Health impact assessment of Roma housing policies in Central and Eastern Europe: A comparative analysis

Marginalised Roma communities in European countries live in substandard housing conditions the improvement of which has been one of the major issues of the Decade of Roma Inclusion, the ongoing intergovernmental European Roma programme. The paper presents EU-funded health impact assessments of national Roma housing policies and programmes in 3 Central and Eastern European countries in light of the evaluation of a completed local project in a fourth CEE country so as to compare predicted effects to observed ones. Housing was predicted to have beneficial health effects by improving indoor and outdoor conditions, access to services, and socioeconomic conditions. Negative impacts were predicted only in terms of maintenance expenses and housing tenure. However, observed impacts of the completed local project did not fully support predictions especially in terms of social networks, satisfaction with housing and neighbourhood, and inhabitant safety. In order to improve the predictive value of HIA, more evidence should be produced by the careful evaluation of locally implemented housing projects. In addition, current evidence is in favour of planning Roma housing projects at the local rather than at the national level in alignment with the principle of subsidiarity.     

Assessment of GC–MS response of selected pesticides in apple matrices related to matrix concentration

A uniform analyte response is required for GC–MS analysis in order to obtain acceptable quantitative results. The response of pesticides in complex matrices is susceptible to variation due to the interactions of co-extractives, both with pesticides or with GC–MS system. This study was conducted to determine the magnitude of the interactions, called matrix effect, and their behavior with the matrix dilution. The response of pyrimethanil (4,6-dimethyl-N-phenylpyrimidin-2-amine), cyprodinil (4-cyclopropyl-6-methyl-N-phenylpyrimidin-2-amine), trifloxystrobin (methyl-(2Z)-2-methoxyimino-2-[2-[[(E)-1-[3(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]ethylidene amino]oxymethyl]phenyl]acetate) and bifenthrin(2-methyl-3-phenylphenyl)methyl-3-[(Z)-2-chloro-3,3,3-trifluoroprop-1-enyl]-2,2-dimethylcyclopropane-1-carboxylate), used in apple crops protection, was evaluated in different concentrations of peel and flesh extracts of Granny Smith, Golden Delicious and Demi Rouge, selected as representatives of different matrix types. The matrix effect ranged from ?0.05 to 146.14%, depending on matrix type and pesticide. The highest response variation was observed in extracts of Granny Smith—an enhancement in flesh and suppression in peel extract. With the dilution, the matrix effect decreased with different magnitudes, but for Granny Smith peel extract an inverted effect was observed. The presence of the matrix effect in GC–MS pesticides analysis was obvious, requiring the application of matrix-matched calibration in quantification procedures for each variety, with calibration standards matched by the matrix concentration.