http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23453259

Drug Alcohol Depend. 2013 Feb 28. pii: S0376-8716(13)00039-2. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2013.02.002. [Epub ahead of print]

Male and female ecstasy users: Differences in patterns of use, sleep quality and mental health outcomes.

Ogeil RP, Rajaratnam SM, Broadbear JH.

Source

School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia. Electronic address: Rowan.Ogeil@monash.edu.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Ecstasy users report a number of adverse effects following use including mood and sleep disturbances. The present study examined differences in characteristics of ecstasy use (amount, frequency of use, reported harm resulting from use) between males and females and assessed relationships between ecstasy use, sleep quality and mental health outcomes.

METHODS:

An online survey of 268 ecstasy users (54.1% male, 45.9% female) was conducted. Validated sleep instruments assessing sleep quality and excessive daytime sleepiness, as well as questionnaires regarding physical and mental health (measured using the short-form health survey 12 (SF-12) and details of drug use were included.

RESULTS:

Male ecstasy users reported taking larger amounts of ecstasy, but were not more frequent users compared to females. Female ecstasyusers were more likely to report increased harm following ecstasy including: feelings of guilt and remorse; failing to do what was normally expected of them; and having been told by others to cut down their ecstasy use. There were interactions between amount and gender and frequency and gender in predicting use of sleep medication and daytime dysfunction. There was a positive correlation between poorer sleep quality and negative mood, although this relationship was not moderated by sex.

CONCLUSIONS:

There is a significant association between sleep quality and mood disturbance in ecstasy users suggesting that these negative outcomes are co-morbid. These findings have implications for the treatment and advice given to ecstasy users who are experiencing sleep and/or mood related complaints.

When you thought you'd heard it all: "...bicycling is not environmentally friendly because people who ride bikes pollute the air when they breathe"

http://bikeportland.org/2013/03/02/wa-legislator-cyclists-increased-respiration-leads-to-air-pollution-83669

WA legislator: "Cyclists' increased respiration" leads to air pollution - UPDATED

Posted by Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor) on March 2nd, 2013 at 1:39 pm

A high-ranking Washington legislator has added insult to injury in his support for a bike tax by claiming that bicycling is not environmentally friendly because people who ride bikes pollute the air when they breathe.

An email that surfaced online today from Washington State Representative Ed Orcutt(R-Kalama) outlines his position on the transportation tax recently proposed by Democrats in the Washington legislature (read update below for source of the email). As we shared a few weeks ago, part of the tax package includes a tax on the sale of bicycles. Rep. Orcutt is staunchly opposed to taxes of any kind and is even opposed to the gas tax increases in this legislation; but in an email dated February 25th, Orcutt expresses his support for the bicycle tax provision. Most of his argument is not terribly surprising: He believes only people who drive pay for the roads, "So it only makes sense that bicyclists would be required to pay for the 'roads' they use."

From the Huffington Post: The Stigma of Obesity

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-hamady/obesity-stigma_b_2819893.html

The Stigma of Obesity

Cultural agreements are interesting, as are how they come into being. For one, they're neither necessarily nor universally morally inspired; not everyone "agreed" to stop persecuting African Americans, bashing gay people, or beating their wives and children. Some people, sadly, still continue to do so.

Publicly, however, our agreements become standards that must be adhered to, lest we face the shame-inspiring and often legally-binding consequences of collective disapproval.

The opposite is also, and oddly, true. So intent are we to remain in the good graces of people we do and don't know that we'll often do things we personally and even morally disagree with. (If interested, Elliot Aronson's excellent The Social Animal provides for a further exploration of the topic.)

Jennifer Hamady

Voice coach, counselor specializing in self-expression; Author, 'The Art of Singing'

Zombie allusions: They just keep on coming-deep underground, where they may hold clues to the origins of life

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/thomson-reuters/130306/reuters-science-news-summary-0

Deep underground, worms and "zombie microbes" rule

OSLO (Reuters) - A dark realm far beneath the Earth's surface is a surprisingly rich home for tiny worms and "zombie microbes" that may hold clues to the origins of life, scientists said on Monday. "It's an amazing new world," said Robert Hazen, head of the Deep Carbon Observatory, a decade-long $500 million project to study the planet's carbon, an element vital to life and found in everything from oil to diamonds.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/thomson-reuters/130306/reuters-science-news-summary-0

Centenary of Lewy bodies

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23456291

J Neural Transm. 2013 Mar 2. [Epub ahead of print]

Centenary of Lewy bodies (1912-2012).

Holdorff B, Rodrigues E Silva AM, Dodel R.

Source

Department of Neurology, Schlossparkklinik Berlin, Grolmanstr. 56, 10623, Berlin, Germany, bernd.holdorff@gmx.de.

Abstract

During the years from 1908 until 1923, Lewy was the first to detail the pathological anatomy of Parkinson's disease, leading to his seminal contribution in 1912 describing the neuronal eosinophilic cytoplasmatic concentric inclusion bodies in the brainstem, later accomplished by more systematic investigations in 1923 (Lewy in Lewandowsky's Handbuch der Neurologie, 3. Band: Spez. Neurologie II. Springer, Berlin, pp 920-933, 1912). With the exception of a minority of cases and those that displayed postencephalitic Parkinsonism, Lewy was not able to confirm the significance of the substantia nigra. The findings of Tretiakoff in 1919 (significance of the substantia nigra in PD and coining of the term 'Corps de Lewy') have been underestimated or ignored for a long time. In a historical review on basal ganglia diseases from 1942, Lewy stressed the histological abnormalities of the basal ganglia and their diffuse distribution but not expressly the inclusion bodies, which in his former studies were unique in PD. For Lewy this finding was not a characteristic of the disease. Subsequent to his expulsion from Nazi-Germany in 1933, Lewy never resumed his research on PD. At the time of Lewy's death in 1950, the era of the Lewy bodies, Lewy-body-disease and the identification of atypical Parkinson syndrome cases had not even begun and followed much later.

From the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin: Reason needed in wake of tragic, preventable death

http://union-bulletin.com/news/2013/mar/06/reason-needed-wake-tragic-preventable-death/

Reason needed in wake of tragic, preventable death

When a nurse refused to do CPR on a woman it spurred support for laws mandating emergency care. That’s not something that can, or should, be mandated.

Public outrage over a preventable death often leads to loud calls for change in the laws. But sometimes new legislation — particularly when driven by emotion — often causes far more problems than it addresses.

#And that might well be the case if new laws result from legislation enacted in the wake of the tragedy in California in which a nurse at an independent living home refused to give CPR to a dying 87-year-old woman.

#The incident has gained national attention as the horrifying seven-minute 9-1-1 call where a dispatcher makes desperate pleas for the nurse to do CPR has been played over and over on cable news channels.

Nannystate slippery slope slip-sliding away. Anybody in NY ready to say its none of your business yet?

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/03/06/report-cranked-up-earphones-next-on-bloombergs-health-hit-list/

Report: Cranked-Up Earbuds Next On Bloomberg’s Health Hit List

March 6, 2013 5:41 PM

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) – Less than a week before a ban on super-sized sugary drinks is set to take effect in New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to add earbud headphones to the list of health dangers for New Yorkers.

City health officials plan to warn young people via a social-media campaign that they riskhearing loss from listening to music at high volume on personal music players.

.....................

Some New Yorkers spoke with 1010 WINS about how they used their earbuds. Their comments seemed to indicate the problem may not be so rampant.

“I play them like not fully, like I put it all the way to the max and bring it down at least two times, that’s it. Just enough to hear the beat. I just like it,” Anthony Rivera said.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23327386

Onderstepoort J Vet Res. 2012 Jul 20;79(2):E1-6. doi: 10.4102/ojvr.v79i2.501.

Tuberculosis cross-species transmission in Tanzania: Towards a One-Health concept.

Mbugi EV, Katale BZ, Kendall S, Good L, Kibiki GS, Keyyu JD, Godfrey-Faussett P, Van Helden P, Matee MI.

Source

Departments of Microbiology and Immunology, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences. erasto.mbugi@sacids.org.

Abstract

For centuries, tuberculosis, which is a chronic infection caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis has remained a global health problem. The global burden of tuberculosis has increased, particularly in the Southern African region, mainly due to HIV, and inadequate health systems which has in turn given rise to emergent drug resistant tuberculosis (TB) strains. Bovine tuberculosis (BTB) has also emerged as a significant disease with the tendency for inter-species spread. The extent of interspecies BTB transmission both in urban and rural communities has not been adequately assessed. The phenomenon is of particular importance in rural communities where people share habitats with livestock and wildlife (particularly in areas near national parks and game reserves). Aerosol and oral intake are the major routes of transmission from diseased to healthy individuals, with health care workers often contracting infection nosocomially. Although TB control has increasingly been achieved in high-income countries, the disease, like other poverty-related infections, has continued to be a disaster in countries with low income economies. Transmission of infections occurs not only amongst humans but also between animals and humans (and occasionally vice versa) necessitating assessment of the extent of transmission at their interface. This review explores tuberculosis as a disease of humans which can cross-transmit between humans, livestock and wildlife. The review also addresses issues underlying the use of molecular biology, genetic sequencing and bioinformatics as t tools to understand the extent of inter-species cross-transmission of TB in a 'One Health' context.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23327403

Onderstepoort J Vet Res. 2012 Jun 20;79(2):E1. doi: 10.4102/ojvr.v79i2.480.

Towards One Health Knowledge Networks: A Southern African Centre of Infectious Disease Surveillance case study.

Beda E.

Source

Southern African Centre for Infectious Diseases Surveillance, Sokoine University of Agriculture. eric.beda@sacids.org.

Abstract

The dynamic nature of new information and/or knowledge is a big challenge for information systems. Early knowledge management systems focused entirely on technologies for storing, searching and retrieving data; these systems have proved a failure. Juirsica and Mylopoulos1 suggested that in order to build effective technologies for knowledge management, we need to further our understanding of how individuals, groups and organisations use knowledge. As the focus on knowledge management for organisations and consortia alike is moving towards a keen appreciation of how deeply knowledge is embedded in people's experiences, there is a general realisation that knowledge cannot be stored or captured digitally. This puts more emphasis in creating enabling environments for interactions that stimulate knowledge sharing.Our work aims at developing an un-obtrusive intelligent system that glues together effective contemporary and traditional technologies to aid these interactions and manage the information captured. In addition this system will include tools to aid propagating a repository of scientific information relevant to surveillance of infectious diseases to complement knowledge shared and/or acts as a point of reference.This work is ongoing and based on experiences in developing a knowledge network management system for the Southern African Centre of Infectious Disease Surveillance (SACIDS), A One Health consortium of southern African academic and research institutions involved with infectious diseases of humans and animals in partnership with world-renowned centres of research in industrialised countries.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23392841

Ecohealth. 2013 Feb 8. [Epub ahead of print]

Convergence of Ecohealth and One Health.

Zinsstag J.

Source

Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, PO Box 4002, Basel, Switzerland.

Interest and participation in EcoHealth and One Health approaches have grown considerably over the past decade. Clearly, the two approaches have many similarities and strive for similar outcomes, and collaboration between them holds great potential value. Convergence of the two approaches could avoid repetition, strengthening both communities yet still highlighting the unique attributes of each approach. In 2011 Margot Parkes, then President of the International Association for Ecology and Health (EcoHealth), called for critical reflection on directions for ecohealth as a transdisciplinary field positioned among converging efforts (Parkes2012). Building on this, seventeen of us engaged in further discussion about the convergence between One Health and Ecohealth at the 4th biennial EcoHealth conference this past October. We represent veterinary medicine, public health, ecology and several other disciplines, geographic locations, and both Ecohealth and One Health experiences. We present our deliberations and insights on two questions: Where and how can the two concepts converge? What is their common ground and where can they live happily apart?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23413734

Rev Sci Tech. 2012 Aug;31(2):561-75.

Good governance in 'one health' approaches.

Landford J, Nunn M.

Source

International Development Consultancy, P.O. Box 885, Woden, ACT 2606, Australia.

Abstract

The authors discuss 'One Health' approaches for controlling newly recognised and re-emerging diseases of animal origin and contributions towards pandemic preparedness based on enhanced collaboration between Veterinary Services, Human Health Services and Environmental Services. Improved veterinary governance and cooperation with public health managers, social scientists, ecologists and many other stakeholders are important for reducing the risks of potential zoonoses--including foodborne diseases--at their source. Two case studies are presented to illustrate how One Health approaches can make a difference--Hendra disease incidents in Australia and rabies management on the African continent. This article also includes an overview of collaboration at the international level between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Natiorfs, the World Organisation for Animal Health, and the World Health Organization. Environmental determinants for disease emergence, anthropogenic climate change and human encroachment on shrinking wildlife habitats are considered, using highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) and Nipah virus as examples. Finally, the authors discuss the effects of livestock production on environmental change--in the light of global population growth and increasing demand for livestock and aquaculture products--with the need for future policy decisions to be based on a multidisciplinary One Healthapproach.

From the CDC: Operationalizing One Health: Stone Mountain and beyond

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23460115

Curr Top Microbiol Immunol. 2013 Mar 5. [Epub ahead of print]

Operationalizing One Health: Stone Mountain and beyond.

Rubin CS.

Source

National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, 30333, USA, crubin@cdc.gov.

Abstract

Although the interconnection of humans, animals, and ecosystems has been recognized historically, increasing specialization of professionals in the twentieth century led to decreased communication and collaboration among sectors. In early 2000, a One Health vision of global interconnectedness began gaining in popularity and a series of meetings were held extolling the One Health vision. However, by 2009, detractors were claiming that the One Health approach was indeed all vision and no action. In response to this, international organizations sponsored a carefully planned and structured meeting to construct a way forward that would lead to tangible outcomes. The Stone Mountain meeting, Operationalizing "One Health": A PolicyPerspective-Taking Stock and Shaping an Implementation Roadmap led to the formation of seven multi-national work groups with defined timelines and outputs. The process has garnered increasing participation and support, and the work groups are on track to demonstrate the value added of a One Health approach.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23459180

J Med Philos. 2013 Mar 4. [Epub ahead of print]

The Role of Moral Imagination in Patients' Decision-Making.

Rommetveit K, Scully JL, Porz R.

Source

University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.

Abstract

This article reviews recent developments within a number of academic disciplines pointing toward an increasing importance of imagination for understanding morality and cognition. Using elements from hermeneutics and metaphor theory, it works toward a framework for a more context-sensitive understanding of human agency, especially focusing on moral deliberation and change. The analytic framework is used to analyze the story of a patient making tough decisions in the context of prenatal diagnosis. We show how a relatively stable outlook on the world, here called the "baseline of choice," is challenged by unexpected events and how imaginative processes enter into the active creation of a new moral order. The ensuing interpretation is then placed within a broader philosophical landscape. John Dewey's notion of "dramatic rehearsal" is put forward as one particularly promising way of understanding moral imagination, deliberation, and decision-making.

'What Do I Know? Should I Participate?' Considerations on Participation in HIV Related Research among HIV Infected Adults in Bangalore

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23460780

PLoS One. 2013;8(2):e53054. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0053054. Epub 2013 Feb 27.

'What Do I Know? Should I Participate?' Considerations on Participation in HIV Related Research among HIV Infected Adults in Bangalore, South India.

Rodrigues RJ, Antony J, Krishnamurthy S, Shet A, De Costa A.

Source

Division of Global Health, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden ; St. John's National Academy of Health Sciences, Bangalore, India.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

India has the highest number of HIV infected persons in the world after South Africa. Much HIV related behavioral, clinical and laboratory based research is ongoing in India. Yet little is known on Indian HIV patients' knowledge of research, their processes of decision making and motives for participation. We aimed to explore these areas among HIV infected individuals to understand their reasons for participating in research.

METHODOLOGYPRINCIPAL FINDINGS:

This is a cross sectional survey among 173 HIV infected adults at a tertiary level hospital in Bangalore, India, done between October 2010 and January 2011. A pre-tested questionnaire was administered to the participants by trained research assistants to assess their knowledge regarding research, willingness to participate, decision making and determinants of participation. Participants were presented with five hypothetical HIV research studies. Each study had a different level of intervention and time commitment. Of respondents, 103(60%), said that research meant 'to discover something new' and 138(80%) were willing to participate in research. A third of the respondents were unaware of their right to refuse participation. Willingness to participate in research varied with level of intervention. It was the lowest for the hypothetical study involving sensitive questions followed by the hypothetical drug trial; and was the highest for the hypothetical cross sectional questionnaire based study (p<0.0015). Individual health benefits and altruism were the primary motives for participation in research and indicate the presence of therapeutic misconception. Women were less likely to make autonomous decisions for participation in interventional studies.

CONCLUSIONSSIGNIFICANCE:

Despite a majority willing to participate, over a third of respondents did not have any knowledge of research or the voluntary nature of participation. This has ethical implications. Researchers need to focus on enabling potential research participants understand the concepts of research, promote autonomous decisions, especially by women and restrict therapeutic misconception.

From Rush U: Multimodality Treatment of Pleural Mesothelioma

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23453339

Surg Oncol Clin N Am. 2013 Apr;22(2):345-55. doi: 10.1016/j.soc.2012.12.004. Epub 2012 Dec 29.

Multimodality Treatment of Pleural Mesothelioma.

Shersher DD, Liptay MJ.

Source

Thoracic Oncology Program, Rush University Medical Center, Rush Professional Office Building, 1725 West Harrison Street, Suite 774, Chicago, IL 60612, USA; Department of General Surgery, Rush University Medical Center, Rush Professional Office Building, 1725 West Harrison Street, Suite 774, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.

Abstract

Although the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma has been refined during the past two decades, overall survival from this rather uncommon disease is still extremely poor. Here we review the current multimodal diagnostic and treatment options for patients with mesothelioma and discuss promising new experimental concepts in this disease.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23460820

PLoS One. 2013;8(2):e56921. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0056921. Epub 2013 Feb 27.

The timing of drug funding announcements relative to elections: a case study involving dementia medications.

Gill SS, Gupta N, Bell CM, Rochon PA, Austin PC, Laupacis A.

Source

Department of Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada ; Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Following initial regulatory approval of prescription drugs, many factors may influence insurers and health systems when they decide whether to add these drugs to their formularies. The role of political pressures on drug funding announcements has received relatively little attention, and elections represent an especially powerful form of political pressure. We examined the temporal relationship between decisions to add one class of drugs to publicly funded formularies in Canada's ten provinces and elections in these jurisdictions.

METHODS:

Dates of provincial formulary listings for cholinesterase inhibitors, which are drugs used to treat Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, were compared to the dates of provincial elections. Medical journal articles, media reports, and proceedings from provincial legislatures were reviewed to assemble information on the chronology of events. We tested whether there was a statistically significant increase in the probability of drug funding announcements within the 60-day intervals preceding provincial elections.

RESULTS:

Decisions to fund the cholinesterase inhibitors were made over a nine-year span from 1999 to 2007 in the ten provinces. In four of ten provinces, the drugs were added to formularies in a time period closely preceding a provincial election ( = 0.032); funding announcements in these provinces were made between 2 and 47 days prior to elections. Statements made in provincial legislatures highlight the key role of political pressures in these funding announcements.

CONCLUSIONS:

Impending elections appeared to affect the timing of drug funding announcements in this case study. Despite an established structure for evidence-based decision-making, drug funding remains a complex process open to influence from many sources. Awareness of such influences is critical to maintain effective drug policy and public health decision-making.

From U Sydney: Uncanny animals: thinking differently about ethics and the animal-human relationship

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22881851

Am J Bioeth. 2012;12(9):30-2. doi: 10.1080/15265161.2012.699143.

Uncanny animals: thinking differently about ethics and the animal-human relationship.

Irvine R, Degeling C, Kerridge I.

Source

University of Sydney, Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine, Australia. rirvine@med.usyd.edu.au

Comment on

• The following popper user interface control may not be accessible. Tab to the next button to revert the control to an accessible version.
  Destroy user interface controlReframing the ethical issues in part-human animal research: the unbearable ontology of inexorable moral confusion. [Am J Bioeth. 2012]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23438404

Vet Clin North Am Food Anim Pract. 2013 Mar;29(1):157-84. doi: 10.1016/j.cvfa.2012.11.006. Epub 2012 Dec 23.

Prevention and management of surgical pain in cattle.

Anderson DE, Edmondson MA.

Source

Large Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tennessee, 2407 River Road, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA. Electronic address: david.anderson@utk.edu.

Abstract

Management of pain continues to be an important consideration in livestock on which surgical procedures are performed. A balance must be achieved between the need to mitigate discomfort and the economic constraints of the production enterprise. Moral and ethical dilemmas have increased among consumers and these concerns have stimulated interest to reexamine the methods used to achieve the shared goals of humane production of safe, affordable animal products for human consumption. This article discusses drug and anesthetic protocols for field surgery of cattle, including nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, opioids, local and regional anesthesia, epidural anesthesia, and electroacupuncture.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23454981

Nurs Ethics. 2013 Mar 1. [Epub ahead of print]

Nurses, industrial action and ethics: Considerations from the 2010 South African public-sector strike.

van Rensburg AJ, Janse van Rensburg D.

Source

University of the Free State, South Africa.

Abstract

Several important ethical dilemmas emerge when nurses join a public-sector strike. Such industrial action is commonplace in South Africa and was most notably illustrated by a national wage negotiation in 2010. Media coverage of the proceedings suggested unethical behaviour on the part of nurses, and further exploration is merited. Laws, policies and provisional codes are meant to guide nurses' behaviour during industrial action, while ethical theories can be used to further illuminate the role of nurses in industrial action. There are, however, important aspects to consider before judging whether nurses act unethically when striking. Following Loewy's suggestion that the nature of the work, the proceeding commitment of the nurse to the patient, the prevailing situation when the strike is planned and the person(s) who stand(s) to benefit from the strike be considered, coupled with a consideration of the South African historical socio-political context, important aspects of the ethics of nurses' behaviour in industrial action transpire.

There are no words.

http://www.wnd.com/2013/03/9-1-1-nightmare-nurse-refuses-to-do-cpr/

9-1-1 nightmare: Nurse refuses to do CPR


Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/03/9-1-1-nightmare-nurse-refuses-to-do-cpr/#ZTtLIUMlMcKddl8h.99