Regional growth and disparities in a post-COVID Europe: A new normality scenario.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Capello R
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8242642 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:This paper explores the new travel risk scenario by analysing travel risk perception during the pandemic and proposes measures to improve traveller confidence based on the issue-attention cycle. The study was conducted during two stages of the pandemic. During the initial stage, travellers' decision-making process was studied to learn why travellers chose to maintain or cancel travel plans and what variables influenced their travel risk perception. An online survey was conducted with data collected from 1075 travellers residing in 46 countries (52 nationalities). The second stage of the study started at the beginning of de-escalation in Europe. A qualitative study was conducted in which 28 international hospitality experts were interviewed. They were asked about specific measures to encourage tourism from a global perspective. The results help tourism authorities and companies better understand tourist behaviour and provide concrete measures for restarting tourism.
| S-EPMC9756354 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Forests cover about one-third of Europe's surface and their growth is essential for climate protection through carbon sequestration and many other economic, environmental, and sociocultural ecosystem services. However, reports on how climate change affects forest growth are contradictory, even for same regions. We used 415 unique long-term experiments including 642 plots across Europe covering seven tree species and surveys from 1878 to 2016, and showed that on average forest growth strongly accelerated since the earliest surveys. Based on a subset of 189 plots in Scots pine (the most widespread tree species in Europe) and high-resolution climate data, we identified clear large-regional differences; growth is strongly increasing in Northern Europe and decreasing in the Southwest. A less pronounced increase, which is probably not mainly driven by climate, prevails on large areas of Western, Central and Eastern Europe. The identified regional growth trends suggest adaptive management on regional level for achieving climate-smart forests.
| S-EPMC10505178 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Purpose of reviewOver the past 2 years, the COVID-19 pandemic has had short-term and long-term effects on the delivery of cancer care. Some European countries faced an unprecedented widespread crisis during the first year of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, only being able afterwards to gradually recover, thanks to the improvement in preventive measures, changes in public health and reactive processes in cancer care and a better understanding of the ongoing heath emergency.Recent findingsThe development of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and COVID-19 specific treatments, the growing testing and tracking capability to limit virus diffusion, and research efforts to better define areas of action have all greatly limited the negative impact of the health emergency on routine cancer care.The need to protect those more vulnerable and to ensure continuity of care for oncology patients has been balanced across the pandemic, with the aim to guarantee an optimal standard of care.SummaryThis article aims to provide an overview on the evolving scenario of cancer care throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, focusing on the particular features that characterized the pandemic course as well as the main differences that were observed across it.
| S-EPMC9451604 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Neuroblastoma is a pediatric cancer with a low survival rate of patients with metastatic stage 4 disease. Tumor aggressiveness and progression have been associated with structural copy number variations (CNVs) that are observed in malignant cells. In contrast, localized Neuroblastomas, which are associated with a low number of structural CNVs but frequent numerical CNVs, are less aggressive, and patients have good outcomes. Finally, whole-genome and whole-exome sequencing of Neuroblastoma tissues have shown few damaging mutations in these tumors.In the present report it is proposed that chromosome instability (CIN) plays a major role in Neuroblastoma tumorigenesis and that CIN is already present in the early phases of tumor development. High CIN can promote several types of chromosomal damage including chromothripsis, gene deletion, amplification and rearrangements, which deregulate gene expression. Indeed, gene rearrangements have been reported as a new scenario in the development of Neuroblastoma, which supports the hypothesis that CIN is an early step preliminary to the late catastrophic events leading to tumor development.
| S-EPMC5217541 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The COVID-19 pandemic has suddenly modified the lifestyle of a large portion of the population around the world. This pandemic is also the first one in decades that has severely impacted many countries of the Global North. Governments have had to adopt wide-scope and desperate measures to face the abnormal situation and to reduce the stress of their health care systems. These measures have been based on reducing the physical-social interaction and mobility (closing schools and some economic activities, or fostering telework, among others), increasing the physical distance between people, and recommending washing hands frequently and wearing masks. Thus, the COVID-19 may change many habits of people and the ways we interact with others after the current pandemic. It would also imply changes in mobility habits. Many questions arise about the willingness and acceptability of changes, and who would have to impulse them and how. This paper aims to study and understand individuals' acceptability towards a set of generic measures related to urban mobility in Spain, one of the countries most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. To that end, we conducted an online survey during the lockdown in Spring (2020). More than 75% of respondents would accept restrictions on car use after the return to normal, and more than 90% agree on increasing the space for pedestrians and cyclists on streets. Furthermore, 75% of respondents would change the primary transport mode towards a more sustainable transport mode if it would decrease the incidence or severity of the COVID-19. These results show that the respondents are overall in favor of a new urban hierarchy that gives more importance to the most sustainable modes, reducing the public space devoted to the car, which means the possibility of turning the COVID-19 crisis into an opportunity to make Spanish cities more sustainable.
| S-EPMC9759421 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveTo examine differences in community mobility reduction and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outcomes across counties with differing levels of socioeconomic disadvantage.MethodsThe sample included counties in the United States with at least one SARS-CoV-2 case between April 1 and May 15, 2020. Outcomes were growth in SARS-CoV-2 cases, SARS-CoV-2-related deaths, and mobility reduction across three settings: retail/recreation, grocery/pharmacy, and workplace. The main explanatory variable was the social deprivation index (SDI), a composite socioeconomic disadvantage measure.ResultsAdjusted differences in outcomes between low-, medium-, and high-SDI counties (defined by tertile) were calculated using linear regression with state-fixed effects. Workplace mobility reduction was 1.75 (95% CI, -2.36 to -1.14; P<.001) and 3.48 percentage points (95% CI, -4.21 to -2.75; P<.001) lower for medium- and high-SDI counties relative to low-SDI counties, respectively. Mobility reductions in the other settings were also significantly lower for higher-SDI counties. In analyses adjusted for SARS-CoV-2 prevalence on April 1, medium- and high-SDI counties had 1.39 (95% CI, 0.85 to 1.93; P<.001) and 2.56 (95% CI, 1.77 to 3.34; P<.001) more SARS-CoV-2 cases/1000 population on May 15 compared with low-SDI counties, respectively. Deaths per capita were also significantly higher for higher-SDI counties.ConclusionCounties with higher social deprivation scores experienced greater growth in SARS-CoV-2 cases and deaths, but reduced mobility at lower rates. These findings are consistent with evidence demonstrating that economically disadvantaged communities have been disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Efforts to socially distance may be more burdensome for these communities, potentially exacerbating disparities in SARS-CoV-2-related outcomes.
| S-EPMC7580696 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundSmartphone-based apps designed and deployed to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic may become infrastructure for postpandemic public health surveillance in the United States. Through the lenses of privacy concerns and user expectations of digital pandemic mitigation techniques, we identified possible long-term sociotechnical implications of such an infrastructure.ObjectiveWe explored how people in the United States perceive the possible routinization of pandemic tracking apps for public health surveillance in general. Our interdisciplinary analysis focused on the interplay between privacy concerns, data practices of surveillance capitalism, and trust in health care providers. We conducted this analysis to achieve a richer understanding of the sociotechnical issues raised by the deployment and use of technology for pandemic mitigation.MethodsWe conducted scenario-based, semistructured interviews (n=19) with adults in the United States. The interviews focused on how people perceive the short- and long-term privacy concerns associated with a fictional smart thermometer app deployed to mitigate the "outbreak of a contagious disease." In order to elicit future-oriented discussions, the scenario indicated that the app would continue functioning "after the disease outbreak has dissipated." We analyzed interview transcripts using reflexive thematic analysis.ResultsIn the context of pandemic mitigation technology, including app-based tracking, people perceive a core trade-off between public health and personal privacy. People tend to rationalize this trade-off by invoking the concept of "the greater good." The interplay between the trade-off and rationalization forms the core of sociotechnical issues that pandemic mitigation technologies raise. Participants routinely expected that data collected through apps related to public health would be shared with unknown third parties for the financial gain of the app makers. This expectation suggests a perceived alignment between an app-based infrastructure for public health surveillance and the broader economics of surveillance capitalism. Our results highlight unintended and unexpected sociotechnical impacts of routinizing app-based tracking on postpandemic life, which are rationalized by invoking a nebulous concept of the greater good.ConclusionsWhile technologies such as app-based tracking could be useful for pandemic mitigation and preparedness, the routinization of such apps as a form of public health surveillance may have broader, unintentional sociotechnical implications for individuals and the societies in which they live. Although technology has the potential to increase the efficacy of pandemic mitigation, it exists within a broader network of sociotechnical concerns. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the long-term implications of pandemic mitigation technologies beyond the immediate needs of addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. Potential negative consequences include the erosion of patient trust in health care systems and providers, grounded in concerns about privacy violations and overly broad surveillance.
| S-EPMC8494069 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The tourism industry is probably one of the most affected by the crisis caused by Covid-19. It is the responsibility of politicians, tourism professionals and researchers to look for solutions to revive this important industry. This article shows how the development of Sustainable Tourism can help in the sustenance of the tourism industry, since one of the premises on which Sustainable Tourism is based is the non-overcrowding of tourist destinations (essential factor in the current context). Considering this argument and the existing regulations on lockdown rules, social distancing and meet up, it is considered that the practices in Sustainable Tourism can become a potential solution to stimulate tourist movements and help the revival of the tourism industry. Therefore, more specifically, the main objective of this article is to know tourist´s perception among about Sustainable Tourism and to determine which factors help its development. In this sense, the use of structural equation models in a research of 308 tourists has determined how factors related to the tourists' attitude, motivation and perceived benefits provided by the development of Sustainable Tourism increase the intention to consume this type of tourism.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11205-021-02735-2.
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Project description:PURPOSE:To evaluate associations between counties' COVID-19 cases and racial-ethnic and nativity composition, considering heterogeneity across Latin American-origin subgroups and regions of the U.S. METHODS:Using county-level data and multi-level negative binomial models, we evaluate associations between COVID-19 cases and percentages of residents that are foreign-born, Latinx, Black, or Asian, presenting estimates for all counties combined and stratifying across regions. Given varying risk factors among Latinx, we also evaluate associations for percentages of residents from specific Latin American-origin groups. RESULTS:Percentage of foreign-born residents is positively associated with COVID-19 case rate (IRR=1.106; 95%CI: 1.074-1.139). Adjusted associations for percentage Latinx are non-significant for all counties combined, but this obscures heterogeneity. Counties with more Central Americans have higher case rates (IRR=1.130; 95%CI: 1.067-1.197). And, in the Northeast and Midwest, counties with more Puerto Ricans have higher case rates. Associations with percentage Asians are non-significant after adjusting for percentage foreign-born. Confirming prior evidence, percentage of Black residents is positively and robustly associated with COVID-19 case rate (IRR=1.031; 95%CI: 1.025-1.036). CONCLUSIONS:Counties with more immigrants, as well as more Central American or Black residents have more COVID-19 cases. In the Northeast and Midwest, counties with more Puerto Rican residents also have more COVID-19 cases.
| S-EPMC7485497 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Using data for 201 regions (NUTS 2) in Europe, we examine the mortality burden of the COVID-19 pandemic and how the mortality inequalities between regions changed between 2020 and 2022. We show that over the three years of the pandemic, not only did the level of excess mortality rate change considerably, but also its geographical distribution. Focusing on life expectancy as a summary measure of mortality conditions, we find that the variance of regional life expectancy increased sharply in 2021 but returned to the pre-pandemic level in 2022. The 2021 increase was due to a much higher-than-average excess mortality in regions with lower pre-pandemic life expectancy. While the life expectancy inequality has returned to its pre-pandemic level in 2022, the observed life expectancy in almost all regions is far below that expected without the pandemic.
| S-EPMC10869827 | biostudies-literature