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.
Health & Wellness
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.
Colorado health authorities are doling out rabies shot regimens one at a time and denying preventive vaccines to veterinarians and wildlife workers because of a severe national vaccine shortage.
The strict limitations come as a new strain of rabies found in skunks has emerged on the state's eastern plains.
Rabies is fatal once symptoms show up, but it is avoidable if treated with a five-shot regimen known as rabies post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP. That leads to situations where people get treated with a series of shots, even if it's possible but unlikely that they have been exposed to rabies.
The strict limitations come as a new strain of rabies found in skunks has emerged on the state's eastern plains.
Rabies is fatal once symptoms show up, but it is avoidable if treated with a five-shot regimen known as rabies post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP. That leads to situations where people get treated with a series of shots, even if it's possible but unlikely that they have been exposed to rabies.
India's government sent thousands of ineffective vaccines to a northern Indian state, halting a planned immunization drive against a deadly outbreak of Japanese encephalitis that has killed more than 200 children since June, officials said Wednesday.
The mistake - compounding delays in starting the immunizations - raises chances that hundreds more children could die of the disease this year, health officials warned.
North India's impoverished Uttar Pradesh state suffers from recurring annual outbreaks of the mosquito-borne disease, which causes high fevers and vomiting - and sometimes comas and death. It is particularly deadly among children.
The mistake - compounding delays in starting the immunizations - raises chances that hundreds more children could die of the disease this year, health officials warned.
North India's impoverished Uttar Pradesh state suffers from recurring annual outbreaks of the mosquito-borne disease, which causes high fevers and vomiting - and sometimes comas and death. It is particularly deadly among children.
The chances of living to be 100 have never been better in Britain, according to the Office for National Statistics' latest data. There are 9,300 centenarians in the country now, compared with 100 a century ago. But at the same time, through one of science's stranger connections, the chances of spotting a famous British insect have sunk by a similar ratio. We trade our longer lives for a decline, which looks terminal, in the melanistic - or dark-coloured variety - of the Peppered Moth.
The relation of older people to creepie-crawlies may sound curious, but it is based on pollution.
The relation of older people to creepie-crawlies may sound curious, but it is based on pollution.
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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