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Acknowledged as a significant health hazard, increasing attention has been given to indoor and geogenic radon for some 20 years. One part of the efforts is surveying in order to assess the geographical extent of the hazard. Results acquired in surveys serve to support decisions in radon abatement policy, aimed to reduce exposure and consisting in prevention, mitigation and remediation measures. One particular element is delineation of so-called radon priority areas, or areas in which the hazard is such that abatement measures should be implemented with priority. These areas are estimated from radon measurements supported by different modelling methods. Methods which are based on estimating local probabilities that radon concentration exceeds a reference level often rely on measures of local variability, expressed for example by the geometric standard deviation or the coefficient of variation, because these describe the shape of the distribution whose tail areas are the sought-after probabilities. Evidently, delineation of radon priority areas thus depends, apart from mean concentration, on dispersion within the area whose priority status shall be assessed. A second use of spatial variability measures of radon is survey planning, because the sample size necessary to estimate a mean with given precision depends on the dispersion of the quantity to be assessed. It is estimated through pilot surveys or derived from general knowledge. The large radon databases accumulated for years allow more detailed insight into spatial properties of dispersion, some of which are discussed in this paper, in the first place the relation between local dispersion and mean and sampling density. Not least, they also grant insight—so far mostly speculative—about the process, understood as a stochastic process, which generates the spatial dynamic. Main conclusions are that a proportional effect in logarithmic scale exists and has an effect on estimation of local exceedance probability and that one should keep in mind that results, for example the local status as a radon priority area, depend on the estimation method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elysium Planitia includes several outflow channels that were likely carved by aqueous erosion and subsequently infilled by younger lava flows, making Elysium Planitia the youngest volcanic terrain on Mars. Studying this region is critical for constraining the recent hydrological and thermal evolution of the planet. Here, we investigate the lava flow areas, thicknesses, and volumes in Elysium Planitia using Context (CTX) camera images in combination with SHAllow RADar (SHARAD) sounder data. Compiling 1,777 reflectors over an area of 9,126,790 km2 allows us to reconstruct the subsurface landscape evolution over time. Our findings show that Elysium Planitia is composed of material from about 40 episodes of effusive volcanic activity. We report volumes for individual eruptions of 4,000 ± 1,600 km3 infilling Athabasca Valles, 12,200 ± 2,500 km3 in Marte Vallis, and 16,000 ± 4,000 km3 in Rahway Valles for the major flow units and volumes as small as 100 ± 50 km3 in Cerberus Plains. The surface morphologies and inferred dielectric properties of lobe interfaces suggests that the regions consists of basaltic lava. The region also experienced multiple aqueous flooding events. Although, we found evidence of past lava–water interactions, present‐day ground‐ice (if present) is likely limited to local patches. Further, the pre‐eruption landscape reveals that the aqueously carved Marte Vallis is more areal extensive, but shallower than previously suggested, with a likely paleo‐flow direction from northwest to southeast. The channel is most likely sourced from a segment in the northwestern portion of Cerberus Fossae, and is now buried by multiple Late Amazonian lavas with the same lava flow direction. Plain Language Summary: Elysium Planitia on Mars has a fascinating history of water and lava flows that shaped its landscape. It is the youngest volcanic terrain on the planet, and studying it helps us to better understand Mars' past as well as recent hydrological and volcanic history. We examined this region by using spacecraft images and radar data to constrain areas, thicknesses, and volumes. An area almost as large as Europe was investigated. The study revealed the products of more than 40 volcanic events, with one of the largest flows infilling Athabasca Valles with a volume of 4,000 km3. The surface appearance and material properties suggest that Elysium Planitia is composed of basalt, the most common type of lava on Earth. The area also experienced several large floods of water, and there is evidence that lava and water interacted in the past. However, while there could be ice in the ground today, it likely occurs in small patches. The study also provides new insights into the Marte Vallis outflow channel. It seems to be larger, but not as deep as previously thought, with water flowing from northwest to southeast and fed from a fissure in the northwest. Marte Vallis was later covered by several lava layers. Key Points: We performed detailed surface and subsurface mapping of the entire Elysium Planitia region to constrain lava areas, thicknesses, and volumesElysium Planitia is composed of the products of about 40 effusive eruptions including large flood lava flows and lava shieldsResults indicate that there is no singular direction in dike propagation [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Old-growth forests (OGF) provide valuable ecosystem services such as habitat provision, carbon sequestration or recreation maintaining biodiversity, carbon storage, or human well-being. Long-term human pressure caused OGFs in Europe to be rare and scattered. Their detailed extent and current status are largely unknown. This review aims to identify potential methods to map temperate old-growth forests (tOGF) by remote sensing (RS) technology, highlights the potentials and benefits, and identifies main knowledge gaps requesting further research. RS offers a wide range of data and methods to map forests and their properties, applicable from local to continental scale. We structured existing mapping approaches in three main groups. First, parameter-based approaches, which are based on forest parameters and usually applied on local to regional scale using detailed data, often from airborne laser scanning (ALS). Second, direct approaches, usually employing machine learning algorithms to generate information from RS data, with high potential for large-area mapping but so far lacking operational applications and related sound accuracy assessment. Finally, indirect approaches integrating various existing data sets to predict OGF existence. These approaches have also been used for large area mapping with a main drawback of missing physical evidence of the identified areas to really hold OGFs as compared to the likelihood of OGF existence. In conclusion, studies dealing with the mapping of OGF using remote sensing are quite limited, but there is a huge amount of knowledge from other forestry-related applications that is yet to be leveraged for OGF identification. We discuss two scenarios, where different data and approaches are suitable, recognizing that one single system cannot serve all potential needs. These may be hot spot identification, detailed area delineation, or status assessment. Further, we pledge for a combined method to overcome the identified limitations of the individual approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of a request from the “European Megalithic Routes” organization to its Scientific Advisory Board for a comprehensive map of European megaliths, an attempt was made to produce the corresponding map using existing publications on megalithic tombs. As a result, 17409 published megalithic tombs were mapped. This endeavour forms the basis for a continuous and necessary improvement of a map of European megalithic sites, especially regarding the architectural classification of the individual megaliths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the second series of workshops for the EHC Think Tank Workstreams on Registries, Hub and Spoke Model and Patient Agency, stakeholder participants worked towards consensus on addressing challenges to progress in areas identified in the first series of workshops. Each workshop identified a 'guiding star' determining the direction of ongoing focus, defined achievable 'near star' milestones, and explored the enablers and 'constraints' to achieving these. The Registries Workstream recommended establishing rights- and responsibility-based international guidance to ensure accountability from all stakeholders contributing, collecting, handling and registry data. The Hub and Spoke Model Workstream proposed the development of a dynamic and agile health provision system to meet individual treatment, care and quality of life goals for people with rare disorders as they evolve. The Patient Agency Workstream recommended achieving a new cultural norm for patient agency embedded at all systemic levels, whereby health care is collaborative and based on patients' ability to make choices and take ownership of decisions relating to their care and quality of life. Four common themes emerged in near star milestones across all workstreams: 1. Mapping the system; 2. Collaborating and sharing; 3. Education and training; 4. Organisational change and good governance. Enablers include stakeholder experience in other specialties undergoing similar change; relevant examples of best practice; tapping into existing policy-making networks; adherence to government, regulatory, and inter-/intra-institutional quality standards; leveraging frustration in current systems to challenge mindsets and demonstrate the benefit of patient-centred insights to improve outcomes; and application of technologies (e.g. distributed analytics, algorithms, telemedicine, remote monitoring). Constraints include limited understanding of national and cross-border legal and regulatory requirements; a lack of awareness of and reluctance to accept the need for change or to take responsibility for making it happen, or a misunderstanding of whose responsibility it is; time limitations; a lack of meaningful outcome measures; a lack of understanding of key factors for success; and financial issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The list of medical devices (MD) eligible for reimbursement under the Compulsory Health Insurance in Morocco is set by Ministerial Order comprising 869 items between life-support equipment, external prostheses, and implants. The objective of the present study is to analyze the nomenclature of implantable medical devices (IMD) appearing on this list and compare them with the global nomenclature of MD (GMDN) and the European nomenclature of MD (EMDN)., Methods: The study deals with (i) the mapping of the codes of the IMD list with 170 DM per cardinality and (ii) a metric identification by Sørensen-Dice coefficient of terminological similarity of the IMD with respect to the two databases., Results: The 170 IMD codes are mapped onto 493 terms in the GMDN and 344 terms in the EMDN. The 37.7% of implants are mapped to more than or equal to 2 terms of GMDN while 36.5% are mapped to more than or equal to 2 terms to the EMDN. The comparison of cardinality distributions has revealed no significant difference (P=0.430) between the two databases. The implants examined are divided into 11 categories whose strong similarity is given to active cardiovascular implants in the EMDN database with sim Dice =0.534., Conclusion: Healthcare authorities need to align with nomenclature standards to improve interoperability and rely on a more efficient and rational regulatory process., (Copyright © 2024 Académie Nationale de Pharmacie. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Surveillance data are key to informing decisions on the control and prevention of transboundary and emerging diseases. Here, we describe new methods for acquiring difficult to access, publicly available disease surveillance data. We use World Organisation for Animal Heath (OIE) data on African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreaks in European countries to showcase the importance of adequate disease surveillance data to inform decision‐making. The data acquired using these methods allow for large scale, geospatial outbreak mapping and estimation of summary statistics for any listed terrestrial disease in the OIE World Animal Health Information System (WAHIS) database. These techniques will make valuable epidemiological data more accessible to the scientific community, aiding further insight into the occurrence and spread of transboundary and emerging diseases in a timely manner, fulfilling an important function of disease surveillance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internal migration has replaced fertility and mortality as the primary demographic process shaping the spatial distribution of populations within countries. While a rich comparative literature has examined the intensity, composition and spatial impacts of population movement in Europe, the spatial structure of internal migration flows is less well understood. We present a flow map of internal migration flows within 38 European countries using the most recent data available. The graphic reveals the major role of national capital cities in the internal migration system, and an array of distinctive patterns of internal migration fostering population concentration in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe, and population deconcentration in Western and Southern Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protected areas (PAs) supply ecosystem services (ES) essential for human wellbeing. Mapping is a critical exercise that allows an understanding of the spatial distribution of the different ES in PAs. This work aims to conduct a systematic literature review on mapping ES in PAs. In order to carry out this systematic review, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses method was applied. The results showed an increase in the number of works between 2012 and 2023, and they were especially conducted in Europe and Asia and less in North America, South America, and Oceania. Most studies were developed in terrestrial areas, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature classified them into types II and IV. Most of the works followed the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment classification and were mainly focused on the supply dimension. Regulating and maintenance and cultural ES were the most mapped dimensions in PAs. The most frequent provisioning ES mapped in PAs were Animals reared for nutritional purposes and Cultivated terrestrial plants grown for nutritional purposes. In regulating and maintenance, Maintaining nursery populations and habitats and Regulation of the chemical composition of the atmosphere and oceans were the most analysed. For cultural ES, Characteristics of living systems that enable activities promoting health, recuperation, or enjoyment through active or immersive interactions and Characteristics of living systems that enable aesthetic experiences were the most mapped ES in PAs. Most works followed a quantitative approach, although the number of qualitative studies is high. Finally, most of the works needed to be validated, which may hamper the credibility of mapping ES in PAs. Overall, this systematic review contributed to a global picture of studies distribution, the areas where they are needed, and the most popular dimensions and sections as the methodologies were applied., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have no affiliation with any organization with a direct or indirect financial interest in the subject matter discussed in the manuscript., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this paper, we are explaining a decade long investigation of historical, sacral and archaeological sites in the Toplica District (Serbia) as one of the significant cultural heritage sites in Europe with more than 226 objects with different time of origin. The survey was carried out for the purpose of better recognizing the archaeological potential. In science like archaeology, static objects, if not dynamized, remain unrecognizable to the general public, regardless of their historical and archaeological importance. Historical changes during the period of more than 7,000 years, with many sites of cultural heritage in this district, were recognized. Ordinary kriging was employed through Quantum Geographical Information System (QGIS) and System for Automated Geoscientific Analysis (SAGA). The positions of historical objects are registered, from the Neolithic period to modern times. With the help of GIS and geo-statistical methods, archaeological and historical layers can be rediscovered and better recognized. GIS algorithm ordinary kriging was used to complete the cultural heritage potential and archaeological valorization of the objects with geo-spatial dispersion. As a final product, we have obtained maps with historical and archaeological locations. For the first time, we used a scientific name for contour lines (archlines) with an equal number of archaeological units per density. In the end, archaeological and historical objects and their features were shown with the support of geographical and GIS methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of Low Altitude Airspace activities is a great opportunity for many companies. Work carried-out by drones (inspections, surveillance and control, mapping etc.) will be supported by other new activities and services that will pave the way for new business models and revenues. A new set of rules must be set up to allow the correct use of LAAs; UTM projects and U-Space were created for this purpose. Europe is very active in this regard and the Italian U-space project DIODE is an example of highly advanced experimentation. Enterprises are already building large fleets; managing the drones, the people and procedures using advanced platforms that utilize the collected data effectively. Working in compliance with LAA rules is fundamental for success. AI-Crew and AI-Inspection are two innovative platforms born to help Enterprises capitalize on LAA, maximizing their assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the global level, the invasion of alien organisms is considered the second largest threat to biodiversity. Hybrid Japanese Knotweed (Fallopia × bohemica) is an invasive alien species in Slovakia, which is indigenous to eastern Asia. Ragweed is a significant threat to agriculture in Central Europe. In this study, we compare the current occurrence and spread of invasive populations of hybrid Fallopia × bohemica (Polygonaceae) in Hlohovec town (SW Slovakia) in intensively farmed agricultural landscape after eighteen years. In 2001, it had colonized the area of 1520 m2 on 54 localities and in 2011 it increased by 120% (3338 m2, 63 localities); however, in 2018 it decreased by 9% (3051 m2, 43 localities). Surprisingly, the research results in the period 2011-2018 showed that the further spread of hybrid in Hlohovec was not confirmed; even the total colonized area had decreased. The main reason for the reduction of surface area occupied by F. x bohemica is the management measures carried out on habitats railway communications, roads and extensively cultivated fields (home gardens). The size of the areas in 2018 was significantly dependent on the size of the areas in 2001 (r = 0.682) and in 2011 (r = 0.907). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The adoption of digital health care within health systems is determined by various factors, including pricing and reimbursement. The reimbursement landscape for digital health in Europe remains underresearched. Although various emergency reimbursement decisions were made during the COVID-19 pandemic to enable health care delivery through videoconferencing and asynchronous care (eg, digital apps), research so far has primarily focused on the policy innovations that facilitated this outside of Europe., Objective: This study examines the digital health reimbursement strategies in 8 European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) and Israel., Methods: We mapped available digital health reimbursement strategies using a scoping review and policy mapping framework. We reviewed the literature on the MEDLINE, Embase, Global Health, and Web of Science databases. Supplementary records were identified through Google Scholar and country experts., Results: Our search strategy yielded a total of 1559 records, of which 40 (2.57%) were ultimately included in this study. As of August 2023, digital health solutions are reimbursable to some extent in all studied countries except Poland, although the mechanism of reimbursement differs significantly across countries. At the time of writing, the pricing of digital health solutions was mostly determined through discussions between national or regional committees and the manufacturers of digital health solutions in the absence of value-based assessment mechanisms. Financing digital health solutions outside traditional reimbursement schemes was possible in all studied countries except Poland and typically occurs via health innovation or digital health-specific funding schemes. European countries have value-based pricing frameworks that range from nonexistent to embryonic., Conclusions: Studied countries show divergent approaches to the reimbursement of digital health solutions. These differences may complicate the ability of patients to seek cross-country health care in another country, even if a digital health app is available in both countries. Furthermore, the fragmented environment will present challenges for developers of such solutions, as they look to expand their impact across countries and health systems. An increased emphasis on developing a clear conceptualization of digital health, as well as value-based pricing and reimbursement mechanisms, is needed for the sustainable integration of digital health. This study can therein serve as a basis for further, more detailed research as the field of digital health reimbursement evolves., (©Robin van Kessel, Divya Srivastava, Ilias Kyriopoulos, Giovanni Monti, David Novillo-Ortiz, Ran Milman, Wojciech Wilhelm Zhang-Czabanowski, Greta Nasi, Ariel Dora Stern, George Wharton, Elias Mossialos. Originally published in JMIR mHealth and uHealth (https://mhealth.jmir.org), 29.09.2023.)

Purpose: Research about ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) is influenced by cultural and value-based perspectives. It impacts regulations, funding, and clinical practice, and shapes the perception of ART in society. We analyze trends in the global literature on ELSI of ART between 1999 and 2019. As most output is produced by North America, Western Europe, and Australia, we focus on international research, i.e., academic articles studying a different country than that of the corresponding author., Methods: The corpus, extracted from PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus, includes 7714 articles, of which 1260 involved international research. Analysis is based on titles, abstracts and keywords, classification into ART fields and Topic Modeling, the countries of corresponding author, and countries mentioned in abstracts., Results: An absolute increase in the number of international studies, and their relative proportion. Trends of decentralization are apparent, yet geographic centralization remains, which reflects an unequal distribution of research funds across countries and may result in findings that do not reflect global diversity of norms and values. Preference for studying conceptual challenges through philosophical analysis, and for fields that concern only a portion of ART cycles. Less attention was dedicated to economic analysis and barriers to access, or to knowledge of and attitudes. International studies provide an opportunity to expand and diversify the scope of ELSI research., Conclusion: We call on the research community to promote international collaborations, focus on less explored regions, and divert more attention to questions of cost, access, knowledge, and attitudes., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Purpose: A significant portion of the research on assisted reproductive technologies explores ethical, legal, and social implications. It has an impact on social perceptions, the evolution of norms of clinical practices, regulations and public funding. This paper reviews and maps the geographical distribution to test the hypothesis of geographical concentration and classifies the output by fields and topics., Methods: We queried PubMed, Scopus and the Web of Science for documents published between 1999 and 2019, excluding clinical trials and medical case reports. Documents were analyzed according to their titles, abstracts and keywords and were classified to assisted reproductive fields and by Topic Modeling. We analyzed geographic distribution., Results: Research output increased nearly tenfold. We show a trend towards decentralization of research, although at a slower rate compared with clinical assisted reproduction research. While the U.S. and the U.K.'s share has dropped, North America and Western Europe are still responsible for more than 70%, while China and Japan had limited participation in the global discussion. Fertility preservation and surrogacy have emerged as the most researched categories, while research about genetics was less prominent., Conclusions: We call to enrich researchers' perspectives by addressing local issues in ways that are tailored to local cultural values, social and economic contexts, and differently structured healthcare systems. Researchers from wealthy centers should conduct international research, focusing on less explored regions and topics. More research on financial issues and access is required, especially regarding regions with limited public funding., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

In some cases, species' distributions have not been accurate and some geographical areas were not accounted for in the New Atlas of Amphibians and Reptiles of Europe (NA2RE), a project performed by the Mapping Committee of the Societas Europaea Herpetologica (SEH). The distribution of species within the Vipera ursinii-renardi group were presented jointly as a single taxon (“Vipera ursinii/renardi"), without differentiation between the meadow viper V. ursinii, the steppe viper V. renardi, and the recently described Greek meadow viper Vipera graeca. Here we present a revised 50×50 km resolution distribution map of this group with new records, eliminating putative or erroneous records and extinct populations. Additionally, we filled several spatial gaps in the distribution of V. renardi in Eastern Europe by incorporating recent regional overviews, previously considered ambiguous or inaccessible to most researchers, due to language barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determining the location and nature of hazardous ground motion resulting from natural and anthropogenic processes such as landslides, tectonic movement and mining is essential for hazard mitigation and sustainable resource use. Ground motion estimates from satellite ERS-1/2 persistent scatterer interferometry (PSI) were combined with geospatial data to identify areas of observed geohazards in Stoke-on-Trent, UK. This investigation was performed within the framework of the EC FP7-SPACE PanGeo project which aimed to provide free and open access to geohazard information for 52 urban areas across Europe. Geohazards identified within the city of Stoke-on-Trent and neighbouring rural areas are presented here alongside an examination of the PanGeo methodology. A total of 14 areas experiencing ground instability caused by natural and anthropogenic processes have been defined, covering 122.35 km 2 . These are attributed to a range of geohazards, including landslides, ground dissolution, made ground and mining activities. The dominant geohazard (by area) is ground movement caused by post-mining groundwater recharge and mining-related subsidence (93.19% of total geohazard area), followed by landsliding (5.81%). Observed ground motions along the satellite line-of-sight reach maxima of +35.23 mm/yr and −22.57 mm/yr. A combination of uplift, subsidence and downslope movement is displayed. ‘Construction sites’ and ‘continuous urban fabric’ (European Urban Atlas land use types) form the land uses most affected (by area) by ground motion and ‘discontinuous very low density urban fabric’ the least. Areas of ‘continuous urban fabric’ also show the highest average velocity towards the satellite (5.08 mm/yr) and the highest PS densities (1262.92 points/km 2 ) along with one of the lowest standard deviations. Rural land uses tend to result in lower PS densities and higher standard deviations, a consequence of fewer suitable reflectors in these regions. PSI is also limited in its ability to identify especially rapid ground motion. As a consequence the supporting geospatial data proved especially useful for the identification of landslides and some areas of ground dissolution. The mapped areas of instability are also compared with modelled potential geohazards (the BGS GeoSure dataset). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil is important as a critical component for the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. The largest part of the terrestrial biodiversity relies, directly or indirectly, on soil. Furthermore, soil itself is habitat to a great diversity of organisms. The suitability of soil to host such a diversity is strongly related to its physico-chemical features and environmental properties. However, due to the complexity of both soil and biodiversity, it is difficult to identify a clear and unambiguous relationship between environmental parameters and soil biota. Nevertheless, the increasing diffusion of a more integrated view of ecosystems, and in particular the development of the concept of ecosystem services, highlights the need for a better comprehension of the role played by soils in offering these services, including the habitat provision. An assessment of the capability of soils to host biodiversity would contribute to evaluate the quality of soils in order to help policy makers with the development of appropriate and sustainable management actions. However, so far, the heterogeneity of soils has been a barrier to the production of a large-scale framework that directly links soil features to organisms living within it. The current knowledge on the effects of soil physico-chemical properties on biota and the available data at continental scale open the way towards such an evaluation. In this study, the soil habitat potential for biodiversity was assessed and mapped for the first time throughout Europe by combining several soil features (pH, soil texture and soil organic matter) with environmental parameters (potential evapotranspiration, average temperature, soil biomass productivity and land use type). Considering the increasingly recognized importance of soils and their biodiversity in providing ecosystem services, the proposed approach appears to be a promising tool that may contribute to open a forum on the need to include soils in future environmental policy making decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The earth is continually bombarded by high-energy cosmic ray particles, and the worldwide average exposure to cosmic rays represents about 13% of the total annual effective dose received by the population. Therefore, assessment of cosmic ray exposure at the ground level is of great interest to better understand population exposure to ionizing radiation. This paper presents and describes the European Annual Cosmic-Ray Dose Map at 1 km resolution (Main Map). TheMain Mapdisplays the annual effective dose that a person may receive from cosmic rays at the ground level, which ranges from 301 to 3955 μSv. Moreover, thanks to the availability of population data, the annual cosmic-ray collective dose has been evaluated and population-weighted average annual effective dose (per capita) due to cosmic ray has been estimated for each European country considered in this study. The accuracy of the present study has been confirmed by comparing our results with those obtained using other models. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Study air polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) capturing the spatial variability of their concentrations is not economically feasible with conventional methods. In the present work we tested, for the first time and under real conditions, the suitability for intensive monitoring and mapping these contaminants of innovative, cost-effective passive air samplers known as "Mosspheres". The Mosspheres, filled with a devitalised Sphagnum palustre L. moss clone, were placed in a 575 m. grid in a medium-sized European city for three months. Concentrations in the moss tissues of 15 priority PAHs, including benzo(a)pyrene, were determined and converted into PM 10 and bulk deposition with the equations proposed in a recent study. Low concentrations of PAHs were detected, with only a few enriched points never exceeding the legal thresholds, near industrial areas and busy roads. Despite these low PAH concentrations, Mosspheres were able to detect spatial structure for several PAHs and high-resolution pollution maps were constructed for these compounds. The results prove the high sensitivity and suitability of Mosspheres for mapping PAH levels and for quantitative (i.e. PAHs with 4 or more rings) and qualitative (3-ring PAHs) monitoring. Thus, this study supports their widespread application and its potential inclusion in European Directives on air quality control. [Display omitted] • Mosspheres yield reliable estimates of PAH levels in PM 10 and bulk deposition in urban environments. • Mossphere monitoring detects spatial structure, enabling pollution mapping. • Mosspheres are highly sensitive, discriminating between sites with low PAH levels. • PAH levels determined in a medium-sized city in Europe were deemed safe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life in cities is accelerating towards a future in which they must be sustainable, healthy and resilient and to which they must add the circular economy (CE) as a new paradigm of sustainability. There is great interest in the use of indicators to assess urban sustainability, but no common solution is recognized due to the diversity of approaches and opinions. This article addresses this problem by proposing a methodological framework based on official tools in use, such as the European Reference Framework for Sustainable Cities (RFSC), the Urban Agendas and the CE strategies adopted by each country in the EU. This framework is intended to homogenize and simplify the existing world of sustainability and CE indicators in cities and, at the same time, reflects the complexity of the multi-conceptual, multi-level, multi-scope and multi-scale nature of the subject under study. This framework is developed in three phases to study and select the reference sources to create a map with a holistic and simplified approach, supported by a previous phase in which the specific environment of each territory was explored. In turn, the multi-scope implementation is carried out for Europe and Spain as a case study for testing purposes, resulting in a sustainability and CE map for Spanish cities. The methodological framework has relevance for a diversity of geographical areas due to its replicability and its adaptation to each local case. This last quality allows the indicators to be contextualized and, thus, their implementation in cities, towns, or any human settlement in general. [Display omitted] • Homogenize and simplify the existing sustainability and CE indicators in cities is accurantly necessary. • Creating a map based on official tools with a holistic and simplified approach. • Main advantages of the framework: repicable, rigorous, easy, comparable, harmonizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wild food is an iconic ecosystem service that receives little attention in quantifying, valuating and mapping studies, due to the perceived low importance or due to lack of data. Here, we synthesize available data on the importance of wild food as ecosystem service, its spatial distribution and relations between supply, demand and benefits in the European Union (EU), covering all terrestrial wild food groups. A wide variety of game (38 species), mushrooms (27 species) and vascular plants (81 species) is collected and consumed throughout the EU. Income, age, gender, possibilities for collecting, and cultural factors explain the importance of wild food. While the economic and nutritional values of wild food comprise a few thousands of the GDP or total consumption, over 100 million EU citizens consume wild food. Collecting wild food is an appreciated recreational activity; collecting and consuming wild food provide important cultural ecosystem services, including recreation and sense of place. Because of these benefits, wild food should be included in EU ecosystem service assessments. Better estimates could be made if better data on wild food abundance and production are available and by systematic inventories of participation in wild food collecting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] We perform a critical review of 222 LCA studies of solid waste management systems. [•] Studies mainly concentrated in Europe with little application in developing countries. [•] Assessments of relevant waste types apart from household waste have been overlooked. [•] Local specificities of systems prevent a meaningful generalisation of the LCA results. [•] LCA should support recommendations representative of the local conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] This paper argues that mapping is a decisive component of the region-making process. [•] It gives shape to the region and provides arguments for its construction. [•] It contributes to the shaping of relational arrangements for the corresponding region. [•] Its contribution is important at all stages in the region-building process. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Purpose: To construct a model to predict preference-adjusted EuroQol 5D (EQ-5D) health utilities for CS using the disease-specific health-related quality of life measure (CushingQOL). Methods: Data were obtained from the European Registry on CS (ERCUSYN). ERCUSYN is a web-based, multicenter, observational study that enrolled 508 CS patients from 36 centers in 23 European countries. Patients included in the study completed both the EQ-5D and the disease-specific CushingQOL questionnaire. Socio-demographic and clinical data were also collected. The UK tariff values were used to calculate EQ-5D utility scores. Various predictive models were tested, and the final model was selected based on four criteria: explanatory power (adjusted R-squared), consistency of estimated coefficients (sign and parameter estimation), normality of prediction errors (mean error, mean absolute error, root mean squared error), and parsimony. Results: For the mapping analysis, data were available from a total of 129 patients. Mean (SD) age was 43.1 (13) years, and the sample was predominantly female (84.5 %). Patients had a mean (SD) CushingQOL score of 39.7 (17.1) and a mean (SD) ‘tariff’ value on the EQ-5D of 0.55 (0.3). The model which best met the criteria for selection included the intercept and 3 CushingQOL’s questions and had an R 2 of 0.506 and a root mean square error of 0.216. Conclusions: It was possible to find a mapping function which successfully predicted the EQ-5D UK utilities from disease-specific CushingQOL scores. The function may be useful in calculating EQ-5D scores when EQ-5D data have not been gathered directly in a study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

»Mapping (in) Time and Space. Maps and Mapping in the Theoretical Discourse and in David Albahari's Texts«. In literary texts which address the disintegration of Yugoslavia, (alternative) narratives of history are very important. Moreover, in David Albahari's Snežni covek/Snow Man (1995) and Mamac/Bait (1996) the map as medium has a strong presence. In Mamac the protagonist spreads out a map of Europe to explain his country's history. In Snežni covek the protagonist believes that he lives in the house of a cartographer. An historical atlas dominates the talks between the protagonist and a professor of political science. The article connects the literary approaches to the map as medium in the texts of Albahari with theoretical discourses on cartography and practices of mapping (Sybille Krämer, Denis Cosgrove, Franco Farinelli, Frank Lestringant, Michel de Certeau). The map as medium is connected with the practice of mapping (in) time and space. This is important because the disintegration of Yugoslavia is central in both texts: The process of disintegration demonstrates disorientation in relation to time and space. The map freezes a certain spatial and temporal configuration -- and represents a position from which the past, present and future can be defined, but also whether and how borders have shifted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relevance of classifications of higher education institutions is rising in Europe. As Europe is a diverse system, the concept of classification, including the sub-types of mapping and typology, is explained (and distinguished from other instruments such as rankings) in the context of horizontal and vertical diversity. After discussing the objectives of classifications in Europe, but also analyzing current criticism, "U-Map" is described as an approach to follow the objectives and to avoid potential problems. First experiences could be derived from the realized U-Map projects. The analysis leads to suggestions as to how politics should use (and not use) classifications. Finally, the productive relationship between classification and ranking is exemplified by the intended link of U-Map to another European project, the development of a multidimensional, user-driven ranking ("U-Multirank"). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: At present post-disaster activities and plans seem to vary widely. An adequate estimation of the availability of post-disaster psychosocial services across Europe is needed in order to compare them with recently developed evidence-informed psychosocial care guidelines. Here we report on the results of a cross-sectional web-based survey completed in 2008 by two hundred and eighty-six representatives of organizations involved in psychosocial responses to trauma and disaster from thirty-three different countries across Europe. The survey addressed planning and delivery of psychosocial care after disaster, methods of screening and diagnosis, types of interventions used, and other aspects of psychosocial care after trauma. The findings showed that planning and delivery of psychosocial care was inconsistent across Europe. Countries in East Europe seemed to have less central coordination of the post-disaster psychosocial response and fewer post-disaster guidelines that were integrated into specific disaster or contingency plans. Several forms of psychological debriefing, for which there is no evidence of efficacy to date, were still used in several areas particularly in North Europe. East European countries delivered evidence-based interventions for PTSD less frequently, whilst in South- and South-Eastern European countries anxiety suppressing medication such as benzodiazepines were prescribed more frequently to disaster victims than in other areas. Countries across Europe are currently providing sub-optimal psychosocial care for disaster victims. This short report shows that there is an urgent need for some countries to abandon non-effective interventions and others to develop more evidence based and effective services to facilitate the care of those involved in future disasters. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper explains the origins of the Bioenergy Network of Excellence (NoE) “Overcoming Barriers to Bioenergy”. It outlines the reasoning behind the project’s overall objective of covering the entire bioenergy chain from biomass feedstock to end-products. One of the network’s other aims was to integrate partner activities scientifically and practically in such a way that it could continue beyond the period of European Community financial support. The consortium consisted of eight key bioenergy R&D institutes in Europe. The work programme structure had three stages: [1.] The initial phase was identification of barriers to increase use of bioenergy in Europe, which included both technical and non-technical barriers. During this stage, barriers were analysed in terms of business opportunities. It was believed that by analysing case studies and industrial projects, common barriers can be identified. [2.] The second phase was to address RTD goals and how to remove the barriers. A common strategy to overcome the barriers was considered. The target was to activate and carry-out jointly executed research projects. The integration structure could be established based on these projects. [3.] In the final phase, the integration structure and a legal framework was considered with regard to the partners’ present organisations and new EU initiatives concerning future network activities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The increasing availability of gridded, high-resolution, multivariate climatological data sets calls for innovative approaches to visualize inter-variable relations. In this study, we present a methodology, based on properties of common colour schemes, to plot two variables in a single colour map by using a two-dimensional colour legend for both sequential and diverging data. This is especially suited for climate data as the spatial distribution of the relation between different variables is often as important as the distribution of variables individually. Two example applications are given to illustrate the use of the method: one that shows the global distribution of climate based on observed temperature and relative humidity, and the other showing the distribution of recent changes in observed temperature and precipitation over Europe. A flexible and easy-to-implement method is provided to construct different colour legends for sequential and diverging data. Copyright © 2010 Royal Meteorological Society [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Within the context of its institutional scientific support to the European Commission, in 2005 the Radioactivity Environmental Monitoring (REM) group at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, started to explore the possibility of mapping indoor radon in European houses as a first step towards preparing a European Atlas of Natural Radiations. The main objective of such an atlas is to contribute to familiarizing the public with its naturally radioactive environment. The process of preparing the atlas should also provide the scientific community with a database of information that can be used for further studies and for highlighting regions with elevated levels of natural radiation. This document presents the status of the European indoor radon (Rn) map, first statistical results, and outlines of forthcoming challenges. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We examine the advantages and disadvantages of a methodological framework designed to analyze the poorly understood relationships between the ecosystem properties of large portions of land, and their capacities (stocks) to provide goods and services (flows). These capacities (stocks) are referred to as landscape functions. The core of our assessment is a set of expert- and literature-driven binary links, expressing whether specific land uses or other environmental properties have a supportive or neutral role for given landscape functions. The binary links were applied to the environmental properties of 581 administrative units of Europe with widely differing environmental conditions and this resulted in a spatially explicit landscape function assessment. To check under what circumstances the binary links are able to replace complex interrelations, we compared the landscape function maps with independently generated continent-wide assessments (maps of ecosystem services or environmental parameters/indicators). This rigorous testing revealed that for 9 out of 15 functions the straightforward binary links work satisfactorily and generate plausible geographical patterns. This conclusion holds primarily for production functions. The sensitivity of the nine landscape functions to changes in land use was assessed with four land use scenarios (IPCC SRES). It was found that most European regions maintain their capacity to provide the selected services under any of the four scenarios, although in some cases at other locations within the region. At the proposed continental scale, the selected input parameters are thus valid proxies which can be used to assess the mid-term potential of landscapes to provide goods and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a geographic information system (GIS) model-based approach for analysis of potential contamination of soil and water by pyrethroids for the European continent. Pyrethroids are widely used pesticides and their chemical and toxicological characteristics suggest there may be concerns about human health and ecosystems, although so far there is no strong evidence indicating actual risk. However, little monitoring has been conducted and limited experimental information is available. We perform an assessment exercise that demonstrates how accessible information and GIS-based modeling allow to estimate the spatial distribution of chemical concentrations and fluxes at a screening level. The assessment highlights potential hot spots and the main environmental transport pathways, in a quick and simple way. By combining information on pesticide use, crop distribution and landscape and climate parameters we identify potential problem areas to help focusing monitoring campaigns. The approach presented here is simple and fast, and can be applied to virtually all pesticide classes used over a large domain, and is therefore suitable for the screening of large quantities of chemicals, of which the majority has not undergone any systematic environmental monitoring program. The method has been tested through benchmarking with other well-established models. However, further research is needed to evaluate it against experimental observations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The incidence of suicide exhibits marked geographic variability; however, documentation of features in its spatial distribution, or the magnitude of differences, is limited. Standardised mortality ratios, commonly presented in maps, are calculated in each area independently and incorporate no information about heterogeneity or clustering. Bayesian hierarchical models with random effects for between-area and local variability in neighbouring areas were used to map age- and sex-specific estimates of rate ratios of suicide across wards in England and Wales. Differences were greater than expected due to random variation alone. Although the geography of suicide differed across age/sex groups, some common patterns emerged e.g. high rates in (a) central parts of cities and (b) remote and coastal areas. Some features were common to all, while others appeared male specific or specific to the younger age group. Suicide prevention strategies can be informed by an understanding and addressing the geography of suicide. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Two very different types of approaches are currently in use today for indicating risk of ozone damage to vegetation in Europe. One approach is the so-called AOTX (accumulated exposure over threshold of X ppb) index, which is based upon ozone concentrations only. The second type of approach entails an estimate of the amount of ozone entering via the stomates of vegetation, the AFstY approach (accumulated stomatal flux over threshold of Y nmolm−2 s−1). The EMEP chemical transport model is used to map these different indicators of ozone damage across Europe, for two illustrative vegetation types, wheat and beech forests. The results show that exceedences of critical levels for either type of indicator are widespread, but that the indicators give very different spatial patterns across Europe. Model simulations for year 2020 scenarios suggest reductions in risks of vegetation damage whichever indicator is used, but suggest that AOT40 is much more sensitive to emission control than AFstY values. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article sorts the various aspects of social capital (networks, trust, civism) theoretically and constructs an instrument for measuring its multifacetedness. The instrument is validated using data from the 1999/2000 wave of the European Values Study survey. Using the same data, the article describes how social capital, by its various aspects, is distributed geographically among European countries and regions (North, West, South, East), and socially among social categories of European citizens. As far as the geographical distribution of social capital is concerned, there are some particular differences, but, on the whole, European countries and regions, with the possible exception of Northern Europe, appear not to be substantially different in aggregate levels of social capital. In Scandinavia, social capital levels tend to be slightly higher, with the exception of family bonding. Some remarkable European patterns are found in regard to the social distribution of social capital. There is evidence of accumulation of human, economic and social capital; social capital is strongly gendered and is related to religious beliefs and behaviour, and to a political left-right stance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents, for the first time, a series of detailed space-time maps of Black Death mortality and infected area propagation throughout the fourteenth century AD Europe. The maps integrate a variety of interdisciplinary knowledge bases about the devastating epidemic and provide researchers and the interested public with an informative description of the Black Death dynamics (temporal evolution, local and global geographical patterns, etc.). Concerning the relation of the Black Death with bubonic plague, our space-time findings provide considerable support to the view that Black Death was a different kind of epidemic than bubonic plague and, a the same time, they generate no damaging hard evidence against the new proposals concerning the Black Death etiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aerial photography for archaeology has been developing its approaches and techniques over the past 100 years so that it now integrates the results of reconnaissance with extensive interpretative and analytical surveys. This paper introduces the philosophy and approach of the English Heritage (EH) Aerial Survey team, covering aerial reconnaissance and the National Mapping Programme (NMP), as well as the potential developments and opportunities in Europe. In the 1980s there was a debate over the nature of the evidence derived from aerial photographs, especially how to describe archaeological features. As part of NMP a classification and recording system has been devised which meets most of the users’ needs, be they national organisations, county archaeologists, commercial contractors or university-based researchers. The maps and records produced by NMP are used to further our understanding of the past human settlement in England, not only at the individual site level, but also in regional or landscape contexts. This paper provides an overview of the current progress of NMP and acts as an entrée for explaining the current research and recording of archaeological landscapes throughout Europe. Recent developments in Britain and Europe have provided the opportunity for a greater priority to be given to aerial survey and accelerating programmes of mapping. In Europe the ending of the cold war has allowed greater access to aerial photographs and the possibility of beginning new reconnaissance, as well as introducing new forms of remote sensing. All these developments have led to a transformation of our understanding of prehistoric, Roman and medieval archaeology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Project RUNOUT has investigated methods for reducing the risk from large-volume landslides in Europe, especially those involving rapid rates of emplacement. Using field data from five test sites (Bad Goisern and Ko¨fels in Austria, Tessina and Vajont in Italy, and the Barranco de Tirajana in Gran Canaria, Spain), the studies have developed (1) techniques for applying geomorphological investigations and optical remote sensing to map landslides and their evolution; (2) analytical, numerical, and cellular automata models for the emplacement of sturzstroms and debris flows; (3) a brittle-failure model for forecasting catastrophic slope failure; (4) new strategies for integrating large-area Global Positioning System (GPS) arrays with local geodetic monitoring networks; (5) methods for raising public awareness of landslide hazards; and (6) Geographic Information System (GIS)-based databases for the test areas. The results highlight the importance of multidisciplinary studies of landslide hazards, combining subjects as diverse as geology and geomorphology, remote sensing, geodesy, fluid dynamics, and social profiling. They have also identified key goals for an improved understanding of the physical processes that govern landslide collapse and runout, as well as for designing strategies for raising public awareness of landslide hazards and for implementing appropriate land management policies for reducing landslide risk. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A dominant allele at the Q locus on chromosome 5A is believed to be the principal factor responsible for free-threshing, square-head spikes with a non-fragile rachis in bread wheat, Triticum aestivum ssp. aestivum. The spelt syndrome, resulting in pyramidal spikes with a brittle rachis and hulled grain in T. aestivum, is believed to be principally caused by the q allele. Chromosome 5A of European and Iranian spelt was substituted for 5A of bread wheat and the lines were characterized with molecular markers. The substitution of bread wheat chromosome 5A by 5A of European spelt resulted in weakly hulled, pyramidal spikes with a non-brittle rachis, whereas and the substitution of 5A by 5A of Iranian spelt did not alter spike morphology at all. It is concluded that the expression of the spelt syndrome depends, to a large extent, on the interactions of q with genes controlling glume tenacity and rachis fragility on other chromosomes. The genetic basis for the spelt syndrome and the apparent presence of the Q allele in Iranian spelt are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public and animal health authorities face many challenges in surveillance and control of vector-borne diseases. Those challenges are principally due to the multitude of interactions between vertebrate hosts, pathogens, and vectors in continuously changing environments. VectorNet, a joint project of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) facilitates risk assessments of VBD threats through the collection, mapping and sharing of distribution data for ticks, mosquitoes, sand flies, and biting midges that are vectors of pathogens of importance to animal and/or human health in Europe. We describe the development and maintenance of this One Health network that celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2020 and the value of its most tangible outputs, the vector distribution maps, that are freely available online and its raw data on request. VectorNet encourages usage of these maps by health professionals and participation, sharing and usage of the raw data by the network and other experts in the science community. For the latter, a more complete technical description of the mapping procedure will be submitted elsewhere., Competing Interests: GH and CM are employed by AviaGis and FS by Francis Schaffner Consultancy/Mabritec AG, Riehen. RS is employed by Wageningen Academic Publishers. WW was employed by Environmental Research Group Oxford Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Braks, Schaffner, Medlock, Berriatua, Balenghien, Mihalca, Hendrickx, Marsboom, Van Bortel, Smallegange, Sprong, Gossner, Czwienczek, Dhollander, Briët and Wint.)

• Methods using macroalgal assemblages in monitoring programs were reviewed. • A total of 215 papers were selected. • A large variability among geographical areas was highlighted. • Most studies focused on mapping the distribution of kelps or Fucales. • In Europe many ecological quality indices were developed. Macroalgae have been utilized as biological indicators of ecosystem health in many monitoring programs worldwide. These programs have utilized various methods to quantify macroalgal community structures. The aim of this study was to provide an overview of current progress by reviewing techniques and methods in both monitoring programs and impact evaluation studies that use macroalgal assemblage data. A total of 215 papers were selected and divided into four categories: macroalgal assemblage monitoring, macroalgal mapping, developing and employing ecological indices based on macroalgae, and developing and employing generic ecological indices including macroalgae. The number and goals of macroalgal monitoring programs are very different among geographical areas. In Europe, the recent European Union Directives led to the development of indices as tool to monitor the ecological quality of coastal systems. In other geographic regions, most studies focused on mapping the distribution of kelps or Fucales. This demonstrates the necessity to harmonize marine macroalgal monitoring, identifying common metrics and approaches in sampling design, field measurements, taxonomic resolution and data management, in order to develop standardized procedures which may allow data obtained to be compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Forest condition, biodiversity and ecosystems services are strongly interlinked. • A transferable and operational European wide forest condition indicator is presented. • The methodology includes structural, functional, and compositional variables. • This spatially explicit indicator is built on information accessible EU databases. • This supports the monitoring and assessment of efforts towards EU and SDG goals. Forest condition, biodiversity, and ecosystem services are strongly interlinked. The biodiversity levels depend to a large extent on the integrity, health, and vitality of forests at the same time as losses of forest biodiversity lead to decreased forest productivity and sustainability. Under this conceptual framework, this study presents a methodology for mapping forest condition at European scale supporting the attainment of the 2020 Aichi Biodiversity Target 5 " the rate of loss of all natural habitats, including forests, is at least halved and where feasible brought close to zero, and degradation and fragmentation is significantly reduced" and the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), as well as the EU forest strategy since the sustainable forest management is oriented to support the provision of forest services and to enhance the condition of biodiversity forests' host. The work presents the developments of an operational indicator at European scale. This spatially explicit information on forest condition can be the baseline map with a 1 km resolution to monitor the state and changes of condition by exposition to pressures and threats. This condition indicator considers structural, functional, and compositional aspects of forest with relevance for health and vitality of species and habitats hosted by forest ecosystems. The methodology implemented used harmonized, published and open datasets. It provided confident results for the assessment of the condition within hemiboreal, temperate and alpine forests, showing the Carpathian, Dinaric Alps and Alps, among others, as hotspots with pre-dominantly good condition. The results were validated with data derived from the reporting for the EU Habitat Directive and explicit dataset on known primary forests in Europe. However, this method underestimated the forest condition in the Mediterranean and Boreal forest types due to data gaps, regional specific characteristics, and design limitations. This study illustrates an operational and transferable approach for addressing the assessment of ecosystem forest condition at European scale being considered as a support tool for European countries when mapping and assessing their national territory, as potential common approach to map forest ecosystems that allows for consistent aggregation and comparisons across scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Palliative care is gaining ground globally and is endorsed in high-level policy commitments, but service provision, supporting policies, education, and funding are incommensurate with rapidly growing needs.Objectives: The objective of this study was to describe current levels of global palliative care development and report on changes since 2006.Methods: An online survey of experts in 198 countries generated 2017 data on 10 indicators of palliative care provision, fitted to six categories of development. Factor analysis and discriminant analysis showed the validity of the categorization. Spearman correlation analyses assessed the relationship with World Bank Income Level (WBIL), Human Development Index (HDI), and Universal Health Coverage (UHC).Results: Numbers (percentages) of countries in each development category were as follows: 1) no known palliative care activity, 47 (24%); 2) capacity-building, 13 (7%); 3a) isolated provision, 65 (33%); 3b) generalized provision, 22 (11%); 4a) preliminary integration into mainstream provision, 21 (11%); 4b) advanced integration, 30 (15%). Development levels were significantly associated with WBIL (rS = 0.4785), UHC (rS = 0.5558), and HDI (rS = 0.5426) with P < 0.001. Net improvement between 2006 and 2017 saw 32 fewer countries in Categories 1/2, 16 more countries in 3a/3b, and 17 more countries in 4a/4b.Conclusion: Palliative care at the highest level of provision is available for only 14% of the global population and is concentrated in European countries. An 87% global increase in serious health-related suffering amenable to palliative care interventions is predicted by 2060. With an increasing need, palliative care is not reaching the levels required by at least half of the global population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subtidal hard substrate habitats are unique habitats in the marine environment. They provide crucial ecosystem services that are socially relevant, such as water clearance or as nursery space for fishes. With increasing marine usage and changing environmental conditions, pressure on reefs is increasing. All relevant directives and conventions around Europe include sublittoral hard substrate habitats in any manner. However, detailed specifications and specific advices about acquisition or delineation of these habitats are internationally rare although the demand for single object detection for e.g., ensuring safe navigation or to understand ecosystem functioning is increasing. To figure out the needs for area wide hard substrate mapping supported by automatic detection routines this paper reviews existing delineation rules and definitions relevant for hard substrate mapping. We focus on progress reached in German approval process resulting in first hydroacoustic mapping advices. In detail, we summarize present knowledge of hard substrate occurrence in the German North Sea and Baltic Sea, describes the development of hard substrate investigations and state of the art mapping techniques as well as automated analysis routines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The optimal method to identify the arrhythmogenic substrate of scar-related ventricular tachycardia (VT) is unknown. Sites of activation slowing during sinus rhythm (SR) often colocalize with the VT circuit. However, the utility and limitations of such approach for guiding ablation are unknown., Methods: We conducted a multicenter study in patients with infarct-related VT. The left ventricular (LV) was mapped during activation from 3 directions: SR (or atrial pacing), right ventricular, and LV pacing at 600 ms. Ablation was applied selectively to the cumulative area of slow activation, defined as the sum of all regions with activation times of ≥40 ms per 10 mm. Hemodynamically tolerated VTs were mapped with activation or entrainment. The primary outcome was a composite of appropriate implanted cardioverter-defibrillator therapies and cardiovascular death., Results: In 85 patients, the LV was mapped during activation from 2.4±0.6 directions. The direction of LV activation influenced the location and magnitude of activation slowing. The spatial overlap of activation slowing between SR and right ventricular pacing was 84.2±7.1%, between SR and LV pacing was 61.4±8.8%, and between right ventricular and LV pacing was 71.3±9.6% ( P <0.05 between all comparisons). Mapping during SR identified only 66.2±8.2% of the entire area of activation slowing and 58% critical isthmus sites. Activation from other directions by right ventricular and LV stimulation unmasked an additional 33% of slowly conducting zones and 25% critical isthmus sites. The area of maximal activation slowing often corresponded to the site where the wavefront first interacted with the infarct. During a follow-up period of 3.6 years, the primary end point occurred in 14 out of 85 (16.5%) patients., Conclusions: The spatial distribution of activation slowing is dependent on the direction of LV activation with the area of maximal slowing corresponding to the site where the wavefront first interacts with the infarct. This data may have implications for VT substrate mapping strategies.

Objective: The objective of the mapping project was to develop an expert derived map between the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) clinical modifications (CM) and the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) to be able to relate AIS severity to ICD coded data road traffic collision data in EU datasets. The maps were developed to enable the identification of serious AIS3+ injury and provide details of the mapping process for assumptions to be made about injury severity from mass datasets. This article describes in detail the mapping process of the International Classification of Diseases Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) and the International Classification of Diseases Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) codes to the Abbreviated Injury Scale 2005, Update 2008 (AIS08) codes to identify injury with an AIS severity of 3 or more (AIS3+ severity) to determine 'serious' (MAIS3+) road traffic injuries. Methods: Over 19,000 ICD codes were mapped from the following injury categories; injury ICD-9-CM (Chapter 17) codes between '800 and 999.9' and injury ICD-10-CM (Chapter 19) 'S' and 'T' prefixed codes were reviewed and mapped to an AIS08 category and then relate the severity to three groups; AIS3+, AIS < =2 and AIS 9 (no-map). The mapping was undertaken by ICD coding experts and certified AIS specialists from Europe, North America, Australia and Canada in face-to-face working groups and subsequent webinars between May 2014 and October 2015. During the process, the business rules were documented to define guidelines for the mapping process and enable inter-rater discrepancies to be resolved. Results: In total 2,504 ICD-9-CM codes were mapped to the AIS, of which 780 (31%) were assigned an AIS3+ severity. For the16,508 ICD-10-CM mapped codes a total of 2,323 (14%) were assigned an AIS3+ severity. Some 17% (n = 426) and 27% (n = 4,485) of ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM codes respectively were assigned to AIS9 (no-map) following the mapping process. It was evident there were 'problem' codes that could not be easily mapped to an AIS code to reflect severity. Problem maps affect the specificity of the map and severity when used to translate historical data in large datasets. Conclusions: The Association for the Advancement in Automotive Medicine, AAAM-endorsed expert-derived map offers a unique tool to road safety researchers to establish the number of MAIS3+ serious injuries occurring on the roads. The detailed process offered in this paper will enable researchers to understand the decision making and identify limitations when using the AIS08/ICD map on country-specific data. The results could inform protocols for dealing with problem codes to enable country comparisons of MAIS3+ serious injury rates.

A first-ever spatially detailed record of ice cover conditions in the Curonian Lagoon (CL), Europe's largest coastal lagoon located in the southeastern Baltic Sea, is presented. The multi-mission synthetic aperture radar (SAR) measurements acquired in 2002–2017 by Envisat ASAR, RADARSAT-2, Sentinel-1 A/B, and supplemented by the cloud-free moderate imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, are used to document the ice cover properties in the CL. As shown, satellite observations reveal a better performance over in situ records in defining the key stages of ice formation and decay in the CL. Using advantages of both data sources, an updated ice season duration (ISD) record is obtained to adequately describe the ice cover season in the CL. High-resolution ISD maps provide important spatial details of ice growth and decay in the CL. As found, ice cover resides longest in the south-eastern CL and along the eastern coast, including the Nemunas Delta, while the shortest ice season is observed in the northern CL. During the melting season, the ice melt pattern is clearly shaped by the direction of prevailing winds, and ice drift velocities obtained from a limited number of observations range within 0.03–0.14 m/s. The pronounced shortening of the ice season duration in the CL is observed at a rate of 1.6–2.3 days year‒1 during 2002–2017, which is much higher than reported for the nearby Baltic Sea regions. While the timing of the freeze onset and full freezing has not changed much, the dates of the final melt onset and last observation of ice have a clear decreasing pattern toward an earlier ice break-up and complete melt-off due to an increase of air temperature strongly linked to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Notably, the correlation between the ISD, air temperature, and winter NAO index is substantially higher when considering the lagoon-averaged ISD values derived from satellite observations compared to those derived from coastal records. The latter clearly demonstrated the richness of the satellite observations that should definitely be exploited in regional ice monitoring programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To develop algorithms mapping the Kidney Disease Quality of Life 36-Item Short Form Survey (KDQOL-36) onto the 3-level EQ-5D questionnaire (EQ-5D-3L) and the 5-level EQ-5D questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L) for patients with end-stage renal disease requiring dialysis., Methods: We used data from a cross-sectional study in Europe (France, n = 299; Germany, n = 413; Italy, n = 278; Spain, n = 225) to map onto EQ-5D-3L and data from a cross-sectional study in Singapore (n = 163) to map onto EQ-5D-5L. Direct mapping using linear regression, mixture beta regression and adjusted limited dependent variable mixture models (ALDVMMs) and response mapping using seemingly unrelated ordered probit models were performed. The KDQOL-36 subscale scores, i.e., physical component summary (PCS), mental component summary (MCS), three disease-specific subscales or their average, i.e., kidney disease component summary (KDCS), and age and sex were included as the explanatory variables. Predictive performance was assessed by mean absolute error (MAE) and root mean square error (RMSE) using 10-fold cross-validation., Results: Mixture models outperformed linear regression and response mapping. When mapping to EQ-5D-3L, the ALDVMM model was the best-performing one for France, Germany and Spain while beta regression was best for Italy. When mapping to EQ-5D-5L, the ALDVMM model also demonstrated the best predictive performance. Generally, models using KDQOL-36 subscale scores showed better fit than using the KDCS., Conclusions: This study adds to the growing literature suggesting the better performance of the mixture models in modelling EQ-5D and produces algorithms to map the KDQOL-36 onto EQ-5D-3L (for France, Germany, Italy, and Spain) and EQ-5D-5L (for Singapore).