In modern populations, inequalities in oral health have been observed between urban and rural communities, but to date the impact of the place of residence on oral health in archaeological populations has received only limited attention. This meta-study analyses dental palaeopathological data to examine the relationship between place of residence and oral health in Roman, early medieval, and late medieval Britain. Published data on ante-mortem tooth loss, calculus, caries, dental abscesses, and periodontal disease were analysed from cemeteries in urban and rural locations from each period. The results indicate that the place of residence influenced oral health in Roman and late medieval times, with urban populations enjoying better oral health than rural populations in Roman Britain, but poorer oral health in the late Middle Ages. These findings may reflect changes in the nature of urban settlements and in their relationship with their rural hinterlands over time.

The purpose of this paper was to identify predictors of social isolation and loneliness for very old rural and urban adults. With data from the 1996 Aging in Manitoba Study (N = 1,868; age range 72–104), separate multiple regression models were constructed for rural and urban sub-samples, using the life space index (LSI) to measure social isolation as one outcome, and a loneliness index created by the authors from a combination of items to measure loneliness as a second outcome. Different factors were found to predict the outcomes for the two sub-samples. The models with isolation as the outcome produced five predictors for the rural sub-sample and three for the urban sub-sample. Only living alone was the same for both groups. The models with loneliness as the outcome produced five predictors for the rural sub-sample and two for the urban sub-sample, again with only one factor in common – four or more chronic illnesses. We conclude that health and social factors are important predictors of social isolation and loneliness, and sensitivity to these factors may improve the experience of older adults.

The presence of cockroaches in urban environments is more and more frequent whatever the type of building. Pest control programmes generally consist of insecticide applications. Several reasons, like their expense or incorrect application, can explain why results are not satisfactory, not to mention the development of insecticide resistance. It must be stressed that the aim of pesticide control in urban areas is not only to reduce the pest population to an acceptable level, but to eliminate it completely. The aim of this investigation was to analyse the results of an insecticide treatment campaign in cockroach (Blattella germanica (L.))-infested council flats in order to understand why these treatments failed. A multivariate analysis revealed that several environmental factors like the number of residents/m2 or the degree of cleanliness could explain, at least in part, the presence Of cockroaches in flats.