Challenging the myth of an "epidemic" of common mental disorders : trends in the global prevalence of anxiety and depression between 1990 and 2010

Background Anxiety disorders and major depressive disorder (MDD) are common and disabling mental disorders. This paper aims to test the hypothesis that common mental disorders have become more prevalent over the past two decades. Methods We conducted a systematic review of prevalence, remission, duration, and excess mortality studies for anxiety disorders and MDD and then used a Bayesian meta-regression approach to estimate point prevalence for 1990, 2005, and 2010. We also conducted a post-hoc search for studies that used the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) as a measure of psychological distress and tested for trends to present a qualitative comparison of study findings. Results This study found no evidence for an increased prevalence of anxiety disorders or MDD. While the crude number of cases increased by 36%, this was explained by population growth and changing age structures. Point prevalence of anxiety disorders was estimated at 3.8% (3.6-4.1%) in 1990 and 4.0% (3.7-4.2%) in 2010. The prevalence of MDD was unchanged at 4.4% in 1990 (4.2-4.7%) and 2010 (4.1-4.7%). However, 8 of the 11 GHQ studies found a significant increase in psychological distress over time. Conclusions The perceived "epidemic" of common mental disorders is most likely explained by the increasing numbers of affected patients driven by increasing population sizes. Additional factors that may explain this perception include the higher rates of psychological distress as measured using symptom checklists, greater public awareness, and the use of terms such as anxiety and depression in a context where they do not represent clinical disorders.

The Routledge Companion to Social Media and Politics

Social media are now widely used for political protests, campaigns, and communication in developed and developing nations, but available research has not yet paid sufficient attention to experiences beyond the US and UK. This collection tackles this imbalance head-on, compiling cutting-edge research across six continents to provide a comprehensive, global, up-to-date review of recent political uses of social media. Drawing together empirical analyses of the use of social media by political movements and in national and regional elections and referenda, The Routledge Companion to Social Media and Politics presents studies ranging from Anonymous and the Arab Spring to the Greek Aganaktismenoi, and from South Korean presidential elections to the Scottish independence referendum. The book is framed by a selection of keystone theoretical contributions, evaluating and updating existing frameworks for the social media age. "Comprehensive and definitive, this is an outstanding book that provides a panoramic view of politics in an era of social media. From the Mediterranean to East Asia to Oceania, from Scandinavia to sub-Sahara Africa to Latin America, the volume as a whole is truly global, yet with nuanced regional and national analyses in each chapter. Theoretically informed, the research presented here breaks new empirical grounds using latest digital methods. The result is a milestone for our collective understanding of new media technology and comparative politics in the twenty-first century." ―Jack Linchuan Qiu, The Chinese University of Hong Kong "This book brings together top scholars from across disciplines and across the globe to examine social media use in a variety of political systems and for distinct purposes. It is required reading for anyone interested in understanding the many ways that digital communication technologies now are used in political life." ―Jennifer Stromer-Galley, Syracuse University

Women, environmental changes and forestry-related development : Gender-affected roles of rural people in land degradation and environmental rehabilitation in a dry region of Sudan

The purpose of the present study was to increase understanding of the interaction of rural people and, specifically, women with the environment in a dry area in Sudan. The study that included both nomadic pastoralists and farmers aimed at answering two main research questions, namely: What kinds of roles have the local people, and the women in particular, had in land degradation in the study area and what kinds of issues would a gender-sensitive, forestry-related environmental rehabilitation intervention need to consider there? The study adopted the definition of land degradation as proposed by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), which describes land degradation as reduction or loss the biological or economic productivity and complexity of land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. The Convention perceives desertification as land degradation. The dry study area in Sudan, South of the Sahara, has been the subject of land degradation or desertification discussions since the 1970s, and other studies have been also conducted to assess the degradation in the area. Nevertheless, the exact occurrence, scale and local significance of land degradation in the area is still unclear. This study explored how the rural population whose livelihood depended on the area, perceived environmental changes occurring there and compared their conceptions with other sources of information of the area such as research reports. The main fieldwork methods included interviews with open-ended questions and observation of people and the environment. The theoretical framework conceptualised the rural population as land users whose choices of environmental activities are affected by multiple factors in the social and biophysical contexts in which they live. It was emphasised that these factors have their own specific characteristics in different contexts, simultaneously recognising that there are also factors that generally affect environmental practices in various areas such as the land users' environmental literacy (conceptions of the environment), gender and livelihood needs. The people studied described that environmental changes, such as reduced vegetation cover and cropland production, had complicated the maintenance of their livelihoods in the study area. Some degraded sites were also identified through observations during the fieldwork. Whether a large-scale reduction of cropland productivity had occurred in the farmers' croplands remained, however, unclear. The study found that the environmental impact of the rural women's activities varied and was normally limited. The women's most significant environmental impact resulted from their cutting of trees, which was likely to contribute, at least in some places, to land degradation, affecting the environment together with climate and livestock. However, when a wider perspective is taken, it becomes questionable whether the women have really played roles in land degradation, since gender, poverty and the need to maintain livelihood had caused them to conduct environmentally harmful activities. The women have had, however, no power to change the causes of their activities. The findings further suggested that an inadequate availability of food was the most critical problem in the study area. Therefore, an environmental programme in the area was suggested to include technical measures to increase the productivity of croplands, opportunities for income generation and readiness to co-operate with other programmes to improve the local people's abilities to maintain their livelihoods. In order to protect the environment and alleviate the women's work burden, the introduction of fuel-saving stoves was also suggested. Furthermore, it was suggested that increased planting of trees on homesteads would be supported by an easy availability of tree seedlings. Planting trees on common property land was, however, perceived as extremely demanding in the study area, due to scarcity of such land. In addition, it became apparent that the local land users, and women in particular, needed to allocate their labour to maintain the immediate livelihood of their families and were not motivated to allocate their labour solely for environmental rehabilitation. Nonetheless, from the point of view of the existing social structures, women's active participation in a community-based environmental programme would be rather natural, particularly among the farmer women who had already formed a women's group and participated in communal decision making. Forming of a women group or groups was suggested to further support both the farmer women's and pastoral women's active participation within an environmental programme and their general empowerment. An Environmental programme would need to acknowledge that improving rural people's well-being and maintaining their livelihood in the study area requires development and co-operation with various sectors in Sudan.

Characterisation and source identification of pollution episodes caused by long-range transported aerosols

Aerosol particles can cause detrimental environmental and health effects. The particles and their precursor gases are emitted from various anthropogenic and natural sources. It is important to know the origin and properties of aerosols to efficiently reduce their harmful effects. The diameter of aerosol particles (Dp) varies between ~0.001 and ~100 μm. Fine particles (PM2.5: Dp < 2.5 μm) are especially interesting because they are the most harmful and can be transported over long distances. The aim of this thesis is to study the impact on air quality by pollution episodes of long-range transported aerosols affecting the composition of the boundary-layer atmosphere in remote and relatively unpolluted regions of the world. The sources and physicochemical properties of aerosols were investigated in detail, based on various measurements (1) in southern Finland during selected long-range transport (LRT) pollution episodes and unpolluted periods and (2) over the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and Antarctica during a voyage. Furthermore, the frequency of LRT pollution episodes of fine particles in southern Finland was investigated over a period of 8 years, using long-term air quality monitoring data. In southern Finland, the annual mean PM2.5 mass concentrations were low but LRT caused high peaks of daily mean concentrations every year. At an urban background site in Helsinki, the updated WHO guideline value (24-h PM2.5 mean 25 μg/m3) was exceeded during 1-7 LRT episodes each year during 1999-2006. The daily mean concentrations varied between 25 and 49 μg/m3 during the episodes, which was 3-6 times higher than the mean concentration in the long term. The in-depth studies of selected LRT episodes in southern Finland revealed that biomass burning in agricultural fields and wildfires, occurring mainly in Eastern Europe, deteriorated air quality on a continental scale. The strongest LRT episodes of fine particles resulted from open biomass-burning fires but the emissions from other anthropogenic sources in Eastern Europe also caused significant LRT episodes. Particle mass and number concentrations increased strongly in the accumulation mode (Dp ~ 0.09-1 μm) during the LRT episodes. However, the concentrations of smaller particles (Dp < 0.09 μm) remained low or even decreased due to the uptake of vapours and molecular clusters by LRT particles. The chemical analysis of individual particles showed that the proportions of several anthropogenic particle types increased (e.g. tar balls, metal oxides/hydroxides, spherical silicate fly ash particles and various calcium-rich particles) in southern Finland during an LRT episode, when aerosols originated from the polluted regions of Eastern Europe and some open biomass-burning smoke was also brought in by LRT. During unpolluted periods when air masses arrived from the north, the proportions of marine aerosols increased. In unpolluted rural regions of southern Finland, both accumulation mode particles and small-sized (Dp ~ 1-3 μm) coarse mode particles originated mostly from LRT. However, the composition of particles was totally different in these size fractions. In both size fractions, strong internal mixing of chemical components was typical for LRT particles. Thus, the aging of particles has significant impacts on their chemical, hygroscopic and optical properties, which can largely alter the environmental and health effects of LRT aerosols. Over the Atlantic Ocean, the individual particle composition of small-sized (Dp ~ 1-3 μm) coarse mode particles was affected by continental aerosol plumes to distances of at least 100-1000 km from the coast (e.g. pollutants from industrialized Europe, desert dust from the Sahara and biomass-burning aerosols near the Gulf of Guinea). The rate of chloride depletion from sea-salt particles was high near the coasts of Europe and Africa when air masses arrived from polluted continental regions. Thus, the LRT of continental aerosols had significant impacts on the composition of the marine boundary-layer atmosphere and seawater. In conclusion, integration of the results obtained using different measurement techniques captured the large spatial and temporal variability of aerosols as observed at terrestrial and marine sites, and assisted in establishing the causal link between land-bound emissions, LRT and air quality.

Dust aerosols over India and adjacent continents retrieved using METEOSAT infrared radiance Part II: quantification of wind dependence and estimation of radiative forcing

Long-range transport of continental dust makes these particles a significant constituent even at locations far from their sources. It is important to study the temporal variations in dust loading over desert regions and the role of meteorology, in order to assess its radiative impact. In this paper, infrared radiance (10.5-12.5 mu m), acquired by the METEOSAT-5 satellite (similar to 5-km resolution) during 1999 and 2003 was used to quantify wind dependence of dust aerosols and to estimate the radiative forcing. Our analysis shows that the frequency of occurrence of dust events was higher during 2003 compared to 1999. Since the dust production function depends mainly on the surface wind speed over regions which are dry and without vegetation, the role of surface wind on IDDI was examined in detail. It was found that an increase of IDDI with wind speed was nearly linear and the rate of increase in IDDI with surface wind was higher during 2003 compared to 1999. It was also observed that over the Indian desert, when wind speed was the highest during monsoon months (June to August), the dust production rate was lower because of higher soil moisture (due to monsoon rainfall). Over the Arabian deserts, when the wind speed is the highest during June to August, the dust production rate is also highest, as soil moisture is lowest during this season. Even though nothing can be said precisely on the reason why 2003 had a greater number of dust events, examination of monthly mean soil moisture at source regions indicates that the occurrence of high winds simultaneous with high soil moisture could be the reason for the decreased dust production efficiency in 1999. It appears that the deserts of Northwest India are more efficient dust sources compared to the deserts of Saudi Arabia and Northeast Africa (excluding Sahara). The radiative impact of dust over various source regions is estimated, and the regionally and annually averaged top of the atmosphere dust radiative forcing (short wave, clear-sky and over land) over the entire study region (0-35 degrees N; 30 degrees-100 degrees E) was in the range of -0.9 to +4.5 W m(-2). The corresponding values at the surface were in the range of -10 to -25 W m(-2). Our studies demonstrate that neglecting the diurnal variation of dust can cause errors in the estimation of long wave dust forcing by as much as 50 to 100%, and nighttime retrieval of dust can significantly reduce the uncertainties. A method to retrieve dust aerosols during nighttime is proposed. The regionally and annually averaged long wave dust radiative forcing was +3.4 +/- 1.6 W m(-2).

Afrikkalaisen sikaruton mahdollisia maahantuloreittejä

Afrikkalainen sikarutto on lakisääteisesti vastustettava helposti leviävä sikojen ja villisikojen virustauti, jolla on myös vakavia sosioekonomisia vaikutuksia. Akuutissa tautimuodossa eläimillä esiintyy syömättömyyttä, korkeaa kuumetta, verenpurkaumia iholla, veristä ulostetta sekä mahdollisesti ripulia. Kuolleisuus on lähes 100 % ja tauti johtaa kuolemaan 7-10 vrk tartunnan jälkeen. Tauti ei tartu ihmisiin. Tautia esiintyy sekä kesy- että villisioissa suurimmassa osassa Saharan eteläpuolista Afrikkaa ja Sardiniassa. Vuodesta 2007 lähtien tautia on esiintynyt Kaukasuksen alueella ja vuonna 2011 lähellä Suomen rajaa: Leningradin alueella ja Kuolan niemimaalla. Tässä riskiprofiilissa kartoitetaan reitit ja tapahtumasarjat, jotka voivat johtaa siihen, että afrikkalainen sikarutto tulee Suomeen ensimmäisen kerran. Näistä oleellisimmat ovat: maahantulo infektioalueella matkustaneiden ihmisten mukana, infektoituneen lihan tai lihatuotteen mukana, elävien kesysikojen ja sperman mukana, kontaminoituneiden eläinkuljetusajoneuvojen mukana, kansainvälisen liikenteen ruokajätteen mukana ja Suomeen vaeltavan infektoituneen villisian mukana. Tilatason tautisuojaus sekä tehokas ja kohdennettu tiedottaminen taudin vaaroista ovat avainasemassa, kun halutaan suojata Suomen sikaelinkeinoa afrikkalaiselta sikarutolta.

La intervención de terceros en el amparo : comunidad de controversias y afectación de derechos

Resumen: Características del amparo y la posibilidad de la intervención de terceros en dicho tipo de procesos; criterios jurisprudenciales, tanto provinciales como nacionales, sobre la intervención en determinados supuestos, vinculados a la posibilidad de una comunidad de controversia con los litigantes principales y a la afectación de algún derecho del pretenso tercero.

Ensayos de Política Económica, Año VIII, Vol. II, Nº 2, 2014

Contenido: Editorial -- Interaction between a strategic mass media firm and a government / Julián Alberto Batista -- Políticas proteccionistas de la Argentina desde 2003 : del auge a la decadencia económica / Julio J. Nogués -- Lidiando con las estadísticas internacionales en las ciencias sociales / José María Dagnino Pastore ; Luis María Libonatti -- La relación virtuosa de la seguridad y la inversión extranjera directa en Colombia (1994-2013) / Catalina Gómez Toro -- Estimación de la probabilidad de default : un modelo probit para los bancos argentinos / Felipe Klein -- Aproximación a las causas de la desigualdad económica / Maximiliano Mozetic -- Reseñas

Potencial de mercado de la papa en Nicaragua

El estudio fue realizado el mes de julio del 2008, con el propósito de analizar información clave de tipo comercial específicamente de ocho (8) mercados municipales del país; para que productores y demás interesados dispongan de información de mercado para la toma de decisiones económico-social en el rubro papa. Para el estudio se utilizó información escrita de fuentes del sector agrario, además de fuentes directas como informantes claves de ocho mercados municipales de un universo de 292 puestos de venta, de los cuales se seleccionaron 131 puestos como muestra de estudio. Las variables del estudio versaron sobre oferta y demanda, proyección y tipo de demanda, calidad y ventanas de mercado en diferentes periodos del año. Los resultados reflejan que la producción de papas frescas en Nicaragua es deficitaria en comparación a la demanda global, considerando un percapita de 8 kilogramos (17.6 libras) en el consumo anual. Esto significa que el país depende de las importaciones que oscilan en un 40% y que provienen principalmente del área Centro Americana para satisfacer el déficit que cada año se manifiesta. Se proyectó la demanda insatisfecha a partir del año 2010 al 2020 considerando la producción local, el tipo de demanda, consumo percapita y viabilidad comercial; y los resultados marcan una tendencia decreciente respecto a las importaciones vía sustitución de importaciones con producción nacional. Las tendencias indican que dado la demanda y lo atractivo desde el punto de vista económico del rubro, los productores locales se ven estimulados en el futuro a incrementar el número de áreas y rendimientos por unidad producida,reduciendo la dependencia del exterior. Nicaragua es el país en Centro América con mayor cantidad de tierras aptas para la agricultura en diferentes rubros. Sin embargo, la producción de papas registra los menores rendimientos por área y países debido a la baja calidad de la semilla, inadecuados métodos y técnicas de cultivo, de control de plagas y enfermedades y manejo post cosecha. Las ventanas de mercado por escasez del producto ocurren en los meses de mayo a julio y de octubre a diciembre. Sobre las características de la papa nacional, los entrevistados resaltan la resistencia a la manipulación, el rendimiento y la duración o vida útil del producto. Entre los defectos mencionaron lo sucio, y pequeño del producto. La opinión sobre las características de la papa importada, está enfocada a la limpieza, buen tamaño y selección del producto. Entre los aspectos negativos de la papa importada se resalta la poca resistencia a la manipulación y sabor insípido del producto. Sobre la base de las características de la nacional y extranjera; el reto es producir una papa que reúna requisitos de resistencia, rendimiento, solides (nicaragüense) y buen tamaño (importada). En Nicaragua existen áreas agrícolas aptas para el rubro (Estelí, Matagalpa, Jinotega), poca competencia en la producción interna, rubro atractivo como negocio por su aceptable rentabilidad y una tendencias a incrementar el consumo percapita por su valor nutritivo e importancia en la seguridad alimentaria nacional.

Reproducción de las autorizaciones entregadas al canónigo Alberto Onaindia por el E.B.B. y el Gobierno de Euzkadi para entablar negociaciones con el Gobierno italiano.

Fecha: 3-7-1937 (>1970 reproducción) / Unidad de instalación: Carpeta 45 - Expediente 1-1 / Nº de pág.: 2 (mecanografiadas)

Reproducción de las Condiciones de Capitulación en Santander de las fuerzas vascas ante las fuerzas italianas.

Fecha: >1970 reproducción / Unidad de instalación: Carpeta 45 - Expediente 1-4 / Nº de pág.: 3 (mecanografiadas)

Informe titulado "Antecedentes del "Pacto de Santoña". Narra las negociaciones establecidas entre representantes del Gobierno de Euzkadi e italianos con el fin de llegar a una Paz negociada para Euzkadi.

Fecha: 11-5-1937/8-1937 (>1970 reproducción) / Unidad de instalación: Carpeta 45 - Expediente 1-5 / Nº de pág.: 87 (mecanografiadas)

Informe titulado "Rendición del Ejército Vasco en Santander".

Fecha: 1937 (>1970 reproducción) / Unidad de instalación: Carpeta 45 - Expediente 1-6 / Nº de pág.: 62 (mecanografiadas)

Reproducción de la Correspondencia remitida por Juan de Ajuriaguerra, desde el penal del Dueso (Santoña), al general italiano Manzini.

Fecha: 15/23-10-1937 (>1970 reproducción) / Unidad de instalación: Carpeta 45 - Expediente 1-7 / Nº de pág.: 5 (mecanografiadas)

Informe titulado "Las Causas de la Rendición del Ejército Vasco en Santander".

Fecha: 4-10-1937 (>1970 reproducción) / Unidad de instalación: Carpeta 45 - Expediente 1-12 / Nº de pág.: 17 (mecanografiadas)