Terrorism's Fear. Perceived Personal and National Threats

Una ricerca sugli effetti delle azioni terroristiche dopo l'11 settembre nella percezione della vulnerabilit\ue0 e del rischio. Cambiamenti di comportamento, scelte di vita e di relazioni, alla luce delle paure mediatiche e reali

Effects of physical exercise on inflammatory markers of atherosclerosis.

It is well established that physically fit individuals have a reduced risk of developing CVD (cardiovascular disease) and other age-related chronic disorders. Regular exercise is an established therapeutic intervention with an enormous range of benefits. Chronic low-grade systemic inflammation may be involved in atherosclerosis, diabetes and in pathogenesis of several chronic pathological conditions; recent findings confirm that physical activity induces an increase in the systemic levels of a number of cytokines and chemokines with anti-inflammatory properties. The possibility that regular physical exercise exerts anti-inflammation activity, being the interaction between contracting muscle and the other tissues and the circulating cells mediated through signals transmitted by "myokines" produced with muscle contractions. To date the list of myokines includes IL-6, IL-8, and IL-15. During muscle contractions are also released IL-1 receptor antagonis and sTNF-R, molecules that contribute to provide anti-inflammatory actions. Nevertheless discrepancies, analysis of available researches seem to confirm the efficacy of regular physical training as a nonpharmacological therapy having target chronic low-grade inflammation. Given this, physical exercise could be considerate a useful weapon against local vascular and systemic inflammation in atherosclerosis. Several mechanisms explain the positive effect of chronic exercise, nevertheless, these mechanisms do not fully enlighten all pathways by which exercise can decrease inflammation and endothelial dysfunction, and hence modulate the progression of the underlying disease progres

Traps of multi-level governance. Lessons from the implementation of the Water Framework Directive in Italy

During recent decades, different patterns of multi-level governance (MLG) have spread across Europe as a consequence of Europeanisation of public policies, which have increasingly adopted decentralized and participatory procedures conceived as a tool of more effective and accountable policy-making. It appears, however, that the implementation of operational designs based on MLG may be rather problematic and it does not necessarily bring to the expected performance improvements. Referring to the case of the EU Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC), which conceives the creation of new multi-level institutional settings as a key tool for enacting a new holistic approach to water management and protection, this article explores the difficulties that the implementation of such settings has brought in Italy, despite some favorable pre-conditions existing in the country. Evidence is provided that along with institutional and agency variables, the implementation effectiveness of MLG arrangements promoted by the EU can be challenged by their inherent characteristics

Impacts of innovation, productivity and specialization on tourism competitiveness - a spatial econometric analysis on European regions

Tourism is clearly a place-based activity, while in many advanced economies it is increasingly becoming a knowledge-based activity, with a high potential for the development of practice- and place-based innovation strategies. This study analyses whether and how regional systems of innovation influence the competiveness of tourism destinations in Europe. Impacts of both traditional production factors (physical and human capital), productivity, specialization and other contextual variables - related to the territorial capital of each region - on regional tourism performance of 237 European regions (NUTS 2) are analysed over a period of 8 years, using advanced techniques for spatial econometric analysis. The results reveal lower levels of productivity in those regions where tourism services are more labour intensive, while regions where education, innovation and productivity demonstrate higher levels are those where gross value added in tourism is less important for the regional economy. Policy implications are discussed, taking into consideration the principles for smart specialisation strategies in European regions and the possibility for cross-border regional cooperation. This work also confirms the research potential of spatial econometric analysis - and in particular spatial autocorrelation techniques - for tourism studies.Fundacao para a Ciencia e a TecnologiaPortuguese Foundation for Science and TechnologyFEDER/COMPETEEuropean Union (EU) [UID/ECO/04007/2013, SFRH/BPD/98938/2013]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Obesity prevention: the role of policies, laws and regulations

The commercial drivers of the obesity epidemic are so influential that obesity can be considered a robust sign of commercial success – consumers are buying more food, more cars and more energy-saving machines. It is unlikely that these powerful economic forces will change sufficiently in response to consumer desires to eat less and move more or corporate desires to be more socially responsible. When the free market creates substantial population detriments and health inequalities, government policies are needed to change the ground rules in favour of population benefits

Moving prison health promotion along: Towards an integrative framework for action to develop health promotion and tackle the social determinants of health

The majority of prisoners are drawn from deprived circumstances with a range of health and social needs. The current focus within ‘prison health’ does not, and cannot, given its predominant medical model, adequately address the current health and well-being needs of offenders. Adopting a social model of health is more likely to address the wide range of health issues faced by offenders and thus lead to better rehabilitation outcomes. At the same time, broader action at governmental level is required to address the social determinants of health (poverty, unemployment and educational attainment) that marginalise populations and increase the likelihood of criminal activities. Within prison, there is more that can be done to promote prisoners’ health if a move away from a solely curative, medical model is facilitated, towards a preventive perspective designed to promote positive health. Here, we use the Ottawa Charter for health promotion to frame public health and health promotion within prisons and to set out a challenging agenda that would make health a priority for everyone, not just ‘health’ staff, within the prison setting. A series of outcomes under each of the five action areas of the Charter offers a plan of action, showing how each can improve health. We also go further than the Ottawa Charter, to comment on how the values of emancipatory health promotion need to permeate prison health discourse, along with the concept of salutogenesis