The “Antebellum Paradox”: What is it and why it matters.
BY MIKE MAGEE
I recently made the case that “Health is foundational to a functioning democracy. But health must be shared and be broadly accessible to be an effective enabler of good government.” I also suggested that the pursuit of good health is implied and imbedded in the aspirational and idealistic wording of our U.S. Constitution, and that the active pursuit of health as a nation is essential if we wish to rise to Hamilton’s challenge in Federalist #1 and prove that we are “capable of establishing good government from reflection and choice.” So why are native white males lagging behind in health?
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Source: The Health Care Blog - January 30, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Policy antebellum paradox health informatics Mike Magee Population Health Source Type: blogs
“Virgin-Soil Epidemics” Covers a Multitude of Sins
BY MIKE MAGEE
Epidemics don’t appear in isolation of geography, social status, race or economics.
In a recent Kaiser Family Foundation article, the authors reviewed case numbers and death rates organized by race/ethnicity. It will come as no surprise that the most vulnerable populations death rate is nearly three times greater than the least vulnerable. But what may surprise you is that the population at greatest risk was neither self-identified as Black or Hispanic, but Native American.
Sadly, this is not a new story, but in the analogs of American history, it has been papered over by a partially true, but inco...
Source: The Health Care Blog - August 25, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Policy Public Health Jeffrey Ostler Mike Magee Native Americans Virgin-Soil Epidemic Source Type: blogs
Whooper Swans around Cambridge
Back in November, I noticed quite a lot of swans, Whooper Swans to be precise, pecking and calling on the farmland between the River Great Ouse and the fenland north of our village, Cottenham. Those numbers have gone up substantially in the last week or so.
Whooper Swan, Cygnus cygnus
One birding friend Ian counted 500+ on a trek along one of the droves to observe them, and he reported back again today that he estimates there are perhaps 800 spread across two or three sites north of our village. Moreover, reports from elsewhere around Cambridge hint at four-figure numbers of the birds on our patch, he says.
Another friend,...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - January 19, 2021 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Birds Source Type: blogs
Do adults really need tetanus booster shots?
If you haven’t had a tetanus booster shot in the past decade, your doctor may recommend getting one. Many people think of a tetanus shot as something you only need if you step on a rusty nail. Yet even in the absence of a puncture wound, this vaccine is recommended for all adults at least every 10 years. But why? A group of researchers recently questioned whether you need to repeat tetanus vaccines on a regular schedule.
What is a tetanus booster?
Booster shots are repeat vaccinations you receive after your first series of immunizations as a child. Protection from certain vaccines can wane over time, which is why doctors...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - May 12, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Sara W. Dong, MD Tags: Health Men's Health Vaccines Women's Health Source Type: blogs
Will This Novel Virus Revive Older Ones?
Jeffrey A. SingerAs I recently wrotehere, and spoke abouthere, bans on elective surgery invoked by governors across the country in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have caused many people to suffer and even possibly face fatal consequences due to delays in necessary medical care. But there are other reasons why the public health emergency has the potential to generate secondary public health crises.In some cases people are avoiding doctors ’ offices and emergency rooms because they worry about handling theexpense at a time they have seen their income, and perhaps their savings, vanish during the current econom...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 9, 2020 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
Why follow a vaccine schedule?
Right now, many people are hoping for a vaccine to protect against the new coronavirus. While that’s still on the horizon, new research suggests that families who do vaccinate their children may not be following the recommended schedule.
Vaccines are given on a schedule for a reason: to protect children from vaccine-preventable disease. Experts designed the schedule so that children get protection when they need it — and the doses are timed so the vaccine itself can have the best effect. When parents don’t follow the schedule, their children may not be protected.
And yet, many parents do not follow the schedule.
A th...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - March 26, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Adolescent health Children's Health Parenting Vaccines Source Type: blogs
Vaccines for women: Before conception, during pregnancy, and after a birth
The rise of vaccine-preventable illnesses, such as measles and hepatitis, in the United States and around the globe has been alarming in recent years. For women — especially those hoping to become pregnant, as well as women who are pregnant or have recently had a baby — vaccines can be a worrisome topic. There are many misconceptions about vaccine safety in and around pregnancy that can lead to confusion and unnecessary fear of a lifesaving medical tool. As a practicing ob/gyn, I often discuss vaccines with my patients and help them sort out fears versus facts.
Which vaccines should you consider before conception?
The ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - January 10, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ilona T. Goldfarb, MD, MPH Tags: Health Parenting Pregnancy Vaccines Women's Health Source Type: blogs
How Could Digital Tools Help Fight Against Anti-Vaccination?
Anti-vaccination movements lure increasingly more people into skipping potentially life-saving immunization against infectious diseases, such as measles, mumps, or rubella, highly impairing herd immunity for entire communities. Social media platforms could restrict the reach of anti-vax messages, groups, and activities, with algorithms recommending tailor-made content and health apps providing information about vaccinations. Here’s our collection of the most recent steps and digital tools supporting the fight against anti-vaccination and its believers.
300 percent increase in measles globally
In a widely shared soc...
Source: The Medical Futurist - May 8, 2019 Category: Information Technology Authors: nora Tags: Empowered Patients Future of Medicine anti-vaccination anti-vax anti-vaxxer digital disease disease outbreak facebook figth Health Healthcare infection Innovation measles movement social media technology Source Type: blogs
Measles, tuberculosis, and wheat
Humans have made many dietary mistakes over the years but two mistakes, in particular, stand out: close contact with animals, mostly ruminants, who conveyed their diseases to us and the adoption of the seeds of grasses as human food. These two practices not only changed the course of human history but also human disease.
Over the last several centuries, Westerners have populated North America, South America, Pacific islands and other regions. Equipped with superior tools of warfare such as swords and muskets, contact with Westerners decimated indigenous people such as the millions of native Americans, Aztecs, and Amazonian...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - April 17, 2019 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Wheat Belly Lifestyle gluten-free grain-free grains joint pain Source Type: blogs
AAP Bronchiolitis Guidelines a Mismatch with Clinical Practice
I recently met with a group from our children's hospital to standardize the hospital management of bronchiolitis according to the latest American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines. (Pediatrics 2014;134[5]:e1474; http://bit.ly/2QIGbMX.) Unfortunately, these guidelines seem to cause confusion for experienced and inexperienced emergency physicians alike.This confusion comes from the guidelines raising unaddressed issues and new questions, most importantly not tackling important aspects of frontline clinical practice. These guidelines were developed with the best evidence currently available, and their application mo...
Source: M2E Too! Mellick's Multimedia EduBlog - December 4, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Obama, Prince Harry, Angelina: Celebrities As Health Influencers
Beloved Hollywood celebrities, famous politicians or members of the British royal family: no better advertisement for fitness tracker producers and health tech companies. As models, actors and actresses are highly influential people, their early adoption of digital solutions could also push the masses towards living more healthily with technologies. On the other hand, celebrities are inclined to follow questionable health trends, too, which go against decades of medical evidence. Those examples, everyone should rather reject.
Wearables conquered Hollywood, the White House, and the British royal family
Celebrities are all a...
Source: The Medical Futurist - November 15, 2018 Category: Information Technology Authors: nora Tags: Social media in Healthcare celebrities digital health digital technologies digital technology famous fitness future health influencer health influencers Hollywood trackers trends wearables wellness Source Type: blogs
“ Your Best Shot ”
The National Vaccine Program Office (NVPO) and the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) have collaborated to develop the “Your Best Shot” vaccine video series. These videos highlight the importance of vaccines across the lifespan. Each video focuses on a particular disease such as whooping cough, shingles, and pneumococcal disease. Viewing these videos helps people understand why they need to get vaccinated. View the promotional toolkit with graphics, tweets, and newsletter content and promote the importance of immunizations during National Immunization Awareness Month. (Source: BHIC)
Source: BHIC - August 14, 2018 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Carolyn Martin Tags: Children and Teens Public Health Senior consumer health family health immunizations vaccines Source Type: blogs
I believe in vaccinations. And do my kids know it.
When preparations are underway for vaccinations to take place, my household becomes a war zone.
The thought of an impending vaccine, to my boys, resembles the actual possibility of a weapons attack. It is, in essence, a weapon. It’s a needle that comes your way and invades the comfort of your normally undisturbed skin surface. But it also serves a purpose — much like the police department does — to protect and serve. It arms your body against any future attack. It revs up your immune system and prepares its antibody soldiers, so they’re ready when the threat becomes real. It has helped us to practically era...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - March 13, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/dana-corriel" rel="tag" > Dana Corriel, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Pediatrics Source Type: blogs
BioethicsTV (March 5-9): #ChicagoMed, #GreysAnatomy-Vaccination & Medical Marijuana
by Craig Klugman, Ph.D.
Chicago Med (Season 3; Episode 11): Harms of not vaccinating
An infant comes to the ED with a case of whooping cough. She has had her first vaccinations. As it worsens, we learn that he was recently exposed to his cousin who had a cold—which may have been a mild case of whooping cough. The cousin has never been vaccinated because his father does not believe in it. Dr. Manning calls the father an “idiot” and lectures him on how dangerous not vaccinating a child is for others.… (Source: blog.bioethics.net)
Source: blog.bioethics.net - March 9, 2018 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Craig Klugman Tags: BioethicsTV Featured Posts Pediatrics AntiVax cancer medical marijuana Source Type: blogs
Larry Nassar doesn ’t define an entire profession
The Los Angeles Times recently published an article chronicling the beginning of disgraced Dr. Larry Nassar’s career up to his disgusting acts of molesting young Olympic gymnast women. The author egregiously states,
Osteopathic medicine focuses on the joints, muscles, and spine. Historically, though, osteopathy — its original name — was closely associated with a set of esoteric massage styles that some researchers now consider ineffective or worse. For its part, MSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine still teaches these unusual manipulations — a special “benefit” unique to osteopathi...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - February 12, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/brandon-jacobi" rel="tag" > Brandon Jacobi < /a > Tags: Conditions Mainstream media Source Type: blogs
