Funding Zika But Forgetting Tuberculosis
On February 8, the day before the White House sent its Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 budget request to Congress, President Obama requested $1.8 billion in emergency funding to respond to the Zika virus at home and abroad. The World Health Organization (WHO) has proclaimed Zika a “public health emergency of international concern,” and governments have been in panic mode. But while there is certainly sufficient cause for alarm, let us not forget another grave threat to public health, which kills 4,400 people every single day and receives relatively little focus: Tuberculosis (TB).
TB has now surpassed HIV/AIDS as the leading cau...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - March 24, 2016 Category: Health Management Authors: True Claycombe Tags: Costs and Spending Featured Global Health Public Health 2017 budget infectious disease Obama TB tuberculosis USAID WHO Source Type: blogs
The MDG To SDG Transition: Implications For Health Care Systems
In 2016, the world will move from a global commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to a focus on the much more ambitious and wide-ranging Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Whereas the health-related MDGs focused narrowly on particular diseases or conditions for select vulnerable groups, the SDGs are broader, calling (in SDG 3) for the global community to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.” As we take on this challenge, it is useful to reflect on what we have learned and what we will need to do differently to make substantial progress towards the SDGs.
For the past four d...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - March 16, 2016 Category: Health Management Authors: Arian Hatefi, Neelam Sekhri, Haile Debas, Dean Jamison, Jaime Sepúlveda, Alon Unger and Richard G.A. Feachem Tags: Equity and Disparities Global Health Hospitals Insurance and Coverage Organization and Delivery Population Health Public Health Quality HIV/AIDS Millennium Development Goals NCDs SDGs sustainable development goals Source Type: blogs
“A municipal health agent in Recife sprayed insecticide...
"A municipal health agent in Recife sprayed insecticide last month to combat Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which transmit the #Zikavirus. Zika, once an obscure virus discovered in Uganda in the 1940s, was long thought to pose relatively little harm compared with some other diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, like malaria and dengue. But as Zika spreads, international health officials are anxiously monitoring Brazil's efforts to combat the virus. This #nytweekender, we're sharing photos by @limauricio, a freelance photographer who has been on #nytassignment documenting a trail of Zika-borne anguish in Brazil." By nytimes on Ins...
Source: Kidney Notes - March 12, 2016 Category: Urology & Nephrology Authors: Joshua Schwimmer Source Type: blogs
Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 137
Just when you thought your brain could unwind on a Friday, you realise that it would rather be challenged with some good old fashioned medical trivia…introducing Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 137
Question 1
Is it rude to pandiculate in front of your consultant?
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Yes! This is yawning.
From the latin pandiculātus, to “stretch oneself”.
Technically if you were to pandiculate you would add a stretching of the arms and arching of the back to your yawn. [Reference]
Question ...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - March 11, 2016 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Neil Long Tags: Frivolous Friday Five bad air FFFF hot dog headache Malaria pandiculate pimping roman fever william harvey Source Type: blogs
FDX Africa: This is Way Better Than ‘Planet Earth’
Last month I traveled to Tanzania in east Africa and I wrote this story about my trip.As published in the First Descents blogMy new friend Spaceballs and I walk through the tall grass at the Lake Manyara Rift Valley and enter the clearing where zebras, jackals, gazelle, wildebeest and warthogs all roam close enough to kill us before we could utter “hakuna matata.” We turn our heads and see more animals. Then we turn our bodies in a full circle and see animals everywhere. We are wearing long pants and button-downs coated in permethrin to deter malaria-carrying mosquitos, safari hats, daypacks, sunglasses and binoculars....
Source: cancerslayerblog - March 10, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: travels women Source Type: blogs
Current Wisdom: Swatting Away the Zika/Climate Change Connection
The Current Wisdom is a series of occasional articles in which Patrick J. Michaels and Paul C. “Chip” Knappenberger, from Cato’s Center for the Study of Science, review interesting items on global warming in the scientific literature or of a more technical nature. These items may not have received the media attention that they deserved or have been misinterpreted in the popular press.
—
We hardly need a high tech fly-swatter (although they are fun and effective) to kill this nuisance—it’s so languorous that one can just put their thumb over it and squish.
Jeb Bush’s candidacy? No, rather the purported connect...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 19, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Paul C. "Chip" Knappenberger, Patrick J. Michaels Source Type: blogs
A behind the scenes peek at BioMed Central publishing roles
What is your science background?
Ben: My main research interest has always been viruses, which started during my undergraduate degree in virology at the University of Warwick. I then spent four years researching influenza virus for my doctoral research at the University of Reading. After this I moved on to a postdoc position at Imperial College London to test safer smallpox vaccines.
Ripu: I have a PhD in human genetics specializing in human diversity and evolution in sub-Saharan African. I also have a Master’s degree in Medical Parasitology and a Diploma in infectious diseases, and while studying for these two degrees, ...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - February 11, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Dana Berry Tags: Biology Health Medicine #moretoscience careers early career researchers PhD Science>Careers Source Type: blogs
January blogs digest: clinical drug trials, a malaria urine test, repositories, and more
Are clinical drug trials more marketing than science?
What factors influence the design of a clinical trial? Research published in Trials examined reports of randomized controlled trials to deduce what characteristics appear to be influenced by marketing considerations over science. Do medical journals actually publish marketing trials, and if so, how often do they occur and what are their important features? Co-author Professor Carl Heneghan discussed what the research found.
The challenges and promises of a new malaria urine test
The Fyodor Urine Malaria Test, which just won the Health Innovation Challenge Awards in Nige...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - February 1, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Sophie Marchant Tags: Biology Health Medicine blogs digest Source Type: blogs
TWiV 374: Discordance in B
On episode #374 of the science show This Week in Virology, the TWiVniks consider the role of a cell enzyme that removes a protein linked to the 5′-end of the picornavirus genome, and the connection between malaria, Epstein-Barr virus, and endemic Burkitt’s lymphoma.
You can find TWiV #374 at microbe.tv/twiv. (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - January 31, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology 5'-tyrosyl DNA phosphodiesterase activation-induced cytidine deaminase AID Burkitt Burkitt's lymphoma c-myc cancer coxsackievirus Epstein-Barr virus hypermutation malaria oncogene picornavirus Plasmodium f Source Type: blogs
Where did Zika virus come from and why is it a problem in Brazil?
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. (Source: The A and P Professor)
Source: The A and P Professor - January 27, 2016 Category: Physiology Authors: Kevin Patton Source Type: blogs
Will the Pharmaceutical Industry Learn From Past Mistakes?
By SOEREN MATTKE, MD
Awash in negative headlines, public condemnation and government scrutiny, the pharmaceutical industry faces a public relations problem that, left untreated, could bring new regulations or sanctions either from governments or the courts. At the same time, though, the recent scandals over price gouging could offer an opportunity for responsible, research-based companies to distance themselves from the profiteers.
The industry has come under fire at a time of unprecedented innovation. As a physician who trained in the 1990s, I am in awe of the recent breakthroughs. Immuno-oncology drugs like Keytruda (pem...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 22, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Simon Nath Tags: THCB Soeren Mattke Source Type: blogs
Eyes On The Final Prize: Integrating Services To Transform Global Health
As 2015 draws to a close, the global health community is examining the strides that have been made and how we can transform this progress into further gains across the public health spectrum.
The United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030 include SDG 3, a holistic goal for public health that aims to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages. It is with the backdrop of this collaborative, interconnected development landscape that two important meetings take place in Japan this week.
On December 16, a symposium on universal health care will bring together global leaders for a dial...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - December 17, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Eric Goosby Tags: Equity and Disparities Featured Global Health Organization and Delivery Public Health HIV/AIDS Japan malaria sustainable development goals TB United Nations universal health care Source Type: blogs
Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 129
Just when you thought your brain could unwind on a Friday, you realise that it would rather be challenged with some good old fashioned medical trivia…introducing Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 129
Question 1
A young male presents to the ED with recurrent urethritis. What common causative organism should be considered in addition to chlamydia and gonorrhea?
+ Reveal the Funtabulous Answer
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Mycoplasma genitalium
A recognized cause of male urethritis, is, in most settings, more common than N. gonorrhoeae. It is r...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - December 11, 2015 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Neil Long Tags: Frivolous Friday Five syphilis Malaria Mycoplasma genitalium Driver ants acute renal failure nintendinitis Pyrotherapy Source Type: blogs
Malaria in Brunei
Recently ProMED reported that two tourists from Singapore acquired Plasmodium knowlesi malaria in Brunei.
Malaria rates reported by both Brunei and Singapore have been strikingly similar since the 1990’s (see graph below) and Singapore has reported both autochthonous and imported cases of P. knowlesi infection since 2007. During the 1950’s, Brunei reported low levels of malaria from the interior regions and coast adjacent to mountainous areas. The predominant infecting species and vector were P. falciparum and Anopheles leucosphyrus, respectively. [1]
Brunei was officially declared “malaria-freeR...
Source: GIDEON blog - December 5, 2015 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Dr. Stephen Berger Tags: Ebooks Epidemiology Graphs ProMED Source Type: blogs
Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 127
Just when you thought your brain could unwind on a Friday, you realise that it would rather be challenged with some good old fashioned medical trivia…introducing Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 127
Question 1
Which two life threatening diseases can bats transmit?
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Histoplasmosis and rabies (technically bat lyssavirus)
Question 2
What parenteral drug commonly used in Emergency Medicine practice is known to generate green urine?
+ Reveal the Funtabulous Answer
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Source: Life in the Fast Lane - November 27, 2015 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Neil Long Tags: Frivolous Friday Five asparagus asparagusic acid bat lyssavirus Green urine Histoplasmosis Malaria normal saline propofol rabies Source Type: blogs
