelation analyses and space-time scanning statistics, were applied to detect the location and extent of HIV/AIDS high-risk areas. Results Drug use and heterosexual contact were identified as the major transmission routes causing infection in Ruili. Results of global spatial analysis showed significant clustering throughout the city caused by transmission via drug use in the early phase of the epidemic and transmission via heterosexual contact in the late phase of the epidemic during the study period. Hotspots of transmission from drug use were randomly distributed throughout the city. However, the hotspots of transmission by heterosexual contact were located in the central area only around the Jiegao China-Myanmar land port. Space-time scanning showed that transmission from drug use clustered in the southwest area between 1989 and 1990, while transmission by heterosexual contact clustered in the central area between 2004 and 2014. Conclusions Heterosexual contact has become the dominant mode of transmission. Interventions should focus on highly clustered area where is around the Jiegao land port.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S768-S768
Author(s):  
Megan L Srinivas ◽  
Eileen Yang ◽  
Weiming Tang ◽  
Joseph Tucker

Abstract Background Fifteen states have defunded family planning health centers (FPHCs), causing thousands to be left without health services. This has accelerated in the COVID-19 era. FPHCs provide low-income individuals in rural areas with essential primary care services, including sexually transmitted infection prevention, testing, and treatment. The purpose of this analysis is to use spatiotemporal methods to examine the impact of FPHC closures in Iowa on the reported number of gonorrhea and chlamydia cases at the county level. Methods This analysis investigates the association between FPHC closures and changes in the number of gonorrhea and chlamydia cases between 2016 and 2018. Iowa implemented defunding policies for family planning clinics, resulting in four FPHC closures in June 2017. 2016 pre-closure STI incidence rates were compared to 2018 post-closure rates. Gonorrhea and chlamydia rates in the four Iowa counties with clinic closures were compared to the 95 Iowa counties without closures. T tests were used to compare changes in reported gonorrhea and chlamydia rates in the two settings. Linear regression modeling was used to determine the relationship between clinic closures and changes in gonorrhea and chlamydia cases. Results The gonorrhea burden in Iowa increased from 83 cases per 100,000 people in 2016 to 153.8 cases per 100,000 people in 2018. The four counties with clinic closures experienced a significantly larger increase (absolute 217 cases per 100,000 population) in their gonorrhea rate compared to counties without FPHC closures (absolute 121 cases per 100,000 population). There was also a significant relationship between clinic closures and increasing gonorrhea rates (p = 0.0015). Over the three-year period, there was no change in chlamydia rates (p = 0.1182). However, there was a trend towards counties with more FPHC closures having a higher number of chlamydia cases (p = 0.057). Conclusion Despite the fact that many STI diagnoses are made and reported by FPHCs, our data suggest that clinic closures may have contributed to an increase in gonorrhea and chlamydia cases. This is consistent with delayed diagnoses and missed opportunities for providing essential STI services to vulnerable and under-served rural residents. Legislative action is urgently needed to curtail this trend. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 5771
Author(s):  
Piero Lovreglio ◽  
Angela Stufano ◽  
Francesco Cagnazzo ◽  
Nicola Bartolomeo ◽  
Ivo Iavicoli

The COVID-19 incidence in 61 manufacturing plants in Europe (EU), North America (NA) and Latin-America (LATAM) was compared with the incidence observed in the countries where the plants are located in order to evaluate the application of an innovative model for COVID-19 risk management. Firstly, a network of local and global teams was created, including an external university occupational physician team for scientific support. In July 2020, global prevention guidelines for the homogenous management of the pandemic were applied, replacing different site or regional procedures. A tool for COVID-19 monitoring was implemented to investigate the relationship between the incidence rates inside and outside the plants. In the period of May–November 2020, 565 confirmed cases (EU 330, NA 141, LATAM 94) were observed among 20,646 workers with different jobs and tasks, and in the last two months 85% EU and 70% NA cases were recorded. Only in 10% of cases was a possible internal origin of the contagion not excluded. In the EU and NA, unlike LATAM, the COVID-19 incidence rates inside the sites punctually followed the rising trend outside. In conclusion, the model, combining a global approach with the local application of the measures, maintains the sustainability in the manufacturing industry.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 133
Author(s):  
Purwanto Purwanto ◽  
Sugeng Utaya ◽  
Budi Handoyo ◽  
Syamsul Bachri ◽  
Ike Sari Astuti ◽  
...  

In this research, we analyzed COVID-19 distribution patterns based on hotspots and space–time cubes (STC) in East Java, Indonesia. The data were collected based on the East Java COVID-19 Radar report results from a four-month period, namely March, April, May, and June 2020. Hour, day, and date information were used as the basis of the analysis. We used two spatial analysis models: the emerging hotspot analysis and STC. Both techniques allow us to identify the hotspot cluster temporally. Three-dimensional visualizations can be used to determine the direction of spread of COVID-19 hotspots. The results showed that the spread of COVID-19 throughout East Java was centered in Surabaya, then mostly spread towards suburban areas and other cities. An emerging hotspot analysis was carried out to identify the patterns of COVID-19 hotspots in each bin. Both cities featured oscillating patterns and sporadic hotspots that accumulated over four months. This pattern indicates that newly infected patients always follow the recovery of previous COVID-19 patients and that the increase in the number of positive patients is higher when compared to patients who recover. The monthly hotspot analysis results yielded detailed COVID-19 spatiotemporal information and facilitated more in-depth analysis of events and policies in each location/time bin. The COVID-19 hotspot pattern in East Java, visually speaking, has an amoeba-like pattern. Many positive cases tend to be close to the city, in places with high road density, near trade and business facilities, financial storage, transportation, entertainment, and food venues. Determining the spatial and temporal resolution for the STC model is crucial because it affects the level of detail for the information of endemic disease distribution and is important for the emerging hotspot analysis results. We believe that similar research is still rare in Indonesia, although it has been done elsewhere, in different contexts and focuses.


2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Dragana Radenković-Jocić ◽  
Ivan Barun

Abstract The authors present the issues and challenges related to the changes in status of a company and its impact on competitiveness. Status changes of companies, mostly mergers and acquisitions of companies, are one of the ways in which capital owners and management direct economic activities with the aim of maximizing profits. In order to make the right and justified decision, in terms of achieving the economic interests of the company, it is essential to know the laws and regulations in this area. This paper should provide answers on various questions which will be presented to decision makers in every company, considering status changes. Bearing in mind that the question of status changes often associated with an international element, the authors will pay special attention on the EU legislation and current legal framework in the Republic of Serbia.


Author(s):  
Ivan Yakovyuk ◽  
Suzanna Asiryan ◽  
Anastasiya Lazurenko

Problem setting. On October 7, 2021, the Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland ruled in favor of Polish law over European Union law, which in the long run may violate the principles according to which the Union operates and the rights enjoyed by citizens of the state. Such a precedent can further serve as a basis for identical decisions of the bodies of constitutional jurisdiction of those states that have problems in fulfilling their obligations in the European community. Analysis of recent researches and publications. The problems of the functioning of the bodies of the European Union, the implementation of their decisions and the general status in EU law are widely studied in national science. In particular, many scholars have studied the legal nature of the EU, including: TM Anakina, VI Muravyov, NM Ushakov, A. Ya. Kapustina, NA Korolyova, Yu. Yumashev, BN Topornin, OYa Tragniuk, SS Seliverstov, IV Yakovyuk and others. Target of research is to establish the foundations of EU law in the functioning of Union bodies, especially the Court, as well as to determine the hierarchy of national law and EU law. Article’s main body. Over the years, the Court has, within its jurisdiction, issued a large number of judgments which have become the source of the Union’s Constituent Treaties and of EU law in general. Over the last two decades, the powers of the Court of Justice have changed significantly. In particular, this is due to the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, which amended the EU’s founding treaties on the powers of the Court, then the reform of the European Court took place in 2015-2016, which concerned a change in the organizational structure of the Court. Despite the generally well-established case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union on the unification of the observance by the Member States of the basic principles of the European Union, the Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland adopted a decision on 7 October. Conclusions and prospects for the development. Following the decision of the Constitutional Court, the Polish authorities found themselves in a situation that significantly complicated its internal and external situation. The way out of which requires answers to fundamental questions about the legal nature of the EU. Undoubtedly, this is an issue not only between Poland and the EU, but also between other member states.


2021 ◽  
pp. 91-106
Author(s):  
Anna Magdalena Kosińska

The analyzed ruling is the first judgement which the Court of Justice passed in order to provide interpretationfor the new Student Directive (2016/801 of 11 May 2016 on the conditions of entry and residence ofthird-country nationals for the purposes of research, studies, training, voluntary service, pupil exchange schemesor educational projects and au pairing). Due to its judiciary activism, the Court was able to find a connectionbetween the case pending before a national court and EU law in the case of M.A. In the end, the Court finallydecided that in the case at issue, regarding the rights of a foreign national to apply for a residence permit for thepurpose of enrolling in second-cycle studies programme in Poland, the procedure of applying for a long-stay visaon the grounds of national law must be safeguarded by the guarantees under Article 47 of the Charter of FundamentalRights. The guarantees apply to the actual states in which EU law is applicable – in this case the “StudentDirective.” It seems that the ruling in the case of M.A. will play a crucial role in facilitating students’ – TCNs’ – entryinto the territory of the Republic of Poland, while the Polish legislator, in all probability, will be obliged to changethe provisions of the national law in such a way as to make it possible for future students to access a full array oflegal remedies against the negative decisions of consuls.


2020 ◽  
pp. 002201832097753
Author(s):  
Gemma Davies ◽  
Paul Arnell

The Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom have a long, close and difficult history. The most recent phase of which dates from 1998 and the conclusion of the Good Friday Agreement. Since 1921, however, there has been unique practice between Ireland and the UK as regards the transfer of accused and convicted persons from one to the other. Indeed, there has been a special and close relationship between the two in that regard; albeit one not without difficulties. In recent times EU Justice and Home Affairs measures and the Good Friday Agreement have supplemented and strengthened the relationship. These include, since January 2004, the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). The EAW has been particularly important in streamlining the extradition process between the Ireland and the UK. This phase of history and co-operation is coming to an end. The UK’s membership of the EU has now ceased, and a transition period during which the UK remains part of the EAW will end on 31st December 2020. The extradition relationship between the two is therefore facing a considerable challenge. There are several options open to Ireland, the UK and the EU as a replacement. Time, political will and the interests of third states, however, may well stand in the way of the conclusion of an agreement that optimally serves the interests of all parties and criminal justice. This paper considers the origins of extradition between the UK and Ireland and the alternative methods of extradition open to the UK and Ireland after Brexit. Consideration is given to the likely operation of a Norway-Iceland style agreement and whether such an agreement will be in place by the end of the transition and, if it was, whether its terms are likely to be sufficient for the needs of Ireland and the UK. The possibility of a bilateral arrangement on extradition between Ireland and the UK is also explored. Underlying the discussion is the critical point that the future extradition relationship must retain its ‘special’ characteristics, and therefore maintain the trust and good will that has developed over the years and given rise to an effective extradition relationship between the two countries. In other words, the lessons of history must be remembered.


2006 ◽  
Vol 51 (168) ◽  
pp. 49-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Besim Culahovic

The European Union (EU) trade policy towards Western Balkan's countries (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro and the Republic of Macedonia) is one of the important tools of EU's integration strategy. The exports from the Western Balkan?s countries to the European Union(15) are preferred within special autonomous trade measures for the Western Balkan?s countries which were introduced by the EU in September 2000 (the 2000TM). The 2000TM are a far-ranging set of preferences which provide the Western Balkan?s countries with unparalleled market access to the EU, and hence with the potential both to develop the existing exports and to generate new exports. However, the Western Balkan?s countries exports to the EU are far below the level which could reasonably be expected. In all Western Balkan?s countries a number of supply-side and domestic policy reasons are identified for this under-performance, which suggests that the 2000TM are likely in part to rectify the situation. The economic regeneration of the Western Balkan?s countries will depend on the success of internal economic reform and on the adoption of economic and trade policies which specifically identify and address some serious supply-side constraints.


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