Emergence of Influenza A (H1N1) Viruses

David M. Morens, M.D., Jeffery K. Taubenberger, M.D., Ph.D., and Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.

It is not generally appreciated that descendents of the H1N1 influenza A virus that caused the catastrophic and historic pandemic of 1918–1919 have persisted in humans for more than 90 years and have continued to contribute their genes to new viruses, causing new pandemics, epidemics, and epizootics (see table). The current international pandemic caused by a novel influenza A (H1N1) virus derived from two unrelated swine viruses, one of them a derivative of the 1918 human virus,³ adds to the complexity surrounding this persistent progenitor virus, its descendants, and its several lineages (see diagram)./.../

Figure 1. Emergence of Influenza A (H1N1) Viruses from Birds and Swine into Humans.

The diagram shows the important events and processes in the emergence of influenza A (H1N1) viruses during the past 91 years. Avian, swine, and human populations are represented in the top, middle, and bottom of the diagram, respectively. Epidemic or zoonotic viruses are shown as wide horizontal arrows (white for avian viruses, light blue or pink for swine viruses, and dark blue for human viruses). Cross-species transmissions are shown as vertical dashed lines, with thick lines for transfers that gave rise to sustained transmission in the new host and thin lines for those that were transient and resulted in a self-limited number of cases. Principal dates are shown along the bottom of the diagram. The disappearance of H1N1 in 1957 most likely represents competition by the emerging pandemic H2N2 strain in the face of population immunity to H1N1. The reemergence in 1977 is unexplained and probably represents reintroduction to humans from a laboratory source.

The Persistent Legacy of the 1918 Influenza Virus

David M. Morens, M.D., Jeffery K. Taubenberger, M.D., Ph.D., and Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.

It is not generally appreciated that descendents of the H1N1 influenza A virus that caused the catastrophic and historic pandemic of 1918–1919 have persisted in humans for more than 90 years and have continued to contribute their genes to new viruses, causing new pandemics, epidemics, and epizootics (see table). The current international pandemic caused by a novel influenza A (H1N1) virus derived from two unrelated swine viruses, one of them a derivative of the 1918 human virus,³ adds to the complexity surrounding this persistent progenitor virus, its descendants, and its several lineages (see diagram)./.../

Preventing Sudden Cardiac Death: A Worldwide Approach

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Faculty

Chair
	Eric Prystowsky, MD
Consulting Professor Department of Medicine Duke University School of Medicine Durham, North Carolina Director, Clinical Electrophysiology Lab St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital Indianapolis, Indiana

Panelists
	Chu-Pak Lau, MD
Director Institute of Cardiovascular Science & Medicine University of Hong Kong Hong Kong, China

	Oscar Oseroff, MD
Professor University of Buenos Aires Chief of Electrophysiology and Pacing Castex Hospital Buenos Aires, Argentina

Release date: March 10, 2009
Expiration date: March 10, 2010

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) accounts for approximately 325,000 deaths per year in the United States, representing an incidence of 0.1% to 0.2% per year in the adult population. The incidence of SCA in other countries though, appear to be lower and may be attributed to inadequate methods for identifying high-risk candidates as well as the prevalence of coronary artery disease prevalence in those populations. Revascularization, pacemaker, and implantation of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) have been found to be highest in North America and Western Europe and lowest in South America and Eastern Europe, demonstrating that the incidence, etiology, and management of SCA may vary by region. Ongoing studies and discussions will be needed to address these continental and regional differences, including reimbursement issues and the need for additional education surrounding emerging clinical trial data and clinical guidelines, to ensure clinician awareness and facilitate appropriate patient analysis and management. Join Drs. Prystowsky, Lau, and Oseroff as they provide an international perspective on various prevention strategies of SCA including challenges faced in the Pacific Rim and South America./.../

DIABETES RESEARCH: Trial seeks to head off Type 1

BY LAURAN NEERGAARD

ASSOCIATED PRESS

The doctor had barely pulled away the needle when a blister appeared on Tracey Berg-Fulton's abdomen: An experimental shot was revving up the 24-year-old's immune system -- part of a bold quest to create a vaccine-like therapy for diabetes.

''If we're right, that is what's going to stop Type 1 diabetes,'' Dr. David Finegold said after administering the last of four shots.

It's a big ``if.''

The research is in its infancy, a first-step experiment to be sure the vaccine approach is safe before researchers at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh test their real target -- kids newly diagnosed with this deadliest form of diabetes.

It's also part of a big shift: Scientists increasingly hope to control Type 1 diabetes by curbing the rogue immune cells that cause it, before patients become completely dependent on daily insulin injections to survive./.../

Cigarette Smoking—United States, 1998-2007

		From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

Cigarette Smoking—United States, 1998-2007 JAMA. 2009;302(3):250-252. MMWR. 2009;58:221-226 Cigarette smoking in the United States results in an estimated 443,000 premature deaths and $193 billion in direct health-care expenditures and productivity losses each year.1 During 2007, an estimated 19.8% of adults in the United States were current smokers.2 To update 2006 state-specific estimates of cigarette smoking, CDC analyzed data from the 2007 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey and examined trends in cigarette smoking from 1998-2007. Results of these analyses indicated substantial variation in current cigarette smoking during 2007 (range: 8.7%-31.1%) among the 50 states, the District of Columbia (DC), Guam, Puerto Rico (PR), and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI). Trend analyses of 1998-2007 data indicated that smoking prevalence decreased in 44 states, DC, and PR, and six states had no substantial changes in prevalence after controlling for age, sex, and race/ethnicity. However, only Utah and USVI met the Healthy People 2010 target for reducing adult smoking prevalence to 12% (objective 27-1a).3 The Institute of Medicine (IOM) calls for full implementation of comprehensive, evidence-based tobacco control programs at CDC-recommended funding levels to achieve substantial reductions in tobacco use in all states and areas.4/.../

Cost-Effectiveness of Interventions to Promote Physical Activity: A Modelling Study

Linda J. Cobiac^*, Theo Vos, Jan J. Barendregt

Centre for Burden of Disease and Cost-Effectiveness, School of Population Health, The University of Queensland, Herston, Queensland, Australia

Background

Physical inactivity is a key risk factor for chronic disease, but a growing number of people are not achieving the recommended levels of physical activity necessary for good health. Australians are no exception; despite Australia's image as a sporting nation, with success at the elite level, the majority of Australians do not get enough physical activity. There are many options for intervention, from individually tailored advice, such as counselling from a general practitioner, to population-wide approaches, such as mass media campaigns, but the most cost-effective mix of interventions is unknown. In this study we evaluate the cost-effectiveness of interventions to promote physical activity.

Methods and Findings

From evidence of intervention efficacy in the physical activity literature and evaluation of the health sector costs of intervention and disease treatment, we model the cost impacts and health outcomes of six physical activity interventions, over the lifetime of the Australian population. We then determine cost-effectiveness of each intervention against current practice for physical activity intervention in Australia and derive the optimal pathway for implementation. Based on current evidence of intervention effectiveness, the intervention programs that encourage use of pedometers (Dominant) and mass media-based community campaigns (Dominant) are the most cost-effective strategies to implement and are very likely to be cost-saving. The internet-based intervention program (AUS$3,000/DALY), the GP physical activity prescription program (AUS$12,000/DALY), and the program to encourage more active transport (AUS$20,000/DALY), although less likely to be cost-saving, have a high probability of being under a AUS$50,000 per DALY threshold. GP referral to an exercise physiologist (AUS$79,000/DALY) is the least cost-effective option if high time and travel costs for patients in screening and consulting an exercise physiologist are considered.

Conclusions

Intervention to promote physical activity is recommended as a public health measure. Despite substantial variability in the quantity and quality of evidence on intervention effectiveness, and uncertainty about the long-term sustainability of behavioural changes, it is highly likely that as a package, all six interventions could lead to substantial improvement in population health at a cost saving to the health sector.

Recurrence of Congenital Heart Defects in Families

Submitted on February 13, 2009
Accepted on May 8, 2009

Nina yen MD, MPH, DrMed^*, Gry Poulsen MSc, Heather A. Boyd PhD, Jan Wohlfahrt MSc, DrMed, Peter K.A. Jensen MD, DrMed, and Mads Melbye MD, DrMed

From the Department of Epidemiology Research (N.., G.P., H.A.B., J.W., M.M.), Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark; Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care (N..), Faculty of Medicine and Odontology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway; Center for Medical Genetics and Molecular Medicine (N..), Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway; and Department of Clinical Genetics (P.K.A.J.), Århus University Hospital, Århus, Denmark.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: noy@ssi.dk .

Background—Knowledge of the familial contribution to congenital heart diseases (CHD) on an individual and population level is sparse. We estimated an individual's risk of CHD given a family history of CHD, as well as the contribution of CHD family history to the total number of CHD cases in the population.

Methods and Results—In a national cohort study, we linked all Danish residents to the National Patient Register, the Causes of Death Register, the Danish Central Cytogenetic Register, and the Danish Family Relations Database, yielding 1 763 591 persons born in Denmark between 1977 and 2005, of whom 18 708 had CHD. Individuals with CHD were classified by phenotype. We estimated recurrence risk ratios and population-attributable risk. Among first-degree relatives, the recurrence risk ratio was 79.1 (95% confidence interval [CI] 32.9 to 190) for heterotaxia, 11.7 (95% CI, 8.0 to 17.0) for conotruncal defects, 24.3 (95% CI,12.2 to 48.7) for atrioventricular septal defect, 12.9 (95% CI, 7.48 to 22.2) for left ventricular outflow tract obstruction, 48.6 (95% CI, 27.5 to 85.6) for right ventricular outflow tract obstruction, 7.1 (95% CI, 4.5 to 11.1) for isolated atrial septal defect, and 3.4 (95% CI, 2.2 to 5.3) for isolated ventricular septal defect. The overall recurrence risk ratio for the same defect was 8.15 (95% CI, 6.95 to 9.55), whereas it was 2.68 (95% CI, 2.43 to 2.97) for different heart defects. Only 2.2% of heart defect cases in the population (4.2% after the exclusion of chromosomal aberrations) were attributed to CHD family history in first-degree relatives.

Conclusions—Specific CHDs showed highly variable but strong familial clustering in first-degree relatives, ranging from 3-fold to 80-fold compared with the population prevalence, whereas the crossover risks between dissimilar cases of CHD were weaker. Family history of any CHD among first-degree relatives accounted for a small proportion of CHD cases in the population.

Princípios da Política Nacional de Atenção Integral à Saúde do Homem

Princípios da Política Nacional de Atenção Integral à Saúde do Homem

1. Orientar as ações e serviços de saúde para a população masculina, com integralidade e equidade, primando pela humanização da atenção;

2. Mudar paradigmas no que concerne à percepção da população masculina em relação ao cuidado com a sua saúde e a saúde de sua família;

3. Capacitar tecnicamente os profissionais de saúde para o atendimento ao homem.

4. Além da ênfase nos aspectos educacionais, os serviços devem ser organizados de modo a acolher e fazer com que o homem sinta-se parte integrante deles;

5. Implementar a Política do Homem de forma integrada às demais políticas existentes, priorizando a atenção primária como porta de entrada de um sistema de saúde universal, integral e equânime.

Diretrizes

1.Elaboração do Plano de Ação subordinado a esta Política e pautado pelos princípios da integralidade, factibilidade, coerência e viabilidade;

2. Entender a Saúde do Homem como um conjunto de ações de promoção e prevenção, assistência e recuperação, executadas com humanização e qualidade, nos diferentes níveis de atenção;

3. Priorizar a Atenção Básica com foco na Estratégia de Saúde da Família, porta de entrada do sistema de Saúde integral, hierarquizado e regionalizado./.../

Managing the Health effects of Climate Change

From: Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC) to EQUIDAD

London, UK, May, 2009

A collaboration between The Lancet and University College London, UK

“…… setting out how climate change over the coming decades could have a disastrous effect on health across the globe. The report examines practical measures that can be taken now and in the short and medium term to control its effects. …”

Website: http://www.thelancet.com/climate-change

“…….Climate change could be the biggest global health threat of the 21st century. Effects on health of climate change will be felt by most populations in the next decades and put the lives and wellbeing of billions of people at increased risk. During this century, the earth’s average surface temperature rises are likely to exceed the safe threshold of 2°C above pre-industrial average temperature.

This report outlines the major threats—both direct and indirect—to global health from climate change through changing patterns of disease, water and food insecurity, vulnerable shelter and human settlements, extreme climatic events, and population migration. Although vector-borne diseases will expand their reach and death tolls, the indirect effects of climate change on water, food security, and extreme climatic events are likely to have the biggest effect on global health.

A new advocacy and public health movement is needed urgently to bring together governments, international agencies, non-governmental organisations, communities, and academics from all disciplines to adapt to the effects of climate change on health.

Entrevista com José Manoel Bertolote

ABEAD (10/07/2009)

Graduado em Medicina pela Faculdade de Ciências Médicas e Biológicas de Botucatu (Unesp) e com Mestrado em Psiquiatra Social e Transcultural pela McGill University de Montreal, no Canadá, José Manuel Bertolote é o entrevistado da semana. Durante 20 anos foi coordenador da equipe de transtornos mentais e neurológicos na sede da Organização Mundial da Saúde, em Genebra. Membro do Conselho Consultivo da Abead, atualmente é professor colaborador do Departamento de Neurologia, Psicologia e Psiquiatria, da Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu (Unesp). Confira a entrevista!

1. No recente relatório mundial sobre drogas divulgado pela ONU, o Brasil foi apontado como o maior mercado consumidor de cocaína da América do Sul e está entre os líderes no uso de drogas injetáveis. Por que chegamos a este ponto?

Primeiramente devemos considerar como são levantados esses dados. Normalmente esses dados são decorrentes de informações obtidas com a repressão, ou seja, com a polícia. Portanto se supõe que quanto mais drogas são apreendidas, maior é o consumo. /.../

WHO approves cervical cancer vaccine Cervarix

1 day ago

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization has approved a second cervical cancer vaccine, this one made by GlaxoSmithKline, meaning U.N. agencies and partners can now officially buy millions of doses of the vaccine for poor countries worldwide.

GlaxoSmithKline PLC said in a statement Thursday the approval would help speed access to Cervarix globally.

WHO had previously approved Gardasil, a competing cervical cancer vaccine made by Merck & Co. With two cervical cancer vaccines now ready to be bought by donor agencies, officials estimate that tens of thousands of lives might be saved.

More than 80 percent of the estimated 280,000 cervical cancer deaths a year occur in developing countries. In the West, early diagnosis and treatment has slashed the disease's incidence.

Enfermedades crónicas: Prevención y control en las Américas

Enfermedades crónicas: Prevención y control en las Américas

Finalidad de las Noticias: Promover la Estrategia Regional y Plan de Acción para un enfoque integrado sobre la prevención y el control de las enfermedades crónicas, incluyendo el régimen alimentario, la actividad física y la salud; y compartir logros relacionados con la Estrategia en todos sus aspectos así como sus cuatro líneas de acción (vigilancia y respuesta, abogacía y política, promoción de salud y prevención y manejo integrado de las enfermedades crónicas y sus factores de riesgo) y noticias sobre la implementación de programas. Número actual: junio de 2009

Hospital Performance in Acute Myocardial Infarction

Patterns of Hospital Performance in Acute Myocardial Infarction and Heart Failure 30-Day Mortality and Readmission

Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM; Angela R. Merrill, PhD; Eric M. Schone, PhD; Geoffrey C. Schreiner, BS;Jersey Chen, MD, MPH; Elizabeth H. Bradley, PhD; Yun Wang, PhD; Yongfei Wang, MS; Zhenqiu Lin, PhD;Barry M. Straube, MD; Michael T. Rapp, MD, JD; Sharon-Lise T. Normand, PhD and Elizabeth E. Drye, MD, SM

From the Section of Cardiovascular Medicine (H.M.K., G.C.S., J.C., Y.W., Y.-F.W., E.E.D.) and the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program (H.M.K.), Department of Internal Medicine; Section of Health Policy and Administration (H.M.K., E.H.B.), School of Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine; and the Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (H.M.K., Y.W., Z.L.), Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Conn; Mathematica Policy Research, Inc (A.R.M., E.M.S.), Cambridge, Mass; Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (B.M.S., M.T.R.), Baltimore, Md; and the Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School and Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health (S.-L.T.N.), Boston, Mass.

Correspondence to Harlan Krumholz, MD, Yale University School of Medicine, 1 Church St, Suite 200, New Haven, CT 06510. E-mailharlan.krumholz@yale.edu

Background: In 2009, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is publicly reporting hospital-level risk-standardized 30-day mortality and readmission rates after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and heart failure (HF). We provide patterns of hospital performance, based on these measures.

Methods and Results: We calculated the 30-day mortality and readmission rates for all Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries ages 65 years or older with a primary diagnosis of AMI or HF, discharged between July 2005 and June 2008. We compared weighted risk-standardized mortality and readmission rates across Hospital Referral Regions and hospital structural characteristics. The median 30-day mortality rate was 16.6% for AMI (range, 10.9% to 24.9%; 25th to 75th percentile, 15.8% to 17.4%; 10th to 90th percentile, 14.7% to 18.4%) and 11.1% for HF (range, 6.6% to 19.8%; 25th to 75th percentile, 10.3% to 12.0%; 10th to 90th percentile, 9.4% to 13.1%). The median 30-day readmission rate was 19.9% for AMI (range, 15.3% to 29.4%; 25th to 75th percentile, 19.5% to 20.4%; 10th to 90th percentile, 18.8% to 21.1%) and 24.4% for HF (range, 15.9% to 34.4%; 25th to 75th percentile, 23.4% to 25.6%; 10th to 90th percentile, 22.3% to 27.0%). We observed geographic differences in performance across the country. Although there were some differences in average performance by hospital characteristics,there were high and low hospital performers among all types of hospitals.

Conclusions: In a recent 3-year period, 30-day risk-standardized mortality rates for AMI and HF varied among hospitals and across the country. The readmission rates were particularly high.

public health effect of economic crises

The public health effect of economic crises and alternative policy responses in Europe:
an empirical analysis

David Stuckler PhD a b, Sanjay Basu PhD c d, Marc Suhrcke PhD e f, Adam CouttsPhD g, Martin McKee MD b h

a Department of Sociology, Oxford University, Oxford, UK

b Department of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

c Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, CA, USA

d Division of General Internal Medicine, San Francisco General Hospital, CA, USA

e School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

f Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR), Cambridge, UK

g Oxford Department of Politics and International Relations, Oxford, UK

h European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels, Belgium

The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 8 July 2009

doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61124-7

Background http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)61124-7/fulltext

There is widespread concern that the present economic crisis, particularly its effect on unemployment, will adversely affect population health. We investigated how economic changes have affected mortality rates over the past three decades and identified how governments might reduce adverse effects.

Methods

We used multivariate regression, correcting for population ageing, past mortality and employment trends, and country-specific differences in health-care infrastructure, to examine associations between changes in employment and mortality, and how associations were modified by different types of government expenditure for 26 European Union (EU) countries between 1970 and 2007.

Findings
We noted that every 1% increase in unemployment was associated with a 0·79% rise in suicides at ages younger than 65 years (95% CI 0·16—1·42; 60—550 potential excess deaths [mean 310] EU-wide), although the effect size was non-significant at all ages (0·49%, −0·04 to 1·02), and with a 0·79% rise in homicides (95% CI 0·06—1·52; 3—80 potential excess deaths [mean 40] EU-wide). By contrast, road-traffic deaths decreased by 1·39% (0·64—2·14; 290—980 potential fewer deaths [mean 630] EU-wide). A more than 3% increase in unemployment had a greater effect on suicides at ages younger than 65 years (4·45%, 95% CI 0·65—8·24; 250—3220 potential excess deaths [mean 1740] EU-wide) and deaths from alcohol abuse (28·0%, 12·30—43·70; 1550—5490 potential excess deaths [mean 3500] EU-wide). We noted no consistent evidence across the EU that all-cause mortality rates increased when unemployment rose, although populations varied substantially in how sensitive mortality was to economic crises, depending partly on differences in social protection. Every US$10 per person increased investment in active labour market programmes reduced the effect of unemployment on suicides by 0·038% (95% CI −0·004 to −0·071).

Interpretation
Rises in unemployment are associated with significant short-term increases in premature deaths from intentional violence, while reducing traffic fatalities. Active labour market programmes that keep and reintegrate workers in jobs could mitigate some adverse health effects of economic downturns.

EARLY PREDICTION OF WORLDWIDE BANKING CRISIS IGNORED

SAN FRANCISCO SENTINEL THURSDAY MORNING EDITION July 9 2009

8 July 2009

William White was predicteding the approaching financial crisis years before the subprime meltdown in 2007. Now the former chief economist at the Bank for International Settlements is suddenly back in demand.

BY BEAT BALZLI and MICHAELA SCHIESSL

William White predicted the approaching financial crisis years before 2007’s subprime meltdown. But central bankers preferred to listen to his great rival Alan Greenspan instead, with devastating consequences for the global economy.

Glutamic Acid May Lower Blood Pressure

By Kristina Fiore, Staff Writer, MedPage Today Published: July 08, 2009 Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and Dorothy Caputo, MA, RN, BC-ADM, CDE, Nurse Planner

LITTLE FALLS, N.J., July 8 -- Dietary glutamic acid -- the amino acid abundant in vegetables -- may have blood pressure-lowering effects, researchers have found.

The amino acid had a consistent inverse relationship with blood pressure across several models, Jeremiah Stamler, MD, of Northwestern University, and colleagues reported in Circulation, Journal of the American Heart Association.

When glutamic acid intake comprised almost 5% of total dietary protein, systolic blood pressure averaged 1.5 to 3.0 mm Hg lower than then readings in people who consumed less glutamic acid. For diastolic, the reductions ranged from 1.0 to 1.6 mmHg

Cérebro: Afiado até o fim

Estudos revelam como o cérebro envelhece e sugerem estratégias para mantê-lo saudável durante toda a vida

Ricardo Zorzetto

Edição Impressa 161 - Julho 2009

Pesquisa FAPESP -

© Ernesto Rodrigues/Agência Estado/AE

Em plena atividade Tomie Ohtake, a artista plástica de 96 anos

Pesquisas concluídas recentemente – e outras ainda em andamento – no Brasil e no exterior vêm permitindo conhecer em detalhes alguns dos fenômenos químicos e biológicos característicos do envelhecimento, em especial do cérebro e de outros órgãos do sistema nervoso central que controlam a forma como percebemos o mundo e interagimos com ele. Realizados com pessoas e animais saudáveis, vários desses trabalhos devem contribuir para que nos próximos anos se consiga definir com mais precisão a fronteira que separa as alterações típicas do envelhecimento natural daquelas que caracterizam o princípio de enfermidades neurodegenerativas aniquiladoras como o mal de Alzheimer, que atinge cerca de 5% das pessoas com mais de 60 anos e se torna mais e mais comum à medida que a idade avança. Segundo alguns especialistas, hoje essa fronteira estaria mais para uma larga faixa do que uma linha./.../

NEWSEUM

From:The round.med.br: Fórum Médico Team.

Um dos links leva às manchetes de jornais de todo o mundo.

Newseum atrium. (Maria Bryk)

http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/

Newseum Blends High-Tech With Historical

The Newseum — a 250,000-square-foot museum of news — offers visitors an experience that blends five centuries of news history with up-to-the-second technology and hands-on exhibits.

The Newseum is located at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Sixth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., on America’s Main Street between the White House and the U.S. Capitol and adjacent to the Smithsonian museums on the National Mall. The exterior’s unique architectural features include a 74-foot-high marble engraving of the First Amendment and an immense front wall of glass through which passers-by can watch the museum fulfill its mission of providing a forum where the media and the public can gain a better understanding of each other.

The Newseum features seven levels of galleries, theaters, retail spaces and visitor services. It offers a unique environment that takes museumgoers behind the scenes to experience how and why news is made.

"Visitors will come away with a better understanding of news and the important role it plays in all of our lives," said Newseum Executive Director and Senior Vice President Joe Urschel. "The new Newseum is educational, inspirational and a whole lot of fun."

First patients receive cardiac stem cells for treatment of MI

July 6, 2009 | Lisa Nainggolan

Los Angeles, CA - Doctors in the US have injected autologous cardiac stem cells into patients for the first time, with two people out of a planned 24 having received the treatment following an MI [1].

"This is the first time we have injected cardiac-specific cells into a human," investigator Dr Raj R Makkar (Cedars Sinai Heart Institute, Los Angeles, CA) told heartwire. "These cells are destined to be heart-muscle cells, so this is attractive in that sense—we are trying to obtain cardiogenesis." Preclinical experiments suggest that the cells, known as cardiosphere-derived cells, do develop into cardiac myocytes, he noted./.../

Millennium Development Goals Report 2009

Millennium Development Goals Report 2009

Recent gains in eradicating hunger and poverty endangered by economic and food crises

UN Secretary-General calls on rich and poor countries to boost efforts and meet aid commitments

More than halfway to the 2015 deadline to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), major advances in the fight against poverty and hunger have begun to slow or even reverse as a result of the global economic and food crises, a progress report by the United Nations has found. The assessment, launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Geneva, warns that, despite many successes, overall progress has been too slow for most of the targets to be met by 2015.

• Full text of the Report
• Press Releases

Progenitor cells identified from human fetal hearts

July 1, 2009 | Fran Lowry

Boston, MA - Stem-cell researchers have identified a diverse set of human fetal islet-1 (ISL1⁺) cardiovascular progenitors that can differentiate into a family of cells that form the essential portions of the human heart. The discovery will allow the development of human models to study cardiovascular disease as well as new approaches for human regenerative cardiovascular medicine, they write in the July 2, 2009 issue of Nature [1].

Using two independent transgenic and gene-targeting approaches in human embryonic cell lines, the researchers, led by Dr Lei Bu (Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, MA), showed that the purified ISL1⁺ primordial progenitors are able to self-renew and expand before they differentiate into cardiomyocytes and smooth-muscle- and endothelial-cell lineages./.../

Projeto Home

(Thanks to Anne Schneider)

homeproject

2 de junho de 2009

HOME, filme da autoria do realizador francês Yann Arthus-Bertrand, é constituído por paisagens aéreas do mundo inteiro e pretende sensibilizar a opinião pública mundial sobre a necessidade de alter...

HOME, filme da autoria do realizador francês Yann Arthus-Bertrand, é constituído por paisagens aéreas do mundo inteiro e pretende sensibilizar a opinião pública mundial sobre a necessidade de alterar modos e hábitos de vida a fim de evitar uma catástrofe ecológica planetária.

Categoria: Filmes e desenhos

Palavras-chave:

HOME planeta Dia Mundial do Ambiente Yann Arthus-Bertrand Luc Besson Fnac PPR alertar informar sensibilizar.

O filme, com fundo "ambiental", tem cenas absolutamente sensacionais, com uma técnica de filmagem poucas vezes vista. O texto é narrado em portugues ( de Portugal).

O filme tem 1 hora e 58 minutos (passa direto, não precisa esperar para baixar). Então, quando começarem a ver é bom que tenham tempo, pois vão querer ver até o final.

Hospital: patients read physicians' notes

Electronic medical records and a push for consumer involvement make it more acceptable -- and imperative -- to release more information, say Beth Israel project backers.

By Pamela Lewis Dolan, AMNews staff. Posted July 6, 2009.

---

Tom Delbanco, MD, conducted an experiment in the 1970s in which he asked patients to take their own notes during clinical visits and compare them to their physicians' notes.

The experiment didn't last long, he said, because when patients asked other physicians for notes, "doctors thought the patients were crazy," he said. "They literally said, 'I am calling a psychiatrist.' "

Now, more than 30 years later, Dr. Delbanco, an internist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and professor of general medicine and primary care at Harvard Medical School, is trying again. He is one of the leaders of an experiment at Beth Israel that allows patients unfettered access to their doctors' notes made in relation to their visits. The idea is to see how granting real-time access to clinical notes will change the dynamic between physicians and patients./.../

Rise in Global Alcohol-Related Deaths

Stemming the Rise in Global Alcohol-Related Deaths

By Eben Harrell / London Monday, Jun. 29, 2009

Getty

• One in 25 deaths around the world is caused by alcohol consumption, and booze is now as damaging to global health as tobacco was a decade ago, according to a new study in the British medical journal the Lancet.

Economics as if people and planet mattered

THE HEALTHIEST, HAPPIEST COUNTRIES

nef (the new economics foundation) 3 Jonathan Street, London, SE11 5NH t: 020 7820 6300 Happy Planet Index Top Ten 1. Costa Rica, 2. Dominican Republic, 3. Jamaica, 4. Guetamala, 5. Vietnam, 6. Colombia, 7. Cuba, 8. El Salvador, 9. Brazil, 10. Honduras UK only 74th, but Costa Rica tops ‘Happy Planet Index’ The second global ranking of the ecological efficiency with which the world's nations deliver long and happy lives for the people who live there - the 'Happy Planet Index' - confirms a surprising picture of the relative wealth and progress of nations.

	Costa Rica lidera el "Índice del Planeta Feliz" pero el Reino Unido sólo alcanza la posición 74 Segunda clasificacin global de la eficiencia ecologica con la cual todas las naciones brindan vidas prolongadas y felices a sus ciudadanos, confirma una imagen muy diferente de la riqueza y el progreso relativos de estas.

	Easter Sunday, 12 April: the day Britain goes into ‘ecological debt’ 11.04.09 Britain has blown its yearly environmental budget earlier than ever before: consuming and polluting more than nature can manage.

International Network for the Rational Use of Drugs

• About INRUD
• ICIUM
• INRUD IAA
• Member Groups
• INRUD News
• Tools and Resources

INRUD-IAA Working to Improve Adherence to Antiretroviral Treatment in East Africa Although many countries are scaling-up antiretroviral therapy (ART) programs, no one has developed any practical approaches to monitor how well patients adhere to their treatment. Accepted wisdom is that if the ART adherence rate is less than 90–95 percent, treatment can fail, and the human immunodeficiency virus may become resistant to medicines. Therefore, the ability to accurately monitor treatment adherence and address problems immediately is crucial to the success of ART. The International Network for the Rational Use of Drugs Initiative on Adherence to Antiretrovirals (INRUD-IAA) is taking on the challenge./.../

Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica

Newton's own copy of his Principia, with handwritten corrections for the second edition.

The Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Latin: "mathematical principles of natural philosophy", often Principia or Principia Mathematica for short) is a three-volume work by Isaac Newton published on July 5, 1687. It contains the statement of Newton's laws of motion forming the foundation of classical mechanics, as well as his law of universal gravitation and a derivation of Kepler's laws for the motion of the planets (which were first obtained empirically). The Principia is widely regarded as one of the most important scientific works ever written. /.../

global movement to make cities healthier

Timing to prepare the next year World Health Day and to collaborate promoting health through citizenship initiatives.

É tempo de preparar o Dia Mundial da Saúde do próximo ano e colaborar promovendo a saúde através de iniciativas de cidadania.

World Health Day 2010

Be part of a global movement to make cities healthier

Sigfus Sigmundsson People cycle at the city centre in Brussels, Belgium on a car-free street day.

World Health Day 2010 will focus on urbanization and health. With the campaign "1000 cities - 1000 lives", events will be organized worldwide calling on cities to open up streets for health activities. Stories of urban health champions will be gathered to illustrate what people are doing to improve health in their cities.

The goal of the campaign is:

• 1000 cities – for 1000 cities to close off portions of streets to traffic for activities promoting better health.
• 1000 lives - to collect 1000 stories of urban health champions who have taken action to improve health in their cities.

:: Register your city/event!

About the theme

The theme for World Health Day 2010 was selected in recognition of the effect urbanization has on our collective health globally and for us individually. Embracing the positive side of urban health goes beyond the roles and responsibilities of government. It includes the contributions that civil society, community groups, architects, engineers, and responsible businesses can make.

The "1000 cities - 1000 lives" campaign is dedicated to bring communities together towards a common goal united around health – municipal authorities, community groups, and individuals. But it also represents an opportunity for people to enjoy exercise, music and being outdoors with friends and neighbours. Local businesses can enjoy increased sales, and all can enjoy the sense of community the day will bring.

Urbanization is associated with many health challenges related to water, environment, violence and injury, noncommunicable diseases (cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases) unhealthy diets and physical inactivity, harmful use of alcohol as well as the risks associated with disease outbreaks.

Stop-Smoking Drugs: Mental Health Risk

Popular Stop-Smoking Drugs to Carry Mental Health Risk Warnings

By Todd Neale, Staff Writer, MedPage Today Published: July 01, 2009

WASHINGTON, July 1 -- The FDA said it will immediately require boxed warnings about the risk of serious neuropsychiatric symptoms on the packaging of two popular smoking cessation drugs, -- varenicline (Chantix) and bupropion (Zyban, Wellbutrin, and generics).

Reports of behavioral changes, depressed mood, agitation, hostility, and suicidal thoughts and behavior associated with use of the drugs have been submitted to the FDA's adverse event reporting system. /.../

Bernard Lown speech (6 Jun 2009)

From ProCOR:

The following is excerpted from the Commencement Address delivered by Bernard Lown, MD, to the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine graduates on 6 June 2009 in Portland, Maine, USA. Read the full speech on Dr. Lown's website: http://bernardlown.wordpress.com.

...words of the Afro-American poet Langston Hughes:

"Hold on to dreams
For if dreams die,
Life is a broken winged bird
And cannot fly."

The most important dream is that human beings someday will deserve the name human. So I urge you not to stop the climb. An aching patient craves your healing touch. A troubled world awaits your intelligent embrace.

Chagas: one hundred years later

This April marked the 100th anniversary of Carlos Chagas’s discovery of a new disease. Yet most people in need still lack access to diagnosis and treatment. Claudia Jurberg reports.