Stories From Islita Libre: Digital Spatial Storytelling as an Expression of Transnational and Immigrant Identities

In this essay, we examine the relationship between students’ spatial literacies of their neighborhoods and communities and their transnational identities, the latter which have complex, broad spatial and temporal dimensions. Over four months, we, a team of university researchers, led a series of instructional activities with a class of racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse first- and second-generation immigrant students in an 11th grade introduction to research course. Here, we document the ways in which students learned about various data sources for inquiry to create digital, layered map-based stories about the factors that shape their (and others’) immigrant experiences in their local community. We offer two illustrations that respectively speak to how students\u27 spatial literacies of their neighborhoods included their self-positioning within the local sociopolitical landscape and at the same time, the signs and symbols they chose in their story maps reflected broader sociopolitical forces. We raise considerations and questions for educators who want to engage transnational and immigrant adolescent youth in multimodal, digital spatial storytelling

The district operation centres in one of the largest local health authorities in Italy to manage COVID-19 surveillance and homecare. First implementation and results of a survey addressed to general practitioners

Background: COVID-19 pandemic represented a shock for healthcare systems. Italy was one of the first country to deal with a huge number of patients to be diagnosed, isolated, and treated with scarce evidence-based guidelines and resources. Several organizational and structural changes were needed to face the pandemic at local level. The article aims at studying the perceived impact of the newly implemented District Operation Centres (DOCs) of Local Health Authority (LHA) Roma 1 in managing active surveillance and home care of COVID-19 patients and their close contacts in cooperation with general practitioners (GPs). Methods: A questionnaire, developed according to Delphi methodology, was validated by 7 experts and administered to a randomized sample of GPs and family paediatricians (FPs). All medical doctors selected received a phone interview between December 2020 and January 2021. The questionnaire investigated general characteristics of the sample, relations with DOC and its usefulness, and potential developments. A descriptive analysis was performed and inferential statistical tests were used to assess differences. Results: In April 2020 the LHA Roma 1 implemented one DOCs in each local health district. 215 medical doctors were interviewed, reaching the sample target for health districts (80% CL and 10% MOE) and the whole LHA (90% CL and 5% MOE). Several aspects in the management of COVID-19 cases and close contacts of COVID-19 cases, and of the support of DOCs to GPs/FPs were investigated. More than 55% of the GPs and FPs interviewed found the DOCs useful and more than 78% would recommend a service DOC-like to other LHAs. The medical professionals interviewed would use DOCs in the future as support in treating vulnerable patients, utilizing digital health tools, enlisting specialist doctors, establishing networks, and facilitating professional counselling by nurses. Conclusions: This study is an attempt to evaluate an organizational change happened during COVID-19 pandemic. DOCs were created to support GPs and FPs as a link between primary healthcare and public health. Although several difficulties were disclosed, DOCs' experience can help to overcome the fragmentation of the systems and the duality between primary care and public health and make the system more resilient

Cardiovascular disease mortality and air pollution in countries with different socioeconomic status

Abstract Background Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) account for 17.9 million deaths annually. Behavioral risk factors increase the risk of dying from CVD. Air pollution is not included in this risk calculation since the appreciation of air pollution as a modifiable risk factor is still limited. The purpose of this study was to analyze CVD mortality attributed to air pollution in all World Health Organization WHO member states and demonstrate the association of CVD mortality with air pollution depending on countries' income level. Methods The CVD death rate was calculated by dividing the number of deaths by the total population. The proportion of the population with primary reliance on clean fuels and technologies for cooking was calculated as an indicator of household air pollution. The annual mean concentration of fine particulate matter ≤2.5 µg/m3 and ≤10.0 µg/m3 to which the population is exposed was used as an indicator of ambient air pollution. Results There is a gradual increase in CVD mortality attributed to air pollution from high‐income countries (HICs) to low‐income countries (LICs). Household air pollution is the major cause of CVD mortality in LICs. Ischemic heart disease mortality attributed to ambient air pollution in all countries is higher than stroke mortality attributed to ambient air pollution. In LIC, mortality from stroke is attributed to household air pollution of 39.27 ± 14.47, which is more than twice the stroke mortality attributed to ambient air pollution at 18.60 ± 5.64, t = 7.17, p < 0.01. Conclusion Air pollution control should be an essential component of the CVD preventive strategy, along with lifestyle modifications and effective disease management

Organisational Model and Coverage of At-Home COVID-19 Vaccination in an Italian Urban Context

The COVID-19 pandemic called for a reorganisation of the methods for providing health services. The aim of this paper is to describe the organisational model implemented by one of Rome’s Local Health Units (LHU), ASL Roma 1, for the “at-home COVID-19 vaccination campaign” dedicated to a target population and to outline data related to vaccination coverage stratified by health districts. A cross-sectional study was designed to describe the strategies implemented by LHU to deliver at-home vaccination programmes. People eligible for the at-home vaccination programme included patients living in the area of the LHU, being assisted by the district home care centre or not transportable or individuals with social situations that make traveling difficult. Priority for vaccination was given to (I) age > 80 years, (II) ventilated patients with no age limit, (III) very seriously disabled people with no age limit. Patients’ data were acquired from regional and LHU databases. From 5 February until the 16 May, 6127 people got at least one dose of Pfizer-Biontech Comirnaty® vaccine, while 5278 (86.14%) completed the necessary two doses. The highest number of vaccines was administered during the first week of April, reaching 1296 doses overall. The number of vaccines administered were similar across the districts. The average number of people vaccinated at home was 6 per 1000 inhabitants in the LHU. This model proved to be extremely complex but effective, reaching satisfying results in terms of vaccination coverage

Organisational Model and Coverage of At-Home COVID-19 Vaccination in an Italian Urban Context

The COVID-19 pandemic called for a reorganisation of the methods for providing health services. The aim of this paper is to describe the organisational model implemented by one of Rome’s Local Health Units (LHU), ASL Roma 1, for the “at-home COVID-19 vaccination campaign” dedicated to a target population and to outline data related to vaccination coverage stratified by health districts. A cross-sectional study was designed to describe the strategies implemented by LHU to deliver at-home vaccination programmes. People eligible for the at-home vaccination programme included patients living in the area of the LHU, being assisted by the district home care centre or not transportable or individuals with social situations that make traveling difficult. Priority for vaccination was given to (I) age &gt; 80 years, (II) ventilated patients with no age limit, (III) very seriously disabled people with no age limit. Patients’ data were acquired from regional and LHU databases. From 5 February until the 16 May, 6127 people got at least one dose of Pfizer-Biontech Comirnaty® vaccine, while 5278 (86.14%) completed the necessary two doses. The highest number of vaccines was administered during the first week of April, reaching 1296 doses overall. The number of vaccines administered were similar across the districts. The average number of people vaccinated at home was 6 per 1000 inhabitants in the LHU. This model proved to be extremely complex but effective, reaching satisfying results in terms of vaccination coverage

Organisational Model and Coverage of At-Home COVID-19 Vaccination in an Italian Urban Context

The COVID-19 pandemic called for a reorganisation of the methods for providing health services. The aim of this paper is to describe the organisational model implemented by one of Rome's Local Health Units (LHU), ASL Roma 1, for the "at-home COVID-19 vaccination campaign " dedicated to a target population and to outline data related to vaccination coverage stratified by health districts. A cross-sectional study was designed to describe the strategies implemented by LHU to deliver at-home vaccination programmes. People eligible for the at-home vaccination programme included patients living in the area of the LHU, being assisted by the district home care centre or not transportable or individuals with social situations that make traveling difficult. Priority for vaccination was given to (I) age &gt; 80 years, (II) ventilated patients with no age limit, (III) very seriously disabled people with no age limit. Patients' data were acquired from regional and LHU databases. From 5 February until the 16 May, 6127 people got at least one dose of Pfizer-Biontech Comirnaty(R) vaccine, while 5278 (86.14%) completed the necessary two doses. The highest number of vaccines was administered during the first week of April, reaching 1296 doses overall. The number of vaccines administered were similar across the districts. The average number of people vaccinated at home was 6 per 1000 inhabitants in the LHU. This model proved to be extremely complex but effective, reaching satisfying results in terms of vaccination coverage

Chronic related group classification system as a new public health tool to predict risk and outcome of COVID-19 in patients with systemic rheumatic diseases: A population-based study of more than forty thousand patients

No abstract availabl

Path Dependency in Marketing Systems

Path dependency in marketing systems occurs when what has happened at an earlier time affects the possible outcomes of a sequence of events occurring at a later point in time (Sewell 1996). Unlike the wider category of all social systems, in marketing systems path dependency is innate in the evolutionary dynamics underlying the formation and growth of a marketing system, beginning with the historical framing of choices made by all participants, generating, through self-organization and emergence, four complex social mechanisms - delivery systems, stakeholder action fields, technology evolution systems and value change fields. These complex social mechanisms interact over time generating marketing system outcomes that feedback continually into participant choices. The paper argues that all marketing systems, whether micro, meso or macro in scale and level, exhibit path dependence, and explores the implications of this finding. The paper identifies three ways of approaching path dependence in marketing systems - a narrative, partial and strong approach. It concludes that in a specific marketing systems setting all three approaches complement each other, the first establishing in narrative terms what happened, the second identifying the key path dependencies in a partial analysis, and finally, the third, drawing on a detailed or strong understanding of the causal dynamics at work to provide insights needed to extend theories of marketing system formation and growth and to provide the foundations for policy prescription. The occurrence of path dependency in all marketing systems and the complementary nature of the three distinctive approaches are the two major contributions of this paper