Social Housing Conditions Research Articles

The Impact of Regional Socio-Economic Policy on Housing Accessibility for Different Population Groups

The article examines the impact of regional socio-economic policy on housing accessibility for various population groups. It analyzes how economic, social, and political factors shape housing conditions in different regions. Special attention is given to how high housing prices and a shortage of affordable housing options affect the quality of life and social mobility of the population, as well as the vulnerability of specific social groups such as young families, low-income individuals, and retirees. The consequences of limited housing accessibility, including increased social tension and inequality, are discussed. Recommendations for improving regional policy are provided, with an emphasis on the need for a comprehensive approach to achieve sustainable improvements in housing conditions.

Effects of social housing on alcohol intake in mice depend on the non-social environment.

Excessive alcohol consumption leads to serious health problems. Mechanisms regulating the consumption of alcohol are insufficiently understood. Previous preclinical studies suggested that non-social environmental and social environmental complexities can regulate alcohol consumption in opposite directions. However, previous studies did not include all conditions and/or did not include female rodents. Therefore, in this study, we examined the effects of social versus single housing in standard versus non-standard housing conditions in male and female mice. Adult C57BL/6 J mice were housed in either standard shoebox cages or in automated Herdsman 2 (HM2) cages and exposed to a two-bottle choice procedure with 3% or 6% ethanol versus water for 5 days. The HM2 cages use radiotracking devices to measure the fluid consumption of individual mice in an undisturbed and automated manner. In both housing conditions, mice were housed either at one or at four per cage. In standard cages, group housing of animals decreased alcohol consumption and water consumption. In HM2 cages, group housing significantly increased ethanol preference and decreased water intake. There were no significant differences in these effects between male and female animals. These observations were similar for 3 and 6% ethanol solutions but were more pronounced for the latter. The effects of social environment on ethanol preference in HM2 cages were accompanied by an increase in the number of approaches to the ethanol solution and a decrease in the number of approaches to water. The differences in ethanol intake could not be explained by differences in locomotor or exploratory activity as socially housed mice showed fewer non-consummatory visits to the ethanol solutions than single-housed animals. In addition, we observed that significant changes in behaviors measuring the approach to the fluid were not always accompanied by significant changes in fluid consumption, and vice versa, suggesting that it is important to assess both measures of motivation to consume alcohol. Our results indicate that the direction of the effects of social environment on alcohol intake in mice depends on the non-social housing environment. Understanding mechanisms by which social and non-social housing conditions modulate alcohol intake could suggest approaches to counteract environmental factors enhancing hazardous alcohol consumption.

Соціально-економічні виклики інтеграції та просторового розподілу внутрішньо переміщених осіб унаслідок війни

The full-scale Russian military aggression against Ukraine launched on February 24, 2022 has led to a massive flow of forced migrants, both external and internal, which is unprecedented and the most massive forced displacement in Europe since World War II. So far, there is a significant inequality of attention to the socio-economic needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees, because most activities of international institutions and scientific attention are devoted to the needs and study of refugees, while the needs of IDPs are often “ignored” or understudied in terms of disproportionate spatial distribution of IDPs, challenges of integration into host communities, problems of consolidation of IDPs and local population, etc. The analysis of the existing body of literature on Ukrainian IDPs showed that the study of their current socio-economic situation, problems with integration into host communities and features of spatial distribution is poorly represented for the period of a full-scale Russo-Ukrainian war against the background of a huge body of pre-2022 literature. Taking into account such an insignificant body of literature on post-2022 Ukrainian IDPs, the main tasks of this study are twofold: (1) to fill the gap and expand the spectrum of knowledge about the current socio-economic situation of Ukrainian IDPs and the key problems of their integration into host communities in the conditions of a full-scale Russo-Ukrainian war; (2) analyze positive and negative international practices of IDP integration and develop recommendations for Ukraine. This article is devoted to the analysis of trends and the identification of the main socio-economic challenges of the integration and spatial distribution of Ukrainian IDPs, as well as the development of proposals for using their migration potential for the resilient development of Ukraine and host communities. The novelty of the research lies in the highlighting of positive and negative international practices of IDP integration and, as a result, the necessity of forming long-term solutions regarding the urgent socio-economic needs of Ukrainian IDPs and their spatial placement is emphasized. The dataset of the study was formed on the basis of data from reports of various international organizations and data from official state statistics. To achieve the goal of the article, quantitative methods are used, in particular, descriptive statistics and ranking. It was established that in the global context, Ukraine ranks third in the world by the number of IDPs, and their number is almost 6 million people (7 times more than before the full-scale Russian invasion), which definitely impacts the course of global migration processes. In the national context, it was found that the pattern of the spatial distribution of IDPs within the country indicates that most IDPs gravitate to the regions where the role of the regional centre is performed by one of the five metropolises of Ukraine (not including temporarily occupied Donetsk) — Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro and Lviv, which are powerful socio-economic centres and flagships of the country’s settlement system. It was found that the biggest challenges for the socioeconomic integration of IDPs into host communities are high unemployment, financial difficulties in meeting basic needs, housing problems, social stigmatization, as well as conflicts between IDPs and the population of host communities. The analysis showed that the current situation with Ukrainian IDPs requires from the government of Ukraine and the authorities of the host communities not short-term, but longterm solutions to the urgent problems of IDPs: in particular, social housing and proper housing conditions, social protection, avoiding shameful international practices of spatial placement of IDPs and much more.

The effects of social environment on AD-related pathology in hAPP-J20 mice and tau-P301L mice

In humans, social factors (e.g., loneliness) have been linked to the risk of developing Alzheimer's Disease (AD). To date, AD pathology is primarily characterized by amyloid-β plaques and tau tangles. We aimed to assess the effect of single- and group-housing on AD-related pathology in a mouse model for amyloid pathology (J20, and WT controls) and a mouse model for tau pathology (P301L) with and without seeding of synthetic human tau fragments (K18).Female mice were either single housed (SH) or group housed (GH) from the age of 6–7 weeks onwards. In 12-week-old P301L mice, tau pathology was induced through seeding by injecting K18 into the dorsal hippocampus (P301LK18), while control mice received a PBS injection (P301LPBS). P301L mice were sacrificed at 4 months of age and J20 mice at 10 months of age. In all mice brain pathology was histologically assessed by examining microglia, the CA1 pyramidal cell layer and specific AD pathology: analysis of plaques in J20 mice and tau hyperphosphorylation in P301L mice.Contrary to our expectation, SH-J20 mice interestingly displayed fewer plaques in the hippocampus compared to GH-J20 mice. However, housing did not affect tau hyperphosphorylation at Ser202/Thr205 of P301L mice, nor neuronal cell death in the CA1 region in any of the mice. The number of microglia was increased by the J20 genotype, and their activation (based on cell body to cell size ratio) in the CA1 was affected by genotype and housing condition (interaction effect). Single housing of P301L mice was linked to the development of stereotypic behavior (i.e. somersaulting and circling behavior). In P301LK18 mice, an increased number of microglia were observed, among which were rod microglia.Taken together, our findings point to a significant effect of social housing conditions on amyloid plaques and microglia in J20 mice and on the development of stereotypic behavior in P301L mice, indicating that the social environment can modulate AD-related pathology.

Social Housing Assessment for Sustainable Model Development: Case Study Ras Al Khaimah, UAE

Objective: This study discusses the requirements of social housing that are adaptable to the local culture, affordable, resilient, and inclusive by proposing a prototype of a social housing unit. Method: Through observation in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates (UAE), evaluation of the social housing conditions, authors design criteria for culturally adaptive social housing that is affordable, resilient and inclusive and compare the existing social housing against the designed criteria. Results: As a result of the research, model of social housing that considers the environmental, economic, and social aspects of sustainability is suggested to comply with Emirate’s strategy to enhance the sector of social housing. Conclusion: The study concludes with the following recommendations: Accessibility to information related to the study, evaluation of the existing housing conditions, governmental support to the private sector implementing affordable housing projects, and predictions for upcoming work in the field of affordable and sustainable housing are important for the transition to more sustainable housing programs. This study creates a database and forms a base for future research in the field of sustainable housing programs in the UAE.

Association between social vulnerability profiles, prenatal care use and pregnancy outcomes

BackgroundEvaluating social vulnerability is a challenging task. Indeed, former studies demonstrated an association between geographical social deprivation indicators, administrative indicators, and poor pregnancy outcomes.ObjectiveTo evaluate the association between social vulnerability profiles, prenatal care use (PCU) and poor pregnancy outcomes (Preterm birth (PTB: <37 gestational weeks (GW)), small for gestational age (SGA), stillbirth, medical abortion, and late miscarriage).MethodsRetrospective single center study between January 2020 and December 2021. A total of 7643 women who delivered a singleton after 14 GW in a tertiary care maternity unit were included. Multiple component analysis (MCA) was used to assess the associations between the following social vulnerabilities: social isolation, poor or insecure housing conditions, not work-related household income, absence of standard health insurance, recent immigration, linguistic barrier, history of violence, severe dependency, psychologic vulnerability, addictions, and psychiatric disease. Hierarchical clustering on principal component (HCPC) from the MCA was used to classify patients into similar social vulnerability profiles. Associations between social vulnerability profiles and poor pregnancy outcomes were tested using multiple logistic regression or Poisson regression when appropriate.ResultsThe HCPC analysis revealed 5 different social vulnerability profiles. Profile 1 included the lowest rates of vulnerability and was used as a reference. After adjustment for maternal characteristics and medical factors, profiles 2 to 5 were independently associated with inadequate PCU (highest risk for profile 5, aOR = 3.14, 95%CI[2.33–4.18]), PTB (highest risk for profile 2, aOR = 4.64, 95%CI[3.80–5.66]) and SGA status (highest risk for profile 5, aOR = 1.60, 95%CI[1.20–2.10]). Profile 2 was the only profile associated with late miscarriage (adjusted incidence rate ratio (aIRR) = 7.39, 95%CI[4.17–13.19]). Profiles 2 and 4 were independently associated with stillbirth (highest association for profile 2 (aIRR = 10.9, 95%CI[6.11–19.99]) and medical abortion (highest association for profile 2 (aIRR = 12.65, 95%CI[5.96–28.49]).ConclusionsThis study unveiled 5 clinically relevant social vulnerability profiles with different risk levels of inadequate PCU and poor pregnancy outcomes. A personalized patient management according to their profile could offer better pregnancy management and reduce adverse outcomes.

Factors affecting captive female giraffe stress response: Male presence, small enclosure, and low temperature.

To improve animal welfare based on suitable social housing conditions, it is important to understand the factors that trigger high-stress responses. Wild giraffes live in a fission-fusion society and males and females are rarely in the same herd for a long period. The captive condition of belonging to a herd with the same individuals for months or years is uncommon in nature. To understand the effect of male presence on female stress levels, fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (fGCM) levels and social interactions in two captive female giraffes were investigated. Additionally, the effect of enclosure size and temperature on fGCM level and social interactions were examined. The results showed no significant difference in the fGCM levels of females based on male presence. The frequency of agonistic behavior by the dominant female toward the subordinate female was significantly increased when a male was present. The subordinate female was significantly less likely to approach the dominant female and showed decreased affiliative and agonistic interactions toward the dominant female when a male was present. The frequencies of agonistic interactions between females were higher in the small enclosure regardless of male presence. Low temperature triggered higher fGCM levels and increased agonistic interaction in an aged female. The findings of this study suggest that these multiple factors should be considered individually to promote the welfare of captive giraffes.

Use of pregnancy personalised follow-up in case of maternal social vulnerability to reduce prematurity and neonatal morbidity

BackgroundSocial deprivation is a major risk factor of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Yet, there is few studies evaluating interventions aiming at reducing the impact of social vulnerability on pregnancy outcomes.ObjectiveTo compare pregnancy outcomes between patients that received personalized pregnancy follow-up (PPFU) to address social vulnerability versus standard care.MethodsRetrospective comparative cohort in a single institution between 2020 and 2021. A total of 3958 women with social vulnerability that delivered a singleton after 14 gestational weeks were included, within which 686 patients had a PPFU. Social vulnerability was defined by the presence of at least one of the following characteristics: social isolation, poor or insecure housing conditions, no work-related household income, and absence of standard health insurance (these four variables were combined as a social deprivation index (SDI)), recent immigration (< 12 month), interpersonal violence during pregnancy, being handicaped or minor, addiction during pregnancy. Maternal characteristics and pregnancy outcomes were compared between patients that received PPFU versus standard care. The associations between poor pregnancy outcomes (premature birth before 37 gestational weeks (GW), premature birth before 34 GW, small for gestational age (SGA) and PPFU were tested using multivariate logistic regression and propensity score matching.ResultsAfter adjustment on SDI, maternal age, parity, body mass index, maternal origin and both high medical and obstetrical risk level before pregnancy, PPFU was an independent protective factor of premature birth before 37 gestational weeks (GW) (aOR = 0.63, 95%CI[0.46–0.86]). The result was similar for premature birth before 34 GW (aOR = 0.53, 95%CI [0.34–0.79]). There was no association between PPFU and SGA (aOR = 1.06, 95%CI [0.86 – 1.30]). Propensity score adjusted (PSa) OR for PPFU using the same variables unveiled similar results, PSaOR = 0.63, 95%CI[0.46–0.86] for premature birth before 37 GW, PSaOR = 0.52, 95%CI [0.34–0.78] for premature birth before 34 GW and PSaOR = 1.07, 95%CI [0.86 – 1.33] for SGA.ConclusionsThis work suggests that PPFU improves pregnancy outcomes and emphasizes that the detection of social vulnerability during pregnancy is a major health issue.

Locomotion as a Measure of Well-Being in Captive Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

Locomotion in non-human primates, including walking, climbing, and brachiating among other types of movement (but not pacing), is a species-typical behavior that varies with age, social housing conditions, and environmental factors (e.g., season, food availability, physical housing conditions). Given that captive primates are typically observed to engage in lower levels of locomotor behaviors than their wild counterparts, increases in locomotion are generally considered to be indicative of improved welfare in captivity. However, increases in locomotion do not always occur with improvements in welfare, and sometimes occur under conditions of negative arousal. The use of time spent in locomotion as a welfare indicator in studies of well-being is relatively limited. We conducted focal animal observations on 120 captive chimpanzees across a series of studies and found higher percentages of time spent in locomotion (1) upon transfer to a new enclosure type, (2) in larger groups with wider within-group age ranges, and fewer males, and (3) with participation in an experimental medication choice paradigm. We also found that, among geriatric chimpanzees, those housed in nongeriatric groups exhibited more locomotion than those living in geriatric groups. Lastly, locomotion was significantly negatively correlated with several indicators of poor welfare and significantly positively correlated with behavioral diversity, one indicator of positive welfare. Overall, the increases in time spent in locomotion observed in these studies were part of an overall behavioral pattern indicative of enhanced welfare, suggesting that an increase in time spent in locomotion itself may be an indicator of enhanced welfare. As such, we suggest that levels of locomotion, which are typically assessed in most behavioral experiments, may be used more explicitly as indicators of welfare in chimpanzees.

Environmental enrichment alters LPS-induced changes in BDNF and PSD-95 expressions during puberty

Puberty is a critical period of cortical reorganization and increased synaptogenesis. Healthy cortical reorganization and synaptic growth require sufficient environmental stimuli and minimalized stress exposure during pubertal development. Exposure to impoverished environments or immune challenges impact cortical reorganization and reduce the expression of proteins associated with neuronal plasticity (BDNF) and synaptogenesis (PSD-95). Environmentally enriched (EE) housing includes improved social-, physical-, and cognitive stimulation. We hypothesized that enriched housing environment would mitigate pubertal stress-induced decreases in BDNF and PSD-95 expressions. Three-week-old male and female CD-1 mice (n = 10 per group) were housed for three weeks in either EE, social or deprived housing conditions. At 6 weeks of age, mice were treated with either lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or saline eight hours prior to tissue collection. Male and female EE mice displayed greater BDNF and PSD-95 expressions in the medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus compared to socially housed and deprived housed mice. LPS treatment decreased BDNF expression in all the brain regions examined in EE mice, except for the CA3 region of the hippocampus, where EE housing successfully mitigated the pubertal LPS-induced decrease in BDNF expression. Interestingly, LPS-treated mice housed in deprived conditions displayed unexpected increases in BDNF and PSD-95 expressions throughout the medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. Both enriched and deprived housing conditions moderate how an immune challenge influences BDNF and PSD-95 expressions in a region-specific manner. These findings also emphasize the vulnerability of brain plasticity during puberty to various environmental factors.

Evaluation of General Health Status of Persons Living in Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Neighborhoods in a Large European Metropolitan City

Background: Living in socio-economically disadvantaged neighborhoods can predispose persons to numerous health conditions. The purpose of this study was to report the general health conditions of persons living in disadvantaged neighborhoods in Rome, Italy, a large European metropolitan city. Participants were reached through the mobile facilities of the primary care services of the Dicastery for the Charity Services, Vatican City. Methods: People living in disadvantaged neighborhoods were reached with mobile medical units by doctors, nurses, and paramedics. Demographic characteristics, degree of social integration, housing conditions, and history of smoking and/or alcohol use were investigated. Unstructured interviews and general health assessments were performed to investigate common acute and/or chronic diseases, and history of positivity to COVID-19. Basic health parameters were measured; data were collected and analyzed. Results: Over a 10-month period, 436 individuals aged 18–95 years were enrolled in the study. Most lived in dormitories, whereas a few lived in unsheltered settings. Most participants (76%) were unemployed. Smoking and drinking habits were comparable to the general population. The most common pathological conditions were cardiovascular diseases in 103 subjects (23.39%), diabetes in 65 (14.9%), followed by musculoskeletal system disorders (11.7%), eye diseases (10.5%), psychiatric conditions such as anxiety and depression (9.2%), and chronic respiratory conditions (8.7%). Conclusions: Subjects in our sample showed several pathologic conditions that may be related to their living conditions, thus encouraging the development of more efficient and effective strategies for a population-tailored diagnosis and treatment.

The Quality of Age Reporting in the 2014 Morocco Census

Aiming to update the economic, demographic, and social characteristics and housing conditions of the population, Morocco conducted its last General Population and Housing Census (GPHC) in 2014. Accurate data on age is a key element for decision making, and necessary to build policies and improve health indicators. The main objective of this paper is to assess the quality of age reporting in the 2014 Morocco census. We found that grouped age data was of poor quality in two regions. More attention should be paid to improving data quality in those regions in the coming census, especially among men.

Measuring Locomotor Activity and Behavioral Aspects of Rodents Living in the Home-Cage.

Automatization and technological advances have led to a larger number of methods and systems to monitor and measure locomotor activity and more specific behavior of a wide variety of animal species in various environmental conditions in laboratory settings. In rodents, the majority of these systems require the animals to be temporarily taken away from their home-cage into separate observation cage environments which requires manual handling and consequently evokes distress for the animal and may alter behavioral responses. An automated high-throughput approach can overcome this problem. Therefore, this review describes existing automated methods and technologies which enable the measurement of locomotor activity and behavioral aspects of rodents in their most meaningful and stress-free laboratory environment: the home-cage. In line with the Directive 2010/63/EU and the 3R principles (replacement, reduction, refinement), this review furthermore assesses their suitability and potential for group-housed conditions as a refinement strategy, highlighting their current technological and practical limitations. It covers electrical capacitance technology and radio-frequency identification (RFID), which focus mainly on voluntary locomotor activity in both single and multiple rodents, respectively. Infrared beams and force plates expand the detection beyond locomotor activity toward basic behavioral traits but discover their full potential in individually housed rodents only. Despite the great premises of these approaches in terms of behavioral pattern recognition, more sophisticated methods, such as (RFID-assisted) video tracking technology need to be applied to enable the automated analysis of advanced behavioral aspects of individual animals in social housing conditions.

Improving transparency-A call to include social housing information in biomedical research articles involving nonhuman primates.

The social setting of animal subjects in the research environment has known effects on a variety of dependent measures used in biomedical research. Proper evaluation of the robustness of published research is dependent upon transparent, detailed, and accurate reporting of research methods, including the animals' social housing conditions. However, to date, most research articles utilizing nonhuman primates (NHPs) provide only partial data on this topic, hampering transparency, and reproducibility. Therefore, we call for the inclusion of information pertaining to the social aspects of the animals' housing conditions in publications involving NHPs to improve transparency. We argue that including this information in scientific publications is crucial for the interpretation of research findings in the appropriate contextand for understanding unexplained variability in study findings. Finally, the inclusion of this information in publications will additionally familiarize scientists with how other researchers conducting similar studies are housing their animals and will encourage them to consider the implications of various housing conditions on their research outcomes.

The Sensitivity of Food Bank Visits to Social Assistance, Housing and Labour Market Conditions in Toronto

The Sensitivity of Food Bank Visits to Social Assistance, Housing and Labour Market Conditions in Toronto

The sources of sex differences in aging in annual fishes.

Intersexual differences in life span (age at death) and aging (increase in mortality risk associated with functional deterioration) are widespread among animals, from nematodes to humans. Males often live shorter than females, but there is substantial unexplained variation among species and populations. Despite extensive research, it is poorly understood how life span differences between the sexes are modulated by an interplay among genetic, environmental and social factors. The goal of our study was to test how sex differences in life span and ageing are modulated by social and environmental factors, and by intrinsic differences between males and females. To disentangle the complex basis of sex differences in life span and aging, we combined comparative data from sex ratios in 367 natural populations of four species of African annual killifish with experimental results on sex differences in life span and aging from eight laboratory populations tested in treatments that varied social and environmental conditions. In the wild, females consistently outlived males. In captivity, sex-specific mortality depended on social conditions. In social-housed experimental groups, male-biased mortality persisted in two aggressive species, but ceased in two placid species. When social and physical contacts were prevented by housing all fish individually, male-biased mortality ceased in all four species. This outcome held across benign and challenging environmental conditions. Fitting demographic survival models revealed that increased baseline mortality was primarily responsible for a shorter male life span in social-housing conditions. The timing and rate of aging were not different between the sexes. No marker of functional aging we recorded in our study (lipofuscin accumulation, proliferative changes in kidney and liver) differed between males and females, despite their previously confirmed association with functional aging in Nothobranchius killifish. We show that sex differences in life span and aging in killifish are driven by a combination of social and environmental conditions, rather than differential functional aging. They are primarily linked to sexual selection but precipitated through multiple processes (predation, social interference). This demonstrates how sex-specific mortality varies among species even within an ecologically and evolutionary discrete lineage and explains how external factors mediate this difference.

Sex-Specific Social Effects on Depression-Related Behavioral Phenotypes in Mice.

Social interaction and empathy play critical roles in determining the emotional well-being of humans. Stress-related depression and anxiety can be exacerbated or mitigated depending on specific social conditions. Although rodents are well known to exhibit emotional contagion and consolation behavior, the effects of group housing on stress-induced phenotypes in both males and females are not well established. Here, we investigated how the presence of stressed or unstressed conspecifics within a cage impact depression-related phenotypes. We housed male and female C57BL/6J mice in same-sex groups and subjected them to either gentle handling (GH) or the daily administration of corticosterone (CORT) for 10 days. The GH and CORT treatment groups were divided into cages of unmixed (GH or CORT) and mixed (GH and CORT) treatments. Depression-related phenotypes were measured using the forced swim test (FST) and sucrose preference test (SPT). We found that mixed housing alters FST behavior in a sex-specific manner. Male mice given chronic corticosterone (CORT) that were housed in the same cage as gently handled animals (GH) exhibited increased immobility, whereas GH females housed with CORT females demonstrated the opposite effect. This study underscores the importance of social housing conditions when evaluating stress-induced behavioral phenotypes and suggests that mixed cages of GH and CORT animals yield the greatest difference between treatment groups. The latter finding has important implications for identifying therapeutics capable of rescuing stress-induced behavioral deficits in the FST.

Sexual dimorphism in classical conditioning? Sex differences in neophobia, latent inhibition, generalization, and extinction for rats (Rattus norvegicus) in a conditioned taste aversion preparation irrespective of housing conditions.

This study aimed to assess possible sex differences and a potential impact of social housing conditions for some Pavlovian conditioning effects in a conditioned taste aversion preparation with rats. The results of Experiment 1 suggest sex differences in neophobia, latent inhibition, and generalization. Specifically, for females, neophobia, and generalization appeared to be stronger while latent inhibition seemed to be attenuated. Experiment 2 confirmed these sex differences in neophobia and generalization, while also revealing slower extinction in males. Experiment 3 provided evidence for the same sex differences in neophobia and generalization, even when a perceptual learning effect was in operation following pre-exposures to the test stimulus. No effects of social housing conditions were found in either Experiment 1 or Experiment 2. In general, these findings appear to support the hypothesis of sexual dimorphism in Pavlovian conditioning, encouraging a systematic approach to the topic by means of further research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Determinants of social exclusion among the elderly

The paper presents the results of a qualitative research conducted among providers of social and socio-medical services for older persons. The research objectives were to collect opinions with regard to the societal transformations that constitute risk factors for the social inclusion of the elderly; to identify the dimensions of social inclusion of the elderly in Romania most impacted by the societal transformations, as well as measures and actions that could counter acting the negative effects of social exclusion of the elderly. Data collection included semi-structured interviews with experts from social and health care services providers. Technological transformations, the ageing phenomenon, the migration, the negative perceptions regarding the elderly population; the uneven development of urban areas compared to rural areas, are most likely to influence the social exclusion of older persons. Participation in cultural, sports, and voluntary activities, access to appropriate social and health care services and housing conditions may lead to a better social inclusion.

Neighborhood characteristics associated with COVID-19 burden—the modifying effect of age

BackgroundNeighborhood characteristics have been linked to community incidence of COVID-19, but the modifying effect of age has not been examined.ObjectiveWe adapted a neighborhood-wide analysis study (NWAS) design to systematically examine associations between neighborhood characteristics and COVID-19 incidence among different age groups.MethodsThe number of daily cumulative cases of COVID-19 by zip code area in Illinois has been made publicly available by the Illinois Department of Public Health. The number of COVID-19 cases was reported for eight age groups (under 20, 20–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59, 60–69, 70–79, and 80+). We reviewed this data published from May 23 through June 17, 2020 with complete data for all eight age groups and linked the data to neighborhood characteristics measured by the American Community Survey (ACS). Geographic age-specific cumulative incidence (cases per 1000 people) of COVID-19 was calculated by dividing the number of daily cumulative cases by the population of the same age group at each zip code area. The association between individual characteristics and COVID-19 incidence was examined using Poisson regression models.ResultsAt the zip code level, neighborhood socioeconomic status was a more important risk factor of COVID-19 incidence in children and working-age adults than in seniors. Social demographics and housing conditions were important risk factors of COVID-19 incidence in older age groups. We additionally observed significant associations between transportation-related variables and COVID-19 incidences in multiple age groups.SignificanceWe concluded that age modified the association between neighborhood characteristics and COVID-19 incidence.