Risk factors of loneliness across the life span

Although loneliness is typically associated with adolescence and old age, research has revealed that it is prevalent across the life span. The present study contributes to the loneliness literature by investigating a broad range of risk factors in a Dutch sample ( N = 52,341) ranging from late adolescence to old age using a cross-sectional survey administered by the regional public health services in the province of Limburg in the Netherlands. Risk factors associated with higher levels of self-reported loneliness across the life span were being male, lower education levels, inadequacy of financial resources, mental health, informal caregiving that is experienced as burdensome, and limited social contact or network type. In addition, in early adulthood, having a non-western migration background and having a physical disability were associated with higher levels of loneliness, whereas living alone, having a non-western migration background, and not having a paid job were risk factors of loneliness in middle adulthood. In late adulthood, living alone and having a physical disability were associated with loneliness. The present study demonstrates that different stages of life are associated with different vulnerability factors of loneliness. Hence, the prevention of loneliness might require different interventions in different age groups.

Hospitalisation rates differed by city district and ethnicity during the first wave of COVID-19 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Background It is important to gain insight into the burden of COVID-19 at city district level to develop targeted prevention strategies. We examined COVID-19 related hospitalisations by city district and migration background in the municipality of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Methods We used surveillance data on all PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 hospitalisations in Amsterdam until 31 May 2020, matched to municipal registration data on migration background. We calculated directly standardised (age, sex) rates (DSR) of hospitalisations, as a proxy of COVID-19 burden, per 100,000 population by city district and migration background. We calculated standardised rate differences (RD) and rate ratios (RR) to compare hospitalisations between city districts of varying socio-economic and health status and between migration backgrounds. We evaluated the effects of city district and migration background on hospitalisation after adjusting for age and sex using Poisson regression. Results Between 29 February and 31 May 2020, 2326 cases (median age 57 years [IQR = 37–74]) were notified in Amsterdam, of which 596 (25.6%) hospitalisations and 287 (12.3%) deaths. 526/596 (88.2%) hospitalisations could be matched to the registration database. DSR were higher in individuals living in peripheral (South-East/New-West/North) city districts with lower economic and health status, compared to central districts (Centre/West/South/East) (RD = 36.87,95%CI = 25.79–47.96;RR = 1.82,95%CI = 1.65–1.99), and among individuals with a non-Western migration background compared to ethnic-Dutch individuals (RD = 57.05,95%CI = 43.34–70.75; RR = 2.36,95%CI = 2.17–2.54). City district and migration background were independently associated with hospitalisation. Conclusion City districts with lower economic and health status and those with a non-Western migration background had the highest burden of COVID-19 during the first wave of COVID-19 in Amsterdam.

Settling and 'selling' Canada's West : the role of immigration

This major research paper explores the promotional immigration material created by the Department of Agriculture during Sir John A. Macdonald's time as Prime Minister and within the context of western migration. The paper begins by examining the historiography of Canadian western expansion and continues by exploring the idea of western development as espoused by the business elites in Upper and Lower Canada. Sir John A. Macdonald's National Policy, which focused on increased tariffs, the completion of a transnational railway, and immigration are explored as well. Many attribute the active promotion of Canada to Europeans overseas with Clifford Sifton and the Laurier government. Sifton is known for having envisioned an agricultural paradise in western Canada and the idea of attracting hardworking peasant farmers, yet the contents of the promotional materials produced by the Department of Agriculture contain the same themes.

Settling and 'selling' Canada's West : the role of immigration

This major research paper explores the promotional immigration material created by the Department of Agriculture during Sir John A. Macdonald's time as Prime Minister and within the context of western migration. The paper begins by examining the historiography of Canadian western expansion and continues by exploring the idea of western development as espoused by the business elites in Upper and Lower Canada. Sir John A. Macdonald's National Policy, which focused on increased tariffs, the completion of a transnational railway, and immigration are explored as well. Many attribute the active promotion of Canada to Europeans overseas with Clifford Sifton and the Laurier government. Sifton is known for having envisioned an agricultural paradise in western Canada and the idea of attracting hardworking peasant farmers, yet the contents of the promotional materials produced by the Department of Agriculture contain the same themes.

Hospitalisation rates differed by city district and ethnicity during the first wave of COVID-19 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

ABSTRACTBackgroundIt is important to gain insight into the burden of COVID-19 at city district level to develop targeted prevention strategies. We examined COVID-19 related hospitalisations by city district and migration background in the municipality of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.MethodsWe used surveillance data on all PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 hospitalisations in Amsterdam until 31 May 2020, matched to municipal registration data on migration background. We calculated directly standardised (age, sex) rates (DSR) of hospitalisations, as a proxy of COVID-19 burden, per 100,000 population by city district and migration background. We calculated standardised rate differences (RD) and rate ratios (RR) to compare hospitalisations between city districts of varying socio-economic and health status and between migration backgrounds. We evaluated the effects of city district and migration background on hospitalisation after adjusting for age and sex using Poisson regression.ResultsBetween 29 February and 31 May 2020, 2326 cases (median age 57 years [IQR=37-74]) were notified in Amsterdam, of which 596 (25.6%) hospitalisations and 287 (12.3%) deaths. 526/596 (88.2%) hospitalisations could be matched to the registration database. DSR were higher in individuals living in peripheral (South-East/New-West/North) city districts with lower economic and health status, compared to central districts (Centre/West/South/East) (RD=36.87,95%CI=25.79-47.96;RR=1.82,95%CI=1.65-1.99), and among individuals with a non-Western migration background compared to ethnic-Dutch individuals (RD=57.05,95%CI=43.34-70.75; RR=2.36,95%CI=2.17-2.54). City district and migration background were independently associated with hospitalisation.ConclusionCity districts with lower economic and health status and those with a non-Western migration background had the highest burden of COVID-19 during the first wave of COVID-19 in Amsterdam.

Rediscovering Dana: The Forgotten Black Coal Miners of Southern Wyoming

When coal was king in late nineteenth century Wyoming, the industry was dominated by the Union Pacific Coal Company (UPCC). Operating dozens of mines throughout the high deserts of southwestern and south-central Wyoming well into the twentieth century, the UPCC’s economic success was thanks in large part to its practice of creating wage competition among its carefully recruited pool of multinational and multiethnic laborers. Unsurprisingly, the company’s first recruited group of Black miners were brought in as strikebreakers. They came to a short-lived coal town called Dana about 150 miles west of Cheyenne. Instead of playing the company's intended role, the Black miners greatly influenced early labor reform efforts and the trend of Black western migration and settlement. This article contributes to the scholarship on Black laborers in the West by examining the story of Dana’s Black miners, their role in the passage of fair labor legislation, and their subsequent removal from the historical record. By both building on recent methodologies and utilizing tools of historical interpretation often dismissed or minimized outside the practice of public history, such as genealogy, this article also argues that restoring individual identity augments perception of overall migrant group experience and significance in the evolution of the social and industrial landscape of the U.S. West.

Patagonian Foreland burial and exhumation during Mesozoic revealed by low temperature thermochronology: a response to mantle processes?

<p>During the last decade, the study of the south Patagonian Andes and Antarctic area have demonstrated the occurrence of a complex mantle setup during the pre-Atlantic opening (200-140 Ma) with the formation and disappearance of an anomalous flat slab (~1000 km long), combined with the Karoo Plume development and western migration. In the Patagonian foreland, this period is characterized by plutons emplacement distant from the arc, flowed by a major volcanic income, the Chon Aike Large Igneous Province (~180 Ma to ~160 Ma). These markers are mostly seen in the Deseado Massif (~47 ° to ~48 ° S. Lat), a 350 x 200 km topographically high (between 500 and 1000 m elevation) area surrounded by Cretaceous and Cenozoic basins. The evolution of the Deseado Massif remains poorly constrained, although it is believed to be at this high topographic level since the end of the Chon Aike event.</p><p>In order to understand the pre-Atlantic opening evolution of the Deseado Massif and its potential long-term stability, we used a low temperature thermochronological approach. For this purpose, we sampled the Chon Aike deposits (rhyolite and ignimbrite) and basement rocks (~450 Ma to ~200 Ma plutons) across the Deseado Massif. The thermal history was reconstructed using new apatite (U-Th)/He data and published apatite fission tracks data. These thermochronometers are sensitive to temperature ranges from 120 ° and 40 °C, allowing to reconstitute rocks cooling and reheating history in the last kilometers of the crust. The thermal models reveal a significant Jurassic reheating event (post Chon Aike event) followed by a last cooling phase before ~100 Ma. The origin of this heating-cooling event will be discussed in relation with potential deposit accumulation/erosion, a change in the regional geothermal gradient, and finally, the eventual controls produced by the regional mantle setup.</p>