Social epidemiology

Based on the our October paper "A Generalized Viral Infection Mathematical Model Derived from Covid-19 Simulation", at a conceptual level higher than the classic SIR/SEIR model, we have established the 6 laws of infection regarding the final infection ratio within any given population without any artificial intervention and have shown the final infection ratio in a natural, non-interfered pandemic must fall within a specified lower and upper bound as 1 − 1 R 2 0 ≤ F R ≤ 2 (1 − 1 R 0). Whereas R 0 is the intrinsic R 0 value of the disease. In this paper, we show how human intervention strategies alter the previous assumptions based on 2 factors. First, artificial intervention with cycles of restricting measures and relaxations. Based on our May paper "The Predictions on Worldwide Covid-19 Pandemic Cases Based on Historical Data", we have already demonstrated the dynamic falling R 0 (t) curve during lock down measures. With more historical data and observation, we now expand the scope to include a dynamic rising R 0 (t) curve following the relaxation of measures, completing the cycle of restriction and relaxation. Second, the introduction of vaccination at a steady rate introduced a new variable into the existing infection model, we denote it as function V (t). We demonstrate the optimal strategies of vaccination interpreted within our existing established framework.

Background
Depression is a mental health state whose frequency has been increasing in modern societies. It imposes a great burden, because of the strong impact on people’s quality of life and happiness. Depression can be reliably diagnosed and treated in primary care: if more people could get effective treatments earlier, the costs related to depression would be reversed. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of socio-economic factors and gender on depressed mood, focusing on Korea. In fact, in spite of the great amount of empirical studies carried out for other countries, few epidemiological studies have examined the socio-economic determinants of depression in Korea and they were either limited to samples of employed women or did not control for individual health status. Moreover, as the likely data endogeneity (i.e. the possibility of correlation between the dependent variable and the error term as a result of autocorrelation or simultaneity, such as, in this case, the depressed mood due to health factors that, in turn might be caused by depression), might bias the results, the present study proposes an empirical approach, based on instrumental variables, to deal with this problem.
 
Methods
Data for the year 2008 from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) were employed. About seven thousands of people (N= 6,751, of which 43% were males and 57% females), aged from 19 to 75 years old, were included in the sample considered in the analysis. In order to take into account the possible endogeneity of some explanatory variables, two Instrumental Variables Probit (IVP) regressions were estimated; the variables for which instrumental equations were estimated were related to the participation of women to the workforce and to good health, as reported by people in the sample. Explanatory variables were related to age, gender, family factors (such as the number of family members and marital status) and socio-economic factors (such as education, residence in metropolitan areas, and so on). As the results of the Wald test carried out after the estimations did not allow to reject the null hypothesis of endogeneity, a probit model was run too.
 
Results
Overall, women tend to develop depression more frequently than men. There is an inverse effect of education on depressed mood (probability of -24.6% to report a depressed mood due to high school education, as it emerges from the probit model marginal effects), while marital status and the number of family members may act as protective factors (probability to report a depressed mood of -1.0% for each family member). Depression is significantly associated with socio-economic conditions, such as work and income. Living in metropolitan areas is inversely correlated with depression (probability of -4.1% to report a depressed mood estimated through the probit model): this could be explained considering that, in rural areas, people rarely have immediate access to high-quality health services.
 
Conclusion
This study outlines the factors that are more likely to impact on depression, and applies an IVP model to take into account the potential endogeneity of some of the predictors of depressive mood, such as female participation to workforce and health status. A probit model has been estimated too. Depression is associated with a wide range of socioeconomic factors, although the strength and direction of the association can differ by gender. Prevention approaches to contrast depressive symptoms might take into consideration the evidence offered by the present study.

Recent research on the epidemiology of substance use disorders (SUDs) has provided important insights into these conditions and their impact on public health. In the United States, annual surveys of drug use in household and school populations serve as one of the primary sources of information about the distribution of illicit drug use. This research has demonstrated continued shifts in trends in illicit drug use in the United States and called attention to rising rates of prescription drug misuse and abuse. Findings have also continued to highlight the substantial comorbidity of SUDs with other psychiatric disorders and with the ongoing HIV epidemic. Building on these foundations, future challenges for research in substance abuse epidemiology will include using novel methodologic approaches to further unravel the complex interrelationships that link individual vulnerabilities for SUDs, including genetic factors, with social and environmental risk factors.

""The hygiene hypothesis offers an explanation for the correlation, well-established in the industrialized nations of North and West, between increased hygiene and sanitation, and increased rates of asthma and allergies. Recent studies have added to the scope of the hypothesis, showing a link between decreased exposure to certain bacteria and parasitic worms, and increased rates of depression and intestinal autoimmune disorders, respectively. What remains less often discussed in the research on these links is that women have higher rates than men of asthma and allergies, as well as many auto-immune disorders, and also depression. The current paper introduces a feminist understanding of gender socialization to the epidemiological and immunological picture. That standards of cleanliness are generally higher for girls
than boys, especially under the age of five when children are more likely to be under close adult supervision, is a robust phenomenon in industrialized nations, and some research points to a crosscultural pattern. I conclude that, insofar as the hygiene hypothesis successfully identifies standards of hygiene and sanitation as mediators of immune health, then attention to the relevant patterns of gender socialization is important. The review also makes clear that adding a feminist analysis of gender
socialization to the hygiene hypothesis helps explain variation in morbidity rates not addressed by other sources and responds to a number of outstanding puzzles in current research. Alternative explanations for the sex differences in the relevant morbidity rates are also discussed (e.g., the effects of estrogens). Finally, new sources of evidence for the hygiene hypothesis are suggested in the form of cross-cultural and other natural experiments.""

Background
The aim of this survey was to explore the baseline knowledge of the Iranian community about Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) definition and its two main risk factors, i.e. diabetes and hypertension. This study also introduced a model of public education program with the purpose of reducing the incidence of CKD in high-risk groups and thereby decreasing the economic burden of CKD in Iran.
 
Methods
This cross-sectional study was conducted on world kidney day 2013 in Isfahan, Iran. Self-administered anonymous questionnaires evaluating the knowledge of CKD and its risk factors were distributed among subjects who participated in a kidney disease awareness campaign. Chi-square test and logistic regression analysis were used to examine the differences in the level of knowledge across different socio-demographic groups.
 
Results
The questionnaires were completed by 748 respondents. The majority of these respondents believed that “pain in the flanks” and “difficulty in urination” was the early symptoms of CKD. Roughly, 10.4% knew that CKD could be asymptomatic in the initial stages. Only 12.7% knew diabetes and 14.4% knew hypertension was a CKD risk factor. The respondents who had a CKD risk factor (i.e. diabetes and/or hypertension) were significantly more likely than respondents without CKD risk factor to select “unmanaged diabetes” [Odds Ratio (OR)= 2.2, Confidence Interval (CI) (95%): 1.4–3.6] and “unmanaged hypertension” [OR= 1.9, CI(95%): 1.2–3.0] as “very likely to result in CKD”. No more than 34.6% of all respondents with diabetes and/or hypertension reported that their physician has ever spoken with them about their increased risk for developing CKD.
 
Conclusion
The knowledge of Iranian population about CKD and its risk factors is low. Future public health education programs should put efforts in educating Iranian community about the asymptomatic nature of CKD in its initial stages and highlighting the importance of regular renal care counseling. The high-risk individuals should receive tailored education and be encouraged to adopt lifestyle modifications to prevent or slow the progression of CKD.

Compilado Covid-19 (Revista Questão de Ciência)

https://www.revistaquestaodeciencia.com.br/artigo/2020/03/22/crescimento-exponencial-da-covid-19-nao-e-fantasia

https://www.revistaquestaodeciencia.com.br/artigo/2020/03/24/tres-cenarios-para-o-coronavirus-no-brasil

https://www.revistaquestaodeciencia.com.br/artigo/2020/04/03/brasil-rumo-eua-covid

https://www.revistaquestaodeciencia.com.br/artigo/2020/04/08/o-cenario-da-covid-19-nos-estados

Aim. The purpose of this study was to compare the frequency of social stigma experiences reported by patients with schizophrenia and by people with other health problems. Method. The stigma subscale of the Consumer Experiences of Stigma Questionnaire (CESQ) was administered to patients with schizophrenia (n=153), recurrent depression (n=31), drug dependence (n=30), alcohol dependence (n=39), hematological malignancies (n=31), or cardiovascular disorders (n=33). Results. Multiple regression analysis showed that schizophrenia patients experienced stigmatization signifi cantly more often than did respondents diagnosed with hematological malignancies or cardiovascular disorders. Moreover, patients with schizophrenia were found to experience stigma at a level similar to that in patients with depression or alcohol dependence, but lower than that experienced by drug addicts. Conclusions. The study fi ndings confi rm that the stigma of schizophrenia is stronger than that associated with physical illnesses. However, people with schizophrenia were not found to experience stigmatization more often than people with other severe mental disorders.

Objective: In the United States, 28.6 million people used illicit drugs or misused prescription drugs in the last 30 days. Thus, identifying factors linked with lower likelihood of future drug misuse is an important target for research and practice. Sense of purpose in life has been linked with better behavioral and physical health outcomes. Furthermore, a higher sense of purpose may reduce the likelihood of drug misuse because it has been linked with several protective factors including enhanced ability to handle stress, higher pain tolerance, and lower impulsivity. However, the association between sense of purpose and drug misuse has been understudied. Thus, we tested whether people with a higher sense of purpose at baseline had a lower likelihood of future drug misuse 9 to 10 years later. Methods: This study included 3535 middle-aged adults from the Midlife in the United States Study who were not misusing drugs at base-line. Using multiple logistic regression models, we assessed whether baseline purpose in life was associated with risk of misusing drugs 9 to 10 years later. Results: Among respondents not misusing drugs at baseline, people in the highest quartile of purpose (versus lowest quartile) had a substantially lower likelihood of future drug misuse in a model adjusting for demographic variables (odds ratio = 0.50, 95% confidence interval = 0.31-0.83). Associations remained evident after additionally adjusting for psychological distress, baseline health, and health behaviors. Conclusions: A growing knowledge base suggests that a sense of purpose can be increased. Additional research is needed to evaluate sense of purpose as a novel target in the prevention and reduction of drug misuse.

La migracion actual a Europa es predominantemente femenina. El incremento paralelo de los matrimonios binacionales ha sido interpretado como via de escape ala pobreza de la mujer no calificada. Este articulo argumenta que muchas migrantes son altamente calificadas y sus matrimonios binacionales no son principalmente motivados por razones econ6micas sino de relaciones de genero e ideates de pareja. Aqui se expone una vision diferenciada de la mujer migrante y de la migracion por matrimonio, desarrollada a partir de los testimonios de profesionales latinoamericanas residentes en Suiza. Los metodos de estudio incluyen entrevistas autobiograficas, observacion participante y discusiones de grupo. El analisis del grado de integracion profesional de las mujeres muestra, en unos casos, la ausencia total de integracion y, en otros, la integracion por debajo de sus calificaciones. Las raices de esta situacion se encuentran principalmente en la politica de inmigracion y en los discursos discriminatorios los cuales obstaculizan la integracion profesional de las migrantes. Como reaccion a esta situacion, las mujeres han creado redes sociales de accion las cuales muestran su iniciativa y deseo de participacion y bUsqueda de una nueva identidad en la sociedad suiza. La conclusion es paradojica: mientras que America Latina pierde valioso capital humano, Suiza no aprovecha de su ganancia en capital.

While breast-feeding initiation and duration among US Latina women appear to decrease with acculturation, health care providers in the Greater Cincinnati area have noted lower rates of breast-feeding among even first-generation Latina immigrants. This study's purpose was to identify determinants of breast-feeding for Latina mothers in Cincinnati through qualitative interviews and Spanish Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale ratings. Our findings suggest that, along with similar levels of breast-feeding self-confidence, foreign-born Latina women in the Greater Cincinnati area share similar breast-feeding determinants with the general population. However, characteristics of these determinants and their impact vary because of unique pressures experienced by this community.

This article examines five common misunderstandings about case-study research: (a) theoretical knowledge is more valuable than practical knowledge; (b) one cannot generalize from a single case, therefore, the single-case study cannot contribute to scientific development; (c) the case study is most useful for generating hypotheses, whereas other methods are more suitable for hypotheses testing and theory building; (d) the case study contains a bias toward verification; and (e) it is often difficult to summarize specific case studies. This article explains and corrects these misunderstandings one by one and concludes with the Kuhnian insight that a scientific discipline without a large number of thoroughly executed case studies is a discipline without systematic production of exemplars, and a discipline without exemplars is an ineffective one. Social science may be strengthened by the execution of a greater number of good case studies.

Bali has been regarded as a 'paradise island', 'island of thousand temples' and many other images to support the growth of tourism industry. In fact, the industry has been developed massively  after a mass massacre of the leftists and radical populists associated with PKI (Communist Party of Indonesia) taking place in 1965-1966 led by General Soeharto. The images have been a strategy for romanticizing Balinese culture while simultaneously forgetting the traumatic tragedy of 1965.  Although the history has been distorted by the regime and most Balinese are reluctant to talk about tragedy, a few Balinese youth has established a community called Taman 65 (1965 Park) as a learning circle to study and challenge the state history. This book is a collection of their thoughts on history, Balinese social dynamics, and contemporary issues in Bali that arguably cannot be separated from the 1965 event.

The sociological study of health, illness, and healing systems in the United States is in need of a contemporary disciplinary structure to represent the field. In this commentary, we extend Straus’ (1957) classic two subfield model by defining the structure of Medical Sociology in terms of four major subfields: Social Epidemiology, Social Psychology of Health and Illness, Sociology of Medicine, and Sociology in Medicine. We review the unique contributions of each subfield while recognizing an underlying unity driven by common training in sociological theory and methods. Ultimately, we argue for a more contemporary representation of the field that more clearly communicates our contributions to Sociology and other health sciences. This is not the final statement on the organization of Medical Sociology. Our hope is to reintroduce these types of discussions as a matter of regular discourse. Much has changed since Straus (1957), and even more developments are on the horizon.

This paper describes the findings of an eight-year study on human health and community engagement in Anjukudisai, and 'objectionable' slum in Chennai. It shows that human behaviour, constrained by socio-economic factors, often leads to ecosystem degradation and frequently causes reactions that jeopardize people's health. Furthermore, institutional structures often prevent holistic integrated thinking and action. Urban health issues are closely linked to both environmental and socio-economic conditions. The impact of environmental degradation is often most severe on the poorest segments of society: slum dwellers, women, children, and the elderly.

Phronetic organizational research is an approach to the study of management and organizations focusing on ethics and power. It is based on a contemporary interpretation of the Aristotelian concept phronesis, usually as ‘prudence’. Phronesis is the ability to think and act in relation to values, to deliberate about ‘things that are good or bad for humans’ in the words of Aristotle (1976:1140a24–b12). Phronetic organizational research effectively provides answers to the following four value-rational questions, for specific problematics in management and organization studies: 1. Where are we going with this specific management problematic? 2. Who gains and who loses, and by which mechanisms of power? 3. Is this development desirable? 4. What, if anything, should we do about it?

The Aalborg Project may be interpreted as a metaphor of modern politics, modern administration and planning, and of modernity itself. The basic idea of the project was comprehensive, coherent, and innovative, and it was based on rational and democratic argument. During implementation, however, when idea met reality, the play of Machiavellian princes, Nietzschean will to power, and Foucauldian rationality-as-rationalization resulted in the fragmentation of the project.

John Ryle, clinicien anglais, développe dans les années 1940 une conception originale de la « pathologie sociale » dans laquelle l'épidémiologie sociale contemporaine a des racines. Cette pathologie sociale s'inscrit dans ce moment de transition entre l'épidémiologie ancienne et l'épidémiologie dite « moderne » avec son élargissement aux maladies chroniques. Elle est à situer dans ce contexte de la nécessité qu'impose les maladies chroniques d'élargir notre conception de l'étiologie. L'originalité de la médecine sociale de Ryle est de placer la personne au centre : la personnalisation passe par ce nouvel âge de la médecine dont il se fait le promoteur, une médecine centrée sur la dimension sociale des phénomènes de santé. Dans cet article nous présentons sa pathologie sociale en analysant la manière dont elle déplace la définition de l'épidémiologie, redéfinit les concepts de normal et de pathologique et leur relation, appréhende le niveau populationnel d'analyse et la relation avec la santé publique. Nous étudions ensuite l'héritage de Ryle en Grande-Bretagne, puis aux Etats-Unis en tentant d'expliquer pourquoi la dimension sociale de son projet a tendu à s'effacer au profit d'une épidémiologie comme méthode avant de ne renaître que bien plus tard dans le cadre de l'épidémiologie sociale.

At the same time that case studies are widely used and have produced canonical texts, it may be observed that the case study as a methodology is generally held in low regard, or is simply ignored, within the academy. For example, only 2 of the 30 top-ranked U.S. graduate programs in political science require a dedicated graduate course in case study or qualitative methods, and a full third of these programs do not even offer such a course. In contrast, all of the top 30 programs offer courses in quantitative methods and almost all of them require training in such methods, often several courses. In identifying this paradox of the case study’s wide use and low regard, Gerring rightly remarks that the case study survives in a “curious methodological limbo,” and that the reason is that the method is poorly understood. In what follows, we will try to resolve Gerring’s paradox and help case study research gain wider use and acceptance.

The community mental health movement has been generally regarded as a benevo- lent movement that replaced old notions of psychiatric racism with new ideas about the normality of race. Few studies, however, have explored the movement for its active support for new surveillance and policing strategies, particularly bro- ken windows theory, a policing approach partly responsible for the expansion of prisons in the United States after the 1970s. Looking to racially liberal approaches to psychiatry in the 1960s and 1970s crafted by integrationist psychiatrist Louis Jolyon West and black nationalist psychiatrist J. Alfred Cannon at the University of California, Los Angeles, this essay demonstrates that cultural and biological explan- ations for racial violence in civil rights and black nationalist discourses renewed surveillance on poor people of color that resulted in increased forms of incarcera- tion, segregation, and discrimination for them by the 1980s. Rather than forward racial justice, I argue that psychiatric discourses arguing for the racial sameness of white and black minds in the 1960s and 1970s relied on scientific and cultural nar- ratives centered on child development, gender, and sexuality that obscured the pro- cesses of racial capitalism that continued to produce poverty and sickness in black communities.

This is a summary paper of the community health project taken place with participants of Jubilee Soup Kitchen in the lower Hill District in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  The community profile of the Hill District and the community’s strengths and challenges emerge from the windshield survey, personal communications and research.  Identified problems specific to the aggregate, proposed implementation plans, summary of practicum education and interventions follows. 

Social Learning Theory and Pender’s Health Promotion Model provide the framework for the cognitive behavioral interventions for depression.

Extrajudicial killing (EJK) is a relatively recent concept located at the intersection of human rights, criminology and the sociology of law. It is defined as state-killing outside of the formal legal system of a state without due process of law. As a residual category it relies heavily on the definition of what a 'state' is and thus a theory of the state. A key feature of EJK is a denial of state involvement in killing necessitated by EJK's constituting state crime in which the state violates its own self-defined rules for operation. The specific focus of this study is how state 'frames' are used in speeches and political communication to promote state-killing while denying any state connection to that killing. EJK is seen to occur in coordinated waves of violence (cycles of violence) that resemble the trajectory of infectious diseases in epidemics that are influenced by the frames put forth by the state and watchdog institutions in 'cycles of moral reaction'. This case study focuses on EJK in the Philippines which has played a key defining role in EJK internationally, specifically on police encounter shootings and death squad killings during the 'War on Drugs' that began in 2016.

In this paper we argue that the use of the communicative theory of Jürgen Habermas in planning theory is problematic because it hampers an understanding of how power shapes planning. We posit an alternative approach based on the power analytics of Michel Foucault which focuses on ‘what is actually done’, as opposed to Habermas’s focus on ‘what should be done’. We discuss how the Foucauldian stance problematises planning, asking difficult questions about the treatment of legitimacy, rationality, knowledge and spatiality. We conclude that Foucault offers a type of analytic planning theory which offers better prospects than does Habermas for those interested in understanding and bringing about democratic social change through planning.

En la Argentina la covid-19 puso de manifiesto las diferencias económicas y sociales de la población y las ha incrementado. La desafortunada intervención estatal gubernamental sanitaria y epidemiológica para la atención del fenómeno es desproporcionada en cuanto a la asignación de prioridades, no acorde a las desigualdades regionales, económicas, ambientales, sociales y culturales. El intento de prevenir mediante cuarentena medieval y totalitaria agravó más la situación de salud general de la población, pues se detectaron 130.000 casos de “presunto covid19” en 4 meses, para condenar a la población restante de 45.170.000 de habitantes. Se priorizó esta patología por encima de las enfermedades prevalentes como neoplasias, cardiovasculares, femicidio, trastornos de salud mental, etc. En ningún momento se puso atención a las condiciones de vida, el medio ambiente, la nutrición, condiciones de la vivienda y acceso al agua potable. Tampoco se realizó un sistema de vigilancia epidemiológica de los daños ocasionados por el encierro.  Este trabajo tiene como objetivo conocer las enfermedades prevalentes de la población, así como los daños socio-sanitarios ocasionados por la cuarentena, así como conocer cuáles son los intereses políticos detrás de esta subversión de valores epidemiológicos.
Para tal fin de acude a fuentes primarias y secundarias. En cuanto a lo médico se acude a la evaluación y análisis de los boletínes epidemiológicos, las entrevistas a profesionales de la salud y asociaciones de profesionales. En cuanto a lo social se acude al análisis de documentos gubernamentales emitidos durante la pandemia (leyes, discursos, aplicativo de celular y ciberpatrullaje y créditos del BM) así como otras fuentes de datos complementarias como: INDEC, UCA y CEPAL
Se observa que la cuarentena sin distinguir “tiempo, lugar y persona” ha sido perjudicial para la salud de manera directa e indirecta, tanto a través de la retracción de la economía, el empleo y los derechos constitucionales y ambientales, como en la protección de los derechos de los niños, trabajadores y adultos mayores.