Suchergebnisse

This study explores differences on health status transitions based on functional health and dead records among older population in Europe. We also study the influence of residence pattern on health changes over time. Method: Data used came from EU-SILC registers on individuals aged 50 + from 19 countries. Fixed and Mixed effect Cox Proportional Hazards Models are used to ascertain any country differences on health outcomes and then by co-residence pattern. Results: There are remarkable country heterogeneity among older people to experience changes on their health status, specially, for health improvements and mortality risk. As expected, Baltic and Eastern European countries have a higher propensity for health deterioration and Southern European countries for health improvements on their functional capacities. However, there are exceptions as Bulgaria and Romania, which have a lower risk of deterioration and death transition than average. Overall, living with partner and adult children-rather than living only with a couple shown positive effects for older European to experience health improvements with notably differences in Southern countries as in Italy and Spain. Discussion: country framework differences play a fundamental role to understand changes on health status at older ages, in particular, how health care support toward older people is managed by health systems within European countries and the availability of close relatives among older adult population.

An analysis of the regulations of herbicide use for weed control in non-agricultural ⁄ urban amenity areas, including actual pesticide use, was carried out as a joint survey of seven European countries: Denmark, Finland, Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands, Sweden and United Kingdom. Herbicides constitute the major part of the pesticides used in urban amenity areas. Herbicide use on hard surfaces is the largest in terms of volume and potential contamination of surface and groundwater. The aim of the study was to investigate the differences in political interest and public debate on the use of pesticides in public urban amenity areas, regulations within each country at national, regional and local levels, possible use of alternative weed control methods and the amounts of pesticides used on urban amenity areas. A comparative analysis revealed major differences in political interest, regulations and availability of statistics on pesticide use. Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany have, or have had, a strong public and political interest for reducing the use of herbicides to control weeds in urban amenity areas and also have very strict regulations. The UK is currently undergoing a period of increasing awareness and strengthening regulation, while Latvia and Finland do not have specific regulations for weed control in urban amenity areas or on hard surfaces. Statistics on pesticide ⁄ herbicide use on urban amenity areas were only available in Denmark and the Netherlands. Developing this kind of information base reveals the differences in herbicide use, regulations and policies in European countries and may enhance the transfer of knowledge on sustainable weed control across countries.