Flatfoot: the palaeopathological diagnosis

Bipedal human motion is related to the original shape of the foot. Distortion and degenerative changes may be caused by failure in the complex chain of movements. There are few references to valgus flatfoot in either the palaeopathological or medical literature. The study of three French medieval series (Macon, Larina and Cutry) in the osteological collections of the CEPAM (UMR 6130 – CNRS/UNSA) at Valbonne (France) enabled us to define several significant osseous signs which provide evidence of abnormal biomechanical constraints following structural change in the foot. The consequences of the change of axis of the talar pulley, abnormal osseous contacts, and evolutionary modifications noticed in some synostoses of the tarsus, are particularly useful for study. Analysis of the location of arthritic change in the joint may produce an additional coherent argument to the diagnosis. The recognition of flatfootedness in an archaeological context provides a marker of health and of distress, which is all the more interesting since bones required for this diagnosis are often present and relatively well preserved in the excavations of burials. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

清末瘟疫与民众心态

在清末,民众面对瘟疫的心态首先是恐惧,由恐惧而导致迷信,还表现为对现代防疫手段的排拒。在中外杂居地居民的心态则更加复杂,但随着防疫的深化和瘟疫的成功扑灭,民众的心态迅速发生变异,这与公共卫生体系的建立及中外文化交流等因素有联系,器物和制度层面的转型,为公共卫生观念的确立作了铺垫。     

文物裂隙趋势预测模型研究

露天不可移动文物常年遭受风化侵蚀和人为破坏,保存环境十分恶劣,掌握文物健康状况并进行趋势预测,是"预防性"文物保护工作的重要内容。文物健康监测数据具有不确定性和贫信息性,传统概率统计方法和模糊数学方法不能满足预测要求。针对文物裂隙数据的特点,以陕西唐顺陵天禄石刻为研究对象,提出了采用灰色系统理论来预测文物裂隙发展趋势,建立了裂隙GM((1,1)模型和Verhulst模型,分别确定了灰色模型的灰色作用量和发展系数,并且对唐顺陵石刻文物的裂隙进行了预测。实验用前12个月的裂隙月均值,对随后的7个月的裂隙进行了定量预测,发现天禄石刻的裂隙有缓慢增大的趋势。与同期真实裂隙监测值相比,GM((1,1)模型和Verhulst模型预测值的平均相对误差满足裂隙预测精度要求。研究结果为文物健康趋势研究提供了定量分析的理论依据。     

Foreclosure Risk and Community Health: Does Social Capital Have a Protective Effect?

This study draws upon the social determinants of health framework to model and test the extent to which a community’s social capital is health protective in the face of a substantial economic shock, namely the recent foreclosure crisis. U.S. county–level data are used to analyze potential moderating effects of social capital on health given a community’s foreclosure risk. We rely upon established social capital measures for U.S counties and merge them with county level foreclosure risk scores constructed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). While theorists suggest that social capital’s effect on health and other outcomes may be durable over time there have been few empirical tests of this. We interact established social capital indicators measured at two points in time with foreclosure risk to predict overall self-reported health. Our results provide strong support suggesting that high levels of social capital are health protective. Communities with high levels of social capital that are facing high foreclosure risks report significantly better aggregate health outcomes than comparable communities facing the same level of foreclosure risk, but lower levels of social capital.     

年龄分层视角下医疗设施可达性对居民就医行为的影响——以上海市崇明岛为例

年龄是影响就医行为的重要因素,从年龄分层视角出发探讨医疗资源可达性对就医行为的影响有助于理解居民的就医行为决策机理.本文以崇明岛为案例,利用一手调查数据,结合两步移动搜寻算法和回归分析方法,探讨了医疗设施可达性对居民就医机构选择和惯常就医距离的影响,揭示了不同年龄群体之间就医行为影响机理的差异.研究发现,医疗设施可达性...     

Governing population, public health, and malaria in the early Turkish republic

In the early Turkish republic of the 1920s, population was a central question of concern for the leadership of the Kemalist state. This article focuses on how a demographic discourse concerning population – in terms both numerical and medical – provided a basis for emerging programs in public health, confronting the very real threats posed by disease. Employing the example of the nascent republic’s anti-malarial campaigns, this study thus examines the discursive, cartographic, and legislative measures employed in combating this widespread disease in the wider contexts of nation-building. In doing so, it traces one vital trajectory of the development of modern governmentality (i.e., that of public health) in the case of Turkey during the 1920s and 1930s, prior to the wartime slowing of state investments (due to national defense priorities), the post-World War II infusions of foreign aid and the incorporation of DDT in confronting malaria.     

Political Science and U.S. Health Policy in the Era of the Affordable Care Act

Few laws have a profound and lasting impact on an entire political system. The Affordable Care Act (ACA), despite its incremental nature and bipartisan heritage, has been one of those remarkable landmarks. Even a decade after its passage, the political struggle is far from over, as the ACA is still facing near constant threats from the incumbent president, Congress, the courts, statehouses, attorneys general, and governors across the nation. How have political scientists responded to the continued struggle? This article provides an overview of the effects of health reform and the ACA on political science research since 2008. While political scientists have written much about the subject, coverage has been distinctly uneven within the discipline. Indeed, it has almost been entirely confined to scholars of public and health policy. Nonetheless, there have been important contributions across disciplinary fields. This article provides an overview of contributions embedded within the study of federalism, policy feedback effects, and political framing. It concludes by emphasizing the need for more engaged scholarship on health policy issues from across the entire discipline, and by highlighting other areas of study that could benefit from broader attention by political scientists.     

Explaining Gun Deaths: Gun Control,Mental Illness,and Policymaking in the American States

Seeking to test two commonly proposed solutions to gun deaths in the United States, we examine the extent to which (1) tougher gun control laws, (2) greater access to mental health services, and (3) a combination of both approaches affect the rate of gun deaths in American states. We find that tougher gun control laws, as well as a combination of both approaches, are associated with a lower overall rate of gun deaths, and with a lower rate of nonsuicide gun deaths, while only tougher gun control laws are significantly associated with a reduction in the rate of gun-related suicides. Our findings serve as an initial guide to policymakers seeking to reduce the rate of gun deaths in their states.     

Cultural Reproduction and “Minority” Sexuality: Intimate Changes among Ethnic Akha in the Upper Mekong

This article explores sexuality and its role in cultural reproduction amongst Akha, a minority group living in the mountainous reaches of southwest China, northern Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Burma. For many minority peoples in the region sexuality has been a marker of cultural difference within trajectories of nationalist assimilation. In northwest Laos, Akha sexuality is currently a focusof intense interest as infrastructure development, increased interactions with lowland populations, and targeted state and donor-funded health programs are dramatically altering Akha lifestyles. Whether by conscious design to intervene insexual lives, or through the numerous ways that affective domains merge withmaterial aspirations, social structures shaping Lao Akha sexuality are being “re-formed” through engagement in processes of modernisation. As a result, sexuality remains central to ongoing ethnic marginalisation and evolving vulnerability to health threats.     

How Road Traffic Injuries Affect Household Welfare in Cambodia Using the Millennium Development Goals Benchmarks

This paper reveals the welfare costs of traffic injuries in Cambodia at the beginning of a decade in which greater research and resources will be focused on road safety. The results quantify how road traffic injuries affect progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) using survey data from 100 Cambodian households. The median age of the police-reported casualties was 28 years and 68 per cent were male. In terms of poverty (MDG1), injuries resulted in a 21 per cent loss of income for the 542 household residents. The poorest households, and those with a seriously injured resident, were worst affected. Primary education (MDG2) drop-out rates were eight times the province average. The gender (MDG3) income gap widened by 28 per cent, whilewomen bore 88 per cent of the burden of care for the injured. In terms of child health and mortality (MDG4), 31 per cent of respondents reported adeterioration in child health, while 24 per cent of respondents reported a deterioration in maternal health (MDG5). The households reported rates of priority diseases (MDG6) at twice the national average. Environment (MDG7) outcomes included increased wood fuel use and stagnation in improving drinking water access, with no apparent development partnership (MDG8) to address the negative welfare impacts of road traffic injury.