Gender,Violence and HIV: Women's Survival in the Streets

In this article I propose that genderinequality promotes – directly or indirectly –vulnerability to HIV as a consequence of amultidimensional violence (structural, symbolicand physical) experienced by injection drugusing (IDU) women in The Mission District (SanFrancisco). Given the female subordinated positionstipulated by the street ideology, I analyzehow drug dependence afforded by precariousstrategies of subsistence places IDU womenunder multiple dangers and threats. In thissetting, unequal gender relations are part of acomplex system of transactions in the streeteconomy and a way to reduce or increase theeveryday violence. Facing multiple dangers andrisks, some women adopt a subordinatedposition, some try to negotiate the conditionsof the exchanges and the others resist theexploitation. Finally, everyday violence under conditions ofgender inequality and scarcity of resourcesimposes a logic defined by the challenge ofsurvival under the threat of immediate dangers,which transform HIV into a secondary risk.     

From Health to Human Rights: Female Genital Cutting and the Politics of Intervention

ABSTRACT  The international campaign to eliminate female genital cutting (FGC) has, since the early 1990s, actively attempted to divorce itself from a health framework, adopting instead a human rights framework to justify intervention. Several key questions emerge regarding the prominent placement of FGC in the international human rights movement: What are the ramifications of framing FGC as a human rights violation? What actions are mandated by a human rights approach? What perils and pitfalls potentially arise from the adoption of a rights-based framework, and how might they be avoided? In exploring these questions it becomes clear that, although a human rights approach is promising, careful deliberation is required to develop action strategies that offer both protection and respect for the culture and autonomy of those women and families concerned.     

Structural violence and compassionate compatriots: immigrant health care in South Florida

Abstract

Based on more than twenty in-depth interviews with health care professionals in Miami-Dade County clinics and hospitals, this study explores immigrant access to health care. We focus on some of the debates that took place during the 2009–10 process of US health care reform, which uncovered a pervasive public fear that immigrants illegitimately access health care. This study found the opposite: immigrants in South Florida often avoid primary health care even when offered freely and legally. This is because of bewilderment about bureaucratic requirements, fear of deportation and bills, and cultural folkways. We present the former two barriers as forms of structural and symbolic violence. We conclude by describing South Florida's compassionate compatriots, as a means by which immigrants can be guided through the health care system.     

“Timing” of arrival and in-hospital mortality in a cohort of patients under anticoagulant therapy presenting to the emergency departments with cerebral hemorrhage: A multicenter chronobiological study in Italy

Therapy with oral anticoagulants (OACs) is a risk factor for cerebral hemorrhage (CH). Although different studies have been undertaken to investigate the timing of the onset of major cardiovascular events, no data exist on temporal patterns of the onset of CH in subjects treated with OACs. The aim of this study is to evaluate the timing of CH in patients treated with OACs. All patients who developed CH under OACs therapy and admitted to 28 Italian Emergency Departments (EDs) between September 2011 and July 2013 were enrolled. Age, sex, time and location of the hemorrhagic lesion, type of the bleeding events (idiopathic or post-traumatic), anticoagulant therapy (warfarin or new oral anticoagulants - NOAs) and time of ED admission (i.e., hour, day, month and season) were recorded. Five hundred and seventeen patients (63.2% male aged 80 ± 7.9 yrs) with CH were involved. Warfarin was taken by 494 patients (95.6%), and NOAs by 23 (4.4%). In-hospital mortality (IHM) was recorded in 208 cases (40.2%). Cosinor analysis showed a peak of CH arrival between 12:00 and 14:00 h both in the whole population (PR 73.9%, p = 0.002) and the male subgroup (PR 65.2%, p = 0.009), whereas females showed an anticipated morning peak between 08:00 and 10:00 h (PR 65.7%, p = 0.008). A further analysis between idiopathic and post-traumatic CH confirmed the presence of a 24 h pattern with a peak between 12:00 and 14:00 h (PR 58.5%, p = 0.019) and between 08:00 and 10:00 h (PR80.1%, p < 0.001) for idiopathic events and post-traumatic hemorrhages, respectively. Moreover, a seasonal winter peak was identified for idiopathic forms (PR 74%, p = 0.035), and a summer peak for post-traumatic forms (PR 77%, p = 0.025). The present study suggests the presence of a temporal pattern of ED arrivals in CH patients treated with OACs.     

Migration,ethnicity and psychoses: evidence,models and future directions

There is a large body of research reporting high rates of psychotic disorders among many migrant and minority ethnic groups, particularly in Northern Europe. In the context of increasing migration and consequent cultural diversity in many places worldwide, these findings are a major social and public health concern. In this paper, we take stock of the current state of the art, reviewing evidence on variations in rates of psychoses and putative explanations, including relevant theories and models. We discuss in particular: a) the wide variation in reported rates of psychotic disorders by ethnic group, and b) the evidence implicating social risks to explain this variation, at ecological and individual levels. We go on to set out our proposed socio‐developmental model, that posits greater exposure to systemic social risks over the life course, particularly those involving threat, hostility and violence, to explain high rates of psychoses in some migrant and minority ethnic groups. Based on this analysis, the challenge of addressing this social and public health issue needs to be met at multiple levels, including social policy, community initiatives, and mental health service reform.     

Myth and History: A General Model and Its Application to the Bible

This paper focuses upon the prevalent complementary definitions of myth and history and questions their analytic utility with reference to literary documents that bespeak the transition between mythic and historic cognition. In the style of ethnosemantic analysis, these definitions are treated as a semantic domain and subjected to formal analysis. The components elicited constitute a new definition—more precisely, a two-dimensional model of the relationship between myth and history. Subsequently, the model is applied to a series of books from the Bible with the conclusion that men and women are structurally equal since, in their roles as social actors, both represent different components of myth as well as history.     

城市绿地对居民身心福祉的影响

城市绿地是人工与自然耦合的城市景观之一,是改善居民居住环境重要组成部分,更是提高居民身心健康的有效途径。以杭州主城区为研究对象,通过GIS技术对城市绿地遥感图像进行解译得到杭州主城区绿地空间布局图,同时,以人口密度为阻力要素,基于交通路网的500m网络距离可达范围内绿地数量和面积作为分类标准。通过对45个高、中、低不同档次的居民区进行问卷调查得到665份居民感知数据并进行统计整理。利用结构方程模型进行以绿地数量及游玩时间为标准的组间分析,区别不同组别的差异及其原因,分析城市绿地数量、面积,居民认知、动机,绿地吸引力等与居民身心健康福祉及满意度之间的关系。结果显示:城市绿地数量、居民游玩绿地次数时间等与居民福祉有显著的正向关系;居民对绿地作用的认知、去往绿地的动机进一步影响居民身心健康福祉;城市绿地的自身引力会激发居民去往绿地的积极性,从而增加去往绿地频次。另外,不同社会属性的个体对绿地需求不同,所产生的福祉效应及满意度也会有所差异。从增加居民区周围的街头绿地及邻里公园数量、提升绿地吸引力、提升居民对城市绿地作用的认知3个方面对城市绿地今后的发展规划提出建议。