Regional Variations in Emergency Service Performance: Does Social Capital Matter?

Regional variations in emergency service performance: does social capital matter?, Regional Studies. The relationship between social capital and the performance of public organizations is currently at the top of the UK policy agenda and elsewhere. This paper examines whether social capital is associated with improved regional emergency service performance by exploring its relationship with the achievements of ambulance trusts in England. Drawing on a six-year panel dataset, ambulance response times are modelled using an index of social capital, incorporating measures of community organizational life, political efficacy and social trust, in the regions served by National Health Service (NHS) ambulance trusts. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed

The spatial aspects of fairness

As well as their family background, an individual's chances in life are determined by the opportunities available to them in their geographical context. This chapter therefore deals with the spatial aspects of fairness. It focuses, firstly, on socio-economic factors which are not randomly distributed in space (i.e. they have a geographical pattern). Secondly, it focuses, not on first nature geographical differences which cannot be changed (such as the presence of mountains), but on second nature geographical factors (such as access to basic services or hospitals) which can be altered and which are important in overcoming a region's natural disadvantages. It then links the two

Analysing domestic tourism flows at the provincial level in Spain by using spatial gravity models

Domestic tourism represents a large share of the total tourism volume in Spain, but it is still an under-researched topic. This study focuses on the determinants of domestic flows in Spain at provincial level. The prior assumption is that domestic tourism demand may be affected by specific local conditions that previous studies, mostly based on more aggregate data, would hardly capture. A gravity model and various spatial econometric models are estimated assuming alternative spatial weighting matrices. Results suggest that income and relative prices affect tourism demand in Spanish provinces as well as weather, natural amenities, infrastructures, and recreational activities

Unveiling the local determinants of population growth in the European Union

This paper studies the population growth dynamics in European NUTS3 regions over the period of 2000–2015 and offers generalizable evidence on the main drivers of population change at this sub-level of analysis, which is so far rather unexplored. Results obtained by means of a spatial Durbin model highlight the roles of economic and demographic regional conditions in shaping population dynamics and the minor role of geography and environmental conditions. The fact that geographical polarization of population is occurring, which might result in an increase in regional imbalances, calls for policy actions in mitigating this phenomenon

Early stage follicular lymphoma: What is the clinical impact of the first-line treatment strategy?

Background: Less than 20% of patients with follicular lymphoma (FL) present with Ann Arbor Stage I or II disease at diagnosis. Numerous therapeutic options exist, however radiation therapy is considered the standard of care for early-stage disease based on single-institution or retrospective series. Our aim was to revisit the outcome of patients with localized FL in the rituximab era. Patients and Methods. We analyzed the characteristics and outcomes of 145 early-stage FL patients, who were retrospectively divided into six groups according to their initial treatment: watchful waiting (WW), chemotherapy alone (CT), radiotherapy alone (RT), combined radiotherapy and chemotherapy (RT-CT), rituximab alone (Ri), and immunochemotherapy (Ri-CT). Results: Of the 145 patients, 84 (57.9%) had stage I disease and 61 (42.1%) stage II. The complete response (CR) rate varied from 57% for the Ri group to 95% for the RT-CT group. Overall survival (OS) at 7.5 y of patients treated after 2000 was better than that of those treated prior to 2000. OS did not significantly differ from one treatment to another. In contrast, a significant difference was found for progression-free survival (PFS) at 7.5 y, which favored Ri-CT (60%) therapy versus the others (p=0.00135). Conclusion: Delayed therapy initiation was associated with a similar OS than that observed in patients receiving immediate intervention. The "watchful waiting" strategy may thus be proposed as first-line therapy, similar to stage III and IV FL patients with a low tumor burden. However, when treatment is required, immunochemotherapy appears to be the best option. © 2013 Michallet et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Prevalence and Psychosocial Determinants of Nicotine Dependence in Nine Countries of the Former Soviet Union.

INTRODUCTION: Despite the high prevalence of smoking in the former Soviet Union (fSU), particularly among men, there is very little information on nicotine dependence in the region. The study aim was to describe the prevalence of nicotine dependence in 9 countries of the fSU and to examine the psychosocial factors associated with nicotine dependence. METHODS: Cross-sectional, nationally representative surveys using multistage random sampling were conducted in 2010 with men and women aged 18 years and over in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, and Ukraine. The main outcome of interest was nicotine dependence using the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence. Multivariate regression analysis was then used to explore the influence of a range of psychosocial factors on higher nicotine dependence. RESULTS: Mean nicotine dependence among men in the region as a whole was 3.96, with high dependence ranging from 17% in Belarus to 40% in Georgia. Among women, mean dependence was 2.96, with a prevalence of high dependence of 11% for the region. Gender (men), younger age of first smoking, lower education level, not being a member of an organization, bad household economic situation, high alcohol dependence, and high psychological distress showed significant associations with higher nicotine dependence. CONCLUSIONS: High nicotine dependence among men was recorded in a number of study countries. Findings highlight the need for tobacco programmes to target early age smokers and less educated and poorer groups and suggest common ground for programmes seeking to reduce nicotine dependence, harmful alcohol use, and psychological distress.<br/

Social Capital and Smoking Behavior

In this paper, we explore one mechanism that may underlie the negative relationship between social capital and smoking: whether social capital strengthens the effect of anti-smoking regulations. We use data on smoking behaviors collected immediately before and after the implementation of smoking bans in public places in Germany in order to determine whether the impact of these bans on smoking prevalence and intensity is greater among individuals richer in social capital. We find that smoking bans reduce both smoking prevalence and intensity mainly among men and that individual social capital strengthens the effect of the bans