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1. General Introduction -- 1.1. The intraregional structure -- 1.2. The interregional structure -- 2. Economic-Ecologic Models -- 2.1. Input-Output analysis -- 2.2. Leontief's Model -- 2.3. Cumberland's Model -- 2.4. Daly's Model -- 2.5. Isard's Model -- 2.6. Victor's Model -- 2.7. Conclusion -- 3. The Consumption Function -- 3.1. Theoretical consumption function -- 3.2. Estimation of the consumption function -- 4. The Investment Function -- 4.1. Theoretical investment function -- 4.2. Estimation of the investment function -- 5. The Employment Function -- 5.1. Theoretical employment function -- 5.2. Estimation of the employment function -- 6. The Pollution Input-Output Matrix -- 6.1. Conceptual approach -- 6.2. Estimation of the pollution input-output matrix -- 6.3. Comparison of the two estimations -- 7. The Pollution Dispersion Matrix -- 7.1. The concept of a pollution dispersion matrix -- 7.2. Previous studies -- 7.3. Estimation of the pollution dispersion matrix -- 7.4. Results -- 7.5. Pollution constraints and wind directions -- 8. The Input-Output Matrix -- 8.1. Imports and exports -- 8.2. Transportation problems and input-output tables -- 8.3. Construction of the model -- 9. The Mathematics of the Model -- 9.1. Geometric programming -- 9.2. Generalized reduced gradient methods -- 10. Results -- 10.1. Application I -- 10.2. Application II -- 10.3. Application III.A -- 10.4. Application III.B -- 10.5. Summary of the results of applications I, II, IIIA and IIIB -- 11. Conclusions.

Rodents are known to cause massive food losses, but are also implicated as reservoirs for a wide variety of zoonotic pathogens. This review discusses the contribution of rodents in the spread and transmission of Coxiella burnetii, the causative agent of Q-fever. We found that rodents have been implicated as reservoirs for Q-fever, but their role in pathogen maintenance, geographic spread and transmission still remains to be clarified. As there are indications for a role of rodents in Q-fever epidemiology, including during the 2007–10 outbreak in the Netherlands, the overall lack of knowledge on the role of rodents warrants studies into their contribution in transmission of C. burnetii from the sylvatic cycle to the domestic cycle, in within-herd transmission, in transmission to surrounding farms and in direct transmission to humans. Although the basic sylvatic and domestic cycles of C. burnetii infection can operate independently, they will overlap in many instances as many areas in the world are occupied by both domestic and wild animals. This area of Q-fever ecology is of interest and research should focus on this aspect of Q-fever epidemiology and, in particular, on the role of rodents therein. More studies are needed that elicit the exact role of rodents in epidemiology of C. burnetii to further optimise disease control.

Today, health insurance is a key component in the system of social security in most European Union countries. In many of these countries, modern health-insurance funds and healthcare insurers play an essential role in implementing the public health-insurance system. Many of these health-insurance funds have a long and fascinating history, of which clear traces can be seen today in the organisation and structure of health insurance, as well as health-insurance funds and insurers. In Two centuries of solidarity, the authors compare the systems of health insurance, health-insurance funds and healthcare insurers in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Given the similar political, economic and social development that these countries have undergone in the past 60 years and the availability of a qualitatively high level of health care, one might expect a high degree of similarity between these countries' healthcare insurance systems. However, the dissimilarities are surprising. In fact, these differences are currently becoming ever more apparent between systems in general, and the structure and operation of the health insurance funds and health care insurers in particular. The differences include the compulsory nature of insurance, the extent of coverage, premiums, entrepreneurship, competition, and the degree of private insurance. Many of these national singularities can be understood and explained only by considering the historical background of the health insurance systems, the insurers, and their evolution over the past two centuries. This study adopts an institutional and political perspective towards a further understanding of the development of health insurance, and of how this ultimately determined the specific nature of the healthcare insurers and funds and the way they currently operate in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) is considered to be a major emerging infectious threat, according to the WHO R&D blueprint. A wide range of CCHFV molecular assays have been developed, employing varied primer/probe combinations. The high genetic variability of CCHFV often hampers the efficacy of available molecular tests and can affect their diagnostic potential. Recently, increasing numbers of complete CCHFV genomic sequences have become available, allowing a better appreciation of the genomic evolution of this virus. We summarized the current knowledge on molecular methods and developed a new bioinformatics tool to evaluate the existing assays for CCHFV detection, with a special focus on strains circulating in different geographical areas. Twenty-two molecular methods and 181 sequences of CCHFV were collected, respectively, from PubMed and GenBank databases. Up to 28 mismatches between primers and probes of each assay and CCHFV strains were detected through in-silico PCR analysis. Combinations of up to three molecular methods markedly decreased the number of mismatches within most geographic areas. These results supported the good practice of CCHFV detection of performing more than one assay, aimed for different sequence targets. The choice of the most appropriate tests must take into account patient's travel history and geographic distribution of the different CCHFV strains. ; Funding: This research was supported by the following funds: Italian Ministry of Health, grants Ricerca Corrente–Linea 1; European Union, Joint Action Consumers, Health, Agriculture, and Food Executive Agency for E cient response to highly dangerous and emerging pathogens at EU level no. 677066 (EMERGE); European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), EVD-LabNet Framework contract ECDC/2016/00; European Union, Horizon 2020 research and innovation program "European Virus Archive goes Global" no. 653316 (EVAg). ; Sí

BACKGROUND: A new betacoronavirus-Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)-has been identified in patients with severe acute respiratory infection. Although related viruses infect bats, molecular clock analyses have been unable to identify direct ancestors of MERS-CoV. Anecdotal exposure histories suggest that patients had been in contact with dromedary camels or goats. We investigated possible animal reservoirs of MERS-CoV by assessing specific serum antibodies in livestock. METHODS: We took sera from animals in the Middle East (Oman) and from elsewhere (Spain, Netherlands, Chile). Cattle (n=80), sheep (n=40), goats (n=40), dromedary camels (n=155), and various other camelid species (n=34) were tested for specific serum IgG by protein microarray using the receptor-binding S1 subunits of spike proteins of MERS-CoV, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, and human coronavirus OC43. Results were confirmed by virus neutralisation tests for MERS-CoV and bovine coronavirus. FINDINGS: 50 of 50 (100%) sera from Omani camels and 15 of 105 (14%) from Spanish camels had protein-specific antibodies against MERS-CoV spike. Sera from European sheep, goats, cattle, and other camelids had no such antibodies. MERS-CoV neutralising antibody titres varied between 1/320 and 1/2560 for the Omani camel sera and between 1/20 and 1/320 for the Spanish camel sera. There was no evidence for cross-neutralisation by bovine coronavirus antibodies. INTERPRETATION: MERS-CoV or a related virus has infected camel populations. Both titres and seroprevalences in sera from different locations in Oman suggest widespread infection. FUNDING: European Union, European Centre For Disease Prevention and Control, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

Since September 2012, over 90 cases of respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus, now named Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), have been reported in the Middle East and Europe. To ascertain the capabilities and testing experience of national reference laboratories across the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region to detect this virus, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the WHO Regional Office for Europe conducted a joint survey in November 2012 and a follow-up survey in June 2013. In 2013, 29 of 52 responding WHO European Region countries and 24 of 31 countries of the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) had laboratory capabilities to detect and confirm MERS-CoV cases, compared with 22 of 46 and 18 of 30 countries, respectively, in 2012. By June 2013, more than 2,300 patients had been tested in 23 countries in the WHO European Region with nine laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV cases. These data indicate that the Region has developed significant capability to detect this emerging virus in accordance with WHO and ECDC guidance. However, not all countries had developed capabilities, and the needs to do so should be addressed. This includes enhancing collaborations between countries to ensure diagnostic capabilities for surveillance of MERS-CoV infections across the European Region. ; peer-reviewed