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At least 577 records · Page 32Linked to original sources
PubMed1996

The geography of availability and driving after drinking.

This paper reports on an analysis of geographically based data from four communities conducted to evaluate relationships between measures of the physical availability of alcohol and rates of driving after drinking. From a review of the literature, it was expected that rates of driving after drinking would be directly related to the availability of alcohol at on-premise establishments. Based on theoretical arguments regarding the life activities which underlie drinking and driving it was expected that the effects of availability upon these outcomes would extend significantly beyond the local areas of outlets. Taking into account the geographic variations in environmental characteristics (road network density, traffic flow, population density), and socioeconomic (age, gender, race, marital status, income, employment) and drinking characteristics (rates of abstention, frequency and quantity of use) of resident populations, a spatial analysis of drinking driving and alcohol-related crashes was conducted. The results of the analysis showed that physical availability was unrelated to self-reports of driving after drinking and driving while intoxicated and significantly related to rates of single vehicle night-time crashes. In the latter case, physical availability affected both local and adjacent area rates of crashing.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed2004

The urban geography of SARS: paradoxes and dilemmas in Toronto's health care.

BACKGROUND: Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has impacted heavily on both Canada's society and its health care system. Quite unexpectedly, hospitals and health care workers became facilitators of disease diffusion. This experience has demonstrated the need for a comprehensive disease control strategy. AIMS: The aims are threefold. First, to examine the subtle and changing spatial characteristics of SARS during the short but critical period of its rapid spread in the Greater Toronto Area. Second, to make salient three paradoxes, and their associated dilemmas, faced by nurses and other health care professionals challenged with caring for the sick and containing the rapid spread of the disease. Third, to propose some ways of approaching these dilemmas, as well as some broader preventative and mitigating strategies. METHODS: The crosscutting concepts of 'clinical uncertainty' and 'flow of human contacts' are used to explain disease transmission characteristics and urban spatial diffusion and to guide the particular strategies developed. Evidence for the paper comes from public health records, governmental and non-governmental health statements and the initial epidemiological research on SARS. Direct insights are also gained from recent first-hand experiences of Toronto's health care system during the crisis. DISCUSSION: The concepts of clinical uncertainty and the flow of human contacts provide in-depth insights that complement the findings of large-scale epidemiological studies, and help operationalize their general calls for enhanced control measures. The comprehensive disease control strategy proposed includes the creation of a hospital infrastructure specific to the containment of biological threats; an advisory coalition of disease control specialists; the development of a biological threat-and-containment simulation laboratory and three specific programmes in patient safety, risk assessment and community mobilization. CONCLUSION: It is argued that containment alone, while a necessary and urgent priority, cannot be seen as an end in itself and might better be understood as one possible trajectory within a comprehensive problem-solving strategy. The experiences in Toronto may offer insights to other cities and countries that currently lack such strategies and hence may be vulnerable to similar outbreaks of dangerous infectious diseases.

Canada↗
PubMed2004

Epidemiology and geography of Schistosoma mansoni in Uganda: implications for planning control.

Intestinal schistosomiasis caused by infection with Schistosoma mansoni is a widespread public health problem in Uganda. Although long known to be endemic, its current distribution within the country requires updating of parasitological data to help guide planned control. We report such data collected between 1998 and 2002 from 201 schools and 68 communities across Uganda. In accordance with epidemiological expectation, prevalence and intensity increased with age, peaking at 10-20 years and thereafter declined moderately with age, whereas intensity declined more rapidly with age, and the prevalence of infection in a school was non-linearly related to the mean intensity of infection. We used geographical information systems to map the distribution of infection and to overlay parasitological data with interpolated environmental surfaces. The derived maps indicate both a widespread occurrence of infection and a marked variability in infection prevalence, with prevalence typically highest near the lakeshore and along large rivers. No transmission occurred at altitudes >1400 m or where total annual rainfall was <900 mm; limits which can help estimate the population at risk of schistosomiasis. The results are discussed in reference to the ecology of infection and provide an epidemiological framework for the design and implementation of control efforts underway in Uganda.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

The socioeconomic geography of ethnic groups in two northern British cities.

"For the first time the 1991 British Census has not only provided data on ethnicity but has also cross-classified ethnic status by a variety of socioeconomic indicators. This paper is an exploration of the patterns revealed by these new data." The focus is on a comparative analysis of six ethnic groups living in the northern cities of Bradford and Leeds with regard to 30 demographic, household, employment, education, social class, and housing and consumption indicators. A picture of the relative situation of advantage and disadvantage among the ethnic groups considered is revealed.

Censuses↗
PubMed1977

The phenomena of the disembodied eye or is it a matter of personal geography?

When a bilaterally asymmetrical figure is drawn on the skin at various bodily positions, the observer often reports that the figure he "sees" is reversed. On the head and neck, for example, figures drawn to the front of an imaginary line through the centre of the head, approximately in line with the ear canal are seen as reversed, and those to the rear of this line as correctly orientated. Different bodily locations such as the palm were tried and the orientation was found to depend in most instances upon the direction in which the surface faced. Several possible theories were tested against the data.

Humans↗
PubMed2002

Dietary iodine intake and urinary iodine excretion in a Danish population: effect of geography, supplements and food choice.

I deficiency diseases remain a health problem even in some developed countries. Therefore, measurement of I intake and knowledge about food choice related to I intake is important. We examined I intake in 4649 randomly selected participants from two cities in Denmark (Copenhagen and Aalborg) with an expected difference in I intake. I intake was assessed both by a food frequency questionnaire and by measuring I in casual urine samples. I excretion was expressed as a concentration and as estimated 24-h l excretion. Further, subgroups with low I intake were recognized. I intake was lower in Aalborg than in Copenhagen for all expressions, and lower than recommended in both cities if I intake from supplements was not included. Milk was the most important I source, accounting for about 44% of the I intake, and milk (P<0.001) and fish (P=0.009) intake was related to I excretion in a multiple linear regression model. Thus, risk groups for low I intake were individuals with a low milk intake, those with a low intake of fish and milk, those not taking I supplements and those living in Aalborg where the I content in drinking water is lower. Even individuals who followed the advice regarding intake of 200-300 g fish/week and 0.5 litres milk/d had an intake below the recommended level if living in Aalborg.

Adolescent↗