Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

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Sick leave due to mental health problems on the rise in Finland

Published 1 September 2024
– By Editorial Staff
According to the researchers "the true cost of lost workdays is likely to be even higher than our estimate".

According to the Finnish Social Insurance Institution (Kela), six million working days were lost last year due to mental health problems. These absences cost society more than €1 billion a year.

Mental illness currently accounts for more than one in three days of sick leave paid by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela) in Finland. The annual cost of lost work effort exceeds one billion euros, which is an increase of almost half a billion euros compared to ten years ago.

– The true cost of lost workdays is likely to be even higher than our estimate, Mikko Rissanen, senior specialist at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, told Finnish national broadcaster Yle.

In 2023, almost six million working days will be lost due to mental health problems, which is the equivalent of 26,000 full-time employees being absent from work for a whole year. This is an increase of two million working days compared to a decade ago.

If short periods of sickness, which are shorter than the qualifying period for sickness compensation, are also taken into account, the total number of working days lost could exceed seven million, according to Kela.

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Tuna to be made less toxic with new packaging method

Published yesterday 14:56
– By Editorial Staff
Tuna's high mercury levels have negative health effects for humans.

A new packaging containing the amino acid cysteine can reduce mercury levels in tuna, according to researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. In the study, levels of the toxic substance dropped by up to 35%.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mercury is one of the ten most dangerous chemicals for humans. Seafood often contains mercury, and predatory fish such as tuna have particularly high levels. Exposure can damage the central nervous system, where children and fetuses are particularly vulnerable.

The Chalmers researchers investigated whether mercury levels in fish could be reduced by using “active packaging”. This means that the packaging material, such as a liquid in a can, interacts with the food. The technique has been used in the past to extend shelf life, but never to improve food safety.

Binding amino acid

In a previous study, researchers tested coating the inside of packaging with a layer of thiolated silica, a material with sulfur groups that bind strongly to mercury. However, the experiments failed because the mercury was too tightly bound in the fish tissue. So the researchers decided to add the amino acid cysteine instead.

– Knowing this, we decided to add an amino acid, cysteine, to an aqueous solution in which the fish meat can be stored. Our theory was that this would cause some of the mercury to be released from the meat and instead be bound in the solution and discarded. Further research on how to deal with the removed mercury is required in the future, says Przemysław Strachowski, a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Life Sciences at Chalmers at the time of the study, in a press release.

No extra production steps would be required with the new method. Photo: Towfiqu barbhuiya/Pexels

Reduced by 35 percent

The study, published in Global Challenges, shows that the amount of mercury removed increased as the surface area of the fish meat in contact with the cysteine solution increased. When the researchers tested ground tuna meat from ordinary cans, levels fell by 35%.

– The beauty of this type of packaging is that it is active while the product is on the shelf. No extra production steps would be needed if a method like this was used industrially, and the application of our results could increase the safety margin for fish consumption, says Strachowski.

More Finns are refraining from major purchases

Published 4 February 2025
– By Editorial Staff

A growing proportion of Finns are hesitating to make major purchases, such as home renovations, according to a survey by the Federation of Finnish Financial Services. Half have either abandoned planned purchases or postponed them due to low confidence in the economy.

The FA citizen survey has been conducted in Finland every year since 2022, asking Finns how the global political situation affects their own or their family’s plans for major purchases, such as renovations or buying a holiday home.

In December 2024, 26% of respondents said that they had postponed major purchases due to the unstable world situation. Another 23% had completely abandoned their plans.

– According to the survey, Finns’ confidence in their own economy seems to remain very low, says Arno Ahosniemi, Managing Director of the Finnish FA, in a press release.

In the previous survey, conducted in February 2024, only 11% of Finns said they had completely abandoned their plans and showed more signs of optimism about their finances. Now, however, Finns’ economic uncertainty has returned to the same level as when it was at its lowest in 2023.

At the beginning of 2024, Finns still had a clear perception that the worst was over and that more stable and better economic times were on the way, says Ahosniemi. The pressing question is how to make Finns believe in a better and safer future.

Confidence in the future varied between age groups. Among Finns aged 18-49, 60% had postponed or abandoned their planned purchases, while the corresponding figure for 70-79 year olds was 30%.

Finland also saw an increase in the number of unemployed in December, with the unemployment rate reaching 8.9%, and a large number of highly educated people in the country are also out of work, reports the Finnish state broadcaster Yle. In December, 52,000 highly educated Finns were unemployed, which is the highest figure since 2015.

The overlooked health benefits of cranberries

Published 3 February 2025
– By Editorial Staff

Cranberries are packed with antioxidants, support good bacteria, and are known for aiding urinary tract health. Though often overlooked, they grow across most of Sweden and the northern hemisphere, making them more common than many realize.

Most people are familiar with cranberries and have probably tasted juice made from them, perhaps in a drink. Many people probably don’t think of cranberries when it’s time to pick them, but they are actually more common than you might think. Cranberries grow in bogs across much of Sweden, although they are less common on Öland and in the mountains.

Sweeter after frost

Cranberries thrive in moist soil and often grow on bogs. They persist over winter and can therefore be harvested for most of the year, with a harvest season that extends from September to March. Like rowan berries, they are tastier after being frost-bitten, as they otherwise have a more bitter taste. In spring, the berries also become slightly sweeter.

The berries grow close to the ground and are about the same size as American blueberries. There is also a species called the dwarf cranberry, which is sometimes considered a subspecies of cranberry. The two species are nutritionally similar, so it doesn’t matter if you pick the wrong one, according to Skogsskafferiet.

Health

Girls and women suffering from urinary tract infections (UTIs) have probably heard that cranberry juice can help, and it is a popular option that many women use successfully to prevent the infection.

A Finnish study had women with an increased susceptibility to UTIs drink cranberry and lingonberry juice daily to see if infections were reduced. The results showed an average reduction in UTIs of 20%. Cranberries and lingonberries are related and contain similar substances, such as pectin and vitamin C.

A meta-analysis published in 2024, which reviewed 20 studies on the topic, found that 18 of them linked cranberry juice to a 54% lower rate of UTIs compared to no treatment. In addition, cranberry juice use resulted in 59% lower antibiotic use. The conclusion was that cranberry juice can be an effective way to prevent UTIs while reducing the need for antibiotics, which is particularly important in the fight against increasing antibiotic resistance.

UTIs are caused by bacteria and mainly affect women and girls; there are indications that they can be caused by bacteria from both the gut and the vagina. A 2021 study investigated whether cranberries could alter the bacterial flora of both the gut and the vagina. The results showed that consuming cranberries increased the presence of beneficial bacteria and reduced some less beneficial bacteria. However, for the best effect, cranberry juice should be drunk unsweetened, as sugar can raise the pH and increase the risk of UTIs.

Cranberry juice in particular is said to contain some vitamins C and E, as well as magnesium and potassium, according to the medical website WebbMD. Furthermore, cranberries, like many other berries, also contain anthocyanins, which are a strong antioxidant. Since these antioxidants are mainly found in the peel, less of it is found in juice. The berry also contains the flavenoid myricetin, which is supposed to contain antioxidant, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory components.

Note that you should not eat cranberries or drink cranberry juice if you are taking the blood-thinning drug Waran because substances in the berries counteract the effect of the drug.

Using the berries

Cranberries are similar in taste to lingonberries and are therefore best used in a similar way. They are ideal for making jams, jellies or juices, and thanks to their high content of benzoic acid, no additional preservatives are needed. During Thanksgiving, celebrated in Canada and the United States, cranberry sauce is a traditional part of the turkey dinner, similar to how lingonberry jam is used in Sweden.

Cranberries can be dried and mixed into muesli, for example. They can also be frozen just as they are.

For those who want to use cranberries in their diet for health reasons, such as preventing urinary tract infections, it is best to eat them plain or make an unsweetened drink. Cranberry drinks without sugar can be tart, but are much better for your body. Other tips include adding cranberries to smoothies, porridge or bread baking for a healthy and tasty variety.

Six-fold increase in autism diagnoses among Swedish girls

Published 1 February 2025
– By Editorial Staff
There are several theories as to why autism diagnoses have increased so exceptionally over the last 15 years.

Autism diagnoses are increasing significantly among girls, according to a survey by the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare. Since 2010, the number of diagnoses has increased sixfold for girls aged 10-17 years.

Last year, around 155,000 people aged 2-64 had an autism diagnosis, representing 2% of the population. The number of people diagnosed has increased in all age groups and among both sexes over the past decade.

However, the increase has been greatest among girls, according to the survey. Since 2010, the number of diagnoses for girls aged 10-17 has increased sixfold.

Previously, it was perceived that young boys in particular were diagnosed more often than girls. Now, boys and girls are diagnosed with autism in equal proportions, and in some cases more often in girls.

Many hypotheses

According to the National Board of Health and Welfare, one possible explanation may be that girls have previously been under-diagnosed, as they often have a different symptom picture than boys. Increased knowledge of gender differences in diagnosis would also explain why more girls are now being diagnosed with autism, it says.

– Girls and women may have different symptoms than boys and may also be able to cope better with their difficulties. The degree of disability may also play a role, where those who receive an early diagnosis may have more severe symptoms, says Peter Salmi, project manager for the survey in a press release.

Others, such as Christopher Gillberg, professor of child and adolescent psychiatry, have pointed out that there is a risk that children and young people are overdiagnosed and argued that today fewer symptoms are required for an autism diagnosis to be made than in the past.