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Throughout the article, the relation between the governance indicators and the Human Development Level (HDL) is investigated. The analysis is conducted by using Panel Data Regression Method. The valid annual data of World Governance Index between the years 2002-2012 for 33 member and candidate countries of European Union (EU) is collected from World Bank"s official website. To measure HDL, data of Human Development Index (HDI) belonging to 2002-2012 term is gathered from United Nations Development Programme"s official website. The analysis concluded that, at least three of the governance indicators as Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality and Rule of Law have significant positive coefficients in the panel data regression model. It means that better governance performance for any country provides better performance at the HDL. It is evaluated that the results of the research may provide useful instrument both for public policy designers and for academics.

Prolonging non‐pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) used in the control of pandemics can cause a devastating effect on the overall economic and social welfare levels. Therefore, policymakers are facing a difficult duty in terms of implementing economically and socially sustainable and acceptable measures. The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of NPIs implemented to control the COVID‐19 pandemic. To this end, eight NPI measures were analysed, and their effects on the number of cases were investigated for France, Spain, China, and South Korea. In the study, the treatment effect of these mechanisms on the daily increase rate of the total number of cases during a certain period was analysed by using logarithmic linear regression with a dummy variables model. The findings indicate that the measures are effective against the spread of the pandemic at different levels. The findings also suggest that the most effective measure in decreasing the number of cases is workplace closure. An analysis comparing the effectiveness of countrywide measures and regional measures shows that school closing is the most effective measure to decrease the number of cases when implemented countrywide as opposed to regional implementation.

Objective: National Interpersonal distance preference is considered a cultural characteristic. Interpersonal distance is critical for the spread dynamics of COVID-19. COVID-19’s spread trend shows various characteristics in different countries. We think that one of the factors influencing this variation could be national interpersonal distance preference. Methods: We employed regression analysis based on data of national interpersonal distance preferences (social, personal, and intimate) presented by Sorokowska et al. (2017) and COVID-19 growth rate data for 40 different countries which are calculated using OWD’s (2020) data. Results: National interpersonal distance preferences with its three dimensions significantly decrease the growth rate of COVID-19 in countries. Conclusion: Understanding the relation between national interpersonal distance preference and contagion growth of COVID-19 might be very useful information to be utilized in decision-making processes of individuals, societies and governments to develop culturally well-suited counter-pandemic politics, strategies, and procedures during COVID-19 pandemic or any upcoming epidemic or pandemic threats in the future, instead of standard fit-to-all strategies.

In order to determine the gene frequencies of nine polymorphic sites associated with FVIII and FIX genes in the Turkish population a sample of 50-235 unrelated X chromosomes from healthy individuals were analysed by using PCR-based assays. The Turkish population was found to be as polymorphic as Europeans in the FVII and FIX genes. Analysis of FIX haplotypes revealed that the most frequent haplotype observed in European populations and Anglo-Americans was also very common among Turks. The present population-based study indicates that two marker loci, namely HindIII and St14 in the factor VIII gene and DdeI and HhaI in the factor IX gene, are highly informative and useful markers that can be used in DNA linkage analysis for the assessment of haemophilia carriers and affected fetuses in the Turkish population.