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Background: Mandrake (Mandragora spp.) is one of the most famous medicinal plant in western cultures since Biblical times and throughout written history. In many cultures, mandrake is related to magic and witchcraft, which is said to have a psychosomatic effect (especially when mandrake contains narcotic compounds) in addition to the pharmacological influence, as occurs with other narcotic magical plants. Due to its unique properties and related myths, it is not surprising that this plant has many names in many languages. Methods: This paper presents an attempt to reconstruct the historical, ethnobotanical, and folkloristic roots of 292 vernacular names of Mandragora spp. in forty-one languages. We used the plant's morphological data, philology, myths and legends, medicinal properties and uses, as well as historical evidence and folkloric data, to explain meaning, origin, migration, and history of the plant's names. Results: The names were classified into the following main categories: Derivatives of mandragora (19 languages), alraun (7) and of yabroukh (5). The salient groups of the plant's vernacular names are related to: Anthropomorphism (33 names in 13 languages); Similarity to other plants (28/9); Supernatural agents (28/9); Narcotic effects (21/8); Leaves, fruits, and seeds (21/8); Aphrodisiac properties (17/10); Use of a dog (15/9); Gallows (14/5); Black magic, sorcery, witchcraft (13/8), and Medicinal use (11/7). Conclusions: This frequency distribution of the mandrake's vernacular names reflects its widespread reputation as related to the doctrine of signatures, beliefs in its supernatural, natural, and mythic powers, and to a lesser extent, its uses in magic and medicine. A spatiotemporal analysis of the mandrake's names supports the old idea that the pulling ceremonies for this plant originated in the Near East and that various other myths related to this plant may have originated in different places and periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many countries have some kind of energy-system transformation either planned or ongoing for various reasons, such as to curb carbon emissions or to compensate for the phasing out of nuclear energy. One important component of these transformations is the overall reduction in energy demand. It is generally acknowledged that the domestic sector represents a large share of total energy consumption in many countries. Increased energy efficiency is one factor that reduces energy demand, but behavioral approaches (known as “sufficiency”) and their respective interventions also play important roles. In this paper, we address citizens’ heterogeneity regarding both their current behaviors and their willingness to realize their sufficiency potentials—that is, to reduce their energy consumption through behavioral change. We collaborated with three Swiss cities for this study. A survey conducted in the three cities yielded thematic sets of energy-consumption behavior that various groups of participants rated differently. Using this data, we identified four groups of participants with different patterns of both current behaviors and sufficiency potentials. The paper discusses intervention types and addresses citizens’ heterogeneity and behaviors from a city-based perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores which demographic characteristics substantially bias self-reported physical and cognitive health status of older Europeans. The analysis utilises micro-data for 19 European countries from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe to compare performance-tested outcomes of mobility and memory with their self-reported equivalents. Relative importance analysis based on multinomial logistic regressions shows that the bias in self-reported health is mostly due to reporting heterogeneities between countries and age groups, whereas gender contributes little to the discrepancy. Concordance of mobility and cognition measures is highly related; however, differences in reporting behaviour due to education and cultural background have a larger impact on self-assessed memory than on self-assessed mobility. Southern as well as Central and Eastern Europeans are much more likely to misreport their physical and cognitive abilities than Northern and Western Europeans. Overall, our results suggest that comparisons of self-reported health between countries and age groups are prone to significant biases, whereas comparisons between genders are credible for most European countries. These findings are crucial given that self-assessed data are often the only information available to researchers and policymakers when asking health-related questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the process of adapting the Stanford Coreference resolution module to the Basque language, taking into account the characteristics of the language. The module has been integrated in a linguistic analysis pipeline obtaining an end-to-end coreference resolution system for the Basque language. The adaptation process explained can benefit and facilitate other languages with similar characteristics in the implementation of their coreference resolution systems. During the experimentation phase, we have demonstrated that language-specific features have a noteworthy effect on coreference resolution, obtaining a gain in CoNLL score of 7.07 with respect to the baseline system. We have also analysed the effect that preprocessing has in coreference resolution, comparing the results obtained with automatic mentions versus gold mentions. When gold mentions are provided, the results increase 11.5 points in CoNLL score in comparison with results obtained when automatic mentions are used. The contribution of each sieve is analysed concluding that morphology is essential for agglutinative languages to obtain good performance in coreference resolution. Finally, an error analysis of the coreference resolution system is presented which have revealed our system’s weak points and help to determine the improvements of the system. As a result of the error analysis, we have enriched the Basque coreference resolution adding new two sieves, obtaining an improvement of 0.24 points in CoNLL F1 when automatic mentions are used and of 0.39 points when the gold mentions are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outcomes of bargaining over losses, the subject of this paper, have rarely been studied. But experimental studies of related situations, such as those involving bankruptcies or bequests in which the sum of the legal claims that can be made against a bank or firm or estate are greater than their values, have produced strong support for the proportionality principle. To test whether this principle would find support in other situations involving losses we designed an experimental game in which four players start out with differing initial endowments of real money. They are then informed that a certain amount of this resource has to be given back to the experimenter. How should the loss be shared among the agents? This game was run at different locations and under different treatments over a period of almost three years. We found that the proportionality principle was rarely proposed and even less frequently accepted as a solution to this problem. One of the main reasons for this result was that the two players with the smallest endowments opposed most of the proposals which asked them to contribute at least some positive amount of their own initial resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patient and public involvement (PPI) is a requirement for UK health and social care research funding. Evidence for how best to implement PPI in research programmes, such as National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaborations for Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRCs), remains limited. This paper reports findings from an action research (AR) project called IMPRESS, which aims to strengthen PPI within CLAHRC East of England (EoE). IMPRESS combines AR with Normalisation Process Theory (NPT) to explore PPI within diverse case study projects, identifying actions to implement, test and refine to further embed PPI. Methods: We purposively selected CLAHRC EoE case study projects for in-depth analysis of PPI using NPT. Data were generated from project PPI documentation, semi-structured qualitative interviews with researchers and PPI contributors and focus groups. Transcripts and documents were subjected to abductive thematic analysis and triangulation within case. Systematic across case comparison of themes was undertaken with findings and implications refined through stakeholder consultation. Results: We interviewed 24 researchers and 13 PPI contributors and analysed 28 documents from 10 case studies. Three focus groups were held: two with researchers (n = 4 and n = 6) and one with PPI contributors (n = 5). Findings detail to what extent projects made sense of PPI, bought in to PPI, operationalised PPI and appraised it, thus identifying barriers and enablers to fully embedded PPI. Conclusion: Combining NPT with AR allows us to assess the embeddedness of PPI within projects and programme, to inform specific local action and report broader conceptual lessons for PPI knowledge and practice informing the development of an action framework for embedding PPI in research programmes. To embed PPI within similar programmes teams, professionals, disciplines and institutions should be recognised as variably networked into existing PPI support. Further focus and research is needed on sharing PPI learning and supporting innovation in PPI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Due to changes in Polish society resulting from a significant inflow of immigrants to Poland, the need to develop the cultural competences of various professional groups who have contact with immigrants in their work has increased. These groups should include healthcare professionals, especially because of the significant increase in the number of culturally diverse patients. Therefore, medical education in Poland has had to rapidly adapt to this novel situation. For instance, the teaching process should be now more focused on the development and evaluation of the cultural competences of prospective health care workers. However, there is still a lack of standardized, valid and reliable instruments to assess cross-cultural competences among healthcare professionals. The purpose of the present paper was to describe, for the first time, the translation, adaptation, and psychometric evaluation of the Polish version of the Cross-Cultural Competence Inventory. Methods: Across two studies, we examined psychometric properties of the Cross-Cultural Competence Inventory (CCCI) such as reliability (i.e. internal consistency, test-retest reliability, factor structure) and validity (i.e. theoretical, criteria, convergent). In the first study, 408 participants (75% were healthcare professionals) completed the Polish version of the CCCI and the Positive/Negative Attitude Towards Culturally Divergent People Questionnaire. In the second study, 317 participants (97% were healthcare professionals) completed the CCCI twice, with an interval of at least 22 days. In addition, across two study sessions, participants completed questionnaires constructed to measure (a) cultural intelligence, (b) need for cognitive closure, (c) emphatic sensitiveness, (d) emotional intelligence, (e) self-esteem, (f) social desirability, and (g) personality. Finally, to additionally examine the theoretical validity, 36 professional cross-cultural competence trainers completed the CCCI during a one-session study. Results: Our findings confirm the reliability and validity of the CCCI. More precisely, in study 1 we proved the theoretical validity and reliability (i.e. internal consistency) of the CCCI. While the assumed structure did not fit the data well, all items were significantly related to the general factor, thus providing strong support for the usage of the total score of the CCCI. In study 2, we additionally estimated the test-retest reliability and theoretical, criterion and convergent validity. Across two studies we were able to successfully confirm these psychometric properties. The reliability was satisfactory and ranged from .83 to .86. We also observed a high and significant positive correlation between CCCI and the Cultural Intelligence Scale, which measures a concept similar to the one measured by CCCI. In addition, a significant relationship between intercultural competences (CCCI) and other variables such as personality, empathic sensitivity, emotional intelligence, self-esteem (positive correlations) and the need for cognitive closure (mainly negative correlation) were demonstrated. Conclusions: The obtained results support the usage of the CCCI questionnaire in scientific research, such as, for example, among healthcare professionals (nurses, doctors) and students of medical fields (nursing, medicine). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background This paper provides the socio-economic context of the MIGHEAL study, the results of which are presented in this special issue. The aim of the MIGHEAL study was to compare the physical and mental health of the native and migrant populations of Greece in the wake of the economic crisis that commenced in 2008. Methods The background of the migrant population of Greece is described, drawing on population censuses of Greece and data on residence permits held by foreigners. Then the migrant and native populations are compared with respect to several socio-economic outcomes, using Eurostat data on unemployment and the risk of poverty. Results The settled migrant population of Greece is largely of Central and Eastern European origin, resulting from the massive migrant inflowsthat started at the beginning of the 1990s after the collapse of socialist regimes in the area. Before the economic crisis, migrant unemployment was lower than that of natives, but after its onset, the unemployment of migrants surpassed that of natives. Prior to the crisis, migrants were already subject to greater risk of poverty than natives, but the gap widened considerably subsequent to the crisis. Conclusion The Greek institutional framework has restricted access to citizenship for both first- and second-generation migrants while conditions for permit renewal are onerous, rendering citizenship an important factor differentiating socio-economic outcomes. The different outcomes observed among the native and migrant populations after the onset of the Greek economic crisis create concerns regarding health inequalities between the two populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The aim of the paper is to examine the role of income inequality and redistribution for income-related health inequalities in Europe. This paper contributes in two ways to the literature on macro determinants of socio-economic inequalities in health. First, it widens the distinctive focus of the research field on welfare state regimes to quantifiable measures such as social policy indicators. Second, looking at income differences completes studies on socio-economic health inequalities, which often analyse health inequalities based on educational differences. Methods: Using data from the European Values Study (2008/2009), 42 European countries are available for analysis. Country characteristics are derived from SWIID, Eurostat, and ILO and include indicators for income inequality, social policies, and economic performance. The data is analysed by using a two-step hierarchical estimation approach: At the first step--the individual level--the effect of household income on self-assessed health is extracted and introduced as an indicator measuring income-related health inequalities at the second step, the country-level. Results: Individual-level analyses reveal that income-related health inequalities exist all across Europe. Results from country-level analyses show that higher income inequality is significantly positively related to higher health inequalities while social policies do not show significant relations. Nevertheless, the results show the expected negative association between social policies and health inequalities. Economic performance also has a reducing influence on health inequalities. In all models, income inequality was the dominating explanatory effect for health inequalities. Conclusions: The analyses indicate that income inequality has more impact on health inequalities than social policies. On the contrary, social policies seemed to matter to all individuals regardless of socio-economic position since it is significantly positively linked to overall population health. Even though social policies are not significantly related to health inequalities, the power of public redistribution to impact health inequalities should not be downplayed. Social policies as a way of public redistribution are a possible instrument to reduce income inequalities which would in turn lead to a reduction in health inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Knowledge of HIV status can be important in reducing the risk of HIV exposure. In a European sample of men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM), we aimed to identify factors associated with HIV serostatus disclosure to the most recent anal intercourse (AI) partner. We also aimed to describe the impact of HIV serostatus disclosure on HIV exposure risks.Methods: During 2013 and 2014, 4901 participants were recruited for the bio-behavioural Sialon-II study in 13 European cities. Behavioural data were collected with a self-administered paper questionnaire. Biological specimens were tested for HIV antibodies. Factors associated with HIV serostatus disclosure with the most recent AI partner were examined using bivariate and multilevel multivariate logistic regression analysis. We also describe the role of serostatus disclosure for HIV exposure of the most recent AI partner.Results: Thirty-five percent (n = 1450) of the study participants reported mutual serostatus disclosure with their most recent AI partner or disclosed having HIV to their partner. Most of these disclosures occurred between steady partners (74%, n = 1077). In addition to the type of partner and HIV diagnosis status, other factors positively associated with HIV serostatus disclosure in the multilevel multivariate logistic regression model were recent testing, no condom use, and outness regarding sexual orientation. Disclosure rates were lowest in three south-eastern European cities. Following condom use (51%, n = 2099), HIV serostatus disclosure (20%, n = 807) was the second most common prevention approach with the most recent AI partner, usually resulting in serosorting. A potential HIV exposure risk for the partner was reported by 26% (111/432) of HIV antibody positive study participants. In 18% (20/111) of exposure episodes, an incorrect HIV serostatus was unknowingly communicated. Partner exposures were equally distributed between steady and non-steady partners.Conclusions: The probability of HIV exposure through condomless AI is substantially lower after serostatus disclosure compared to non-disclosure. Incorrect knowledge of one's HIV status contributes to a large proportion of HIV exposures amongst European MSM. Maintaining or improving condom use for anal intercourse with non-steady partners, frequent testing to update HIV serostatus awareness, and increased serostatus disclosure particularly between steady partners are confirmed as key aspects for reducing HIV exposures amongst European MSM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Group has developed a new multidimensional instrument measuring cancer-related fatigue to be used in conjunction with the quality of life core questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30). The module EORTC QLQ-FA13 assesses physical, cognitive, and emotional aspects of cancer-related fatigue.Methods: The methodology follows the EORTC guidelines for phase IV validation of modules. This paper focuses on the results of the psychometric validation of the factorial structure of the module. For validation and cross-validation confirmatory factor analysis (maximum likelihood estimation), intraclass correlation and Cronbach alpha for internal consistency were employed. The study involved an international multicenter collaboration of 11 European and non-European countries.Results: A total of 946 patients with various tumor diagnoses were enrolled. Based on the confirmatory factor analysis, we could approve the three-dimensional structure of the module. Removing one item and reassigning the factorial mapping of another item resulted in the EORTC QLQ-FA12. For the revised scale, we found evidence supporting good local (indicator reliability ≥ 0.60, factor reliability ≥ 0.82) and global model fit (GFI t1|t2 = 0.965/0.957, CFI t1|t2 = 0.976/0.972, RMSEA t1|t2 = 0.060/0.069) for both measurement points. For each scale, test-retest reliability proved to be very good (intraclass correlation: R t1-t2 = 0.905-0.921) and internal consistency proved to be good to high (Cronbach alpha = .79-.90).Conclusion: Based on the former phase III module, the multidimensional structure was revised as a phase IV module (EORTC FA12) with an improved scale structure. For a comprehensive validation of the EORTC FA12, further aspects of convergent and divergent validity as well as sensitivity to change should be determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the perceptions of some of the key stakeholders related with the European automotive manufacturers, automotive related industries – oil, tyres, electric batteries and information technology industries – and academia, about the technological contributions to lower greenhouse gas emissions of individual passenger vehicles. A qualitative approach, based on semi-structured interviews, was used in order to identify and explore possible relationships, causes, effects and dynamic processes. Technological and behavioural aspects were identified as crucial for the decrease of fossil fuels consumption and hence reducing carbon dioxide emissions. It was concluded that there is a strong focus on lowering the greenhouse gas and carbon dioxide emissions in the automotive sector and related industries concerning innovation process; furthermore there is a need for major stakeholders, including policy makers, to look at sustainable mobility using a more holistic and inclusive approach to achieve an effective delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented migrants are at risk of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and subsequent ill-health in Europe; yet, European minimum reception standards do not address SGBV. Hence, this paper explores the nature of SGBV occurring in this sector and discusses determinants for ‘Desirable Prevention’. Methods: Applying community-based participatory research, we conducted an SGBV knowledge, attitude and practice survey with residents and professionals in eight European countries. We conducted logistic regression using mixed models to analyse the data in R. Results: Of the 562 respondents, 58.3% reported cases of direct (23.3%) or peer (76.6%) victimization. Our results indicate that when men were involved, it most likely concerned sexual perpetration (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 4.09, confidence interval [CI]: 1.2; 13.89) and physical victimization (aOR: 2.57, CI: 1.65; 4), compared with females, who then rather perpetrated emotional violence (aOR: 1.85, CI: 1.08; 3.13) and underwent sexual victimization (aOR: 7.14, CI: 3.33; 16.67). Compared with others, asylum seekers appeared more likely to perpetrate physical (aOR 7.14, CI: 4; 12.5) and endure socio-economic violence (aOR: 10, CI: 1.37; 100), whereas professionals rather bore emotional (aOR: 2.01, CI: 0.98; 4.12) and perpetrated socio-economic violence (aOR: 25.91, CI: 13.41; 50.07). When group perpetration (aOR: 2.13, CI: 1.27; 3.58) or victimization (aOR: 1.84, CI: 1.1; 3.06) occurred, it most likely concerned socio-economic violence. Conclusion: Within the European asylum reception sector, residents and professionals of both sexes experience SGBV victimization and perpetration. Given the lack of prevention policies, our findings call for urgent Desirable Prevention programmes addressing determinants socio-ecologically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Depression Network Study (DeNt) is a multicentre study designed to identify genes and/or loci linked to and/or associated with susceptibility to unipolar depression in Caucasian families. This study presents the method and socio-demographic details of the first 470 affected sibling pairs recruited from 8 different sites in Europe and the United States of America. Methods: Probands fulfilling either the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 4th edition (DSM-IV) or the International Classification of Diseases 10th edition (ICD-10) criteria for recurrent unipolar depression of moderate or severe degree and who had at least one similarly affected sibling were eligible for the study. Detailed clinical and psychological assessments were undertaken on all subjects including an interview using the Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry. Blood samples were collected from all participants to extract DNA for linkage analysis. Results: The different sites used different recruitment strategies depending on local health care organisation but despite this there was remarkable similarity across sites for the subjects recruited. Although the Bonn site had significantly older subjects both for age of onset and age at interview, for the sample as a whole, subjects were interviewed in their mid-40s and had experienced the onset of their recurrent depression in their 20s. Preliminary genome screening was able to include 929 out of the 944 subjects (98.4%) typed at 932 autosomal and 544 X chromosome markers Conclusions: This paper describes the methodology and the characteristics of the subjects from the 414 families included in the first wave of genotyping from the multi-site DeNT study. Ultimately the study aims to collect affected sibling pairs from approximately 1200 families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This discussion paper aims to explore the need of a clarified definition of master's level mental health nursing competencies in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes in a European context. Mental health service users have, in spite of their right to equal overall health, higher rates of physical illness and are more likely to experience premature death than the general population. Implementation of a holistic concept of health comprising mental, physical and social aspects of health in mental health services has previously proved to be challenging. Methods: Master's level mental health nursing competencies in recent literature are discussed and illuminated in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes in order to enable the promotion of equal overall health among service users in mental health services. Results: The discussion show contents, values and utility of master's level mental health nursing competencies in mental health services and contribute to reduced role ambiguity by distinguishing master's level responsibilities from undergraduate nursing tasks and obligations of other professionals in mental health care. Conclusion: This discussion paper shapes implications for developments in master's level mental health nursing education curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the 20th anniversary of the European Society for Traumatic Stress (ESTSS). The author describes the circumstances across Europe when the society was founded in 1993. The author shares how most of the past presidents of ESTSS met in Bergen, Norway. An overview of the papers written by past presidents of ESTSS for the "European Journal of Psychotraumatology" is presented.