background: current evidence consistently confirm inequalities in health status among socioeconomic groups, gender, ethnicity, geographical area and other social determinants of health (sdh), which adversely influence health of the population. sdh refer to a wide range of factors not limited to social component, but also involve economic, cultural, educational, political or environmental proble...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study is to evaluate the concentration of cardiovascular surgical procedures in a metropolitan area and investigate the perception of specialists regarding governmental policies to resolve this imbalance. METHODS From March to May 2015, surveys were distributed to members of the Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Association. The final pool of research subjects...

INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to measure the quality of life in patients with coronary heart disease and heart failure, who make up the majority of admissions to an acute hospital cardiology unit. METHODS The study was undertaken in the General Hospital of Agios Nikolaos, Crete, and recruited 153 patients. The SF-36 and EQ-5D questionnaires were administered to evaluate health-relate...

In recent times, attention has been focused on the role of urban green spaces in promoting human health and well-being. However, there is a lack of evidence-based research on the physiological effects of walking in urban green areas. This study aimed to clarify the physiological and psychological effects of walking in urban parks during fall. Twenty-three males (mean age 22.3 ± 1.2 years) were ...

Recent epidemiological findings have suggested that urban atmospheric pollution may have adverse effects on the cardiovascular system as well as on the respiratory system. We carried out an exhaustive search of published studies investigating links between coronary heart disease and urban atmospheric pollution. The review was conducted on cited articles published between 1994 and 2005 and whose...

OBJECTIVE To examine the interactive influence of urbanicity on cardiovascular reactivity to speech stressors among 103 urban and 93 rural Cameroonians. METHOD Heart rate, systolic, and diastolic blood pressure (HR, SBP, and DBP) changes from baseline were assessed during a speech preparation period, speech stressor task, and post-speech recovery period. RESULTS After adjusting for income, ...

BACKGROUND Evidence of health disparities between urban and rural populations usually favors urban dwellers. The impact of rurality on heart failure (HF) outcomes is unknown. OBJECTIVE We compared event-free survival between HF patients living in urban and rural areas. METHODS In this longitudinal study, 136 patients with HF (male, 70%; age, mean ± SD 61 ± 11 years; New York Heart Associati...

Introduction: The increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity is one of the most critical issues of urban health. The current study investigated the effects of community-based interventions on modification of overweight and obesity. Methods: A program based on the Urban Health Equity Assessment and Response Tool (Urban HEART) was developed and impleme...

Due to the inherent discrete nature of sensing, interpolation is a key activity in sensing. Interpolation in urban computing faces an unprecedented inference issue that was not present in large scale traditional sensing environments. Obstacles such as buildings and walls are prevalent in urban sensing, and it is important to consider them in urban sensing interpolation. This paper introduces an...