Sweetener scrutiny: Are sugar substitutes a helpful tool or an ineffective crutch?

Sweetener scrutiny: Are sugar substitutes a helpful tool or an ineffective crutch?
Artificial sweeteners are considered safe, but questions persist as to what role they play in helping patients lose weight of if, in fact, they cause people to eat more.
By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. April 7, 2008.

The rats in the West Lafayette, Ind., laboratory of Susan Swithers, PhD, don't lose weight when they eat artificially sweetened food. They eat more, and gain more. "Rather than these kind of products making it automatically easier to lose weight, they might make it automatically harder," said Dr. Swithers, a Purdue University associate professor of psychological sciences.
Her study documenting this phenomenon, in the February Behavioral Neuroscience, is the latest flare-up in the decades-long debate regarding the safety of artificial sweeteners and whether they aid weight loss. Cancer fears related to these products may have faded, but the theory they might trigger overeating lives on./.../

Cholesterol Lowering and Ezetimibe

Jeffrey M. Drazen, M.D., John A. Jarcho, M.D., Stephen Morrissey, Ph.D., and Gregory D. Curfman, M.D.
In this issue of the Journal, we publish the results of the Ezetimibe and Simvastatin in Hypercholesterolemia Enhances Atherosclerosis Regression (ENHANCE) trial,1 which addresses the question of whether additional lowering of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol with ezetimibe beyond the level achieved with simvastatin beneficially affects the progression of atherosclerosis. As a surrogate clinical marker for such progression, the study used imaging of the intima–media thickness of the carotid and femoral arteries. In contrast to statins, which lower LDL cholesterol by increasing its clearance, ezetimibe selectively inhibits the absorption of cholesterol by binding to Niemann–Pick C1-like 1 (NPC1L1) protein, which is involved in cholesterol processing. When administered in combination, ezetimibe and a statin lower plasma LDL cholesterol below the level that can be achieved with a statin alone.
The ENHANCE trial was conducted in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia, a condition characterized by high levels of LDL cholesterol. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either simvastatin alone or a combination of simvastatin plus ezetimibe. Combination therapy resulted in LDL cholesterol levels that were 27% lower than those achieved with monotherapy, and C-reactive protein levels were also significantly lower with combination therapy. Unexpectedly, however, the trial showed that despite increased lowering of LDL cholesterol in the group that received ezetimibe, the rate of progression of atherosclerotic disease, as measured by intima–media thickness, was the same in the two study groups. It is this paradox, which is at odds with our traditional understanding of the relationship between LDL cholesterol and atherosclerosis, that has puzzled investigators and clinicians alike. The paradox and other important questions that are raised by the trial, including the rationale for the use of carotid intima–media thickness as a surrogate end point, are discussed in detail by Brown and Taylor in an accompanying editorial.2
........
Until such data are available, it seems prudent to encourage patients whose LDL cholesterol levels remain elevated despite treatment with an optimal dose of a statin to redouble their efforts at dietary control and regular exercise. Niacin, fibrates, and resins should be considered when diet, exercise, and a statin have failed to achieve the target, with ezetimibe reserved for patients who cannot tolerate these agents.
/.../

13.73 Billion Years - The Most Precise Measurement of the Age of the Universe Yet

Universe Today » 13.73 Billion Years - The Most Precise Measurement of the Age of the Universe Yet: "13.73 Billion Years - The Most Precise Measurement of the Age of the Universe Yet
Written by Ian O'Neill

NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) has taken the best measurement of the age of the Universe to date. According to highly precise observations of microwave radiation observed all over the cosmos, WMAP scientists now have the best estimate yet on the age of the Universe: 13.73 billion years, plus or minus 120 million years (that's an error margin of only 0.87%… not bad really…)."/.../

Heart Beat February/March 2008

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR ACTIVITIES
http://www.world-heart-federation.org/
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK
feedback@worldheart.org

HIGHLIGHTS

Pakistani women's heart health campaign advances
One year since it was launched under the direction of World Heart Federation President Shahryar Sheikh, the Go Red for Women national campaign in Pakistan is raising Pakistanis’ awareness that cardiovascular disease is Pakistani women’s greatest health threat.
Activity defines Go Red for Women in Indonesia
As Vice-President of the World Heart Federation from 2006 to 2007, Laksmiati “Mia” Hanafiah gained a deeper appreciation for the Go Red for Women international campaign for women’s heart health. Under her direction, a Go Red for Women national campaign for Indonesia was launched in February 2006 with a high profile gala dinner in the capital of Jakarta. The Indonesian campaign has ambitious plans for 2008.

IN THIS ISSUE
Chile launches national Go Red for Women campaign
In December 2007, Chile became the first South American country to develop a national Go Red for Women campaign for women’s heart health.
“Red Dress Italia” works hard for women's heart health
The Italian Heart Foundation’s history of attention to the special health needs of women became longer and more illustrious with the launch in February 2007 of the Go Red for Women national campaign for Italy, formally called Red Dress Italia.
President-Elect Puska explains World Heart Federation's “useful” collaboration with diabetes, stroke bodies
World Heart Federation President-Elect Pekka Puska says that there are good reasons for “heart people” to collaborate closely with “diabetes people” and “stroke people”.
Rheumatic Heart Disease screening goes mobile in South Africa
An initiative of the Pan African Society of Cardiology and the World Heart Federation to control rheumatic heart disease in Africa soon will bear fruit in the Republic of South Africa with the deployment of a mobile heart-health clinic. The mobile clinic will detect cases of rheumatic heart disease with the help of an echocardiogram provided by the World Heart Federation.

Working Towards Wellness Initiative gains momentum
The movement to promote health in the workplace as a means to address the proliferation of cardiovascular and other major noncommunicable diseases gained momentum at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. World Heart Federation Chief Executive Officer Janet Voûte moderated a two-hour private workshop entitled “Working Towards Wellness: Health and Workforce Productivity”.
World Health Organization drafts action plan to prevent and control noncommunicable diseases
The World Health Organization has drafted an action plan for the implementation of its global strategy to prevent cardiovascular disease and the other major noncommunicable diseases. The plan recognizes that the “global burden of noncommunicable diseases continues to grow” and that “tackling it constitutes one of the major challenges for development in the twenty-first century”.

Virtual Library museums pages and more...

Mu s e u m s Welcome to the World Wide Web (WWW) Virtual Library museums pages (VLmp) A comprehensive directory of on-line museums and museum-related resources
You may relocate to a more local VLmp site if response is slow.
Please contact Jonathan Bowen if you would like to maintain information on a particular topic, or support / sponsor the pages in some way. For additions to a particular page, please contact the maintainer concerned. Currently the main page receives thousands of "visitors" each week.


Musei del Mondo... Una buona giornata MUSEUS NO MUNDO
Recomendado por Anne Schneider
Alemanha http://www.smb.spk-berlin.de/
Canadá http://www.national.gallery.ca/ ; http://www.mmfa.qc.ca/
China http://www.chinapage.com/
Espanha http://www.museoprado.mcu.es/
Estados Unidos http://www.amnh.org/ ; http://www.metalab.unc.edu/ ; http://www.metmuseum.org/ ; http://www.tamu.edu/ ; http://www.artic.edu/
Finlandia http://www.nba.fi/
França http://www.louvre.fr/ ; http://www.lyon.cci.fr/ ; http://www.museedelapub.org/
Israel http://www.imj.org.il/
Japão http://www.kyohaku.go.jp/
México http://www.arts-history.mx/
Reino Unido http://www.nms.ac.uk/ ; http://www.tate.org.uk/
Rússia http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/
Suécia http://www.nationalmuseum.se/
Vaticano http://www.christusrex.org/ http://www.vanmuseum.bc.ca/
MUSEUS NO BRASIL
www.visualnet.com.br/cmaya/
Rio Vale a visita em dois museus: Castro Maia - Açude e Chácara do Céu - são dois primores. O do Açude tem uma localização bucólica, porcelanas da Cia das Ìndias, Debrets... www.mamrio.com.br/ Museu de Arte Moderna - Rio de Janeiro De linhas retas, jardins de Burle Marx, temAnita Malfatti, Di Cavalcanti, Portinari... www.mnba.gov.br/ Museu Nacional de Belas Artes - Rio de Janeiro. Prédio em estilo renascentista. Tem Victor Meireles, Rodolfo Amoedo, Almeida Jr. Eliseu Visconti. Coleção de barrocos italianos e 8 obras de Franz Post. www.tempero.com.br/dicas/museus.htm Essesite dá boas indicações de museus. www.museuimperial.gov.br/Petrópolis-RJ - Imperdível. Tem até espetáculo de son et lumière duas vezes por semana.
São Paulo http://www.masp.art.br/ Museu de Arte de São Paulo - São Paulo - Velasquez, Rembrandt, Rafael, Cézanne, Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso... http://www.mam.org.br/ MAM - Museu de Arte Moderna - São Paulo Veja obras de Tarsila do Amaral, Anita Malfatti, Tomie Otake...

ECG standards in elderly 'should be revised'

ECG standards in elderly 'should be revised': "ECG standards in elderly 'should be revised'

20 March 2008

MedWire News: Reference ranges for average electrocardiogram (ECG) intervals should be revised for the elderly, say US experts who found that these ranges were significantly higher than currently recommended thresholds in men and women aged 80 years and older.

Current standard ECG interval cut-offs are based largely on data for healthy middle-aged men, note Latha Stead from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues.

'What is normal for a population of middle-aged individuals may not be the same for the steadily increasing elderly population in this country,' Stead pointed out."/.../

Transcendental meditation may give 'clinically meaningful' BP reductions

Transcendental meditation may give 'clinically meaningful' BP reductions: "Transcendental meditation may give 'clinically meaningful' BP reductions

20 March 2008

MedWire News: Regularly practicing Transcendental Meditation can provide clinically meaningful reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP), say US researchers.

They note that 'sustained BP reductions of this magnitude are likely to significantly reduce risk for cardiovascular diseases.'"/.../

2380 – AMICOR10 – 22/03/2008 – Happy Easter – Feliz Páscoa!

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Understanding collective behavior

Edge 240:
By Iain Couzin
/.../"In science even if I wrote a paper just by myself and I was the only author, I would still write 'we' in the paper. It is mostly a convention. But it is partly because you are always building upon what has come before. People would like to think that their work is brand new—it never is. Sometimes a different take on the same problem can be illuminating. I tend to interact with many people from different disciplines."/.../

Pharmaceuticals lurking in U.S. drinking water

Friday, March 21, 2008

Dietary Phosphorus and BP

Corporate Social Responsibility

Human Rights Reader 190 [No.1 of 3 in a short series on non-actors in the human rights arena].

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS OR CHARITABLE INTENTIONS; IT REVOLVES AROUND BUSINESS INTERESTS.

Drug abuse

New research challenges traditional accounts of why we wallow in chemical gratification
March 21, 2008World Science staff

Happy Marriages Keep Blood Pressures Normotensive - in Psychiatry, General Psychiatry from MedPage Today

Monday, March 17, 2008

Mental Health and Poverty

Poor awareness of cardiac, stroke symptoms can delay care

Friday, March 14, 2008

AFP: To live longer, go back to school: study

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Evidence on Urban Health and Healthy Weights

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Corporate influences on epidemiology -- Pearce 37 (1): 46 -- International Journal of Epidemiology

Labels: epidemiology

Friday, March 07, 2008

Appropriateness Criteria for Stress Echocardiography

Labels: echocardiography

understanding collective behavior

Edge 240:
By Iain Couzin
/.../"In science even if I wrote a paper just by myself and I was the only author, I would still write 'we' in the paper. It is mostly a convention. But it is partly because you are always building upon what has come before. People would like to think that their work is brand new—it never is. Sometimes a different take on the same problem can be illuminating. I tend to interact with many people from different disciplines."/.../

Pharmaceuticals lurking in U.S. drinking water

Key findingsHere are some of the key test results obtained by the AP:
Officials in Philadelphia said testing there discovered 56 pharmaceuticals or byproducts in treated drinking water, including medicines for pain, infection, high cholesterol, asthma, epilepsy, mental illness and heart problems. Sixty-three pharmaceuticals or byproducts were found in the city’s watersheds.
Anti-epileptic and anti-anxiety medications were detected in a portion of the treated drinking water for 18.5 million people in Southern California.
Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey analyzed a Passaic Valley Water Commission drinking water treatment plant, which serves 850,000 people in Northern New Jersey, and found a metabolized angina medicine and the mood-stabilizing carbamazepine in drinking water.
A sex hormone was detected in San Francisco’s drinking water.
The drinking water for Washington, D.C., and surrounding areas tested positive for six pharmaceuticals.
Three medications, including an antibiotic, were found in drinking water supplied to Tucson, Ariz.

Dietary Phosphorus and BP

Dietary Phosphorus and Blood Pressure
International Study of Macro- and Micro-Nutrients and Blood Pressure Paul Elliott; Hugo Kesteloot; Correspondence to Paul Elliott, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, St Mary’s Campus, Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG, United Kingdom. E-mail p.elliott@imperial.ac.uk

Raised blood pressure is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide; improved nutritional approaches to population-wide prevention are required. Few data are available on dietary phosphorus and blood pressure and none are available on possible combined effects of phosphorus, magnesium, and calcium on blood pressure. The International Study of Macro- and Micro-Nutrients and Blood Pressure is a cross-sectional epidemiologic study of 4680 men and women ages 40 to 59 from 17 population samples in Japan, China, United Kingdom, and United States. Blood pressure was measured 8 times at 4 visits. Dietary intakes were obtained from four 24-hour recalls plus data on supplement use. Dietary phosphorus was inversely associated with blood pressure in a series of predefined multiple regression models, with the successive addition of potential confounders, both nondietary and dietary. Estimated blood pressure differences per 232 mg/1000 kcal (2 SD) of higher dietary phosphorus were –1.1 to –2.3 mm Hg systolic/–0.6 to –1.5 mm Hg diastolic (n=4680) and –1.6 to –3.5 mm Hg systolic/–0.8 to –1.8 mm Hg diastolic for 2238 "nonintervened" individuals, ie, those without special diet/nutritional supplements or diagnosis/treatment for cardiovascular disease or diabetes. Dietary calcium and magnesium, correlated with phosphorus (partial r=0.71 and r=0.68), were inversely associated with blood pressure. Blood pressures were lower by 1.9 to 4.2 mm Hg systolic/1.2 to 2.4 mm Hg diastolic for people with intakes above versus below country-specific medians for all 3 of the minerals. These results indicate the potential for increased phosphorus/mineral intake to lower blood pressure as part of the recommendations for healthier eating patterns for the prevention and control of prehypertension and hypertension.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Human Rights Reader 190 [No.1 of 3 in a short series on non-actors in the human rights arena].

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS OR CHARITABLE INTENTIONS; IT REVOLVES AROUND BUSINESS INTERESTS.

"There is one and only one social responsibility of business --to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engage in open and free competition without deception or fraud". (Milton Friedman)

1. Beware: corporate social responsibility (CSR) is not just another buzz-word and it does have relevance in human rights (HR) work. CSR is to be understood as a branding strategy. More often than not, it represents a series of initiatives by some of the global giants to deviously position themselves as labor-friendly and as environmental stewards. Accordingly, corporation leaders are prone to say nice things about social and environmental matters, only to, then, carry-on business as usual. In al truth, the ultimate relevance of CSR still really is to please the shareholders who are the ones who (in principle) call the shots.
[In Coca Cola's I. Neville's words: "Governments can enforce accountability, but they cannot engender responsibility. Responsibility is a choice, and CSR standards allows us businesspeople to make that choice". ...Indeed, it would seem that it is high time for Coca Cola to make that choice].

2. There is thus often reason to doubt honest commitment to CSR. More often than not, the social responsibility standards set by Western-based transnational corporations remain unconvincing --and if those are unconvincing, so are the HR principles they purport to espouse. Voluntary, vague and unenforceable, in last instance, social responsibility standards are not a step towards a more fundamental reform of corporate structures in the direction of the respect of HR; instead, they are distraction from it. Only exposing and rejecting these standards for what they really are is a step towards addressing the abuse of corporate power.

3. The question that this leaves us with is: Are more sinister corporate interests camouflaged through 'CSR-talk' making host-communities-where-corporations-operate believe that their interests coincide with those of the respective corporation?

4. It is simply not enough for corporations to engage in 'make-believe', sometimes making deceiving (or 'half-baked') commitments to its workers and the communities they are drawn from. Fancy brochures in which companies congratulate themselves on such achievements cannot be trusted to the word. The CSR-card should thus not be allowed to play itself out as a, in our case, HR public relations card, particularly in the case of corporations with spotty records on labor rights and on the rights of nature.

5. In any case, CSR standards make a series of pledges, most of which, one may believe, are self-evident to any responsible person. Moreover, they often promise action will be taken 'where appropriate' and 'over time'... Therefore, for practical purposes, these standards are meaningless.

6. For even a pinch of credibility, the certification of CSR actions must, at the very least, be carried out by external auditors (...but when auditors announce they will be coming-by to inspect, you can imagine what happens at the industrial plant beforehand...). (M. Busse) Therefore, only bottom-up initiatives from local communities are a guarantee of autonomously monitored adherence to CSR principles.

7. Furthermore, having stated CSR documents from many companies must not result in local authorities relinquishing their responsibilities in the area of monitoring social responsibility, the compliance with labor rights and other human rights, i.e., situations in which CSR initiatives purport to compensate for local governance failures in this area.

8. For us in HR work, if CSR is to make sense, it must genuinely and sustainably contribute to the fight for HR, for dignity, and against poverty, hunger, abuses in the workplace, despair and destitution.
Otherwise, at best, CSR programs will achieve little islands of improvement in oceans of HR abuses.

Claudio Schuftan, Ho Chi Minh City
_________________________________
Adapted from D+C, 34:4, April, 2007 and D+C, 34:12, December 2007.

Drug abuse

New research chal­lenges tradi­tional accounts of why we wallow in chemical gratification
March 21, 2008World Science staff
Why do peo­ple abuse drugs? It’s not only a ques­tion wor­ried par­ents ask their way­ward, sub­stance-dab­bling teenagers. It’s al­so a deeper ques­tion asked by bi­ol­o­gists.In gen­er­al, na­ture has de­signed all crea­tures as ex­quis­ite machines for their own pro­tec­tion and propaga­t­ion. Yet we’re easily and of­ten drawn in­to self-destruction by noth­ing more than life­less chem­i­cal lures. This weak­ness seems such a jar­ring ex­cep­tion, such a dis­mal Achilles’ heel, that it seems to de­mand ex­plana­t­ion.
A new study pro­poses that hu­mans and other animals have a long ev­o­lu­tion­ary re­la­tion­ship with brain-in­flu­enc­ing drugs. Shown above is the plant Can­na­bis sativa, which pro­duces the psy­cho­ac­tive in­gre­di­ent in ma­ri­jua­na. (Im­age cour­te­sy Mis­souri Dept. of Trans­por­ta­tion)
Sci­en­tists typ­ic­ally of­fer the fol­low­ing one. Drugs are chem­i­cals that in­ap­pro­pri­ate­ly trig­ger ac­ti­vity in brain cir­cuits de­signed for very dif­fer­ent pur­poses: to pro­vide a sense of re­ward for hav­ing sat­is­fied or­di­nary needs, health­fully. The brain has few de­fenses against this chem­i­cal de­cep­tion, the stand­ard account goes, be­cause drugs were un­known in the nat­u­ral en­vi­ron­ment that shaped hu­man ev­o­lu­tion.

Happy Marriages Keep Blood Pressures Normotensive - in Psychiatry, General Psychiatry from MedPage Today

Medical News: Happy Marriages Keep Blood Pressures Normotensive - in Psychiatry, General Psychiatry from MedPage Today: "PROVO, Utah, March 20 -- Happily married men and women are more likely to waltz through life hand-in-hand with normal blood pressures than are singles, investigators here found. Action Points


Explain to patients that this study suggests that higher marriage satisfaction might confer health advantages over single life or an unhappy marriage.


Note that the findings were based on only a single day of blood pressure monitoring and participants responses to questionnaires.
Those partners in happy marriages had significantly lower waking and 24-hour blood pressure compared with singles, even those with a network of social support, Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Ph.D., of Brigham Young University, and colleagues, reported in the April issue of Annals"/.../

Mental Health and Poverty

Backgrounders : Canadian Mental Health Association, Ontario: "People with mental illness often live in chronic poverty. Conversely, poverty can be a significant risk factor for poor physical and mental health. The relationship between poverty and mental illness is both straightforward and complex in its pervasive reach. Understanding this broader context is key to addressing poverty in order to promote mental health and support the recovery of persons with mental illness."/.../

Poor awareness of cardiac, stroke symptoms can delay care

Poor awareness of cardiac, stroke symptoms can delay care
Care for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular conditions has improved dramatically, but not knowing the initial signs may prevent timely treatment.
By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. March 24/31, 2008.
Patients experiencing a heart attack or stroke face a significant barrier to receiving care -- getting themselves and others to recognize what is happening to them.
That's the conclusion of three studies published or presented in February. The problem can be a lack of knowledge of those around someone having a heart attack, according to one paper. In the case of a stroke, the problem could be delays caused by calling the physician's office first, or someone at the office not recognizing the signs, according to two papers presented at a recent conference/.../

AFP: To live longer, go back to school: study

AFP: To live longer, go back to school: study: "To live longer, go back to school: study
2 days ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) — If you have been contemplating going back to school to get a degree, this might convince you: a study by the Harvard School of Medicine has shown people with a better education live longer.
'Between the 1980s and 2000, life expectancy increases occurred nearly exclusively among high-education groups,' the study said.
While life expectancy for people with a high school degree or less did not change between 1990 and 2000, the better-educated gained more than 1.5 years over the same period, the study showed.
'A 25-year-old with a high school degree in 1990 could expect to live another 50 years, or for about 75 years,' lead author Ellen Meara told AFP."/.../

Evidence on Urban Health and Healthy Weights

State of the Evidence Review on Urban Health and Healthy Weights
The rapid rise in obesity rates in Canada over the past two decades has led to a call for more effective approaches to assist populations in achieving healthy weights. Research on the health of populations has provided support for the notion that there are relationships between where people live and their health status. To generate and synthesize knowledge in its theme areas of Healthy Weights and Place and Health (with a focus on urban health), CPHI commissioned a systematic literature review of the evidence on associations between modifiable characteristics of urban environments and healthy weights.
The objectives of the report were to review and synthesize the evidence on:
structural and community-level characteristics of urban environments that promote or inhibit the achievement of healthy weights, and
effectiveness of interventions to assist urban populations in achieving healthy weights.
Research findings were categorized and tabulated within a framework that examines social determinants of health and multiple levels of the environment (i.e. community-level vs. structural). Four outcome areas were considered: obesity/healthy weights, food/diet/nutrition, physical activity and sedentary behaviour. The resulting analyses provide a high-level overview of the strengths of and gaps in the research on associations between urban environments and healthy weights. The report also identifies priorities for future policy-relevant research and presents the author suggestions for promising interventions that may help to reduce population obesity levels in urban places.
Available reports
State of the Evidence Review on Urban Health and Healthy Weights (PDF File)

Corporate influences on epidemiology -- Pearce 37 (1): 46 -- International Journal of Epidemiology

Corporate influences on epidemiology -- Pearce 37 (1): 46 -- International Journal of Epidemiology
Corporate influences on epidemiology have become stronger and more pervasive in the last few decades, particularly in the contentious fields of pharmacoepidemiology and occupational
epidemiology. For every independent epidemiologist studying the side effects of medicines and the hazardous effects of industrial chemicals, there are several other epidemiologists hired by industry to attack the research and to debunk it as ‘junk science’. In some instances these activities have gone as far as efforts to block publication. In many instances, academics have accepted industry funding which has not been acknowledged, and only the academic affiliations of the company-funded consultants have been listed.
These activities are major threats to the integrity of the field, and its survival as a scientific discipline. There is no simple solution to these problems. However, for the last two decades there has been substantial discussion on ethics in epidemiology, partly in response to the unethical conduct of many industry-funded consultants. Professional organizations, such as the International Epidemiological Association, can play a major role in encouraging and supporting epidemiologists to assert positive principles of how science should work, and how it should be applied to public policy decisions, rather than simply having a list of what not to do./.../

Appropriateness Criteria for Stress Echocardiography

The American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF)and the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) together with key specialty and subspecialty societies, conducted an appropriateness review for stress echocardiography. The review assessed the risks and benefits of stress echocardiography for several indications or clinical scenarios and scored them on a scale of 1 to 9 (based upon methodology developed by the ACCF to assess imaging appropriateness).

2379 – AMICOR10 – 04/03/2008

Monday, March 03, 2008

Dia da Mulher: Homenagem do SIMERS

Dra. Valderês Robinson Achutti, entre as profissionais selecionadas pelo Sindicato Médico para representar a Mulher Médica no Estado.

 

Sessão Conjunta SBC/ACC

ACC.08 Showcases Global Discussions of Heart Disease
The ACC Scientific Sessions have always featured presentations by non-U.S. participants and included joint sessions with non-U.S. cardiovascular societies. This year the list of joint sessions and symposiums is quite extensive and includes:
Sunday, March 30
ACC Symposium (# 694) "Door-to-Reperfusion International (D2RI): Lessons From Around the World," featuring a global selection of co-chairs and speakers. When: 2 to 3 p.m. Where: McCormick Place, Room S402 • "Joint Session of the Brazilian Society for Cardiology and the ACC: Infectious Diseases of the Heart: Diagnosis and Treatment Options in 2008 (#695)." When: 3:45 to 5 p.m. Where: McCormick Place, Room S402.

Sunday, March 02, 2008

SUMMUM JUS, SUMMA INJURIA.

Artigo meu publicado no Jornal Zero Hora no dia de hoje

Friday, February 29, 2008

Cholesterol Con

The Origins of the Cholesterol Con, Part II

Thursday, February 28, 2008

WIKILEAKS: site for whistleblowers

" ... could become as important a journalistic toolas the Freedom of Information Act.
— Time Magazine
Wikileaks
global defense of sources and press freedoms, circa now—Friday 29 February, 2008

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Childhood Stress: Effects on Health across the lifespan.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Cancer: US Statistics

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Atlas do Desenvolvimento Humano da Região Metropolitana de Porto Alegre

Documento de Análise preliminar. CD completo estará disponível a partir de março próximo.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Poverty Is Poison - New York Times

Referencia enviada por Maria Inês Reinert Azambuja
Poverty Is Poison - New York Times
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: February 18, 2008
"Poverty in early childhood poisons the brain." That was the opening of an article in Saturday's Financial Times, summarizing research presented last week at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Busca Telefônica: Brasil e Exterior.

http://www.globallink.com.br/busca/
Números de telefone do Brasil e do exterior

Dia da Mulher: Homenagem do SIMERS

Dra. Valderês Robinson Achutti, entre as profissionais selecionadas pelo Sindicato Médico para representar a Mulher Médica no Estado.

Sessão Conjunta SBC/ACC

De: Mario F C Maranhao [mailto:mariomaranhao@uol.com.br]
Enviada em: segunda-feira, 3 de março de 2008 11:39
Para: Aloyzio Achutti; acchagas@cardiol.br; antonio.chagas@incor.usp.br
Assunto: Sessão conjuna da SBC/ACC


Caro Achutti: V. poderia divulgar no site do AMICOR e da PROCOR este evento?

Maranhão
ACC.08 Showcases Global Discussions of Heart Disease
The ACC Scientific Sessions have always featured presentations by non-U.S. participants and included joint sessions with non-U.S. cardiovascular societies. This year the list of joint sessions and symposiums is quite extensive and includes:

Sunday, March 30

ACC Symposium (# 694) "Door-to-Reperfusion International (D2RI): Lessons From Around the World," featuring a global selection of co-chairs and speakers. When: 2 to 3 p.m. Where: McCormick Place, Room S402 • "Joint Session of the Brazilian Society for Cardiology and the ACC: Infectious Diseases of the Heart: Diagnosis and Treatment Options in 2008 (#695)." When: 3:45 to 5 p.m. Where: McCormick Place, Room S402.

SUMMUM JUS, SUMMA INJURIA.

02 de março de 2008 |

Artigo meu publicado no Jornal Zero Hora no dia de hoje

"Summum jus, summa injuria", por Aloyzio Achutti*

Eu era guri quando, em minha terra natal, construíram um novo Fórum e este dístico estava sobranceiro, colocado em pedra no edifício. Aprendi que a tradução seria: "Um excesso de justiça pode ser causa de grande injustiça (dano)". Não tardou para trocarem a frase por "Dura lex, sed lex", provavelmente como reação corporativa, ou arrogância de linha-dura, facilmente encontrável em qualquer tempo e lugar.

É bom pensar no assunto enquanto está viva a discussão sobre Tropa de Elite, e o terrorismo a propósito e contra o "terrorismo" internacional. É pena, mas em nome da religião, da ciência, em defesa de princípios e de nobres causas, muitas vezes - com boas intenções - se manifestam instintos discriminatórios e se justificam violências.

Há também os oportunistas que descobrem mercado nas vicissitudes e passam a investir no filão, não se importando muito com as conseqüências. E para cada argumento que encontra eco, juntam-se facilmente grupos de prosélitos e acólitos a reverberar sem crítica as mensagens estereotipadas.

Pois a medicina - arte e ciência - está também sujeita às mesmas contingências. Há exemplos muito variados, basta trocar "jus/injuria" por "saúde/doença". A propósito, recentemente um estudo que pretendia demonstrar vantagens em obter em diabéticos níveis de glicose no sangue iguais aos de pessoas sadias teve que ser interrompido porque a mortalidade no grupo do tratamento exagerado foi maior do que no controle.

Bem cedo, ainda na faculdade, se aprende que criança não é um adulto em miniatura e que velho não é simplesmente um adulto com muita idade. Está-se chegando agora à idéia de que uma pessoa doente não é a mesma coisa do que uma sadia com parâmetros biológicos anormais.

As "metas" para prevenção em pessoas normais, nem sempre serão as ideais para os doentes. O reconhecimento da biodiversidade, a individualização das prescrições e o respeito pela relação humana médico-paciente são fundamentais e não se alteram com novas conquistas científicas e tecnológicas. Pelo contrário, quanto mais poder, maior o risco de dano.

Voltando às frases lapidares (latinas) - mesmo em nome da prevenção - , nada justifica passar por cima do refrão que se aprende no primeiro dia de aula: "Primum non nocere". O primeiro preceito da medicina é não causar dano.

*Médico