Carbon footprint of healthcare systems: a systematic review of evidence and methods.

Objective: Given the demand for net-zero healthcare, the carbon footprint (CF) of healthcare systems has attracted increasing interest in research in recent years. This systematic review investigates the results and methodological transparency of CF calculations of healthcare systems. The methodological emphasis lies specifically on input-output based calculations.

Localisation of digital health tools used by displaced populations in low and middle-income settings: a scoping review and critical analysis of the Participation Revolution.

Background: Forced displacement is a crucial determinant of poor health. With 31 people displaced every minute worldwide, this is an important global issue. Addressing this, the Participation Revolution workstream from the World Humanitarian Summit's Localisation commitments has gained traction in attempting to improve the effectiveness of humanitarian aid.

Pandemic Meets Endemic: The Role of Social Inequalities and Failing Public Health Policies as Drivers of Disparities in COVID-19 Mortality among White, Black, and Hispanic Communities in the United States of America.

The COVID-19 pandemic placed the United States of America (U.S.) under enormous strain, leaving it with higher deaths during the first wave of the outbreak compared to all other advanced economies.

Disaster impacts, resilience, and sustainability opportunities for Gili Trawangan, Indonesia: transdisciplinary reflections following COVID-19.

This paper contains transdisciplinary reflections from both scientists and local NGO (nongovernmental organisation) managers on the international small island tourism destination of Gili Trawangan, Indonesia. These viewpoints centre on the impacts of, as well as the short- and long-term adaptation strategies and sustainability opportunities associated with, two disasters that occurred in rapid succession: the earthquakes that struck Lombok in 2018; and the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020. A brief review of the governance challenges facing Gili Trawangan sets up the analysis of the findings and the presentation of new empirical insights into how the island's communities have dealt with two unique disaster scenarios over the past three years.

Sugars dominate the seagrass rhizosphere.

Seagrasses are among the most efficient sinks of carbon dioxide on Earth. While carbon sequestration in terrestrial plants is linked to the microorganisms living in their soils, the interactions of seagrasses with their rhizospheres are poorly understood. Here, we show that the seagrass, Posidonia oceanica excretes sugars, mainly sucrose, into its rhizosphere.

Deep-sea mussels from a hybrid zone on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge host genetically indistinguishable symbionts.

The composition and diversity of animal microbiomes is shaped by a variety of factors, many of them interacting, such as host traits, the environment, and biogeography. Hybrid zones, in which the ranges of two host species meet and hybrids are found, provide natural experiments for determining the drivers of microbiome communities, but have not been well studied in marine environments. Here, we analysed the composition of the symbiont community in two deep-sea, Bathymodiolus mussel species along their known distribution range at hydrothermal vents on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, with a focus on the hybrid zone where they interbreed.

Stochastic block models: A comparison of variants and inference methods.

Finding communities in complex networks is a challenging task and one promising approach is the Stochastic Block Model (SBM). But the influences from various fields led to a diversity of variants and inference methods. Therefore, a comparison of the existing techniques and an independent analysis of their capabilities and weaknesses is needed.

Developmental language disorder: Maternal stress level and behavioural difficulties of children with expressive and mixed receptive-expressive DLD.

Purpose: The current study aimed to compare bullying and victimisation behaviour, levels of emotional and behavioural problems and maternal stress in children with expressive and mixed receptive-expressive language disorders.

Methods: We measured the bullying and victimisation behaviour, the emotional and behavioural problems as well as the maternal stress in a sample of 4-9-year-old children with language disorders (N = 65).

Results: Our main findings were that although bullying and victimisation were common in both groups; the children with expressive language disorders tended to be perpetrators (teacher-reported) while the children with mixed language disorders experienced more bullying and tended to be victims (self-reported); the latters' mothers perceived significantly more stress compared to mothers of children with expressive language disorders.

Adaptive mechanisms that provide competitive advantages to marine bacteroidetes during microalgal blooms.

Polysaccharide degradation by heterotrophic microbes is a key process within Earth's carbon cycle. Here, we use environmental proteomics and metagenomics in combination with cultivation experiments and biochemical characterizations to investigate the molecular details of in situ polysaccharide degradation mechanisms during microalgal blooms. For this, we use laminarin as a model polysaccharide.

Over-The-Counter (OTC) Drug Consumption among Adults Living in Germany: Results from the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Adults 2008⁻2011 (DEGS1).

In order to assess the effects of prescription-only (Rx) to over-the-counter (OTC) drug switches and related policies, it is imperative to distinguish self-medication from OTC drug use. The objective of this study was to estimate the OTC drug use in the adult population in Germany, to identify its predictors and to highlight methodological differences when compared to the study of a self-medication prevalence. Seven-day prevalence of OTC drug use was calculated on the basis of information provided by 7091 participants of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Adults (DEGS1) conducted between 2008 to 2011.

The rediscovery of the social side of medicine: philosophy and value of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF).

Medicine is at risk of sliding into a sole repair service for the malfunction of organs. But the patients' hope and confidence towards doctors practicing this repair work go far beyond that: after acute medical treatment many patients suffer from chronic impairments due to the natural course of the disease or as a result of medical interventions. Despite resulting handicaps, patients aim at participating in family and social life, retaining a workplace and receiving support to remain a valued member of the family and the community.

Shared Housing Arrangements in Germany-An Equitable Alternative to Long Term Care Services beyond Homes and Institutions?

Given the saliency of socio-demographic pressures, the highly restrictive definition of "need for care" characterizing the German long-term care system at its foundations in 1994 has since been subject to various expansionary reforms. This has translated into greater interest in innovative care models that provide more choice and flexibility to beneficiaries. One such model is 'shared housing arrangements' ("ambulant betreute Wohngemeinschaften"), where a small group of people rent private rooms, while sharing a common space, domestic support, and nursing care.

The Risk of Hospitalizations with Injury Diagnoses in a Matched Cohort of Children and Adolescents with and without Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Germany: A Database Study.

Background: Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neuropsychiatric disorder in children and adolescents worldwide, and children with ADHD have elevated risk of injuries. Our aim was to assess the risk of hospitalizations with injury diagnoses and their various subtypes in children and adolescents with newly diagnosed ADHD compared to those without ADHD, as well as to study sex effects on this risk in the setting of the German health care system.

Methods: The German Pharmacoepidemiological Research Database, in which 20 million insured from four statutory health insurances in Germany are included, was used to set up a matched cohort study of 3- to 17-year-old children and adolescents with and without ADHD.

Personal and situational predictors of everyday snacking: An application of temporal self-regulation theory.

Objectives: This study aims at testing predictions derived from temporal self-regulation theory (TST) in relation to discretionary food choices (snacks). TST combines a motivational sphere of influence (cognitions and temporal valuations resulting in intentions) with a momentary sphere (encompassing social and physical environmental cues). This dual approach differs from current health behaviour theories, but can potentially improve our understanding of the interplay of personal and environmental factors in health behaviour self-regulation.

Initiation and duration of dual antiplatelet therapy after inpatient percutaneous coronary intervention with stent implantation in Germany: An electronic healthcare database cohort study.

Background: Studies assessing the routine outpatient dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in Germany are scarce. The aim of this study was (i) to investigate the initiation and duration of DAPT after inpatient PCI with stent implantation in Germany, and (ii) to identify factors associated with DAPT discontinuation during the recommended treatment period.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study was based on data from a large German electronic healthcare database of the years 2004 to 2009.

Aquatic adaptation of a laterally acquired pectin degradation pathway in marine gammaproteobacteria.

Mobile genomic islands distribute functional traits between microbes and habitats, yet it remains unclear how their proteins adapt to new environments. Here we used a comparative phylogenomic and proteomic approach to show that the marine bacterium Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis ANT/505 acquired a genomic island with a functional pathway for pectin catabolism. Bioinformatics and biochemical experiments revealed that this pathway encodes a series of carbohydrate-active enzymes including two multi-modular pectate lyases, PelA and PelB.

The Potential of High-Dimensional Propensity Scores in Health Services Research: An Exemplary Study on the Quality of Care for Elective Percutaneous Coronary Interventions.

Objective: Evaluating the potential of the high-dimensional propensity score (HDPS) to control for residual confounding in studies analyzing quality of care based on administrative health insurance data.

Data Source: Secondary data from 2004 to 2009 from three German statutory health insurance providers.

Study Design: We conducted a retrospective cohort study in patients with elective percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) and compared the mortality risk between the in- and outpatient setting using Cox regression.

Risk of venous thromboembolism in cancer patients treated with epoetins or blood transfusions.

Aims: Anaemia is common in cancer patients, with treatments including epoetins and blood transfusions. Although an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) has been associated with both therapeutics, studies comparing the risk of VTE between epoetins and transfusions in cancer patients are lacking.

Methods: A nested case-control study investigated this risk using the German Pharmacoepidemiological Research Database.

Use of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs and perceptions of OTC drug safety among German adults.

Purpose: In Europe, little empirical evidence is available about over-the-counter (OTC) drug consumption and risk perceptions. The objective of this study was to describe consumers' OTC drug use and perceptions of OTC drug safety in Germany.

Methods: An online survey based on a quota sample with combined strata for age, gender, and education of 300 adult German participants was conducted in June and July 2013.

Mortality in the German Pharmacoepidemiological Research Database (GePaRD) compared to national data in Germany: results from a validation study.

Background: Electronic healthcare databases are of increasing importance in health research and mortality is one of the most relevant outcomes. However, data in these databases need to be validated, since they are often generated for reimbursement purposes. The aims of this study were to compare mortality figures from the German Pharmacoepidemiological Research Database (GePaRD) on an aggregated level with external data from the Federal Statistical Office of Germany (FSOG) and to assess consistency of records of death from core data and hospital data within GePaRD.

Methyltrifluoropyruvate imines possessing N-oxalyl and N-phosphonoformyl groups--precursors to a variety of alpha-CF3-alpha-amino acid derivatives.

Convenient routes to methyl 2-oxalylimino- and 2-(phosphonoformimido)-3,3,3-trifluoropropanoates have been elaborated, based on the reaction of methyl trifluoropyruvate with ethyl oxamate or diethyl carbamoylphosphonate, respectively, followed by dehydration. The compounds obtained are useful synthetic intermediates toward a variety of novel 3,3,3-trifluoroalanine derivatives that are potential drug candidates.

Climatic controls on central African hydrology during the past 20,000 years.

Past hydrological changes in Africa have been linked to various climatic processes, depending on region and timescale. Long-term precipitation changes in the regions of northern and southern Africa influenced by the monsoons are thought to have been governed by precessional variations in summer insolation. Conversely, short-term precipitation changes in the northern African tropics have been linked to North Atlantic sea surface temperature anomalies, affecting the northward extension of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and its associated rainbelt.