The Mercosur in the midst of the crisis

Since 2016, the four States Parties to the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) - Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay - are experiencing internal political and economic crises that cannot be understood without observing the South American regional context. With the pandemic of the new coronavirus, the crisis also took on a health dimension, whose repercussions in 2021 made the celebration of the bloc's thirty years a moment of reflection on the effectiveness of the integration process, due to the absence of territorial management that addresses the Mercosur needs. The purpose of this text is to discuss the measures adopted in the context of Mercosur in the face of the current pandemic, economic and political crisis. The methodology used for the elaboration of the text included a bibliographic review on the regional integration process in Mercosur and the analysis of news about the situation and the measures adopted to contain the effects of the crisis in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Shifting to a Sustainable Dietary Pattern in Iranian Population: Current Evidence and Future Directions

The need for a shift in diet toward a more sustainable one has reached an urgency in certain regions, including Iran, due to more rapid climate change and a higher level of vulnerability. This study was undertaken to identify and summarize available data on changes required in the current Iranian diet to make it more sustainable and the extent to which current policies in the country have addressed such a shift. In this study, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of science, as well as Iranian scientific search engines, including Scientific Information Database and Magiran, were systematically searched from January 1990 to July 2021. A total of 11 studies and policy analyses were included in this study. Based on the findings, moving Iranian diet toward sustainability will require increase in consumption of dairy, fruits, vegetables, cereals, poultry, and legumes and decrease in consumption of bread, rice, pasta, red meat, eggs, fats, sugars, and sweets. There has been a great deal of effort and investment on policies and strategies to decrease the amount of sugar, salt, and fat (specifically trans-fatty acids) in the Iranian diet, which makes it more sustainable healthwise. Several policies and programs have been implemented to tackle non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by reducing access to unhealthy foods, which is in line with health dimension of a sustainable diet. However, there is almost no direct address to ecological aspect of sustainable diet in the food and nutrition policy documents in the ccountry. Development of an enabling environment to a sustainable diet will require policy and actions to improve public awareness, support study to provide evidence and identify possible alternatives, and plan and implement interventions/programs to promote and facilitate healthy and sustainable diets.

Impact of cocreation training capsules for preschool teachers on children’s healthy habits: a pilot study conducted in Barcelona, Spain

Background Healthy habits are essential for preschoolers to have a healthy lifestyle. The promotion of these healthy habits from a holistic approach by preschool teachers guarantees a better quality of life and a healthier society. Using cocreation, we designed training for healthy habit promotion for preschool teachers (all@once). Then, we implemented the training and evaluated its impact on classroom teaching strategies. Methods This study presents the all@once training design and its implementation and evaluation during 2019. The cocreation process involved 8 parents, 9 preschool teachers and 9 health professionals (selected by a nonprobabilistic sampling system according to quotas) to design training from a holistic perspective. To evaluate the all@once impact in classroom practice, a pilot study was undertaken in four public schools in Barcelona (Spain). All@once was implemented with 16 volunteer teachers selected by convenience sampling and 328 children. A mixed methods approach was chosen to collect data based on direct nonparticipating naturalist systematic observations in June and October 2019. After qualitative data categorization, changes in health routines and actions at school were assessed by either contingency table analysis of frequency distributions or nonparametric comparisons of two related samples. Results The cocreation process provided training organized into online capsules with a holistic view of health in four main dimensions (nutrition, hygiene, physical activity and emotional health). Of these dimensions, the emotional health dimension comprised half of the training content. Pilot testing of the impact of all@once on classroom health-related activities evidenced an increase in the likelihood of observing fruit consumption by children, healthy habit promotion and hand washing. The most significant all@once-induced changes that we observed were related to teaching strategies concerning the emotional health dimension of the training. Conclusions This pilot study provides evidence of cocreation being a productive way to design training for preschool teachers regarding inclusive education in integral health. This approach collects the needs of the school community, provides training with a holistic concept of health and effectively impacts classroom routines and family health habits in the short term.

The city of proximity as an Urban Health strategy for the post pandemic neighborhood’s needs

The lockdown due to the pandemic has prevented travels, forcing many people to work at home and reducing the possibility of accessing services in the territory. This condition has further highlighted the importance of urban living areas capable of satisfying basic needs within a reasonably easy range of accessibility. The concept of the “15 minutes city” is a useful vision to represent the city of proximity, where it is possible to meet the needs for sustainable, fair, quality, and healthy living. However, even if the objectives represented are fundamental, the model it proposes - accessibility within 15 minutes - is not always applicable in all urban contexts, mostly peripheral, peri-urban, or low-density ones. This dimension of proximity - to be defined from time to time according to urban contexts - can be central to formulating strategies to improve the quality of urban life. Still, it can also play a role in constructing forms of intervention to improve public health and in ordinary conditions, both in extraordinary and emergency conditions. From this point of view, a proximity area can be an area to be defined with a variety of tools typical of urban analysis but fed by overlapping layers that also refer to the health dimension. A place of proximity, therefore not only defined based on the physical characteristics and people's uses, but also based on the data collected from a public health perspective in which it is also possible to try to test different types of information and build the conditions to suggest suitable policies and projects. Aim of the authors is to illustrate a survey about several case studies considered virtuous at the international level, analyzed in detail to highlight the main urban and architectural features of those healthy experiences and the related health outcomes, such as sedentary lifestyle reduction, increase of the attractiveness of places, reduction of air and noise pollution.

RESTRUCTURING THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF URBAN SUSTAINABILITY FROM THE HEALTH DIMENSION

The environmental crisis caused by rapid global urbanization has led to many public health problems, which has gradually become the new normal in the process of achieving sustainable urban development. This study aims to reveal the relationships between health, environment, and urban sustainability from a multidisciplinary perspective. Based on the existing research dimensions of urban sustainable development, the necessity, rationality, and feasibility of introducing the health dimension are proposed, and the research framework of health and urban sustainability is integrated and reconstructed. It is pointed out that scholars and policy makers should take the urban environment as the platform, take the duality of health and sustainability as the starting point, reconstruct the research framework of urban sustainability based on the health dimension, and provide a new theoretical perspective for the realization of urban sustainable development under the new normal.

The health-economy trade-off during the Covid-19 pandemic: Communication matters

How do people balance concerns for general health and economic outcomes during a pandemic? And, how does the communication of this trade-off affect individual preferences? We address these questions using a field experiment involving around 2000 students enrolled in a large university in Italy. We design four treatments where the trade-off is communicated using different combinations of a positive framing that focuses on protective strategies and a negative framing which refers to potential costs. We find that positive framing on the health side induces students to give greater relevance to the health dimension. The effect is sizeable and highly effective among many different audiences, especially females. Importantly, this triggers a higher level of intention to adhere to social distancing and precautionary behaviors. Moreover, irrespective of the framing, we find a large heterogeneity in students’ preferences over the trade-off. Economics students and students who have directly experienced the economic impact of the pandemic are found to give greater value to economic outcomes.

“Now it’s your turn to speak up!” - Burdens and Psychosocial Consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for Austrian Children and Adolescents

The survey “Now it’s your turn to speak up!” evaluates the psychosocial burden and impairments of children and adolescents in Austria during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Using an online-questionnaire, 5483 children and adolescents between 6 and 18 years shared their feelings, fears, worries and thoughts regarding the coronavirus pandemic. Most of them report a high degree of fear due to the current situation, with especially female participants being under more emotional strain than their male counterparts. Associated to this, the risk of a COVID-19-associated hospitalization is strongly overestimated, as previously found in adults. In addition, an alarming lack of perspective during the ongoing pandemic is evident across all age groups including the youngest participants aged 6-10 years. Feelings of fury, anger, loneliness, and sadness are reported much more frequently than previously. Last but not least, our study shows an alarming reduction of sleep quality and a drastic increase in self-reported sleep problems already in this young population. The results of the “Jetzt Sprichst Du!” survey emphasize the need for immediate action in order to limit the collateral damage caused on the psychosocial, developmental and health dimension as far as this is still possible today.

Current Knowledge of Medicinal Mushrooms Related to Anti-Oxidant Properties

Background: A renewed focus on medicinal mushrooms has brought forth a sustainable health dimension. Conventional health strategies are insufficiently integrated with sustainable health promotion. The health-promoting outcome of mushrooms has fascinated many groups during the past few years because of various primary and secondary metabolites in different cellular components. They contain many bioactive metabolites, including proteins (cytokines, ergothioneine), fibers, moisture, carbohydrates (uronic acid), folate, thiamine, ascorbic acid, vitamin D, calcium, potassium, polysaccharides (G. lucidum polysaccharides, alpha and beta glucans, and lentinan) polyketides, polyphenols (Protocatechuic acid, inonoblins A–vanillic acid, phelligridins D, E, and G, hydroxybenzoic acid, gallic acid, tannic acid, hispidine, gentisic acid, and tocopherol), nucleotides (adenosine, cordycepin), lovastatin, steroids, alkaloids, and sesquiterpenes. Objective: This study was conducted to gather information on the current knowledge of medicinal mushrooms, with respect to their antioxidant properties. Conclusions: The results indicated that mushrooms are a promising source of natural antioxidants. Of all mushrooms, the Ganoderma tsugae Murill exhibited an excellent antioxidant potential of 93.7–100% at 20 mg/mL.

„Jetzt Sprichst Du!“ - Belastungen und psychosoziale Folgen der Corona-Pandemie für österreichische Kinder und Jugendliche

The survey „Jetzt Sprichst Du!” evaluates the psychosocial burden and impairments of children and adolescents in Austria during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Using an online-questionnaire, 5483 children and adolescents between 6 and 18 years shared their feelings, fears, worries and thoughts regarding the Coronavirus pandemic. Most of them report a high degree of fear due to the current situation, with especially female participants being under more emotional strain than their male counterparts. Associated to this, the risk of a COVID-19-associated hospitalization is strongly overestimated, as previously found in adults. In addition, an alarming lack of perspective during the ongoing pandemic is evident across all age groups including the youngest participants aged 6-10 years. Feelings of fury, anger, loneliness, and sadness are reported much more frequently than previously. Last but not least, our study shows an alarming reduction of sleep quality and a drastic increase in self-reported sleep problems already in this young population. The results of the “Jetzt Sprichst Du!” survey emphasize the need for immediate action in order to limit the collateral damage caused on the psychosocial, developmental and health dimension as far as this is still possible today.

Examining the relationships between income inequalities and different dimensions of well-being in selected Central Eastern European (CEE) countries

This article examines the relationships between different dimensions of well-being and income inequalities across selected Central Eastern European countries after joining the European Union in 2004. Regarding the multivariety of well-being concept, it explores its 5 dimensions (material dimension, health dimension, education dimension, environmental dimension, happiness). Accounting for the interactions between dimensions of well-being matters for the inequalities, we conducted an in-depth analysis by adopting PMG estimation and panel ARDL model to assess the short-run and long-run links between variables. The results of conducted analysis allowed us to identify the canals through which income inequalities are linked directly or indirectly with the particular dimensions of well-being. In the long run, all the dimensions of well-being significantly affected income inequalities, and income inequality shaped material dimension, health, education, natural environment, and happiness. However, in the short run, the only dimension that shaped income inequalities was education. Income inequalities directly affected both health dimension and happiness.