The relationship between a comprehensive index of prosperity and suicide rates in former Soviet countries, including a comparison with European and Asian countries: Discussion from a new perspective.

Investigations of suicide in countries of the former Soviet Union, which broke into 15 different countries in the early 1990s, require examinations of a combination of economic, social, and health factors. It is important to address these factors individually and to examine the various composite indicators for each. Moreover, it would be worthwhile to explore the potential applicability of a comprehensive worldwide index. We analyzed data from nine of the former Soviet countries for which both the annual suicide rate and the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) were available for the years 2006-2017. We determined the precise relationships between the suicide rate and the GCI during this period in these nine countries as well as in nine countries with high suicide rates in Europe and Asia. The results indicated the following: (i) In six of the nine former Soviet countries with complete data, the suicide rate showed a relationship with the GCI. Notably, this relationship was inverse in all but one country. (ii) Among the nine European and Asian countries with high suicide rates, three exhibited a correlation between the suicide rate and the GCI. Measures to prevent suicide should be devised especially in countries of the former Soviet Union through collaboration among multiple fields and organizations, as necessary, with particular attention paid to countries with worse or worsening GCI values.

Paramedic To Provider Consultation Challenges in the Emergency Department in Kazakhstan: An Online Survey.

Objective: Consultation is an important and necessary aspect of patient care in the emergency department. We prospectively examined difficulties during the consultation process between paramedics and providers in emergency departments in Kazakhstan. Methods: The paramedics were interviewed using various platforms and face-to-face meetings. Questionnaires were administered to paramedics to gather feedback on the current consultation process. In our survey, 202 paramedics of ambulance from the cities of Semey, Pavlodar, and Ust-Kamenogorsk, located in the North and East of Kazakhstan took part. Results: Serious barriers to effective consultation were identified during consultations with cardiologists, pediatricians, and traumatologists. Weekends, as well as nighttime, are associated with more consultation difficulties. The most common problems for paramedics are non-attendance of the consultant, refusal of hospitalization by the consultant, and referral to other specialists and departments. More than 40% of the respondents noted the desire to share responsibility for the patient with medical consultants, which indicates uncertainty in their own knowledge due to the limited work experience of the majority of respondents. Conclusion: Barriers that arise during the consultation process of patients with emergency conditions can lead to unfavorable outcomes. Strategies to address these barriers are needed to improve the quality of patient care. This review aims to understand and evaluate the issues that arise during the consultation process.

Restenosis of Coronary Arteries in Patients with Coronavirus Infection: Case Series.

Introduction: Coronavirus infection is a risk factor for vascular thrombosis. This is of particular importance for patients undergoing myocardial revascularization since this infection can be a trigger for the formation of restenosis in the area of a previously implanted coronary stent. Understanding the risk factors for stent thrombosis and restenosis is of particular importance in individuals at risk for adverse outcomes. The rarity of such situations makes the present study unique. Objective: Studying the peculiarities of restenosis and thrombosis of the coronary arteries in patients after coronavirus infection. Methods: The study was performed in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery of Emergency Hospital, Semey City, in 2021. We have examined the medical records of 10 consecutive patients with restenosis of coronary arteries after coronavirus infection and 10 matched-by-age patients with similar restenosis of coronary arteries who did not have coronavirus infection as a comparison group. To determine statistically significant differences between independent samples, we calculated the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: The average age of patients was 65.7 years. Only one case was classified as early restenosis (within 8 days of previous revascularization), two cases represented late restenosis, and seven cases were very late restenoses. In 70% of cases, restenosis was localized in the left anterior descending artery, in 30% of cases, it was in the right coronary artery, and in 40% of cases, it was in the left circumflex artery. In comparison with patients who did not have a coronavirus infection, there were statistically significant differences regarding IgG (P < 0.001) and fibrinogen (P=0.019). Conclusion: Patients with myocardial revascularization in the past have a higher risk of stent restenosis against the background of coronavirus infection due to excessive neointimal hyperplasia, hypercoagulability, increased inflammatory response, and endothelial dysfunction.

Is the Association between Suicide and Unemployment Common or Different among the Post-Soviet Countries?

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) collapsed in 1991 and separated into the 15 post-Soviet countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The post-Soviet countries have faced many economic problems, including unemployment. The association between suicide and unemployment in post-Soviet countries has not been well studied. Here, we researched the annual suicide rate and the unemployment rate during the 28-year period from 1992 to 2019 in the 15 post-Soviet countries. We calculated the correlation coefficients between the suicide rate and the unemployment rate in each of the countries during this period, and we determined the association between the suicide rate and unemployment rate. Our major findings were that (1) the suicide rates among both males and females were significantly associated with the unemployment rate in nearly half of the 15 countries, and (2) for nearly 70% of the males in the entire set of 15 countries, there was an association between the suicide rate and the unemployment rate. Suicide-prevention researchers and organizations should be aware of our findings, and specific suicide-prevention measures based on these results are desirable.

Internal exposure to neutron-activated 56Mn dioxide powder in Wistar rats: part 1: dosimetry.

There were two sources of ionizing irradiation after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: (1) initial gamma-neutron irradiation at the moment of detonation and (2) residual radioactivity. Residual radioactivity consisted of two components: radioactive fallout containing fission products, including radioactive fissile materials from nuclear device, and neutron-activated radioisotopes from materials on the ground. The dosimetry systems DS86 and DS02 were mainly devoted to the assessment of initial radiation exposure to neutrons and gamma rays, while only brief considerations were given for the estimation of doses caused by residual radiation exposure. Currently, estimation of internal exposure of atomic bomb survivors due to dispersed radioactivity and neutron-activated radioisotopes from materials on the ground is a matter of some interest, in Japan. The main neutron-activated radionuclides in soil dust were 24Na, 28Al, 31Si, 32P, 38Cl, 42K, 45Ca, 46Sc, 56Mn, 59Fe, 60Co, and 134Cs. The radionuclide 56Mn (T 1/2 = 2.58 h) is known as one of the dominant beta- and gamma emitters during the first few hours after neutron irradiation of soil and other materials on ground, dispersed in the form of dust after a nuclear explosion in the atmosphere. To investigate the peculiarities of biological effects of internal exposure to 56Mn in comparison with external gamma irradiation, a dedicated experiment with Wistar rats exposed to neutron-activated 56Mn dioxide powder was performed recently by Shichijo and coworkers. The dosimetry required for this experiment is described here. Assessment of internal radiation doses was performed on the basis of measured 56Mn activity in the organs and tissues of the rats and of absorbed fractions of internal exposure to photons and electrons calculated with the MCNP-4C Monte Carlo using a mathematical rat phantom. The first results of this international multicenter study show that the internal irradiation due to incorporated 56Mn powder is highly inhomogeneous, and that the most irradiated organs of the experimental animals are: large intestine, small intestine, stomach, and lungs. Accumulated absorbed organ doses were 1.65, 1.33, 0.24, 0.10 Gy for large intestine, small intestine, stomach, and lungs, respectively. Other organs were irradiated at lower dose levels. These results will be useful for interpretation of the biological effects of internal exposure of experimental rats to powdered 56Mn as observed by Shichijo and coworkers.