[Reblog] ‘Inherently dangerous’ drugs routinely prescribed to seniors: Report

[Report] One Year after West, Texas: One in Ten Students Attends School in the Shadow of a Risky Chemical Facility

Of course, just because a facility is associated with hazardous chemicals doesn’t mean an accident will happen.

Still, I was surprised at just how many students go to schools so close to these facilities.

 

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Full Text Reports...

One Year after West, Texas: One in Ten Students Attends School in the Shadow of a Risky Chemical Facility
Source: Center for Effective Government

One year after the fertilizer facility explosion in West, Texas, which destroyed and severely damaged nearby schools, an analysis by the Center for Effective Government finds that nearly one in ten American schoolchildren live and study within one mile of a potentially dangerous chemical facility.

The analysis, displayed through an online interactive map, shows that 4.6 million children at nearly 10,000 schools across the country are within a mile of a facility that reports to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Risk Management Program. Factories, refineries, and other facilities that report to the program produce, use, and/or store significant quantities of certain hazardous chemicals identified by EPA as particularly risky to human health or the environment if they are spilled, released into the air, or are…

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[Reblog] Harsh socio-economic conditions affect the genetic health of children

Write text here…

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Patrick Mackie

Environmental health practitioners, particularly those who studied and qualified in the last twenty years, will be very familiar with Margaret Whitehead and Göran Dahlgren’s model of the social determinants of health, shown below in the well-known model from their 1991 publication.

Environmental health as a profession works at the interfaces between, generally, people’s living and working conditions and their health and wellbeing. But these are only one set of environmental factors that affect health in terms of morbidity and mortality, and there are other governmental and social actors that can work together to intervene and change the outcomes for real people in the real world. That’s why the new public health arrangements in England are game-changing for the profession and for the health of the public generally, and that’s why finding an evidence-base to target suitable and effective interventions that will really make a difference for people is so important.

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[Reblog] Chemical Concerns : What is in My Makeup?

Great links to reputable resources!

THL News Blog

Makeup Brush by Matt TrostleCC BY 2.0

I was at the Ann Arbor YMCA the other day and overheard two women questioning the safety of chemicals used in makeup and other over the counter personal products. This conversation was prompted by someone’s sunscreen running into their eyes, making them partially blind for a few minutes, causing her to wonder if there are any chemicals in there she should be really worried about. I thought I would do a search for information about the safety of chemicals in makeup and share my results since it seems to be something people are interested in:

1. A good place to start is this FDA Fact Sheet article. It’s a quick two page PDF that has excellent tips on makeup use and regulation.
2. Womenshealth.gov put out this great guide to cosmetics. It answers questions like “what’s in cosmetics” and “how can I…

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[News Article] New AARP report looks at onus on spousal caregivers

From the 24 April 2014 article at Covering Health

A new report from the The United Hospital Fund and AARP Public Policy Institute finds that spouses who act as the primary family caregiver routinely perform complex medical and nursing tasks without adequate in-home support from health care professionals, especially when compared with non-spousal family caregivers.

…

“Wedding vows include the promise to be there “in sickness and in health”, but we should not expect spouses to do things that can make nursing students tremble without offering them instructions and support. They should not have to do this important work at home alone. They need and deserve support from professionals, other family members, and the community,” Reinhard said.

It’s unclear why spouses receive less help, but Reinhard and co-authors Carol Levine and Sarah Samis of the United Hospital Fund theorize that choice, lack of awareness about resources, financial limitations, or fear of losing independence play a role. The report calls for additional research to help tailor interventions that support but do not supplant the primary bond between spouses.

 

Read the entire article here

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[Tedx Talk] Truth That Lasts: David Newman at TEDxColumbiaEngineering

Good points about the limits of observational studies and how NNT (number needed to treat) is a good indicator of the efficacy of an intervention. Also good point of how a good preventive diet can often trump medications/surgery. 
Well worth the 18 minutes of viewing.

From the Web site

Published on Sep 29, 2012

Dr. Newman is the Director of Clinical Research in the Emergency Department at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and an Iraq war veteran. In addition to being widely published in medical journals he has written health care articles for the New York Times and is the author of Hippocrates’ Shadow: Secrets From the House of Medicine. For the past ten years he has concentrated his work in medical evidence translation and appraisal. He is also the editor-in-chief for two online publications, TheNNT.com, a resource for health care evidence summaries, and SMART-EM, a monthly audio review. He lives in New York City with his wife and teaches at both Mount Sinai School of Medicine and at Columbia University.

 

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