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Are social pressure, bullying and low social support associated with depressive symptoms, self-harm and self-directed violence among adolescents? A cross-sectional study using a structural equation modeling approach
No full textBackground
More in-depth evidence about the complex relationships between different risk factors and mental health among adolescents has been warranted. Thus, the aim of the study was to examine the direct and indirect effects of experiencing social pressure, bullying, and low social support on mental health problems in adolescence.
Methods
A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted in 2022 among 15 823 Norwegian adolescents, aged 13–19 years. Structural Equation Modelling was used to assess the relationships between socioeconomic status, social pressure, bullying, social support, depressive symptoms, self-harm and suicide thoughts.
Results
Poor family economy and low parental education were associated with high pressure, low parental support and depressive symptoms in males and females. Moreover, poor family economy was associated with bullying perpetration and bullying victimization among males and females, and cyberbullying victimization among females, but not males. Low parental education was associated with bullying victimization among males, but not females. Further, high social pressure was associated with depressive symptoms among males and females, whereas high social pressure was linked to self-harm and suicide thoughts among females, but not males. Bullying victimization and cyberbullying victimization were associated with depressive symptoms, self-harm, and suicide thoughts among males and females. Bullying victimization was associated with depressive symptoms among males, but not females, whereas bullying perpetration was linked to self-harm and suicide thoughts among females, but not males. Low parental support was associated with bullying perpetration, bullying victimization, depressive symptoms, self-harm and suicide thoughts among males and females, whereas low parental support was associated with high social pressure among females, but not males. Low teacher support was associated with high social pressure and depressive symptoms. Low support from friends was associated with bullying victimization, depressive symptoms and suicide thoughts among males and females, whereas low support from friends was linked to self-harm among males, but not females. Finally, results showed that depressive symptoms were associated with self-harm and suicide thoughts among males and females.
Conclusion
Low socioeconomic status, social pressure, bullying and low social support were directly and indirectly associated with depressive symptoms and self-directed violence among Norwegian adolescents.</p
Patterns and drivers of excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic in 13 Western European countries
No full text
Seroprevalence of Japanese encephalitis virus in pig populations of Tamil Nadu, India: Exploring the tropical endemic link of virus
No full textJapanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a major cause of encephalitis in Southeast Asia. Tamil Nadu, a state located in the southern part of India, contributes substantially to the national burden of human JE cases every year. However, limited information is available on the epidemiology of JE in pig populations of Tamil Nadu. A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess JEV prevalence in pig populations of Tamil Nadu. A total of 710 pigs reared in 118 farms across 10 districts of Tamil Nadu were sampled using multistage cluster random sampling. Serum samples were analyzed for their JEV status using Immunoglobulin M (IgM) and Immunoglobulin G (IgG) Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). At the animal-level, the apparent JEV seroprevalence was 60.4% (95% CI: 56.8% — 64.0%) and the true seroprevalence was 50.1% (95% CI: 47.0% — 53.2%). The herd-level apparent seroprevalence was 94.1% (95% CI: 88.1% — 97.5%) and the true seroprevalence was 93.3% (95% CI: 89.5% — 96.2%). The intensity of JEV circulation was high in all the districts, with seroprevalence ranging between 43% and 100%. Pigs across all age categories were seropositive and a high overall seroprevalence of 95.2% (95% CI: 76.2% — 99.9%) was recorded in pigs older than 12 months. JEV seropositivity was recorded in all the seasons but the prevalence peaked in the monsoon (67.9%, 95% CI: 61.1% — 74.2%) followed by winter (65.1%, 95%CI: 57.4% — 72.2%) and summer (53.3%, 95% CI: 47.8% — 58.8%) seasons. The results indicate that JEV is endemic in pigs populations of the state and a one health approach is essential with collaborative actions from animal and public health authorities to control JE in Tamil Nadu, India.</p
Estimating the Uncertainty in Airborne Birch Pollen Modelling
No full textBackground
More than 25% of adults in Europe suffer from pollinosis, although variability across countries might be quite large. In Belgium, at least ~10% of people develop allergies due to birch pollen. Thus, many people may benefit from the birch pollen forecasting system established for the Belgian territory in 2023 based on the SILAM model (System for Integrated modeLling of Atmospheric composition). The key question, however, is which uncertainty can be expected when modelling and forecasting airborne pollen levels?
Materials & Methods
The uncertainty in modelling airborne birch pollen levels near the surface using SILAM is quantified based on a Monte-Carlo error approach for the season of 2018 in Belgium using varying major model input data and ECMWF ERA5 meteorological data. The relative Coefficient of Variation (CV%) is used as a measure for uncertainty. The studied key model input datasets that drive the birch pollen model are:
- Map with the amount (areal fraction) and location of birch trees on a native 0.1° x 0.1° grid.
- Map with the start and end of the birch pollen season on a native 1° x 1° grid.
- Ripening temperature of birch catkins.
For each input dataset, 100 randomly sampled data layers were prepared for running SILAM 100 times. For the maps, in each 1° by 1° block containing 100 grid cells (0.1° x 0.1° native grid), we randomly redistributed the birch pollen emission sources 100 times. From the resulting 100 SILAM model runs, 100 spatial-temporal datasets on surface birch pollen levels were produced, and their variation was summarized by the CV%.
Results
From the analysis, we find that the uncertainty in the amount and locations of birch pollen emission sources in SILAM on resulting modelled airborne birch pollen levels near the surface in Belgium is substantially high, with CV% values ranging between ~15% and ~35%. The parameters indicating the start and end of the season, however, are at least equally important. CV% values up to 50% are found in the southeastern parts of Belgium. By adding up all the model input uncertainties, including the impact of the catkins-ripening temperature, we obtain CV% values of 50% and more. If we assume an accumulated error of 20-40% from all meteorological data, a CV% value near 60% can be expected. These error values in modelled pollen levels are in the same order of magnitude as the reported errors in monitored pollen levels, based on the reference Hirst method.
Conclusions
The uncertainty in airborne birch pollen levels near the surface modelled using SILAM and quantified as the CV% is more than 50%. It is the same order of magnitude as the reported errors from observed pollen counts using Hirst-type devices at monitoring stations.</p
Evaluation of European Pollen Reanalysis
No full textThe European Pollen Reanalysis for alder, birch, and olive airborne pollen was released at the end of 2023, with only technical validation of the procedure presented in the paper accompanying the dataset. The current presentation provides a first glance on the quality of the reanalysis and highlights its strengths and areas of improvement. The analysis is performed at a few individual stations in different parts of Europe: Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Belgium, and Spain.
The reanalysis was built using only assimilation of the total seasonal pollen production, i.e. the phenological models and their parameters were left completely intact. This allowed an almost-complete separation of the absolute values of the predicted time series and their temporal behavior. The first ones were corrected during the assimilation, the second ones were practically the same in both the initial SILAM run and the final reanalysis.
SPIn time series at individual stations.
The Seasonal Pollen Integral at individual stations is the most-affected parameter by the assimilation: with exception of the long-range transport, SPIn is directly proportional to the regional pollen production. Not surprisingly, the reanalysis demonstrated a strong improvement of this parameter practically at all stations and all tree genera. The most significant improvement was for birch pollen, except for Southern Europe, where local pollen production is very small, and the season is almost entirely decided by the long-range transport.
Absolute bias and RMSE.
The reanalysis is generally unbiased by its design. However, predictions in some individual years and at specific stations could manifest noticeable deviations, offset in other years. As a result, RMSE was mostly decided by the temporal correlation: low-correlating stations showed higher RMSE.
Temporal correlation at individual stations.
The intra-seasonal concentration evolution was not affected by the assimilation (except for the changes in the long-range transport), so the model skills remained practically the same for the initial and final runs. The most-challenging genera was alder, which SILAM considers as a single taxon. Such simplification was acceptable in regions with only one dominant species or with close flowering times but led to significant errors if several species flowered at different times in the same region. The birch timeseries are less sensitive to this feature because different taxa almost always have close flowering periods.
Season start and end.
These are the parameters practically not affected by the assimilation. Therefore, the key features of the operational SILAM version have been manifested in all three genera. The model was reproducing the season start with a comparatively high accuracy (majority of the considered stations showed just a few days of an error), whereas the season end was quite significantly delayed.</p
Belgian recommendations for analytical verification and validation of immunohistochemical tests
No full textValidation of medical tests in laboratories is important prior to implementation of the test in daily routine to guarantee the quality and reliability of the patient results.
But there are two problems: (i) There exist guidelines on validation of immunohistochemical biomarker assays but specific details regarding its application in individual laboratories of anatomic pathology are lacking. (ii) The European IVDR categorizes tests into CE-IVD tests and Laboratory developed tests (LDT) but does not contain a definition on modifications of CE-IVD tests resulting in LDTs and lacks information on how to demonstrate its clinical and analytical performance.
To solve these problems the expert group has elaborated step-by-step instructions for initial analytical verification/validation prior to implementation in daily routine, for revalidation after modification of the test protocol and for ongoing validation, by performing a literature study and a risk analysis. For each type of test, according to its origin (CE-IVD, modified CE-IVD, non CE-IVD) and its intended use (diagnostic, prognostic, pharmaco-predictive), step-by-step instructions on analytical verification or validation have been elaborated by recommending: (i) the number of cases in the validation set, (ii) the performance characteristics (e.g. accuracy, repeatability, reproducibility, sensitivity, specificity) to be evaluated, (iii) the objective acceptance criteria, (iv) the evaluation method for the obtained results and (v) how and when to revalidate.
Our recommendations are intended to help laboratories of anatomic pathology improving, harmonising and standardising their validation procedure. It is a compromise between achievability, affordability and patient safety.
We believe that the application of these recommendations will improve the accuracy of IHC testing, reduce inter laboratory variation and finally increase the overall quality of patient care.</p
