Aim The current study concentrates on the issue of income related inequality in obesity for the case of European Union, an association, which has not been thoroughly examined in the literature. Subjects and methods Ten European countries for a period of 4 consecutive years (1998)(1999)(2000)(2001) are under consideration, with the information deriving from the "European Community Household Panel" (ECHP) dataset. In order to elaborate on the above association, the concentration index was selected as a means for measuring quantitatively the degree of inequality. Furthermore, an alternative method was introduced, known as the "indirect standardization method," so as to examine if the observed level of inequality was over-reported. Results Treating the European Union as a whole, income inequality in obesity appears to be a burden for the less affluent. Investigation of each country separately reveals that inequality is of most importance for the female population, and especially for the middle-aged one, while no clear association was found for the males. Furthermore, negligence to adjust the models for the education level and the employment status could lead to an over-estimation of the inequality in obesity. Conclusion Our primary results attest to the existing literature, showing that a BMI with a value greater than 30 is most likely to be an encumbrance for those of low socioeconomic profiles. However, the extent of inequality in the European Union is found to be low. Effective preventive policies should address the low socioeconomic status female population in Europe, and special attention should be given to the middle-aged.

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Building materials, due to their mass and energy-consuming production processes, drastically increase the embodied energy of construction. This study assesses circularity processes for the construction industry with a life cycle assessment (LCA) of a case study located in a large cosmopolitan city. The research concludes that a significant decrease in environmental impacts results from a shift to recycled materials in the construction phase, as well as from changing the landfill disposal method to recycling. In particular, it was found that the use of recycled building materials (such as recycled cement, metal, concrete, or glass) during the construction phase and recycling disposal methods lead to an overall decrease of impact up to 65%. This work also underlines the importance of circularity in renewable energy production systems. In both wind and solar systems, most of the environmental impact caused during the production phase are paid back during the second year of their life due to the energy gains of the renewable energy system. However, the recovery of metal depletion requires 667 years. This result provides evidence of the emerging need for integrating circular processes regarding recycling and reusing materials in construction and also in the energy-generating sector.