Economic Freedom, Education and CO2 Emissions: A Causality Analysis for EU Member States.

Environmental sustainability is one of three pillars of sustainability. However, a significant worldwide deterioration in the environment has been experienced since the Industrial Revolution, but the efforts to protect the environment date back to the 1970s. In this context, many economic and non-economic factors underlying environmental degradation have been investigated until today, but the influence of economic freedom indicators and education on the environment have been relatively less analyzed and the researchers have mainly focused on the influence of economic and institutional variables on the environment. Therefore, this paper investigates the reciprocal interplay among economic freedom indicators, education, and environment in EU member states over the 2000-2018 term by using a causality test with cross-sectional dependency and heterogeneity and taking the research gap into consideration. The causality analysis indicates that market-oriented economic structure and education can be beneficial in combatting environmental degradation.

Do Environmental Stringency Policies and Human Development Reduce CO2 Emissions? Evidence from G7 and BRICS Economies.

This study explores the impact of environmental policies and human development on the CO2 emissions for the period of 1995-2015 in the Group of Seven and BRICS economies in the long run through panel cointegration and causality tests. The causality analysis revealed a bilateral causality between environmental stringency policies and CO2 emissions for Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, and a unilateral causality from CO2 emissions to the environmental stringency policies for Canada, China, and France. On the other hand, the analysis showed a bilateral causality between human development and CO2 emissions for Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, and unilateral causality from CO2 emissions to human development in Brazil, Canada, China, and France. Furthermore, the cointegration analysis indicated that both environmental stringency policies and human development had a decreasing impact on the CO2 emissions.

Serum Lipid, Lipoprotein and Oxidatively Modified Low Density Lipoprotein Levels in Active or Inactive Patients with Behçet's Disease.

AIM: To determine serum lipid, lipoproteins and oxidized low density lipoprotein (oxLDL) levels in Behçet's disease (BD) and to evaluate the relationship of these parameters with the clinical activity of the disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-two patients (25 active, 37 inactive) and -26 healthy controls were included in the study. We measured serum oxLDL levels using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method, and serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) levels by spectrophotometric method. RESULTS: Serum TG (108±70 mg/dL and 79±40 mg/dL, respectively; P<0.05), LDL-C (124±35 mg/dL and 108±26 mg/dL, respectively; P<0.05) and oxLDL (65±19 U/L and 53±10 U/L, respectively; P<0.01) levels were significantly higher in patients than in controls, but HDL-C levels were significantly lower in patients than in controls (39±11 mg/dL and 50±13 mg/dL, respectively; P<0.05). The levels of oxLDL in patients were found to correlate with those of TC and LDL-C. Neither the lipid parameters nor the oxLDL levels in the patients with active disease (n=25) were different than those in the patients who were in inactive stage (n=37). Serum levels of oxLDL in the patients with active and inactive disease were significantly higher than those in controls (66±19 U/L, 65±19 U/L, and 53±10 U/L, respectively; P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the increase of TG, LDL-C and oxLDL levels and the decrease of HDL-levels may indicate that there is a tendency to atherothrombotic process in patients with BD. Inflammation and immunologic reactions in BD may be caused by a response to elevated oxLDL. TG, LDL-C and oxLDL are not useful markers for the severity of the disease activity.

Serum visfatin and fetuin-a levels and glycemic control in patients with obese type 2 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND: Visfatin is an adipokine produced by visceral adipose tissue and has insulin-mimicking effects. Fetuin-A is a hepatic secretory protein that binds the insulin receptor and inhibits insulin action both in vivo and in vitro. The authors of the present study aimed to investigate the levels of serum visfatin and fetuin-A and their correlation with hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and urine albumin levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). METHODS: A total of 40 obese patients with T2DM (11 males and 29 females; age, 54.47±10.83 years and 23 obese nondiabetic controls (8 males and 15 females; age, 53.04±11.33 years) were included in the study. Age, sex, and body mass index were similar in the 2 groups. Serum visfatin and fetuin-A levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. HbA1c and urine albumin levels were measured by high performance liquid chromatography and nephelometric method, respectively. RESULTS: Serum levels of visfatin in patients with T2DM (4.03±2.44 ng/mL) were similar to the control group (3.65±3.02 ng/mL). Serum fetuin-A levels were significantly lower in patients with T2DM than the controls (298.75±78.86 and 430.73±94.46 µg/mL, respectively). HbA1c levels were significantly higher in the T2DM group compared with controls (7.33±1.32 and 5.44±0.84%, respectively). Correlations between visfatin, fetuin-A and HbA1c levels were not observed. CONCLUSION: The present study suggests fetuin-A may play a role in the pathogenesis of T2DM.

The efficacy of magnetic resonance imaging and x-ray in the evaluation of response to radiosynovectomy in patients with hemophilic arthropathy.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to assess the role of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and X-Ray in the evaluation of response to radiosynovectomy (RS) in patients with hemophilic arthropathy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Eleven patients who suffered from hemophilic arthropathy with a mean age of 11.7 (range between 7-15) were included in this study. 148-185 MBq Yttrium 90 silicate (Y-90) was administered intraarticularly to ten knee joints and one patient was treated with intraarticular 74 MBq Rhenium 186 (Re-186) injection into his ankle. Before radiosynovectomy, plain anteroposterior and lateral X-rays of the target joints were obtained by standard technique. The follow-up MRI and X-ray studies of the patients were done 6 months after RS. Pettersson hemophilic arthropathy scales were utilized to stage the condition of the joints on plain X-ray and classification of the investigated joints on MRI were done according to Denver score. The clinical assessment of the efficacy of the RS was made with the comparison of the average bleedings before and after the intervention. RESULTS: During the 6-month follow-up period after RS, an improvement in number of hemarthrosis 75% or greater compared with the prior six months occurred in six joints (54.5%). The Pettersson scores worsened in 1/11 (9%), remained unchanged in 9/11 (81.8%), and improved in 1/11 (9%) joints. At the 6-month follow-up, the MRI score worsened in one (9%) and was unchanged in 10/11 joints (90.9%). CONCLUSION: MRI is a more sensitive tool than plain radiography for evaluating and follow-up of joint disease in persons with hemophilia, but both methods don't show correlation with the therapeutic response Conflict of interest:None declared.