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This paper provides a new synthesis of perforated fish vertebrae in prehistoric and historic Europe, with a particular focus on Poland, within the broader context of Central and Eastern Europe. The earliest examples of such artefacts in Europe date from the Upper Palaeolithic, but compared to other 'beads' manufactured from animal bone, perforated fish vertebrae are rare. This paper examines the diachronic trends in the range of species that have been chosen for such objects, as well as their depositional contexts. Despite the wide range of freshwater and marine species exploited by people, only the vertebrae of a few species—especially pike and catfish—were selected for use as beads. There is a general shift from their deposition in funerary contexts in prehistoric European societies to their association as low‐status objects associated with Christian private devotion in the post‐conversion period. However, this may not reflect continuity in the use of fish vertebrae, with a shift in their symbolism after the conversion to Christianity, given the substantial chronological gaps in the archaeological record. This synthesis nonetheless provides a solid foundation for contextualising future archaeological finds of such artefacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study drying trends across the central latitude strip of Europe (47.5–52.5°N and 2.5–27.5°E) during 1980–2019 and their links to atmospheric circulation. Daily differences between potential evapotranspiration and precipitation (PET–P) calculated from the E–OBS data are used to characterize dryness, and atmospheric circulation is represented by circulation types classified using daily sea level pressure patterns from the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis. Circulation types favoring dry conditions in vegetation season (April–September) are identified based on daily PET–P, and their temporal changes, seasonal variations, and links to trends in dryness in individual European regions are analyzed. In the early vegetation season (AMJ), drying trends are observed mainly in Western and Central Europe while in the late vegetation season (JAS), they are located predominantly in Eastern Europe. The dry circulation types include all anticyclonic types in all regions, as well as northeast to south (southwest in Eastern Europe) directional types. Trends of the dry circulation types correspond to those of dryness: the largest increase is found during AMJ in Western and Central Europe but during JAS in Eastern Europe. The results show that trends in dryness in the central latitude strip of Europe in the warm half‐year were associated with changes in atmospheric circulation, as the largest increases in frequency of dry circulation types occurred in the regions and months affected by pronounced drying. The increasing frequency of anticyclonic types in AMJ and reduced inflow of moist air masses from the Atlantic are the key factors supporting intensification of dry conditions in European mid‐latitudes. Plain Language Summary: Drought is a major climatic hazard that threatens many aspects of society and ecosystems. The 2015–2018 dry period and the recent dry summer of 2022 in Europe are mere examples of many recent droughts developing worldwide. We studied how dryness severity progressed in Europe since 1980 and whether trends in dryness were linked to changes in atmospheric circulation. We found distinct regional patterns in drying trends: while Western and Central Europe recorded the largest increases in dryness during the early vegetation season (April–June), Eastern Europe, by contrast, had more distinct drying trends in the late vegetation season (July–September). We linked this pattern to changes in frequency of circulation types favorable to dryness and concluded that increased frequency of anticyclonic (clear‐sky) weather and reduced westerly flow of moist oceanic air contributed to drought intensification in European mid‐latitudes. Key Points: Significant drying trends in European mid‐latitudes since 1980s have been primarily linked to growing potential evapotranspirationDry conditions during early vegetation season have become more frequent and severe particularly in Western and Central EuropeIncreased frequency of circulation types favoring dry conditions corresponds both spatially and temporally to the drying trends [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Undiagnosed HIV infection is a prominent clinical issue throughout Europe that requires the continuous attention of all healthcare professionals and policymakers to prevent missed testing opportunities and late diagnosis. This systematic review aimed to evaluate interventions to increase HIV testing rates and case detection in European hospitals. Out of 4598 articles identified, 29 studies fulfilled the selection criteria. Most of the studies were conducted in single Western European capital cities, and only one study was from Eastern Europe. The main interventions investigated were test-all and indicator-condition-based testing strategies. Overall, the prevalence of undiagnosed HIV was well above 0.1%. The studied interventions increased the HIV testing rate and the case detection rate. The highest prevalence of undiagnosed HIV was found with the indicator-condition-driven testing strategy, whereas the test-all strategy had the most profound impact on the proportion of late diagnoses. Nevertheless, the HIV testing rates and case-finding varied considerably across studies. In conclusion, effective strategies to promote HIV testing in European hospitals are available, but relevant knowledge gaps regarding generalizability and sustainability remain. These gaps require the promotion of adherence to HIV testing guidelines, as well as additional larger studies representing all European regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Butterflies are charismatic insects and have been well studied, particularly in Europe. They are disproportionately used in generating and testing hypotheses; on everything from general evolutionary processes, such as speciation or host association dynamics; to conservation‐related studies, such as climate change or habitat loss. Accurate lists of the larval foodplants for European butterflies are not readily available. Mistakes are propagated and information cannot be checked for accuracy. The level of evidence is unknown, and how usage varies between countries is poorly understood. The study consulted 1119 references to produce 19,488 records of larval foodplants for European butterflies. This resulted in 5589 larval host plant records for 464 European butterfly species, with multiple references, enabling information to be checked. Information was unavailable for 59 species. The level of evidence for each relationship shows the current state of knowledge. Significant issues were identified for 3.9% of records extracted from references due to mistakes, ambiguous or unknown plant names, distribution issues, resulting in information being lost. Plants with questionable distributions suggest either mis‐identification or species that have been split. Little is known about plant usage in Eastern Europe. The larval foodplants of many monophagous and Satyrinae butterflies are poorly studied. Only 63% of threatened 2010 Red Listed butterflies have reliable host plant records. The study has provided ecologists with a valuable resource, of a more accurate checklist of the larval foodplants for each European country. Why plant usage varies over a butterfly's distribution opens up some interesting research questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the modern world, when the problems of the environment are most acutely associated with climate change, amphibians are considered to be the most vulnerable group of anamniotes as an indicator of the state of wetlands. Along with a decrease of numbers among amphibians in Europe, nowadays newts especially suffer from the impact of invasive species, in particular predators such as the Chinese sleeper, Perccottus glenii. This predatory fish species has recently spread to areas of primary relevance for newt reproduction. This fish consumes eggs, larvae, and even adult newt individuals. Using an ecological niche approach and climate based species distribution models (SDM), we applied the coefficient of determination (R2) for comparing the level of similarity of the built SDM for the newts Triturus cristatus and Lissotriton vulgaris, and the Chinese sleeper. We show that by 2050, the level of climatic niche similarity for these native and invasive species will increase from 12% to 22% throughout Europe, and from 44% to 66% in Eastern Europe. This study highlights the expansion of the Chinese sleeper as a real threat to European biodiversity of wetlands in the near future, especially in their most northeastern distribution range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aridity index, also known as the Budyko index, describes spatiotemporal changes in the hydroclimatic system in the long-term perspective. Defined as the ratio between potential evapotranspiration and precipitation, it can be used to determine wet (humid) and dry (arid) regions. In this study, we evaluated the aridity index estimated in different temporal scales, investigated its spatial patterns, and highlighted the long-term changes in Europe using three gridded data sets (CRU, E–OBS, and ERA5). A significant dry region expansion is evident in all data sets since the late 1980s. The extent of the dry regions has increased in Western, Central, and Eastern Europe, especially at low and medium altitudes. The results show the long-term development of the European hydroclimatic system and which areas have changed from wet to dry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the population of Europe grows older, one crucial issue is how the incidence and prevalence of disabilities are developing over time in the older population. In this study, we compare cohort-specific disability trajectories in old age across subsequent birth cohorts in Europe, during the period 2004–2017.We used data from seven waves of data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Mixed effects logistic regression models were used to model trajectories of accumulation of ADL limitations for subsequent birth cohorts of older women and men in different European regions. The results showed that there were sex differences in ADL and IADL limitations in all regions for most cohorts. Women reported more limitations than men, particularly in Eastern and Southern rather than Northern and Western Europe. Among men in Eastern, Northern and Western Europe, later born cohorts reported more disabilities than did earlier born birth cohorts at the same ages. Similar patterns were observed for women in Northern and Western Europe. In contrast, the risk of disabilities was lower in later born cohorts than in earlier born birth cohorts among women in Eastern Europe. Overall, results from this study suggest that disability trajectories in different cohorts of men and women were by and large similar across Europe. The trajectories varied more depending on sex, age and region than depending on cohort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: There has been wide recognition of the health divide between Western Europe and the former socialist countries from Central and Eastern Europe. However, these have not been assessed in terms of burden of disease, and the effect of stroke has not been fully elucidated, especially in terms of time trends. Methods: The West-Eastern European stroke burden was analysed using data from the Global Burden of Stroke (GBD) Study 2019 in terms of disability-adjusted life years lost (DALYs) and years of life lost (YLL) over the period 1990–2019 by gender. Data were extracted on a regional (West, Central, and East Europe) and country level for the twenty former socialist countries from Central and East Europe according to GBD regional definitions. We focused on the trends of age-standardized stroke DALY rates across the three decades and compared them with the average rates for West Europe. Main Findings: All Central and East European countries experienced a decline in all-cause disease burden between 1990 and 2019, and a gap was confirmed between the East, the Central, and the West European region for men but not for women. The age-standardized stroke DALY rates declined in the three European regions and in all twenty Central and East European countries but at a different pace. The stroke DALY rates among women exhibited the greatest decline in the West −59% (95% UI [−60; −57]) followed by the Central European region −48% (95% UI [−53; −42]) and lowest among women in East Europe −37% (95% UI [−43; −29]). The decline in men was even higher than among women −61% (95% UI [−63; −60]), while in Central Europe it was −43% (95% UI [−50; −37]) and in the East −25% (95% UI [−34; −14]), leading to widening of the gap between East, Central, and West Europe in relation to stroke burden. YLL represented more than 70% of stroke DALYs and more than 90% of DALYs for men in East European countries. Conclusions: The burden of stroke contributes to the European health gap through preventable premature stroke deaths. There are some very successful countries in stroke burden management from both Central (Slovenia, Czech Republic, and Hungary) and East Europe (Estonia), suggesting that closing the health gap between East and West is a realistic aim. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is defined as the type of hyperglycemia diagnosed for the first-time during pregnancy, presenting with intermediate glucose levels between normal levels for pregnancy and glucose levels diagnostic of diabetes in the non-pregnant state. We aimed to systematically review and meta-analyze studies of prevalence of GDM in European countries at regional and sub-regional levels, according to age, trimester, body weight, and GDM diagnostic criteria. Methods: Systematic search was conducted in five databases to retrieve studies from 2014 to 2019 reporting the prevalence of GDM in Europe. Two authors have independently screened titles and abstracts and full text according to eligibility using Covidence software. A random-effects model was used to quantify weighted GDM prevalence estimates. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute criteria was used to assess the risk of bias. Results: From the searched databases, 133 research reports were deemed eligible and included in the meta-analysis. The research reports yielded 254 GDM-prevalence studies that tested 15,572,847 pregnant women between 2014 and 2019. The 133 research reports were from 24 countries in Northern Europe (44.4%), Southern Europe (27.1%), Western Europe (24.1%), and Eastern Europe (4.5%). The overall weighted GDM prevalence in the 24 European countries was estimated at 10.9% (95% CI: 10.0–11.8, I2 : 100%). The weighted GDM prevalence was highest in the Eastern Europe (31.5%, 95% CI: 19.8–44.6, I2 : 98.9%), followed by in Southern Europe (12.3%, 95% CI: 10.9–13.9, I2 : 99.6%), Western Europe (10.7%, 95% CI: 9.5–12.0, I2 : 99.9%), and Northern Europe (8.9%, 95% CI: 7.9–10.0, I2 : 100). GDM prevalence was 2.14-fold increased in pregnant women with maternal age ≥30 years (versus 15-29 years old), 1.47-fold if the diagnosis was made in the third trimester (versus second trimester), and 6.79- fold in obese and 2.29-fold in overweight women (versus normal weight). Conclusions: In Europe, GDM is significant in pregnant women, around 11%, with the highest prevalence in pregnant women of Eastern European countries (31.5%). Findings have implications to guide vigilant public health awareness campaigns about the risk factors associated with developing GDM. Systematic Review Registration: PROSPERO [ https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/ ], identifier CRD42020161857. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]