634 research outputs found
Experience of Lyme disease and preferences for precautions: A cross-sectional survey of UK patients
No full textThis article is made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. Copyright @ 2013 Marcu et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background: Lyme disease (LD) is a tick-borne zoonosis currently affecting approximately 1000 people annually in the UK (confirmed through serological diagnosis) although it is estimated that the real figures may be as high as 3000 cases. It is important to know what factors may predict correct appraisal of LD symptoms and how the experience of LD might predict preferences for future precautionary actions.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with early LD patients via the Lyme Borreliosis Unit at the Health Protection Agency. One hundred and thirty participants completed measures of awareness of having been bitten by ticks, knowledge of ticks and LD, interpretation of LD symptoms, suspicions of having LD prior to seeing the General Practitioner (GP), and preferences for precautionary actions during future countryside visits. Chi-square tests and logistic regression were used to identify key predictors of awareness of having been bitten by ticks and of having LD. t-tests assessed differences between groups of participants on suspicions of having LD and preferences for future precautions. Pearson correlations examined relationships between measures of preferences for precautions and frequency of countryside use, knowledge of ticks and LD, and intentions to avoid the countryside in the future.
Results: 73.8% of participants (n = 96) reported a skin rash as the reason for seeking medical help, and 44.1% (n = 64) suspected they had LD before seeing the GP. Participants reporting a direct event in realizing they had been bitten by ticks (seeing a tick on skin or seeing a skin rash and linking it to tick bites) were more likely to suspect they had LD before seeing the doctor. Participants distinguished between taking precautions against tick bites during vs. after countryside visits, largely preferring the latter. Also, the more frequently participants visited the countryside, the less likely they were to endorse during-visit precautions.
Conclusions: The results suggest that the risk of LD is set in the context of the restorative benefits of countryside practices, and that it may be counterproductive to overemphasize pre- or during-visit precautions. Simultaneously, having experienced LD is not associated with any withdrawal from countryside.Economic and Social Research Counci
Making sense of unfamiliar risks in the countryside: the case of Lyme disease
No full textThe focus of this paper is on how popular representations of the countryside provide countryside users with a discursive framework to make sense of unfamiliar countryside-based risks, taking Lyme disease as an example. Sixty-six semi-structured interviews were conducted with 82 visitors in Richmond Park, New Forest, and Exmoor National Park in the UK. The data were analysed using thematic analysis and was informed by social representations theory. The analysis indicated that a lay understanding of the risk of Lyme disease was filtered by place-attachment and the social representations of the countryside. Lyme disease was not understood primarily as a risk to health, but was instead constructed as a risk to the social and restorative practices in the context of the countryside. The findings suggest that advice about zoonoses such as Lyme disease is unlikely to cause panic, and that it should focus on the least intrusive preventative measures.<br/
Whose Lyme is it anyway? Subject positions and the construction of responsibility for managing the health risks from Lyme disease
No full textSmuggling and trafficking of Romanian women in the Region of Madrid
No full textTras la caída de los regímenes comunistas y el desplome soviético en el Este de Europa, ocurrieron transformaciones trascendentales. Con el telón de fondo de las transiciones económicas, políticas y sociales, aumentó de la emigración procedente de estos países, hacia los países desarrollados de la UE. Entre los múltiples tipos de emigraciones que se realizaron a partir de los años noventa, apareció en el escenario, la cara más oscura de la inmigración irregular: el tráfico de mujeres. El artículo analiza desde una perspectiva social el fenómeno del tráfico de mujeres procedentes en Rumanía, con destino España, Comunidad de Madrid. Se analiza el contexto, la situación en el origen, la organización del tráfico y la dramática situación de las víctimas en el destino. La autora considera que a pesar de las dificultades a la hora de medir y cuantificar el tráfico de mujeres, es importante realizar la aproximación a la víctima para conocer la realidad sobre esta cara negra y oculta de la inmigración internacional.After the fall of the communist regimes and the Soviet collapse in the East of Europe, transcendental transformations happened. With the basic curtain of the economic transitions, political and social, the fury of the emigration coming from these countries untied, towards the developed countries of the EU. Between the multiple types of emigrations that were realised from the Nineties, within the industry of the migration, appeared in the scene, the darkest face of immigration to irregular: the traffic of women. The article analyzes from a social perspective the phenomenon of the traffic of originating women in Rumania, with Spain destiny, Community of Madrid. We analyze the situation in the origin, the organization of the traffic and the dramatic situation of the victims in the destiny. The author considers that in spite of the difficulties at the time of measuring and quantifying the traffic of women, it is important to realise the approach to the victim to know the reality on this black face and hides of international immigration
Fronteras de cristal de la inmigración. Visión de los inmigrantes del Este Europeo en España
No full textSímbolos de barrera y de aprendizaje de la existencia, emblemas de nuestro naufragio civilizatorio, las fronteras siguen constituyendo, aún en el siglo XXI, una referencia importante, pese a que nos encontremos en plena era de la globalización. El artículo se propone presentar y analizar la problemática de la adaptación del inmigrante en el espacio de la inmigración. Toma como ejemplo, el inmigrante de la Europa del Este en España, y se guía a partir del discurso inmigrante. La primera parte aborda el espacio fronterizo como simbología y el laberinto imaginario de las fronteras; a continuación se realiza, mediante estudio cualitativo, un análisis de los factores que conducen al mantenimiento de la inadecuación inicial del extranjero y el modo en el cual se autopercibe éste en España. Finalmente, se presentan, simbólicamente, las fronteras de cristal de la inmigración, desde la voz del inmigrante.Peer reviewe
A FIRST COMPOSITIONAL ATTEMPT INTO THE WORLD OF SILENT SHORT FILMS – SANCTUARY BY NELIO COSTA (WITH MUSIC BY ŞERBAN MARCU)
No full textThis paper presents the author\u27s first attempt at writing film music. The film under discussion is Sanctuary, a silent short film produced by Nelio Costa, Professor of film journalism at the UNA University Center in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The study highlights the suggestions that the composer derived from the film, the musical solutions the composer came up with in order to “counterpoint” the visual discourse and the context in which the film was presented, at the 2nd edition of the InnerSound International New Arts Festival, in Bucharest, 2013
Experiences in Automatic Keywording of Particle Physics Literature
No full textAttributing keywords can assist in the classification and retrieval of documents in the particle physics literature. As information services face a future with less available manpower and more and more documents being written, the possibility of keyword attribution being assisted by automatic classification software is explored. A project being carried out at CERN (the European Laboratory for Particle Physics) for the development and integration of automatic keywording is described
From the Marginal Immigrant to the Mobile Citizen: Reconstruction of Identity of Romanian Migrants in Spain
No full textThis paper looks into the complex interplay of identity (re)construction as conducted by Romanian immigrants to Spain within the context of the enlargement of the European Union towards Eastern Europe. By using qualitative research techniques, the paper attempts to highlight how the migration process, which is closely tied to border dynamics and European expansion occurring in stages from 1990 to the present, has influenced the (re)construction of identity and the change of discourse among immigrants. As part of the analysis, the study looks into the factors that contribute to the initial loss of the components of identity, identity reconstruction, and the types of identity emerging from the process of mobility. Finally, the paper examines to what extent immigrants' temporary work movements influence the nature of identity construction. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.This paper comes as a result of the research project entitled ‘Eastern European migration to Spainin the context of border geopolitics: circulatorymobility and return’ (CSO 2010-14870), withfunding from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and coordination by the author, PhD Postdoctoral Researcher ‘Ramón y Cajal’ (RyC 2009-03834)Peer reviewe
Uneven mobility experiences: Life-strategy expectations among Eastern European undergraduate students in the UK and Spain
No full textThis article looks at the uneven mobility experiences of Eastern European (EE) undergraduate students within the European Union (EU) as a fundamental aspect of human intra-European mobility. It addresses the issue of student mobility by focusing on two samples of Romanian and Bulgarian undergraduates studying in the UK and Spain, after the EU enlargement towards the East. Based on 70 in-depth qualitative interviews, the study evaluates the motivations, experiences and expectations of students and their families in the context of life-course trajectories. I argue that the socio-economic situation of the country of origin, the different strategies used by EE students and their families, and the country they choose for study overseas – the UK or Spain – create uneven mobility and influence their future life-strategy mobility after graduation. The main thematic findings, that is, mobility as a platform for permanent migration and family reunification, uncertain mobility as a tool for competition, and mobility for return, show the relation between the reasons why students study overseas and subsequent mobility aspirations. The conclusions highlight the need to integrate mobile students into the study of mobility as pivotal actors in the global circuit of mobility who favour both host and origin societies.This article comes as a result of the research project entitled: ‘Eastern European migration to Spain in the context of border geopolitics: circulatory mobility and return’ (CSO 2010-14870), with funding from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and coordination by the author, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Researcher ‘Ramón y Cajal’ (RYC 2009-03834)Peer reviewe
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