Public Health
Tainted food surprisingly deadly in adults - WHO
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Millions of adults die every year from bugs and toxins in what they eat, according to new World Health Organisation data that shows food-borne diseases are far more deadly than the U.N. agency previously estimated.
The research faults unsafe food for 1.2 million deaths per year in people over the age of five in Southeast Asia and Africa—three times more adult deaths than the Geneva-based WHO had thought occurred in the whole world.
“It is a picture that we have never had before,” WHO Food Safety Director Jorgen Schlundt said in an interview. “We now have documentation of a significant burden outside the less than five group, that is major new information.”
Experts fear Africa “pandemic” from rise in smoking
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Africa faces a surge in cancer deaths unless action is taken in the next decade to stem rising smoking levels in a continent where anti-tobacco laws remain rare, U.S. scientists said on Wednesday.
More than half the continent will double its tobacco use within 12 years if current trends continue, the American Cancer Society (ACS) said in a report which found that 90 percent of people living there have no protection from secondhand smoke.
Some African countries have introduced smoking bans but most have not and smoke-free public areas are few.
Men leave: Separation and divorce far more common when the wife is the patient
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A woman is six times more likely to be separated or divorced soon after a diagnosis of cancer or multiple sclerosis than if a man in the relationship is the patient, according to a study that examined the role gender played in so-called “partner abandonment.” The study also found that the longer the marriage the more likely it would remain intact.
The study confirmed earlier research that put the overall divorce or separation rate among cancer patients at 11.6 percent, similar to the population as a whole. However, researchers were surprised by the difference in separation and divorce rates by gender. The rate when the woman was the patient was 20.8 percent compared to 2.9 percent when the man was the patient.
“Female gender was the strongest predictor of separation or divorce in each of the patient groups we studied,” said Marc Chamberlain, M.D., a co-corresponding author and director of the neuro-oncology program at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA). Chamberlain is also a professor of neurology and neurosurgery at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
Team Sports Participation Increases Some Unhealthy Behaviors in Male Teens
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Team Sports Participation Increases Some Unhealthy Behaviors in Male Teens; Positive Associations Seen for Females
Contradicting what most parents might think, participation in team sports doesn’t necessarily result in teenage boys adopting healthier behaviors. Instead, new research finds that it is actually associated with increased fighting and drinking.
The study, which was presented at the American Public Health Association’s 137th Annual Meeting & Exposition in Philadelphia, surveyed a nationally representative sample of more than 13,000 high school students across the United States to examine the association between sports team participation and risky behaviors.
Of the male respondents, 60.5 percent reported participation in team sports in the past year. For these young men, sports team participation was associated with increased levels of self-reported fighting (OR 1.3), drinking (OR 1.4) and binge drinking (OR 1.4). However, participation was also associated with decreased levels of depression (OR 0.7) and smoking (OR 0.8).
EU ministers agree to boost tax on cigarettes
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European Union states on Tuesday agreed to raise the excise tax on cigarettes by nearly 30 percent to try to reduce smoking and improve public health, a move that could hurt tobacco manufacturers.
The agreement is part of the EU’s drive to combat smoking, which British statistics show kills more than one million men and 200,000 women in Europe each year.
“The directive is intended to ensure a higher level of public health protection by raising minimum excise duties on cigarettes,” the EU said in a statement.
Physician bias might keep life-saving transplants from black and Hispanic patients
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Physician bias might be the reason why African Americans are not receiving kidney/pancreas transplants at the same rate as similar patients in other racial groups. Dr. Keith Melancon, director of kidney and pancreas transplantation at Georgetown University Hospital and associate professor of surgery at Georgetown University Medical Center, and colleagues explore this phenomenon in the November issue of the American Journal of Transplantation.
Medicare coverage for people needing a simultaneous kidney/pancreas transplant has increased in the past decade. In July 1999 Medicare made the changes as a conscious effort by the government intended to address racial and economic disparities that existed. But increased Medicare dollars have not translated into more access for African Americans or Hispanics.
“Our research raised the possibility of racial bias on the part of physicians who might incorrectly assume that African Americans are type 2 diabetics when in fact, they would metabolically meet the criteria for type 1 diabetes,” said Dr. Melancon. “Since this is a transplant that is most often performed in type 1 diabetics, their doctors might not even raise the possibility with their black patients. Also, health care providers might incorrectly predict worse outcomes for black patients, despite research that shows they do about as well as other racial groups.”
Are doctors what ails U.S. healthcare?
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Nowhere in the United States has more doctors at its beck and call than White Plains, one of the wealthiest cities in the nation.
Doctors have been flocking to the area and surrounding Westchester County since the 1970s, drawn in part by an upper-class clientele who demand top-notch medical care and have the means to pay for it. The county has one of the highest median household incomes in the nation (about $77,000 a year in 2007), and the figures soar above six digits in suburbs like Scarsdale and Chappaqua, which former President Bill Clinton calls home.
Nearly 3,000 miles (4,830 km) away, scaring up a doctor in Bakersfield, situated in California’s economically battered Central Valley, is a lot harder. In fact, White Plains has more than twice the number of doctors per capita as Bakersfield, where needy patients until recently had to take a 2-hour bus trip to Fresno to see a diabetes treatment specialist.
Elton John aims for return to stage after illness
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Elton John is recovering in hospital from a serious case of e-coli bacterial infection and influenza that forced him to cancel a string of concerts, but he hoped to return to the stage soon, a spokesman said on Monday.
British pop star John, 62, postponed five gigs in England and Ireland starting with an October 23 date in Sheffield, and has also pulled out of three U.S. concerts scheduled for November 4, 7 and 10 at which he was to appear with Billy Joel.
$20 Million Stem Cell Grant for UC San Diego Cancer Research
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Researchers led by Moores UCSD Cancer Center Director Dennis A. Carson, MD, professor of medicine, and Catriona Jamieson, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine and director of the Cancer Stem Cell Research Program at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center have been awarded $20 million over four years to develop novel drugs against leukemia stem cells.
CIRM’s 29-member Governing Board voted to approve funding to 14 multidisciplinary teams of California researchers. The four-year grants mark the first CIRM funding explicitly expected to result in FDA approval for a clinical trial. The Disease Team Research Awards fund research teams that include basic scientists, clinicians and industry. These collaborations speed the process of establishing clinical trials by avoiding mistakes being discovered late in the process and insuring that clinically relevant issues are considered early.
“This award will fund a team – including researchers from disparate disciplines and key industry-academic partners – to develop novel therapies targeting leukemia stem cells, with the goal of moving to clinical trials in the shortest possible time frame,” said Jamieson, who was involved in a unique partnership between industry and academia that, in 2008, led to human clinical trials of a new drug for a rare class of blood diseases in just one year’s time.
Andre Agassi admits taking drugs and lying to ATP
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Eight times grand slam winner Andre Agassi has admitted using the recreational drug crystal meth and lying to the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) to escape a ban.
In his forthcoming book, which is being serialized in The Times, the American candidly describes being introduced to the drug in 1997 by his assistant and the moment later that year when he was informed he had failed a drug test.
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) president Francesco Ricci Bitti said he was “surprised and disappointed” by Agassi’s revelations that have stunned tennis.
Economic impact of H1N1 less in crisis: German study
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The H1N1 swine flu virus will have less impact on Germany’s economy than previously expected, a study by Allianz insurers and the RWI economic research institute showed on Tuesday.
The study said swine flu would cost Europe’s biggest economy between 10 billion euros and 40 billion euros, equivalent to 0.4 and 1.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) respectively, depending on the gravity of the global flu pandemic.
The transport, hospitality and culture sectors would suffer most, said the study.
South Korea stem cell scientist guilty of fraud
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A South Korean court Monday found disgraced stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk guilty of fraud and handed down a suspended sentence in a case that sent shockwaves throughout the global scientific community.
Hwang, once a scientist with rock-star like status for bringing South Korea to the forefront of stem cell studies, had faced trial on charges of fraud, misusing state funds and violating bioethics laws.
“He was guilty of fabrication,” the Seoul court said in a verdict in the trial that stretched more than three years and included painstaking details about the scientific work Hwang and his team had performed at Seoul National University.
Healthcare system wastes up to $800 billion a year
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The U.S. healthcare system is just as wasteful as President Barack Obama says it is, and proposed reforms could be paid for by fixing some of the most obvious inefficiencies, preventing mistakes and fighting fraud, according to a Thomson Reuters report released on Monday.
The U.S. healthcare system wastes between $505 billion and $850 billion every year, the report from Robert Kelley, vice president of healthcare analytics at Thomson Reuters, found.
“America’s healthcare system is indeed hemorrhaging billions of dollars, and the opportunities to slow the fiscal bleeding are substantial,” the report reads.
Iraq to shut thousands of schools over H1N1 flu
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Iraq will temporarily shut down thousands of schools in two provinces and some in Baghdad after discovering 36 new cases of the H1N1 flu virus, Iraqi officials said on Tuesday.
Iraq’s health ministry has discovered the flu in 22 secondary school girls and nine of their relatives in Wasit province, four students in Baghdad and a man in Dhi Kar province, General Director of Public Health Ihsan Jaafar said.
Provincial authorities in both provinces said they would briefly shut schools to prevent the virus’ spread. The officials said around 1,200 Wasit schools would close for a week and some 1,500 schools in Dhi Kar for 10 days from Wednesday.
New IOF report explains importance of FRAX® in osteoporosis management
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The International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) will issue a new 16-page report on FRAX® to mark World Osteoporosis Day on October 20, 2009. The report is available at http://www.iofbonehealth.org/publications/frax.html
The International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) will issue a new 16-page report on FRAX® to mark World Osteoporosis Day on October 20, 2009. The report is available at http://www.iofbonehealth.org/publications/frax.html
FRAX®, or ‘WHO Fracture Risk Assessment Tool’, is a free online tool developed by the World Health Organization at http://www.shef.ac.uk/FRAX/. The tool helps clinicians to better identify women and men in need of intervention (at highest risk of fragility fractures) and thereby to improve the allocation of limited healthcare resources. FRAX® utilizes several known clinical risk factors rather than BMD alone to calculate a patient’s 10-year fracture probability, thus making it particularly useful in regions where DXA technology is scarce or not available.
