alt ACT Health bogged down by outdated faxes By www.smh.com.au Published On :: Tue, 05 Jan 2016 11:20:04 GMT Archaic technology wasting time for Canberrans is in the target of new federal agency. Full Article
alt Medical records exposed by flaw in Telstra Health's Argus software By www.smh.com.au Published On :: Wed, 21 Mar 2018 21:21:02 GMT Default static password allowed medical practitioners' computers and servers to be accessed remotely by hackers. Full Article
alt Influencing the social impact of financial systems: alternative strategies By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Wed, 04 Mar 2020 13:35:39 +0000 4 March 2020 , Volume 96, Number 2 Lee-Anne Sim Read Online The social impact of the global financial crisis brought global and domestic financial systems into public focus. While over the last ten years governments have introduced a range of regulatory reforms, there are still low levels of public trust in financial sectors, and academics continue to express their concerns about financial systems and their desire for more influence. This is particularly the case for those framing their evaluation of the quality of financial systems in terms of social values. This article offers those seeking more influence over the social values of financial systems, a fresh perspective on their available strategic options for influencing outcomes. It argues that they should consider strategies aimed at making allies of financial sectors and regulators in influencing change. The main advantage of these alliance strategies is that they address key constraints to influence, as identified in existing scholarship, which are difficult to relax because they are tied to features inherent in financial systems. By addressing these constraints, alliance strategies could increase the likelihood that financial system outcomes align more closely with their preferred social values. Full Article
alt Let's Emerge From COVID-19 with Stronger Health Systems By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Thu, 26 Mar 2020 09:33:28 +0000 26 March 2020 Robert Yates Director, Global Health Programme; Executive Director, Centre for Universal Health @yates_rob Heads of state should grasp the opportunity to become universal health heroes to strengthen global health security 2020-03-26-Health-Protest A "Big Insurance: Sick of It" rally in New York City. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images. As the COVID-19 pandemic presents the greatest threat to human health in over a century, people turn to their states to resolve the crisis and protect their health, their livelihoods and their future well-being.How leaders perform and respond to the pandemic is likely to define their premiership - and this therefore presents a tremendous opportunity to write themselves into the history books as a great leader, rescuing their people from a crisis. Just as Winston Churchill did in World War Two.Following Churchill’s advice to “never let a good crisis go to waste”, if leaders take decisive action now, they may emerge from the COVID-19 crisis as a national hero. What leaders must do quickly is to mitigate the crisis in a way which has a demonstrable impact on people’s lives.Given the massive shock caused by the pandemic to economies across the world, it is not surprising that heads of state and treasury ministers have implemented enormous economic stimulus packages to protect businesses and jobs – this was to be expected and has been welcome.National heroes can be madeBut, in essence, this remains primarily a health crisis. And one obvious area for leaders to act rapidly is strengthening their nation’s health system to stop the spread of the virus and successfully treat those who have fallen sick. It is perhaps here that leaders have the most to gain - or lose - and where national heroes can be made.This is particularly the case in countries with weak and inequitable health systems, where the poor and vulnerable often fail to access the services they need. One major practical action that leaders can implement immediately is to launch truly universal, publicly-financed health reforms to cover their entire population – not only for COVID-19 services but for all services.This would cost around 1-2% GDP in the short-term but is perfectly affordable in the current economic climate, given some of the massive fiscal stimuluses already being planned (for example, the UK is spending 15% GDP to tackle COVID-19).Within one to two years, this financing would enable governments to implement radical supply side reforms including scaling up health workforces, increasing the supply of essential medicines, diagnostics and vaccines and building new infrastructure. It would also enable them to remove health service user fees which currently exclude hundreds of millions of people worldwide from essential healthcare. Worldwide these policies have proven to be effective, efficient, equitable and extremely popular.And there is plenty of precedent for such a move. Universal health reform is exactly what political leaders did in the UK, France and Japan as post-conflict states emerging from World War Two. It is also the policy President Kagame launched in the aftermath of the genocide in Rwanda, as did Prime Minister Thaksin in Thailand after the Asian Financial Crisis in 2002, and the Chinese leadership did following the SARS crisis, also in 2003.In China’s case, reform involved re-socialising the health financing system using around 2% GDP in tax financing to increase health insurance coverage from a low level of one-third right up to 96% of the population.All these universal health coverage (UHC) reforms delivered massive health and economic benefits to the people - just what is needed now to tackle COVID-19 - and tremendous political benefits to the leaders that implemented them.When considering the current COVID-19 crisis, this strategy would be particularly relevant for countries underperforming on health coverage and whose health systems are more likely to be overwhelmed if flooded with a surge of patients, such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Indonesia and most of sub-Saharan Africa, where many governments spend less than 1% of their GDP on health and most people have to buy services over the counter.But also the two OECD countries without a universal health system – the United States and Ireland – are seeing the threat of COVID-19 already fuelling the debate about the need to create national, publicly-financed health system. And the presidents of South Africa, Kenya and Indonesia have already committed their governments to eventually reach full population coverage anyway, and so may use this crisis to accelerate their own universal reforms. Although difficult to predict which leaders are likely to grasp the opportunity, if some of these countries now fast-track nationwide UHC, at least something good will be coming from the crisis, something which will benefit their people forever. And ensuring everyone accesses the services they need, including public health and preventive services, also provides the best protection against any future outbreaks becoming epidemics.Every night large audiences are tuning in to press briefings fronted by their heads of state hungry for the latest update on the crisis and to get reassurance that their government’s strategy will bring the salvation they desperately need. To truly improve health security for people across the world, becoming UHC heroes could be the best strategic decision political leaders ever make. Full Article
alt WHO Can Do Better - But Halting Funding is No Answer By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Mon, 20 Apr 2020 09:11:18 +0000 20 April 2020 Dr Charles Clift Senior Consulting Fellow, Global Health Programme @CliftWorks Calling a halt to funding for an unspecified time is an unsatisfactory halfway house for the World Health Organization (WHO) to deal with. But with Congress and several US agencies heavily involved, whether a halt is even feasible is under question. 2020-04-20-PPE-Ethiopia-WHO Checking boxes of personal protective equipment (PPE) at the Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Photo by SAMUEL HABTAB/AFP via Getty Images. Donald Trump is impulsive. His sudden decision to stop funding the World Health Organization (WHO) just days after calling it 'very China-centric” and 'wrong about a lot of things' is the latest example. And this in the midst of the worst pandemic since Spanish flu in 1918 and a looming economic crisis compared by some to the 1930s. But the decision is not really just about what WHO might or might not have done wrong. It is more about the ongoing geopolitical wrangle between the US and China, and about diverting attention from US failings in its own response to coronavirus in the run-up to the US presidential election.It clearly also derives from Trump’s deep antipathy to almost any multilateral organization. WHO has been chosen as the fall guy in this political maelstrom in a way that might please Trump’s supporters who will have read or heard little about WHO’s role in tackling this crisis. And the decision has been widely condemned in almost all other countries and by many in the US.What is it likely to mean in practice for WHO?Calling a halt to funding for an unspecified time is an unsatisfactory halfway house. A so-called factsheet put out by the White House talks about the reforms it thinks necessary 'before the organization can be trusted again'. This rather implies that the US wants to remain a member of WHO if it can achieve the changes it wants. Whether those changes are feasible is another question — they include holding member states accountable for accurate data-sharing and countering what is referred to as 'China’s outsize influence on the organization'. Trump said the funding halt would last while WHO’s mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic was investigated, which would take 60-90 days. The US is the single largest funder of WHO, providing about 16% of its budget. It provides funds to WHO in two ways. The first is the assessed contribution — the subscription each country pays to be a member. In 2018/19 the US contribution should have been $237 million but, as of January this year it was in arrears by about $200 million.Much bigger are US voluntary contributions provided to WHO for specified activities amounting in the same period to another $650 million. These are for a wide variety of projects — more than one-quarter goes to polio eradication, but a significant portion also is for WHO’s emergency work. The US assessed contribution represents only 4% of WHO’s budget. Losing that would certainly be a blow to WHO but a manageable one. Given the arrears situation it is not certain that the US would have paid any of this in the next three months in any case. More serious would be losing the US voluntary contributions which account for about another 12% of WHO’s budget—but whether this could be halted all at once is very unclear. First Congress allocates funds in the US, not the president, raising questions about how a halt could be engineered domestically.Secondly, US contributions to WHO come from about ten different US government agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health or USAID, each of whom have separate agreements with WHO. Will they be prepared to cut funding for ongoing projects with WHO? And does the US want to disrupt ongoing programmes such as polio eradication and, indeed, emergency response which contribute to saving lives? Given the president’s ability to do 180 degree U-turns we shall have to wait and see what will actually happen in the medium term. If it presages the US leaving WHO, this would only facilitate growing Chinese influence in the WHO and other UN bodies. Perhaps in the end wiser advice will be heeded and a viable solution found.Most of President Trump’s criticisms of WHO do not bear close scrutiny. WHO may have made mistakes — it may have given too much credence to information coming from the Chinese. China has just announced that the death toll in Wuhan was 50% higher than previously revealed. It may have overpraised China’s performance and system, but this was part of a deliberate strategy to secure China’s active collaboration so that it could help other countries learn from China’s experience. The chief message from this sorry story is that two countries are using WHO as a pawn in pursuing their respective political agendas which encompass issues well beyond the pandemic. China has been very successful in gaining WHO’s seal of approval, in spite of concerns about events prior to it declaring the problem to the WHO and the world. This, in turn, has invited retaliation from the US. When this is over will be the time to learn lessons about what WHO should have done better. But China, the US, and the global community of nations also need to consider their own responsibility in contributing to this terrible unfolding tragedy.This article was originally published in the British Medical Journal Full Article
alt Coronavirus: Public Health Emergency or Pandemic – Does Timing Matter? By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Fri, 01 May 2020 14:48:43 +0000 1 May 2020 Dr Charles Clift Senior Consulting Fellow, Global Health Programme @CliftWorks The World Health Organization (WHO) has been criticized for delaying its announcements of a public health emergency and a pandemic for COVID-19. But could earlier action have influenced the course of events? 2020-05-01-Tedros-WHO-COVID WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the COVID-19 press briefing on March 11, 2020, the day the coronavirus outbreak was classed as a pandemic. Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the spread of COVID-19 to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on January 30 this year and then characterized it as a pandemic on March 11.Declaring a PHEIC is the highest level of alert that WHO is obliged to declare, and is meant to send a powerful signal to countries of the need for urgent action to combat the spread of the disease, mobilize resources to help low- and middle-income countries in this effort and fund research and development on needed treatments, vaccines and diagnostics. It also obligates countries to share information with WHO.Once the PHEIC was declared, the virus continued to spread globally, and WHO began to be asked why it had not yet declared the disease a pandemic. But there is no widely accepted definition of a pandemic, generally it is just considered an epidemic which affects many countries globally.Potentially more deadlyThe term has hitherto been applied almost exclusively to new forms of flu, such as H1N1 in 2009 or Spanish flu in 1918, where the lack of population immunity and absence of a vaccine or effective treatments makes the outbreak potentially much more deadly than seasonal flu (which, although global, is not considered a pandemic).For COVID-19, WHO seemed reluctant to declare a pandemic despite the evidence of global spread. Partly this was because of its influenza origins — WHO’s emergency programme executive director said on March 9 that ‘if this was influenza, we would have called a pandemic ages ago’.He also expressed concern that the word traditionally meant moving — once there was widespread transmission — from trying to contain the disease by testing, isolating the sick and tracing and quarantining their contacts, to a mitigation approach, implying ‘the disease will spread uncontrolled’.WHO’s worry was that the world’s reaction to the word pandemic might be there was now nothing to be done to stop its spread, and so countries would effectively give up trying. WHO wanted to send the message that, unlike flu, it could still be pushed back and the spread slowed down.In announcing the pandemic two days later, WHO’s director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reemphasised this point: ‘We cannot say this loudly enough, or clearly enough, or often enough: all countries can still change the course of this pandemic’ and that WHO was deeply concerned ‘by the alarming levels of inaction’.The evidence suggests that the correct message did in fact get through. On March 13, US president Donald Trump declared a national emergency, referring in passing to WHO’s announcement. On March 12, the UK launched its own strategy to combat the disease. And in the week following WHO’s announcements, at least 16 other countries announced lockdowns of varying rigour including Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Spain and Switzerland. Italy and Greece had both already instituted lockdowns prior to the WHO pandemic announcement.It is not possible to say for sure that WHO’s announcement precipitated these measures because, by then, the evidence of the rapid spread was all around for governments to see. It may be that Italy’s dramatic nationwide lockdown on March 9 reverberated around European capitals and elsewhere.But it is difficult to believe the announcement did not have an effect in stimulating government actions, as was intended by Dr Tedros. Considering the speed with which the virus was spreading from late February, might an earlier pandemic announcement by WHO have stimulated earlier aggressive actions by governments?Declaring a global health emergency — when appropriate — is a key part of WHO’s role in administering the International Health Regulations (IHR). Significantly, negotiations on revisions to the IHR, which had been ongoing in a desultory fashion in WHO since 1995, were accelerated by the experience of the first serious coronavirus outbreak — SARS — in 2002-2003, leading to their final agreement in 2005.Under the IHR, WHO’s director-general decides whether to declare an emergency based on a set of criteria and on the advice of an emergency committee. IHR defines an emergency as an ‘extraordinary event that constitutes a public health risk through the international spread of disease and potentially requires a coordinated international response’.In the case of COVID-19, the committee first met on January 22-23 but were unable to reach consensus on a declaration. Following the director-general’s trip to meet President Xi Jinping in Beijing, the committee reconvened on January 30 and this time advised declaring a PHEIC.But admittedly, public recognition of what a PHEIC means is extremely low. Only six have ever been declared, with the first being the H1N1 flu outbreak which fizzled out quickly, despite possibly causing 280,000 deaths globally. During the H1N1 outbreak, WHO declared a PHEIC in April 2009 and then a pandemic in June, only to rescind both in August as the outbreak was judged to have transitioned to behave like a seasonal flu.WHO was criticized afterwards for prematurely declaring a PHEIC and overreacting. This then may have impacted the delay in declaring the Ebola outbreak in West Africa as a PHEIC in 2014, long after it became a major crisis. WHO’s former legal counsel has suggested the PHEIC — and other aspects of the IHR framework — may not be effective in stimulating appropriate actions by governments and needs to be reconsidered.When the time is right to evaluate lessons about the response, it might be appropriate to consider the relative effectiveness of the PHEIC and pandemic announcements and their optimal timing in stimulating appropriate action by governments. The effectiveness of lockdowns in reducing the overall death toll also needs investigation. Full Article
alt Perlecan knockdown significantly alters extracellular matrix composition and organization during cartilage development [Research] By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: 2020-05-07T06:36:04-07:00 Perlecan is a critical proteoglycan found in the extracellular matrix (ECM) of cartilage. In healthy cartilage, perlecan regulates cartilage biomechanics and we previously demonstrated perlecan deficiency leads to reduced cellular and ECM stiffness in vivo. This change in mechanics may lead to the early onset osteoarthritis seen in disorders resulting from perlecan knockdown such as Schwartz-Jampel syndrome (SJS). To identify how perlecan knockdown affects the material properties of developing cartilage, we used imaging and liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to study the ECM in a murine model of SJS, Hspg2C1532Y-Neo. Perlecan knockdown led to defective pericellular matrix formation, whereas the abundance of bulk ECM proteins, including many collagens, increased. Post-translational modifications and ultrastructure of collagens were not significantly different; however, LC-MS/MS analysis showed more protein was secreted by Hspg2C1532Y-Neo cartilage in vitro, suggesting that the incorporation of newly synthesized ECM was impaired. In addition, glycosaminoglycan deposition was atypical, which may explain the previously observed decrease in mechanics. Overall, these findings provide insight into the influence of perlecan on functional cartilage assembly and the progression of osteoarthritis in SJS. Full Article
alt Effects of omega-O-acylceramide structures and concentrations in healthy and diseased skin barrier lipid membrane models [Research Articles] By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: 2020-02-01T00:05:23-08:00 Ceramides (Cers) with ultralong (~32-carbon) chains and -esterified linoleic acid, composing a subclass called omega-O-acylceramides (acylCers), are indispensable components of the skin barrier. Normal barriers typically contain acylCer concentrations of ~10 mol%; diminished concentrations, along with altered or missing long periodicity lamellar phase (LPP), and increased permeability accompany an array of skin disorders, including atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, and ichthyoses. We developed model membranes to investigate the effects of the acylCer structure and concentration on skin lipid organization and permeability. The model membrane systems contained six to nine Cer subclasses as well as fatty acids, cholesterol, and cholesterol sulfate; acylCer content—namely, acylCers containing sphingosine (Cer EOS), dihydrosphingosine (Cer EOdS), and phytosphingosine (Cer EOP) ranged from zero to 30 mol%. Systems with normal physiologic concentrations of acylCer mixture mimicked the permeability and nanostructure of human skin lipids (with regard to LPP, chain order, and lateral packing). The models also showed that the sphingoid base in acylCer significantly affects the membrane architecture and permeability and that Cer EOP, notably, is a weaker barrier component than Cer EOS and Cer EOdS. Membranes with diminished or missing acylCers displayed some of the hallmarks of diseased skin lipid barriers (i.e., lack of LPP, less ordered lipids, less orthorhombic chain packing, and increased permeability). These results could inform the rational design of new and improved strategies for the barrier-targeted treatment of skin diseases. Full Article
alt Nanodomains can persist at physiologic temperature in plasma membrane vesicles and be modulated by altering cell lipids [Research Articles] By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: 2020-05-01T00:05:27-07:00 The formation and properties of liquid-ordered (Lo) lipid domains (rafts) in the plasma membrane are still poorly understood. This limits our ability to manipulate ordered lipid domain-dependent biological functions. Giant plasma membrane vesicles (GPMVs) undergo large-scale phase separations into coexisting Lo and liquid-disordered lipid domains. However, large-scale phase separation in GPMVs detected by light microscopy is observed only at low temperatures. Comparing Förster resonance energy transfer-detected versus light microscopy-detected domain formation, we found that nanodomains, domains of nanometer size, persist at temperatures up to 20°C higher than large-scale phases, up to physiologic temperature. The persistence of nanodomains at higher temperatures is consistent with previously reported theoretical calculations. To investigate the sensitivity of nanodomains to lipid composition, GPMVs were prepared from mammalian cells in which sterol, phospholipid, or sphingolipid composition in the plasma membrane outer leaflet had been altered by cyclodextrin-catalyzed lipid exchange. Lipid substitutions that stabilize or destabilize ordered domain formation in artificial lipid vesicles had a similar effect on the thermal stability of nanodomains and large-scale phase separation in GPMVs, with nanodomains persisting at higher temperatures than large-scale phases for a wide range of lipid compositions. This indicates that it is likely that plasma membrane nanodomains can form under physiologic conditions more readily than large-scale phase separation. We also conclude that membrane lipid substitutions carried out in intact cells are able to modulate the propensity of plasma membranes to form ordered domains. This implies lipid substitutions can be used to alter biological processes dependent upon ordered domains. Full Article
alt Necrostatin-1 Mitigates Cognitive Dysfunction in Prediabetic Rats With no Alteration in Insulin Sensitivity By diabetes.diabetesjournals.org Published On :: 2020-04-28T14:32:29-07:00 Previous studies show that 12-week of high-fat diet (HFD) consumption caused not only prediabetes, but also cognitive decline and brain pathologies. Recently, necrostatin-1 (nec-1), a necroptosis inhibitor, showed beneficial effects in brain against stroke. However, the comparative effects of nec-1 and metformin on cognition and brain pathologies in prediabetes have not been investigated. We hypothesized that nec-1 and metformin equally attenuated cognitive decline and brain pathologies in prediabetic rats. Rats (n=32) were fed with either normal diet (ND) or high-fat diet (HFD) for 20 weeks. At week 13, ND-fed rats were given a vehicle (n=8) and HFD-fed rats were randomly assigned into 3 subgroups (n=8/subgroup) with vehicle, nec-1 or metformin for 8 weeks. Metabolic parameters, cognitive function, brain insulin receptor function, synaptic plasticity, dendritic spine density, microglial morphology, brain mitochondrial function, Alzheimer’s protein, and cell death were determined. HFD-fed rats exhibited prediabetes, cognitive decline, and brain pathologies. Nec-1 and metformin equally improved cognitive function, synaptic plasticity, dendritic spine density, microglial morphology, brain mitochondrial function, reduced hyperphosphorylated-tau and necroptosis in HFD-fed rats. Interestingly metformin, but not nec-1, improved brain insulin sensitivity in those rats. In conclusion, necroptosis inhibition directly improved cognition in prediabetic rats without alteration in insulin sensitivity. Full Article
alt The Histone Methyltransferase MLL1 Directs Macrophage-Mediated Inflammation in Wound Healing and Is Altered in a Murine Model of Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes By diabetes.diabetesjournals.org Published On :: 2017-09-01 Andrew S. KimballSep 1, 2017; 66:2459-2471Immunology and Transplantation Full Article
alt Enhanced Health in Care Homes during Covid19 By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Friday, May 8, 2020 - 07:47 Full Article
alt Re: Mitigating the wider health effects of covid-19 pandemic response By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Friday, May 8, 2020 - 09:36 Full Article
alt US adults are more likely to have poor health than those in 10 similar countries, survey finds By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Wednesday, November 16, 2016 - 22:00 Full Article
alt The Morass of Central American Migration: Dynamics, Dilemmas and Policy Alternatives By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Mon, 11 Nov 2019 16:10:01 +0000 Invitation Only Research Event 22 November 2019 - 8:15am to 9:30am Chatham House | 10 St James's Square | London | SW1Y 4LE Event participants Anita Isaacs, Professor of Political Science, Haverford College; Co-Director, Migration Encounters ProjectJuan Ricardo Ortega, Principal Advisor for Central America, Inter-American Development BankChair: Amy Pope, Associate Fellow, Chatham House; US Deputy Homeland Security Adviser for the Obama Administration (2015-17) 2019 has seen a record number of people migrating from Central America’s Northern Triangle – an area that covers El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Estimates from June 2019 have placed the number of migrants at nearly double of what they were in 2018 with the increase in numbers stemming from a lack of economic opportunity combined with a rise in crime and insecurity in the region. The impacts of migration can already be felt within the affected states as the exodus has played a significant role in weakening labour markets and contributing to a ‘brain drain’ in the region. It has also played an increasingly active role in the upcoming US presidential election with some calling for more security on the border to curb immigration while others argue that a more effective strategy is needed to address the sources of migration. What are the core causes of Central American migration and how have the US, Central American and now also Mexican governments facilitated and deterred migration from the region? Can institutions be strengthened to alleviate the causes of migration? And what possible policy alternatives and solutions are there that could alleviate the pressures individuals and communities feel to migrate? Anita Isaacs, professor of Political Science at Haverford College and co-director of the Migration Encounters Project, and Juan Ricard Ortega, principal advisor for Central America at the Inter-American Development Bank, will join us for a discussion on the core drivers of migration within and across Central America.Attendance at this event is by invitation only. Event attributes Chatham House Rule Department/project US and the Americas Programme US and Americas Programme Email Full Article
alt Diabetes Core Update: Covid-19 and Diabetes – Considerations for Health Care Professionals - April 2019 By diabetescoreupdate.libsyn.com Published On :: Thu, 23 Apr 2020 18:00:00 +0000 Diabetes Core Update: Covid-19 and Diabetes – Considerations for Health Care Professionals - April 2019 This special issue is an audio version of the American Diabetes Associations Covid-19 leadership team discussing a range of issues on Covid-19 and Diabetes. Recorded March 31, 2020. Topics include: Access to medications Effect on Diabetes Self-management Can Patients take their own Supplies if they are an inpatient in the hospital – particularly insulin pumps and CGM Considerations for Specific Hypoglycemic Medications during Inpatient Hospitalization Differences in Management for Persons with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes SGLT-2 inhibitors and GLP-1 Receptor Agonists use During Covid-19 Infection Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease during Covid-19 ACEs and ARBs Stress among Healthcare Professionals Intended for practicing physicians and health care professionals, Diabetes Core Update discusses how the latest research and information published in journals of the American Diabetes Association are relevant to clinical practice and can be applied in a treatment setting. Presented by: Robert Eckel, MD ADA President, Medicine & Science University of Colorado Mary de Groot, PhD ADA President, Health Care & Education Indiana University Irl Hirsch, MD University of Washington Anne Peters, MD University of Southern California Louis Philipson, MD, PhD ADA Past President, Medicine & Science University of Chicago Neil Skolnik, MD Abington Jefferson Health Full Article
alt Diabetes Core Update: COVID-19 – Telehealth and COVID-19 , April 2019 By diabetescoreupdate.libsyn.com Published On :: Fri, 24 Apr 2020 18:00:00 +0000 This special issue focuses on Telehealth and COVID-19. Recorded March 31, 2020. Intended for practicing physicians and health care professionals, Diabetes Core Update discusses how the latest research and information published in journals of the American Diabetes Association are relevant to clinical practice and can be applied in a treatment setting. Presented by: Neil Skolnik, MD Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University Eric Johnson, MD University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences Full Article
alt Covid-19: Lack of capacity led to halting of community testing in March, admits deputy chief medical officer By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Wednesday, May 6, 2020 - 12:25 Full Article
alt Covid-19: Health needs of sex workers are being sidelined, warn agencies By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Thursday, May 7, 2020 - 15:46 Full Article
alt Med Treatments India | Medical Tourism in India | Healthcare India By investing.96.lt Published On :: Thu, 24 Aug 2017 09:08:35 UTC Med Treatments India offers one stop solution for medical healthcare services and most affordable treatments facility with best hospitals & alternative treatments in India. Full Article Sports and Health
alt Why wealthy countries must not drop nuclear energy: coal power, climate change and the fate of the global poor By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Thu, 12 Mar 2015 11:37:45 +0000 12 March 2015 , Volume 91, Number 2 Reinhard Wolf Full Article
alt Maintaining health with simple lifestyle changes By jamaica-gleaner.com Published On :: Mon, 09 Mar 2020 00:15:12 -0500 Let’s face it, ladies: boosting your health is not always your primary priority, but it needs to be. It doesn’t require a long, overbearing and spine-chilling regime. Simple lifestyle changes can get the job done! In the end you’ll be left with a... Full Article
alt Lipid Droplet Accumulation in Human Pancreatic Islets Is Dependent On Both Donor Age and Health By diabetes.diabetesjournals.org Published On :: 2020-02-20T11:55:30-08:00 Human but not mouse islets transplanted into immunodeficient NSG mice effectively accumulate lipid droplets (LDs). Because chronic lipid exposure is associated with islet β-cell dysfunction, we investigated LD accumulation in the intact human and mouse pancreas over a range of ages and states of diabetes. Very few LDs were found in normal human juvenile pancreatic acinar and islet cells, with numbers subsequently increasing throughout adulthood. While accumulation appeared evenly distributed in postjuvenile acinar and islet cells in donors without diabetes, LDs were enriched in islet α- and β-cells from donors with type 2 diabetes (T2D). LDs were also found in the islet β-like cells produced from human embryonic cell–derived β-cell clusters. In contrast, LD accumulation was nearly undetectable in the adult rodent pancreas, even in hyperglycemic and hyperlipidemic models or 1.5-year-old mice. Taken together, there appear to be significant differences in pancreas islet cell lipid handling between species, and the human juvenile and adult cell populations. Moreover, our results suggest that LD enrichment could be impactful to T2D islet cell function. Full Article
alt Healthy Donaldson could be force for Braves By mlb.mlb.com Published On :: Sat, 9 Feb 2019 09:30:00 EDT When the Braves open Spring Training next week, their bid to defend their National League East crown will be significantly influenced by whether Josh Donaldson is capable of reestablishing himself as one of baseball's elite superstars. Full Article
alt Now healthy, Karns looks to revive career By mlb.mlb.com Published On :: Thu, 14 Feb 2019 14:14:42 EDT Everyone hopes for health this early in spring. But few more than Nate Karns, who has trudged a longer road back than any player in Orioles camp. Full Article
alt Impaired Metabolic Flexibility to High-Fat Overfeeding Predicts Future Weight Gain in Healthy Adults By diabetes.diabetesjournals.org Published On :: 2020-01-20T12:00:26-08:00 The ability to switch fuels for oxidation in response to changes in macronutrient composition of diet (metabolic flexibility) may be informative of individuals’ susceptibility to weight gain. Seventy-nine healthy, weight-stable participants underwent 24-h assessments of energy expenditure and respiratory quotient (RQ) in a whole-room calorimeter during energy balance (EBL) (50% carbohydrate, 30% fat) and then during 24-h fasting and three 200% overfeeding diets in a crossover design. Metabolic flexibility was defined as the change in 24-h RQ from EBL during fasting and standard overfeeding (STOF) (50% carbohydrate, 30% fat), high-fat overfeeding (HFOF) (60% fat, 20% carbohydrate), and high-carbohydrate overfeeding (HCOF) (75% carbohydrate, 5% fat) diets. Free-living weight change was assessed after 6 and 12 months. Compared with EBL, RQ decreased on average by 9% during fasting and by 4% during HFOF but increased by 4% during STOF and by 8% during HCOF. A smaller decrease in RQ, reflecting a smaller increase in lipid oxidation rate, during HFOF but not during the other diets predicted greater weight gain at both 6 and 12 months. An impaired metabolic flexibility to acute HFOF can identify individuals prone to weight gain, indicating that an individual’s capacity to oxidize dietary fat is a metabolic determinant of weight change. Full Article
alt Especially for Altuve, Marwin's presence missed By mlb.mlb.com Published On :: Wed, 13 Feb 2019 15:48:35 EDT The reality is setting in for Astros star second baseman Jose Altuve, who's shared a clubhouse with close friend Marwin Gonzalez for the previous seven springs. They became confidants on and off the field, which is what makes this spring so strange. Full Article
alt How does Altuve rank on Top 100 Right Now? By mlb.mlb.com Published On :: Thu, 14 Feb 2019 23:00:00 EDT The 2019 MLB season feels so close now. Spring Training has begun. Players are taking the field. So it's time to rank the best of the best. Full Article
alt Healthy Correa looks to put 2018 behind him By mlb.mlb.com Published On :: Sat, 16 Feb 2019 14:11:18 EDT You can't help but learn a few things when you had the kind of year Astros star shortstop Carlos Correa experienced last season, when a nagging back injury derailed him in the second half and forced him to deal with the biggest adversity of his career. Full Article
alt US firms return virus loans as Treasury threatens penalties By jamaica-gleaner.com Published On :: Wed, 06 May 2020 16:19:11 -0500 WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 40 public companies are pledging to return money to the government’s small business coronavirus fund now that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is threatening criminal prosecutions for... Full Article
alt Umpires suffering ‘dislocation’ but looking to alternatives – Johnson By jamaica-gleaner.com Published On :: Wed, 06 May 2020 00:13:00 -0500 ROSEAU, Dominica (CMC): A top West Indies Cricket Umpires Association (WICUA) official says regional umpires have also been heavily impacted by the cessation of cricket, stemming from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Vivian Johnson, who... Full Article
alt Health apps for well people - problematic or panacea? By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Wed, 15 Apr 2015 15:41:40 +0000 Some apps have the potential to encourage healthier habits and are accessible to most people, argues Iltifat Husain, but Des Spence notes the lack of any evidence of effectiveness and the potential for encouraging unnecessary anxiety. Read more about in our head to head "Can healthy people benefit from health apps?" -... Full Article
alt The health debate - the analysis By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Thu, 23 Apr 2015 13:46:52 +0000 The future of health and social care looks certain to be a defining issue in the forthcoming UK general election. Social care has been subject to deep public spending cuts, raising concerns about the sustainability of services in the future. Whoever wins the next election will need to grapple with providing joined up health and social care... Full Article
alt Christmas 2016 - Health and happiness By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Wed, 21 Dec 2016 11:59:28 +0000 Underneath all of our civilisation and science, we’re still primates - and the connection between patient and doctor can be reinforced by simply taking a hand. Robin Youngson, cofounder of hearts in healthcare, and Mitzi Blennerhassett, who has written extensively on patient engagement, have co-authored an editorial calling for the humanisation... Full Article
alt American healthcare - what next? By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Wed, 29 Mar 2017 09:10:02 +0000 For seven years, Republicans have vowed to repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act (Obamacare), and that promise took a central place in President Trump's campaign. The first major vote to replace it was due to happen last week, but was cancelled at the 11th hour. In advance of the potential vote, The BMJ published a debate asking "Should US doctors... Full Article
alt High integrity child mental healthcare By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Thu, 06 Apr 2017 14:54:29 +0000 Around 1 in 10 children and young people worldwide have mental health difficulties that substantially affect their lives. Child mental health services often concentrate on risk reduction, at the expense of the wider aspects of a child's wellbeing. As part of the high integrity healthcare series, this podcast focuses on novel ways of providing... Full Article
alt Fighting inequality, corruption, and conflict - how to improve South Asia's health By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Tue, 11 Apr 2017 15:29:46 +0000 The BMJ has published a series of articles, taking an in-depth look at health in South Asia. In this collection, authors from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan collaborate to identify evidence-based solutions to shape health policy and interventions, and drive innovations and research in the region. In this podcast,... Full Article
alt Future Earth - linking health and environmental research By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Fri, 02 Jun 2017 15:02:50 +0000 The rapid changes in the global environment have led many scientists to conclude that we are living in a new geological epoch—the Anthropocene—in which human activities have become the dominant driving force transforming the Earth’s natural systems. A recent joint publication by the World Health Organization and Convention on Biological Diversity... Full Article
alt How to build a resillient health system By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Thu, 08 Jun 2017 11:02:37 +0000 The 2014 west African Ebola epidemic shone a harsh light on the health systems of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. While decades of domestic and international investment had contributed to substantial progress on the Millennium Development Goals, national health systems remained weak and were unable to cope with the epidemic. Margaret Kruk... Full Article
alt The World Bank - why it matters for global health By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Fri, 01 Sep 2017 08:59:54 +0000 The world bank was set up in 1944. In the aftermath of the second world war, the institution was there to give loans to countries rebuilding after the conflict. Their first loan went to France - but with stipulations about repayment that set a tone for future funds. A new series, authored by Devi Sridhar, and her team from the University of... Full Article
alt The World Bank - Universal Healthcare By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Fri, 01 Sep 2017 09:01:34 +0000 The world bank was set up in 1944. In the aftermath of the second world war, the institution was there to give loans to countries rebuilding after the conflict. Their first loan went to France - but with stipulations about repayment that set a tone for future funds. A new series, authored by Devi Sridhar, and her team from the University of... Full Article
alt "We don't really know the impact of these products on our health": Ultraprocessed food & cancer risk By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Thu, 15 Feb 2018 10:47:09 +0000 A study published by The BMJ today reports a possible association between intake of highly processed (“ultra-processed”) food in the diet and cancer. Ultra-processed foods include packaged baked goods and snacks, fizzy drinks, sugary cereals, ready meals and reconstituted meat products - often containing high levels of sugar, fat, and salt, but... Full Article
alt Goran Henriks - How an 80 year old woman called Esther shaped Swedish Healthcare By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Fri, 25 Jan 2019 06:11:19 +0000 Jönköping has been at the centre of the healthcare quality improvement movement for years - but how did a forested region of Sweden, situated between it's main cities, come to embrace the philosophy of improvement so fervently? Goran Henriks, chief executive of learning and innovation at Qulturum in Jönköping joins us to explain. He also tells... Full Article
alt Talk Evidence - health checks, abx courses and p-values By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Wed, 17 Apr 2019 16:57:31 +0000 Helen Macdonald and Carl Heneghan are back again talking about what's happened in the world of evidence this month. (1.20) Carl grinds his gears over general health checks, with an update in the Cochrane Library. (9.15) Helen is surprised by new research which looks at over prescription of antibiotics - but this time because the courses... Full Article
alt Gypsy and Traveller health By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Wed, 24 Apr 2019 14:15:08 +0000 In the UK, there's an ethnic group that is surprisingly large, but often overlooked by society, and formal healthcare services. The gypsy traveller community have poorer health outcomes because of systemic issues around access to health and education. In this podcast we're joined by Michelle Gavin and Samson Rattigan, who both work for Friend's... Full Article
alt Sustainable health By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Fri, 02 Aug 2019 16:49:08 +0000 The UK has just seen it’s hottest July on record, including the highest ever temperature recorded. With climate change in the forefront of our minds, it’s timely that we have two editorials on the sustainability and health. Michael Depledge, emeritus professor of environment and human health at University of Exeter Medical School, and author of... Full Article
alt Vaping deaths - does this change what we think about public health messages By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Thu, 12 Sep 2019 16:58:18 +0000 This week the Trump administration has banned the sale of flavoured vapes in the USA. The reason for that is the sudden rash of cases of pulmonary disease, including deaths, linked to vaping. The mechanism by which vaping may be causing damage to the lungs is as yet unclear, and our understanding is hampered by the heterogeneous nature of the... Full Article
alt Climate change will make universal health coverage precarious By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Tue, 24 Sep 2019 14:26:52 +0000 The BMJ in partnership with The Harvard Global Health Institute has launched a collection of articles exploring how to achieve effective universal health coverage (UHC). The collection highlights the importance of quality in UHC, potential finance models, how best to incentivise stakeholders, and some of the barriers to true UHC. One of those... Full Article
alt Behind the campaign promises - Health and social care spending By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Fri, 22 Nov 2019 16:21:30 +0000 A UK general election has been called - polling day is on the 12th of December, and from now until then we’re going to be bringing you a weekly election-themed podcast. We want to help you make sense of the promises and pledges, claims and counter-claims, that are being made around healthcare and the NHS out on the campaign trail. This week... Full Article
alt Behind the campaign promises - Health beyond the NHS By feeds.bmj.com Published On :: Sat, 30 Nov 2019 09:10:48 +0000 A UK general election has been called - polling day is on the 12th of December, and from now until then we’re going to be bringing you a weekly election-themed podcast. We want to help you make sense of the promises and pledges, claims and counter-claims, that are being made around healthcare and the NHS out on the campaign trail. This week... Full Article
