Discover the Science of Health
This week is National Public Health Week (NPHW). During the first full week of April every year, National Public Health Week recognizes the contributions of public health and highlights issues that are important to improving our nation. The theme for National Public Health Week (NPHW) 2014 — Public Health: Start Here – will draw the nation’s attention to topics including school nutrition, disaster preparedness, prevention, food safety and community health.
During pregnancy, women need to take special care to avoid becoming ill. There are several reasons for this. The first is that a pregnant woman’s immune system is not as strong during pregnancy as it generally is; this helps to prevent the mother’s body from attacking the developing fetus. Unfortunately, however, the weakened immune system also means that pregnant mothers are more susceptible to pathogens that they’d otherwise fight off relatively easily. Increased susceptibility aside, there’s also the concern that some illnesses — influenza included — can impact the developing fetus. Finally, there’s the simple fact that many of the medications used to treat illnesses and their accompanying symptoms aren’t appropriate for pregnant women.
Health Highlights is a biweekly summary of particularly interesting articles from credible sources of health and medical information that we follow & read. For a complete list of recommeded sources, see our links page.
Phil Baumann draws a connection between today’s omnipresent theme to succeed, grief and failure, and the evolving world of social media. Angels fall fast from the sky, but roots grow deep in the darkness.
Mark Sisson highlights a recent New York Times article describing seriously misleading marketing lingo regarding SPF measures. The take-home message? Use the normal SPF 30, use clothing and shade to protect your skin, and limit your time in the sun.
The Science Update blog at Cancer Research UK presents a great video describing the differences between skin burns and sunburn. You can triple your risk of melanoma (the most serious type of skin cancer) by getting a painful sunburn just once every two years, so don’t let sunburn catch you out.
Another great article by Mark Sisson describes a recent medical scare over blood pressure (BP). While the medical profession may recommend testing for BP once a year, you’d be better off buying a home-testing monitor and regularly checking your BP.
Tim Kreider shares his view on a recent Newsweek editorial critical of academia and the process of bench-to-bedside research. He advances that the process of science is slow and winding by necessity and scientists should be conservative about sending new therapies to the clinic.
Think you're at the top of your game? Maybe, maybe not. Ward Plunet at Brain Health Hacks reviews data from a longitudinal study on mental ability as we age.
As the WHO contemplates raising the pandemic alert level, ThePatientReport.com explains what a pandemic actually measures.
Health Highlights is a biweekly summary of particularly interesting articles from credible sources of health and medical information that we follow & read. For a complete list of recommeded sources, see our links page.
David at The Good Human writes about aspartame, it’s FDA approval and it’s health effects.
Although it’s a short post, H G Stern writes about one cool tool … Find Your Doc.
Abel Pharmboy at Terra Sigillata writes about a Wall Street Journal report on heavy metal food contamination in China.
Konstantinos at the Life Sciences Blog writes about an alternative theory for cancer. Indeed, aneuploidy (meaning the duplication or loss of one or more chromosomes) is a common characteristic in virtually all cancers.
Berci at ScienceRoll shows us NextBio, a web-based scientific data search engine that looks incredibly cool. If you search PubMed frequently (like I do), you’ll have to give the demo a spin.
Insect repellent and sunscreen don’t mix. The Beauty Brains explain why.
Health Highlights is a biweekly summary of particularly interesting articles from credible sources of health and medical information that we follow & read. For a complete list of recommeded sources, see our links page.
Part of staying healthy is managing stress. Borzack over at Healthy Lifestyle presents a series of mental exercises that can help increase and protect our energy levels to better manage everyday stress.
Clark over at Unintellegent Design discusses a study that examines the impact of birth order on intelligence. Conclusions are difficult to make given the small but significant differences in IQ. My take on the subject is that parental bias trumps other factors. What do you think?
The Beauty Brains presents an example of why references are so important in the deluge of information we all are bombarded with everyday.
Universal Health’s N=1 offers an interesting perspective to the “healthcare as a right” argument, namely keeping disease under control, and suggests the number of sick and disabled will eventually poise the US for “pandemics of untold proportion”.
Bob over at InsureBlog writes about the surprising results of a heathcare survey given to Americans living in Canada. What are your thoughts on publicly funded healthcare?
