Socioeconomic and Psychosocial Adversities Experienced by Creative Freelancers in the UK During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study

There are concerns that the socioeconomic consequences of COVID-19, including unemployment and financial insecurity, are having adverse effects on the mental wellbeing of the population. One group particularly vulnerable to socioeconomic adversity during this period are those employed freelance within the cultural industry. Many workers in the sector were already subject to income instability, erratic work schedules and a lack of economic security before the pandemic, and it is possible that COVID-19 may exacerbate pre-existing economic precarity. Through interviews with 20 freelancers working within the performing arts, visual arts, and film and television industries, this article explores the impact of the pandemic on their working lives. Findings suggest the pandemic is affecting the psychological wellbeing of freelancers through employment loss, financial instability and work dissonance, and illustrates the need for urgent economic and psychosocial support for those employed within the cultural sector.

Increased occurrence of high impact compound events under climate change

While compound weather and climate events (CEs) can lead to significant socioeconomic consequences, their response to climate change is mostly unexplored. We report the first multi-model assessment of future changes in return periods for the co-occurrence of heatwaves and drought, and extreme winds and precipitation based on the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) and three emission scenarios. Extreme winds and precipitation CEs occur more frequently in many regions, particularly under higher emissions. Heatwaves and drought occur more frequently everywhere under all emission scenarios examined. For each CMIP6 model, we derive a skill score for simulating CEs. Models with higher skill in simulating historical CEs project smaller increases in the number of heatwaves and drought in Eurasia, but larger numbers of strong winds and heavy precipitation CEs everywhere for all emission scenarios. This result is partly masked if the whole CMIP6 ensemble is used, pointing to the considerable value in further improvements in climate models.

Systematic Review of the Socioeconomic Consequences in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis With Different Levels of Disability and Cognitive Function

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a challenging and disabling condition, predominantly affecting individuals in early adulthood. MS affects the physical, cognitive, and mental health of persons suffering from the disease as well as having a great impact on their financial status and quality of life. However, there is a lack of systematic approach toward assessing the socioeconomic consequences of MS. Our objective was to systematically review analytical observational studies investigating the socioeconomic consequences in persons with MS with different levels of physical disability and cognitive function. We conducted a systematic review on socioeconomic consequences of MS with a focus on employment-, income-, work ability-, and relationship-related outcomes in persons with MS with special focus on disability and cognition. Additionally, the educational characteristics were examined. From 4,957 studies identified, 214 were assessed for eligibility and a total of 19 studies were included in this qualitative assessment; 21 different outcomes were identified. All identified studies reported higher unemployment, higher early retirement, and higher risk of unemployment in relation to higher physical disability. Also, cognitive function was found to be a predictor of employment (unemployment). The studies pointed out significant correlations between greater disability and lower earnings and higher income from benefits. A study found the same correlation in relation to cognitive function. The studies reported higher work disability in relation to higher physical disability and lower cognitive function. In conclusion, this systematic review summarizes the pronounced differences in various socioeconomic outcomes between patients with MS with regards to their physical disability and cognitive function. In addition, we identified a lack of studies with longitudinal design in this field that can provide more robust estimates with covariate adjustments, such as disease modifying treatments.

Galectins in Chagas Disease: A Missing Link Between Trypanosoma cruzi Infection, Inflammation, and Tissue Damage

Trypanosoma cruzi, the protozoan parasite causative agent of Chagas disease, affects about seven million people worldwide, representing a major global public health concern with relevant socioeconomic consequences, particularly in developing countries. In this review, we discuss the multiple roles of galectins, a family of β-galactoside-binding proteins, in modulating both T. cruzi infection and immunoregulation. Specifically, we focus on galectin-driven circuits that link parasite invasion and inflammation and reprogram innate and adaptive immune responses. Understanding the dynamics of galectins and their β-galactoside-specific ligands during the pathogenesis of T. cruzi infection and elucidating their roles in immunoregulation, inflammation, and tissue damage offer new rational opportunities for treating this devastating neglected disease.

Cohort Profile: The Socioeconomic Consequences in Adult Life After Childhood Cancer in Scandinavia (SALiCCS) Research Programme

IntroductionThe growing number of survivors of childhood cancer, with many years of life ahead, demonstrates the increasing clinical and public health relevance of investigating the risks of social and socioeconomic impairment after a childhood cancer diagnosis and the life-saving treatment. To enrich understanding of the mental, social and socioeconomic difficulties that childhood cancer survivors may face during their life-course, identify particularly vulnerable survivors and overcome the limitations of previous research, we initiated the Socioeconomic Consequences in Adult Life after Childhood Cancer in Scandinavia (SALiCCS) research programme.MethodsThis Nordic cross-border research programme is a collaboration between the Danish Cancer Society, the Finnish Cancer Registry and Karolinska Institutet to investigate a broad range of mental, social and socioeconomic conditions in long-term childhood cancer survivors in Denmark, Finland and Sweden. SALiCCS is based on a registry-based matched cohort design, comprising five-year survivors of cancer diagnosed at ages 0–19 years (1971–2008 in Denmark, 1971–2009 in Finland, 1971–2011 in Sweden), age-, sex- and country-matched population comparisons and sibling comparisons who were followed over time. Outcomes of interest included mental disorders, educational achievements, employment and profession, family life and the need of social security benefits. Individual-level data linkage among various national registries provided the data for the research programme.ResultsThe SALiCCS core population comprises 21,292 five-year survivors, 103,303 population comparisons and 29,644 siblings as a second comparison group. The most common diagnoses in survivors were central nervous system tumours, leukaemias and lymphomas.DiscussionSALiCCS is the largest, most comprehensive population-based research initiative in this field, based on high-quality registry data with minimal risk of bias. The findings will be informative for evidence-based survivorship care targeting not only somatic late effects but also psychosocial impairments.

Recession or resilience? Long-range socioeconomic consequences of the 17th century volcanic eruptions in the far north

Past volcanic eruptions and their climatic impacts have been linked increasingly with co-occurring societal crises – like crop failures and famines – in recent research. Yet, as many of the volcanic cooling studies have a supra-regional or hemispheric focus, establishing pathways from climatic effects of an eruption to human repercussions has remained very challenging due to high spatial variability of socio-environmental systems. This, in turn, may render a distinction of coincidence from causation difficult. In this study, we employ micro-regionally resolved natural and written sources to study three 17th century volcanic eruptions (i.e. 1600 Huaynaputina, 1640/1641 Koma-ga-take/Parker, and 1695 unidentified eruptions) to look into their climatic as well as socioeconomic impacts among rural agricultural society in Ostrobothnia (Finland) with high temporal and spatial precision. Tree-ring and grain tithe data indicate that all three eruptions would have caused significant summer season temperature cooling and poor grain harvest in the region. Yet, tax debt records reveal that the socioeconomic consequences varied considerably among the eruptions as well as in time, space, and within the society. Whether the volcanic events had a strong or weak socioeconomic effect depended on various factors, such as the prevailing agro-ecosystem, resource availability, material capital, physical and immaterial networks, and institutional practices. These factors influenced societal vulnerability and resilience to cold pulses and the resulting harvest failures caused by the eruptions. This paper proposes that, besides detecting coinciding human calamities, more careful investigation at the micro-regional scale has a clear added value as it can provide deeper understanding on why and among whom the distal volcanic eruptions resulted in different societal impacts. Such understanding, in turn, can contribute to interdisciplinary research, advice political decision-making, and enhance scientific outreach.

Comprehensive and long-term surveys of COVID-19 sequelae in Japan, an ambidirectional multicentre cohort study: study protocol

IntroductionThe rapid spread of COVID-19 posed a global burden. Substantial number of people died of the disease in the acute phase of infection. In addition, a significant proportion of patients have been reported to suffer from post-acute phase symptoms, sequelae of COVID-19, which may negatively influence the quality of daily living and/or socioeconomic circumstances of the patients. However, no previous study has comprehensively and objectively assessed the quality of life of patients by using existing international scales. Further, evidence of socioeconomic consequences among patients with COVID-19 is scarce. To address the multidimensional issues from sequelae of COVID-19, evidence from comprehensive surveys beyond clinical perspectives is critical that investigates health, and social determinants of disease progression as well as socioeconomic consequences at a large scale.Methods and analysisIn this study, we plan to conduct a nationwide and comprehensive survey for the sequelae of COVID-19 in a total of 1000 patients diagnosed at 27 hospitals throughout Japan. This study will evaluate not only the health-related status of patients from clinical perspectives but also the Health-related Quality of Life (HRQoL) scores, socioeconomic status and consequences to discuss the sequelae of the disease and the related risk factors. The primary endpoint is the frequency of long-term complications of COVID-19 infection. The secondary endpoints are risk factors for progression to sequelae of COVID-19 infection. The study will provide robust and important evidence as a resource to tackle the issues from the sequelae of COVID-19 from the multi-dimensional perspectives.Ethics and disseminationThis trial was approved by the Keio University School of Medicine Ethics Committee (20200243, UMIN000042299). The results of this study will be reported at a society meeting or published in a peer-reviewed journal.