New Guidelines Issued for Hypertension that Defies Treatment
Download Complimentary Source PDF
By Judith Groch, Contributing Writer, MedPage TodayPublished: April 11, 2008Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
BIRMINGHAM, Ala., April 11 -- The American Heart Association has issued consensus guidelines for treating resistant hypertension, a common, difficult-to-manage condition.
Resistance is also established if hypertension is controlled but it's taken four or more drugs to get there.
The exact prevalence of resistant hypertension is unknown, but clinical trials suggest that it is not rare, involving 20% to 30% of study participants, the guideline committee wrote.
Older age and obesity are two of the strongest risk factors associated with resistant hypertension, and the condition is likely to become more common as the population ages and becomes heavier, the committee authors said.
As a first step in management, they emphasized, it is important to determine that a person's condition is resistant, not merely uncontrolled.
The committee's diagnostic advice:
Confirm treatment resistance. In addition to use of medications as noted above, office blood pressure, taken with good technique, should be greater than 140/90 or over 130/80 in patients with diabetes or chronic kidney disease;
Rule out the "white-coat effect" by use of ambulatory monitoring, if necessary;
Identify and reverse contributing lifestyle factors, such as obesity, physical inactivity, excessive alcohol ingestion, high salt and low-fiber diet;
Discontinue or minimize interfering substances, such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents, diet pills, decongestants, stimulants, oral contraceptives, licorice, and ephedra;
Screen for secondary causes of resistant hypertension, such as obstructive sleep apnea, renal artery stenosis, primary aldosteronism, Cushing's syndrome, aortic co-arctation, and pheochromocytoma. /.../
Monday, April 14, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
Inflammation May Be Link Between Heart Disease and Fetal Growth
Inflammation May Be Link Between Heart Disease and Fetal Growth
By Crystal Phend, Staff Writer, MedPage TodayPublished: April 10, 2008Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
LONDON, April 10 -- Low birth weight followed by excessive weight gain during adolescence may put the heart at risk by increasing low-grade inflammation, researchers said.
Explain to interested parents that the study suggested that growth in the womb and in adolescence can have an impact on inflammation, which has been linked to cardiovascular risk.
Note that the observational study did not include correlation with cardiovascular events because there were too few events in the young cohort.
Levels of the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein were 16% higher at age 31 for every 1 kg lower weight at birth and for each unit increase in body mass index from age 14 on, reported Paul Elliott, Ph.D., of Imperial College London, and colleagues, online in the European Heart Journal
By Crystal Phend, Staff Writer, MedPage TodayPublished: April 10, 2008Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
LONDON, April 10 -- Low birth weight followed by excessive weight gain during adolescence may put the heart at risk by increasing low-grade inflammation, researchers said.
Explain to interested parents that the study suggested that growth in the womb and in adolescence can have an impact on inflammation, which has been linked to cardiovascular risk.
Note that the observational study did not include correlation with cardiovascular events because there were too few events in the young cohort.
Levels of the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein were 16% higher at age 31 for every 1 kg lower weight at birth and for each unit increase in body mass index from age 14 on, reported Paul Elliott, Ph.D., of Imperial College London, and colleagues, online in the European Heart Journal
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Físico diz que "partícula de Deus" será encontrada em breve Terra - Pesquisas
Físico diz que "partícula de Deus" será encontrada em breve Terra - Pesquisas
Físico diz que "partícula de Deus" será encontrada em breve
Alexander G. Higgins
O pai de uma partícula subatômica teórica apelidada de "partícula de Deus" diz estar quase certo de que ela será confirmada no ano que vem, em uma corrida entre poderosos equipamentos de pesquisa instalados nos Estados Unidos e na Europa.
» Físicos tentam decifrar a "partícula de Deus"
O físico britânico Peter Higgs, que mais de 40 anos atrás postulou a existência dessa partícula como parte da composição do átomo, disse que sua visita a um novo acelerador de partículas em Genebra, no final de semana passada, o levou a acreditar que o bóson de Higgs deva em breve ser observado.
O Large Hadron Collider, um projeto de US$ 2 bilhões em construção desde 2003, deve começar suas operações em junho no Laboratório Europeu de Física de Partículas, conhecido como CERN.
É provável que sejam precisos alguns meses antes que centenas de cientistas de todo o mundo estejam prontos para começar a promover colisões entre prótons a fim de estudar sua composição.
Higgs disse na última segunda-feira que a partícula já pode ter sido criada no Laboratório Nacional Fermi dos Estados Unidos, perto de Chicago, que abriga o maior acelerador de partículas em operação no mundo, o Tevatron. "O Tevatron tem muita energia em fluxo", disse Higgs. "É só a dificuldade de análise dos dados que nos impede de saber rapidamente o que os dados estão ocultando".
Acelerador de partículasO novo acelerador de partículas do CERN, uma imensa construção instalada em um túnel circular de 27 quilômetros de comprimento sob a fronteira entre a França e a Suíça, será ainda mais poderoso, e terá mais capacidade de demonstrar que partículas foram criadas nas colisões entre feixes de prótons viajando à velocidade da luz.
O novo acelerador de Genebra recriará as condições rapidamente mutáveis que existiam no universo uma fração de segundo depois do Big Bang. Será o mais perto que os cientistas terão chegado do evento que a teoria designa como o começo do universo. Eles esperam que o novo equipamento permita que estudem partículas e forças até agora não observadas.
Mas o Fermilab ainda tem tempo de vencer a corrida caso possa demonstrar que descobriu o bóson de Higgs, disse Higgs. Leon Lederman, físico que conquistou um Nobel em sua disciplina, definiu o bóson teórico como "partícula de Deus", porque sua descoberta poderia unificar a compreensão da física de partículas e ajudar os seres humanos a "conhecer a mente de Deus".
Higgs disse a jornalistas que ele tem a esperança de receber a confirmação de sua teoria antes de seu 80° aniversário em maio de 2009. Caso isso não aconteça, ele brincou "terei de pedir ao meu médico que me mantenha vivo por um pouquinho mais de tempo". Higgs não usa o termo "partícula de Deus" para designar o bóson que leva seu nome, por medo de ofender algumas pessoas.
Ele previu a existência do bóson quando estava pesquisando na Universidade de Edimburgo com o objetivo de provar como os átomos ¿ e os objetos que eles compõem - têm peso. Sem a partícula, a teoria física básica ¿ o modelo padrão - carece de um elemento crucial, porque não explica como outras partículas subatômicas, a exemplo de quarks e elétrons, têm massa.
A teoria de Higgs é a de que os bósons criam um campo através do qual as demais partículas passam. As partículas que enfrentam dificuldade para atravessar o campo, como se estivessem presas em um pote de melaço, ganham mais inércia, e massa. As que passam com mais facilidade são mais leves.
Higgs disse que ficaria "muito, muito intrigado", caso a existência da partícula jamais venha a ser provada, porque ele não consegue imaginar o que mais explicaria a maneira pela qual partículas adquirem massa. O físico contou que a reação inicial às suas idéias, nos anos 60, foi bastante cética.
"Meus colegas achavam que eu fosse meio idiota", ele disse, lembrando que seu primeiro estudo explicativo do funcionamento de sua teoria havia sido rejeitado por um editor do CERN. Ele conta que um colega passou alguns meses trabalhando no CERN pouco depois que Higgs desenvolveu sua teoria.
"Ele me procurou na volta e disse que no CERN as pessoas não pensavam que aquilo que eu estava fazendo tivesse muito a ver com a física de partículas", conta. "Eu acrescentei alguns parágrafos ao estudo, depois disso, e o enviei à Physical Review Letters, do outro lado do Atlântico, que o aceitou para publicação", conta Higgs. "A menção àquilo que viria a se tornar conhecido como bóson de Higgs estava em um desses parágrafos adicionais".
AP
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. Todos os direitos reservados. Este material não pode ser publicado, transmitido, reescrito ou redistribuíd
Físico diz que "partícula de Deus" será encontrada em breve
Alexander G. Higgins
O pai de uma partícula subatômica teórica apelidada de "partícula de Deus" diz estar quase certo de que ela será confirmada no ano que vem, em uma corrida entre poderosos equipamentos de pesquisa instalados nos Estados Unidos e na Europa.
» Físicos tentam decifrar a "partícula de Deus"
O físico britânico Peter Higgs, que mais de 40 anos atrás postulou a existência dessa partícula como parte da composição do átomo, disse que sua visita a um novo acelerador de partículas em Genebra, no final de semana passada, o levou a acreditar que o bóson de Higgs deva em breve ser observado.
O Large Hadron Collider, um projeto de US$ 2 bilhões em construção desde 2003, deve começar suas operações em junho no Laboratório Europeu de Física de Partículas, conhecido como CERN.
É provável que sejam precisos alguns meses antes que centenas de cientistas de todo o mundo estejam prontos para começar a promover colisões entre prótons a fim de estudar sua composição.
Higgs disse na última segunda-feira que a partícula já pode ter sido criada no Laboratório Nacional Fermi dos Estados Unidos, perto de Chicago, que abriga o maior acelerador de partículas em operação no mundo, o Tevatron. "O Tevatron tem muita energia em fluxo", disse Higgs. "É só a dificuldade de análise dos dados que nos impede de saber rapidamente o que os dados estão ocultando".
Acelerador de partículasO novo acelerador de partículas do CERN, uma imensa construção instalada em um túnel circular de 27 quilômetros de comprimento sob a fronteira entre a França e a Suíça, será ainda mais poderoso, e terá mais capacidade de demonstrar que partículas foram criadas nas colisões entre feixes de prótons viajando à velocidade da luz.
O novo acelerador de Genebra recriará as condições rapidamente mutáveis que existiam no universo uma fração de segundo depois do Big Bang. Será o mais perto que os cientistas terão chegado do evento que a teoria designa como o começo do universo. Eles esperam que o novo equipamento permita que estudem partículas e forças até agora não observadas.
Mas o Fermilab ainda tem tempo de vencer a corrida caso possa demonstrar que descobriu o bóson de Higgs, disse Higgs. Leon Lederman, físico que conquistou um Nobel em sua disciplina, definiu o bóson teórico como "partícula de Deus", porque sua descoberta poderia unificar a compreensão da física de partículas e ajudar os seres humanos a "conhecer a mente de Deus".
Higgs disse a jornalistas que ele tem a esperança de receber a confirmação de sua teoria antes de seu 80° aniversário em maio de 2009. Caso isso não aconteça, ele brincou "terei de pedir ao meu médico que me mantenha vivo por um pouquinho mais de tempo". Higgs não usa o termo "partícula de Deus" para designar o bóson que leva seu nome, por medo de ofender algumas pessoas.
Ele previu a existência do bóson quando estava pesquisando na Universidade de Edimburgo com o objetivo de provar como os átomos ¿ e os objetos que eles compõem - têm peso. Sem a partícula, a teoria física básica ¿ o modelo padrão - carece de um elemento crucial, porque não explica como outras partículas subatômicas, a exemplo de quarks e elétrons, têm massa.
A teoria de Higgs é a de que os bósons criam um campo através do qual as demais partículas passam. As partículas que enfrentam dificuldade para atravessar o campo, como se estivessem presas em um pote de melaço, ganham mais inércia, e massa. As que passam com mais facilidade são mais leves.
Higgs disse que ficaria "muito, muito intrigado", caso a existência da partícula jamais venha a ser provada, porque ele não consegue imaginar o que mais explicaria a maneira pela qual partículas adquirem massa. O físico contou que a reação inicial às suas idéias, nos anos 60, foi bastante cética.
"Meus colegas achavam que eu fosse meio idiota", ele disse, lembrando que seu primeiro estudo explicativo do funcionamento de sua teoria havia sido rejeitado por um editor do CERN. Ele conta que um colega passou alguns meses trabalhando no CERN pouco depois que Higgs desenvolveu sua teoria.
"Ele me procurou na volta e disse que no CERN as pessoas não pensavam que aquilo que eu estava fazendo tivesse muito a ver com a física de partículas", conta. "Eu acrescentei alguns parágrafos ao estudo, depois disso, e o enviei à Physical Review Letters, do outro lado do Atlântico, que o aceitou para publicação", conta Higgs. "A menção àquilo que viria a se tornar conhecido como bóson de Higgs estava em um desses parágrafos adicionais".
AP
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. Todos os direitos reservados. Este material não pode ser publicado, transmitido, reescrito ou redistribuíd
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Trends and Challenges since the Public Health in the Americas Initiative, 2000-2007
De: Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC)
The Essential Public Health Functions as a Strategy for Improving Overall Health Systems Performance: Trends and Challenges since the Public Health in the Americas Initiative, 2000-2007
Available online as PDF file [20p.] at: http://www.paho.org/english/DPM/SHD/HR/EPHF_2000-2007.pdf
“…..The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) defines the Essential Public Health Functions (EPHF) as the indispensable set of actions, under the primary responsibility of the state, that are fundamental for achieving the goal of public health which is to improve, promote, protect, and restore the health of the population through collective action.
Through the Public Health in the Americas Initiative, PAHO/WHO defined the 11 Essential Public Health Functions and developed a methodology that allows countries to evaluate in a comprehensive manner their public health systems. As part of the Initiative, 41 countries and territories of the Region of the Americas applied the assessment tool…”
The Essential Public Health Functions as a Strategy for Improving Overall Health Systems Performance: Trends and Challenges since the Public Health in the Americas Initiative, 2000-2007
Available online as PDF file [20p.] at: http://www.paho.org/english/DPM/SHD/HR/EPHF_2000-2007.pdf
“…..The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) defines the Essential Public Health Functions (EPHF) as the indispensable set of actions, under the primary responsibility of the state, that are fundamental for achieving the goal of public health which is to improve, promote, protect, and restore the health of the population through collective action.
Through the Public Health in the Americas Initiative, PAHO/WHO defined the 11 Essential Public Health Functions and developed a methodology that allows countries to evaluate in a comprehensive manner their public health systems. As part of the Initiative, 41 countries and territories of the Region of the Americas applied the assessment tool…”
"Mapa da Saúde do Brasileiro"
Governo divulga mapa da saúde do brasileiro
O Sistema de Vigilância de Fatores de Risco e Proteção para Doenças Crônicas por Inquérito Telefônico (Vigitel) revela como está a saúde dos brasileiros maiores de 18 anos. O estudo foi realizado pelo Ministério da Saúde em parceria com o Núcleo de Pesquisas Epidemiológicas em Nutrição e Saúde da Universidade de São Paulo, nas capitais dos 26 estados do País e no Distrito Federal.As entrevistas, realizadas entre julho e dezembro de 2007, contaram com uma equipe de 60 entrevistadores, quatro supervisores e um coordenador. No questionário, perguntas sobre tabagismo, consumo de bebidas alcoólicas, obesidade, ingestão de frutas e hortaliças, atividade física, proteção contra raios ultravioletas, auto-avaliação do estado de saúde, diagnóstico autodeclarado de hipertensão e diabetes e, para as mulheres, exame de mamografia e preventivo de colo de útero (Papanicolau).A pesquisa consistiu em mais de 54 mil entrevistas telefônicas, com um mínimo de dois mil indivíduos adultos em cada uma das 26 capitais e no Distrito Federal. A amostragem foi realizada a partir de cadastros das linhas telefônicas residenciais de cada cidade, onde um morador foi selecionado para ser o entrevistado. O Vigitel foi divulgado na sexta-feira (4).
O Sistema de Vigilância de Fatores de Risco e Proteção para Doenças Crônicas por Inquérito Telefônico (Vigitel) revela como está a saúde dos brasileiros maiores de 18 anos. O estudo foi realizado pelo Ministério da Saúde em parceria com o Núcleo de Pesquisas Epidemiológicas em Nutrição e Saúde da Universidade de São Paulo, nas capitais dos 26 estados do País e no Distrito Federal.As entrevistas, realizadas entre julho e dezembro de 2007, contaram com uma equipe de 60 entrevistadores, quatro supervisores e um coordenador. No questionário, perguntas sobre tabagismo, consumo de bebidas alcoólicas, obesidade, ingestão de frutas e hortaliças, atividade física, proteção contra raios ultravioletas, auto-avaliação do estado de saúde, diagnóstico autodeclarado de hipertensão e diabetes e, para as mulheres, exame de mamografia e preventivo de colo de útero (Papanicolau).A pesquisa consistiu em mais de 54 mil entrevistas telefônicas, com um mínimo de dois mil indivíduos adultos em cada uma das 26 capitais e no Distrito Federal. A amostragem foi realizada a partir de cadastros das linhas telefônicas residenciais de cada cidade, onde um morador foi selecionado para ser o entrevistado. O Vigitel foi divulgado na sexta-feira (4).
National Health Information System
Assessing the National Health Information System - An Assessment Tool
VERSION 4.0 – 2008
Health Metrics Network HMN- World Health Organization
Available online as PDF file [77p.] at: http://www.who.int/healthmetrics/tools/3_HMN_Assessment_Tool_Version_4_0_Eng.pdf
Health Metrics Network HMN is a global health partnership that focuses on two core requirements of health system strengthening in low and low-middle income countries:
- First, the need to enhance entire health information and statistical systems, rather than focus only upon specific diseases.
- Second, to concentrate efforts on strengthening country leadership for health information production and use.
In order to help meet these requirements and advance global health, it has become clear that there is an urgent need to coordinate and align partners around an agreed-upon “framework” for the development and strengthening of health information systems
VERSION 4.0 – 2008
Health Metrics Network HMN- World Health Organization
Available online as PDF file [77p.] at: http://www.who.int/healthmetrics/tools/3_HMN_Assessment_Tool_Version_4_0_Eng.pdf
Health Metrics Network HMN is a global health partnership that focuses on two core requirements of health system strengthening in low and low-middle income countries:
- First, the need to enhance entire health information and statistical systems, rather than focus only upon specific diseases.
- Second, to concentrate efforts on strengthening country leadership for health information production and use.
In order to help meet these requirements and advance global health, it has become clear that there is an urgent need to coordinate and align partners around an agreed-upon “framework” for the development and strengthening of health information systems
Monday, April 07, 2008
Instituto Difusor da Língua Portuguesa
O RESENHAS é um método inovador para disseminar a Língua Portuguesa por via de endereço eletrônico.
A quem se destina:
O Instituto Difusor da Língua Portuguesa oferece-lhe oportunidade de receber, no endereço eletrônico que for indicado, coletâneas de regras gramaticais elaboradas por renomados mestres da nossa língua, instrumento de apoio fundamental para você reorganizar e esmerar a sua maneira de utilizar o seu idioma, resultando num ganho de conhecimentos diversos que, certamente, proporcionarão um meio mais completo de comunicar.
A quem se destina:
O Instituto Difusor da Língua Portuguesa oferece-lhe oportunidade de receber, no endereço eletrônico que for indicado, coletâneas de regras gramaticais elaboradas por renomados mestres da nossa língua, instrumento de apoio fundamental para você reorganizar e esmerar a sua maneira de utilizar o seu idioma, resultando num ganho de conhecimentos diversos que, certamente, proporcionarão um meio mais completo de comunicar.
World Health Day 2008
World Health Organization – April 2008
Available online as PDF file [34p.] at:
http://www.who.int/world-health-day/toolkit/report_web.pdf
“………..There is now widespread agreement that the earth is warming, due to emissions of greenhouse gases caused by human activity. It is also clear that current trends in energy use development and population growth will lead to continuing – and more severe – climate change.
The changing climate will inevitably affect the basic requirements for maintaining health: clean air and water, sufficient food and adequate shelter. Each year, about 800 000 people die from causes attributable to urban air pollution, 1.8 million from diarrhoea largely resulting from lack of access to clean water supply and sanitation, and from poor hygiene, 3.5 million from malnutrition and approximately 60 000 in natural disasters.
A warmer and more variable climate threatens to lead to higher levels of some air pollutants, increase transmission of diseases through unclean water and through contaminated food, to compromise agricultural production in some of the least developed countries, and to increase the hazards of extreme weather.
Climate change also brings new challenges to the control of infectious diseases. Many of the major killers are highly climate sensitive as regards temperature and rainfall, including cholera and the diarrhoeal diseases, as well as diseases including malaria, dengue and other infections carried by vectors. In sum, climate change threatens to slow, halt or reverse the progress that the global public health community is now making against many of these diseases.
In the long run, however, the greatest health impacts may not be from acute shocks such as natural disasters or epidemics, but from the gradual build-up of pressure on the natural, economic and social systems that sustain health, and which are already under stress in much of the developing world. These gradual stresses include reductions and seasonal changes in the availability of fresh water, regional drops in food production, and rising sea levels. Each of these changes has the potential to force population displacement and increase the risks of civil conflict.
Available online as PDF file [34p.] at:
http://www.who.int/world-health-day/toolkit/report_web.pdf
“………..There is now widespread agreement that the earth is warming, due to emissions of greenhouse gases caused by human activity. It is also clear that current trends in energy use development and population growth will lead to continuing – and more severe – climate change.
The changing climate will inevitably affect the basic requirements for maintaining health: clean air and water, sufficient food and adequate shelter. Each year, about 800 000 people die from causes attributable to urban air pollution, 1.8 million from diarrhoea largely resulting from lack of access to clean water supply and sanitation, and from poor hygiene, 3.5 million from malnutrition and approximately 60 000 in natural disasters.
A warmer and more variable climate threatens to lead to higher levels of some air pollutants, increase transmission of diseases through unclean water and through contaminated food, to compromise agricultural production in some of the least developed countries, and to increase the hazards of extreme weather.
Climate change also brings new challenges to the control of infectious diseases. Many of the major killers are highly climate sensitive as regards temperature and rainfall, including cholera and the diarrhoeal diseases, as well as diseases including malaria, dengue and other infections carried by vectors. In sum, climate change threatens to slow, halt or reverse the progress that the global public health community is now making against many of these diseases.
In the long run, however, the greatest health impacts may not be from acute shocks such as natural disasters or epidemics, but from the gradual build-up of pressure on the natural, economic and social systems that sustain health, and which are already under stress in much of the developing world. These gradual stresses include reductions and seasonal changes in the availability of fresh water, regional drops in food production, and rising sea levels. Each of these changes has the potential to force population displacement and increase the risks of civil conflict.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
UNNATURAL CAUSES....
DID YOU KNOW:
The U.S. loses over $1 trillion every year in work productivity due to chronic illness. (Milken Institute, 2007)
Personal message: Please forward this to all your netowrks and contacts. Explore case studies, interactivities, resources, video clips, and action tools. Learn about the documentary and search organizations working towards health equity. Visit the Unnatural Causes Web site: http://www.unnaturalcauses.org
Premiering nationally on PBS in spring 2008. Buy the DVD at
http://www.unnaturalcauses.org/buy_the_dvd.php
Documentary series - Why is the most powerful country in the world not one of the healthiest? Why do the rich, on average, live longer, healthier lives than the rest of us? Unlike films that examine how health care cures us, UNNATURAL CAUSES explores the unequal conditions that make us sick in the first place.
Public engagement campaign - Together with leading public health, policy and community-based groups, UNNATURAL CAUSES aims to reframe our national debate over health and stimulate dialogue about what we can -- and should -- do to tackle inequities in society.
UNNATURAL CAUSES is produced by California Newsreel with Vital Pictures, Inc. Presented by the National Minority Consortia of public television. Public Engagement Campaign in association with the Joint Center Health Policy Institute.
The U.S. loses over $1 trillion every year in work productivity due to chronic illness. (Milken Institute, 2007)
Personal message: Please forward this to all your netowrks and contacts. Explore case studies, interactivities, resources, video clips, and action tools. Learn about the documentary and search organizations working towards health equity. Visit the Unnatural Causes Web site: http://www.unnaturalcauses.org
Premiering nationally on PBS in spring 2008. Buy the DVD at
http://www.unnaturalcauses.org/buy_the_dvd.php
Documentary series - Why is the most powerful country in the world not one of the healthiest? Why do the rich, on average, live longer, healthier lives than the rest of us? Unlike films that examine how health care cures us, UNNATURAL CAUSES explores the unequal conditions that make us sick in the first place.
Public engagement campaign - Together with leading public health, policy and community-based groups, UNNATURAL CAUSES aims to reframe our national debate over health and stimulate dialogue about what we can -- and should -- do to tackle inequities in society.
UNNATURAL CAUSES is produced by California Newsreel with Vital Pictures, Inc. Presented by the National Minority Consortia of public television. Public Engagement Campaign in association with the Joint Center Health Policy Institute.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
World Health Day 2008: protecting health from climate change
World Health Day, on 7 April, marks the founding of the World Health Organization and is an opportunity to draw worldwide attention to a subject of major importance to global health each year. In 2008, World Health Day focuses on the need to protect health from the adverse effects of climate change.
The theme “protecting health from climate change” puts health at the centre of the global dialogue about climate change. WHO selected this theme in recognition that climate change is posing ever growing threats to global public health security.
Through increased collaboration, the global community will be better prepared to cope with climate-related health challenges worldwide. Examples of such collaborative actions are: strengthening surveillance and control of infectious diseases, ensuring safer use of diminishing water supplies, and coordinating health action in emergencies./.../
The theme “protecting health from climate change” puts health at the centre of the global dialogue about climate change. WHO selected this theme in recognition that climate change is posing ever growing threats to global public health security.
Through increased collaboration, the global community will be better prepared to cope with climate-related health challenges worldwide. Examples of such collaborative actions are: strengthening surveillance and control of infectious diseases, ensuring safer use of diminishing water supplies, and coordinating health action in emergencies./.../
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Mapa da Saúde do Brasileiro adulto 2006-2008
03/04/2008 - 12h43
Publicado na Folha de SP e recomendado por Mário Maranhão
Mapa da saúde do brasileiro mostra que 43,4% estão acima do peso
Apenas 17,7% dos brasileiros cumpre recomendação da OMS de comer cinco porções diárias de vegetais
Estudo encomendado pelo Ministério da Saúde revela que 43,4% da população adulta está com excesso de peso, ou seja, apresenta Índice de Massa Corporal (IMC) igual ou superior a 25. O resultado pode ter uma explicação: a pesquisa mostra que apenas 17,7% dos brasileiros cumpre as recomendações da OMS de comer cinco porções diárias de frutas, hortaliças e verduras. O uso de carne com gorduras aparentes está no cotidiano de 32,8% da população e 29% dos adultos são sedentários. De uma forma geral, as brasileiras têm cuidado mais da saúde: alimentam-se melhor, fumam menos, são menos sedentárias, bebem menos e têm menos excesso de peso. EntrevistasOs números fazem parte da pesquisa realizada pelo Sistema de Vigilância de Fatores de Risco e Proteção para Doenças Crônicas por Inquérito Telefônico - Vigitel, em parceria com o Núcleo de Pesquisas Epidemiológicas em Nutrição e Saúde da Universidade de São Paulo.O levantamento é feito anualmente desde 2006 com pessoas a partir dos 18 anos, em todas as capitais e no Distrito Federal. Foram entrevistadas pelo telefone 54 mil pessoas, com um mínimo de 2.000 indivíduos em cada capital, além do Distrito Federal. Confira os principais resultados:TABAGISMOA freqüência de fumantes no país todo é de 16,4%. A capital onde o hábito de fumar está mais disseminado é Porto Alegre (21.7% da amostra) e o local onde se dão menos baforadas é em Salvador, com 11,5%.Os homens (20,9%) fumam mais que as mulheres (12,6%). Em ambos os sexos, a freqüência de fumantes cai após 54 anos de idade, alcançando menor regularidade entre os indivíduos com 65 anos ou mais. EXCESSO DE PESO E OBESIDADEA maior parcela de adultos com excesso de peso foi encontrada em Cuiabá (49,7%) e a menor, em Palmas (33,4%). Em geral, a ocorrência do excesso de peso é mais freqüente em homens do que em mulheres. Entre homens, o maior número de indivíduos acima do peso está entre os de maior escolaridade. Já entre mulheres o aumento do peso ocorre quanto menor a escolaridade. A pesquisa mostrou que o país contra com 13% de obesos (IMC igual ou maior que 30), sendo que a maior parcela foi encontrada no Macapá (16%) e a menor, em Palmas (8,8%). CONSUMO DE FRUTAS, LEGUMES E VERDURASA maior regularidade no consumo de vegetais foi encontrada em São Paulo (23% da amostra). O menor índice foi observado em Porto Velho (10%). CARNES COM GORDURAQuem se alimenta mais de carnes com a gordura aparente são os moradores de Campo Grande, com uma freqüência de 45%. A capital baiana é o local onde os entrevistados se alimentam menos de carne gorda (23%). Em todo o país, homens tendem a consumir mais (42,7%) que mulheres (24,3%). LEITE INTEGRALA freqüência no consumo de leite integral, mais rico em gordura, foi de 53% em todo o país. A menor taxa foi encontrada em Vitória (42%) e a maior, em Belém (64%). REFRIGERANTESA freqüência de adultos que consomem refrigerantes em cinco ou mais dias da semana variou de 21%, em Aracaju, a 38%, no Macapá. No país todo, 26,7% dos entrevistados afirmaram consumir a bebida com essa freqüência. Os homens bebem com mais regularidade (31,7%) que as mulheres (22,4%). ATIVIDADE FÍSICA NO LAZERSão poucos os adultos que praticam atividade física suficiente, ou seja, 30 minutos diários de intensidade leve ou moderada em cinco ou mais dias da semana. O índice variou entre 11,3%, em São Paulo, e 20,5%, em Vitória. No país inteiro, a prática regular foi observada em 15,5% da amostragem. Entre os homens, o hábito de se exercitar durante o tempo livre foi encontrado em 19,3%. Entre mulheres, o índice foi de apenas 12,3%. A prática regular de exercício mais freqüente entre homens acontece em Belém (25%). A menos freqüente, em São Paulo (16%). Os sedentários, ou seja, que não praticam nenhuma atividade física, estão mais concentrados em Recife (34%). O menor índice foi encontrado em Porto Velho (25%). Quanto maior é a faixa etária, menor é a quantidade de exercícios que se faz, tanto em homens, quanto em mulheres.BEBIDAS ALCOÓLICASO consumo abusivo de bebidas alcoólicas (considerando-se cinco doses para homens e quatro para mulheres em uma mesma ocasião, nos últimos 30 dias) variou entre 13,4%, em São Paulo; e 23%, em São Luís (ingestão com mais regularidade). A freqüência nacional foi de 17,5%. Na maioria das cidades, a ingestão abusiva foi três vezes maior entre os homens (27,2%) que entre as mulheres (9,3%). BEBIDA E DIREÇÃOPela pesquisa, 2% dos brasileiros dirigem após consumir bebidas alcoólicas. O hábito é mais freqüente em Palmas (4,5% da amostra) e menos, no Rio de Janeiro (1%). Os homens (4%) cometem mais esse tipo de infração que as mulheres (0,3%). AUTO-AVALIAÇÃOCerca de 5% dos brasileiros avaliaram seu estado de saúde como ruim. A freqüência variou entre 3,3% em Belo Horizonte e 7,9% em Manaus. Entre homens, o maior percentual foi em Salvador, com 7%, e entre mulheres, em Manaus, com 10%. De uma maneira geral, as mulheres tendem a achar seu estado de saúde pior que os homens.PREVENÇÃO DE CÂNCER DE COLO DE ÚTEROO Ministério da Saúde recomenda o exame de colo de útero (papanicolau) a cada três anos para todas as mulheres entre 25 e 59 anos que apresentaram resultado normal no exame anterior. O maior percentual de mulheres que fizeram o procedimento nos últimos três anos foi observado em São Paulo e Porto Alegre (90%). Os menores foram registrados em Teresina (68%) e Fortaleza (69%). MAMOGRAFIAA maior freqüência de mulheres entre 50 e 69 anos que realizaram mamografia nos dois últimos anos foi observada em Florianópolis (85%), seguido de Vitória (84%) e Porto Alegre (81%). As capitais Boa Vista (52%) e Macapá (54%) são os locais onde uma parcela menor de mulheres fizeram o exame nesse período. PROTEÇÃO CONTRA O SOLFlorianópolis é a capital onde os indivíduos mais se protegem contra a radiação ultravioleta (70%). É considerada proteção usar filtro solar e/ou chapéu e não se expor por mais de 30 minutos por dia ao sol. No outro extremo, onde menos pessoas se protegem, está Cuiabá, com 46,9%. As mulheres (62%) previnem-se mais que os homens (43%). HIPERTENSÃOA maior quantidade de indivíduos que se autodeclararam hipertensos foram os entrevistados do Rio de Janeiro (27%). O menor foi encontrado em Palmas (13,8%). DIABETESNatal é a capital onde há maior quantidade de diabéticos autodeclarados - eles somam 7,5% da amostra. A capital com menor parcela é Boa Vista, com 1,8% da população. Considerando toda a população adulta das capitais estudadas, 5,7% das mulheres referem ter diabetes, contra 4,8% dos homens. O diagnóstico da doença torna-se mais comum com o aumento da idade.
Publicado na Folha de SP e recomendado por Mário Maranhão
Mapa da saúde do brasileiro mostra que 43,4% estão acima do peso
Apenas 17,7% dos brasileiros cumpre recomendação da OMS de comer cinco porções diárias de vegetais
Estudo encomendado pelo Ministério da Saúde revela que 43,4% da população adulta está com excesso de peso, ou seja, apresenta Índice de Massa Corporal (IMC) igual ou superior a 25. O resultado pode ter uma explicação: a pesquisa mostra que apenas 17,7% dos brasileiros cumpre as recomendações da OMS de comer cinco porções diárias de frutas, hortaliças e verduras. O uso de carne com gorduras aparentes está no cotidiano de 32,8% da população e 29% dos adultos são sedentários. De uma forma geral, as brasileiras têm cuidado mais da saúde: alimentam-se melhor, fumam menos, são menos sedentárias, bebem menos e têm menos excesso de peso. EntrevistasOs números fazem parte da pesquisa realizada pelo Sistema de Vigilância de Fatores de Risco e Proteção para Doenças Crônicas por Inquérito Telefônico - Vigitel, em parceria com o Núcleo de Pesquisas Epidemiológicas em Nutrição e Saúde da Universidade de São Paulo.O levantamento é feito anualmente desde 2006 com pessoas a partir dos 18 anos, em todas as capitais e no Distrito Federal. Foram entrevistadas pelo telefone 54 mil pessoas, com um mínimo de 2.000 indivíduos em cada capital, além do Distrito Federal. Confira os principais resultados:TABAGISMOA freqüência de fumantes no país todo é de 16,4%. A capital onde o hábito de fumar está mais disseminado é Porto Alegre (21.7% da amostra) e o local onde se dão menos baforadas é em Salvador, com 11,5%.Os homens (20,9%) fumam mais que as mulheres (12,6%). Em ambos os sexos, a freqüência de fumantes cai após 54 anos de idade, alcançando menor regularidade entre os indivíduos com 65 anos ou mais. EXCESSO DE PESO E OBESIDADEA maior parcela de adultos com excesso de peso foi encontrada em Cuiabá (49,7%) e a menor, em Palmas (33,4%). Em geral, a ocorrência do excesso de peso é mais freqüente em homens do que em mulheres. Entre homens, o maior número de indivíduos acima do peso está entre os de maior escolaridade. Já entre mulheres o aumento do peso ocorre quanto menor a escolaridade. A pesquisa mostrou que o país contra com 13% de obesos (IMC igual ou maior que 30), sendo que a maior parcela foi encontrada no Macapá (16%) e a menor, em Palmas (8,8%). CONSUMO DE FRUTAS, LEGUMES E VERDURASA maior regularidade no consumo de vegetais foi encontrada em São Paulo (23% da amostra). O menor índice foi observado em Porto Velho (10%). CARNES COM GORDURAQuem se alimenta mais de carnes com a gordura aparente são os moradores de Campo Grande, com uma freqüência de 45%. A capital baiana é o local onde os entrevistados se alimentam menos de carne gorda (23%). Em todo o país, homens tendem a consumir mais (42,7%) que mulheres (24,3%). LEITE INTEGRALA freqüência no consumo de leite integral, mais rico em gordura, foi de 53% em todo o país. A menor taxa foi encontrada em Vitória (42%) e a maior, em Belém (64%). REFRIGERANTESA freqüência de adultos que consomem refrigerantes em cinco ou mais dias da semana variou de 21%, em Aracaju, a 38%, no Macapá. No país todo, 26,7% dos entrevistados afirmaram consumir a bebida com essa freqüência. Os homens bebem com mais regularidade (31,7%) que as mulheres (22,4%). ATIVIDADE FÍSICA NO LAZERSão poucos os adultos que praticam atividade física suficiente, ou seja, 30 minutos diários de intensidade leve ou moderada em cinco ou mais dias da semana. O índice variou entre 11,3%, em São Paulo, e 20,5%, em Vitória. No país inteiro, a prática regular foi observada em 15,5% da amostragem. Entre os homens, o hábito de se exercitar durante o tempo livre foi encontrado em 19,3%. Entre mulheres, o índice foi de apenas 12,3%. A prática regular de exercício mais freqüente entre homens acontece em Belém (25%). A menos freqüente, em São Paulo (16%). Os sedentários, ou seja, que não praticam nenhuma atividade física, estão mais concentrados em Recife (34%). O menor índice foi encontrado em Porto Velho (25%). Quanto maior é a faixa etária, menor é a quantidade de exercícios que se faz, tanto em homens, quanto em mulheres.BEBIDAS ALCOÓLICASO consumo abusivo de bebidas alcoólicas (considerando-se cinco doses para homens e quatro para mulheres em uma mesma ocasião, nos últimos 30 dias) variou entre 13,4%, em São Paulo; e 23%, em São Luís (ingestão com mais regularidade). A freqüência nacional foi de 17,5%. Na maioria das cidades, a ingestão abusiva foi três vezes maior entre os homens (27,2%) que entre as mulheres (9,3%). BEBIDA E DIREÇÃOPela pesquisa, 2% dos brasileiros dirigem após consumir bebidas alcoólicas. O hábito é mais freqüente em Palmas (4,5% da amostra) e menos, no Rio de Janeiro (1%). Os homens (4%) cometem mais esse tipo de infração que as mulheres (0,3%). AUTO-AVALIAÇÃOCerca de 5% dos brasileiros avaliaram seu estado de saúde como ruim. A freqüência variou entre 3,3% em Belo Horizonte e 7,9% em Manaus. Entre homens, o maior percentual foi em Salvador, com 7%, e entre mulheres, em Manaus, com 10%. De uma maneira geral, as mulheres tendem a achar seu estado de saúde pior que os homens.PREVENÇÃO DE CÂNCER DE COLO DE ÚTEROO Ministério da Saúde recomenda o exame de colo de útero (papanicolau) a cada três anos para todas as mulheres entre 25 e 59 anos que apresentaram resultado normal no exame anterior. O maior percentual de mulheres que fizeram o procedimento nos últimos três anos foi observado em São Paulo e Porto Alegre (90%). Os menores foram registrados em Teresina (68%) e Fortaleza (69%). MAMOGRAFIAA maior freqüência de mulheres entre 50 e 69 anos que realizaram mamografia nos dois últimos anos foi observada em Florianópolis (85%), seguido de Vitória (84%) e Porto Alegre (81%). As capitais Boa Vista (52%) e Macapá (54%) são os locais onde uma parcela menor de mulheres fizeram o exame nesse período. PROTEÇÃO CONTRA O SOLFlorianópolis é a capital onde os indivíduos mais se protegem contra a radiação ultravioleta (70%). É considerada proteção usar filtro solar e/ou chapéu e não se expor por mais de 30 minutos por dia ao sol. No outro extremo, onde menos pessoas se protegem, está Cuiabá, com 46,9%. As mulheres (62%) previnem-se mais que os homens (43%). HIPERTENSÃOA maior quantidade de indivíduos que se autodeclararam hipertensos foram os entrevistados do Rio de Janeiro (27%). O menor foi encontrado em Palmas (13,8%). DIABETESNatal é a capital onde há maior quantidade de diabéticos autodeclarados - eles somam 7,5% da amostra. A capital com menor parcela é Boa Vista, com 1,8% da população. Considerando toda a população adulta das capitais estudadas, 5,7% das mulheres referem ter diabetes, contra 4,8% dos homens. O diagnóstico da doença torna-se mais comum com o aumento da idade.
Lung Cancer Investigator 'Discloses' Funding of Tobacco Money
BOSTON, April 2 -- Claudia I. Henschke, M.D., Ph.D., principal investigator of the controversial 2006 I-ELCAP (International Early Lung Cancer Action Program) study, has formally disclosed to the medical community that tobacco-industry money funded the study.
In a letter published online in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Henschke said "$3.6 million . . . was contributed in 2000 through 2003 as an unrestricted gift by the Vector Group, the parent company of Liggett Tobacco, which manufactures cigarettes."
The New England Journal of Medicine has also issued an online correction and a clarification regarding the once-again controversial study of spiral CT detection of lung cancer.
Last week, the New York Times reported that funding for the study by Dr. Henschke and colleagues at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York had been channeled through a foundation set up by Dr. Henschke and officials at Weill Cornell (See: Early Lung Cancer Study Found Funded by Tobacco Money). /.../
In a letter published online in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Henschke said "$3.6 million . . . was contributed in 2000 through 2003 as an unrestricted gift by the Vector Group, the parent company of Liggett Tobacco, which manufactures cigarettes."
The New England Journal of Medicine has also issued an online correction and a clarification regarding the once-again controversial study of spiral CT detection of lung cancer.
Last week, the New York Times reported that funding for the study by Dr. Henschke and colleagues at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York had been channeled through a foundation set up by Dr. Henschke and officials at Weill Cornell (See: Early Lung Cancer Study Found Funded by Tobacco Money). /.../
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
2381 – AMICOR10 – 02/04/2008
RHEUMATIC FEVER/RHEUMATIC HEART DISEASE IN SOUTH AMERICA
Estimados amigos do coração (AMICOR)
Durante o próximo Congresso Mundial de Cardiologia que se realizará em Buenos Aires de 18 a 21 do mês de maio próximo, terei como um dos meus compromissos falar sobre Febre Reumática e Cardiopatia Reumática na América do Sul, durante a sessão intitulada Desafios Regionais para as Doenças Cardiovasculares ao redor do mundo, no dia 19 às 16 horas.
Embora as estatísticas tenham magnitude bem menor e decrescente quando comparadas com outros subgrupos Cardiovasculares, a doença persiste e merece nossa atenção por afetar predominantemente escolares e adultos jovens, por se dispor de recursos preventivos efetivos e por não contar com o interesse da indústria nem estar no foco da pesquisa acadêmica.
Os investimentos na doença, além de custo-efetivos, podem ser – como foi no caso do Brasil em 1972 – uma boa estratégia para sensibilizar a saúde pública a abordar com sucesso outras doenças cardiovasculares e doenças crônicas.
Estou interessado em receber informações sobre o problema e sua abordagem na América do Sul, e/ou nomes de pessoas que possam contribuir para uma apresentação atualizada, na qual os respectivos créditos serão obviamente assegurados.
Dear friends of the heart (AMICOR)
During the next World Congress of Cardiology to be held in Buenos Aires (18-21 of May) I am committed to talk on Rheumatic Fever and Rheumatic Heart Disease in South America, in the Session "Regional challenges for CVD around the world".
Although the statistics show downtrend magnitude comparatively with other CVD subgroups, the disease follows present and deserves our attention because affects predominantly school-children and young adults, and there are effective prevention methods of control, even not being in the focus of the industry and academic research interest.
Investments in the disease, parallel to be cost-effective, may be – as was the case of Brazil in 1972 – a good strategy to sensitize public health to approach successfully other CVD and Chronic Diseases.
I am interested in to receive information on the problem and related activities in South America, and/or name of people that may contribute to an updated presentation (with the correspondent credits respected, obviously).
Labels: Rheumatic Fever, Rheumatic Heart Disease
U.N. Seeks to Curb World's Traffic Deaths - washingtonpost.com
Tai Chi May Help Improve Markers of Pre-Diabetes
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sweetener scrutiny: Are sugar substitutes a helpful tool or an ineffective crutch?
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Cholesterol Lowering and Ezetimibe
Labels: cholesterol, exetimibe
Saturday, March 29, 2008
13.73 Billion Years - The Most Precise Measurement of the Age of the Universe Yet
Friday, March 28, 2008
Heart Beat February/March 2008
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR ACTIVITIES
http://www.world-heart-federation.org/
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Virtual Library museums pages and more...
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...
Sunday, March 23, 2008
ECG standards in elderly 'should be revised'
Transcendental meditation may give 'clinically meaningful' BP reductions
Genetics and Smoking addiction
New studies show ‘double whammy' link to addiction and cancer
WASHINGTON - Scientists say they have pinpointed a genetic link that makes people more likely to get hooked on tobacco, causing them to smoke more cigarettes, making it harder to quit, and leading more often to deadly lung cancer.
The discovery by three separate teams of scientists makes the strongest case so far for the biological underpinnings of the addiction of smoking and sheds light on how genetics and cigarettes join forces to cause cancer, experts said. The findings also lay the groundwork for more tailored quit-smoking treatments.
"This is kind of a double whammy gene,'' said Christopher Amos, a professor of epidemiology at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and author of one of the studies. "It also makes you more likely to be dependent on smoking and less likely to quit smoking.''/.../
WASHINGTON - Scientists say they have pinpointed a genetic link that makes people more likely to get hooked on tobacco, causing them to smoke more cigarettes, making it harder to quit, and leading more often to deadly lung cancer.
The discovery by three separate teams of scientists makes the strongest case so far for the biological underpinnings of the addiction of smoking and sheds light on how genetics and cigarettes join forces to cause cancer, experts said. The findings also lay the groundwork for more tailored quit-smoking treatments.
"This is kind of a double whammy gene,'' said Christopher Amos, a professor of epidemiology at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and author of one of the studies. "It also makes you more likely to be dependent on smoking and less likely to quit smoking.''/.../
RHEUMATIC FEVER/RHEUMATIC HEART DISEASE IN SOUTH AMERICA
Estimados amigos do coração (AMICOR)
Durante o próximo Congresso Mundial de Cardiologia que se realizará em Buenos Aires de 18 a 21 do mês de maio próximo, terei como um dos meus compromissos falar sobre Febre Reumática e Cardiopatia Reumática na América do Sul, durante a sessão intitulada Desafios Regionais para as Doenças Cardiovasculares ao redor do mundo, no dia 19 às 16 horas.
Embora as estatísticas tenham magnitude bem menor e decrescente quando comparadas com outros subgrupos Cardiovasculares, a doença persiste e merece nossa atenção por afetar predominantemente escolares e adultos jovens, por se dispor de recursos preventivos efetivos e por não contar com o interesse da indústria nem estar no foco da pesquisa acadêmica.
Os investimentos na doença, além de custo-efetivos, podem ser – como foi no caso do Brasil em 1972 – uma boa estratégia para sensibilizar a saúde pública a abordar com sucesso outras doenças cardiovasculares e doenças crônicas.
Estou interessado em receber informações sobre o problema e sua abordagem na América do Sul, e/ou nomes de pessoas que possam contribuir para uma apresentação atualizada, na qual os respectivos créditos serão obviamente assegurados.
Dear friends of the heart (AMICOR)
During the next World Congress of Cardiology to be held in Buenos Aires (18-21 of May) I am committed to talk on Rheumatic Fever and Rheumatic Heart Disease in South America, in the Session "Regional challenges for CVD around the world".
Although the statistics show downtrend magnitude comparatively with other CVD subgroups, the disease follows present and deserves our attention because affects predominantly school-children and young adults, and there are effective prevention methods of control, even not being in the focus of the industry and academic research interest.
Investments in the disease, parallel to be cost-effective, may be – as was the case of Brazil in 1972 – a good strategy to sensitize public health to approach successfully other CVD and Chronic Diseases.
I am interested in to receive information on the problem and related activities in South America, and/or name of people that may contribute to an updated presentation (with the correspondent credits respected, obviously).
U.N. Seeks to Curb World's Traffic Deaths - washingtonpost.com
U.N. Seeks to Curb World's Traffic Deaths - washingtonpost.com: "U.N. Seeks to Curb World's Traffic Deaths
Who's Blogging» Links to this article
By E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporter
Tuesday, April 1, 2008; 12:00 AM
TUESDAY, April 1 (HealthDay News) -- Over 1.2 million people die each year on the world's roadways -- more than are killed by major scourges such as malaria or diabetes.
In response to this growing epidemic, the United Nations' General Assembly on Monday approved the first ever conference on road safety, to be held next year in Russia.
It's high time the issue of traffic fatalities got the attention it deserves, advocates said, especially since experts expect vehicle ownership in populous nations such as China and India to double in the next 20 years."/.../
Who's Blogging» Links to this article
By E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporter
Tuesday, April 1, 2008; 12:00 AM
TUESDAY, April 1 (HealthDay News) -- Over 1.2 million people die each year on the world's roadways -- more than are killed by major scourges such as malaria or diabetes.
In response to this growing epidemic, the United Nations' General Assembly on Monday approved the first ever conference on road safety, to be held next year in Russia.
It's high time the issue of traffic fatalities got the attention it deserves, advocates said, especially since experts expect vehicle ownership in populous nations such as China and India to double in the next 20 years."/.../
Tai Chi May Help Improve Markers of Pre-Diabetes
Tai Chi May Help Improve Markers of Pre-Diabetes
By Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage TodayPublished: April 01, 2008Reviewed by Dori F. Zaleznik, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston.
BRISBANE, Australia, April 1 -- For patients at risk of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes, the Chinese exercises Tai Chi and Qigong may improve clinical parameters associated with the conditions, two small studies suggested.
Action Points --->
Explain to patients that ancient exercises may help improve metabolic markers of pre-diabetes and may be more acceptable to patients compared with other forms of physical activity.
Note that the findings came from studies involving small numbers of patients.
After 12 weeks of regular Tai Chi and Qigong exercises, 11 patients with hyperglycemia had significant improvement in body mass index, waist circumference, and blood pressure, Xin Liu, Ph.D., of the University of Queensland, and colleagues, reported online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Additionally, glycosylated hemoglobin, fasting insulin, and insulin resistance all decreased.
By Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage TodayPublished: April 01, 2008Reviewed by Dori F. Zaleznik, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston.
BRISBANE, Australia, April 1 -- For patients at risk of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes, the Chinese exercises Tai Chi and Qigong may improve clinical parameters associated with the conditions, two small studies suggested.
Action Points --->
Explain to patients that ancient exercises may help improve metabolic markers of pre-diabetes and may be more acceptable to patients compared with other forms of physical activity.
Note that the findings came from studies involving small numbers of patients.
After 12 weeks of regular Tai Chi and Qigong exercises, 11 patients with hyperglycemia had significant improvement in body mass index, waist circumference, and blood pressure, Xin Liu, Ph.D., of the University of Queensland, and colleagues, reported online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Additionally, glycosylated hemoglobin, fasting insulin, and insulin resistance all decreased.
Monday, March 31, 2008
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./.../
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./.../
Sunday, March 30, 2008
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.
/.../
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.
/.../
Saturday, March 29, 2008
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…)."/.../
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…)."/.../
Friday, March 28, 2008
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”.
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”.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
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...
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...
Sunday, March 23, 2008
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."/.../
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.'"/.../
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.'"/.../
Saturday, March 22, 2008
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
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
Monday, March 17, 2008
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
Friday, March 07, 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."/.../
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.
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.
Friday, March 21, 2008
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.
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.
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.
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"/.../
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"/.../
Monday, March 17, 2008
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/.../
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/.../
Friday, March 14, 2008
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."/.../
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."/.../
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
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)
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)
Saturday, March 08, 2008
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./.../
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./.../
Friday, March 07, 2008
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).
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
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.
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
Artigo meu publicado no Jornal Zero Hora no dia de hoje
Friday, February 29, 2008
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
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
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
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.
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.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
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
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