Band of Brothers or Band of Others?: Rhetoric, Veterans, and Civil Rights Fights in Germany and the United States

Research suggests that marginalized groups can use military service to win greater governmental and social acceptance by using civic republican rhetoric, however, conditions in which claims-making rhetoric is coercive are underspecified. Because rhetorical effectiveness requires sympathetic ears, we examine the influence of (1) expectations and political efforts of marginalized group members seeking greater acceptance, (2) whether majority group economic status is outpacing marginalized groups seeking improved treatment, and (3) whether marginalized groups have influential military veterans from majority groups as allies. We apply these factors to explain the claims-making failure of German Jews following the First World War and the success of African Americans after the Second World War. From the African American case, we also conclude that military service led to greater socio-political inclusion and rights based on development of future political actors through leadership development processes and inter-group contact, especially regarding Presidents Truman and Eisenhower.

Perceção de homofobia e discriminação da comunidade LGBTQIA+ no contexto da disciplina de Educação Física em Portugal

Background and Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate internalized homophobia and the feeling of everyday discrimination among LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual, Queer, Intersex, Asexual) community in physical education. Methods: Qualitative, quantitative, and exploratory study was used on a convenience sample, non-probabilistic, carried out from May 2021 to July 2021. One hundred eighty individuals, aged between 18 and 60, participated in the study by answering a sociodemographic questionnaire, a questionnaire evaluating comfort with sexual identity (the Internalized Homophobia Scale), and the Everyday Discrimination Scale. Results: Regarding the evaluation of internalized homophobia, the perception of external stigma presented moderate to high correlations with the variables associated with discrimination in school settings and physical education classes. It was possible to confirm statistically significant sex differences in favorite sports practiced in physical education classes, where girls preferred group contact sports and boys preferred individual/non-contact sports. Through qualitative analysis was noticeable that most participants recalled homophobic rhetoric from classmates during physical education classes. Conclusions: There is a need for a greater understanding of gender differences and physical education practice. Concerns arise associated with the abandonment of physical exercise or sport due to the discrimination felt by young students. Future studies should analyze the perspective of those involved in the development of the physical education curriculum, taking into account the evolution of society.

Influence of heterogeneous age-group contact patterns on critical vaccination rates for herd immunity to SARS-CoV-2

Currently, several western countries have more than half of their population fully vaccinated against COVID-19. At the same time, some of them are experiencing a fourth or even a fifth wave of cases, most of them concentrated in sectors of the populations whose vaccination coverage is lower than the average. So, the initial scenario of vaccine prioritization has given way to a new one where achieving herd immunity is the primary concern. Using an age-structured vaccination model with waning immunity, we show that, under a limited supply of vaccines, a vaccination strategy based on minimizing the basic reproduction number allows for the deployment of a number of vaccine doses lower than the one required for maximizing the vaccination coverage. Such minimization is achieved by giving greater protection to those age groups that, for a given social contact pattern, have smaller fractions of susceptible individuals at the endemic equilibrium without vaccination, that is, to those groups that are more vulnerable to infection.

The Influence of Contact Intensity with the Outside Environment on the Bodyʼs Adaptive Capabilities During Antarctic Wintering

The research was conducted by a member of the 60th Russian Antarctic Expedition at the all-yearround Mirny Station. The aim was to study what influence contact intensity with the outside environment has on adaptive capabilities of polar station staff. The level of adaptive capabilities was evaluated using the method of cardio-respiratory synchronism, assessing the index of regulatory and adaptive status (IRAS). This method had been developed at the Normal Physiology Department of Kuban State Medical University under the supervision of Prof. V.M. Pokrovsky. It is based on recording the synchronization parameters of controlled high respiratory rate and heart rate. We compared IRAS dynamics of two aerologists during one year of wintering. The subjects had similar anthropometric data, health status and working conditions, the same length of Antarctic wintering (6 years) and were in the same age group. Contact intensity with the outside environment was determined by varying periods spent outside the station premises, mostly due to the lay-out of the residential and amenity buildings (canteen, leisure area, medical unit, gym). This period ranged from 2 to 7 hours on different days. The negative IRAS dynamics, being a marker of human adaptive capabilities, allowed us to identify the relationship between the intensity of environmental influence and the level of the body’s adaptive abilities in one of the expedition members who had been exposed to stronger environmental effects. The authors conclude that proper organization of off-duty periods aimed to decrease the influence of the outside environment will contribute to improving the health of the station staff and optimize their living conditions.

Schools as a Framework for COVID-19 Epidemiological Surveillance of Children in Catalonia, Spain: A Population-Based Study

Objective: We describe and analyze the childhood (<18 years) COVID-19 incidence in Catalonia, Spain, during the first 36 weeks of the 2020-2021 school-year and to compare it with the incidence in adults.Methods: Data on severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) tests were obtained from the Catalan Agency for Quality and Health Assessment. Overall, 7,203,663 SARS-CoV-2 tests were performed, of which 491,819 were positive (6.8%). We collected epidemiological data including age-group incidence, diagnostic effort, and positivity rate per 100,000 population to analyze the relative results for these epidemiological characteristics.Results: Despite a great diagnostic effort among children, with a difference of 1,154 tests per 100,000 population in relation to adults, the relative incidence of SARS-CoV-2 for <18 years was slightly lower than for the general population, and it increased with the age of the children. Additionally, positivity of SARS-CoV-2 in children (5.7%) was lower than in adults (7.2%), especially outside vacation periods, when children were attending school (4.9%).Conclusions: A great diagnostic effort, including mass screening and systematic whole-group contact tracing when a positive was detected in the class group, was associated with childhood SARS-CoV-2 incidence and lower positivity rate in the 2020-2021 school year. Schools have been a key tool in epidemiological surveillance rather than being drivers of SARS-CoV-2 incidence in Catalonia, Spain.

1025Social interaction of middle-aged and older people with and without cardiovascular disease in Australia

Background Social interaction is important for social wellbeing and may be adversely affected in people with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Large-scale evidence on social interaction among older people with versus without CVD is limited. We quantified and compared social interaction in older people with and without CVD. Methods Survey data (2006-2009) from the 45 and Up Study were linked to hospitalisations data through CHeReL to ascertain CVD status. Four items from the Duke Social Support Index (social-visits/week, telephone-contacts/week, social-group-contact/week, and number of people to depend on) were examined, using generalised linear models to estimate prevalence ratios (PRs) of no social interaction in people with versus without CVD, adjusting for relevant factors, and separately according to CVD subtype and level of physical disability. Results There were 266,504 study participants, 21.4% had CVD. People with CVD were 8%, (95%CI: 5-11%), 7% (2-12%), 4% (3-5%) and 7% (3-11%) more likely than people without CVD to have no social-visits/week, telephone-contacts/week, social-group-meetings/week and people to depend on respectively. The magnitude but not direction of results varied by CVD subtype. People with CVD and severe physical functioning limitations were 30-80% more likely than those with neither of these to have no social interaction. Conclusions Levels of social interaction were slightly lower in people with versus without CVD, but they varied by social interaction items, CVD subtypes, population characteristics and physical disability. Key messages Management to improve quality of life for people living with CVD should consider the role of physical disability for social connectedness.

Demographic shifts, inter-group contact, and environmental conditions drive language extinction and diversification

Humans currently collectively use thousands of languages1,2. The number of languages in a given region (i.e. language “richness”) varies widely3–7. Understanding the processes of diversification and homogenization that produce these patterns has been a fundamental aim of linguistics and anthropology. Empirical research to date has identified various social, environmental, geographic, and demographic factors associated with language richness3. However, our understanding of causal mechanisms and variation in their effects over space has been limited by prior analyses focusing on correlation and assuming stationarity3,8. Here we use process-based, spatially-explicit stochastic models to simulate the emergence, expansion, contraction, fragmentation, and extinction of language ranges. We varied combinations of parameter settings in these computer-simulated experiments to evaluate the extent to which different processes reproduce observed patterns of pre-colonial language richness in North America. We find that the majority of spatial variation in language richness can be explained by models in which environmental and social constraints determine population density, random shocks alter population sizes more frequently at higher population densities, and population shocks are more frequently negative than positive. Language diversification occurs when populations split after reaching size limits, and when ranges fragment due to population contractions following negative shocks or due to contact with other groups that are expanding following positive shocks. These findings support diverse theoretical perspectives arguing that language richness is shaped by environmental and social conditions, constraints on group sizes, outcomes of contact among groups, and shifting demographics driven by positive innovations, such as new subsistence strategies, or negative events, such as war or disease.

Can cross-group contact turn advantaged group members into allies? The role of inequality-delegitimizing contact and interpersonal connection

Previous research shows that positive contact with members of disadvantaged groups can have positive, neutral, or negative effects on advantaged group members’ support of actions for social change towards more equality. The present work provides an experimental test of this effect and introduces two moderators which highlight the fundamental role of (a) communication about perception of the illegitimacy of intergroup inequality and (b) interpersonal connection with the contact partner. In two experiments ( N = 88 and N = 192), first-time cross-group contact was initiated between members of two universities that differ on social status. Results revealed that cross-group contact per se did not increase advantaged group members’ solidarity-based action to reduce inequality. However, cross-group contact did increase advantaged group members’ solidarity-based actions when the disadvantaged group partner engaged in inequality-delegitimizing contact by describing the intergroup inequality as illegitimate and when the advantaged group member reported a strong interpersonal connection with the disadvantaged contact partner.