Not only are doctors, nurses, and firefighters essential during a severe pandemic influenza outbreak. So, too, are truck drivers, communications personnel, and utility workers. That's the conclusion of a Johns Hopkins University article to be published in the journal of Biosecurity and Bioterrorism.
The report, led by Nancy Kass, Sc.D, Deputy Director of Public Health for the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, provides ethical guidance for pandemic planning that ensures a skeletal infrastructure remain intact at all times. Dr. Kass says, "when preparing for a severe pandemic flu it is crucial for leaders to recognize that if the public has limited or no access to food, water, sewage systems, fuel and communications, the secondary consequences may cause greater sickness death and social breakdown than the virus itself."
The authors represent a wide-range of expertise in several areas of pandemic emergency planning both at the state and federal levels. After examining several accepted public health rationing strategies that give priority to all healthcare workers and those most susceptible to illness, the authors propose a new strategy that gives priority to a more diverse group. "Alongside healthcare workers and first responders, priority should be given to the people who provide the public with basic essentials for good health and well-being, ranging from grocery store employees and communications personnel to truck drivers and utility workers," says Dr. Kass.
Health & Wellness
Tobacco growing in Andorra
But there is something slightly different about these farmers.
Almost all of them, I notice as they chase the animals across scree slopes and shove them into wooden pens, are older than you might expect. In fact, there is barely one under pensionable age. Clearly, I was not misled about older Andorrans leading an active life.
Not every citizen of Andorra these days toils up and down mountains as part of their daily existence.
Beltsville, Maryland - Over-the-counter cough and cold medicines should not be sold for young children because they are unproven and can be dangerous, doctors and consumer advocates said on Thursday, despite objections from industry representatives.
Experts urged U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials to ban sales of the products, which take in billions of dollars in annual sales and include versions of Wyeth's Dimetapp and Procter & Gamble Co's NyQuil, for children ages 2 to 6.
"Cough and cold medications ... have not been proven to be effective and they have clear risks. It is time for them to be reevaluated," Dr. Wayne Snodgrass of the University of Texas Medical Branch, said at an FDA meeting to discuss whether the nonprescription remedies should be sold for children.
Experts urged U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials to ban sales of the products, which take in billions of dollars in annual sales and include versions of Wyeth's Dimetapp and Procter & Gamble Co's NyQuil, for children ages 2 to 6.
"Cough and cold medications ... have not been proven to be effective and they have clear risks. It is time for them to be reevaluated," Dr. Wayne Snodgrass of the University of Texas Medical Branch, said at an FDA meeting to discuss whether the nonprescription remedies should be sold for children.
Sunnybrook researcher Dr. Donald Redelmeier and Stanford University statistician Robert Tibshirani have found an increased risk of fatal motor vehicle crashes on United States (US) presidential election days.
"We thought efforts that mobilize about 55 per cent of the population to vote, along with US reliance on motor vehicle travel, might result in increased fatal motor vehicle crashes during US presidential elections," says Redelmeier, lead investigator of the study and staff physician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, "indeed, we found a significant increase in traffic deaths on election days."
The investigation looked at all US presidential election days over the last 32 years, from Jimmy Carter in 1976 to George Bush in 2004, during the hours of polling. They also looked at the same hours on the Tuesday immediately before and immediately after as control days. Their main finding was that the average presidential election led to about 24 deaths from motor vehicle crashes.
"We thought efforts that mobilize about 55 per cent of the population to vote, along with US reliance on motor vehicle travel, might result in increased fatal motor vehicle crashes during US presidential elections," says Redelmeier, lead investigator of the study and staff physician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, "indeed, we found a significant increase in traffic deaths on election days."
The investigation looked at all US presidential election days over the last 32 years, from Jimmy Carter in 1976 to George Bush in 2004, during the hours of polling. They also looked at the same hours on the Tuesday immediately before and immediately after as control days. Their main finding was that the average presidential election led to about 24 deaths from motor vehicle crashes.
An acupressure treatment applied to children undergoing anesthesia noticeably lowers their anxiety levels and makes the stress of surgery more calming for them and their families, UC Irvine anesthesiologists have learned.
According to Dr. Zeev Kain, anesthesiology and perioperative care chair, and his Yale University collaborator Dr. Shu-Ming Wang, this noninvasive, drug-free method is an effective, complementary anxiety-relief therapy for children during surgical preparation. Sedatives currently used before anesthesia can cause nausea and prolong sedation.
"Anxiety in children before surgery is bad because of the emotional toll on the child and parents, and this anxiety can lead to prolonged recovery and the increased use of analgesics for postoperative pain," said Kain, who led the acupressure study. "What's great about the use of acupressure is that it costs very little and has no side effects."
© Daniel A. Anderson
Acupressure bead applied before surgery decreases anxiety in children.
Acupressure bead applied before surgery decreases anxiety in children.
According to Dr. Zeev Kain, anesthesiology and perioperative care chair, and his Yale University collaborator Dr. Shu-Ming Wang, this noninvasive, drug-free method is an effective, complementary anxiety-relief therapy for children during surgical preparation. Sedatives currently used before anesthesia can cause nausea and prolong sedation.
"Anxiety in children before surgery is bad because of the emotional toll on the child and parents, and this anxiety can lead to prolonged recovery and the increased use of analgesics for postoperative pain," said Kain, who led the acupressure study. "What's great about the use of acupressure is that it costs very little and has no side effects."
A study in the Oct. 1 issue of the journal Sleep shows that the increased rate of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) change that occurs during menopause is associated with increased objective sleep duration but poor subjective sleep quality.
Findings from the sleep profiles created for the study's 365 participants indicate that postmenopausal women had deeper sleep and longer total sleep time than premenopausal women. The faster rate of change in FSH was associated with slow wave sleep and sleep duration, indicating that as women transitioned more rapidly from an endocrine perspective, they slept longer. Simultaneously, however, FSH change was associated with poorer self-reported sleep quality.
"We found that it was not the level of the FSH that was predictive of sleep, bout how quickly these menopause transition changes - FSH changes - occurred when hormones were measured over a seven-year period," said principal investigator MaryFran Sowers, PhD, professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan.
Findings from the sleep profiles created for the study's 365 participants indicate that postmenopausal women had deeper sleep and longer total sleep time than premenopausal women. The faster rate of change in FSH was associated with slow wave sleep and sleep duration, indicating that as women transitioned more rapidly from an endocrine perspective, they slept longer. Simultaneously, however, FSH change was associated with poorer self-reported sleep quality.
"We found that it was not the level of the FSH that was predictive of sleep, bout how quickly these menopause transition changes - FSH changes - occurred when hormones were measured over a seven-year period," said principal investigator MaryFran Sowers, PhD, professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan.
A team of Yale scientists has found that certain countries and some U.S. states stand to benefit from the use of compact fluorescent lighting more than others in the fight against global warming. Some places may even produce more mercury emissions by switching from incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent lighting.
The study, which appears online October 1 in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, looked at all 50 states and 130 countries to determine the impact of fluorescent lighting on total mercury emissions in those regions.
Estonia, which relies heavily on coal-powered energy generation, tops the list as the country that would see the greatest reduction in mercury emissions for every incandescent bulb it replaces with a compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL). However, given its similar reliance on coal-fired plants, coupled with its huge population, China stands to reduce its mercury emissions by the greatest overall amount. Other countries near the top of the list include Romania, Bulgaria and Greece; within the U.S., North Dakota, New Mexico and West Virginia have the greatest potential to reduce their mercury emissions.
© iStockphoto/Jon Schulte
Some places may produce more mercury emissions by switching from incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent lighting, a new study suggests.
Some places may produce more mercury emissions by switching from incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent lighting, a new study suggests.
The study, which appears online October 1 in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, looked at all 50 states and 130 countries to determine the impact of fluorescent lighting on total mercury emissions in those regions.
Estonia, which relies heavily on coal-powered energy generation, tops the list as the country that would see the greatest reduction in mercury emissions for every incandescent bulb it replaces with a compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL). However, given its similar reliance on coal-fired plants, coupled with its huge population, China stands to reduce its mercury emissions by the greatest overall amount. Other countries near the top of the list include Romania, Bulgaria and Greece; within the U.S., North Dakota, New Mexico and West Virginia have the greatest potential to reduce their mercury emissions.
While older women are said to have a higher risk of having babies with birth defects, it has long been presumed that men can have children at any age. But a new study has shown that it's the other way round.
© Unknown
Confidence about vaccines in Utah is already pretty high. Utah Immunization Program Outreach Coordinator Rebecca Ward said, "We have a fairly high vaccination rate in kindergarten and in child care facilities, anywhere from around the high '70s to the mid-'80s."
Four infants aged between eight and 12 months died on Saturday, a day after they were administered measles vaccine at Waghola village,
about 30km from Aurangadad.
Six other infants in the same age group are battling for their lives at the Government Medical College and Hospital, Aurangabad.
Aurangabad deputy director, health, M I J Qazi, said: "The health department immediately stopped the vaccination drive, which was launched in Aurangabad, Jalna, Beed and Hingoli districts on September 12." About 4,000 vaccine bulbs had been sent to each district, he added.
The police have seized the vaccines and other materials and sent them for forensic examination. Aurangabad rural DSP Prabhakar Shelke said a case has been registered.
about 30km from Aurangadad.
Six other infants in the same age group are battling for their lives at the Government Medical College and Hospital, Aurangabad.
Aurangabad deputy director, health, M I J Qazi, said: "The health department immediately stopped the vaccination drive, which was launched in Aurangabad, Jalna, Beed and Hingoli districts on September 12." About 4,000 vaccine bulbs had been sent to each district, he added.
The police have seized the vaccines and other materials and sent them for forensic examination. Aurangabad rural DSP Prabhakar Shelke said a case has been registered.
Comment: For those of you who believe as Ms. Ward does, may we direct your attention to just a few of numerous articles that say that she is either very misinformed, or is, herself, involved in damage control.
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