Gender Reassignment May Not Help—and Could Even Worsen Mental Health

According to a recent Finnish study, adolescents referred for care due to gender identity exhibited significantly higher psychiatric morbidity than controls both before referral (45.7% vs. 15.0%) and at least two years after referral (61.7% vs. 14.6%). In addition, those referred after 2010 had greater psychiatric care needs than earlier cohorts both before referral (47.9% vs. 15.3%) and at least two years after referral (61.3% vs. 14.2%).

Among adolescents who underwent medical gender reassignment, psychiatric morbidity increased markedly during follow-up—rising from 9.8% to 60.7% in feminizing gender reassignment and from 21.6% to 54.5% in masculinizing gender reassignment. After adjusting for prior psychiatric treatment, all adolescents referred for gender identity-related care had similarly elevated risks of psychiatric morbidity, with hazard ratios approximately three times higher than female controls and five times higher than male controls.

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Based on the study, the authors—Sami-Matti Ruuska and his colleagues—concluded that adolescents referred for gender identity-related care exhibit a high level of psychiatric morbidity. In addition, gender differences and mental health trajectories after medical gender reassignment remain poorly understood.

A particularly notable observation was that adolescents referred for gender identity-related care had clearly higher psychiatric morbidity than controls, and this did not change as a result of treatment. On the contrary, the need persisted and often even intensified after medical interventions, some of which appeared to have even negative effects.

The researchers therefore emphasized the need for thorough psychiatric assessment and continuous treatment throughout the process of medical gender reassignment. However, they did not go so far as to state that the entire process is—at least generally—unnecessary or, at worst, even harmful.

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Criminals in the Holy Land, El Salvador, and Ukraine

Israel has agreed to release 200 Palestinian criminals for every four of its citizens who were taken hostage in October 2023. Among the recently released Palestinian prisoners were 120 individuals who had been sentenced to life imprisonment.

It remains to be seen whether these individuals will return to criminal activities after their release. And if they do, how many Israeli lives it will cost.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump has arranged for the deportation of criminals who are in the country illegally—regardless of their nationality—to El Salvador. There, the country is governed by a Palestinian-descended president, Nayib Bukele, who has used tough measures to pacify a nation that was once a playground for violent criminal organizations.

In this case, it remains to be seen how Bukele’s administration will respond if the criminals sent by the U.S. start causing trouble in their new home country. Or will it happen that the newcomers, aware of the Salvadoran government’s strict policies, stay as quiet as—according to a Finnish saying—a "pee in a sock." 

In addition to these two cases, I noticed that Israel's leadership plans to deliver weapons captured as war spoils from Hezbollah to the Ukrainians. These include Kornet anti-tank weapons, which are considered highly effective.

If and when this is the case, I won’t speculate on what they will be used for. Instead, I’ll simply note that criminal Russian invaders will get a hefty taste of their own medicine. And I’m not sorry about it.

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Will Orpo's Government Restore Finland to Sustainable Economic Growth?

The previous government of Finland – led by the exceptionally beautiful Prime Minister Sanna Marin (SDP) – was unable to manage Finland's public finances. This became particularly evident after the COVID pandemic was over, and the public sector should have been adjusted to match the available funds.

However, this was not done, and during Marin's government, Finland's public debt rose from 69% of GDP in 2019 to nearly 76%. At the same time, automatic expenditures were built into the state budget – the largest being a new level of administration with elected representatives for wellbeing services – which also forced the new government, led by the uncharismatic Petteri Orpo (NCP), to live on borrowed money.

The current strict Minister of Finance, Riikka Purra (Finns Party), recently commented on the situation. According to her, "The tax-funded bubble is even worse than I thought before taking on these tasks. I often wonder in my office, where protests, shouting, and threats occur under my window, whether the taxpayer really has to pay for all of this. Sometimes for legitimate reasons, and sometimes just because some acquired benefit has to be given up again."

She also criticized the attitude of the left-green opposition, stating that "Instead of constructing even a slightly coherent alternative to the government's economic and fiscal policy, the opposition strikes, hits, and shoots in all directions with every possible means."

Despite everything, Purra still believes that Finland's economy will turn for the better. This, of course, requires bringing public spending under control, as well as the success of Finnish businesses – from small bars to heavy industry – in domestic and international competition.

There have already been a few positive signals in this regard. One example is the order received by a Finnish shipbuilder for a massive Caribbean cruise ship, and another is the better-than-expected success of pharmaceutical company Orion’s new innovation on the market. The forest industry, which is particularly important for the entire economy, is also expected to improve its results within this year.

However, the most important task remains bringing public spending under control. This requires significant changes, especially in healthcare, where the new administrative structure has turned out to be even more expensive than anticipated, and the costly salary agreement implemented during the previous government doesn’t help matters.

It remains to be seen whether Orpo's government will succeed in returning Finland to a path of economic growth, one that hasn’t been seen since before 2009, but is optimistically reflected in the linked graph. 

And in any case, the recovery of the Finnish economy would be welcomed in order to attract highly skilled labor from abroad. Or as Purra stated: "When it comes to real foreign top experts, they will come along with private sector-led economic growth. This creates high value-added jobs that foreigners will also want to pursue."

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A factory of five billion mosquitoes

The Nature magazine published a news article stating that Brazil is planning to build a mosquito factory to produce five billion mosquitoes per year, which are intended to be released into the wild.

These are not just any mosquitoes, but winged insects that carry a certain bacterial infection. As a result, these mosquitoes do not function as efficient carriers of the virus that causes dengue fever.

Therefore, the market for these mosquitoes is in places where this viral disease occurs, such as Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, and Vietnam, where it is hoped that the released insects will pass on the bacteria in a way that even their naturally occurring counterparts are no longer able to transmit viruses.

The method has been tested before the decision to build the factory was made. The best results were achieved in a trial conducted in Indonesia, where releasing bacteria-carrying mosquitoes into the wild reduced dengue fever cases by as much as 77 percent. In other trials, the number of people with the disease also decreased, but less so.

It remains to be seen whether the mosquito factory will succeed in improving human health, and what kind of market will open up for a factory producing bacteria-carrying mosquitoes.

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A nurse´s question: who deserves health care, and who does not

In Finland there has been a long debate about nurse salaries. Those were raised considerably in 2008, which contributed considerably to the slow recovery of Finland from the Great Recession that was seen globally in 2007-2009. 

Despite that, the Finnish nurses are again on strike for their salaries, which they consider as left behind from other fields in the public sector. The employer´s representative somehow agree on the problem, but has also pointed out that there is no taxpayer´s money available to cover exceptional increases. However, most of the ordinary citizens support higher wages for the nurses, probably because many nurses leave their profession and nurse salaries are in other Nordic countries higher compared to Finland.

The strikes may turn long lasting, as the public sector of Finland has been running quickly into debt because of the loose economics policy in Finland and EU during the last years as well as additional costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic and consequences of the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine.

Very interestingly indeed, I saw today something I could not have imagined. It was a short story by the MTV3-media, in which a former nurse put the cat on the table. She said loudly the main problem of public health care in the modern democracies by pointing out that "now either the government or the employer has to say who no longer deserves care".

This is The Question, because the problem arises from the development of medical research, which continuously develops solutions to new health problems - and often they are very expensive. That leads to ever increasing costs of health care, and sooner or later - perhaps right now in Finland - the costs exceed the taxpayers ability to pay. 

So, it will be interesting to follow what happens next. Will the nurse´s comment make its way to political discussion or will it be quietly passed. Also, will the nurse be demonized on her "inhuman opinion", or will it be admitted that she has a valid point. 

It is, however clear that deciding on who will be treated from her disease and who will not is a question which is almost impossible to touch by politicians. Whatever they say or decide will raise a loud voice against them. And as well known, keeping voters happy is a serious concern for anyone who depends on the number of supporting votes in a free democracy.  

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American black population more vulnerable to the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2

American black population more vulnerable to the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2

The spread of the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has turned the number of COVID-19 cases up again. In Finland, the number of daily deaths have during the last weeks been the highest during the epidemic that started more than two years ago. Globally, however, the number of deaths were higher in January and May 2021. 

Omicron variant is known to cause less serious symptoms compared to previous variants of concern, and thus the death rate per the number of infections is lower. Therefore it was highly interesting to read from the Science magazine about research conducted in the USA on COVID-19 related differences between ethnic groups. 

The leading American science-journal reported that black adults were hospitalized for this disease at four times higher rate compared to white adults. The difference between the two groups was 40% versus 47% after two vaccinations and 44% versus 55% if they were given a booster. However, in both groups the hospital stays for Omicron were shorter compared to those caused by the previously common Delta variant, namely 5 days versus 4 days, and intensive care was not needed that often. 

The question that came to my mind was, whether this racial difference has something to do with the genes from archaic humans, Neanderthals, which do not occur in African groups of people. That was because it was previously noted that in the UK people with South Asian roots died for corona considerably more often that those associated with other ethnic groups - and the explanation was the genetic inheritance from the Neanderthals, which made them more susceptible for the virus. 

It was, however, also noticed that the same genes were rare among people of the easternmost Asia, possibly due to prehistoric selection caused by ancient viruses related to SARS-CoV-2. So, could it be possible, that most people with roots outside Africa, have some - yet unknown - genes associated with a higher tolerance to the Omicron virus? 

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