PURPOSE We sought to identify and compare studies reporting the prevalence of multimorbidity and to suggest methodologic aspects to be considered in the conduct of such studies. METHODS We searched the literature for English- and French-language articles published between 1980 and September 2010 that described the prevalence of multimorbidity in the general population, in primary care, or both. We assessed quality of included studies with a modified version of the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology checklist. Results of individual prevalence studies were adjusted so that they could be compared graphically. RESULTS The final sample included 21 articles: 8 described studies conducted in primary care, 12 in the general population, and 1 in both. All articles were of good quality. The largest differences in prevalence of multimorbidity were observed at age 75 in both primary care (with prevalence ranging from 3.5% to 98.5% across studies) and the general population (with prevalence ranging from 13.1% to 71.8% across studies). Apart from differences in geographic settings, we identified differences in recruitment method and sample size (primary care: 980–60,857 patients; general population: 1,099–316,928 individuals), data collection, and the operational definition of multimorbidity used, including the number of diagnoses considered (primary care: 5 to all; general population: 7 to all). This last aspect seemed to be the most important factor in estimating prevalence. CONCLUSIONS Marked variation exists among studies of the prevalence of multimorbidity with respect to both methodology and findings. When undertaking such studies, investigators should carefully consider the specific diagnoses included and their number, as well as the operational definition of multimorbidity.
Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a heterogeneous disease arising from a complex interaction between host‐specific genetic background and multiple risk factors. Globally, CCA incidence rates exhibit geographical variation, with much higher incidence in parts of the Eastern world compared to the West. These differences are likely to reflect differences in geographical risk factors as well as genetic determinants. Of note, over the past few decades, the incidence rates of CCA appear to change and subtypes of CCA appear to show distinct epidemiological trends. These trends need to be interpreted with caution given the issues of diagnosis, recording and coding of subtypes of CCA. Epidemiological evidences suggest that in general population some risk factors are less frequent but associated with a higher CCA risk, while others are more common but associated with a lower risk. Moreover, while some risk factors are shared by intrahepatic and both extrahepatic forms, others seem more specific for one of the two forms. Currently some pathological conditions have been clearly associated with CCA development, and other conditions are emerging; however, while their impact in increasing CCA risk as single etiological factors has been provided in many studies, less is known when two or more risk factors co‐occur in the same patient. Moreover, despite the advancements in the knowledge of CCA aetiology, in Western countries about 50% of cases are still diagnosed without any identifiable risk factor. It is therefore conceivable that other still undefined etiologic factors are responsible for the recent increase of CCA (especially iCCA) incidence worldwide.
Explore Census Data is the US Census Bureau's intended starting point for discovery of the data it collects through the decennial census and various other programs. It strives to be as user-friendly as possible and accessible to novice researchers and the general public. The sheer variety of data sets, geographic scales, and variables resists the use of a simple Google-like interface and can be daunting to users without data experience. However, the quantity and quality of data available from the Census Bureau make spending some extra time or seeking assistance worthwhile.
<p>Air pollution adversely affects health, ecosystems, and infrastructure. In the <i>Western Balkans</i> (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo<span class="note-anchor" id="fna_Ch1.Footn1"><a href="#fn_Ch1.Footn1"><sup>1</sup></a></span>, Montenegro, the Republic of North Macedonia, and Serbia), the air pollution situation is more adverse than in the European Union in general. Understanding the air quality situation requires high-quality emission data with a high-resolution spatial distribution, especially for enabling remediation efforts, which is lacking in the Western Balkan region.</p>
<p>In this work, we have calculated air pollution emissions from the heating of individual housing units in the Western Balkan region. The basis for the dataset is a geographical dataset of buildings detected from satellite imagery by artificial intelligence (AI) methods. The building data have been combined with geospatial land-use datasets and statistical data for heating needs for residential buildings in the countries included and finally with emission factors to calculate the heating emissions.</p>
<p>Using this novel approach, the resulting datasets provide high-resolution heating emission data for common pollutants and are published as open data (<a href="https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13906810">https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13906810</a>, <span class="cit" id="xref_altparen.1"><a href="#bib1.bibx2">Asker</a>, <a href="#bib1.bibx2">2024</a></span>). When comparing national totals for emissions, the datasets in this work are comparable to other, spatially coarser datasets, though the agreement strongly depends on the fuel usage data for each country/region.</p>
Lasocki Maciej, Majewski Piotr, Zinowiec-Cieplik Kinga
et al.
The goal of this paper is to explore whether there is potential in the Warsaw community to develop urban gardens (UG) to foster adaptation to climate change. The paper acknowledges the presence of UG in the research-recognised repertoire of climate change adaptation tools and, based on social research, highlights and discusses features essential for the potential of social capital. The characteristics of gardeners and urban gardening leaders, the functions of UG as perceived by gardeners and indicators of success were examined. The results identify factors influencing engagement conditions, longevity premises and effectiveness agents.
No mercado brasileiro tem crescido a oferta de equipamentos conhecidos como biodigestores, os quais visam tratar o esgoto doméstico de residências unifamiliares e pequenos aglomerados. No entanto, surgem dúvidas quanto à eficiência desses produtos. Assim, torna-se urgente estabelecer no Brasil uma padronização dos métodos de avaliação desses equipamentos, a fim de criar uma base unificada para a comparação de suas eficiências. Para alcançar esse objetivo é necessário criar um programa de avaliação de tais produtos e estabelecer uma instituição responsável por promover essas avaliações. Dessa forma, será possível proporcionar aos consumidores uma referência para a comparação dos diferentes equipamentos. Isso facilitará a compreensão das funcionalidades, requisitos e eficiência oferecidos por essas tecnologias e contribuirá para eliminar do mercado produtos mal fabricados ou com desempenho de tratamento inadequado.
In this paper I raise a worry about the most extended resolutions of the problem of time of canonical quantizations of general relativity. The reason for this is that these resolutions are based on analogies with deparametrizable models for which the problem can be solved, while I argue in this paper that there are good reasons for doubting about these resolutions when the theory is not deparametrizable, which is the case of general relativity. I introduce an example of a non-deparametrizable model, a double harmonic oscillator system expressed by its Jacobi action, and argue that the problem of time for this model is not solvable, in the sense that its canonical quantization doesn't lead to the quantum theory of two harmonic oscillators and the standard resolutions of the problem of time don't work for this case. I argue that as general relativity is strongly analogous to this model, one should take seriously the view that the canonical quantization of general relativity doesn't lead to a meaningful quantum theory. Finally, I comment that this has an impact on the foundations of different approaches to quantum gravity.