Nos primeiros instantes
Equipe internacional explica comportamento de partículas em experimento que reproduz os momentos iniciais do Universo
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Cardiologia Diabetológica e Prevenção
Recomendado pelo AMICOR Reginaldo Albuquerque
Cardiologia Diabetológica e Prevenção do Diabetes: Novos Estudos Contestam Conceitos Tradicionais
Dr. Augusto Pimazoni NettoCoordenador dos Grupos de Educação e Controle do Diabetes do
Hospital do Rim e Hipertensão da Universidade Federal de São Paulo – UNIFESP e do
Centro de Diabetes do Hospital Alemão Oswaldo Cruz.
Hospital do Rim e Hipertensão da Universidade Federal de São Paulo – UNIFESP e do
Centro de Diabetes do Hospital Alemão Oswaldo Cruz.
A edição Online First do New England Journal Medicine (NEJM) de hoje, 14 de março de 2010, nos traz os resultados de dois grandes estudos (ACCORD e NAVIGATOR), cujos resultados contestam conceitos tradicionais nas áreas de cardiologia diabetológica e prevenção do diabetes. /.../
Tobacco Product RegulationReport
printable version WHO Study Group on Tobacco Product RegulationReport on the Scientific Basis of Tobacco Product Regulation
WHO Technical Report Series, no. 955
Publication date: 2010Languages: English
ISBN: 978 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.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Reaching for a Healthier Life
SES and Health Network History and Team Science
Nancy E. Adler and Judith Stewart
In this chapter the director and the administrator of the MacArthur Network on SES and Health reflect on the evolution of the network. Against the backdrop of the science of “team science”, they describe the history and process of the network including the forging of a group agenda, the development of a creative, productive group working style, and the outcomes arising from these processes.
Societies are structured like ladders. The rungs of the ladder represent the resources that determine whether people can live a good life – prosperous, healthy, and secure – or a life plagued by difficulties
– insufficient income, poor health, and vulnerability. People standing on the top rungs are the best educated, have the most respected jobs, ample savings, and comfortable housing. On the bottom rungs are people who are poorly educated, experience long bouts of unemployment or low wage jobs, have nothing to fall back on in the way of savings, and live in substandard homes. The people in the middle have more resources to rely on than do people at the bottom, but far less than people on the top. In reaching for health, every step up makes a difference.
Of all the outcomes determined by your position on the ladder, none is more fundamental than this: it predicts how long you live and how healthy you are during your lifetime. This is a surprising finding because we tend to think of health as something that is fixed by our genetic heritage. But genes are only part of the picture. It turns out that the more advantaged our lives are, the longer we live and the healthier we are from birth to old age. People who grow up on the bottom die younger and are sicker throughout their lifetimes than those who are born to the rungs above them./.../
Franciscus Sylvius
also called Franz, or François, De le Boë, or Du Bois
born March 15, 1614, Hanau, Ger.died Nov. 15, 1672, Leiden, Neth.
![Franciscus Sylvius, detail of an engraving.
[Credit: BBC Hulton Picture Library]](http://cache-media.britannica.com/eb-media/46/9146-003-D3BD58D5.gif "Franciscus Sylvius, detail of an engraving.
[Credit: BBC Hulton Picture Library]")
physician, physiologist, anatomist, and chemist who is considered the founder of the 17th-century iatrochemical school of medicine, which held that all phenomena of life and disease are based on chemical action. His studies helped shift medical emphasis from mystical speculation to a rational application of universal laws of physics and chemistry.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/577670/Franciscus-Sylvius
Saturday, March 13, 2010
The Next American Century
In 1941, prior to the U.S.'s entry into World War II, the co-founder of this magazine, Henry Luce, penned an essay in LIFE that exhorted "unhappy" Americans, "[distracted] with lifeless arguments about isolationism," to "create the first great American century" — the first, mind you, not the last. We are now entering the second decade of what will be an even more markedly American century; in fact, the Americanization of the world will characterize the foreseeable future far more than the past.
It's true that Brand America took a hit this decade. The global superpower botched an election at home and an occupation overseas. Its vaunted financial markets were roiled by sketchy accounting early in the decade, then triggered a global economic crisis later on, thanks to Wall Street's leveraged gamble that it had conquered risk once and for all. All these missteps dented the U.S.'s credibility but were also a reminder that, fairly or not, the U.S. retains an enviably large margin of error. And times of economic dislocation only accentuate America's competitive advantage — its nimbleness and adaptability.
With only 5% of the world's population, the U.S. produces a quarter of the world's economic output. Even as the global economic crisis led to the expansion of the G-7 (or G-8, depending on who's counting) into the G-20, none of the newcomers offer a compelling challenge to the American way. If anything, they want to make sure the U.S. abides by its own rules. The dollar's status as the world's reserve currency has only been bolstered as the Greek debt crisis unveils the perils of a monetary union that lacks political and fiscal coherence. China, ostensibly the next big thing, continues its long march toward Western notions of private property, while Beijing bets on America's future by stocking up on billions of dollars' worth of Treasury bills. The rise of a consumerist middle-class society in nations like China, Brazil and India creates a more stable world, not to mention new markets for American products and culture.
And yet doomsayers continue to decry America's decline. This isn't new. As far back as 1988, when Paul Kennedy's The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers was a best seller, the commentariat latched onto his (more hedged than remembered) warning that America ran the risk of "imperial overstretch" — "the awkward and enduring fact that the sum total of the United States' global interests and obligations is nowadays far larger than the country's power to defend all simultaneously."
So, what happened next? Well, the Berlin Wall collapsed, much of the world embraced market capitalism, and the U.S. shrank the globe and took it online with a revolutionary new technology that strengthens its cultural dominance. Meanwhile, the cost of keeping the Pax Americana has become far lighter. Despite the nation's two long-running commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq, the 288,000 American service members posted or deployed overseas and a defense budget of 4.6% of GDP are near post–World War II lows (in 1987 the corresponding figures were 524,000 service members overseas and a defense budget in excess of 6% of GDP). And this historically modest investment dwarfs the military spending of the next nine powers combined.
Still, we fret and we fret about our status. This is partly a good thing, because it beats complacency, but a bad thing when it begrudges the newfound wealth of others. The fact that millions of people in India and China are getting their first taste of prosperity shouldn't make Americans feel poorer.
View the full list for "10 Ideas for the Next 10 Years"more:http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1971133_1971110,00.html?xid=newsletter-daily#ixzz0i3xWtnlE
Friday, March 12, 2010
Hunger on the Rise
Hunger on the Rise
FINANCE & DEVELOPMENT, March 2010, Volume 47, Number 1PDF version
Number of hungry people tops one billion
Number of hungry people tops one billion
World hunger spiked sharply in 2009, significantly worsening an already disappointing trend in global food security since 1996. The combination of food and economic crises has pushed the number of hungry people worldwide to historic levels. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that 1.02 billion people were undernourished in 2009—about 100 million more than 2008.
Infectious Disease Movement in a Borderless World.
Infectious Disease Movement in a Borderless World. Workshop Summary
- Released:
- March 12, 2010
- Type:
- Workshop Summary
- Topics:
- Diseases, Global Health, Public Health
- Activity:
- Forum on Microbial Threats
- Board:
- Board on Global Health
Note: Workshop Summaries contain the opinion of the presenters, but do NOT reflect the conclusions of the IOM. Learn more about the differences between Workshop Summaries and Consensus Reports.
Modern transportation allows people, animals, and plants—and the pathogens they carry—to travel more easily than ever before. The ease and speed of travel, tourism, and international trade connect once-remote areas with one another, eliminating many of the geographic and cultural barriers that once limited the spread of disease. Because of our global interconnectedness through transportation, tourism and trade, infectious diseases emerge more frequently; spread greater distances; pass more easily between humans and animals; and evolve into new and more virulent strains.
The IOM’s Forum on Microbial Threats hosted the workshop “Globalization, Movement of Pathogens (and Their Hosts) and the Revised International Health Regulations” December 16-17, 2008 in order to explore issues related to infectious disease spread in a “borderless” world. Participants discussed the global emergence, establishment, and surveillance of infectious diseases; the complex relationship between travel, trade, tourism, and the spread of infectious diseases; national and international policies for mitigating disease movement locally and globally; and obstacles and opportunities for detecting and containing these potentially wide-reaching and devastating diseases. This document summarizes the workshop.
The IOM’s Forum on Microbial Threats hosted the workshop “Globalization, Movement of Pathogens (and Their Hosts) and the Revised International Health Regulations” December 16-17, 2008 in order to explore issues related to infectious disease spread in a “borderless” world. Participants discussed the global emergence, establishment, and surveillance of infectious diseases; the complex relationship between travel, trade, tourism, and the spread of infectious diseases; national and international policies for mitigating disease movement locally and globally; and obstacles and opportunities for detecting and containing these potentially wide-reaching and devastating diseases. This document summarizes the workshop.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
The Biology of Disadvantage: Socioeconomic Status and Health
From:
The Biology of Disadvantage: Socioeconomic Status and Health
Nancy E. Adler and Judith Stewart
University of California, San Francisco, California
Annals of the New York Academy of Science Volume 1186, February 2010
Website: http://www3.interscience.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Volume 1186 Issue The Biology of Disadvantage: Socioeconomic Status and Health
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“….How does socioeconomic status "get into the body" to affect health? A decade ago, when the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health began to answer this question, few studies directly tested the pathways and mechanisms that contribute to the gradient relationship between socioeconomic staus and health.
The scientific research presented here captures where the field stands after 10 years of intense research by the MacArthur Network and others into the mechanisms of health disparities. In addition, it illustrates the power of a multidisciplinary approach to complex social issues. Finally, it presents potential applications of the accumulated knowledge for social interventions and raises pragmatic issues that are important to consider when science is translated into policy and intervention….”
Preface to The Biology of Disadvantage: Socioeconomic Status and Health (p 1-4)
Nancy E. Adler, Judith Stewart
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Original Articles
Health disparities across the lifespan: Meaning, methods, and mechanisms (p 5-23)
Nancy E. Adler, Judith Stewart
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Nancy E. Adler, Judith Stewart
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Abstract PDF (Size: 349K)
“…..Over the past two decades, exponential growth of empirical research has fueled markedly increased concern about health disparities. In this paper, we show the progression of research on socioeconomic status (SES) and health through several eras. The first era reflected an implicit threshold model of the association of poverty and health.
The second era produced evidence for a graded association between SES and health where each improvement in education, income, occupation, or wealth is associated with better health outcomes.
Moving from description of the association to exploration of pathways, the third era focused on mechanisms linking SES and health, whereas the fourth era expanded on mechanisms to consider multilevel influences, and a fifth era added a focus on interactions among factors, not just their main effects or contributions as mediators. Questions from earlier eras remain active areas of research, while later eras add depth and complexity…..”
“…..Over the past two decades, exponential growth of empirical research has fueled markedly increased concern about health disparities. In this paper, we show the progression of research on socioeconomic status (SES) and health through several eras. The first era reflected an implicit threshold model of the association of poverty and health.
The second era produced evidence for a graded association between SES and health where each improvement in education, income, occupation, or wealth is associated with better health outcomes.
Moving from description of the association to exploration of pathways, the third era focused on mechanisms linking SES and health, whereas the fourth era expanded on mechanisms to consider multilevel influences, and a fifth era added a focus on interactions among factors, not just their main effects or contributions as mediators. Questions from earlier eras remain active areas of research, while later eras add depth and complexity…..”
Socioeconomic gradients in health in international and historical context (p 24-36)
William H. Dow, David H. Rehkopf
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Childhood socioeconomic status and adult health (p 37-55)
Sheldon Cohen, Denise Janicki-Deverts, Edith Chen, Karen A. Matthews
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Sheldon Cohen, Denise Janicki-Deverts, Edith Chen, Karen A. Matthews
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Money, schooling, and health: Mechanisms and causal evidence (p 56-68)
Ichiro Kawachi, Nancy E. Adler, William H. Dow
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Ichiro Kawachi, Nancy E. Adler, William H. Dow
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Race, socioeconomic status, and health: Complexities, ongoing challenges, and research opportunities (p 69-101)
David R. Williams, Selina A. Mohammed, Jacinta Leavell, Chiquita Collins
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
David R. Williams, Selina A. Mohammed, Jacinta Leavell, Chiquita Collins
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Work and its role in shaping the social gradient in health (p 102-124)
Jane E. Clougherty, Kerry Souza, Mark R. Cullen
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Jane E. Clougherty, Kerry Souza, Mark R. Cullen
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Neighborhoods and health (p 125-145)
Ana V. Diez Roux, Christina Mair
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Ana V. Diez Roux, Christina Mair
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Are psychosocial factors mediators of socioeconomic status and health connections? : A progress report and blueprint for the future (p 146-173)
Karen A. Matthews, Linda C. Gallo, Shelley E. Taylor
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Karen A. Matthews, Linda C. Gallo, Shelley E. Taylor
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Multiple risk exposure as a potential explanatory mechanism for the socioeconomic status–health gradient (p 174-189)
Gary W. Evans, Pilyoung Kim
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Gary W. Evans, Pilyoung Kim
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Abstract | References | Full Text: HTML, PDF (Size: 256K)
Central role of the brain in stress and adaptation: Links to socioeconomic status, health, and disease (p 190-222)
Bruce S. McEwen, Peter J. Gianaros
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Bruce S. McEwen, Peter J. Gianaros
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Socio-economic differentials in peripheral biology: Cumulative allostatic load (p 223-239)
Teresa Seeman, Elissa Epel, Tara Gruenewald, Arun Karlamangla, Bruce S. McEwen
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Teresa Seeman, Elissa Epel, Tara Gruenewald, Arun Karlamangla, Bruce S. McEwen
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Evaluating the evidence base: Policies and interventions to address socioeconomic status gradients in healtha (p 240-251)
William H. Dow, Robert F. Schoeni, Nancy E. Adler, Judith Stewart
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
William H. Dow, Robert F. Schoeni, Nancy E. Adler, Judith Stewart
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Using team science to address health disparities: MacArthur network as case example (p 252-260)
Nancy E. Adler, Judith Stewart
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
Nancy E. Adler, Judith Stewart
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.
World Drug Report 2009
4:10 PM (6 hours ago) |
World Drug Report 2009
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Vienna
Available online PDF [314P.] at: http://www.unodc.org/
“……The year 2008 saw some encouraging reductions in the production of cocaine and heroin. In cooperation with the affected states, UNODC conducts annual crop surveys in the countries that produce the vast bulk of these drugs. These surveys show a reduction in opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan of 19% and a reduction in coca cultivation in Colombia of 18%. Trends in other production countries are mixed, but are not large enough to offset the declines in these two major producers.
Last year’s World Drug Report reviewed 100 years of drug control efforts, documenting the development of one of the first international cooperative ventures designed to deal with a global challenge. This pioneering work brought together nations with very different political and cultural perspectives to agree on a topic of considerable sensitivity: the issue of substance abuse and addiction.
Despite wars, economic crises, and other cataclysmic events of state, the global drug control movement has chugged steadily forward, culminating in a framework of agreements and joint interventions with few precedents or peers in international law.
Today, a number of substances are prohibited in the domestic legislation of almost every country. As discussed below, this unanimity has created a bulwark shielding millions from the effects of drug abuse and addiction. In the past, many of these substances were legally produced and, in some cases, aggressively marketed, to devastating effect. The collective nations of the world have agreed that this state of affairs was unacceptable, and have created an international control system that allows crops such as opium poppy to be produced for medical use, with very little diversion to the illicit market….”
Popular diets work best by genotype
Dieting by DNA? Popular diets work best by genotype, research shows
MARCH 8, 2010 |Researchers are cautious, of course, but the latest study showed that when individuals were assigned to different diets—including the low-carbohydrate Atkins diet and low-fat Ornish diet—based on their genotype, they lost significantly more weight than those assigned to a diet unsuited to their genetics.
"Say you and your wife went on the Atkins diet, and you both think you followed it religiously, but you lost 13 pounds and she lost nothing and is angry because she followed the same diet. Well, she might have a different genotype," senior investigator Dr Christopher Gardner (Stanford University, CA) toldheartwire. "She isn't genetically predisposed to do well on a low-carbohydrate Atkins diet."
Lead investigator on the study was Dr Mindy Dopler Nelson (Stanford University)./.../
Brazil's Silva quits smoking after 50 years
 | ||
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, gestures during an interview with The Associated Press, in Brasilia, Tuesday, March 9, 2010. Lula da Silva warned that U.S.-proposed sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program could lead to war in the Middle East. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres) Brazil's Silva quits smoking after 50 years BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil's president said Tuesday that he kicked the smoking habit he had for 50 years after a recent health scare sent his blood pressure soaring. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in an interview with The Associated Press that he stopped with sheer willpower. No nicotine patches or gum, and no medication, the 64-year-old leader said. Silva was just about to take off in his presidential plane in January for the World Economic Forum in Switzerland when his blood pressure rose dramatically. He spent the night in a hospital. On Tuesday, he characterized the hospitalization as a nuisance, "but the good thing is that I quit smoking." He blamed the scare on an exhausting schedule over three days. Silva favored cigarillos, small cigars often made without filters. But he was never seen in public smoking since he assumed the presidency in 2003. Silva said he quit before, but thinks it will be for good this time because of his age. "I haven't smoked for 40 days now, and I'm feeling good," he said. Silva said he won't try to persuade U.S. President Barack Obama to follow his example. Obama had his first physical last month as commander in chief, and it revealed he hasn't kicked his smoking habit, though he has talked about his struggles. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said March 1 that Obama does occasionally fall off the wagon and is aware of the example he sets for America's youth. "On these sort of things, you don't give advice," Silva said. "Everyone can do what they want if they're of age. Everyone knows that it's not good for your health." Added Silva: "I don't have any more time to experiment with my life." Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. |
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