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Sporadic outbreaks of influenza A virus (IAV) infections have been reported in pinnipeds in the United States and Europe, most commonly in harbor (Phoca vitulina) and gray (Halichoerus grypus) seals [...]

Abstract For political actors, the election offers a strategic avenue enabling them to put specific public issues on the agenda and, simultaneously, to expose preferred solutions. From this point of [...]

This study is based on the assumption that municipal government has a certain autonomy and can influence decisions even at an upper level of government. Local political institutions have an [...]

The increasing density and residential concentration of some ethnocultural groups in some Canadian cities raises challenges for the planning and delivery of municipal services. This study examines the accessibility and receptivity of municipal services for ethnocultural populations in Toronto and Montreal. The analysis centers principally on a comparison of the Toronto Multicultural Access Program (MAP) and the Bureau interculturel de Montreal (BIM) and their relationships with selected municipal departments and political bodies. Results show that, as expected, Toronto, with a higher proportion of different ethnocultural populations, had greater accessibility and receptivity of municipal services than Montreal did: MAP was found to have a narrow mandate focused on improving accessibility of services, whereas BIM was found to be responsible for a wider range of services affecting ethnocultural populations. Public relations work occupied a large proportion of BIM resources. While MAP addressed the improvement of accessibility in a systematic and structured way that involved all departments in the administration, BIM tended to intervene in a more varied manner based on the needs of particular groups, districts of departments. A discussion of the possible reasons for the different approaches and their implications for urban development and planning is presented along with suggestions for future study in this area. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

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Objectives: To document the reliability, construct and nomological validity of the perceived Social Stigmatisation (STIG) scale in the older adult population. Design:Cross-sectional survey. Setting:Primary medical health services clinics. Participants:Probabilistic sample of older adults aged 65 years and over waiting for medical services in the general medical sector (n= 1765). Measurements:Perceived social stigma against people with a mental health problem was measured using the STIG scale composed of seven indicators. Results:A second-order measurement model of perceived social stigma fitted adequately the observed data. The reliability of the STIG scale was 0.83. According to our results, 39.6% of older adults had a significant level of perceived social stigma against people with a mental health problem. Results showed that the perception of social stigma against mental health problems was not significantly associated with a respondent gender and age. Results also showed that the perception of social stigma against the mental health problems was directly associated with the respondents’ need for improved mental health (b= −0.10) and indirectly associated with their use of primary medical health services for psychological distress symptoms (b= −0.07). Conclusion:Results lead us to conclude that social stigma against mental disorders perceived by older adults may limit help-seeking behaviours and warrants greater public health and public policy attention. Also, results lead us to conclude that physicians should pay greater attention to their patients’ attitudes against mental disorders in order to identify possible hidden mental health problems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]