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This article examines the similarities and differences between the COVID-19 and AIDS pandemics, cautioning against oversimplification and emphasizing the role of social factors in understanding disease. It discusses the concept of "scientific hubris" and how it can overshadow the social aspects of pandemics. The article also explores the idea of societal attitudes shaping neglect and the value placed on certain lives. The authors stress the importance of considering social relations when studying pandemics and their impact on different groups. The report by Andrew Tucker and Gerry Kearns analyzes the impact of globalization on local communities, acknowledging both the economic benefits and cultural losses associated with it. It calls for policymakers to consider the social and cultural consequences of globalization and proposes strategies to mitigate negative effects. Overall, the report provides a balanced perspective on the complex nature of globalization and its implications for local communities. [Extracted from the article]

Documentary filmmakers are gradually embracing immersive media to create novel Virtual Reality Nonfiction (VRNF) content. Over the past twenty years initial experimentation in this new medium has brought forward numerous linearly structured 360° documentaries that maintain a close link to traditional documentary modes. More recently, we have observed a shift from the relatively passive 360° cinema towards more open-world, non-linear, game-like interactive experiences that challenge traditional definitions of the documentary genre. Volumetric world-building techniques provide nonfiction creators with additional tools that afford 'viewer-users' spatial and interactive agency, leading to a heightened autopoietic realisation of the storyworld. VRNF creators have the potential to allow their viewer-users enhanced control over framing, temporal ordering of the plot and spatial unfolding of the diegetic world, thus inviting them to become actual co-creators of a deeply personal and personalized experience. This article addresses how VRNF may go beyond the mere 'documentation' of people, places or past events that existed in a pre-filmic reality and provide viewer-users through augmented agency a unique present-tense autopoietic experience that pushes the boundaries of traditional 2D documentary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While today ubiquitous in HIV/AIDS policy and programming, the conceptual category of 'men who have sex with men' (MSM) has come under sustained critique as a result of its limited explanatory power and inability to engage with social, cultural and community complexity. This article examines how geographers may add substantively to such critical debates and extend them in new ways across sites in the global South where the category is often deployed. It does this by considering the importance of place, varying local and international imperatives for the category, and implications of considering socio-spatial liminality to conceptualise men's experiences of HIV programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the impact of first and second night shift work on sleep and performance in mining haul truck drivers. Sleep-wake patterns were monitored using wrist actigraphy. The Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS), Psychomotor Vigilance Test (PVT) and a truck simulator were administered at the start and end of the first (N1) or second (N2) night shift (19:00–07:00 h). Participants were categorised into those who demonstrated a decline in performance (increase of one or more PVT lapses [reaction time >500 msec] from the start to the end of shift) or those who did not demonstrate a decline in performance (no increase in lapses) from the start to the end of shift. Total sleep time (TST) was longer in the 24 h prior to N1 (9.05 ± 1.49 h) compared to N2 (5.38 ± 1.32 h). PVT lapses and the slowest 10% of reaction times were similar at the start and end of N1, while greater impairments on these outcomes were observed at the end of N2 compared to the end of N1 (p <.05). In contrast, subjective sleepiness was equally impaired at the end of both night shifts. PVT performance (lapses and slowest 10% of reaction times) and drive violations demonstrated a similar direction of change on N1 and N2. Participants who demonstrated a decline in performance showed reduced TST in the 48 h prior to shifts compared to those who demonstrated no decline in performance across the shift. Likely due to short sleep prior, the end of N2 was associated with pronounced performance impairments on the PVT and drive violations compared to the start of the shift. The findings suggest that drive violations may be more sensitive to sleep loss compared to the other driving measures examined in this study. This study also emphasizes the need for adequate recovery sleep between night shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much work has recently explored the remarkable legislative achievements that have benefited queer groups in South Africa. Less well understood has been an appreciation as to how the links between histories of racism and histories of sexuality deployed to legitimate such legal challenges may also have directly helped to entrench the ability of others to argue against queer rights. Drawing on the work of Stuart Hall, this article will explore how queer activist's association with an ideology of 'equality' (and the link between racism and sexuality-based discrimination) has not simply concluded discussion about the rights (or wrongs) of queer rights. Instead that association has helped align the issue of sexuality within a far broader debate as to what the 'New South Africa' should mean after a racist past. This may help us appreciate a so far little understood and yet key reason why homophobia remains such a pervasive problem in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are important opportunities to further consider how the framework presented by homonationalism can apply beyond relationships connected to the US or the Middle East where it is traditionally applied. From a southern perspective and focusing on post-apartheid South Africa, this article examines how homonationalism's framings may help us understand the subjectification of diverse sexualities in the country through their connection to national and regional politics. It begins by exploring the historical connections between biopolitics and necropolitics in South Africa's HIV/AIDS epidemic, to highlight how different contemporary sexual subjectivities are imbricated with different types of biopolitical population regulation. It then argues that such differences are reflected through and furthered by the way South Africa has projected ideas of its sexual exceptionalism within the wider region, a process that itself relies on South African-specific homonormativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any analysis of South African gendered performances, identities and inequalities confront past and present experiences of and struggles with race, colonialism, post-colonial development and sexuality. These tensions shape gendered geographical work, highlighting the importance of histories of race, class, and sexuality, as well as the ways in which gender itself can be approached as an analytical category and epistemic framing in South Africa. In this paper we focus on two avenues that have engaged scholars since the end of apartheid, namely: gender and development; and gender and geographies of sexualities. The former articulates the particular ways that the historical spatially exclusionary trajectory of the country has impacted especially on women and their ability to engage with state and national building projects post-apartheid. The latter explores how South African geographies (despite the country's progressive post-apartheid constitution with regard to LGBT rights) continue to reflect and (at times) enable spatial segregation and inequalities related to gender. A key strength of research in South African gender scholarship is that it complicates and challenges how we might approach gender and gender-based inequalities, and the diverse ways in which gender categories and framings can be imagined, deployed and troubled in post-colonial states and cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender identity plays a potentially important role contributing to HIV risk among MSM in South Africa. Where studies have included a focus on gender identity, MSM reporting gender non-conformity have been found to have a higher risk of being HIV positive than other MSM. This article examines HIV risk among gender non-conforming MSM in a sample of 316 MSM in Cape Town, South Africa. Reporting gender non-conformity was associated with higher HIV prevalence and increased HIV risk behaviour. Gender non-conformity was also associated with a higher likelihood of being unemployed and reporting low household incomes. These findings highlight the importance of gender-identity as a factor affecting access to HIV treatment, care, and prevention in South Africa and this is an issue that needs to be addressed in interventions targeting MSM populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research reveals how homophobia and stigma link closely to HIV among men who have sex with men in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper considers the varying impact of homophobic stigma on HIV prevention programmes among men who have sex with men in South Africa. It explores how a community-based HIV prevention programme based in the peri-urban townships of Cape Town was ‘translated’ to peri-urban Johannesburg. Drawing on interviews with volunteers and programme facilitators in Johannesburg, it argues that an altered homophobic environment to that found in Cape Town gave different opportunities to engage both with other men who have sex with men and the broader community. It also argues that programme facilitators should be mindful of how varying degrees of homophobic stigma may relate to broader theoretical debates about sexual binary relationships, which can help us understand why particular programmes choose to focus on certain activities rather than others. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research reveals how homophobia and stigma link closely to HIV among men who have sex with men in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper considers the varying impact of homophobic stigma on HIV prevention programmes among men who have sex with men in South Africa. It explores how a community-based HIV prevention programme based in the peri-urban townships of Cape Town was 'translated' to peri-urban Johannesburg. Drawing on interviews with volunteers and programme facilitators in Johannesburg, it argues that an altered homophobic environment to that found in Cape Town gave different opportunities to engage both with other men who have sex with men and the broader community. It also argues that programme facilitators should be mindful of how varying degrees of homophobic stigma may relate to broader theoretical debates about sexual binary relationships, which can help us understand why particular programmes choose to focus on certain activities rather than others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While research now highlights that men who have sex with men (MSM) in places such as South Africa are at particular risk of HIV infection, left relatively unexplored are potential relationships between one of the most pressing social issues affecting peri-urban MSM – namely homophobic stigma – and sexual risk-taking behaviour. Drawing on research from theUkwazanabaseline study of 316 township MSM in Cape Town we examine how homophobic stigma relates to psychosocial factors such as depression and self-efficacy and the risk activity of unprotected anal intercourse (UAI). By deploying cross-sectional association models, we examine a series of relationships between these variables and offer evidence to suggest that HIV prevention programmes aimed at sexual minority groups should be mindful of potentially complex relationships between social stigmas such as homophobia and sexual risk-taking behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Men who have sex with men (MSM) in South Africa remain at particular risk of HIV infection. TheUkwazanabaseline survey is the first to explore this risk in relation to psychological factors associated with unprotected anal intercourse (UAI). A cohort of 316 MSM from township peri-urban Cape Town took part in the survey. The survey found that 55.2% had engaged in UAI over the preceding 6 months. Depression was significantly associated with UAI. Respondents with self-efficacy scores less than two standard deviations above the mean were also more likely to have engaged in UAI. A Sobel test for mediation highlighted that the depression–UAI association was partially mediated by self-efficacy, indicating that most of the effect of depression on UAI was not covarying with self-efficacy. This study, therefore, highlights that both depression and self-efficacy should be considered factors to be addressed in HIV-prevention programmes aimed at peri-urban MSM. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Much work has recently explored the remarkable legislative achievements that have benefited queer groups in South Africa. Less well understood has been an appreciation as to how the links between histories of racism and histories of sexuality deployed to legitimate such legal challenges may also have directly helped to entrench the ability of others to argue against queer rights. Drawing on the work of Stuart Hall, this article will explore how queer activist's association with an ideology of 'equality' (and the link between racism and sexuality-based discrimination) has not simply concluded discussion about the rights (or wrongs) of queer rights. Instead that association has helped align the issue of sexuality within a far broader debate as to what the 'New South Africa' should mean after a racist past. This may help us appreciate a so far little understood and yet key reason why homophobia remains such a pervasive problem in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been a mainstay of administrative modernization theory that improved public service efficiency and financial accountability produces the useful by-product of trust in governmental institutions. But that trust appears to be ever more elusive. Various factors have been identified as significant to declining trust; for example, levels of information provided to the service user quality of management, and openness in handling mistakes. In this contribution, I build on quantitative data taken from a March 2003 mass survey of British citizens to define "reflexive trust" as a testable hypothesis that explains why the administrative modernization agenda has contributed to lower levels of trust in government. "Reflexive trust" describes citizens' reaction to the accountability confusion of decentralized mixed-economy service provision. As British New Public Management reforms have made service providers more accountable, so service users have learned to "play the game." Instead of simply trusting or distrusting decentralized providers to perform their duties, citizens are developing game-playing skills to bargain, conspire against, and deceive these agencies of national government. Seen in this light, administrative modernization produces the unintended consequence of challenging democratic leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of over-the-counter dietary supplements has risen dramatically, and adverse events can be severe. Physicians should recognize the dangers that ephedrine-containing supplements present and remain vigilant for sympathomimetic symptoms in young, otherwise healthy, patients. This case illustrates how the use of a popular weight-loss supplement by a 27-year-old professional football player apparently resulted in cardiac arrhythmia requiring direct cardioversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents recommendations based on the management of spontaneous and traumatic pneumothoraces found in athletes, based on a review of published case reports, clinical experience and communication with sports medicine providers in North America. Types of pneumothorax; Return-to-play considerations. INSETS: A basketball player with spontaneous pneumothorax.;Traumatic pneumothorax in a football player..

Discusses the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of cold-attributed urticaria. Diagnostic classification of cold urticaria syndromes; Case study of cold urticaria; Physical allergies; Cold stimulation test; Antihistamines; Benefits of exercise.