Is Brazil really a catholic country? What opinions about abortion, sex between individuals who are not married to each other, and homosexuality say about the meaning of catholicism in three Brazilian cities

The idea of being a Catholic country is quite widespread throughout the nation. What does it mean to be Catholic in Brazil? Do Catholics follow the Catholic Doctrine? The objective of this paper is to investigate the relationship between religion and religious involvement (measured by religious affiliation and service attendance) and opinions about abortion, sex between individuals who are not married to each other, and homosexuality in São Paulo, Porto Alegre, and Recife. Data come from the survey “Spirit and Power: A 10-Country Survey of Pentecostals,” carried out in 2006. Results suggest that Brazilian Catholics are a very heterogeneous group with respect to opinions about abortion and sex between individuals who are not married to each other. In addition, service attendance among Catholics and those opinions are strongly correlated, except for the case of homosexuality, a topic which Catholics tend to have the same opinions about, irrespective of their religious involvement. Committed Protestants are, by far and away, the most conservative group.Brazil

Covid (In)equalities : labor market protection, health, and residential care in Germany, Sweden, and the UK

How have differently institutionalized welfare regimes dealt with the Covid-19 crisis? In particular, how have they confronted the social and economic inequalities exposed by the virus? Taking three European countries—Germany, Sweden, and the UK, corresponding broadly to conservative-continental, social democratic, and liberal regime types—this paper tracks the virus response in the areas of income and employment protection and health and residential care. With attention paid to issues of “capacity” and the institutional arrangements in each case, we find that institutional histories in Germany and Sweden permitted a certain recidivistic reliance on established practices in the areas of employment and social protection. In sum, certain social and economic inequalities were mitigated as these countries set aside recent trends toward “liberalization” and mobilized longer-standing institutional capacities to protect some groups, although by no means all. Evidence of this trend is less clear in the health and residential care sectors, where Germany had existing capacity, allowing its older population to weather the crisis in better order than its counterparts in Sweden and the UK. In the UK, welfare liberalization has led to increased social and economic inequalities and funding reductions in health and residential care—all of which have reduced the country’s ability to deal with severe crisis. The Covid response in this case was agile, but also chaotic, with little being done to ameliorate the positions of the most vulnerable groups

Neurophysiological corelates of fatigue and the feasibility of progressive resistance exercise for ameliorating symptoms of fatigue in people with multiple sclerosis

Clinicians are continually looking for effective treatments for multiple sclerosis (MS)- fatigue, but this has been hampered by unclear definitions of fatigue and studies of heterogeneous people with MS, including those who are highly-fatigued (MS-HF) and those who are less-fatigued (MS-LF). By directly comparing neuromuscular and transcranial magnetic stimulation measures between MS-HF and MS-LF, more light could be shed on the underpinning mechanisms of MS fatigue, and this could serve as a stronger foundation for therapeutic interventions. In addition, progressive resistance exercise has shown potential as an accessible exercise intervention for alleviating MS fatigue, but most studies have not recruited MS-HF or did not include MS fatigue as a primary outcome measure. In addition to positively impacting a range of other functional and mental health outcomes in PwMS, an individually tailored progressive resistance exercise (PRE) intervention has the potential to improve symptoms of fatigue and fatigability by helping to promote the development of new neural pathways (neuroplasticity). Thus, the overarching aim of this thesis was to establish whether neurophysiological differences between MS-HF and MS-LF could be reliably distinguished, and to investigate the feasibility and potential of PRE as a therapeutic exercise intervention for ameliorating perceived MS-fatigue in MS-HF. The series of investigations that set out to address this aim have led to many novel and interesting findings. Firstly, study 1 was the first systematic review and meta-analysis to synthesis the current evidence base comprising studies which used a dichotomised model (MS-HF versus MS-LF) to provide insights into structural and neurophysiological correlates of MS-fatigue. Secondly, Study 2 reports on the good to excellent test-retest reliability for a range of neuromuscular and transcranial magnetic stimulation measures assessed in the upper- and lower-limb muscles in MS-HF and MS-LF. Thirdly, based on the test-retest reliability findings of study 2, study 3 presents data for the differences between MS-HF compared to MS-LF and HC on a range of neuromuscular measures, including an isometric fatiguing exercise task in the upper- and lower-limb (performance fatigability measure). Finally, Study 4 presents important feasibility data regarding the utility of PRE as a therapeutic exercise option for MS-HF. In addition, this study provides preliminary evidence of the efficacy of PRE for ameliorating perceived MS-fatigue, a range of other patient-reported health outcomes and indices of neuromuscular function

Neurostructural and neurophysiological correlates of multiple sclerosis physical fatigue: systematic review and meta-analysis of cross-sectional studies

Fatigue is one of the most debilitating symptoms for people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS). By consolidating a diverse and conflicting evidence-base, this systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to gain new insights into the neurobiology of MS fatigue. MEDLINE, ProQuest, CINAHL, Web of Science databases and grey literature were searched using Medical Subject Headings. Eligible studies compared neuroimaging and neurophysiological data between people experiencing high (MS-HF) versus low (MS-LF) levels of perceived MS fatigue, as defined by validated fatigue questionnaire cut-points. Data were available from 66 studies, with 46 used for meta-analyses. Neuroimaging studies revealed lower volumetric measures in MS-HF versus MS-LF for whole brain (­22.74 ml; 95% CI: -37.72 to -7.76 ml; p = 0.003), grey matter (­18.81 ml; 95% CI: ­29.60 to ­8.03 ml; p < 0.001), putamen (­0.40 ml; 95% CI: ­0.69 to ­0.10 ml; p = 0.008) and acumbens (­0.09 ml; 95% CI: ­0.15 to ­0.03 ml; p = 0.003) and a higher volume of T1-weighted hypointense lesions (1.10 ml; 95% CI: 0.47 to 1.73 ml; p < 0.001). Neurophysiological data showed reduced lower-limb maximum voluntary force production (­19.23 N; 95% CI: ­35.93 to ­2.53 N; p = 0.02) and an attenuation of upper-limb (­5.77%; 95% CI:­8.61 to ­2.93%; p < 0.0001) and lower-limb (­2.16%; 95% CI:­4.24 to ­0.07%; p = 0.04) skeletal muscle voluntary activation, accompanied by more pronounced upper-limb fatigability (­5.61%; 95% CI: -9.57 to -1.65%; p = 0.006) in MS-HF versus MS-LF. Results suggest that MS fatigue is characterised by greater cortico-subcortical grey matter atrophy and neural lesions, accompanied by neurophysiological decrements, which include reduced strength and voluntary activation. Prospero registration Prospero registration number: CRD4201601793

The Diffusion of IT in Higher Education: Publishing Productivity of Academic Life Scientists

This study investigates widening access to the Internet and other advancements in IT across institutions of higher education and how these advances have affected the publishing productivity of academic life scientists. What distinguishes this study is that institutional IT access is measured across a wide range of institutions and multiple IT indicators are considered: 1) the adoption of BITNET; 2) the registration of domain names (DNS); 3) the availability of the electronic journal database, JSTOR; and 4) the availability of electronic library resources. Data on life scientists are drawn from the 1983, 1995, 2001, and 2003 Survey of Doctorate Recipients. Universities and colleges are classified into several tiers, depending upon research intensity. Three hypotheses are tested: 1) IT enhances the careers of faculty, independent of tier; 2) IT improves the careers of faculty at lower-tiered relative to higher-tiered institutions; and 3) within tier, the IT revolution increases women’s publication rates relative to their male counterparts. The study finds that the diffusion of IT in higher education follows the standard S-curve, with highertiere

Antimicrobial resistance among migrants in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are rising globally and there is concern that increased migration is contributing to the burden of antibiotic resistance in Europe. However, the effect of migration on the burden of AMR in Europe has not yet been comprehensively examined. Therefore, we did a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify and synthesise data for AMR carriage or infection in migrants to Europe to examine differences in patterns of AMR across migrant groups and in different settings. METHODS: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus with no language restrictions from Jan 1, 2000, to Jan 18, 2017, for primary data from observational studies reporting antibacterial resistance in common bacterial pathogens among migrants to 21 European Union-15 and European Economic Area countries. To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to report data on carriage or infection with laboratory-confirmed antibiotic-resistant organisms in migrant populations. We extracted data from eligible studies and assessed quality using piloted, standardised forms. We did not examine drug resistance in tuberculosis and excluded articles solely reporting on this parameter. We also excluded articles in which migrant status was determined by ethnicity, country of birth of participants' parents, or was not defined, and articles in which data were not disaggregated by migrant status. Outcomes were carriage of or infection with antibiotic-resistant organisms. We used random-effects models to calculate the pooled prevalence of each outcome. The study protocol is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42016043681. FINDINGS: We identified 2274 articles, of which 23 observational studies reporting on antibiotic resistance in 2319 migrants were included. The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or AMR infection in migrants was 25·4% (95% CI 19·1-31·8; I2 =98%), including meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (7·8%, 4·8-10·7; I2 =92%) and antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (27·2%, 17·6-36·8; I2 =94%). The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or infection was higher in refugees and asylum seekers (33·0%, 18·3-47·6; I2 =98%) than in other migrant groups (6·6%, 1·8-11·3; I2 =92%). The pooled prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms was slightly higher in high-migrant community settings (33·1%, 11·1-55·1; I2 =96%) than in migrants in hospitals (24·3%, 16·1-32·6; I2 =98%). We did not find evidence of high rates of transmission of AMR from migrant to host populations. INTERPRETATION: Migrants are exposed to conditions favouring the emergence of drug resistance during transit and in host countries in Europe. Increased antibiotic resistance among refugees and asylum seekers and in high-migrant community settings (such as refugee camps and detention facilities) highlights the need for improved living conditions, access to health care, and initiatives to facilitate detection of and appropriate high-quality treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections during transit and in host countries. Protocols for the prevention and control of infection and for antibiotic surveillance need to be integrated in all aspects of health care, which should be accessible for all migrant groups, and should target determinants of AMR before, during, and after migration. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial College Healthcare Charity, the Wellcome Trust, and UK National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimictobial Resistance at Imperial College London

Genotypic variability enhances the reproducibility of an ecological study

Many scientific disciplines are currently experiencing a “reproducibility crisis” because numerous scientific findings cannot be repeated consistently. A novel but controversial hypothesis postulates that stringent levels of environmental and biotic standardization in experimental studies reduces reproducibility by amplifying impacts of lab-specific environmental factors not accounted for in study designs. A corollary to this hypothesis is that a deliberate introduction of controlled systematic variability (CSV) in experimental designs may lead to increased reproducibility. We tested this hypothesis using a multi-laboratory microcosm study in which the same ecological experiment was repeated in 14 laboratories across Europe. Each laboratory introduced environmental and genotypic CSV within and among replicated microcosms established in either growth chambers (with stringent control of environmental conditions) or glasshouses (with more variable environmental conditions). The introduction of genotypic CSV led to lower among-laboratory variability in growth chambers, indicating increased reproducibility, but had no significant effect in glasshouses where reproducibility was generally lower. Environmental CSV had little effect on reproducibility. Although there are multiple causes for the “reproducibility crisis”, deliberately including genetic variation may be a simple solution for increasing the reproducibility of ecological studies performed in controlled environments