Analysis of the spread of Rhynchophorus ferrugineus in an urban area,using GIS techniques: a study case in Central Italy

Urban Ecosystems - The spread of the red palm weevil is now a very severe problem on a global scale. In this paper, we investigate its spread during the 2007–2013 period in a coastal urban...     

Integrated physical and mental health care at a nurse-managed clinic: report from the trenches

The Health and Wellness Center (HWC), located in Joliet, Illinois, is a nurse-managed universally accessible primary health care center funded by a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration. The goals of the HWC are to improve access to quality primary health care services for all patients, including those who are uninsured and underserved, and to develop and implement a model of nurse-managed primary health care that integrates both physical and mental health assessment and treatment. After 5 years of developing and using this model, it is clear that integration requires strategic supports from the financial, political, and professional sectors to be considered a cost-effective model of health care delivery. Recommendations for policy and practice change are offered based on the author's experiences of providing integrated health care at the HWC and the health care industry's responses to uninsured or underinsured patients' needs.     

Maternal singing of lullabies during pregnancy and after birth: Effects on mother–infant bonding and on newborns’ behaviour. Concurrent Cohort Study

Background

Mother–infant bonding is of great importance for the development and the well-being of the baby. The aim of this Concurrent Cohort Study was to investigate the effects of mothers singing lullabies on bonding, newborns’ behaviour and maternal stress.

Personal concepts of stability in the second half of life

The study contributes to the conceptualization of stability in the development of later life by answering four questions: Are there certain concepts of no-change in the population of aging adults? What are the issues that people combine with the idea of no-change? Are the issues of different importance for different groups? What kind of time perspective is expressed in their expectations of no-change?Stability expectations were investigated within a representative sample of about 2934 Germans aged 40–85 who live independently in the community. By means of a sentence completion instrument subjects provided spontaneous statements about self and life conceptions.Content analysis indicated clearly two different concepts of stability among the respondents in the second half of life: One concerns the continuation of gains, the other the maintenance of the status quo. One third of the expectations deals with further gains. Two thirds of the statements, however, refers to the maintenance of the status quo. Expected maintenance of the status quo showed a strong association with older age. In terms of Raynor's [Raynor, J. O. (1982). A theory of personal functioning and change. In J. O. Raynor & E. Entin (Eds.), Motivation, career striving and aging (pp. 249-302). Washington: Hemisphere Publishing Corporation] theory of the time-bound sense of self, the concept ‘continuation of gains’ reflects a future sense of self, while the concept ‘maintenance of the status quo’ refers to a more present sense of self.