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Climate change and urban growth may act as drivers of non-communicable diseases. Moreover, global population is ageing. It is therefore crucial to anticipate and design the environments of the future to minimize these risks and promote healthy ageing. Being exposed to green spaces could encompass benefits for health, as it may induce psychological restoration, reduce stress, promote physical activity and social cohesion, and mitigate environmental hazards. However, the exposure and benefits of urban green spaces may not be evenly distributed across the population. In this thesis we investigated the links between residential green spaces and health and mortality in urban areas in Belgium. Moreover, we drew particular attention to whether and how environmental exposures and their health consequences are potentially shaped by individual and neighbourhood social dimensions. We furthermore evaluated the role of air pollution in these associations. To investigate these questions, we used a large and rich dataset consisting of a linkage between the 2001 Belgian census, register mortality data for a follow-up period over 10 years, and high-resolution environmental information linked at the geocoded residential address of each participant. Our findings suggest that exposure to green spaces in urban areas in Belgium is associated to better self-perceived health and reduces the risk of mortality from natural causes, diabetes mellitus, neurodegenerative diseases and lung and breast cancer. Moreover, we generally found the strongest associations among women and socioeconomically deprived individuals. In conclusion, the findings of this thesis suggest that green spaces may be a key health promoting feature of the living environment in Belgium, especially for disadvantaged social groups. This might be relevant for the implementation of greening strategies in cities, which should consider social disparities in the population to ensure sustainability and inclusivity.

Guanyadora del 2n accèssit de la modalitat literària de narració breu del Premi Sant Jordi de la UPF 2019 Estudiant de Periodisme i Ciències Polítiques i de l'Administració de la UPF

Gliomi so najpogostejši primarni možganski tumorji. Po novih smernicah jih razlikujemo na podlagi molekularnih označevalnikov, kar daje pomembno podlago za razvoj zdravljenja po meri bolnika. Tipizacija tumorjev je lahko invazivna s pomočjo biopsije in neinvazivna. Zadnja v zadnjem času pridobiva veliko vlogo zaradi razvoja radiogenomike, ki preučuje povezavo med slikovnimi fenotipi tumorjev in genomiko. Magnetnoresonančna ocena tumorjev, pri kateri uporabljamo številne standardne in funkcionalne sekvence, omogoča neinvazivno tipizacijo tumorjev glede na specifične morfološke značilnosti posameznih vrst tumorjev s posameznimi molekularnimi označevalci. Po pregledu obstoječe literature so avtorji v članku opisali slikovne značilnosti treh tumorskih genotipov, in sicer mutacije izocitratne dehidrogenaze, kodelecije 1p19q in metilacije promotorja metilgvanin metiltansferaze. Kljub hitremu razvoju radiogenomike primanjkuje obširnih študij z dovolj velikimi in standardiziranimi vzorci bolnikov, ki bi podale zanesljivejše rezultate. Gliomas are the most commonly occurring primary brain tumours. Since recent introduction of new guidelines we distinguish between different types of primary brain tumours on the basis of molecular markers which can provide important information for personalized treatment. Tumour identification can be either invasive (biopsy based) or non-invasive. The latter has recently been getting more recognition due to development of radiogenomics, which studies the connection between tumour imaging phenotypes and genomics. Magnetic resonance imaging, which uses many standard and nonstandard sequences, can serve as non-invasive identification method for tumour genotypes based on their specific morphological features. After having overviewed the existing literature about the topic, the authors of the article have assessed the imaging features of three tumour genotypes: isocitrate dehydrogenase mutation, 1p19q codeletion and methylguanine methytransferase promoter methylation. Despite the fast development of radiogenomics, there is still lack of comprehensive studies with standardized and sufficient patient samples to present more reliable results.

Uvod: Kontrola kakovosti negatoskopov zajema meritve svetilnosti in homogenosti svetilnosti negatoskopov ter osvetljenost prostora, kjer se negatoskop nahaja. WHO (1992), CEC (1997, cit. po McCarthy in Brennan, 2003), NORDIC (1999) in IPEM (2005) priporočila določajo meje sprejemljivosti zgoraj omenjenih parametrov. Namen: Namen članka je bil izvesti meritve navedenih parametrov in oceniti, v kolikšni meri lastnosti negatoskopov v treh izbranih slovenskih bolnišnicah ustrezajo mednarodnim priporočilom. Metode dela: V raziskavo so bile vključene tri večje slovenske bolnišnice, parametri so bili pridobljeni na skupno 37 negatoskopih na deloviščih radioloških inženirjev. Za izvedbo meritev svetilnosti negatoskopov in osvetljenosti prostorov je bil uporabljen ustrezen umerjen merilnik Light-O-Meter. Za izračun homogenosti svetilnosti se uporabi ustrezna formula. Rezultati in razprava: Minimalne standarde povprečne svetilnosti dosega 51% negatoskopov, homogenosti svetilnosti 72%, osvetljenost prostorov pa je primerna v 76%, kjer se nahajajo negatoskopi. Sklep: Kljub boljšim rezultatom v primerjavi s sorodnimi raziskavami, še vedno obstajajo možnosti za izboljšave. Zato so predlagani ukrepi za izboljšanje delovanja negatoskopov. V obseg programa kontrole kvalitete na radiološki diagnostiki bi bilo potrebno vključiti tudi kontrolo kvalitete negatoskopov. Introduction: Quality control of viewing boxes consists of measurements of viewing box brightness, viewing box brightness uniformity and ambient lighting levels in radiographer viewing areas. WHO (1992), CEC (1997, according to McCarthy in Brennan, 2003), NORDIC (1999) and IPEM (2005) recommendations determine the acceptable levels of the above mentioned parameters. Purpose: The purpose of this article was to measure the brightness and brightness uniformity of viewing boxes and ambient lighting levels in three Slovenian hospitals and to compare the results with the international recommendations. Methods: Three major Slovenian hospitals were included in this study. The parameters were acquired on 37 viewing boxes in radiographer viewing areas. An appropriate calibrated meter Light-O-Meter was used for the measurements and a recommended equation was used to calculate brightness uniformity. Results and discussion: 51 % of the viewing boxes met the minimum standards of the average viewing box brightness, 72 % of the viewing boxes met the minimum standards for brightness uniformity and 76 % of radiographer viewing areas met the criteria for the ambient lighting level. Conclusion: This study showed that the measured parameters of viewing boxes included in this article were better than the results from other studies and for that the measures to improve the functioning of viewing boxes were suggested. It is necessary to include the quality control of viewing boxes in the quality control programme at the diagnostic radiology department.

Design guidelines and checklists are suggested as a useful tool in the development and evaluation of interface design of mobile phones for older adults. Given the intense evolution of mobile phone design, understanding how the design guidelines and checklists have taken into account the advances in mobile phone usability for older adults is important for their correct application and future development. Thus, this study explores the usability dimensions of mobile phone design for older adults and the related changes in terms of time and the type of device (feature phones vs. smartphones) based on an expert coding of the eight mobile phone design guidelines and checklists for older adults published between 2006 and 2014. The results of the expert coding show that design guidelines and checklists most frequently deal with visual and haptic issues (e.g., high contrast, button type, and button size), whilst they hardly ever address various elements of textual interface (e.g., ease of text entry, a button's feedback, and font type). Over time, the design guidelines and checklists have become more complex in terms of the average number of included usability categories and dimensions. For smartphones, the guidelines, on average, put more emphasis on the screen, touchscreen, text, and exterior related issues, whereas the design guidelines for feature phones stress the usability of the keypad and menus. Besides revealing potential usability dimensions that could be further expanded in the guidelines, this study also highlights the need for research that would empirically validate the design guidelines and checklists in the future.