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Eastern Regions (eastern + regions)
Selected AbstractsAssociation of British Clinical Diabetologists (ABCD) and Diabetes-UK survey of specialist diabetes services in the UK, 2006.DIABETIC MEDICINE, Issue 6 2008Abstract Aims To identify the views and working practices of consultant diabetologists in the UK in 2006,2007, the current provision of specialist services, and to examine changes since 2000. Methods All 592 UK consultant diabetologists were invited to participate in an on-line survey. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of responses were undertaken. A composite ,well-resourced service score' was calculated. In addition to an analysis of all respondents, a sub-analysis was undertaken, comparing localities represented both in 2006/2007 and in 2000. Results In 2006/2007, a 49% response rate was achieved, representing 50% of acute National Health Service Trusts. Staffing levels had improved, but remained below recommendations made in 2000. Ten percent of specialist services were still provided by single-handed consultants, especially in Northern Ireland (in 50% of responses, P = 0.001 vs. other nations). Antenatal, joint adult,paediatric and ophthalmology sub-specialist diabetes services and availability of biochemical tests had improved since 2000, but access to psychology services had declined. Almost 90% of consultants had no clinical engagement in providing community diabetes services. The ,well-resourced service score' had not improved since 2000. There was continued evidence of disparity in resources between the nations (lowest in Wales and Northern Ireland, P = 0.007), between regions in England (lowest in the East Midlands and the Eastern regions, P = 0.028), and in centres with a single-handed consultant service (P = 0.001). Job satisfaction correlated with well-resourced service score (P = 0.001). The main concerns and threats to specialist services were deficiencies in psychology access, inadequate staffing, lack of progress in commissioning, and the detrimental impact of central policy on specialist services. Conclusions There are continued disparities in specialist service provision. Without effective commissioning and adequate specialist team staffing, integrated diabetes care will remain unattainable in many regions, regardless of reconfigurations and alternative service models. [source] East,west: does it make a difference to hospital efficiencies in Ukraine?HEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 11 2006Anatoly I. Pilyavsky Abstract Ukraine's history has given it a split personality (e.g. divergent cultural influences on economic and managerial behavior), as was observed in the recent political developments both prior to and following the December 2004 elections. Eastern regions were heavily influenced by Russo-Soviet rule, while western regions have more of a European outlook. This study, which is largely exploratory, compares recent trends in hospital efficiency in Ukraine to see if this split personality manifests itself in differential rates of improvement. Given the inflexibility of Soviet-style planned economies, it is hypothesized that western regions will show greater improvement in economic efficiency that can be attributed to higher levels of managerial and medical entrepreneurship. Data for this study comes from three oblasts (i.e. geopolitical regions), one in the west and two in the east, spanning from 1997 to 2001. Data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used to estimate technical efficiency for the hospitals. After correcting for bias, a second,stage Tobit regression was estimated. Results indicate that hospitals in the west improved efficiencies, while those in the east stayed constant. These western areas of the nation, being more amenable to western management and medical ,business' practice, may be quicker to pick up on new techniques to increase healthcare delivery efficiencies. This may stem from the more limited effects of a shorter history of incorporation into a Soviet-style planned and controlled economy in which individual decision-making and entrepreneurship was suppressed in favor of central decision-making by the state. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The genetic structure of cattle populations (Bos taurus) in northern Eurasia and the neighbouring Near Eastern regions: implications for breeding strategies and conservationMOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 18 2007MENG-HUA LI Abstract We investigated the genetic structure and variation of 21 populations of cattle (Bos taurus) in northern Eurasia and the neighbouring Near Eastern regions of the Balkan, the Caucasus and Ukraine employing 30 microsatellite markers. By analyses of population relationships, as well as by a Bayesian-based clustering approach, we identified a genetic distinctness between populations of modern commercial origin and those of native origin. Our data suggested that northern European Russia represents the most heavily colonized area by modern commercial cattle. Further genetic mixture analyses based on individual assignment tests found that native Red Steppe cattle were also employed in the historical breeding practices in Eastern Europe, most probably for incorporating their strong and extensive adaptability. In analysis of molecular variance, within-population differences accounted for ~90% of the genetic variation. Despite some correspondence between geographical proximity and genetic similarity, genetic differentiation was observed to be significantly associated with the difference in breeding purpose among the European populations (percentage of variance among groups and significance: 2.99%, P = 0.02). Our findings give unique genetic insight into the historical patterns of cattle breeding practices in the former Soviet Union. The results identify the neighbouring Near Eastern regions such as the Balkan, the Caucasus and Ukraine, and the isolated Far Eastern Siberia as areas of ,genetic endemism', where cattle populations should be given conservation priority. The results will also be of importance for cost-effective management of their future utilization. [source] Detection and typing of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato genospecies in Ixodes persulcatus ticks in West Siberia, RussiaFEMS MICROBIOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 2 2003Anatoly B Beklemishev Abstract The prevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) genospecies in West Siberia as well as in many other regions of Russia remains insufficiently investigated. In the present study a total of 151 adult female ticks Ixodes persulcatus Schulze, collected at three localities in eastern regions of West Siberia, where Lyme disease is endemic, were examined for the presence of the spirochete B. burgdorferi s.l. by polymerase chain reaction targeting the 23S,5S rRNA intergenic spacer regions. Spirochetal DNA was detected in on average 15.2±3.0% of the ticks examined. The infection rate of adult ticks with B. burgdorferi s.l. at various localities ranged from 8.6±3.4% to 29.0±7.6%, being greatest in the northernmost site studied and decreasing southwards. The restriction patterns obtained after MseI digestion of the 23S,5S rRNA intergenic spacer amplicons assigned 23 DNA samples to the following genomic groups: 19 to B. garinii (12 to group NT29 and seven to group 20047T), three to B. afzelii, and one to mixed B. afzelii and B. garinii NT29. We have not detected other genospecies, which were found in ticks in Europe, the Russian Far East and Japan. Thus, the ticks examined were associated only with two genospecies of Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. pathogenic to humans (B. garinii and B. afzelii), and B. garinii was the major genospecies infecting adult I. persulcatus in eastern regions of West Siberia. [source] Precipitation and atmospheric circulation patterns at mid-latitudes of AsiaINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 5 2001Elena M. Aizen Abstract Analyses of the coupling between large-scale atmospheric patterns and modifications of regional precipitation regimes at seasonal and annual time scales in different terrain of mid-latitudes in Asia, including western Siberia, Tien Shan and Pamir mountains, and plains of middle Asia and Japanese Islands, were examined based on data from 57 and 88 hydro-climatic stations with 100 and 60 year records, respectively. For the past 100 years, a positive trend in precipitation was revealed in western Siberia, northern regions of Tien Shan and Japanese Islands. North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and West Pacific Oscillation (WPO) indices have inverse associations, with average amount of precipitation in western Siberia and in mountains and plains of middle Asia, and positive correlation in central and western regions of Japanese Islands. The Pacific North American (PNA) index is positively correlated with annual precipitation over most of the Japanese Islands. Northern Asian (NA) positive anomalies lead to decrease in winter precipitation in the western and eastern regions of Japanese Islands. We did not find significant impact of PNA or NA on precipitation in middle Asia. We suggest that during the last century, impacts of the western jet stream increased in the northern regions of Tien Shan and Japanese Islands, and weakened in the eastern Japanese Islands. There is a suggestion that conditions are more favourable for precipitation development over continental regions of Asia when the Siberian High is positioned further to the east than further to the west. During dominant development of a zonal atmospheric pattern, the annual and seasonal precipitation decreased over most regions in continental Asia and central Japan. Copyright © 2001 Royal Meteorological Society [source] Differences in hepatitis A seroprevalence among geographical regions in Turkey: a need for regional vaccination recommendationsJOURNAL OF VIRAL HEPATITIS, Issue 2008M. Ceyhan Summary., Hepatitis A is a worldwide vaccine-preventable infection. Recommendation of vaccination depends on the endemicity of the disease. The World Health Organization recommends universal hepatitis A vaccination in intermediate areas; however, there is no need of mass vaccination in high and low endemicity regions. Therefore, most of the countries are using a vaccination policy according to the endemicity characteristic representing the whole of the country. The endemicity of this infection varies due to sanitary and hygiene conditions and socioeconomic differences among the countries and in various regions of the same country. A sample of 1173 persons between the age of 0 and 91 years from nine randomly selected medical centres from five different geographical centres of Turkey were tested for the level of anti-hepatitis A virus (anti-HAV) immunoglobulin-G antibodies using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The overall prevalence of anti-HAV antibodies was 64.4% (1142/1173). While the rate of sero-positivity was over 80% in the 5,9 age group and more than 90% after 14 years of age in south-eastern and eastern regions, it was lower than 50% at the age of 5,9 years in central and western regions and remains under 80% in those areas. We conclude that the differences observed in HAV sero-positivity among various geographical regions in Turkey support a universal HAV immunization policy for children currently living in regions of intermediate endemicity. [source] Respiratory health in Turkish asbestos cement workers: The role of environmental exposureAMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE, Issue 8 2006brahim Akkurt MD Abstract Aim Benign and malignant pleural and lung diseases due to environmental asbestos exposure constitute an important health problem in Turkey. The country has widespread natural deposits of asbestos in rural parts of central and eastern regions. Few data exists about the respiratory health effects of occupational asbestos exposure in Turkey. A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate respiratory health effects of occupational asbestos exposure and the contribution of environmental asbestos exposure. Methods Investigations included asbestos dust measurements in the workplace and application of an interviewer-administered questionnaire, a standard posteroanterior chest X-ray and spirometry. Information on birthplace of the workers was obtained in 406 workers and used to identify environmental exposure to asbestos, through a map of geographic locations with known asbestos exposure. Results Asbestos dust concentration in the ambient air of the work sites (fiber/ml) ranged between 0.2 and 0.76 (mean: 0.25, median: 0.22). Environmental exposure to asbestos was determined in 24.4% of the workers. After the adjustment for age, smoking, occupational asbestos exposure, and potential risk factors environmental asbestos exposure was associated with small irregular opacities grade ,1/0 (44.2% vs. 26.6%, P,<,0.01), FVC% (97.8 vs. 104.5, P,<,0.0001), and FEV1% (92.4 vs. 99.9, P,<,.0001). Occupational exposure to asbestos was associated with small irregular opacities grade ,1/0 (OR: 2.0, 95% CI: 1.3,3.1, per 1 unit increase in the natural logarithm of fiber/ml) and FEV1/FVC% (beta: 1.1, SEM: 0.54; P,<,0.05, per 1 unit increase in the natural logarithm of fiber/ml). Conclusions Environmental exposure to asbestos could increase the risk of asbestosis and lung function impairment in workers occupationally exposed to asbestos, independent from occupational exposure and smoking. Am. J. Ind. Med. 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] | |||||||||||||