Analysis of Self-Reported Walking for Transit in a Sprawling Urban Metropolitan Area in the Western U.S.

Walkability is associated with increased levels of physical activity and improved health and sustainability. The sprawling design of many metropolitan areas of the western U.S., such as Las Vegas, influences their walkability. The purpose of this study was to consider sprawl characteristics along with well-known correlates of walkability to determine what factors influence self-reported minutes of active transportation. Residents from four neighborhoods in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, targeted for their high and low walkability scores, were surveyed for their perceptions of street-connectivity, residential-density, land-use mix, and retail–floor-area ratio and sprawl characteristics including distance between crosswalks, single-entry-communities, high-speed streets, shade, and access to transit. A Poisson model provided the best estimates for minutes of active transportation and explained 11.28% of the variance. The model that included sprawl characteristics resulted in a better estimate of minutes of active transportation compared to the model without them. The results indicate that increasing walkability in urban areas such as Las Vegas requires an explicit consideration of its sprawl characteristics. Not taking such design characteristics into account may result in the underestimation of the influence of sprawl on active transportation and may result in a missed opportunity to increase walking. Understanding the correlates of walkability at the local level is important in successfully promoting walking as a means to increase active transportation and improve community health and sustainability

Requiem for the Orchard

These are vivid, visceral poems about coming of age in a place “where the Ferris Wheel/ was the tallest thing in the valley,” where a boy would learn “to fire a shotgun at nine and wring a chicken’s neck/ with one hand by twirling the bird and whipping it straight like a towel.” Looking back, the poet wrestles with the meaning of labor in the apple orchards and “the filthy dollars we’d wad into our pockets,” or the rites of passage that included sinking a knife into the flank of a dead chestnut horse. In spite of such hardscrabble cruelties—or because of them—there is also a real tenderness in these poems, the revelations of bliss driving along an empty highway “like opening a heavy book, / letting the pages feather themselves and finding a dried flower.” In line after line, poem after poem, there is an immersion in the realm of the senses. The poet has a gift for rendering his world in cinematic images: a ten-gallon hat on his head in the second grade is “an upside down chandelier;” carnival workers “snarl into the darkness on their borrowed Harleys.” In short, these poems are the stuff of life itself, ugly and beautiful, wherever or whenever we happen to live it. —Martín Espadahttps://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/uapress_publications/1130/thumbnail.jp

El cuidado informal a las personas mayores desde una perspectiva de género: revisión sistemática

[Resumen] El cuidado a las personas mayores recae mayoritariamente en las mujeres, por lo que es interesante conocer los determinantes de género que pueden influir en la salud de las cuidadoras y cuidadores. Objetivos: Determinar si existen diferentes repercusiones para la salud del cuidador o cuidadora de una persona mayor, en función de si quien cuida es un hombre o una mujer. Metodología: Se realizó una revisión sistemática. Se incluyeron estudios publicados entre 2009 y 2014 en las bases de datos Medline, Web of Science, CINAHL, Scopus y Cochrane, donde los sujetos fueran cuidadores o cuidadoras informales de personas mayores. Resultados: Tras el proceso de análisis de resultados, se incluyeron un total de trece estudios en la revisión. A excepción de dos de ellos, se ha encontrado que las cuidadoras presentan más problemas de salud que los cuidadores, especialmente relacionados con síntomas depresivos. Otros factores que influyeron en la salud de la persona que cuida fueron el número de horas dedicadas al cuidado y la percepción de carga. Conclusiones: Las diferencias en la salud entre los y las cuidadoras informales deberían considerarse, tanto en la investigación, como en el diseño e implementación de programas destinados a darles apoyo.[Abstract] Elderly care is mainly performed by women, and hence it is interesting to know which gender determinants may influence the health of male and female caregivers. Objectives: The aim of this study is to determine if there are different implications in the health of an older people caregiver, depending on whether the caregiver is a man or a woman. Methods: A systematic review was performed including studies published between 2009 and 2014 in Medline, Web of Science, CINAHL, Scopus and Cochrane where subjects were informal caregivers of older people. Results: Thirteen studies were included in the review. Except for two, women showed poorer health, especially related to depressive symptoms. Other factors influencing caregivers’ health were the number of hours devoted to the care and the perceived burden. Conclusions: Differences in health between male and female informal caregivers should be considered, both in research and in the design and implementation of support programs.Traballo fin de grao (UDC.FCS). Terapia ocupacional. Curso 2013/2014

Por una sierra de Ávila libre de minas y de especuladores

Se respira aire puro, la paz inunda nuestros pequeños pueblos y, de repente, aprovechando la creencia de que son pocas personas las que los habitan y su nivel cultural es bajo, ¡salta la alarma!, y descubrimos la pretensión de convertir nuestra sierra en un campo de minas por parte de quienes unos años atrás ni siquiera sabían que la sierra de Ávila existía. Ahora amenazan a nuestro ganado, nuestros campos, nuestros negocios, nuestra salud, y con ello el irrepetible y extraordinario legado que tan amablemente cuidaron quienes nos precedieron