Public Health
Tide to change Pods lid over child safety concerns
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After at least one child was hospitalized for swallowing its prettily packaged detergent, Procter & Gamble Co said on Friday it will make Tide Pods more difficult to open.
A double latch will be put on the lid of Tide Pods tubs and should be in markets in the next couple of weeks, P&G spokesman Paul Fox said on Friday.
The American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) issued a warning last week that people should keep highly concentrated, single-dose packs of detergent high up and out of the reach of children.
According to the AAPCC, some young children who swallowed the small packets required hospitalization, while others got the detergent in their eyes.
Most Germans view Israel as ‘aggressive’
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Survey shows 60% of Germans believe their country has no special obligation towards Jewish state; German doctors apologize for Nazi-era crimes
A recent survey conducted for Stern news magazine found that a large majority of Germans view Israel as “aggressive” and think Germany no longer has a special obligation to the Jewish nation.
Some 59% of those questioned viewed Israel as “aggressive”, an increase of 10 percentage points over a similar survey in January 2009.
Docs win most malpractice suits, but road is long
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Malpractice claims against U.S. doctors are often dismissed, and when they go to trial, the verdict is usually in the doctor’s favor, according to a new study.
But even when a case is dismissed, the road is typically long for both doctors and the patients suing, researchers said.
“Most claims go in favor of the physician, and they take a long time to resolve,” said lead researcher Dr. Anupam B. Jena, of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.
Medical malpractice claims have become a hot-button issue in the U.S., coming up repeatedly in debates about healthcare reform. Some specialists must pay a couple hundred thousand dollars a year in premiums for insurance against malpractice claims—though rates vary by state.
Ramadan sets Muslim athletes extra test at London Games
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When Malaysian cyclist Azizulhasni Awang opted to postpone his Ramadan fast until after the London Games, the decision was all about going for Olympic gold.
Anything that might jeopardize the chance of a medal for the 24-year-old at his second Olympics had to be dealt with sensibly, he says. And going without food and drink between sunrise and sunset every day for four weeks is just too risky.
“We need to train, we need food, fluids, water,” he told Reuters during a training session at a velodrome in Melbourne with team mate Fatehah Mustapa, who will become the first Malaysian woman cyclist to ride at an Olympics.
Georgia woman with flesh-eating disease in “critical” condition
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Georgia woman fighting a flesh-eating bacterial infection was in critical condition at Augusta Hospital on Saturday, a hospital spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman said she could not comment on whether Aimee Copeland had undergone surgery to remove her hands and right foot, amputations that Copeland’s father had said were pending on Friday. Surgeons had amputated the 24-year-old’s left leg at the hip.
“All I can say is Aimee is still in critical condition,” hospital spokeswoman Barclay Bishop said.
Prayers and messages of support have poured in for Copeland on a Facebook page where her father, Andy Copeland, has chronicled her struggle.
U.S. sets deadline for proposals on state healthcare exchanges
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The Obama administration forged ahead with healthcare reforms on Wednesday, announcing a November 16 deadline for state governments to submit proposals showing how they intend to operate health insurance exchanges in 2014.
The Department for Health and Human Services released a detailed blueprint of the legal and operational requirements states must meet in their proposals if they expect to win federal approval to begin operating regulated insurance markets, in whole or in part, by January 1, 2014, when the 2010 law is scheduled to come into full force.
President Barack Obama’s embattled Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act calls on states to establish exchanges that would offer federally subsidized health coverage to an estimated 16 million people who currently do not have health insurance. The exchanges would allow consumers to purchase their insurance from an easy-to-understand menu of competing plans, at premiums set on a sliding scale according to the buyer’s income.
FCC chooses spectrum for wireless medical devices
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The U.S. telecommunications regulator is expected to announce plans on Thursday to set aside spectrum to connect wireless medical devices for more convenient health monitoring.
The Federal Communications Commission said it is scheduled to vote on May 24 to adopt the plan for so-called Medical Body Area Networks, according to the telecom regulator, which has been working on the project for about two years.
The idea is that doctors could monitor a patient’s vital signs at home or in hospital via low-cost wearable sensors that are attached to the patient’s body and wirelessly connected to the machines that process and display the data for doctors.
U.S. lowers threshold for lead poisoning in children
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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cut its threshold level for defining lead poisoning in children to 5 micrograms per deciliter on Wednesday from 10, marking the first such reduction in 20 years.
“The recommendation was based on a growing number of scientific studies showing that even low blood lead levels can cause lifelong health effects,” the CDC said, in adopting the recommendation of an advisory committee. “Today, CDC is officially announcing our agreement with that recommendation.”
The new “reference value” for lead poisoning was based on the population of U.S. children aged 1 to 5 years whose blood lead levels are in the highest 2.5 percent of children tested, the agency said.
High-level trauma care may limit disability
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People treated for severe injuries at a specialized trauma center may survive with fewer disabilities than those at other hospitals, a study from Australia suggests.
The findings, researchers say, add to evidence that patients fare better when they’re treated under an organized trauma system - where hospitals, emergency services and state governments have coordinated plans for getting the right patients to the appropriate treatment.
So-called Level I trauma centers provide the most comprehensive care for traumatic injuries and have to meet certain requirements - like having a specific number of surgeons and other specialists on duty 24 hours a day.
Study shows school-based health centers boost vaccination rates
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New research from the University of Colorado School of Medicine shows that school-based health centers are highly effective in delivering comprehensive care, especially vaccines to adolescents.
The study, published today in the journal Pediatrics, highlights the value of a ‘captive audience’ in a school setting where students can be easily reminded to get recommended vaccinations.
“School-based health centers can provide comprehensive care to children and adolescents who are hard to reach,” said CU School of Medicine professor of pediatrics Allison Kempe, MD, MPH, and lead author of the study. “I think it’s a very important model especially in underserved and low income areas. School-based health centers are not prevalent across the United States but I think they should be.”
Kempe, director of the Children’s Outcomes Research Program at Children’s Hospital Colorado, said the scope of immunizations for adolescents has expanded markedly over the last few years, prompting discussions about a platform of inoculations for this population similar to those given to infants.
Kirk leaves rehab center
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Sen. Mark Kirk, who suffered a major stroke in January, has left the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and will continue treatment there as an outpatient, his family and an aide said Thursday.
“We are happy to say … Mark has progressed to the point where he can move home with his family,” according to a news release Thursday from unidentified relatives.
Kirk already has left the rehabilitation institute and “will be staying with various family members during his continued recovery,” Andrew Flach, his communications director, said Thursday.
One official familiar with Kirk’s recovery said the goal is for him to return to the Senate in the fall after the congressional recess in August. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the senator’s recovery.
A New Diagnosis for Frida Kahlo’s Infertility
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Frida Kahlo’s many haunting self-portraits have been studied by experts for decades, have attracted worldwide attention and have sold for millions of dollars at auction. Yet, despite the fact that Kahlo’s work focuses largely on anatomy and failed reproduction attempts, relatively little attention has been paid to Kahlo’s own body and infertility.
Intrigued by the messages manifested in Kahlo’s work and surprised by the apparent lack of interest by scientists in Kahlo’s clinical condition, Fernando Antelo, a surgical pathologist at the Harbor UCLA Medical Center, set out to reassess the condition that caused Kahlo’s infertility and inspired some of her greatest pieces.
“While art historians and journalists have written extensively on Kahlo’s life and artwork, there is a lack of scientific comment by physicians - who have written only a handful of papers on her health,” Antelo explained. “To add a twist of irony, none of these medical papers have focused on Kahlo’s infertility.”
Physicians Call for Improvements to Country’s Public Health System to Protect U.S. Residents
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A call for an improved public health infrastructure that works collaboratively with physicians in order to ensure the public’s safety and health was made today by the American College of Physicians (ACP). The action was highlighted by the release of a new policy paper, Strengthening the Public Health Infrastructure[PDF], at Internal Medicine 2012, ACP’s annual scientific meeting in New Orleans.
“This paper points out that strengthening the public health infrastructure is imperative to ensure that the appropriate health care services are available to meet the population’s health care needs and to respond to public health emergencies,” said Virginia L. Hood, MBBS, MPH, MACP, president of ACP. “A strong public health infrastructure provides the capacity to prepare for and respond to both acute and chronic threats to the nation’s health, yet ill-advised budget cuts at the federal, state and local levels pose a grave threat to the health of U.S. residents.”
ACP’s paper makes the case for adequate investments in public health, which is the practice of preventing diseases and promoting good health within groups of people. Public health depends on an underlying foundation, or infrastructure, to support the planning, delivery, and evaluation of public health activities and practices. Public health works to protect and improve the health of communities through education, policy development, promotion of healthy lifestyles, and research. It concentrates on the health of the population, rather than care of the individual patient, although these are becoming more intertwined as non-communicable diseases are becoming a priority focus for both population and patient-directed care.
Life expectancy and healthy life years in the European Union, 2008-2010
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The HLY (Healthy Life Years) indicates how long people can expect to live without disability. It has been computed annually for each Member State of the European Union since 2005. These figures are released in the framework of the first annual meeting of the European Joint Action on Healthy Life Years (EHLEIS), organized in Paris on April 19, 2012 (ASIEM, 6 rue Albert de Lapparent, from 1:30pm) by the French Ministry of Health. The European Joint Action on Healthy Life Years (EHLEIS) is led by FRANCE, and coordinated by the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM).
In 2009 men in the European Union (EU27) could expect 61.3 Healthy Life Years (HLY), representing almost 80% of their life expectancy (LE) at birth of 76.7 years. Women could expect 62 HLY, 75% of their life expectancy (LE) at birth of 82.6 years in 2009.
2010 values for men
In 2010, Sweden has the longest life expectancy at birth (79.6 years) for men in the European Union and Lithuania the shortest (68 years), a gap of almost 12 years. Swedish men also have the most Healthy Life Years (71.7 years) with men in the Slovak Republic having the least (52.3 years), a gap of almost 20 Healthy Life Years. And again Sweden has the highest proportion of years lived without disability (HLY/ LE) in 2010 with 90% of life expectancy without limitations in usual activities. Men in the Slovak Republic on the other hand spend the lowest proportion without disability (73%), a difference of 17 percentage points. This suggests that for men the longer the life expectancy the greater the proportion lived without disability.
U.S. teen birth rate lowest since 1946
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Fewer babies were born to U.S. teenagers ages 15-19 in 2010 - 367,752 - than in any year since 1946’s 322,380, federal health officials said.
The preliminary report by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, used the most current data available from the National Vital Statistics System found the 2010 total of births to teenagers was 43 percent lower than the peak recorded in 1970 at 644,708, the report said.
The U.S. teen birth rate declined 9 percent from 2009 to 2010, reaching a historic low at 34.3 births per 1,000 women ages 15-19; the rate dropped 44 percent from 1991 through 2010, the report said.
