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Background: Salinity, exacerbated by rising sea levels, is a critical environmental cue affecting freshwater ecosystems. Predicting ecosystem structure in response to such changes and their implications for the geographical distribution of arthropod disease vectors requires further insights into the plasticity and adaptability of lower trophic level species in freshwater systems. Our study investigated whether populations of the mosquito Culex pipiens, typically considered sensitive to salt, have adapted due to gradual exposure. Methods: Mesocosm experiments were conducted to evaluate responses in life history traits to increasing levels of salinity in three populations along a gradient perpendicular to the North Sea coast. Salt concentrations up to the brackish–marine transition zone (8 g/l chloride) were used, upon which no survival was expected. To determine how this process affects oviposition, a colonization experiment was performed by exposing the coastal population to the same concentrations. Results: While concentrations up to the currently described median lethal dose (LD50) (4 g/l) were surprisingly favored during egg laying, even the treatment with the highest salt concentration was incidentally colonized. Differences in development rates among populations were observed, but the influence of salinity was evident only at 4 g/l and higher, resulting in only a 1-day delay. Mortality rates were lower than expected, reaching only 20% for coastal and inland populations and 41% for the intermediate population at the highest salinity. Sex ratios remained unaffected across the tested range. Conclusions: The high tolerance to salinity for all key life history parameters across populations suggests that Cx. pipiens is unlikely to shift its distribution in the foreseeable future, with potential implications for the disease risk of associated pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a book titled "Pioneering Medicine in Wallachia: Biography and Medical-Historical Restorations" by Lidia Trăușan-Matu, which focuses on the life and work of Iuliu Barasch, a physician in 19th-century Wallachia. Barasch, who was of Jewish origin, faced challenges due to his religion but managed to have a successful career as a doctor. The book includes two texts written by Barasch himself, one describing his journey through various regions and the other discussing the medical situation in Wallachia. The book provides valuable insights into the history of medicine in the region and sheds light on the experiences of Jewish individuals during that time. [Extracted from the article]

"Theatre & Medicine" by Stanton B. Garner Jr. and "Symptoms of the Self: Tuberculosis and the Making of the Modern Stage" by Roberta Barker are two books that explore the intersection of illness and performance. Garner's book examines the historical relationship between theatre and medicine, focusing on the somatic body and the discourses, technologies, practices, and institutions that have described and treated it. Barker's book specifically looks at tuberculosis and its portrayal on the stage, analyzing the social and medical meanings of the disease and its dramatic enactments. Both books provide valuable insights into the connections between theatre and medicine and would be useful for researchers in the field. [Extracted from the article]

Storylines of Family Medicine is a 12-part series of thematically linked mini-essays with accompanying illustrations that explore the many dimensions of family medicine, as interpreted by individual family physicians and medical educators in the USA and elsewhere around the world. In 'I: framing family medicine--history, values, and perspectives', the authors address the following themes: 'Notes on Storylines of Family Medicine', 'Family medicine--the generalist specialty', 'Family medicine's achievements--a glass half full assessment', 'Family medicine's next 50 years--toward filling our glasses', 'Four enduring truths of family medicine', 'Names matter', 'Family medicine at its core' and 'The ecology of medical care.' May readers find much food for thought in these essays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the aim of describing the association between sociodemographic characteristics and contextual factors with COVID-19 mortality during 2020-2021 in the provinces of Mendoza and San Juan in Argentina, we conducted an ecological study, which included the sociodemographic factors: age, sex and educational level, and the contextual factors: poverty and urbanization at the departmental level. The analyses were estimated using negative binomial Bayesian hierarchical models. Educational inequalities existed regardless of socioeconomic context and level of urbanization. The exception was the age group 65 years and older during 2021, which, regardless of educational level, showed a higher risk of death by COVID-19 in departments with high levels of structural poverty. In conclusion, educational inequality is an indicator of social inequality that increases vulnerability to COVID-19 mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The health status of the service sector workforce is a significant unknown in the field of medical geography. While spatial epidemiology has made progress in predicting the relationship between human health and the environment, there are still important challenges that remain unsolved. The main issue lies in the inability to statistically determine and visually represent all spatial concepts, as there is a need to cover a wide range of service activities while also considering the impact of numerous traditional medical variables and emerging risk factors, such as those related to socioeconomic and bioclimatic factors. This study aims to address the needs of health professionals by defining, prioritizing, and visualizing multiple occupational health risk factors that contribute to the well-being of workers. To achieve this, a methodological approach based on the synergy of Bayesian machine learning and geostatistics is proposed. Extensive data from occupational health surveillance tests were collected in Spain, along with socioeconomic and bioclimatic covariates, to assess potential social and climate impacts on health. This integrated approach enabled the identification of relevant patterns related to risk factors. A three-step geostatistical modeling process, including variography, ordinary kriging, and G clustering, was used to generate national distribution maps for various factors such as annual mean temperature, annual rainfall, spine health, limb health, cholesterol, age, and sleep quality. These maps considered four target activities—administration, finances, education, and hospitality. Remarkably, bioclimatic variables were found to contribute approximately 9% to the overall health status of workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Studies in the United States, Canada, Belgium, and Switzerland showed that the majority of health problems are managed within primary health care; however, the ecology of French medical care has not yet been described. Methods Nationwide, population-based, cross sectional study. In 2018, we included data from 576,125 beneficiaries from the General Sample of Beneficiaries database. We analysed the reimbursement of consultations with (i) a general practitioner (GP), (ii) an outpatient doctor other than a GP, (iii) a doctor from a university or non-university hospital; and the reimbursement of (iv) hospitalization in a private establishment, (v) general hospital, and (vi) university hospital. For each criterion, we calculated the average monthly number of reimbursements reported on 1,000 beneficiaries. For categorical variables, we used the χ2 test, and to compare means we used the z test. All tests were 2-tailed with a P -value < 5% considered significant. Results Each month, on average, 454 (out of 1,000) beneficiaries received at least 1 reimbursement, 235 consulted a GP, 74 consulted other outpatient doctors in ambulatory care and 24 in a hospital, 13 were hospitalized in a public non-university hospital and 10 in the private sector, and 5 were admitted to a university hospital. Independently of age, people consulted GPs twice as much as other specialists. The 13–25-year-old group consulted the least. Women consulted more than men. Individuals covered by complementary universal health insurance had more care. Conclusions Our study on reimbursement data confirmed that, like in other countries, in France the majority of health problems are managed within primary health care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Metagenomic sequencing technologies offered unprecedented opportunities and also challenges to microbiology and microbial ecology particularly. The technology has revolutionized the studies of microbes and enabled the high-profile human microbiome and earth microbiome projects. The terminology-change from microbes to microbiomes signals that our capability to count and classify microbes (microbiomes) has achieved the same or similar level as we can for the biomes (macrobiomes) of plants and animals (macrobes). While the traditional investigations of macrobiomes have usually been conducted through naturalists' (Linnaeus & Darwin) naked eyes, and aerial and satellite images (remote-sensing), the large-scale investigations of microbiomes have been made possible by DNA-sequencing-based metagenomic technologies. Two major types of metagenomic sequencing technologies—amplicon sequencing and whole-genome (shotgun sequencing)—respectively generate two contrastingly different categories of metagenomic reads (data)—OTU (operational taxonomic unit) tables representing microorganisms and OMU (operational metagenomic unit), a new term coined in this article to represent various cluster units of metagenomic genes. Results: The ecological science of microbiomes based on the OTU representing microbes has been unified with the classic ecology of macrobes (macrobiomes), but the unification based on OMU representing metagenomes has been rather limited. In a previous series of studies, we have demonstrated the applications of several classic ecological theories (diversity, composition, heterogeneity, and biogeography) to the studies of metagenomes. Here I push the envelope for the unification of OTU and OMU again by demonstrating the applications of metacommunity assembly and ecological networks to the metagenomes of human gut microbiomes. Specifically, the neutral theory of biodiversity (Sloan's near neutral model), Ning et al.stochasticity framework, core-periphery network, high-salience skeleton network, special trio-motif, and positive-to-negative ratio are applied to analyze the OMU tables from whole-genome sequencing technologies, and demonstrated with seven human gut metagenome datasets from the human microbiome project. Conclusions: All of the ecological theories demonstrated previously and in this article, including diversity, composition, heterogeneity, stochasticity, and complex network analyses, are equally applicable to OMU metagenomic analyses, just as to OTU analyses. Consequently, I strongly advocate the unification of OTU/OMU (microbiomes) with classic ecology of plants and animals (macrobiomes) in the context of medical ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To evaluate the gender composition of departmental chairs and program leadership of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education–accredited pathology residencies and American Board of Pathology–certified subspecialty fellowships across the United States. Methods In this cross-sectional analysis, we examined the gender of individuals holding leadership positions in academic pathology in the United States. Using publicly available online data, 2 authors independently coded perceived gender (ie, man/woman/other) with 100% concordance. Results In 144 pathology residency programs, more women hold residency program director positions (52.1% [75/144]). Among 11 pathology subspecialties, women overall hold fewer fellowship program director positions (45.0% [212/471]). Among the residency-associated pathology department chair positions identified, women hold fewer positions (31.8% [42/132]). There is some geographic variation in pathology leadership gender composition when stratified using US Census regions. Conclusions Women in academic pathology departments are well represented in residency and overall fellowship program leadership but are underrepresented in department chair and certain pathology subspecialty leadership positions. The disproportionate number of women in department chair positions is observed across medical specialties, highlighting the need for improved gender equity among high-level academic medicine positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asbjørn Aase, a renowned geographer, passed away in 2024 at the age of 91. He was the first geography professor at the University of Trondheim and made significant contributions to the field. Aase focused on social-geographical inequalities in Norway and conducted research on regional planning, welfare geography, and health geography. He also played a role in promoting research and teaching cooperation with universities in Ghana. Aase held administrative roles at the Research Council of Norway and the University of Trondheim, and after retiring, he wrote books about the history of the Department of Geography and his own academic journey. He was a member of prestigious scientific societies and was recognized for his contributions. Aase had a passion for music, skiing, and cycling, and was known for his hospitality and sense of humor. [Extracted from the article]

The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruptions in the healthcare system, affecting vaccinations and the management of diphtheria cases. As a consequence of these disruptions, numerous countries have experienced a resurgence or an increase in diphtheria cases. West Java province in Indonesia is identified as one of the high-risk areas for diphtheria, experiencing an upward trend in cases from 2021 to 2023. To analyze the situation, we developed an SIR model, which integrated DPT and booster vaccinations to determine the basic reproduction number, an essential parameter for infectious diseases. Through spatial analysis of geo-referenced data, we identified hotspots and explained diffusion in diphtheria case clusters. The calculation of Ro resulted in an Ro = 1.17, indicating the potential for a diphtheria outbreak in West Java. To control the increasing cases, one possible approach is to raise the booster vaccination coverage from the current 64.84% to 75.15%, as suggested by simulation results. Furthermore, the spatial analysis revealed that hot spot clusters were present in the western, central, and southern regions, posing a high risk not only in densely populated areas but also in rural regions. The diffusion pattern of diphtheria clusters displayed an expansion-contagious pattern. Understanding the rising trend of diphtheria cases and their geographic distribution can offer crucial insights for government and health authorities to manage the number of diphtheria cases and make informed decisions regarding the best prevention and intervention strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although palliative medicine (PM) is more commonly being integrated into the intensive care unit (ICU), research on racial disparities in this area is lacking. Our objectives were to (a) identify racial disparities in utilization of PM consultation for patients who received ICU care and (b) determine if there were differences in the use of code status or PM consultation over time based on race. Materials and Methods: Retrospective analysis of 571 patients, 18 years and above, at a tertiary care institution who received ICU care and died during their hospital stay. We analyzed two timeframes, 2008–2009 and 2018–2019. Univariate analysis was utilized to evaluate baseline characteristics. A multivariate logistic regression model and interaction P values were employed to assess for differential use of PM consultation, do not resuscitate (DNR) orders, and comfort care (CC) orders between races in aggregate and for changes over time. Results: There was a notable increase in Black/African-American (AA) (54% to 61%) and Hispanic/Latino (2% to 3%) patients over time in our population. Compared to White patients, we found no differences between PM consultation and CC orders. There was a lower probability of DNR orders for Black/AA (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.569; P =.049; confidence interval [CI]: 0.324–0.997) and other/unknown/multiracial patients (aOR: 0.389; P =.273; CI: 0.169–0.900). Comparing our earlier time period to the later time period, we found an increased usage of PM for all patients. Interaction P values suggest there were no differences between races regarding PM, DNR, and CC orders. Conclusions: PM use has increased over time at our institution. Contrary to the previous literature, there were no differences in the frequency of utilization of PM consultation between races. Further analysis to evaluate the usage of PM in the ICU setting in varying populations and geographic locations is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climatic and geographic factors characterizing local conditions, as well as the ecological state of the external environment, have a direct effect on human health, morbidity, and life expectancy. The paper considers the basic concepts of medical ecology, a pathogenetic role of environmental atmospheric pollution in the development of environmentally induced and environmentally dependent diseases associated with exposure to meteorological factors. In addition to the major hygienic risk factors affecting the public health (a level of air, water, and soil pollution), the levels of acoustic and electromagnetic background, the type of human nutrition, architectural and planning conditions of human life are of significant importance. Global climate warming causes numerous environmental changes, primarily an increase in surface air temperature, which in turn entails global changes in weather conditions that lead to various weather anomalies. Human health is directly dependent on environmental conditions and a degree of adaptation to them. The paper highlights the issues of diagnosing environmentally induced diseases and measures to counteract their spread. Based on the system diagnosis using physiological indicators of human health and the integration of the adaptation and nosological approaches, a hardware-software complex has been developed and introduced into medical practice. Corrective technologies of regenerative medicine that are used for ecologically dependent pathologies are described. Their application in the process of the complex sanatorium and resort treatment is most effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the similarities and differences between the COVID-19 and AIDS pandemics, cautioning against oversimplification and emphasizing the role of social factors in understanding disease. It discusses the concept of "scientific hubris" and how it can overshadow the social aspects of pandemics. The article also explores the idea of societal attitudes shaping neglect and the value placed on certain lives. The authors stress the importance of considering social relations when studying pandemics and their impact on different groups. The report by Andrew Tucker and Gerry Kearns analyzes the impact of globalization on local communities, acknowledging both the economic benefits and cultural losses associated with it. It calls for policymakers to consider the social and cultural consequences of globalization and proposes strategies to mitigate negative effects. Overall, the report provides a balanced perspective on the complex nature of globalization and its implications for local communities. [Extracted from the article]

The experience of World War I made popular the concept of medical geography (geomedicine in English, geomedizine in German), which became part of Nazism's philosophy of national welfare, safety, and solidarity. The Nazis used it to create propaganda to show some groups as rats, vermin, and Untermenschen (subhumans). In this way, more than 10 million people were killed under the Nazi regime: 6 million Jews, plus more than 5 million Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses, and other individuals who were not part of the German theory of "master race." The Germans' fear of typhus that spread in the Wehrmacht was so immense that during the occupation, Polish doctors used this phobia to organize a resistance movement. Contemporarily, the scope of geographic medicine encompasses the following research areas: spatial differentiation of disease incidents and the process of disease diffusion, geographic inequalities in the population's health level, and morbidity determinants among the inhabitants of developing countries. In the first half of the 19th century, it played an essential role in the activities aimed against epidemics of infectious diseases, including louse-borne typhus (epidemic typhus), cholera, and typhoid, linking these diseases to cultural determinants. Under the influence of this idea, the concept of doctor-hygienist emerged, and social medicine began to evolve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tick-borne diseases (TBDs) have become a significant public health concern in the United States over the past few decades. The increasing incidence and geographical spread of these diseases have prompted the implementation of robust surveillance systems to monitor their prevalence, distribution, and impact on human health. This comprehensive review describes key disease features with the geographical distribution of all known tick-borne pathogens in the United States, along with examining disease surveillance efforts, focusing on strategies, challenges, and advancements. Surveillance methods include passive and active surveillance, laboratory-based surveillance, sentinel surveillance, and a One Health approach. Key surveillance systems, such as the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS), TickNET, and the Tick-Borne Disease Laboratory Network (TBDLN), are discussed. Data collection and reporting challenges, such as underreporting and misdiagnosis, are highlighted. The review addresses challenges, including lack of standardization, surveillance in non-human hosts, and data integration. Innovations encompass molecular techniques, syndromic surveillance, and tick surveillance programs. Implications for public health cover prevention strategies, early detection, treatment, and public education. Future directions emphasize enhanced surveillance networks, integrated vector management, research priorities, and policy implications. This review enhances understanding of TBD surveillance, aiding in informed decision-making for effective disease prevention and control. By understanding the current surveillance landscape, public health officials, researchers, and policymakers can make informed decisions to mitigate the burden of (TBDs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women all over the World. It is in the first line, causing deaths because of cancer in women worldwide. However, its progress differs regarding the counties’ socioeconomic and cultural features. The aim of this study is to estimate breast cancer mortality rates in Turkish women by geographic region and to evaluate 11-year mortality trends. Materials and Methods: Joinpoint Regression Analysis was used to estimate the trends of mortality from breast cancer by gender and age groups for every geographic region. Also, we used the world standard population (100,000 women) was used to estimate the age-standardized mortality rates as a reference to calculate age-standardized mortality rates. Results: We found that nearly 39,000 women died from breast cancer between the years 2009-2019. During this 11-year period, the age-standardized mortality rate in Turkey was 6.84 per 100,000 women in 2009, while it rose up to 8.16 in 2019 with a significant increase of 1.78 per year (Confidence Interval: 0.57:3.00) p=0.009). This change was observed especially in TR2, TR7, TR9, TRA, TRB and TRC regions. According to the age groups examined, significant increases were observed in all age groups in Turkey. Conclusion: Breast cancer is still a very important health problem in Turkish women of all ages. It is essential to take measures to reduce the breast cancer mortality rate and increase early diagnosis opportunities in our country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nowadays there is a worldwide consensus on the importance of conducting wildlife disease surveillance. Indeed, 60% of emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic in nature, and the majority of these (71.8%) originate in wildlife. Surveillance of wildlife diseases is crucial to prevent negative effects on human and animal health. Data digitization and sharing are among the main goals for the present and coming years. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are increasingly used to analyze the geographical distribution of diseases and the relationships between pathogenic factors and their geographic environments. Methods: Wild animal's samples collected in the Abruzzo and Molise regions and delivered to our laboratory are entered in our Laboratory Information System and processed to be displayed through the Web-GIS mash-up presented in this paper. We built it using both open source and proprietary solutions, to produce data driven interactive maps, charts and tables to help to understand the epidemiology of wild animal diseases, their spread and trend. Results: Since 2013, 9.606 samples collected from wild animals have been analyzed in the laboratories of the IZS-Teramo and have been recorded in the system, facilitating the reporting to the judicial authorities and the identification of highly risky areas to set up control and repression measures. Moreover, thanks to the monitoring health protocol, a canine distemper epidemic in wolves has been detected and monitored in its temporal and spatial evolution, as well as cases of bovine tuberculosis in wild boars. Conclusions: While it is more evident that the starting point is to choose the right sampling method, it is for sure less obvious that the information system in which data is stored is equally important. In fact, it should give the possibility to consult it in an easy and instructive way. GIS allows immediately grasping the spatial relationships between the data itself and those between the data and the territory; it is an important tool to support veterinary services in managing epidemic and non-epidemic emergencies and performing epidemiological investigations, but also to examine control plans and identify new gaps and challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context • Gonorrhea, a highly communicable, sexually transmitted infection, remains a major public-health concern globally. In recent years, Zhejiang province, an eastern province, has had the highest incidence of gonorrhea in China. Objective • The study intended to identify the geographic distribution patterns and spaciotemporal clustering characteristics of the disease’s incidence in Zhejiang between 2016 and 2020, to understand the spatial epidemiology of gonorrhea and to pinpoint the locations with relatively high risks of gonorrhea, the hotspots, which could be the key areas for disease prevention and control. Design • The research team performed a retrospective, spaciotemporal-clustering analysis of data about newly reported gonorrhea cases from January 2016 to December 2020 in Zhejiang province, using the China Information System for Disease Control and Prevention. Setting • The study took place at the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Dermatology in Huzhou, China. Outcome Measures • The research team: (1) used the Geographic Information System software-ArcGIS 10.8 software to draw statistical maps; (2) conducted a spatialpattern clustering analysis at the district or county level; (3) performed an autocorrelation analysis using Getis-Ord (Gi*) statistics to detect spatial patterns and the hotspots of gonorrhea incidence; and (4) used SaTScan9.7 to analyze the space-time clusters. Results • Zhejiang province reported 85 904 gonorrhea cases from 2016 to 2020, with a male to female ratio of 3.81:1. The average annual incidence rate of gonorrhea was 30.50 per 100 000 individuals in the population, ranging from 22.73 cases to 39.65 cases, and the annual incidence showed a significant downward trend over the five years (χ²=16.142, P<.001). The northern and central areas had a higher incidence than the southern area did. Autocorrelation analysis showed that the gonorrhea incidence had a significantly clustered distribution (Moran’s I from 0.197 to 0.295, Z score from 4.749 to 6.909, P<.001). The high-high cluster areas were mainly in the urban districts of Hangzhou and some counties and districts of Jiaxing. The Gi* statistics further indicated that the hotspots of gonorrhea were mainly in Hangzhou, Jiaxing, and Huzhou. The Kuldorff ’s scan identified two clusters, mainly composed of 36 counties or districts in northern Zhejiang, such as Hangzhou and Jiaxing, and central Zhejiang, such as Jinhua and Shaoxing. Conclusions • The gonorrhea incidence rates in northern and central Zhejiang from 2016 to 2020 were higher than those in southern Zhejiang. An area of relatively higher risk for gonorrhea existed mainly in the urban districts of Hangzhou and some counties and districts of Jiaxing, Jinhua, and Shaoxing. In the future, the research team plans to focus on strengthening the prevention and control measures against gonorrhea in those areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To see the type and frequency of lymphomas. Study Design: Prospective longitudinal study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Medical Oncology at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi from Jan 2019 to Dec 2019. Methodology: Total of 150 patients with histopathological diagnoses of lymphoma of 17 to 71 years of age of either gender were included in the study using non-probability consecutive sampling technique. Prior to initiation of study ethics review committee has approved the study (NO.F.2-81-IRB/2019-GENL/10261/JPMC). The data regarding lymphoma type, histology, stage of disease, site, involvement of bone marrow, presence of B-symptoms were recorded. Results: Majority of the patients were male i.e., (n=104, 69.3%) with the mean age of 45.29±17.76 years. Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma presented as the most common type of lymphoma i.e., (n=107, 71.3%) whereas Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) contributed for (n=43, 28.7%) cases. Assessment of clinicopathological features of lymphomas revealed that (n=58, 38.7%) cases had bone marrow involvement. B-symptoms appeared in (n=102, 68%) cases, (n=61, 40.7%) cases were stage IV and the most common site were Neck lymph nodes (n=82, 58.3%), followed by abdomen (n=20, 13.3%). There was statistically significant difference between type of lymphoma with respect to age (p=0.001) and gender(p=0.015) Conclusion: Among lymphomas the most common type of lymphoma was Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, most common in patients >45 years of age showing relationship of its occurence with age and DLBCL is major subtype and among Hodgkin's lymphoma Classical type is the predominant type Epidemiologic characteristics and distribution of the disease varies with geographical region, racial & environmental factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abdel Omran's epidemiological transition theory has become a convenient heuristic device for explaining shifts in the global distribution of disease. In turn, the temporal and geographic transition from "pandemics of infection" to "degenerative and man-made diseases" (Omran 1971, 161) as countries develop has become part of the mythology of global health. Such myths are powerful not because they are necessarily clearly true or false, but rather for what they naturalize or oversimplify (Essebro 2018). Drawing on the example of the work undertaken over the past three decades to ensure the prioritization of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) as a problem of and for development within global health agendas, I draw on documentary and interview data to examine the origins and residual power of myths. Within this field, geographic myths (see Blaut 2006) about the social, economic, and spatial distribution of morbidity and mortality are a pervasive and persistent challenge for advocates trying to emphasize the threat of NCDs to the Global South. In examining the myth work undertaken by advocates, this article offers novel geographic perspectives to the critical global health field, while also arguing for the centrality of global health to geography as a discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shifting age demographics of those experiencing homelessness in the United States expose shortcomings and barriers within homelessness response services and safety-net healthcare to address serious illness. The purpose of this study is to describe the common trajectories of patients concurrently experiencing homelessness and serious illness. As a part of the Research, Action, and Supportive Care at Later-life for Unhoused People (RASCAL-UP) study, the study uses patient charts (n = 75) from the only specialty palliative care program in the U.S. specifically for people experiencing homelessness. Through a thematic mixed-method analysis, a four-point typology of care pathways taken by people experiencing homelessness while seriously ill is introduced: (1) aging and dying-in-place within the housing care system; (2) frequent transitions during serious illness; (3) healthcare institutions as housing; and (4) housing as palliation. Implications of this exploratory typology include targeted, site-specific interventions for supporting goal-concordant patient care and assisting researchers and policy makers in appreciating heterogeneity in experience and need among older and chronically ill people experiencing homelessness and housing precarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Scrub typhus is a mite-born disease scrub. It commonly manifests as an acute febrile illness with multi-system involvement. It is regarded as a life-threatening disease in children, with serious complications usually occurring in the 2nd week of illness. Aims and Objectives: The aims of this study were to explore the clinical and laboratory profile of children with scrub typhus. Materials and Methods: All children admitted with scrub typhus over 1-year duration were enrolled in the study. The clinical, laboratory profile, and outcome were observed and analyzed. Results: A total of 47 children were diagnosed with scrub typhus, 17 (36.1%) children had clinical and laboratory evidence of meningitis. The most frequent presenting features were fever (100%), headache (82.4%), vomiting (82.4%), seizures (41.2%), and altered sensorium (70.6%). The mean duration of fever was 6.57 days, eight children (7%) had persistent fever for >14 days duration. Other complications reported were hepatitis 2 (4.3%), hepatosplenomegaly in 18 (38.3%) acute respiratory distress syndrome 2 (4.3%), and shock 31 (66%). The mean cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) protein, glucose, and cell count was 65.75±9.27 mg/dL, 45.00±7.23 mg/dL, and 65.94±52.72 cells/mm³ of CSF, respectively, with lymphocyte count of more than 96% in all cases. Most patients had lymphocytic pleocytosis and the mean lymphocyte percentage was 96.2%±4.5%. Out of all 47 patients, 45 (84.61%) patients recovered with appropriate antibiotics in both groups, while two (15.38%) patients expired in the group without meningitis. Conclusion: A high degree of suspicion and knowledge of the geographical distribution of Rickettsial diseases is crucial for its early diagnosis and favorable outcome. Scrub typhus should be considered in the differential diagnosis of aseptic meningitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The personal attitudes and experiences of the greatest authors are usually reflected in their works, a phenomenon that gives literary biography its rich potential for new revelations and insights. Within this premise, the Shakespearean poems and plays appear to reflect the viewpoint and education of a high-ranking Elizabethan nobleman of vast experience and deep learning. In fact, many aspects of the life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, appear to be closely mirrored by the title character of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Both the Earl and the Prince are each on intimate terms with a female monarch; each is involved with the daughter of the Queen’s chief minister; each brings actors to perform at the royal court; and while the author of Hamlet demonstrably referred to classics of the Italian Renaissance-- The Courtier and Cardanus’ Comforte -- Oxford himself sponsored publications of both these works in England. The specific focus of this essay is on aspects of such “special knowledge” within the Shakespearean works, special knowledge that has no specific connection to the life of the man from Stratford but which was deeply imbued in the life of Edward de Vere. Cited here will be details of the author’s connections to France and the French language; to the unique culture and geography of Italy; to the literature and drama of ancient Greece; to legal terminology and intricacies of the law; his proximity to persons and places of state power; to his military expertise; his medical knowledge; his intimacy with the sea and seamanship; to astronomy; to music; horses and horsemanship; heraldry; and to plants gardens and gardening. Such experiences and knowledge was possessed by the Earl of Oxford, and it is contrasted here with the paucity of similar experience and learning in the life of Will Shakspere of Stratford. The evidence clearly suggests that it was Edward de Vere using the pseudonym William Shakespeare rather than Will Shakspere who actually was behind the Bard’s work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

13 Schwienhorst-Stich EM, Wabnitz K, Geck E, Gepp S, Jung L, Mumm A, Schmid J, Simmenroth A, Simon J, Eichinger M. Initiatives for promoting planetary health education in Germany: an overview. Das vorliegende Themenheft "Klimakrise und planetare Gesundheit in der Lehre" hat das Ziel, für die Entwicklung und Etablierung von Lehrveranstaltungen und Curricula zur Klimakrise und planetaren Gesundheit zu sensibilisieren und zu motivieren. Future human mental and physical health depends on addressing the climate crisis. Initiatives of (online) electives on environment, climate, and planetary health and climate communication in climate science are presented by Flägel et al. [14], Fülbert et al. [15], Schmid et al. [16], Müller et al. [17] and Lemke et al. [18]. [Extracted from the article]

Objective: The consequences of climate change on health care systems as well as the individual involvement in climate change has not been a focus of the study of human medicine. Therefore, the lecture and practical course medical ecology have been reorganized to reflect the increasing importance of this topic. In order to be available to all students, this course was included in the core curriculum of the first year of study in human medicine. Methodology: The teaching concept is based on the method "multidimensional learning". The theoretical examination of environmental changes, especially climate change, is placed at the starting point within the framework of a lecture, followed by the translation of theoretical principles into practical knowledge by calculating the ecological footprint and subsequent reflection on the newly learned content. The project was evaluated by means of a self-constructed course evaluation instrument (three feedback questions) and an internal university online tool. Results: 656 students (100%) described the most important knowledge they gained in the course. One third of the students (N=218) indicate that they would like to participate in a more advanced seminar. 137 students comment on specific aspects. Overall, students express great interest in the topic of medical ecology. They reflect in a remarkably (self-)critical way on the individual contribution to climate change and can clearly name the health consequences of climate change. The contents should be expanded in a more in-depth seminar. Conclusion: The concept of the course has proven to be purposeful in order to prepare relevant and complex contents of medical ecology in an understandable way. Both lecture and practical course should be further developed accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

However, the majority of tourism studies related to health and wellbeing tend to be policy studies related to the promotion of health and wellness tourism that lack clear theoretical foundations. The aim of this special section is to critically appraise health, wellbeing, and tourism through the lens of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were adopted in 2015. Health-related tourism is a longstanding focus of research in tourism management studies. [Extracted from the article]

This report documents and analyzes the results of a 180-minute online participatory futures workshop on the futures of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in 2031 that took place on Thursday, 25th November 2021. The objectives of the workshop were to engage global health experts in creating possible, probable, and preferred futures of non-communicable diseases. Using the Six Pillars Approach to futures, participants identified emerging issues, and created alternative scenarios, as well as an action plan to achieve the preferred future. As a result of the workshop, participants recognized that business-as-usual futures could be catastrophic for economic, health and human systems; that long-term strategies and policies to address NCDs must embrace equity from the outset, must be judged on planetary as well as human impact, and proactively pay attention to emerging issues. Finally, partnerships would be absolutely essential if we are to save lives and rid societies of NCDs. This paper features images from an animated video produced following the workshop envisioning a world in 2040 in which NCDs have been eradicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schistosomiasis japonica remains a public health concern in many areas of the Philippines. Periodic Mass Drug Administration (MDA) to at-risk populations is the main strategy for morbidity control of schistosomiasis. Attaining MDA coverage targets is important for the reduction of morbidity and prevention of complications due to the disease, and towards achieving Universal Health Care. The study employed a qualitative case study design. Key informant interviews and focus group discussions were conducted to provide in-depth and situated descriptions of the contexts surrounding the implementation of MDA in two selected villages in known schistosomiasis-endemic provinces in Mindanao in the Philippines. Data analysis was done using the Critical Ecology for Medical Anthropology (CEMA) model coupled with the intersectionality approach. It was found that within various areas in the CEMA model, enabling as well as constraining factors have been encountered in MDA in the study settings. The interplay of income class, geographical location, gender norms and faith-based beliefs may have led to key populations being missed during the conduct of MDA in the study sites. The constraints faced by the target beneficiaries of MDA, as well as programme implementers, must be addressed to enhance service delivery and to control morbidity due to schistosomiasis. Improving compliance with MDA also requires a holistic, integrated approach to addressing barriers to participation, which are shaped by wider socio-political and power structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) are a diverse group of ribonucleic acid (RNA) viruses, with the exception of African swine fever virus, that are transmitted by hematophagous arthropods to a vertebrate host. They are the important cause of many diseases due to their ability to spread in different environments and their diversity of vectors. Currently, there is no information on the geographical distribution of the diseases because the routes of transmission and the mammals (wild or domestic) that act as potential hosts are poorly documented or unknown. We conducted a systematic review from 1967 to 2021 to identify the diversity of arboviruses, the areas, and taxonomic groups that have been monitored, the prevalence of positive records, and the associated risk factors. We identified forty-three arboviruses in nine mammalian orders distributed in eleven countries. In Brazil, the order primates harbor the highest number of arbovirus records. The three most recorded arboviruses were Venezuelan equine encephalitis, Saint Louis encephalitis and West Nile virus. Serum is the most used sample to obtain arbovirus records. Deforestation is identified as the main risk factor for arbovirus transmission between different species and environments (an odds ratio of 1.46 with a 95% confidence interval: 1.34–1.59). The results show an increase in the sampling effort over the years in the neotropical region. Despite the importance of arboviruses for public health, little is known about the interaction of arboviruses, their hosts, and vectors, as some countries and mammalian orders have not yet been monitored. Long-term and constant monitoring allows focusing research on the analysis of the interrelationships and characteristics of each component animal, human, and their environment to understand the dynamics of the diseases and guide epidemiological surveillance and vector control programs. The biodiversity of the Neotropics should be considered to support epidemiological monitoring strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several challenges prevent extracting knowledge from biomedical resources, including data heterogeneity and the difficulty to obtain and collaborate on data and annotations by medical doctors. Therefore, flexibility in their representation and interconnection is required; it is also essential to be able to interact easily with such data. In recent years, semantic tools have been developed: semantic wikis are collections of wiki pages that can be annotated with properties and so combine flexibility and expressiveness, two desirable aspects when modeling databases, especially in the dynamic biomedical domain. However, semantics and collaborative analysis of biomedical data is still an unsolved challenge. The aim of this work is to create a tool for easing the design and the setup of semantic databases and to give the possibility to enrich them with biostatistical applications. As a side effect, this will also make them reproducible, fostering their application by other research groups. A command-line software has been developed for creating all structures required by Semantic MediaWiki. Besides, a way to expose statistical analyses as R Shiny applications in the interface is provided, along with a facility to export Prolog predicates for reasoning with external tools. The developed software allowed to create a set of biomedical databases for the Neuroscience Department of the University of Padova in a more automated way. They can be extended with additional qualitative and statistical analyses of data, including for instance regressions, geographical distribution of diseases, and clustering. The software is released as open source-code and published under the GPL-3 license at https://github.com/mfalda/tsv2swm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vector-borne diseases are among the greatest causes of human suffering globally. Several studies have linked climate change and increasing temperature with rises in vector abundance, and in the incidence and geographical distribution of diseases. The microbiome of vectors can have profound effects on how efficiently a vector sustains pathogen development and transmission. Growing evidence indicates that the composition of vectors' gut microbiome might change with shifts in temperature. Nonetheless, due to a lack of studies on vector microbiome turnover under a changing climate, the consequences for vector-borne disease incidence are still unknown. Here, we argue that climate change effects on vector competence are still poorly understood and the expected increase in vector-borne disease transmission might not follow a relationship as simple and straightforward as past research has suggested. Furthermore, we pose questions that are yet to be answered to enhance our current understanding of the effect of climate change on vector microbiomes, competence, and, ultimately, vector-borne diseases transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quantitative characterisation of the degree of randomness and aggregation of surface micro‐ and nanostructures is critical to evaluate their effects on targeted functionalities. To this end, the methods of point pattern analysis (PPA), largely used in ecology and medical imaging, seem to provide a powerful toolset. However, the application of these techniques requires the extraction of the point pattern of nanostructures from their microscope images. In this work, we address the issue of the impact that Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) image processing may have on the fundamental metric of PPA, that is, the Nearest Neighbour Index (NNI). Using typical SEM images of polymer micro‐ and nanostructures taken from secondary and backscattered electrons, we report the effects of the (a) noise filtering and (b) binarisation threshold on the value of NNI as well as the impact of the image finite size effects. Based on these results, we draw conclusions for the safe choice of SEM settings to provide accurate measurement of nanostructure randomness through NNI estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, bio-bibliometric analysis has been carried out among prominent figures in different fields. However, no such analysis was done for researchers from the Institute for Medical Research (IMR), Ministry of Health, Malaysia. This paper seeks to fill the void by examining Dr. Lim Boo Liat, who began his career as a temporary lab technician at IMR and went on to become a prominent zoologist in Malaysia. The search for his publication was carried out through an online search using the Google Scholar, Scopus Web of Science, and ResearchGate databases, in addition to the investigation of the second document in the Institute for Medical Research and Wildlife and National Parks Department of Peninsular Malaysia (PERHILITAN) library. The study found that in his 70 years of research experience, he had published more than 350 publications as scientific papers, books, proceedings, and technical reports. However, this study is limited to only 312 research articles written in English and published in scientific journals. These scientific articles consist of three domains: medical ecology, parasitology, and zoology. He published his papers in 69 journals in developed and developing countries. More than half (n=160, 51.3%) of the papers was published in the local journals, while the remaining was published in international journals. He was the first and last author of more than 80% of the papers published. He mainly published his articles in the Malayan Nature Journal (n=46, 15%) and South-East Asia Tropical Medicine and Public Health (n=44, 14%). Most of his papers had fewer than 3 authors. The coefficient of collaboration of the papers was less than 0.5, indicating his expertise in writing papers. Based on the findings, this study shows that the late Dr. Lim Boo Liat had published scientific papers continuously throughout his life and contributed immensely to the body of knowledge, particularly in medical entomology and zoology in tropical countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past forty years, clinician-educators have become indispensable to academic medicine. Numerous clinician-educator-training programs exist within graduate medical education (GME) as clinician-educator tracks (CETs). However, there is a call for the clinician-educator pipeline to begin earlier. This work aims to identify and characterize clinician-educator track-like programs (CETLs) available in undergraduate medical education (UME). We developed an algorithm of 20 individual keyword queries to search the website of each U.S. allopathic medical school for CETLs. We performed the web search between March to April 2021 and repeated the search between July and September 2021. The search identified CETLs for 79 (51%) of the 155 U.S. allopathic medical schools. The identified CETLs commonly address the clinician-educator competency of educational theory (86%, 68/79), are formally organized as concentrations or analogous structures (52%, 41/79), and span all four years of medical school (37%, 29/79). The prevalence of CETLs varies with geography and medical school ranking. We provide an overview of the current state of CETLs as assessed from institutional websites. To create a future with a sustainable output of skilled clinician-educators, UME must continue to increase the number and quality of CETLs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: More similar locations may have similar infectious disease dynamics. There is clear overlap in putative causes for epidemic similarity, such as geographic distance, age structure, and population size. We compare the effects of these potential drivers on epidemic similarity compared to a baseline assumption that differences in the basic reproductive number (R0) will translate to differences in epidemic trajectories. Methods: Using COVID-19 case counts from United States counties, we explore the importance of geographic distance, population size differences, and age structure dissimilarity on resulting epidemic similarity. Results: We find clear effects of geographic space, age structure, population size, and R0 on epidemic similarity, but notably the effect of age structure was stronger than the baseline assumption that differences in R0 would be most related to epidemic similarity. Conclusions: Together, this highlights the role of spatial and demographic processes on SARS-CoV2 epidemics in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Backgrounds: There is no registered regular doctor system in Korea, but people voluntarily select regular doctors for medical services. This study aims to study the ecology of medical care in Korea according to the presence and type of a regular doctor.Methods: This study was conducted using Korean Health Panel survey in 2018. The proportion of people who had health problems and received medical care in various settings was analyzed per 1,000 people according to the following groups: without a regular doctor, having a clinic physician as a regular doctor, and having a hospital physician as a regular doctor. The adjusted odds ratio for usage of medical services was calculated.Results: Health problems and medical care use increased in the groups in this order: group without a regular doctor, group with a clinic physician as a regular doctor, the group with a hospital physician a regular doctor. Having a hospital physician as a regular doctor was associated with higher odds of inpatient care and emergency room visits, and having a clinic physician as a regular doctor was not associated with odds of inpatient care and emergency room visits when adjusting demographic and health-related variables.Conclusion: Depending on whether having a regular doctor and a regular doctor's type, different ecology of medical care was observed. The position and role of a regular doctor in the context of the Korea health care system should be considered from the perspective of primary care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the practice of overlaying maps for the study of disease-environment correlations in medical geography, and how it has been expressed as an epistemic practice in the early days of digital geographic information systems (GIS). It focuses on the research project "Computerized Mapping of Disease (MOD)" (1965–1968), where the epistemological promise of overlaying was made explicit and in relation to new technological affordances. I argue that the MOD project points to a dual shift in the meaning of overlaying for correlation inference during its attempted "computerization": the transformation of overlaying from an implicit practice toward an explicit epistemic resource and toward a conceptual schema for reflecting about the nature of correlations, which effectively promoted the technology of overlaying as a new apparatus of implication. Overall, the article proposes an epistemiologically reflexive take on the history of geomedia practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed to find out the effect of a proposed unit in medical geography on the development of health awareness among female secondary school students, Credit System (Compulsory Program) in Jeddah. A quasi-experimental approach with a one group pre-post design was used, together with a preparation of a proposed educational unit: a reference, a student’s guide, and a 24-item health awareness scale. The scale was pre-applied to a sample of (39) students, then the independent variable (educational unit) was introduced, and it was post-applied. The results showed statistically significant differences at the level of α ≤ 0.05 between the mean scores of the first-year female secondary school students - Credit System (Compulsory Program) in the Health Awareness Scale in favor of post-measurement. To measure the effect of the proposed educational unit, the Eta-squared η² was calculated, which amounted to 0.96, indicating the effect of the application of the proposed educational unit in medical geography on the development of health awareness among first-year female secondary school students - Credit System (Compulsory Program) Recommendations: Benefiting from the topics of the proposed unit "Medical Geography" when developing social studies curricula and organizing meetings, seminars and training courses to educate students about the importance of adhering to behaviors related to maintaining public health public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Several studies indicated that teledermatology is good for people living on offshore islands. However, what disease benefits the most from interactive dermatology geographically in offshore islands remain uncertain. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the seasonal and geographical distribution with different diseases in remote regions of Penghu islands in Taiwan Strait, thus to study the medical needs for specific disease in remote islands. The cost differences among three models by professional dermatologists were analyzed. Methods: This interactive teledermatology program serving Penghu Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW-PH, March 2020 to February 2021) from a medical center in Taiwan recruited 145 patients with 280 patient-visits. The seasons, the timing from residential houses to MOHW-PH, the number of disease diagnosis, and the numbers of teledermatology visits are compared. The association of the distance from residential houses to MOHW-PH with different disease diagnosis was analyzed. Results: Eczema (33%), dermatophytosis (13%), and psoriasis (11%) were most common. Seasonal analysis showed dermatophytosis and eczema are more common in summer and winter, respectively. Geographical analysis showed that psoriasis has relatively higher case numbers, higher visits per case, with cases living in longer distances. The patient satisfaction was good (>95%). Among the three care modes of dermatologist, the cost estimation of interactive teledermatology and in-person clinic were similar yearly (2.4–2.9 million New Taiwan Dollars, roughly 80,000–90,000 USD). Conclusions: The study indicates that health care for psoriasis, being underprivileged but in desperate need in distant regions, could be delivered with quality and satisfaction by interactive teledermatology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: About a half of the world's population is infected with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), but only 1%–3% of them develop gastric cancer. As a primary risk factor for gastric cancer, the relationship between H. pylori infection and gastric microbiome has been a focus in recent years. Materials and methods: We reanalyze 11 human gastric microbiome datasets with or without H. pylori, covering the healthy control (HC) and four disease stages (chronic gastritis (CG), atrophic gastritis (AG), intestinal metaplasia (IM), and gastric cancer (GC)) of gastric cancer development to quantitatively compare the influences of the H. pylori infection and disease stages on the diversity, heterogeneity, and composition of gastric microbiome. Four medical ecology approaches including (i) diversity analysis with Hill numbers, (ii) heterogeneity analysis with Taylor's power law extensions (TPLE), (iii) diversity scaling analysis with diversity–area relationship (DAR) model, and (iv) shared species analysis were applied to fulfill the data reanalysis. Results: (i) The influences of H. pylori infection on the species diversity, spatial heterogeneity, and potential diversity of gastric microbiome seem to be more prevalent than the influences of disease stages during gastric cancer development. (ii) The influences of H. pyloriinfection on diversity, heterogeneity, and composition of gastric microbiomes in HC, CG, IM, and GC stages appear more prevalent than those in AG stage. Conclusion: Our study confirmed the impact of H. pylori infection on human gastric microbiomes: The influences of H. pylori infection on the diversity, heterogeneity, and composition of gastric microbiomes appear to be disease‐stage dependent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this provocation, we discuss the potential for health/medical geography to contribute to a policy-relevant geographical research agenda that remains attentive to social theory debates. We illustrate the importance of time as a social determinant of health, through the case study of racial/ethnic inequities in spatial access to acute hospitals in the U.S. South region amid rural hospital closures, conversions, and mergers, which have decreased the supply of hospitals since 1990. In sum, racial disparities in spatial access were most pronounced for travel distances/times to the nearest alternative hospital, underscoring the importance of both temporal and spatial equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of some epidemics, such as influenza, demonstrates common patterns both in different regions and from year to year. On the contrary, epidemics such as the novel COVID-19 show quite heterogeneous dynamics and are extremely susceptible to the measures taken to mitigate their spread. In this paper, we propose empirical dynamic modeling to predict the evolution of influenza in Spain's regions. It is a non-parametric method that looks into the past for coincidences with the present to make the forecasts. Here, we extend the method to predict the evolution of other epidemics at any other starting territory and we also test this procedure with Spanish COVID-19 data. We finally build influenza and COVID-19 networks to check possible coincidences in the geographical distribution of both diseases. With this, we grasp the uniqueness of the geographical dynamics of COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The health and wellbeing of residents in South Africa's towns and cities are currently threatened by the burden of disease, high incidences of crime/violence, and increasing economic, social, and environmental inequality. The impact of past and present spatial exclusion has exacerbated high levels of poverty and ill health, and the rapid rise in urbanization has put further pressure on already strained urban systems. While significant progress has been made, poor levels of service delivery, neglected infrastructure, and a lack of social amenities continue to pose a challenge. A further concern has been the prioritization in policy and literature on the 'hard' traditional elements of health over 'softer' dimensions (wellbeing aspects). The field of medical geography in South Africa has also remained relatively peripheral, with most geographical and human settlement research on health being driven by public-health scholars. This special issue brings together the voices of researchers working on health and wellbeing in South Africa's urban spaces to address these and other concerns. Several key findings have emerged including the need for governance models that focus on overall wellbeing, the importance of interdisciplinary approaches, the role that wider socio-economic context and history play, and the importance of access to open space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though preventable, children with disabilities have a high risk of victimization, contributing to worsening health conditions. Hence, this study examined the exposure of school-age children with mental, emotional, developmental, or behavioral (MEDB) disorder to bully victimization. This study used the 2018 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) data of 23,494 children ages 5–17 to estimate multilevel logistic regression with fixed and random effects. Children's health conditions were treated as level one variables, while family poverty level and neighborhood characteristics such as vandalism and presence/absence of recreational centers were treated as level two variables. The paper presents the prevalence of bullying victimization among children with at least one disorder (MDBB = 39.5%), anxiety (20.6%), depression (10.8%), ADD/ADHD (18.3%), behavioral problems (14.9%), learning disability (11.9%), Tourette syndrome (0.5%), developmental delay (10.1%), Autism spectrum disorder (4.6%), speech disorder (10.7), and intellectual disability (1.6%), respectively. Bullying victimization was positively associated with anxiety (AOR = 1.995, 95% CI = 1.634–2.436), depression (AOR = 2.688, 95% CI = 2.031–3.557), developmental delay (AOR = 1.804, 95% CI = 1.422–2.288), but inversely associated with Autism spectrum disorder (AOR = 0.614, 95% CI = 0.399–0.946). Neighborhood disorganization and poverty were also associated with bullying victimization. The NSCH data suggests that children with disabilities in the US had a higher prevalence rate of victimization. Consequently, effective bullying prevention strategies that can protect and improve children's quality of life with special needs should be prioritized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographic technologies and perspectives are important for understanding health issues because places and locations influence human health and diseases. Despite the increasing use of a geographic information system (GIS) in health research, and the explosion of new and emerging technologies, little is known about their potential as educational tools for health geography and the effectiveness for student learning. Focusing on air-sensing and web GIS technologies, this article presents an innovative pedagogical strategy to integrate these technologies as tools for field-based learning in health geography and discusses the effectiveness and challenges of this teaching method. A class project, undertaken in a university health geography course, was developed to offer students hands-on training and real-world experience with state-of-the-art technologies. It consisted of (1) a lecture and pre-fieldwork training; (2) field data collection using a low-cost, GPS-enabled portable air-pollution sensor; (3) data visualization using web GIS; and (4) sharing the findings through a web-based story map application. The successful implementation of the teaching method, as indicated by students' positive comments, demonstrated that such class projects can reinforce students' knowledge of air pollution and health risks; improve their technical, critical thinking, and research skills; and prepare students for entering a technology-driven society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]