College roommates have a modest but significant influence on each other's political ideology.

Does college change students' political preferences? While existing research has documented associations between college education and political views, it remains unclear whether these associations reflect a causal relationship. We address this gap in previous research by analyzing a quasi-experiment in which university students are assigned to live together as roommates. While we find little evidence that college students as a whole become more liberal over time, we do find strong evidence of peer effects, in which students' political views become more in line with the views of their roommates over time. This effect is strongest for conservative students. These findings shed light on the role of higher education in an era of political polarization.

Atención de la salud en domicilio: aportes desde la bioética / Healthcare at Home: Contributions from Bioethics / Assistência médica domiciliar: contribuições da bioética

Resumen: El objetivo de este artículo es considerar los posibles desafíos éticos que implica la atención de la salud en domicilio desde la perspectiva bioética. Para esto se llevó a cabo una revisión bibliográfica en la base de datos Lilacs, un trabajo descriptivo y un análisis conceptual. Los principales resultados arrojan que tras una distinción analítica de tres categorías éticas diferenciales: intimidad del hogar, intimidad personal (en relación al hogar) e intimidad compartida. La última, en la que el profesional de la salud se involucra activamente, es en aquella en la que se debe actuar con responsabilidad ética, dado que se pueden generar conflictos de intereses, sobre todo en el ámbito afectivo-emocional del paciente o familia. Las diferencias pueden traducirse en tres enunciaciones normativas particulares a la atención domiciliaria: el reconocimiento a la particularidad de cada hogar, el trabajo sobre la autonomía relacional y la estrategia de cooperación y de ayuda mutua. Si entendemos a la bioética como una disciplina que consiste en el análisis crítico y la reflexión sistemática de las prácticas en torno a la salud, este artículo es de gran interés, pues reflexiona y analiza las particularidades de la atención de la salud en el contexto del hogar, una modalidad que se está extendiendo en la región y el mundo por sus virtudes para el paciente y el sistema de salud.

Abstract: The objective of this article is to consider the possible ethical challenges involved in the delivery of healthcare at home from the bioethics perspective. In order to do so a bibliographic review of the Lilacs database, a descriptive work, and a conceptual analysis were carried out. The main results after an analytical distinction show that three ethical categories can be differentiated: home intimacy, personal intimacy (with regards to home) and shared intimacy. The latter, in which the health professional gets actively involved, is the one which requires acting with ethical responsibility since conflicts of interests may arise, particularly in the patients' or their families' affective-emotional realm. The differences may translate into three normative assertions particular to healthcare at home: recognition of the particularity of each home, work on the relational autonomy and the mutual help and cooperation strategy. This article turns of particular interest if we understand bioethics as a discipline that involves critical analysis and systematic reflection of healthcare related practices, since it reflects upon and analyzes the home healthcare practices, a modality that is growing in the region and in the world due to its virtues both for the patient and for the health systems.

Resumo: O objetivo deste artigo é considerar os possíveis desafios éticos envolvidos na assistência médica domiciliar a partir de uma perspectiva bioética. Para isso, foi realizada uma revisão bibliográfica na base de dados Lilacs, um trabalho descritivo e uma análise conceituai. Os principais resultados mostram que, após uma distinção analítica de três categorias éticas diferenciais: intimidade do lar, intimidade pessoal (em relação ao lar) e intimidade compartilhada. Na última, em que o profissional de saúde está envolvido ativamente, é onde é necessário agir com responsabilidade ética, uma vez que podem ser gerados conflitos de interesse, principalmente no âmbito afetivo-emocional do paciente ou da família. As diferenças podem ser traduzidas em três declarações normativas específicas para o atendimento domiciliar: o reconhecimento da particularidade de cada domicílio, o trabalho sobre a autonomia relacional e a estratégia de cooperação e ajuda mútua. Se entendemos a bioética como uma disciplina que consiste em uma análise crítica e uma reflexão sistemática das práticas em torno da saúde, este artigo é de grande interesse, pois reflete e analisa as particularidades da assistência à saúde no contexto do lar, uma modalidade que está se espalhando na região e no mundo por suas virtudes para o paciente e o sistema de saúde.

Resumen Reunión Nacional de la Red de Vivienda Saludable Proyecciones, logros y retos al culminar el 2014 / Report on the National Meeting of the Healthy Housing Network. Perspectives, achievements and challenges at the end of 2014

Se realiza una relatoría de lo acontecido en la Reunión Nacional de Vivienda Saludable 2014, para informar a los interesados en el tema de los logros y los retos del trabajo de la Red Cubana durante el año 2014 y las proyecciones a futuro, cuyos miembros trazan para el próximo año(AU)

A report is provided on the National Meeting of the Healthy Housing Network 2014, with the purpose of informing those interested in the topic about the achievements and challenges of the Cuban Network in 2014, as well as the actions planned by its members for next year(AU)

[Chikungunya and urban sprawl on Reunion Island]. / Le chikungunya et l'habitat informel a La Réunion.

The proportion of unsanitary housing in French overseas departments is much higher than in mainland France. Reunion Island is no exception to this fact. Between 80 and 90% of housing in Reunion Island was built by squatters with no legal claim or deed to the property. This has resulted in uncontrolled urban sprawl with living conditions reminiscent of those in developing countries. The absence of adequate drainage systems for sewage and rain water and the lack of properly organized garbage disposal that characterizes these sprawl areas constitutes a particularly favorable breeding ground for vector-borne diseases, especially chikungunya. Thus, implementing measures to control this type of settlement and to relocate of people out of existing sprawl areas constitutes a significant tool to control this epidemiological risk. Up to now, public officials have shown a clear reluctance to intervene in sprawl areas despite good knowledge of their location. On June 26th of this year, a law containing provisions relative to the control of urban sprawl and unsanitary housing in overseas departments and territories will come into effect. This law should provide public officials with the legal basis that has up until now been lacking to take action. Persistence in the "wait-and-see" attitude could lead to condemnation by French or European courts.

Environmental justice: a contrary finding for the case of high-voltage electric power transmission lines.

Environmental justice is the consideration of whether minority and/or lower-income residents in a geographic area are likely to have disproportionately higher exposures to environmental toxins than those living elsewhere. Such situations have been identified for a variety of factors, such as air pollution, hazardous waste, water quality, noise, residential crowding, and housing quality. This study investigates the application of this concept to high-voltage electric power transmission lines (HVTL), which some perceive as a health risk because of the magnetic fields they generate, and also as esthetically unpleasing. We mapped all 345 kV and higher voltage HVTL in New York State and extracted and summarized proximate US Census sociodemographic and housing characteristic data into four categories on the basis of distances from HVTL. Contrary to our expectation, people living within 2000 ft from HVTL were more likely to be exposed to magnetic fields, white, of higher income, more educated and home owners, than those living farther away, particularly in urban areas. Possible explanations for these patterns include the desire for the open space created by the rights-of-way, the preference for new homes/subdivisions that are often located near HVTL, and moving closer to HVTL before EMFs were considered a risk. This study suggests that environmental justice may not apply to all environmental risk factors and that one must be cautious in generalizing. In addition, it shows the utility of geographical information system methodology for summarizing information from extremely large populations, often a challenge in epidemiology.

Children's secondhand smoke exposure in private homes and cars: an ethical analysis.

Secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure is a known cause of disease among nonsmokers, contributing to lung cancer, heart disease, and sudden infant death syndrome, as well as other diseases. In response to the growing body of scientific literature linking SHS with serious diseases, many countries, states, and cities have established policies mandating smoke-free public spaces. Yet thousands of children remain unprotected from exposure to SHS in private homes and cars. New initiatives targeting SHS in these spaces have raised ethical questions about imposing constraints on private behavior. We reviewed legislation and court cases related to such initiatives and used a principlist approach to analyze the ethical implications of policies banning smoking in private cars and homes in which children are present.

Gender, ageing, and injustice: social and political contexts of bioethics.

There has been considerable work in bioethics addressing injustice and gender oppression in the provision of healthcare services, in the interaction between client and healthcare professional, and in allocation of healthcare services within a particular hospital or health service. There remain several sites of continued injustice that can only be addressed adequately from a broader analytical perspective, one that attends to the social and political contexts framing healthcare policy and practice. Feminist bioethicists have a strong track record in providing this kind of analysis. Using current Australian aged care and welfare policy this paper demonstrates some of the ways in which issues of gender, age, and social inequity shape bioethical debate, policy, and practice in the areas of aged care and welfare provision. The author develops an argument that demonstrates the gender injustice underlying health care and welfare policy. This argument recognises the inevitability of human dependency relations, and questions the adequacy of current political theories to address the requirements for full and equal citizenship. The author shows that an adequate analysis of the ethics of aged healthcare depends on sufficient consideration of the social and political context within which healthcare policy is framed and an adequate understanding of human dependency.

Social justice issues related to uneven distribution of resources.

This article examines the social justice issues resulting from the uneven distribution of resources. In this article, justice theories are discussed in relation to two of these issues: lack of adequate food and shelter and inequitable access to an appropriate continuum of health care. Public health nurses have the obligation to deal with the results of poverty and the uneven distribution of resources, which pose a threat to the common good in the United States and throughout the global community.