public health
mikethemadbiologist | July 18, 2007Since I haven't discussed antibiotic resistance for a while, I want to put that health problem in context. The CDC estimates that every year, over 60,000 U.S. residents die from a hospital-acquired bacterial infection that is resistant to one or more commonly used antibiotics. Roughly 25,000 per year die from bacterial infections resistant to three or more antibiotics (e.g., MRSA). And that's just the infections you catch in the hospital. For a little perspective, HIV/AIDS kills under 18,000 U.S. residents per year. Antibiotic resistance is a serious, albeit neglected, problem.
Onto the…
scientificactivist | July 16, 2007The Corpus Callosum has more on the currently unfolding CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program) fiasco:
In the context of the pro and con lobbying over the proposed expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, pharmaceutical companies decided to join the pro side. After all, if more children are insured, more of them will get prescription medication. But is is not just the drug companies, it is a broad-spectrum coalition....
And the response of the Administration? ...
Bush administration officials recently advised drug company executives not to support a major expansion of…
scientificactivist | July 15, 2007I always find it surprising that something as obvious as the need to provide health coverage to children can be so controversial. In 2004, Arlene Wohlgemuth, the Republican running against Democrat Chet Edwards for US Congressional District 17 in Texas, made as a cornerstone of her campaign her sponsorship of HB 2292 the previous year in the Texas House. By substantially cutting back and altering the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP or CHIP) in Texas, Wohlgemuth argued, she had saved Texas taxpayers a significant sum. She had also, however, caused well over 100,000 children…
j7uy5 | July 12, 2007This
is not really news, I guess, but it is a good reminder.
In fact I've written about
it twice before (
href="http://scienceblogs.com/corpuscallosum/2006/10/folate_supplementation_america.php">1
href="http://scienceblogs.com/corpuscallosum/2007/01/reversal_of_progress_on_folate.php">2).
The first post showed evidence that Americans still are not
getting enough folic acid in their diets. The second showed
there actually has been a loss of progress in the effort to make sure
that women of childbearing potential get enough of the nutrient.
This most recent study pertains to Canada…
mikethemadbiologist | July 12, 2007Or actually visitors who cite Galt. Jane Galt responds to calls for adopting a French-like system:
In the United States, government at its various levels now accounts for roughly 45% of health care spending. (And by "now", I mean 2004, the latest year for which OECD data are available. In 2004, of course, the government provided little prescription drug coverage. Remember that fact; it will become important later.) The United States spends about 15.3% of total GDP on healthcare. That means, for those following along at home, that government spending on health care consumes about 7.7% of GDP…
tsmith | July 12, 2007Traveling yet again today (things finally calm down in September, I think). In the meantime, here are a few posts from elsewhere I've been meaning to highlight:
Some more background for those of you who may not be up to speed on HIV/AIDS: AJ Cann explains what we know (and don't know) about how HIV causes AIDS.
Speaking of HIV, ERV has 4 years to come up with an HIV vaccine, and another bad story about science in the media.
David asks if biologists have physics envy. I think I just have other-fields-of-biology envy, and want to do it all.
PZ has a very nice posts explaining the…
scientificactivist | July 11, 2007I meant to comment on this when I originally read it in the New York Times article on the political suppression by the Bush Administration of former Surgeon General Richard Carmona:
Emily Lawrimore, a White House spokeswoman, said the surgeon general "is the leading voice for the health of all Americans."
"It's disappointing to us," Ms. Lawrimore said, "if he failed to use this position to the fullest extent in advocating for policies he thought were in the best interests of the nation."
"Yes, it's your fault, Mr. Surgeon General, that our political interference kept you from doing your job…
scientificactivist | July 11, 2007Add one more to the list.
Yesterday, former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona testified before congress that he was subjected to extensive and systematic political interference in his work by the Bush Administration. From Gardiner Harris of The New York Times:
Former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona told a Congressional panel Tuesday that top Bush administration officials repeatedly tried to weaken or suppress important public health reports because of political considerations.
The administration, Dr. Carmona said, would not allow him to speak or issue reports about stem cells, emergency…
mikethemadbiologist | July 10, 2007Over at Pandagon, Amanda raises an interesting issue about the subtext of the phrase "trusting women" when used to argue for reproductive freedom:
Okay, in all honesty, I think the phrase, while well-intended and certainly catchy, is bad framing. I don't trust women, not all women. Hell, I don't trust myself on occasion. We are all capable of bad decision-making, as anyone who's had a hangover or an ex-boyfriend who calls you at work and harasses you can attest. (*cough*) The phrase "trust women", while most definitely not intended this way, upholds the frame that women's freedom is…
tsmith | July 9, 2007Last year, Seed magazine and Scienceblogs noted the 25th anniversary of the recognition of AIDS. You'd think that in all that time, especially with the identification of HIV and all the public education campaigns in the 1980s, people would realize by now that HIV isn't spread by casual contact. You can't get it by sharing drinking glasses, by coughing and sneezing around others, by being in the same swimming pool. However, the message still hasn't gotten out in some areas, it would seem, as a two-year old HIV+ boy was restricted from using the pool and showers at an Alabama campground.…
tsmith | July 6, 2007Over at Neurotopia, Evil Monkey has been busy writing up a series on hormone therapy.
Part One: history and basics. (Be sure to check out the 1960s-era ads for hormone replacement therapy too...be warned that they might raise your blood pressure).
Part Two: types of HRT and consequences, including material on the Women's Health Initiatives that have received a lot of press over the past several years.
Part Three: cognitive consequences.
mikethemadbiologist | July 5, 2007Calling all woo-meisters (including ScienceBlogs Lord High Defender Against Woo). In this Slate article about the vaccines-cause-autism crowd, which describes how this is one idiot idea that will never go away, I came across this puzzling statement about antibiotics:
Another apparent benefit is the notion, espoused by a network of alternative-medical practitioners and supplement pushers, that if vaccines are the cause, the damage can be repaired, the child made whole. In the homes of autistic children it is not unusual to find cabinets filled with 40 different vitamins and supplements, along…
tsmith | July 4, 2007I know many of the HIV threads here get very tedious and repetitive, but occasionally interesting things come out of them. Believe it or not, I've learned a lot about HIV denial over the past year and a half or so. I've long been familiar with Duesberg's objections, but it wasn't until more recently that I realized there still were active denial groups around, and even wholesale germ theory deniers. So to me, the threads aren't all wasted.
Anyway, in one of the ongoing threads, there was discussion of one commenter's "natural" remedies, and her claim that "Germs cannot get a strong-hold in…
mikethemadbiologist | July 1, 2007You might have heard about the FDA detention of Chinese seafood because it contains antibiotic residues. I'll have more to say about that later, but there's another food advisory that puzzles me:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to eat Veggie Booty flavor of snack food, marketed by Robert's American Gourmet, due to possible contamination with Salmonella Wandsworth, bacteria that cause gastrointestinal illness.
Why would you eat food called Veggie Booty? What was your first clue that this might be a bad idea?
Veggie Booty.
tsmith | June 29, 2007Last year, I mentioned some ongoing research suggesting a link between exposure to light and the development of breast cancer. As I mentioned then:
While we know a good deal about factors that can contribute to breast cancer risk--including genetics (such as mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes) and lifestyle choices (late or no childbearing, high fat diet, lack of exercise), many environmental risks for breast cancer remain controversial. Even the effect of cigarette smoking on breast cancer development remains uncertain, as does the environmental light idea.
For a nice update and…
tsmith | June 26, 2007 Women do some rather insane things to achieve modern standards of beauty. We wear shoes that do terrible things to our feet. We don bras that dig into our chest and push our breasts into strange conformations. We slide on pantyhose to firm our stomachs, makeup to hide our imperfections, and hair dye to diminish our grays. And we have this strange habit* of yanking other body hair out from the root, be it our eyebrows, underarms, legs, or pubic hair.
Yes, I do have a point here (besides making men squirm). The August issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases has a forthcoming article…
mikethemadbiologist | June 23, 2007Anything that lowers the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in agriculture is a good way to prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance. Fromt he NY Times:
Tyson Foods, one of the nation's largest poultry producers, said yesterday that it would no longer use antibiotics to raise chicken sold fresh in stores and would start a $70 million advertising campaign to promote the shift.
The company said that fresh chicken raised without antibiotics was shipped to stores Monday and would be sold beginning later this week in packaging that emphasizes there are no artificial ingredients.
"We're…
mikethemadbiologist | June 22, 2007With Massachusetts having prevented the attempt to de-legalize gay marriage, there is much discussion about the topic. But this story about a splinter Mormon group highlights the importance of outlawing one type of marriage: marriages between close relatives. By way of Lance Mannion, from Reuters (italics mine):
In a dusty neighborhood under sheer sandstone cliffs studded with juniper on the Arizona-Utah border, a rare genetic disorder is spreading through polygamous families on a wave of inbreeding.
The twin border communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, have the world…
tsmith | June 22, 2007While I was out last week, I completely missed this Science article all about HIV denial and the AidsTruth.org website, and features frequent commenter Richard Jeffreys:
For 20 years, a small but vocal group of AIDS "dissenters" has attracted international attention by questioning whether HIV causes the disease. Many AIDS researchers from the outset thought it best to ignore these challenges. But last year, another small and equally vocal group decided to counter the dissenters--whom they call "denialists"--with a feisty Web site, AIDSTruth.org. It has started to attract international…
scientificactivist | June 19, 2007For this round of Ask a ScienceBlogger, the question is "Is sunshine good for you?"
It's a beautiful sunny day outside. And, of course, you're stuck in the lab (or the office, classroom, or daily holding tank of your choice). Although you may thumb your nose at those who seem to have nothing better to do than have fun in the sun, don't be so quick to judge. In fact, your lack of sun exposure might be partially to blame for that not-so-sunny disposition of yours. Or worse.
Your body operates on a 24-hour circadian rhythm, and regular daily exposure to sunlight keeps it running smoothly. So,…