The Impact of Dementia on Women Internationally: an Integrative Review

Women are disproportionately affected by dementia, both in terms of developing dementia and becoming caregivers. We conducted an integrative review of English language literature of the issues affecting women in relation to dementia from an international perspective. The majority of relevant studies were conducted in high income countries, and none were from low-income countries. The effects of caregiving on health, wellbeing and finances are greater for women; issues facing women, particularly in low and middle-income countries need to be better understood. Research should focus on building resilience to help people adjust and cope long term.

Pollen Sources

This chapter reviews what is known about abundance and distribution of the 12 most important aeroallergenic pollens in Europe: Ambrosia, Alnus, Artemisia, Betula, Chenopodiaceae, Corylus, Cupressaceae/Taxaceae, Olea, Platanus, Poaceae, Quercus and Urtica/Parietaria. Abundance is based on 10 years of pollen records from 521 stations of the European Aeroallergen Network that were interpolated into 12 distribution maps covering most of Europe. The chapter compares the distribution maps with other types of distribution maps that are available for selected tree species and discuss two methods for making harmonized pollen source inventories: “bottom-up” and “top-down”. Both methods have advantages and disadvantages, and both need to be explored and further developed. Remote sensing has shown to be a valuable method to improve the inventories, especially the use of satellites. The full potential as well as limitations of remote sensing in relation to pollen sources remains to be explored. The review suggests that the most probable way of obtaining inventories of all 12 pollen species is to use top-down methods that use an ecosystem-based approach that for each particular species connects ecological preference, pollen counts and remote sensing.

Pollen From Alder (Alnus sp.), Birch (Betula sp.) and Oak (Quercus sp.) in the UK Originate From Small Woodlands

We have analysed the pollen seasons in Worcester for the period 2005–12 for alder (Alnus), birch (Betula) and oak (Quercus) by using back trajectory calculations and produced the first detailed source maps for these three pollen types. The study shows considerable variations in the source–receptor relationship of three of the most important tree pollen types in England with respect to allergy. Long Distance Transport is observed for Quercus and Betula but not for Alnus. The new source maps show a number of high emitting areas for Betula and Quercus, mainly near London, in the Midlands and in Wales. The production of source maps is sensitive to the used type of land cover data and how well they incorporate small woodlands. Two satellite products, Corine Land Cover and Globcover, are compared with the detailed national land cover product Land Cover Map 2007. The broad scale satellite products show either up to 50% less woody coverage or a direct misplacement of woodlands. The Lagrangian back trajectory model, the pollen count observations and the source maps altogether suggest that small woodlands (below 25 ha) play a major role in the overall pollen load in urban areas in England.