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New media are an important resource for the political participation of marginalized groups. However, there is still a lack of knowledge about the factors that influence whether this opportunity is used. Influencing factors emerge from both the Civic Voluntarism Model and previous research on migrants’ political activity. Using data collected in 2019/2020 from 486 refugees living in Bavaria, we estimate linear probability models to investigate facilitating factors for the use of new media for political participation. The analysis shows that refugees in Germany who inform themselves about politics online tend to be predominantly male, higher educated, and politically involved. Language skills and the duration of stay also appear to be important. For the expression of one’s political opinion online, gender and language skills have an impact, but informing oneself about German politics, political interest, and offline political activity in Germany are the most relevant factors. This indicates that there is a close link between on- und offline activity. However, using the internet requires particular resources, so that people with lower language skills, for example, are particularly disadvantaged.

Abstract Aims To determine the rate of injuries related to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in cardiac arrest non-survivors, comparing manual CPR with CPR performed using the Lund University Cardiac Assist System (LUCAS). Methods and results We prospectively evaluated 414 deceased adult patients using focused, standardized post-mortem investigation in years 2005 through 2013. Skeletal and soft tissue injuries were noted, and soft tissue injuries were evaluated with respect to degree of severity. We found sternal fracture in 38%, rib fracture in 77%, and severe soft tissue injury in 1.9% of cases treated with CPR with manual chest compressions (n = 52). Treatment with LUCAS CPR (n = 362) was associated with significantly higher rates of sternal fracture (80% of cases), rib fracture (96%), and severe soft tissue injury (10%), including several cases of potentially life-threatening injuries. Conclusion LUCAS CPR causes significantly more CPR-related injuries than manual CPR, while providing no proven survival benefit on a population basis. We suggest judicious use of the LUCAS device for cardiac arrest.

We infer global and regional emissions of five of the most abundant hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) using atmospheric measurements from the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment and the National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan, networks. We find that the total CO₂-equivalent emissions of the five HFCs from countries that are required to provide detailed, annual reports to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) increased from 198 (175–221) Tg-CO₂-eq·y⁻¹ in 2007 to 275 (246–304) Tg-CO₂-eq·y⁻¹ in 2012. These global warming potential-weighted aggregated emissions agree well with those reported to the UNFCCC throughout this period and indicate that the gap between reported emissions and global HFC emissions derived from atmospheric trends is almost entirely due to emissions from nonreporting countries. However, our measurement-based estimates of individual HFC species suggest that emissions, from reporting countries, of the most abundant HFC, HFC-134a, were only 79% (63–95%) of the UNFCCC inventory total, while other HFC emissions were significantly greater than the reported values. These results suggest that there are inaccuracies in the reporting methods for individual HFCs, which appear to cancel when aggregated together.

Low back pain (LBP) is the most prevalent health problem in Switzerland and a leading cause of reduced work performance and disability. This study estimated the total cost of LBP in Switzerland in 2005 from a societal perspective using a bottom-up prevalence-based cost-of-illness approach. The study considers more cost categories than are typically investigated and includes the costs associated with a multitude of LBP sufferers who are not under medical care. The findings are based on a questionnaire completed by a sample of 2,507 German-speaking respondents, of whom 1,253 suffered from LBP in the last 4 weeks; 346 of them were receiving medical treatment for their LBP. Direct costs of LBP were estimated at €2.6 billion and direct medical costs at 6.1% of the total healthcare expenditure in Switzerland. Productivity losses were estimated at €4.1 billion with the human capital approach and €2.2 billion with the friction cost approach. Presenteeism was the single most prominent cost category. The total economic burden of LBP to Swiss society was between 1.6 and 2.3% of GDP.

Purpose Despite the need to generate valid and reliable estimates of protection levels against SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe course of COVID-19 for the German population in summer 2022, there was a lack of systematically collected population-based data allowing for the assessment of the protection level in real time. Methods In the IMMUNEBRIDGE project, we harmonised data and biosamples for nine population-/hospital-based studies (total number of participants n  = 33,637) to provide estimates for protection levels against SARS-CoV-2 infection and severe COVID-19 between June and November 2022. Based on evidence synthesis, we formed a combined endpoint of protection levels based on the number of self-reported infections/vaccinations in combination with nucleocapsid/spike antibody responses (“confirmed exposures”). Four confirmed exposures represented the highest protection level, and no exposure represented the lowest. Results Most participants were seropositive against the spike antigen; 37% of the participants ≥ 79 years had less than four confirmed exposures (highest level of protection) and 5% less than three. In the subgroup of participants with comorbidities, 46–56% had less than four confirmed exposures. We found major heterogeneity across federal states, with 4–28% of participants having less than three confirmed exposures. Conclusion Using serological analyses, literature synthesis and infection dynamics during the survey period, we observed moderate to high levels of protection against severe COVID-19, whereas the protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection was low across all age groups. We found relevant protection gaps in the oldest age group and amongst individuals with comorbidities, indicating a need for additional protective measures in these groups.

We report on ground‐based atmospheric measurements and emission estimates of the four anthropogenic hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) HFC‐365mfc (CH3CF2CH2CF3, 1,1,1,3,3‐pentafluorobutane), HFC‐245fa (CHF2CH2CF3, 1,1,1,3,3‐pentafluoropropane), HFC‐227ea (CF3CHFCF3, 1,1,1,2,3,3,3‐heptafluoropropane), and HFC‐236fa (CF3CH2CF3, 1,1,1,3,3,3‐hexafluoropropane). In situ measurements are from the global monitoring sites of the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE), the System for Observations of Halogenated Greenhouse Gases in Europe (SOGE), and Gosan (South Korea). We include the first halocarbon flask sample measurements from the Antarctic research stations King Sejong and Troll. We also present measurements of archived air samples from both hemispheres back to the 1970s. We use a two‐dimensional atmospheric transport model to simulate global atmospheric abundances and to estimate global emissions. HFC‐365mfc and HFC‐245fa first appeared in the atmosphere only ∼1 decade ago; they have grown rapidly to globally averaged dry air mole fractions of 0.53 ppt (in parts per trillion, 10−12) and 1.1 ppt, respectively, by the end of 2010. In contrast, HFC‐227ea first appeared in the global atmosphere in the 1980s and has since grown to ∼0.58 ppt. We report the first measurements of HFC‐236fa in the atmosphere. This long‐lived compound was present in the atmosphere at only 0.074 ppt in 2010. All four substances exhibit yearly growth rates of >8% yr−1 at the end of 2010. We find rapidly increasing emissions for the foam‐blowing compounds HFC‐365mfc and HFC‐245fa starting in ∼2002. After peaking in 2006 (HFC‐365mfc: 3.2 kt yr−1, HFC‐245fa: 6.5 kt yr−1), emissions began to decline. Our results for these two compounds suggest that recent estimates from long‐term projections (to the late 21st century) have strongly overestimated emissions for the early years of the projections (∼2005–2010). Global HFC‐227ea and HFC‐236fa emissions have grown to average values of 2.4 kt yr−1 and 0.18 kt yr−1 over the 2008–2010 period, respectively. Key Points Four anthropogenic greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are reported on Global emissions are determined using inverse modeling techniques Atmospheric burden grows rapidly, but by far not as fast as recently predicted