Public Health
Pope says “no” to abortion pill and gay marriage
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Pope Benedict, speaking out on hot topics that will figure in the campaigning for this year’s Italian general elections, on Thursday condemned the use of the so-called “abortion pill” and gay marriage.
He was immediately attacked by gay leaders and leftist politicians who accused him of interfering in domestic affairs.
Rush hour traffic may cause more than just road rage
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Ever feel like rush hour traffic is killing you? According to research it just may be.
Many of us sit behind the wheel for hours each week. Now new research shows traffic may be more than just frustrating, it may be deadly.
Whether we’re speeding to work or creeping home behind slow moving cars, many of us drive stressed.
Major grant to study institutional care of disabled people in Europe
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The Tizard Centre at the University of Kent has been awarded a 350,000 euro grant by the European Commission to find out how many disabled people are still cared for in institutions across Europe and what would be the costs of replacing institutions with services in the community.
The project is led by Professor Jim Mansell and Dr Julie Beadle-Brown from the Tizard Centre, and Professor Martin Knapp from the London School of Economics. It involves researchers in Spain, Germany, Belgium and the Czech Republic and will take two years to study the situation in 22 countries. It builds on a previous project by the Tizard Centre showing that conditions in institutions abroad were similar to those that existed in Britain and the USA before they were replaced with community services.
Fifteen percent of US workforce affected by alcohol
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There may be an alcohol problem brewing in American offices, shops and factories. An estimated 15 percent of the U.S. workforce consumes alcohol on the job, has a drink before going to work or otherwise is under the influence of alcohol, according to a study by the University of Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions.
That equates to some 19.2 million workers impaired during the workday via intoxication, withdrawal or hangover.” Clear policies should be in place regarding alcohol impairment and impairment at work,” wrote Dr. Michael Frone, principal investigator of the study.
Drinking and driving still serious problem in UK
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Too many motorists drove under the influence of alcohol or drugs over Christmas, despite big campaigns about the dangers, police said on Wednesday.
During a four-week crackdown in December, 133,136 drivers underwent breath tests in England and Wales, and nearly seven percent were positive.
Poor job satisfaction and burnout among mental health social workers
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Excessive job demands, limited scope for decision-making and unhappiness about the place of the mental health social worker (MHSW) in modern services contribute to poor job satisfaction, stress and burnout, the first national study of this professional group has found.
Published in the January 2006 issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry, the researchers set out to examine the prevalence of stress, burnout and job satisfaction among MHSWs, and the factors responsible.
S. Korean scientists faked two papers but cloned dog
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A team led by a once heralded and now disgraced South Korean scientist faked two landmark papers on embryonic stem cells but did produce the world’s first cloned dog, an investigation panel said on Tuesday.
The panel at Seoul National University told reporters data were deliberately fabricated in papers produced by the team led by scientist Hwang Woo-suk. It described the case as scandalous.
Canadian woman offers her dead body for display
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A Toronto woman, not content with having merely a dusty demise, has become the first Canadian to donate her body for public display after she dies.
The 30-year-old mutual fund worker said the “Body Worlds” exhibition at the Ontario Science Centre, which displays real human bodies, would fulfill her desire to have a posthumous purpose.
Long-term Antabuse keeps most alcoholics abstinent
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Alcoholics may have a better chance of staying abstinent if long-term therapy includes drugs such as Antabuse, a new study shows.
Someone on one of these so-called alcohol deterrents will get sick with even a sip of alcohol, with a flushed face, rapid heartbeat, nausea, vomiting and anxiety. But the main power of these pills is their psychological effect, Dr. Hannelore Ehrenreich of the Max-Planck-Institute of Experimental Medicine in Gottingen, Germany, the study’s lead author, told Reuters Health.
Expert slashes hospital waiting times
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Day surgery waiting times at South Tyneside District Hospital in the North East of England have been slashed from nine months to three weeks as a result of a business improvement technique developed by the University of Sunderland.
Key stakeholders at South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust were involved in the redesign of the Day Surgery Direct system after Maureen Tann, head of the Trust’s performance management, attended a University of Sunderland Process Improvement for Strategic Objectives (PISO) course.
Kids’, teens’ immunization schedule updated
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The 2006 Childhood and Adolescent Immunization Schedule includes new recommendations for immunizing against meningitis, whooping cough (pertussis), influenza, hepatitis A and hepatitis B, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported today.
S. Africa youth AIDS programme faces cash crunch
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South Africa’s national youth HIV/AIDS programme faces a funding crunch following a move by the global AIDS funding organisation to stop financing it, which the programme head blamed in part on U.S. interference.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced last month it was scrapping a planned $56 million grant to South Africa’s loveLife, citing concerns over governance and implementation.
Turning Down the Heat to Save Money Could Cost Your Health
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With home heating costs expected to soar this winter, millions of Americans will be dialing down their heat to save money.
For most people, dialing-down just means a slightly chilly home, but for the elderly, it could bring serious health implications, including hypothermia, and could even lead to additional health risk for otherwise healthy people, says Lee A. Green, M.D., MPH, associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School.
Home Care Tips to Help Wounds Heal
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A slip with a kitchen knife, a spill off a bike or a fall on the sidewalk. It’s not uncommon to have a mishap that breaks the skin. When a wound occurs, your body quickly begins regeneration and repair. You can facilitate healing with proper home care.
The December issue of Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource offers these tips:
Dutch “suicide consultant” is jailed for a year
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A Dutch court sentenced a man calling himself a “suicide consultant” to a year in jail on Wednesday for helping a mentally ill woman end her life.
Jan Hilarius, the 73-year-old founder of Dutch suicide consultancy De Einder, was found guilty of helping a 25-year-old woman acquire medicines to kill herself 2003.
A court in the northern town of Alkmaar said in a statement Hilarius had corresponded with the woman and given her information about the deadly doses and combinations of medicines available online.
