State socialist women's organizations within Yugoslav factories: a case study of local activism in the Duga Resa cotton mill

State socialist women's organizations were particularly active in Yugoslav industrial towns with a significant female workforce, as in the case of the Croatian mill town of Duga Resa. By exploring the local activities of the Conference for the Social Activity of Women (KDAZ), this article contributes to historiographical debates regarding state socialist women's organizations and women's agency as well as to the recent revival of interest in the social history of the post-Yugoslav region. An analysis of reflexive and representative archival sources, namely minutes of party and municipal meetings as well as official publications, shows that working women's double burden was not silenced but was frequently discussed by socialist authorities, women's organizations and female workers themselves. Through the Yugoslav politics of self-management, local KDAZ activists often lobbied for better working and welfare rights, especially the provision of housing and childcare facilities for working mothers. While KDAZ activists' agency was shaped by dominant social norms, the possibilities for voicing open criticism in socialist Yugoslavia meant that a certain degree of bottom-up initiative was possible. The archives of municipal and socio-political organizations, therefore, are of fundamental importance in understanding working women's position at the intersection of gender and labour history

Post-socialist deindustrialisation and its gendered structure of feeling: the devaluation of women's work in the Croatian garment industry

This paper examines the devaluation of women's industrial work during the transition from market socialism to capitalism in Croatia. On the basis of oral history interviews with former workers from the Arena knitwear factory in Pula, it explores the gendered structure of feeling created by socialist industrialisation, and its transformations during post-socialist deindustrialisation. In socialist Yugoslavia, female industrial workers participated in the discourses and practices of workers' self-management. Despite their hard work and their low wages, most workers fondly remember the factory as a space of socialisation, solidarity and empowerment. The factory functioned as a redistributive centre for accessing welfare rights. After post-socialist transition, workers experienced worsening social rights, precarity and exploitation as a result of deindustrialisation, privatisation and the neo-liberal withdrawal of the welfare state. Workers' nostalgic narratives about their work experiences during socialism are mobilised to reclaim the dignity and value of work in post-socialist times

Health journalism - evolution and innovation in the digital age

Health journalism meets a significant public need and influences health, but digital disruption in the news media and the migration of audiences towards new media platforms pose significant challenges to the specialisation. The earliest journalists carving out the niche for health journalism faced an uphill battle against government and medical professionals' influence. Since then, the specialisation has grown in scope, professionalism and quality, but cuts to mainstream media staffing, new entrants to the field of health information and evidence the "news hole" for health is shrinking position health journalists in the eye of a maelstrom. Key challenges include source dependency, neglect of socio-economic drivers of ill health, a paucity of critical appraisal skills, a clash of cultures between medicine and the media, neglect of community voices, verification, and competing for audiences in the tough attention economy. In this article, we discuss current scholarship relating to these challenges and the ways health journalists are responding to them by developing experimental forms of social journalism, innovating with diversified platforms, collaborating with health professionals and using crowd-sourcing to bring neglected voices and issues to the fore

The Weight of Time: Time influences on overweight and obesity in women

We know that adults’ weight increases with age, at least until around the age of 55 years or older. Recent National Australian surveys show that men and women of all age groups were heavier in 2000 than in 1995 or 1990. These studies also found that a greater proportion of people of all ages were overweight or obese in 2000 than in the previous surveys. These studies also suggested that different generations, also known as ‘birth cohorts’, had different patterns of weight gain. These birth cohort influences mean that the year a person is born and the unique set of experiences people born at that time experience, have an effect on weight gain patterns. People born at other times experience different conditions and have different weight gain patterns. Some birth cohorts or ‘generations’ are well-known, such as the ‘baby boomer’ generation, or pre-war generation. For example, Australians born in the first three decades of the twentieth century experienced World War I and II and the Great Depression during their childhood and early adult life. During these times food was scarce and everyday life required high levels of physical activity. This group overall had lower body weights than more recent generations, meaning they were less at risk of becoming obese. Australians born after 1980 were born into an advanced technological society with greater availability of food, a vastly increased range of food products and increasing serving sizes. At the same time, levels of physical activity in everyday life have been decreasing. Together these factors produce an obesogenic environment. The three National Health surveys, conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare in 1990, 1995 and 2000, produced data which the NSW Centre for Overweight and Obesity has analyzed to find out what effects three time factors -- ageing, the time of the surveys and birth cohort, have on body mass index (BMI) and the prevalence of overweight and obesity. [Note – BMI used as the indicator of weight status, where BMI = weight (kg)/height2 (M2)] This report provides an overview of key findings of the analyses of the effects of these three time factors on female weight patterns. The complete findings have been published in a comprehensive technical report. The results from the analysis of the effect of birth cohorts have been used to predict the mean body mass index of women in NSW in 2010. The graphs in this report show the results for women, and the results for men are available in a separate document. The overall patterns and implications for men are generally similar to those for women. NS

The Weight of Time: Time influences on overweight and obesity in men

We know that adults’ weight increases with age, at least until around the age of 55 years or older. Recent National Australian surveys show that men and women of all age groups were heavier in 2000 than in 1995 or 1990. These studies also found that a greater proportion of people of all ages were overweight or obese in 2000 than in the previous surveys. These studies also suggested that different generations, also known as ‘birth cohorts’, had different patterns of weight gain. These birth cohort influences mean that the year a person is born and the unique set of experiences people born at that time experience, have an effect on weight gain patterns. People born at other times experience different conditions and have different weight gain patterns. Some birth cohorts or ‘generations’ are well-known, such as the ‘baby boomer’ generation, or pre-war generation. For example, Australians born in the first three decades of the twentieth century experienced World War I and II and the Great Depression during their childhood and early adult life. During these times food was scarce and everyday life required high levels of physical activity. This group overall had lower body weights than more recent generations, meaning they were less at risk of becoming obese. Australians born after 1980 were born into an advanced technological society with greater availability of food, a vastly increased range of food products and increasing serving sizes. At the same time, levels of physical activity in everyday life have been decreasing. Together these factors produce an obesogenic environment. The three National Health surveys, conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare in 1990, 1995 and 2000, produced data which the NSW Centre for Overweight and Obesity has analyzed to find out what effects three time factors -- ageing, the time of the surveys and birth cohort -- have on body mass index (BMI) and the prevalence of overweight and obesity. [Note – BMI used as the indicator of weight status, where BMI = weight (kg)/height2 (M2)] This report provides an overview of key findings of the analyses of the effects of these three time factors on male weight patterns. The complete findings have been published in a comprehensive technical report. The results from the analysis of the effect of birth cohorts have been used to predict the mean body mass index of men in NSW in 2010. The graphs in this report show the results for men but the results for women are available. The overall patterns and implications for women are generally similar to those for men

The role of fundamental solution in Potential and Regularity Theory for subelliptic PDE

In this survey we consider a general Hormander type operator, represented as a sum of squares of vector fields plus a drift and we outline the central role of the fundamental solution in developing Potential and Regularity Theory for solutions of related PDEs. After recalling the Gaussian behavior at infinity of the kernel, we show some mean value formulas on the level sets of the fundamental solution, which are the starting point to obtain a comprehensive parallel of the classical Potential Theory. Then we show that a precise knowledge of the fundamental solution leads to global regularity results, namely estimates at the boundary or on the whole space. Finally in the problem of regularity of non linear differential equations we need an ad hoc modification of the parametrix method, based on the properties of the fundamental solution of an approximating problem

Portrayal of psychiatric genetics in Australian print news media, 1996-2009

Objective: To investigate how Australian print news media portray psychiatric genetics. Design and setting: Content and framing analysis of a structured sample of print news items about psychiatric genetics published in Australian newspapers between 1996 and 2009. Main outcome measures: Identify dominant discourses about aetiology of mental illness, and perceived clinical outcomes and implications of psychiatric genetics research. Results: We analysed 406 eligible items about the genetics of psychiatric disorders. News coverage of psychiatric genetics has steadily increased since 1996. Items attributing the aetiology of psychiatric disorders to gene-environment interactions (51%) outnumbered items attributing only genetic (30%) or only environmental factors (20%). Of items that referred to heritability of mental illness, frames of genetic determinism (78%) occurred more frequently than probabilistic frames (22%). Of frames related to genetic prophesy, genetic optimism frames (78%) were used more frequently than frames of genetic pessimism (22%). Psychosocial and ethical implications of psychiatric genetics received comparatively relatively little coverage (23%). The analysis identified 22 predictions about psychiatric genetic discoveries and the availability of molecular-based interventions in psychiatry, most of which (20/ 22, 91%) failed to manifest by the predicted year. Conclusions: Excessive optimism about the power of genetic technology in psychiatric health care, perceived clinical benefits, and largely unfulfilled predictions about availability of these benefits could encourage unrealistic expectations about future molecular-based treatment options for mental health

Talking about a nanny nation: investigating the rhetoric framing public health debates in Australian news media

Objectives and importance of study: News media portrayal of public health issues influences public opinion, policy action and decision making. This study aimed to analyse the use of 'nanny state' frames in Australian news media coverage; identify the stakeholders invoking this frame; determine which public health-related policies attract such framing; and investigate whether 'nanny state' framing is directly challenged in news coverage. STUDY TYPE: A qualitative framing analysis. METHODS: Articles featuring the term 'nanny state' that were published in Australian print newspapers during matched periods between March and September in 2017 and 2018 were sourced through Factiva, coded and analysed for content and 'nanny state' framing. Content analysis was used to identify any public health-related issues that the terminology nanny state was applied to, and who was portrayed as imposing the nanny state. Frame analysis was used to analyse what meanings are co-presented with the phrase nanny state. RESULTS: Out of 81 print newspaper articles that included the term 'nanny state', 19% linked the term to restricting personal choice or creating dissatisfaction with too many health-related rules and regulations broadly, across a range of issues, including: bike helmets, e-cigarettes, firearm restrictions, seatbelts, pool fences and smoking bans. The next most frequent links were to regulations on alcohol (17%), road safety (14%), obesity-related issues (7%) and tobacco control (6%). Of the 81 articles, 53% appeared in news publications owned by News Corporation Australia, 20% in Fairfax Media (Nine Entertainment) publications, 17% in Daily Mail and General Trust and 10% in publications owned by other organisations. Governments were the entity most frequently framed as imposing the nanny state. Most nanny state framings (73%) were negative towards public health controls and focused on policies and regulations. Nanny state was portrayed as an assault on freedom and choice (14%) and used to attack proponents of nanny state controls (11%), while few articles framed the nanny state (7%) in a favourable light. CONCLUSIONS: 'Nanny state' is a rhetorical device commonly used in Australian news media that may contribute to discrediting of the regulation of a range of health-related issues. News Corp publications are a major propagator of nanny state rhetoric in Australian newspaper media. Public health advocates are not commonly represented within nanny state debates within the news media

Widening the debate about conflict of interest: addressing relationships between journalists and the pharmaceutical industry

The phone-hacking scandal that led to the closure of the News of the World newspaper in Britain has prompted international debate about media practices and regulation. It is timely to broaden the discussion about journalistic ethics and conduct to include consideration of the impact of media practices upon the population’s health. Many commercial organizations cultivate relationships with journalists and news organizations with the aim of influencing the content of health-related news and information communicated through the media. Given the significant influence of the media on the health of individuals and populations, we should be alert to the potential impact of industry-journalist relationships on health care, health policy and public health. The approach taken by the medical profession to its interactions with the pharmaceutical industry provides a useful model for management of industry influence. Keywords Journalism, mass media, pharmaceutical industry, conflict of interest, ethics, media regulationNHMR

Multi-imaging investigation to evaluate the relationship between serum cystatin c and features of atherosclerosis in Non-ST-Segment elevation acute coronary syndrome

Objectives: High cystatin C(CysC) levels are associated with impaired cardiovascular outcome. Whether CysC levels are independently related to the atherosclerosis burden is still controversial. Methods: We enrolled 31 non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. Patients were divided into 2 groups on the basis of median value of serum CysC. Using the high CysC group as a dependent variable, univariable and multivariable analyses were used to evaluate the association between CysC and three different features of atherosclerosis: 1) coronary plaque vulnerability as assessed by optical coherence tomography (OCT), 2) coronary artery calcium (CAC) by means of computed tomography scan, and 3) aortic wall metabolic activity, as assessed using 18 F-Fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography ( 18 F-FDG-PET). Results: After univariable and multivariable analyses, 18 F-FDG uptake in the descending aorta (DA) was independently associated with a low level of CysC [(Odds Ratio = 0.02; 95%CI 0.0004-0.89; p = 0.044; 18 F-FDG uptake measured as averaged maximum target to blood ratio); (Odds Ratio = 0.89; 95%CI 0.82-0.98, p = 0.025; 18 F-FDG uptake measured as number of active slices)]. No trend was found for the association between CysC and characteristics of OCT-assessed coronary plaque vulnerability or CAC score. Conclusions: In patients with non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS), 18 F-FDG uptake in the DA was associated with a low level of serum CysC. There was no relation between CysC levels and OCT-assessed coronary plaque vulnerability or CAC score. These findings suggest that high levels of CysC may not be considered as independent markers of atherosclerosis