Science Cinema: the source for Department of Energy (DOE) multimedia

Science Cinema: the source for Department of Energy (DOE) multimedia

From the About page

The ScienceCinema site contains multimedia videos highlighting the U.S. Department of Energy’s most exciting scientific research.

[Editor’s note: ScienceCinema includes quite a few health related videos, it is worth searching]

The Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) is responsible for broadly disseminating and preserving the Department’s scientific output. ScienceCinema contains videos produced by the DOE National Laboratories and other research institutions.

Through a partnership with Microsoft Research, state-of-the-art audio indexing and speech recognition technology allows the user to search for specific words and phrases spoken by the presenter in these video files. Simply enter a term and the results list will point to the precise snippets of the video where the term was spoken.

You can search for words spoken in the videos,

and also through the “old fashioned” advanced search method.

The advanced search page (labelled bibliographic search) allows you search by

• Bibliogaphic data – words and phrases as virus and “air pollution”
  Use quotation marks (“) to force phrase searching
• Description/abstract– words and phrases found in the description or abstract (summary) of the video
  For an example , see Wind vs. Biofuels: Addressing Climate, Health and Energy

Alcohol Studies Database

Alcohol Studies Database

From the Web site

Welcome to the new Alcohol Studies user interface. New features include: Improved subject selection Ability to email citations More flexible boolean operators Better error checking This site provides access to the Alcohol Studies Database.  The database contains over 80,000 citations for journal articles, books, book chapters, dissertations, conference papers, and audio-visual materials. With this release we are offering a more intuitive interface which also provides much faster response times. Feedback appreciated.

The site was developed by the Scholarly Communication Center, the Center of Alcohol Studies , and the Rutgers University Libraries Search the Database

 

HHS Announces $750 Million Investment in Prevention

HHS Announces $750 Million Investment in Prevention

New health care law provides new funding to reduce tobacco use, obesity and heart disease, and build healthier communities

From the news release

epartment of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced a $750 million investment in prevention and public health, funded through the Prevention and Public Health Fund created by the new health care law.  Building on $500 million in investments last year, these new dollars will help prevent tobacco use, obesity, heart disease, stroke, and cancer; increase immunizations; and empower individuals and communities with tools and resources for local prevention and health initiatives.

“Prevention is something that can’t just happen in a doctor’s office.  If we are to address the big health issues of our time, from physical inactivity to poor nutrition to tobacco use, it needs to happen in local communities,” said Sebelius.  “This investment is going to build on the prevention work already under way to help make sure that we are working effectively across the federal government as well as with private groups and state and local governments to help Americans live longer, healthier lives.”

The Prevention and Public Health Fund, part of the Affordable Care Act, is designed to expand and sustain the necessary capacity to prevent disease, detect it early, manage conditions before they become severe, and provide states and communities the resources they need to promote healthy living.  In FY2010, $500 million of the Prevention Fund was distributed to states and communities to boost prevention and public health efforts, improve health, enhance health care quality, and foster the next generation of primary health professionals.  Today, HHS posted new fact sheets detailing how that $500 million was allocated in every state. Those fact sheets are available at www.HealthCare.gov/news/factsheets/prevention02092011a.html.

This year, building on the initial investment, new funds are dedicated to expanding on four critical priorities:

• Community Prevention ($298 million): These funds will be used to help promote health and wellness in local communities, including efforts to prevent and reduce tobacco use; improve nutrition and increase physical activity to prevent obesity; and coordinate and focus efforts to prevent chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
• Clinical Prevention ($182 million): These funds will help improve access to preventive care, including increasing awareness of the new prevention benefits provided under the new health care law.  They will also help increase availability and use of immunizations, and help integrate behavioral health services into primary care settings.
• Public Health Infrastructure ($137 million): These funds will help state and local health departments meet 21^stcentury challenges, including investments in information technology and training for the public health workforce to enable detection and response to infectious disease outbreaks and other health threats.
• Research and Tracking ($133 million): These funds will help collect data to monitor the impact of the Affordable Care Act on the health of Americans and identify and disseminate evidence-based recommendations on important public health challenges.

The Obama Administration recognizes the importance of a broad approach to addressing the health and well-being of our communities. Other initiatives put forth by the Obama Administration to promote prevention include:

• The President’s Childhood Obesity Task Force and the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative aimed at combating childhood obesity.
• The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that provides $1 billion for community-based initiatives, tobacco cessation activities, chronic disease reduction programs, and efforts to reduce healthcare-acquired infections.
• The Affordable Care Act’s National Prevention, Health Promotion and Public Health Council, composed of senior government officials, charged with designing a National Prevention and Health Promotion Strategy.

For more information about the FY2011 Prevention and Public Health Fund investments, visithttp://www.HealthCare.gov/news/factsheets/prevention02092011b.html.

Related Articles

• Administration Implements New Health Reform Provision to Improve Care Quality, Lower Costs (Healthcare.gov, April 29, 2011)
• Community-Based Prevention Essential Part For Health Care Cost Reform (hcfama.org)

Webinar: Black American Health: Law as a Social Determinant of Health

Webinar: Black American Health: Law as a Social Determinant of Health

Information and registration for this free webinar may be found at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/363063002

Excerpt

 

Social determinants of health are the key factors in the health status gap between blacks and whites. Social determinants of health are the social, economic and political forces under which people live that affect their health.  Social determinants include wealth/income, education, physical environment, health care, housing, employment, stress and racism/discrimination. In fact, for blacks racism is a key factor. Accumulating evidence strongly suggests that exposure to racial discrimination, and the related economic adversity and social disadvantages, may be a chronic source of trauma in Black communities  that negatively influences mental and physical health outcomes.  These effects may be exacerbated for Black children  who may be impacted by exposure to racial discrimination directly and indirectly via the negative influence of racial discrimination on parent and community support and functioning.  Using a life-course framework, we will examine how exposure to racial discrimination in childhood can shape child and adult health, particularly the likelihood of chronic disease in adulthood. The law is a factor in every social determinant of  health and particularly in racial discrimination.  The webinar will discuss the role of laws and legal structures as a strategy for reducing health disparities. **Racial Inequality: A Risk Factor for Health Disparities in African American Communities”. Dr. Kathy Sanders-Phillips **Law as a Social Determinant of Health Dr. Vernellia Randall The Webinars are organized by Professor Vernellia R. Randall at The University of Dayton (randall@udayton.edu).