Translate AMICOR contents if you like

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Cholesterol Drug Use in Healthy People


Recommended by Dr. Maria Inês Reinart Azambuja

Risks Seen in Cholesterol Drug Use in Healthy People

With the government’s blessing, a drug giant is about to expand the market for its blockbuster cholesterol medication Crestor to a new category of customers: as a preventive measure for millions of people who do not have cholesterol problems.
Tami Chappell for The New York Times
The AstraZeneca booth at the American College of Cardiology convention this month in Atlanta.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Large Hadron Collider Finally Smashing Properly


Large Hadron Collider Finally Smashing Properly

Fabrice Coffrini/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Physicists at the European Center for Nuclear Research celebrated on Tuesday.
 Large Hadron Collider, finally began to collide subatomic particles.
PASADENA, Calif. — After 16 years and $10 billion — and a long morning of electrical groaning and sweating — there was joy in the meadows and tunnels of the Swiss-French countryside Tuesday: the world’s biggest physics machine, the Large Hadron Collider, finally began to collide subatomic particles./.../

WHAT’S SO BAD ABOUT DYING?


WHAT’S SO BAD ABOUT DYING?

29 March 2010
42-21101200
Dr. Michael de Ridder says that, “today about one in 20 patients survives resuscitation. Take away those who leave the hospitals requiring long-term intensive care
and the success rate drops.”
Michael de Ridder, the head of the emergency ward at a Berlin hospital discusses how modern medical advances are making death more complicated for patients with little hope of living. He makes a plea for doctors to allow people to die with greater dignity.

Physicians' Plea: Ban the Bomb!


Time: Monday, Jan. 12, 1981
A new international campaign against nuclear war
"How can we dispel the notion of some people that anyone will survive a nuclear war? How can we as doctors influence people to prevent any further buildup of nuclear arms?" These are not the questions of an American pacifist but of Dr. Yevgeni Chazov, the Soviet Union's deputy minister of health and an official physician to President Leonid Brezhnev. Moreover, Chazov's view is at variance with some statements by Soviet officials implying that since fewer Soviet citizens are likely to die in an atomic holocaust than Americans, the U.S.S.R. would therefore win.
The idea that either superpower could emerge victorious from a nuclear war is also gaining currency among some U.S. strategists. Vice President-elect George Bush told the Los Angeles Times a year ago that he believed there was such a thing as "a winner in a nuclear exchange." He was echoing the views of some U.S. strategists, including the Hudson Institute's Colin Gray and Keith Payne, who have argued that "the U.S. must possess the ability to wage nuclear war rationally." Alarmed by such statements, some American and Soviet physicians have decided to begin a campaign to dispel what they consider to be a dangerous myth of survivability that may increase the possibility of a nuclear war.
According to U.S. experts, a 20-megaton nuclear warhead, 1,000 times as powerful as the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, detonated over Boston would destroy everything within a four-mile radius. Up to ten miles away from ground zero, fire storms would devastate all buildings and trees. Of the 3 million inhabitants of metropolitan Boston, 2.2 million would be killed outright. Almost every survivor would be maimed, burned or in shock. Of the 6,000 physicians in the area, only 900 would be fit enough to treat the injured. In time, survivors would develop new and virtually incurable ailments, such as severe radiation poisoning and reactions to contaminated food and water.
The recital of this scenario by Dr. Howard Hiatt, dean of Harvard's School of Public Health, stunned a conference in Cambridge, Mass. Declared Hiatt: "Inadequate means of dealing with an epidemic permits only one approach—that of prevention."
To that end, a group of U.S. physicians, headed by Harvard Cardiologists Bernard Lown and James Muller, has organized International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Inc. They have recruited several eminent Americans, including Jonas Salk and Nobel Laureate Hamilton Smith. They also got a strong endorsement from Chazov, who wrote: "The medical profession should more actively protest against the senseless policy of increasing arsenals of thermonuclear arms."
At the organization's first conference, scheduled for late March at Airlie House near Washington, some 60 participants from Japan, France, Britain, the U.S. and the Soviet Union will discuss the medical history of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and attempt to determine what the effects of a future thermonuclear war might be. They also hope to present their findings to congressional committees and Reagan Administration officials.
Both Soviet and American physicians are keenly aware of the danger of being used for propaganda purposes by their own, as well as each other's politicians. Says Chazov: "I think our movement would lose a lot of credibility if it became political." ∎

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,922349-1,00.html#ixzz0jfGALNCw

EMP: The Next Weapon of Mass Destruction?


From left: Ed Kashi / Corbis; Corbis

This article recalls me the 1980's Professor Bernard Lown alert

By Mark Thompson / Washington Tuesday, Mar. 30, 2010
If America needs a new threat around which to organize its defenses, try this one: Bad guys explode nuclear weapons miles above U.S. soil, sending out an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that fries the electronic guts of everything in America. The nation's financial and transportation systems collapse, hospitals and the Internet go dark, water and electrical grids freeze and runaway Toyotas with electronic throttles are finally brought to a stop. "The EMP resulting from the blast would cause widespread damage, devastating the economy and resulting in the deaths of millions of Americans," the hawkish Heritage Foundation warned last week, launching a call on Congress to establish an EMP Recognition Day./.../

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1976224,00.html?xid=newsletter-daily#ixzz0jf1EjHBk

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Saúde Ambiental - Rio Grande do Sul

A partir de um Grupo de Trabalho reunido pela Assembléia Legislativa do Estado abrimos um novo Blog para reunir e trocar material e idéias relacionadas com Saúde Ambiental. Todos os interessados estão convidados a visitá-lo e interagir.
Este Blog pretende servir como instrumento de ligação entre pessoas e entidades interessadas em Saúde e Meio Ambiente - Ambos os conceitos em seu sentido mais amplo: Saúde=Vida, e Meio Ambiente=Bio-Físico-Psico-Social-Universal.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Dependência química é doença do cérebro


NOTÍCIAS DA ABEAD

25/03/2010
Dependência química é doença do cérebro, diz diretora do Nida
Nora Volkow, chefe do Instituto Nacional sobre Abuso de Drogas dos Estados Unidos, ministrou palestra na Unifesp. Evento reuniu cerca de 400 pessoas

Danilo Maeda | Assessora Comunicação
Cerca de 400 pessoas assistiram a palestra
Na tarde de ontem, o auditório da Universidade Federal de São Paulo (Unifesp) recebeu uma das maiores especialistas em drogas da atualidade: a psiquiatra Nora Volkow, diretora do Instituto Nacional sobre Abusos de Drogas dos Estados Unidos (Nida, na sigla em inglês).

Durante a palestra, a especialista afirmou que a dependência química é uma doença crônica que compromete diretamente as funções do cérebro. De acordo com ela, o uso contínuo de substâncias psicoativas atinge uma região do cérebro chamada córtex orbitofrontal, que é responsável pela tomada de decisões. “Essa área também é afetada no transtorno obsessivo-compulsivo. É a região do cérebro que nos permite mudar o comportamento de acordo com a necessidade. Por isso, algumas pessoas dizem que não sentem mais prazer com o uso da droga, mas mesmo assim não conseguem parar. Elas perdem o livre arbítrio para dizer ‘não’”, destacou.

Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Disease


top banner
Current Northwest Center Course Listing
2010 NIEHS-EPA Symposium on Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Disease
Seattle, WA      6/21/2010 -6/22/2010

This is the fifth in a series of NIEHS-EPA "Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Disease" conferences held since 2001.  Bringing together leading investigators in the area, this symposium will provide a forum for research dissemination and critical discussion related to the mechanisms by which air pollution affects the inception, progression and nature of cardiovascular diseases.

Working Class in England, 1845


"When one individual inflicts bodily injury upon another such injury that death results, we call the deed manslaughter; when the assailant knew in advance that the injury would be fatal, we call his deed murder. But when society places hundreds of proletarians in such a position that they inevitably meet a too early and an unnatural death, one which is quite as much a death by violence as that by the sword or bullet; when it deprives  thousands of the necessaries of life, places them under conditions in  which they cannot live -- forces them, through the strong arm of the law,  to remain in such conditions until that death ensues which is the  inevitable consequence -- knows that these thousands of victims must  perish, and yet permits these conditions to remain, its deed is murder just as surely as the deed of the single individual; disguised, malicious murder, murder against which none can defend himself, which does not seem what it is, because no man sees the murderer, because the death of the victim seems a natural one, since the offence is more one of omission than of commission. But murder it remains." 

Condition of the Working Class in England, by Engels, 1845
http://marx.org/archive/marx/works/1845/condition-working-class/ch07.htm 

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Capital completa 238 anos amanhã

25/03/2010 
Foto: Ivo Gonçalves/Arquivo PMPA
Cais do Porto sediará evento que homenageia pessoas e entidades

SEMANA DE PORTO ALEGRE

Capital completa 238 anos amanhã e entrega medalhas

Porto Alegre comemora amanhã, 26, o seu aniversário de 238 anos com uma diversificada programação de eventos incluindo a entrega da Medalha da Cidade, no Cais do Porto, e apresentações de teatro, dança, teatro de sombras e circo na Usina do Gasômetro.
...........

A Organização das Nações Unidas (ONU) considerou a capital dos gaúchos como a metrópole da qualidade de vida em três ocasiões. Melhor Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano (IDH) em saúde, saneamento básico, educação, meio ambiente e economia. É uma das cidades mais arborizadas do mundo com mais de um milhão e meio de árvores em suas ruas e acumula mais de 80 prêmios e títulos que a qualificam como uma das melhores cidades brasileiras para morar, trabalhar, fazer negócios, estudar e se divertir.

Implicit Value Judgments in the Measurement of Health Inequalities

Volume 88, Number 1, 2010


Sam Harper, Nicholas B. King, Stephen C. Meersman, Marsha E. Reichman, Nancy Breen, and John Lynch McGill University; Case Western Reserve University; National Cancer Institute; University of South Australia; University of Bristol 


Context: Quantitative estimates of the magnitude, direction, and rate of change of health inequalities play a crucial role in creating and assessing policies aimed at eliminating the disproportionate burden of disease in disadvantaged populations. It is generally assumed that the measurement of health inequalities is a value-neutral process, providing objective data that are then interpreted using normative judgments about whether a particular distribution of health is just, fair, or socially acceptable.
Methods: We discuss five examples in which normative judgments play a role in the measurement process itself, through either the selection of one measurement strategy to the exclusion of others or the selection of the type, significance, or weight assigned to the variables being measured.
Findings: Overall, we find that many commonly used measures of inequality are value laden and that the normative judgments implicit in these measures have important consequences for interpreting and responding to health inequalities.
Conclusions: Because values implicit in the generation of health inequality measures may lead to radically different interpretations of the same underlying data, we urge researchers to explicitly consider and transparently discuss the normative judgments underlying their measures. We also urge policymakers and other consumers of health inequalities data to pay close attention to the measures on which they base their assessments of current and future health policies.
Keywords: Health inequalities, measurement, ethics, health policy.

Tobacco Product RegulationReport on the Scientific Basis


WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product RegulationReport on the Scientific Basis of Tobacco Product Regulation

WHO Technical Report Series, no. 955

Publication date2010
LanguagesEnglish
ISBN978 92 4 120955 7

Download document
The WHO Tobacco Free Initiative announces the third volume of the WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation (TobReg) Technical Report Series on the Scientific Basis of Tobacco Product Regulation. This WHO Technical Report Series makes available the findings of an international group of experts that provide WHO with the latest scientific and technical advice in the area of product regulation.
The third report presents the conclusions reached and recommendations made by the members of the WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation at its fifth meeting, during which it reviewed two background papers specially commissioned for the meeting and which dealt, respectively, with the following two themes.
  • Devices designed for the purpose of nicotine delivery to the respiratory system in which tobacco is not necessary for their operation.
  • Setting regulatory limits for carcinogens in smokeless tobacco.
The Study Group's recommendations in relation to each theme are set out at the end of the section dealing with that theme. Its overall recommendations are summarized in section 4.
The Study Group intends this new set of recommendations to be useful to WHO Member States and national policymakers and regulators in shaping tobacco control policy. The English will be available shortly in print format, and the other UN-language versions will be available soon.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Promoting Cardiovascular Health in the Developing World


Promoting Cardiovascular Health in the Developing World: A Critical Challenge to Achieve Global Health

Released:
March 22, 2010
Type:
Consensus Report
Topics:
DiseasesGlobal HealthPublic Health
Activity:
Preventing the Global Epidemic of Cardiovascular Disease: Meeting the Challenges in Developing Countries
Board:
Board on Global Health
Cardiovascular disease (CVD), once thought to be confined primarily to industrialized nations, has emerged as a major health threat in developing countries. Cardiovascular disease now accounts for nearly 30 percent of deaths in low and middle income countries each year, and is accompanied by significant economic repercussions. Yet most governments, global health institutions, and development agencies have largely overlooked CVD as they have invested in health in developing countries. Recognizing the gap between the compelling evidence of the global CVD burden and the investment needed to prevent and control CVD, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) turned to the IOM for advice on how to catalyze change.
In this report, the IOM recommends that the NHLBI, development agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and governments work toward two essential goals:
  • creating environments that promote heart healthy lifestyle choices and help reduce the risk of chronic diseases, and
  • building public health infrastructure and health systems with the capacity to implement programs that will effectively detect and reduce risk and manage CVD./.../

O universo é um computador quântico


Luciana Galastri em 22.03.2010 as 23:23
Do que o universo é feito? Matéria? Matéria escura? Energia? Vibrações? De acordo com um físico chamado Vlatko Vedral, nosso universo é feito de informação.
Parece até conversa de palestrantes que ganham a vida ensinando pessoas a se expressarem bem – mas a teoria de Vlatko é bem diferente. Segundo o físico, se quebrarmos o universo em pedaços cada vez menores o que sobraria no final são bits.
Sim, esses bits de informação que você carrega em seu computador mesmo. Um bit é o menor pedaço de informação – ele representa a distinção entre duas possibilidades (sim ou não, verdadeiro ou falso, zero ou um, e por aí vai). A palavra bit, em inglês, se refere à unidade física de armazenamento de informação de seu computador – um bit é registrado por um imã minúsculo em um dos pólos de seu drive de memória.

Omega-3 Fatty Acid Protects Against Polyps


Omega-3 Fatty Acid Protects Against Polyps

By Nancy Walsh, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today
Published: March 22, 2010
Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and
Dorothy Caputo, MA, RN, BC-ADM, CDE, Nurse Planner

Action Points  
  • Explain to interested patients that a new formulation of the fatty acid found in fish oil showed promise in the prevention of colorectal cancer in patients with familial adenomatous polyposis, according to a randomized study.
  • Explain that although the study was performed in patients with a genetic predisposition to colorectal cancer, the benefits also might extend to noninherited, or sporadic, colon cancer. But this has not yet been studied.
An omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid significantly reduced both the number and size of rectal polyps in patients with familial adenomatous polyposis, a randomized trial found.
Six months of treatment with the free fatty acid formulation of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) led to a decrease in mean number of polyps from 4.13 at baseline to 3.61, a 12.4% decrease, according to Nicholas J. West, MBBS, of St. Mark's Hospital in London, and colleagues.
In contrast, six months of placebo treatment resulted in an increase from 4.50 polyps at baseline to 5.05, which represented a 9.7% increase, the researchers reported online in Gut.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Dia Mundial da Saúde 07 de abril UFRGS

Día Mundial de la Salud y Seguridad en el Trabajo



OPS está lanzando un concurso de fotografía para celebrar el Día Mundial de la Salud y Seguridad en el Trabajo. El tema de OPS 2010 es “Trabajos Saludables.”

Colabora con el lanzamiento de este concurso participando y circulando el boletín adjunto a todos tus contactos. La fecha límite para enviar tus fotografías es el 31 de marzo de 2010.

¡Muchas gracias por tu participación!


Água

dia da água 04

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Periodic Table of Science Bloggers

This is an unusual version of the periodic table of the elements in that select symbols will take you to my various accounts online rather than information about a given chemical as well as to those of fellow bloggers and science types on the net. I've highlighted those elements that lead to my sites in gold and guests are in bronze. If you would like your site highlighted as an element, let me know via twitter, give me the link and an appropriate element.

BEHIND THE BURNER


WELCOME TO BEHIND THE BURNER

(Appointed by Berenice Goelzer)
Do you find yourself trying to sneak a peek into the kitchen of your favorite restaurant? Do your culinary experiments extend from humble pumpkin pie recipes to molecular gastronomy? Are you curious about the latest cocktail craze and wondering about what wine to drink with dinner? Do you want to make healthy and nutritious foods without sacrificing flavor?
If your food and wine adventures are more about the journey than the destination, Behind the Burner is the perfect place to explore your culinary desires.
At Behind the Burner, we aim to satisfy your craving for insider food and beverage tips, tricks and techniques by convincing the best culinary experts to spill their beans. Renowned chefs, from Wolfgang Puck to Francois Payard and Michael White to Michael Psilakis, present best-practice, timesaving solutions that dissolve the boundaries between professional and home kitchens.
From poultry brine recipes to juicy hamburger recipes, simple salads, healthy snacks, and chocolate dessert recipes, we've got the secrets to serving exquisite food in a flash. We also give you deals on the tools and ingredients that the experts use and recommend. With Behind the Burner, learning never tasted so good!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Luiz Eduardo Robinson Achutti: Imagens, Paris...

No endereço acima estão imagens feitas por nosso filho, fotógrafo, antropólogo e professor da UFRGS.
Ele também me enviou o endereço abaixo como a maior foto do mundo. Compartilho porque vale a pena.
From:

Luiz Eduardo Robinson ACHUTTI





bom fim de semana !  Vive la photographie.
Achutti.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Programa: dia Mundial da Saúde na UFRGS e na AL


Dia 7 de Abril, dia Mundial da Saúde (OPAS/OMS), estará acontecendo uma mesa redonda sobre Saúde Urbana, Ambiente e Desigualdades na Reitoria da UFRGS, sala 2, as 14:30 horas.
Este é um primeiro contato. O cartaz de divulgação está sendo produzido e será encaminhado oportunamente. Mas gostaríamos que, desde já, os colegas tentassem agendar-se. Será uma oportunidade para todos nós identificarmos parceiros com interesses comuns com vistas a construirmos projetos multidisciplinares e talvez pensarmos num núcleo de extensão e pesquisa voltado ao tema Cidades.
A programação do evento está copiada abaixo.
Atenciosamente,
  
PROREXT/ UFRGS - UNI ver CIDADE

No DIA MUNDIAL DA SAÚDE (OPS/OMS), 7 de Abril de 2010 (quarta-feira), A PROREXT e o Departamento de Medicina Social convidam a comunidade da UFRGS para o Simpósio

SAÚDE URBANA: CIDADE, MEIO AMBIENTE e DESIGUALDADES*

14:30 Abertura

14:45 Mesa Redonda

Coordenador:
Prof. Aloyzio Achutti

Palestrantes:

Prof. Sérgio Bassanesi, Dep. de Medicina Social, Curso de Medicina, UFRGS.
                                Desigualdades em Saúde e Segregação Espacial em Porto Alegre

 Prof. Miguel Aloyzio Sattler, Dep. de Engenharia Civil, Curso de Engenharia, UFRGS
                               Cidades Saudáveis e Sustentáveis

Prof. Paulo Barros de Oliveira, Dep. de Medicina Social, Curso de Medicina, UFRGS
                                Saúde do Trabalhador Urbano e Desigualdades em Tempo de Transformações no Mundo do Trabalho.

 Prof. Darci Campani, Dep. de Engenharia Mecânica, Curso de Saúde Coletiva, UFRGS e Coordenador de Gestão Ambiental, UFRGS
                                 A Gestão da Cidade e o Processo Participativo
16:15 Debate

17:00 Encerramento
***********************************************
PARTICIPE TAMBÉM DO DOMINGO NO PARQUE DA REDENÇÃO, DIA 11/4/2007
Promoção da UBS-HCPA/FAMED/UFRGS em comemoração ao DIA MUNDIAL DA SAÚDE
***********************************************

NA ASSEMBLÉIA LEGISLATIVA DO ESTADO


DIA INTERNACIONAL DA SAÚDE
DIA NACIONAL DE LUTA PELA SAÚDE

Seminário Estadual:
“Saúde do Planeta Qualidade de Vida para o Ser Humano”
Construindo o SUS que queremos


Data: 07 de abril de 2010
Local: Auditório Dante Barone – Assembleia Legislativa do Estado – Porto Alegre/RS
Horário: 09:00 às 17:00



Pesquisadores Brasileiros Recebem Premio Salud Carlos Slim no México







De: 

Timóteo Araújo



O Dr Victor Matsudo e Dra Sandra Matsudo serão os representantes do CELAFISCS,    uma  entidade sem fins lucrativos que foi escolhida entre 145 entidades internacionais  que receberá o Prêmio  ENTIDADE EXCEPCIONAL 2010.
O Celafiscs (www.celafiscs.org.br) é um centro de pesquisa na área de atividade física e saúde, com  35 anos de história. É uma esntidade sem fins lucrativos que coordena o Programa Agita Sâo Paulo (www.agitasp.org.br) que tem como objetivo incentivar a população adotar um estilo de vida mais ativo.
prof. Timóteo Araújo
4227-3802
4229-8980