UNASSIGNED: This paper aims to shed light on a very intense period of relations between Albania and the Soviet Union (USSR), focusing on the period from 1948 with the intensification of Albania\'s relations with the USSR until the termination of diplomatic relations in 1959. The paper will overview the USSR\'s relationship with Albania and its behaviour.
UNASSIGNED: The paper analyses a specific period between 1948 and 1959 as a case study. The analysis is conducted on context, actors, and outcomes. The research aims to identify key indicators and the implications of the relationship in both domestic and international contexts. The data sources include various materials such as interviews, films, newspapers, and books. The researchers have requested permission to use the Archival resources of the Albanian Central State Archives (AQSH), where they have made some non-state secret resources accessible. However, some of these resources can only be accessed within the archive, but the researchers have been permitted to use them.
UNASSIGNED: The facts show that the relations between Albania and the USSR benefitted Albania more. particularly with economic support from the USSR, which helped Albania emerge from the crisis and build the so-called \'socialist state.\' Albania took its place in the international arena through these relations and contributions.
UNASSIGNED: The study, regardless of the issues it addresses, does not aim to exhaust the paper\'s topic but to contribute to the objective analysis and to have some impact on the continuation and deepening of the treatment of this topic. Albania\'s relations with the Soviet Union are still not fully revealed as long as many documents found in Russian archives are not available for study. But further, numerous documents show that this could be the \'best cover\' to safeguard the interests and personal power of the leadership.

Immigrants from the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) are more prevalent in Methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) in Israel than their percentage in the general population.
To compare their characteristics and outcomes to those of Israeli-born and other immigrant patients.
Retention and survival since admission (June/1993-Dec/2022) until leaving treatment (for retention), or at the end of follow-up were analyzed. Vital data was taken from a national registry. Predictors were estimated using Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression models.
The USSR patients (N = 262) compared with other immigrants (N = 132) and Israeli-born (N = 696) were more educated (≥ 12y) (p < 0.001), admitted to MMT at a younger age (p < 0.001), following a shorter duration of opioid usage (p < 0.001). More of them ever injected drugs (p < 0.001) and ever drank alcohol (p < 0.001). One-year retention was comparable (77.2% vs. 75.6% and 72%, p = 0.2) as did opioid discontinuation in those who stayed (p = 0.2). Former USSR patients had longer cumulative retention of their first admission (p = 0.05) with comparable overall retention since first admission, and survival, although the age of death was younger. Specific origin within the former USSR found immigrants from the Russian Federation with the best outcome, and those from Ukraine as having high HIV seropositive and shorter retention.
Despite several characteristics known to be associated with poor outcomes, former USSR immigrants showed better adherence to MMT, reflected by their longer cumulative retention in their first admission, lower rate of readmissions, and a comparable survival and overall retention in treatment. An in depth study is needed in order to understand why they decease at a younger age.

Poorer mental health is linked to a lower likelihood of voting in elections. However, little is known about this association in non-Western settings. This study examined the association between psychological distress and voting in nine countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU). Data were analysed from 18,000 respondents aged ≥ 18 in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Ukraine collected during the Health in Times of Transition (HITT) survey in 2010/11. Information was collected on previous voting behaviour and future voting intentions. Psychological distress was assessed with a 12-item scale. In pooled multivariable logistic regression analyses psychological distress was significantly associated with \'never voting\' (not having voted previously or intending to vote in future) and \'past voting only\' (having voted previously but not intending to vote in future). In stratified analyses psychological distress was linked to never voting in women and working-age adults. The significant association between psychological distress and voting was observed only in hybrid political regimes. Psychological distress is associated with a reduced likelihood of voting in FSU countries especially among women, working-age adults and those in hybrid political regimes.

This article analyzes the history of immunization against tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) and specifically the processes that led to the creation and application of TBE vaccines in the Soviet Union and Austria. Rather than presenting the development of TBE vaccines from the perspective of national scientific schools, the article investigates their history as a transnational project, focusing on the connections among the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Austria, the United States, and the United Kingdom. It argues that biomedical research on TBE was profoundly intertwined with political and military agendas and depended on civil international cooperation as well as Soviet, American, and British military concerns, infrastructures and funding. The article consists of four parts that discuss (1) the identification of the TBE virus and the creation of the first TBE vaccine in the Soviet Union in the 1930s; (2) the internationalization of TBE research and vaccine development in the 1940s-1960s; (3) the history of TBE research and virology in Austria in the 1930s-1960s and the role of the US military funding; and (4) the cooperation of Austrian virologist Christian Kunz with the Microbiological Research Establishment Porton Down in the UK leading to the development of the Austrian/British vaccine against TBE in the 1970s.

Penitentiary systems serve as breeding grounds for all kinds of diseases. Drawing upon new archival materials, this article examines the history of the management and reporting of epidemics in the Russian prison system from the late Imperial period to the present day. We use the case studies of cholera (1892-1893), typhus (1932-1933), and pulmonary tuberculosis (the 1990s) to examine how the general political and social conjuncture at different times affected the response of prison authorities to epidemics to show that, notwithstanding major shifts in society and polity, there was continuity in the management of epidemics by prison authorities in the long twentieth century. However, there were fundamental discrepancies in the way late Imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet Russia reported epidemiological emergencies in prisons. We argue that Russia\'s tumultuous past has reinforced the tendency among the Russian penal administration towards a lack of transparency that has persisted to the present day, in relation to the latest, COVID-19, epidemic.

In this article, we focus on the ways in which a variety of different carceral techniques used to punish and exploit people\'s labour during the Stalin period (1927-1953) in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) created a distinctive landscape of repression. Using the tools of historical geographic information science (GIS) to map the material landscape, we foreground space in the discussion of the USSR\'s exceptional history of repression. The \'carceral conditions\' frame allows us to deconstruct boundaries erected over more than half a century of writing the history of the USSR that have maintained artificial distinctions between the victims and impacts of different punishment modalities.  In the article, we follow the example of the Stanford Holocaust Geographies Project in combining quantitative and textual data with the spatial analytical tools of geovisualisation to reveal the patterns of events as the Stalinist repressive apparatus extended its reach across Soviet space.  In fixing the geolocation of carceral institutions and layering the resultant pattern with different types of qualitative and quantitative information in the same visual space, we hope to counter some of the myths and generalizations that exist in the literature about the geography of Soviet gulag. We use the case study of Perm\' region in the Urals to highlight the spatiality of the production of the material landscape of repression in one region.  Our aim is to position the USSR in the now substantial geographical literature discussing the twentieth century history of crimes against humanity and genocide and to suggest to historians that the geovisualisation of data can add a new dimension their studies of the Stalin period.

This paper describes the role of the totalitarian state in changing ethnic identity. To solve the question of nationality, the Soviet Union drew upon the ideologies of ultra-radical theorists of the 19th century, whose goal was to change society by removing several major institutions - for example, through the liquidation of family or private property, in addition to creating a national group. Numerous paradoxes emerged when putting these initial theories into practice because they were full of internal contradictions. The example of the Dungans shows how the state created a new ethnic group, which it supported in every possible way, and then, in the next phase, it clearly persecuted this ethnic group. In the implementation of state interventions, it is clear that the main declared elements of ethnic identity are extremely volatile and their meaning varies considerably. Whereas earlier Soviet ideology sought to present the Dungans as a group vastly different from its ancestors in China, contemporary Chinese ideology emphasises the similarities between the two groups.

OBJECTIVE: So far, there are hardly any data on the health literacy of persons with a migration background in Germany. The aim of the article was to analyse the health literacy of this population group - particularly persons who originate in Turkey and the former Soviet Union (FSU).
METHODS: In summer 2020, face-to-face interviews with 525 persons with FSU and 512 persons with Turkish migration background above the age of 18 were carried out across Germany. The interviews were conducted in German, Russian or Turkish. Health literacy was assessed using the internationally developed HLS19-Q47 instrument. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were carried out for each immigration group separately considering demographic, socioeconomic, linguistic and migration-specific variables.
RESULTS: Overall, around half of the respondents had low health literacy, with no differences between the immigration groups. In both groups, low educational levels, socioeconomic disadvantages, limited German literacy skills, older age, multiple chronic illnesses and personal experience of immigration were linked with lower health literacy. In multivariate analyses, associations between health literacy and literacy skills, social status, financial deprivation, and chronic illness remained; however, after adjustment, no significant difference persisted by immigration generation.
CONCLUSIONS: While a significant proportion of persons with Turkish or FSU migration background in Germany have difficulty dealing with health information, compared with existing studies, they do not have a lower health literacy than the population without a migration background. People with a migration background are therefore not to be regarded as vulnerable to low health literacy in general. Particularly socioeconomically disadvantaged subgroups display low health literacy. Interventions should therefore target these subgroups specifically and consider their living conditions. In addition, people with low literacy skills and German proficiency have greater difficulties in processing health information. This highlights the need for multilingual information, but also for multimedia materials in plain language. Structural measures are necessary for a health-literate health system and for reducing health inequalities.
ZIEL: Über die Gesundheitskompetenz von Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund in Deutschland liegen bislang kaum Daten vor. Ziel des Artikels ist es daher, die Gesundheitskompetenz dieser Bevölkerungsgruppe – speziell von Menschen mit türkischem und ex-sowjetischem Migrationshintergrund – genauer zu analysieren.
METHODS: Deutschlandweit wurden im Sommer 2020 525 Personen mit ex-sowjetischem und 512 Personen mit türkischem Migrationshintergrund ab 18 Jahren auf Deutsch, Russisch oder Türkisch interviewt. Die Erhebung der Gesundheitskompetenz erfolgte mittels des international entwickelten Instruments HLS19-Q47. Stratifiziert nach Migrationsgruppe wurde die Gesundheitskompetenz unter Berücksichtigung demographischer und sozioökonomischer, sprachlicher und migrationsspezifischer Variablen bivariat und multivariat untersucht.
UNASSIGNED: Insgesamt verfügt rund die Hälfte der Befragten über eine geringe Gesundheitskompetenz, wobei sich die beiden Migrationsgruppen nicht unterscheiden. Bei beiden gehen ein niedriges Bildungsniveau, sozioökonomische Benachteiligung, eingeschränkte deutschsprachige literale Fähigkeiten, ein höheres Alter, mehrfache chronische Erkrankung und eigene Migrationserfahrung mit einer geringen Gesundheitskompetenz einher. In den multivariaten Analysen bleiben Zusammenhänge zwischen Gesundheitskompetenz und literalen Fähigkeiten, Sozialstatus, finanzieller Deprivation und dem Vorliegen von einer chronischen Krankheit bestehen; adjustiert bleibt kein bedeutsamer Unterschied nach Migrationsgeneration.
UNASSIGNED: Ein erheblicher Teil an Personen mit türkischem und ex-sowjetischem Migrationshintergrund in Deutschland hat Schwierigkeiten im Umgang mit Gesundheitsinformationen. Verglichen mit vorliegenden Studien ist ihre Gesund-heitskompetenz aber nicht geringer als bei Menschen ohne Migrationshintergrund. Personen mit Migrationshintergrund sind demzufolge nicht pauschal als vulnerabel für geringe Gesundheitskompetenz zu betrachten. Vor allem sozioökonomisch benachteiligte Teilgruppen haben häufiger eine geringe Gesundheitskompetenz. Interventionen sollten daher vor allem diese Teilgruppen adressieren und dabei zielgruppenspezifische und lebensweltliche Besonderheiten berücksichtigen. Darüber hinaus bestehen für Menschen mit geringen literalen Fähigkeiten und Deutschkenntnissen größere Schwierigkeiten, die Gesundheitsinformationen zu verarbeiten. Dies verdeutlicht den Bedarf an mehrsprachiger Information, aber auch an multimedialen Materialen in einfacher Sprache. Zudem sind strukturelle Maßnahmen für ein gesundheitskompetentes Gesundheitssystem notwendig, um die gesundheitliche Ungleichheit zu verringern.

UNASSIGNED: Research on Mental Health Literacy (MHL) has been growing in different geographical and cultural contexts. However, little is known about the relationship between immigrant generations, acculturation, stigma, and MHL among immigrant populations.
UNASSIGNED: This study aims to examine differences in MHL among immigrant generations (first, 1.5, and second) from the former Soviet Union (FSU) in Israel and to assess whether differences are accounted for by immigration generation or acculturation.
UNASSIGNED: MHL was assessed among 420 participants using a cross-sectional survey adapted from the Australian National Survey. Associations of immigrant generation, socio-demographic characteristics, and acculturation with MHL indices were examined using bivariate and multivariable analyses.
UNASSIGNED: First generation immigrants reported poorer identification of mental disorders and higher personal stigma than both 1.5- and second-generation immigrants. Acculturation was positively associated with identification of mental disorders and negatively associated with personal stigma across all immigrants\' generations. When all variables were entered into a multivariate model predicting MHL indices, acculturation and gender were associated with personal stigma and only acculturation was associated with better identification of mental disorders.
UNASSIGNED: Differences in MHL among FSU immigrants in Israel are mainly explained by acculturation rather than by immigrant generation. Implications for policy makers and mental health professionals working with FSU immigrants are discussed.

In the post-COVID-19 world, when the adequacy of public health workforce education is being critically re-evaluated, this study undertakes a historical analysis of how the educational and scientific field of public health developed during and after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The study intends to historically contextualize public health education and science development in former Soviet Republics. It attempts to document achievements after gaining independence and identify remaining challenges that need to be addressed for advancing public health science and education in Former Soviet Union countries to better prepare them for future pandemics and address current health challenges of the nations.
The study used a mixed-methods review approach combining both a literature review, information collection from the school\'s websites, and secondary analysis of the quantitative data available about scientific outputs-peer-reviewed articles.
During communist rule and after the fall of the Soviet Union, the main historical events seem to have shaped the public health field of former Soviet countries, which also determined its eventual evolution. The international efforts post-1991 were instrumental in shifting medically oriented conceptualization of public health toward Western approaches, albeit with variable progress. Also, while scientific output has been growing from 1996 to 2019, sub-regional differences remain prominent.
The region seems to have matured enough that it might be time to start and facilitate regional cooperation of public health schools to advance the field of public health and research. Regional and country variabilities feature prominently in the volume and quality of scientific output and call for the immediate attention of national governments and international partners.