Link between pregnancy planning and antenatal care utilization in sub-Saharan Africa: An analysis of DHS data (2010-2023).

This study aims to analyse the relationship between pregnancy planning and antenatal care in sub-Saharan Africa and to identify which categories of mothers are most likely to make inadequate use of antenatal care in the event of a mistimed or unwanted pregnancy. The latest data from the Demographic and Health Surveys of 32 countries were analysed using bivariate and multivariate descriptive methods. The results show that compared with planned births, mistimed and unwanted births are respectively 27% (OR=0.

Assessment of the dynamics of inpatient health care delivery in Poland before and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

A situation of emergency involving the whole population introduces changes in the dynamics of the health services that are provided. The magnitude of these shifts should be also linked to the medical speciality within which the health benefits are delivered. The aim of the paper was to identify changes in tendencies in inpatient medical service delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic by medical specialties.

How Does the Statutory Retirement Age Affect Older workers' Employment in Relation to Individual and Work-Related Factors?

Policies aimed at increasing employment among older people often focus on the statutory retirement age. Taking into account the characteristics of workers and work-related factors, we examine the impact of reaching the statutory retirement age on continuing employment. In addition to the use of survival trees, we propose a novel method to predict the probability of staying in employment based on an ensemble of survival trees.

Less Is (Often) More: Number of Children and Health Among Older Adults in 24 Countries.

Objectives: Previous evidence about the impact of parenthood on health for older adults is mixed, perhaps due to variation in number of children and context. Higher numbers of children could lead to support or strain, depending on individual and country contexts. Yet, no studies currently exist that examine associations between the number of children and several health indicators among older adults across multiple global regions.

Role of individual characteristics and national distancing policies for COVID-19 protective behaviour among older adults: a cross-sectional study of 27 European countries.

Objective: Evidence on how individual characteristics and distancing policies during the first wave of COVID-19 together influenced health behaviours is scarce. The objective of this study is to fill in this gap by studying how the propensity to engage in protective behaviours in Europe was shaped by the interplay of individual characteristics and national policies.

Design: Data on individual behaviour in 27 countries came from the 'Corona Survey' module of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe, collected in summer 2020.

Study of 52 Pediatric Patients Who Required 78 Hospital Admissions for Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis from 2013 to 2020 Using Data from the Polish National Health Fund Registry.

BACKGROUND Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) in children is a rare disease with a complex, multifactorial etiopathogenesis. The Polish National Health Fund (NHF) Registry [Narodowy Fundusz Zdrowia (NFZ)], contains health insurance data from all 16 national provinces, or voivodeships. This study used data from the Polish NHF Registry to evaluate 52 pediatric patients who required 78 hospital admissions for CVST from 2013 to 2020.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Related to Antibiotic Use and Antibiotic Resistance among Poultry Farmers in Urban and Peri-Urban Areas of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Increased use of antibiotics in livestock is a public health concern, as it poses risks of antibiotic residues and antibiotic-resistant pathogens entering the food chains and infecting humans. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 216 poultry farms to study knowledge, attitudes and practices of poultry farmers on the use of antibiotics in urban and peri-urban areas of Ouagadougou. Results show that only 17.

How to measure multidimensional quality of life of persons with disabilities in public policies - a case of Poland.

Background: The aim of this paper is to construct a tool that can be used to measure multidimensional quality of life of persons with disabilities in comparison with population without disabilities for the purpose of monitoring of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in Poland.

Methods: The Sen's capability approach was applied to conceptualize the quality of life in various life domains. We followed guidelines of The Quality of Life Framework developed within the European Statistical System on choosing the life domains in which the QoL should be measured.

Why is pet goods consumption imperceptible for economists? A scoping review.

Nowadays, pets more frequently are becoming family members which deserve certain products and goods, as well as services. In this way, pets are becoming consumers even they do not have a possibility to make decisions (as opposed to human being) as we analyze taking into account human being. Recently pet-related topics are gaining more attention in the press and among researchers in the field of marketing and psychology.

Analysis of 622 paediatric hospitalisations due to arterial ischaemic stroke in Poland - National Health Fund registry-based study from 2011 to 2020.

Introduction: The present study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of arterial ischaemic stroke (AIS) in Polish children, as well as to analyse the parameters related to AIS hospitalisation, including age, gender, region, month and season of the year at admission, duration, and costs, based on data from National Health Fund (NHF) registry in 2011-2020.

Material And Methods: Data from the NHF were analysed statistically. The disease was identified according to the codes I63 and I64 of the International Classification of Diseases, 10 Revision (ICD-10), and patients included only individuals up to 18 years of age.

The Impact of Retirement on Happiness and Loneliness in Poland-Evidence from Panel Data.

This paper examines the impact of retirement on people's subjective quality of life, as expressed by their levels of happiness and loneliness, in Poland. We analysed five waves of the Social Diagnosis panel survey conducted between 2007 and 2015. To account for unobserved individual heterogeneity, we employed fixed effects ordered logit models and fixed effect logistic models for the panel data.

Individual quality of life and the environment - towards a concept of livable areas for persons with disabilities in Poland.

Background: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [1] highlights the need to create proper socioeconomic and political conditions for persons with disabilities, with a special focus on their immediate living conditions. According to the Convention, these conditions should be built to ensure that persons with disabilities have the potential to enjoy a high quality of life (QoL), and this principle is reflected in the notion of livable areas. The crucial aspect of this framework is the relationship between the individual QoL and the environment, broadly understood as the socioeconomic as well as the technical conditions in which persons with disabilities function.

Depressive Symptoms and Healthy Behavior Frequency in Polish Postmenopausal Women from Urban and Rural Areas.

The objective of this study was to determine whether the severity of depressive symptoms was linked to healthy behaviors in Polish postmenopausal women and whether the strength of the link differed between women living in urban versus rural settings. The study was conducted in 2018 in the Lublin region of Poland and included 396 postmenopausal women (239 living in rural areas and 157 in urban areas). The severity of depressive symptoms was evaluated by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the frequency of healthy behaviors was assessed using the Inventory of Healthy Behaviors.

Gender gap in health condition and quality of life at advanced age.

Introduction: Increased life expectancy, share of the very old in populations and differences in the prevalence or types of health problems between male and female seniors pose challenges for health and social care systems in providing adequate care.

Objective: The aim of the study is to compare the health condition and quality of life between women and men aged 90 or over, as well as to correlate the quality of life at advanced age with demographic and health conditions.

Material And Methods: The study was conducted in Poland in 2015-2018 on 870 women and 264 men aged 90 or over who were able to communicate logically and had no dementia diagnosed previously by a physician.

The modified fuzzy mortality model based on the algebra of ordered fuzzy numbers.

The new trends in fuzzy analysis are based on the algebraic approach to fuzzy numbers. The essential idea in such an approach is representing the membership function of a fuzzy number as an element of any square-integrable function space. As a starting point, we consider the Koissi-Shapiro model known as a fuzzy version of the Lee-Carter mortality model, in which triangular membership functions of fuzzy variables are assumed.

Circulating miRNA-181b-5p, miRNA-223-3p, miRNA-210-3p, let 7i-5p, miRNA-21-5p and miRNA-29a-3p in patients with localized scleroderma as potential biomarkers.

Localized scleroderma (LoSc) is a rare disease manifested by an inflammation and sclerosis of the skin. The latest studies focused on glycoprotein Krebs von den Lungen-6, surfactant protein-D, chemokine ligand 18 and dipeptidylpeptidase 4 as potential biomarkers of skin fibrosis in systemic scleroderma. Our study aimed to identify 6 miRNAs with elevated or decreased levels in 38 LoSc patients (31 females, 7 males) compared to healthy volunteers (HVs) and to correlate the selected miRNAs' serum levels with the severity and the clinical symptoms of LoSc and some laboratory parameters with the selected miRNAs' serum levels.

Effect of Excessive Body Weight and Psoriasis in Women Undergoing ICSI Procedure and State of Health of the Newborn.

Excessive body weight and some concomitant diseases, such as psoriasis, accompany women treated due to infertility by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). This study is aimed to assess effect of obesity and psoriasis on quality of egg cells, embryos, course of pregnancy, and state of a newborn after treatment with ICSI. A total of 140 women were included into the study (110 healthy women and 30 with psoriasis).

Interactions of Cortisol and Prolactin with Other Selected Menstrual Cycle Hormones Affecting the Chances of Conception in Infertile Women.

One of the major problems of success in infertility treatment could depend on the understanding how the potential factors may affect the conception. The aim of this study was to evaluate present understanding of such factors or hormonal causes that may induce infertility. We studied the interactions between the two menstrual cycle hormones i.

Self-assessment of Polish pharmacy staff's readiness to promote health.

Background Nowadays, pharmacists are expected to focus not only on dispensing medicines but also on the wellness of the patient. In some developed countries a pharmacist is clearly defined as a health care professional that can make a contribution to improving the general health of the population. Objective To assess the readiness of Polish pharmacy staff to engage in health promotion and educational activities.

Does the Caesarean Section Impact on 11β HSD2 and Fetal Cortisol?

Purpose: Comparison of the activity of 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 in the placenta and the umbilical cord blood cortisol level between caesarean sections with or without uterine contraction and vaginal delivery groups. Cortisol is the main stress hormone responsible for the normal adaptation of the neonate to extrauterine life. The disorders resulting from a dysfunction of the 11β-HSD 2-cortisol system can explain the higher risk of developing diseases in children born by caesarean section.

Epilepsy in paediatric patients with schizencephaly.

Introduction: Schizencephaly is one of the rare congenital defects of the central nervous system (CNS), known as neuronal migration disorders. The etiology of schizencecephaly is unequivocal. Established etiologies include in-utero infections (cytomegalovirus and herpes simplex virus, HSV type I), toxic abuse (cocaine, alcohol), as well as drug use (warfarin).

IL-17A in the Psoriatic Patients' Serum and Plaque Scales as Potential Marker of the Diseases Severity and Obesity.

The aim of the study was to evaluate concentrations of IL-17 in the serum and plaque scales of psoriatic patients. We analyzed their association with the clinical activity of the disease and with body mass index (BMI). Demographic data, medical history, serum, and scale from psoriatic plaques for assessment of IL-17 were collected from all the participants.

Oestrogen receptor α gene polymorphisms, insomnia, and cognitive functions in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women in non-manual employment.

Introduction: A potential way to explain the relationships between sleep disorders and cognitive disorders during menopausal transition is the identification of genetic markers related to changes in cognitive functions, as well as changes in quality of sleep during menopause. The objective was an analysis of the relationship between sleep disorders and cognitive disorders, according to the possessed oestrogen receptor α gene polymorphism () in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women.

Material And Methods: The study included 300 women aged 44-66 years, employed as non-manual workers.

Background ionizing radiation and semen parameters of men with reproductive problems.

Introduction And Objective: The male reproductive system constitutes a set of tissues which are particularly sensitive to external factors. The aim of the study was to analyze the relationship between background radioactivity and the quality of the semen of the men who have reported to the infertility treatment facility in 2000-2016 in the Lublin region of eastern Poland.

Material And Methods: The radioactivity of the ground-level air layer obtained from the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management in Włodawa in the Lublin region was analysed.