Social media usage among wine tourism DMOs

Social media is an important tool for tourism destination promotion. The usage and the contents published on these platforms have an important role in visitors’ decision-making process. Information and communication technologies are changing DMOs’ markets and communication paradigm, since they allow the interaction between these organizations, visitors, and stakeholders. Therefore, social media are increasing their relevance on DMOs’ marketing strategies. This purpose of this study is to analyze comparatively social media platforms’ usage by six wine tourism DMOs. The results were provided by the analysis of secondary data available on these platforms and DMOs posts on the four most popular social media platforms to tourism industry: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Results indicate that DMOs use their official accounts on these platforms on different ways. This study also reveals that Facebook is more interactive than other platforms, and YouTube achieves less engagement levels.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

High birth weight as an important risk factor for infant leukemia

In this paper, we compared the birth weight distribution among 201 infant leukaemia (IL) cases with that of 440 noncancer controls enrolled in Brazil in 1999–2005. Compared with the general population and the stratum 2500–2999 g as reference, IL cases weighing 3000–3999 g presented an odds ratio (OR) of 1.68 (95% CI: 1.03–2.76), and those of 4000 g or more, an OR of 2.28 (95% CI: 1.08–4.75), Ptrend<0.01. Using hospital-based controls, the OR for 4000 g or more, compared to 2500–2999 g, was 1.30 (95% CI: 1.02–1.43) after adjusting for confounders (gender, income, maternal age, pesticide and hormonal exposure during pregnancy). The results suggest that high birth weight is associated with increased risk of IL

A systematic review of strategies to recruit and retain primary care doctors

Background There is a workforce crisis in primary care. Previous research has looked at the reasons underlying recruitment and retention problems, but little research has looked at what works to improve recruitment and retention. The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate interventions and strategies used to recruit and retain primary care doctors internationally. Methods A systematic review was undertaken. MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL and grey literature were searched from inception to January 2015.Articles assessing interventions aimed at recruiting or retaining doctors in high income countries, applicable to primary care doctors were included. No restrictions on language or year of publication. The first author screened all titles and abstracts and a second author screened 20%. Data extraction was carried out by one author and checked by a second. Meta-analysis was not possible due to heterogeneity. Results 51 studies assessing 42 interventions were retrieved. Interventions were categorised into thirteen groups: financial incentives (n=11), recruiting rural students (n=6), international recruitment (n=4), rural or primary care focused undergraduate placements (n=3), rural or underserved postgraduate training (n=3), well-being or peer support initiatives (n=3), marketing (n=2), mixed interventions (n=5), support for professional development or research (n=5), retainer schemes (n=4), re-entry schemes (n=1), specialised recruiters or case managers (n=2) and delayed partnerships (n=2). Studies were of low methodological quality with no RCTs and only 15 studies with a comparison group. Weak evidence supported the use of postgraduate placements in underserved areas, undergraduate rural placements and recruiting students to medical school from rural areas. There was mixed evidence about financial incentives. A marketing campaign was associated with lower recruitment. Conclusions This is the first systematic review of interventions to improve recruitment and retention of primary care doctors. Although the evidence base for recruiting and care doctors is weak and more high quality research is needed, this review found evidence to support undergraduate and postgraduate placements in underserved areas, and selective recruitment of medical students. Other initiatives covered may have potential to improve recruitment and retention of primary care practitioners, but their effectiveness has not been established

Population-based incidence and 5-year survival for hospital-admitted traumatic brain and spinal cord injury, Western Australia, 2003-2008

This study aimed at analysing first-time hospitalisations for traumatic brain injury (TBI) and spinal cord injury (SCI) in Western Australia (WA), in terms of socio-demographic profile, cause of injury, relative risks and survival, using tabular and regression analyses of linked hospital discharge and mortality census files and comparing results with published standardised mortality rates (SMRs) for TBI. Participants were all 9,114 first hospital admissions for TBI or SCI from 7/2003 to 6/2008, linked to mortality census data through 12/2008, and the main outcome measures were number of cases by cause, SMRs in hospital and post-discharge by year through year 5. Road crashes accounted for 34 % of hospitalised TBI and 52 % of hospitalised SCI. 8,460 live TBI discharges experienced 580 deaths during 24,494 person-years of follow-up. The life-table expectation of deaths in the cohort was 164. Post-discharge SMRs were 7.66 in year 1, 3.86 in year 2 and averaged 2.31 in years 3 through 5. 317 live SCI discharges experienced 18 deaths during 929 years of follow-up. Post-discharge SMRs were 7.36 in year 1 and a fluctuating average of 2.13 in years 2 through 5. Use of data from model systems does not appear to yield biased SMRs. Similarly no systematic variation was observed between all-age studies and the more numerous studies that focused on those aged 14 to 16 and older. Based on two studies, SMRs for TBI, however, may be higher in year 2 post-discharge in Australia than elsewhere. That possibility and its cause warrant exploration. Expanding public TBI/SCI compensation in WA from road crash to all causes might triple TBI compensation and double SCI compensation

Social Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation in Aging

Social entrepreneurship is usually understood as an economic activity which focuses at social values, goals, and investments that generates surpluses for social entrepreneurs as individuals, groups, and startups who are working for the benefit of communities, instead of strictly focusing mainly at the financial profit, economic values, and the benefit generated for shareholders or owners. Social entrepreneurship combines the production of goods, services, and knowledge in order to achieve both social and economic goals and allow for solidarity building. From a broader perspective, entities that are focused on social entrepreneurship are identified as parts of the social and solidarity economy. These are, for example, social enterprises, cooperatives, mutual organizations, self-help groups, charities, unions, fair trade companies, community enterprises, and time banks. Social innovation is a key element of social entrepreneurship. Social innovation is usually understood as new strategies, concepts, products, services, and organizational forms that allow for the satisfaction of needs. Such innovations are created in particular in the contact areas of various sectors of the social system. For example, these are spaces between the public sector, the private sector, and civil society. These innovations not only allow the solving of problems but also extend possibilities for public action

Who uses outpatient healthcare services under Ghana’s health protection scheme and why?

Background: The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was launched in Ghana in 2003 with the main objective of increasing utilisation to healthcare by making healthcare more affordable. Previous studies on the NHIS have repeatedly highlighted that cost of premiums is one of the major barriers for enrollment. However, despite introducing premium exemptions for pregnant women, older people, children and indigents, many Ghanaians are still not active members of the NHIS. In this paper we investigate why there is limited success of the NHIS in improving access to healthcare in Ghana and whether social exclusion could be one of the limiting barriers. The study explores this by looking at the Social, Political, Economic and Cultural (SPEC) dimensions of social exclusion. Methods: Using logistic regression, the study investigates the determinants of health service utilisation using SPEC variables including other variables. Data was collected from 4050 representative households in five districts in Ghana covering the 3 ecological zones (coastal, forest and savannah) in Ghana. Results: Among 16,200 individuals who responded to the survey, 54 % were insured. Out of the 1349 who sought health care, 64 % were insured and 65 % of them had basic education and 60 % were women. The results from the logistic regressions show health insurance status, education and gender to be the three main determinants of health care utilisation. Overall, a large proportion of the insured who reported ill, sought care from formal health care providers compared to those who had never insured in the scheme. Conclusion: The paper demonstrates that the NHIS presents a workable policy tool for increasing access to healthcare through an emphasis on social health protection. However, affordability is not the only barrier for access to health services. Geographical, social, cultural, informational, political, and other barriers also come into play

Interventions to prevent youth violence in Latin America: a systematic review

Objectives: This review aims to summarise evidence on the effectiveness of interventions to prevent youth violence in Latin America. Methods: A systematic search on 13 academic databases was conducted to locate studies evaluating a primary or secondary prevention intervention in Latin America. Studies could use any type of quantitative design to assess outcomes related to youth violence. A search of websites, references and citation searching was also carried out. The quality of each study was assessed. Results: Nine studies were identified. Most documented positive effects of the interventions on the perception of youth violence present in the community/school. Evidence was found of a reduction in homicides and juvenile crimes in three studies, two of which evaluated a community-based intervention. There were mixed results for the self-report of participation on violent acts. The majority of the studies lacked of a rigorous design. Conclusions: Most of the interventions had some promising results, including the reduction of homicides within communities. Community-based programmes were the most consistent regarding an effectiveness to prevent violence. However, the evidence for Latin America is still scarce and relies on non-rigorously designed studies