Gender Inequalities and Sex-Differential Mortality in Pre-War Greece: A Regional Perspective

Previous studies have indicated gender-based discriminatory practices as a result of son preference up to the first half of the 20th century in Greece. Demographic indices calculated from published vital statistics, such as sex ratios at birth and at childhood, were distorted to such an extent that certain scholars suggest that this distortion was due to sex-selective infanticide and neglect of the girls. Although we cannot exclude this possibility, the aim of this paper is to assess to what extent under-registration of female births (in the civil registration system) and under-enumeration of females (in censuses) accounted for the skewed sex ratios and to pinpoint that gender-based discrimination was not the same all over Greece. There were areas in insular Greece, notably the Ionian islands and the Aegean Archipelago, and one area in mainland Greece (Epirus) where demographic indices imply that gender inequalities were less acute. On the other hand, there were areas in mainland Greece, notably in Thessaly, where sex-differential mortality denotes extremely unequal treatment of girls.

Application of the CORAL GMDH Algorithm for Modeling and Forecasting the National Income of Ukraine

CORAL GMDH is a method of the inductive approach. In this article it is used for modeling and forecasting socio-economic processes. Here the CORAL GMDH algorithm is applied to solve three problems: recovery of missing data, modeling of macroeconomic indicators, and forecasting the gross national income (GNI). Also, the CORAL GMDH algorithm is used to build models in the problem of modeling the dependence of GNI on socio-demographic indicators and develop recommendations on how the state can influence the level of human capital development in the country by influencing certain socio-demographic indices. The results of modeling for Ukraine, Belarus, and Poland are compared.

How Many People Live in China? The Results of the 2020 Population Census

The article is devoted to a topical issue — population problem of China and shows a picture of demographic situation and dynamics of demographic indices for the last decades building on new statistical data, which are results of the 2020 Population Census of the People’s Republic of China. These data is a basis for conclusion, that under the influence of changing social and economic conditions and state population policy population reproduction experienced cardinal alterations. The most serious alteration is rapid population ageing as a result of demographic policy since the end of 70’s “one family — one child”. It seems necessary for China to put forward the decision of the CC CPC Political Bureau (May, 2021) about regulation of the population age structure at the expense of the third child in the family. The next decision about elimination of all limits for a number of children in the family is quite up to the mark, because it helps to block population ageing and to increase a share of economically active population by 2035. But now a large number of Chinese families, especially urban families, are not ready to have more than one child by some reasons, for example, growing costs for education of children, obstacles for their careers and other reasons. The authors of the article on the basis of the preliminary data of the 2020 Population Census came to the conclusion, that further success of China’s social and economic development will be connected with solving demographic problems in China in the nearest decade.

The relationship between body mass index and mental disorders in the adult population

The purpose of the work is to study the features of the body mass index (BMI) in schizophrenia patients (SP) who live in Chuvashia. Material and methods. 607 SP were examined (307 men and 300 women) aged 18 to 82 (average - 44.51 ± 12.3 years). The diagnosis of schizophrenia met the criteria for ICD-10 (F20-29); disease duration ranged from 0 to 52 years (mean - 18.9 ± 10.7 years). BMI was taken into account according to the Ketle index. For each SP, a survey card with clinical, therapeutic, and socio-demographic indices was filled out. The comparison group included a sample of 3417 residents of Chuvashia. Mathematical and statistical processing was carried out using descriptive statistics and χ2 distribution. Results. 9.2% of SP had underweight, 54.2% - normal body weight, 36.6% - excess body weight and obesity. Among women there were significantly more persons with increased BMI and obesity, among men - with normal BMI. In SP, BMI did not depend on the group of taken antipsychotics (typical, atypical, mixed-use) and the disease’s duration. With patients’ age, BMI increased to excess BMI (25-29.9 kg/m2). Among SP, persons with underweight were much more common (among healthy people, 2% vs 9.2% in SP). From 40 years of age and older, among the healthy population, persons with an increased BMI and obesity begin to predominate significantly compared with the SP group. Observations of BMI during inpatient treatment from 1.5 to 22 months showed multidirectional dynamics, including increased body weight in 42.2% of SP, a decrease in 30.1%, without changes in BMI in 27.7%; it was not possible to retrospectively identify any patterns of BMI fluctuations. Conclusion. The revealed paradoxes of BMI for SP in Chuvashia, especially a high proportion of SP with underweight, require refinement considering ethnic, genetic, sex and age, hormon and metabolic factors.

Isolation and Identification of Microsporum canis in Companion Animals from Selected Local Government Areas in Abia State

The aim of the study is to isolate and identify Microsporum canis from companion animals (dogs and cats) in three local government areas of Abia State. A total of one hundred and fifty skin scrapings from infected dogs (100) and cats (50) were screened. Saboruad destroxe agar was used for the culture and Needle mount technique was adopted. Lactophenol Cotton Blue (LCB) was used for staining. Demographic indices like; age, sex, and breed of the animals were considered. This organism at macroscopy appears as white, light yellow, cottony to powdery colonies. At microscopic view, the spores of M. canis appear as large and spindle shaped with thick wall. The dogs has a predominant isolation rate of 36.0%.The female dogs and cats presented the highest frequency of occurrence at 58.2% and 63.6% respectively. Dogs of 9months old and above had more M. canis isolation rate at 70.0%, while cats between 5 and 8months of age had the highest isolation rate at 33.3%. Dogs and cats at 1 to 4 months of age had the least M. canis isolation rate at 7.5% and 14.5% respectively. The indigenous breeds of dogs had the highest isolation rate of M. canis at 53.8% while the Caucasian breed was the least at 7.7%. Statistical analysis shows that (p=.05) there is significance in isolation rate of M. canis in dogs and cats.

Gender Disparity in the Medical Speciality of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Background:: The actual question on the health care system all over the world is gender inequity in some specialties. In spite of different influencing factors for choosing their specialty by medical students and residents, the recent research studies show that gender is significantly influencing on their specialty. Especially gender disparity or inequity is mostly seen in the field of Obstetrics and gynecology. Aim of the Research:: The purpose of our study is to understand the actual problems for male specialists in the field of obstetrics and gynecology in health care system and to understand how it affects the nation’s health care system and to analyze the possible solutions. Materials and Methods:: The research consists of 815 respondents, which includes medical students, obstetricians and gynecologists and ObsGyn patients. Average age of the respondents were 20 - 50 years. They were divided into three groups. Questionnaire consists of 15 different questions for each group of people in different languages. Results:: The significant difference about the future plan towards choosing of specialty of ObsGyn were less among male respondents with 4%, whereas female respondents accounts for 69% (P<0.001). The main reason for women to choose ObsGyn specialty were comfortability on field with 43%. On the other hand, male respondents didn’t choose ObsGyn specialty because of its less scope for male specialists in this field with 37% and they weren’t sure about the availability of patients with 51%. There is a direct proportion between patients age and wish to visit the male consultants. And indirect proportion between patients age and wish to visit the female consultants. Conclusion:: Less number of male specialists in the obstetrics and gynecology field, doesn’t mean that the male students and residents have no interests on obstetrics and gynecology, but they are thinking and doubting on employment, patient’s availability and scope in the field. By including male and female specialists equally in this field we can improve the quality in preservation of reproductive health, women’s health and significant changes in crude and specific demographic indices. Making proper awareness and explaining about the current reality could be the best possible solution for this issue. The interpersonal style and communication skills should be the most important traits in physicians rather than gender.

COVID-19 outbreak in Italy: estimation of reproduction numbers over two months toward the Phase 2

After two months from the first case in COVID-19 outbreak, Italy counts more than 190,000 confirmed positive cases. From the beginning of April 2020, the nationwide lockdown started to show early effects by reducing the total cumulative incidence reached by the epidemic wave. This allows the government to program the measures to loosen lockdown restrictions for the so called "Phase 2". Here we provided the reproduction number estimation both in space and in time from February 24th to April 24th, 2020 across two months into the epidemic. Our estimates suggest basic reproduction number averaged over all the regions of 3.29, confirming that epidemiological figures of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Italy are higher than those observed at the early stage of Wuhan (China) outbreak. Based on the SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics reported here, we gave a quantitative evaluation of the efficiency of the government measures to low the reproduction number under the unity (control regime). We estimated that among the worst hit regions in Italy, Lombardy reached the control regime on March 22nd followed by Emilia-Romagna (March 23th), Veneto (March 25th) and Piemonte (March 26th). Overall, we found that the mean value of time to reach the control regime in all the country is about 31 days from the February 24th and about 14 days from the first day of nationwide lockdown (March 12th). Finally, we highlighted the interplay between the reproduction number and two demographic indices in order to probe the "state of activity" of the epidemic for each Italian region in the control regime. We believe that this approach can provide a tool in the management of "Phase 2", potentially helping in challenging decision to continue, ease or tighten up restrictions.

Racial Disparities in Associations between Neighborhood Demographic Polarization and Birth Weight

Neighborhood demographic polarization, or the extent to which a privileged population group outnumbers a deprived group, can affect health by influencing social dynamics. While using birth records from 2001 to 2013 in Massachusetts (n = 629,675), we estimated the effect of two demographic indices, racial residential polarization (RRP) and economic residential polarization (ERP), on birth weight outcomes, which are established predictors of the newborn’s future morbidity and mortality risk. Higher RRP and ERP was each associated with higher continuous birth weight and lower odds for low birth weight and small for gestational age, with evidence for effect modification by maternal race. On average, per interquartile range increase in RRP, the birth weight was 10.0 g (95% confidence interval: 8.0, 12.0) higher among babies born to white mothers versus 6.9 g (95% CI: 4.8, 9.0) higher among those born to black mothers. For ERP, it was 18.6 g (95% CI: 15.7, 21.5) higher among those that were born to white mothers versus 1.8 g (95% CI: −4.2, 7.8) higher among those born to black mothers. Racial and economic polarization towards more privileged groups was associated with healthier birth weight outcomes, with greater estimated effects in babies that were born to white mothers than those born to black mothers.

Frequency of Chief Complaints in Patients Referring to Persian Medicine Clinics

Today, for various reasons, there is a growing tendency towards traditional and complementary medicine in the world as well as growing interest in Persian Medicine in Iran. This study aimed to investigate the frequency of major complaints by patients in some chosen Persian Medicine clinics. In this retrospective cross-sectional study, 1319 files of patients referred to Persian Medicine clinics of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in the fourth week of each month in 2012 were investigated and analyzed in terms of major complaints and demographic indices. Data gathering tool was an information form regulated based on main study goals. Data were analyzed by SPSS software Version 19. mean age of patients was 40.82 ± 16.006 years. The most common complaint in all the clinics was musculoskeletal problems (28,7%). Most of the patients were single housewives (38%). The most common complaints in the single-patient group were musculoskeletal problems (35.44%) and in the married-patient group were skin problems (29.41%). The most common complaints in both genders were musculoskeletal complaints (26% in men & 31.44% in women). Due to the prevalence of women referral to Persian Medicine centers, adequate knowledge of gynecological diseases is one of the requirements of Persian Medicine professionals that should be considered in their education. Planning for adequate knowledge of musculoskeletal, digestive, and skin diseases should also be considered in educational curricula.