Urban air pollution and emergency room admissions for respiratory symptoms: a case-crossover study in Palermo, Italy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Air pollution from vehicular traffic has been associated with respiratory diseases. In Palermo, the largest metropolitan area in Sicily, urban air pollution is mainly addressed to traffic-related pollution because of lack of industrial settlements, and the presence of a temperate climate that contribute to the limited use of domestic heating plants. This study aimed to investigate the association between traffic-related air pollution and emergency room admissions for acute respiratory symptoms.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>From January 2004 through December 2007, air pollutant concentrations and emergency room visits were collected for a case-crossover study conducted in Palermo, Sicily. Risk estimates of short-term exposures to particulate matter and gaseous ambient pollutants including carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide were calculated by using a conditional logistic regression analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Emergency departments provided data on 48,519 visits for respiratory symptoms. Adjusted case-crossover analyses revealed stronger effects in the warm season for the most part of the pollutants considered, with a positive association for PM₁₀(odds ratio = 1.039, 95% confidence interval: 1.020 - 1.059), SO₂(OR = 1.068, 95% CI: 1.014 - 1.126), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂: OR = 1.043, 95% CI: 1.021 - 1.065), and CO (OR = 1.128, 95% CI: 1.074 - 1.184), especially among females (according to an increase of 10 μg/m³in PM₁₀, NO₂, SO₂, and 1 mg/m³in CO exposure). A positive association was observed either in warm or in cold season only for PM₁₀.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our findings suggest that, in our setting, exposure to ambient levels of air pollution is an important determinant of emergency room (ER) visits for acute respiratory symptoms, particularly during the warm season. ER admittance may be considered a good proxy to evaluate the adverse effects of air pollution on respiratory health.</p

La carica dei papà supereroi (The Charge of the superhero dad) by Enrico Franceschini

images published to accompany Enrico Franceschini's article for La Reubblica Delle Donne Magazine (Italy). 16 October 2004, no 422. page 197

Mobilization as Communication : A Latin American contribution to the study of social movements

Many scholars have noted the lack of interdisciplinary dialogue and research between the areas of social movements studies and that of media and communications. While social movement studies fail to fully analyse media practices and communicative processes in relation to mobilization, in media and communication the social and political aspects of mobilization are seldom taken into account when analysing communication in social movements. This apparent lack of dialogue is presented in the paper as a consequence of north-centred theorization in the fields of social movement studies and media and communication, which is addressed by spelling out the contribution of Latin American communication scholarship and a view of mobilization as anchored in communication

Justice et Liberté

20 mai 19401940/05/20 (N3)

Liberalisation, flexibility and industrial relations institutions: evidence from Italian and Greek banking

The article seeks to explain how institutions change within varieties of capitalism, focusing on an important institution for the world of work: wage bargaining. Although there is a widespread expectation that liberalization and firms’ needs for flexibility brings convergence to the liberal market model of decentralized industrial relations, recent literature suggests that diversity persists and that there are a range of different responses. This article contributes to the debate by applying a coalitional perspective to highlight the factors that influence divergent trajectories of change in wage bargaining. The case studies of Italian and Greek banking suggest that the existence of ‘employer associability’ may moderate decentralizing tendencies and facilitate the reform of industrial relations institutions, while ‘labour–state coalitions’ are critical for the survival of institutions. Finally, the article discusses the findings in relation to wider debates in the comparative political economy of work

Compound color terms in Italian

The present paper is dedicated to compound color terms in Italian. The aim is to give a descriptive overview of the characteristics of the individual compounding patterns both from the synchronic and the diachronic point of view. In contemporary Italian compounding is the most commonly used device for enlarging the inventory of color terms. Data from corpora show that we are dealing with constructions at the crossroads between word-formation and syntax, i.e., between compounding proper and asyndetic coordination. From a diachronic point of view, we have ascertained that compound color terms appear with a certain frequency only from the 18th century onwards; in earlier times they are attested only by a few examples and in a limited number of patterns