Per Carlson

Self-perceived health in East and West Europe : Another European health divide

There is a great, and possibly also a growing, difference in public health between the central, eastern (CEE) and western European countries. Several suggestions have been put forward as explanations for this health divide. A broader framework than one focusing on medical care systems or behavioural patterns is necessary to examine this difference. It will be more fruitful to try to identify social and economic factors at large, as well as specific explanatory factors. The aim of this study is to find out to what extent The East-West Mortality Divide was apparent in peoples perception of their own health in 1990-1991, as a division in self-perceived health across Europe. If there were indeed differences, the aim is to examine whether or not they can be explained by specific economic and social conditions present in the early 1990s. Data from World Values Survey 1990 reveal a striking east west divide in self-perceived health among people in the age group 35-64 yr, one of greater size than the gender gap in self-perceived health. The importance of a number of circumstances for peoples self-perceived health in the 25 European countries was estimated. The assumption was that any resulting difference between eastern and western European countries could help to explain the health divide. An attempt was made to estimate how much the east-west health divide would be reduced if some of these circumstances were similar in CEE to those in the west. The results indicate that peoples participation in civic activities has a positive effect on their health. This effect is recognised especially on a societal level. This supports theories about civic activities and community performance. In western Europe the tradition of the active citizen is more developed than in eastern Europe. Peoples life control was important for their self-perceived health in almost every European country, both in the west and the east. In the former communist countries, however, people did not feel that they had the same control over their lives as did people in the west. Peoples economic satisfaction was the most powerful predictor of self-perceived health, both in the eastern and western parts of Europe. The average level of economic satisfaction in 1990 1991 was considerably lower in CEE. If peoples influence and economic resources were the same in the former communist countries as in the west, the health divide, according to my estimations, would decrease by something between 10-30%.

Risk behaviours and self rated health in Russia 1998

OBJECTIVES As self rated health and mortality represent different dimensions of public health and as risk behaviours have been closely related to mortality, we wanted to examine whether (poor) self rated health on the one hand and risk behaviours on the other can be attributed to different causes. METHODS The Taganrog household survey (1998) was conducted in the form of face to face interviews and included 1009 people and their families. To estimate health differences and differences in risk behaviours between groups, logistic regressions were performed. RESULTS In Taganrog between 1993/94 and 1998, changes in self rated health seem to have been much more dramatic than changes in smoking and different in direction from changes in heavy alcohol consumption. Moreover, self rated “poor” health was especially common among those whose economic situation was worse in 1998 than 10 years before. However, having a poorer economy during the period 1988–1998, does not seem to have affected drinking or smoking habits significantly. CONCLUSIONS Self rated health seems to be closely related to three indicators of economic circumstances. Risk behaviours are probably important for the poor state of public health in Russia, but may be less sensitive to the economic aspects of the transition than is self rated health.

Measurement of the flux of primary cosmic ray antiprotons with energies of 60 MeV to 350 GeV in the PAMELA experiment

It is interesting to measure the antiproton galactic component in cosmic rays in order to study the mechanisms by which particles and antiparticles are generated and propagate in the Galaxy and to search for new sources of, e.g., annihilation or decay of dark matter hypothetical particles. The antiproton spectrum and the ratio of the fluxes of primary cosmic ray antiprotons to protons with energies of 60 MeV to 350 GeV found from the data obtained from June 2006 to January 2010 in the PAMELA experiment are presented. The usage of the advanced data processing method based on the data classification mathematical model made it possible to increase statistics and analyze the region of higher energies than in the earlier works.

Educational differences in self-rated health during the Russian transition. Evidence from Taganrog 1993-1994

In the beginning of 1992, in order to do away with the ruins of the old communist system once and for all, radical economic reforms--shock therapy--were introduced in Russia. However, there are winners and losers in the Russian transition from communism to market economy and democracy. The aim of the study is to investigate whether there are educational differences in self-rated health among the citizens of Taganrog in 1993-94. If there are indeed differences, the second aim is to investigate whether they can be explained by variations in specific social, economic and psychological circumstances, which are known to be affected by the present social and economic transformation in Russia. The analysed survey was carried out in a middle-sized Russian city, Taganrog, in late 1993 and early 1994. It was conducted by means of face-to-face interviews, with a sampling frame consisting of dwellings selected from an official register and stratified by type and size. The analysed sample consists of 2372 respondents, aged 25-54 years, in 1414 households. Data were analysed in logistic regressions with self-rated health as a dichotomised outcome variable. The results show that those with less than compulsory education reported poor health twice as often as the highest-educated group. Material prosperity and relations within the family were important for self-rated health and explained to a certain degree the educational health differences. Lower educational groups now live under conditions often characterised by economic hardship, family conflicts, etc., and consequently also poor health.

Measurements of quasi-trapped electron and positron fluxes with PAMELA

This paper presents precise measurements of the differential energy spectra of quasi-trapped secondary electrons and positrons and their ratio between 80 MeV and 10 GeV in the near-equatorial regio ...

Tests of an 18 module silica aerogel Cherenkov detector to be used in the European hybrid spectrometer

Abstract An 18 module Cherenkov detector with a total sensitive area of 2.3 m 2 having silica aerogel as radiatior has been tested at the CERN PS. The modules having a sensitive area of 23 × 55 cm 2 gave an average Cherenkov signal for β = 1 particles close to 11 photoelectrons for silica aerogel of refractive index 1.03 and a thickness of 14 cm.

Tests of a Silica Aerogel Cerenkov Detector to be Used in the European Hybrid Spectrometer

An 18 module Cerenkov detector with a total sensitive area of 2.3 m2 having silica aerogel as radiator is being tested in a particle beam at CERN PS. The modules having a sensitive area of 23 × 55 cm2 give typically a Cerenkov signal for β = 1 particles of 12 photoelectrons for silica aerogel of refractive index 1.03 and a thickness of 15 cm.

Prospects of Scintillator Time-of-Flight Systems

The best time resolutions obtained so far are reviewed. For small scintillators the best r.m.s. resolution is about 40 ps. For long scintillators, typically used in particle physics applications, the best r.m.s. resolution is about 200 ps. The different factors limiting the resolution are reviewed. For the time of experiments at LEP an improvement of a factor of two to five should be possible.

Effect of the Jupiter magnetosphere on the cosmic ray protons measured with the PAMELA experiment

The very intense Jovian magnetic field produces a magnetosphere where high-energy charged particles are trapped, allowing the possibility for acceleration mechanism that could inject those particle ...

Time dependence of the proton and helium flux measured by PAMELA

The energy spectra of galactic cosmic rays carry fundamental information regarding their origin and propagation, but, near Earth, ncosmic rays are significantly affected by the solar magnetic field which changes over time. The time dependence of proton and electron spectra were measured from July 2006 to December 2009 by PAMELA experiment, that is a ballooon-borne experiment collecting data since 15 June 2006. nThese studies allowed to obtain a more complete description of the cosmic radiation, providing fundamental information about the transport and modulation of cosmic rays inside the heliosphere. In this talk the study of the time dependence of the cosmic-ray protons and helium nuclei from the unusual 23rd solar minimum through the following period of solar maximum activity is presented.