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[Get Real!]

Overall, Mr and Mrs Osman would find this paper to be gloomy reading when considering the future prospects for their own prosperity and opportunities for their children. It must be galling for them to know that the Savvas family, almost within shouting distance, face a much brighter future..........

Nothing about IQs...

[Talisker]

Overall, Mr and Mrs Osman would find this paper to be gloomy reading when considering the future prospects for their own prosperity and opportunities for their children. It must be galling for them to know that the Savvas family, almost within shouting distance, face a much brighter future..........

Nothing about IQs...

Credible evidence please, and this forum doesn't count!

[DT.]

Spyros and Androulla will be forced to leave, as they won't have any opportunities for a decent education and job where they live. They will depart for greener pastures.

What are you on about? Lack of decent education? Job? Have you been to Cyprus?

[Talisker]

Today, Sunday the 22nd of November, 2009 there was very good news in Cyprus. In the free and democratic south of the island Mr and Mrs Savvas announced the birth of their firstborn, twins, a boy, Spiros, and a girl, Androulla. Coincidentally, in the northern Turkish-occupied part of the island Mr and Mrs Osman were pleased to announce the birth of their first children, also twins, a boy named Mehmet, and a girl called Ayse. The coincidences don't end there. Mr Savvas and Mr Osman are both 33 years old, have completed military service, and are high school history teachers. Mrs Savvas and Mrs Osman are 28 years of age, and are taking maternity leave from their jobs as estate agents.

Given your experiences of Cypriot life, understanding of the economic, religious and cultural differences in the north and south of the island, and your predictions for future changes (or not) in Cyprus within the lifetimes of the newborn children, map the destinies of the four babies, Spiros and Androulla, Mehmet and Ayse.

According to the study below Mehmet and Ayse are more likely to suffer from childhood respiratory problems, such as asthma and rhinoconjuctivitis, than Spiros and Androulla. However, GCs are more likely to report a family history of allergy than TCs which could therefore impact upon the lives of Spiros and Androulla. A number of environmental and lifestyle risk factors are considered.

Prevalence of asthma and allergies in children from the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities in Cyprus: a bi-communal cross-sectional study.
Author(s): Lamnisos, D; Moustaki, M; Kolokotroni, O; Koksoy, H; Faiz, M; Arifoglu, K; Milton, DK; Middleton, N; Yiallouros, PK.
Source: BMC PUBLIC HEALTH Volume: 13 Article Number: 585 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-585 Published: JUN 16 2013

Abstract: Background: The Greek-Cypriot (G/C) and Turkish-Cypriot (T/C) communities have lived apart since 1974, with the former presumably adopting a more westernized way of life. We estimated the prevalence of asthma and allergies among children in the two communities and investigated differences in socio-demographic and lifestyle risk factors.

Methods: The ISAAC questionnaire was completed by 10156 children aged 7-8 and 13-14 years. Relative differences in asthma and allergic symptoms between the two communities were expressed as odds ratios (OR), estimated in multivariable logistic regression models before and after adjusting for participants' risk characteristics.

Results: In contrast to our original speculation, consistently lower prevalence rates were observed for respiratory outcomes (but not eczema) among G/C compared to T/C children in both age-groups. For instance, the prevalence of current wheeze among 7-8 year-olds was 8.7% vs 11.4% (OR = 0.74, 95%, CI: 0.61, 0.90) and of current rhinoconjuctivitis 2.6% vs 4.9% (OR = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.37, 0.71). Surprisingly, the proportion reporting family history of allergy was almost double in the G/C community. With the exception of early life nursery attendance, several protective factors were more prevalent amongst T/C, such as bedroom sharing, less urbanized environment and exposure to farm animals. In contrast, exposure to tobacco smoke was more frequent in the T/C community. Controlling for risk factors did not account for the observed lower prevalence of current wheeze (in the younger age-group) and rhinoconjuctivitis (in both age-groups) among G/C children while differences in the prevalence of eczema between the two communities were no longer statistically significant.

Conclusions: A mixed picture of potential risk factors was observed in the two communities of Cyprus, not consistently favoring one over the other community since, for example, bedroom sharing and rural living but also exposure to tobacco smoke were more common among T/C children. Investigated risk factors do not fully account for the lower prevalence of asthma and allergies among G/C children, especially against a background of higher family history of allergy in this community.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3698153/pdf/1471-2458-13-585.pdf