(2024-04-13). Link found between microplastics and heart diseases. plenglish.com London, Apr 13 (Prensa Latina) The accumulation of tiny plastic particles in blood vessels is now linked to an increased risk of heart attacks, strokes and deaths, according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
(2024-04-13). Sexual violence plagues the female segment in Port-au-Prince. plenglish.com In Croix-des-Bouquets, Bel-Air, La Saline, Pernier and Ganthier, at least 74 women and girls were victims of this practice, including their rape by several members of a criminal gang, according to a report from the Haitian National Human Rights Network. | Previously, the Departmental Initiative against Trafficking and Child Trafficking in Haiti (Idette) called for the creation of a multi-sectoral mechanism that can protect women and children amid the insecurity that exists in Haiti. | The organization recommended finding ways to take care of the survivors of abuse, creating a unit for women and children at risk…
(2024-04-13). Emergency room workers threaten strike at Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit. wsws.org The 43 members of the newly formed Greater Detroit Association of Emergency Physicians union are contracted by Ascension St. John Hospital but employed by a private equity-funded staffing company called TeamHealth.
(2024-04-13). Mayo Clinic Minute: What is pink eye? newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org Pink eye is extremely common in kids. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, public schoolchildren in the U.S. miss 3 million school days each year because of pink eye. Dr. Tina Ardon, a Mayo Clinic family physician, explains what you should know about this contagious condition. Watch: The Mayo Clinic Minute youtu.be/Lb1QLr0xZv0 Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (1: 06) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network."…
(2024-04-13). World Report] Modi's health agenda under scrutiny. thelancet.com Initiatives taken since 2014 to reduce out-of-pocket health expenditure and improve universal health coverage in the country have underdelivered. Dinesh C Sharma reports.
(2024-04-13). Mayo Clinic, Terasaki Institute launch collaboration for transplant innovation. newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Mayo Clinic and Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation announced today a research collaboration centered on improving organ transplant outcomes. Beginning in April, Mayo Clinic biomedical researchers and Terasaki Institute scientists will work together on two core areas: real-time monitoring of donated organ health from procurement to transplant surgery and developing predictive technologies to determine which transplant recipients have a higher likelihood of rejection. That will be done by creating prognostic signatures and…
(2024-04-13). Correspondence] Bold action and collaboration for health for all. thelancet.com We read Richard Horton's Offline1 with a feeling of trepidation. Of course, primary care is not enough but it is essential, and it is in crisis. At a time when headlines are drawing attention to issues of poor access to care, ineffective delivery models, and worsening health workforce shortages, we more than ever need strong leadership and bold action committed to strengthening primary care. We agree that no one should be left behind, but fundamentally this principle means ensuring a strong foundation for the delivery of health promotion, prevention, and treatment.
(2024-04-13). Correspondence] Primary health care and the Tanzania Comprehensive Cancer Project. thelancet.com In his Offline,1 Richard Horton argues that "the global health community's emotional attachment to the 1978 Declaration of Alma-Ata, which codified a commitment to primary healthcare, is stifling" efforts to realise universal health coverage and hinders the inclusion of hospital-based services and specialist health care to address more complex health problems, such as cancer care in sub-Saharan Africa.1…
(2024-04-13). Perspectives] Still seeking health in the greenhouse. thelancet.com It seems fitting that The Lancet, a medical journal that was founded in the country that pioneered coal-powered industrialisation, would be the first to warn about the health effects of climate change. On April 15, 1989 The Lancet published an unsigned editorial, "Health in the Greenhouse". Its message was clear: "Action to combat global warming must not be allowed to await the results of further research. Remedial measures are needed now. Already this decade has produced six of the warmest years this century." Exactly the same warning could be written today.
(2024-04-13). Mayo Clinic study finds active workstations may improve cognitive performance. newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org ROCHESTER, Minn. — A recent Mayo Clinic study suggests that active workstations incorporating a walking pad, bike, stepper and/or standing desk are successful strategies for reducing sedentary time and improving mental cognition at work without reducing job performance. Extended sedentary behavior, whether at work or home, increases a person's risk of preventable chronic diseases. "Our findings suggest that it is feasible to blend movement with office work that previously would have been done during long…
(2024-04-13). Correspondence] The complexities of mental health in rural India. thelancet.com Depression is often taken as a fact of life. Relentless competition, stressful work lives, and additional responsibilities aggravate mental health circumstances for young people. Many parents also impose their interests and passions onto their children, causing them to neglect their own passions.1 Between 2017 and 2023, 23 students died by suicide at Kota, a popular education hub for examination preparation and pre-entrance examinations in Rajasthan, India, due to low examination grades.2 Poor mental health and suicide elsewhere in the world have been detailed in the literature.
(2024-04-13). Tech neck is a pain in more than just the neck. newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org The typical average adult head weighs approximately 10-12 pounds. But did you know that bending it forward at a 45-degree angle to look at a cellphone or tablet can dramatically increase your chances to have "tech neck?" "That's like having an 8-pound bowling ball as your head. Then you have 72 pounds at your elbow and 96 pounds on your shoulder," says Brian Langenhorst, industrial and ergonomics specialist at Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse. "I probably…
(2024-04-13). Mayo Clinic virologist offers perspective on avian influenza, bird flu, outbreak. newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org Health officials around the globe, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, are monitoring the ongoing avian influenza outbreak. Also known as bird flu, the highly contagious viral disease typically spreads among birds, but can also infect livestock and, in rare cases, humans. "Avian influenza is very common among migratory birds such as waterfowl," says Dr. Matthew Binnicker, director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory at Mayo Clinic. He adds that human infection is rare,…
(2024-04-13). More than 90 articles from 25 countries featured in Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Digital Health journal's first year. newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Digital Health, an open-access companion journal to the widely read and cited Mayo Clinic Proceedings, is marking its first anniversary, having published more than 90 articles on the digital transformation of healthcare internationally. Authors published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Digital Health's first year represent 25 countries on five continents, and the content has had more than 125,000 downloads. Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Digital Health focuses on the translation, adaptation and implementation of digital…
(2024-04-13). Comment] Offline: A mirage of progress for health and democracy. thelancet.com "Hong Kong parliament passes draconian law to crack down on dissent." "Macron feels force of Kremlin's fake news machine." News headlines suggest democracy is under threat. And so it is. Last month, the Bertelsmann Stiftung Transformation Index (BTI) recorded a further decline (between February, 2021, and January, 2023) in the quality of democracy across 137 countries. Only 63 nations were classified as democracies. The majority were labelled autocracies—covering 4 billion people. The BTI deploys words such as "gloomy", "gradual erosion", and "a new nadir".
(2024-04-13). Correspondence] Reaffirming primary health care's vital role. thelancet.com In an Offline1 criticising the slow progress in achieving universal health coverage (UHC) worldwide, Richard Horton pointed out that primary health care is not enough to face the demands of the new health landscape. Although we agree with this statement, Horton's narrow perspective of the role of primary health care in health systems, particularly in low-income and middle-income countries, is concerning. In Latin America, primary health care expanded in several countries following health system reforms in the 1990s, but this expansion is still an ongoing process.
(2024-04-13). World Report] IHR talks advance ahead of key deadline. thelancet.com However, revisions to the International Health Regulations concerning equitable access and financial assistance are linked to troubled parallel talks on a pandemic accord. By John Zarocostas.
(2024-04-13). Correspondence] Exceptional euthanasia: a theoretical construct or medical necessity? thelancet.com In France, the medical community is deeply engaged in a pivotal debate surrounding a draft bill that is set to be presented to the Presidential Cabinet for legalising active assistance in dying.1 The heart of this debate centres around the proposed addition within the bill of exceptional euthanasia, where the lethal drug is directly administered by a medical professional, alongside assisted suicide, where the individuals self-administer the lethal medication provided by a health-care professional; this addition is aimed at ensuring equal access to active assistance in dying for individuals with motor disabilities…
(2024-04-13). Correspondence] Over-diagnosis of psychiatric disorders. thelancet.com In their Perspectives piece, Cristian Montenegro1 highlights that international and national funding agencies might influence the definition of participation and community engagement in mental health research in a continuous cycle. To date, clinical practices adhere to a validated diagnostic process, and the treatment approach can vary depending on alterations in the diagnosed condition. An important illustration of this is the transition from a diagnosis of unipolar depression to bipolar depression, which necessitates a distinct therapeutic strategy.
(2024-04-13). Perspectives] Shakuntala Thilsted: shifting our approach to food systems. thelancet.com Food scientist Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted, Director for Nutrition, Health and Food Security Impact Area Platform for the agricultural research group CGIAR, is best known for pioneering whole-system approaches in food studies that have shaped how food systems are studied. At WorldFish, a CGIAR centre, she has led research and innovations in aquatic foods systems that influence multiple organisations and committees, providing thought leadership and shaping high-level conversations in transformation of food systems.
(2024-04-13). Correspondence] Structural stigma in mental illness. thelancet.com The Lancet Commission on Ending Stigma and Discrimination in Mental Health1 emphasises the need to address structural stigma in our health-care systems and frames it as a concern for health-care equity: "health and care services should be provided […] regardless of health condition […] equitably to people with physical health conditions and mental health conditions".
(2024-04-13). Correspondence] Primary health care has not been prioritised enough. thelancet.com In his Offline,1 Richard Horton comments that promoting primary health care is "desperately misguided". Horton refers to shifts in epidemiologic curves, emphasising the need for cancer care and the success of antiretroviral treatments for HIV as reasons for this.
(2024-04-13). Meningococcal disease on the rise in the US. newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org Neisseria meningitidis bacteria, responsible for causing meningococcal meningitis. Courtesy: CDC A rise in invasive serogroup Y meningococcal disease has prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to issue a health advisory for healthcare providers. "Meningococcal disease is a bacterial infection caused by Neisseria meningitidis. About 1 in 10 people are natural carriers of the bacteria, and it can spread to others by sharing respiratory secretions," says Dr. Matthew Binnicker, director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory at Mayo Clinic. Serogroups B, C…
(2024-04-13). US official admits parts of Gaza 'already suffering famine'. newarab.com 
A senior US humanitarian official stated that US Agency for International Development (USAID) chief Samantha Power's admission came on Wednesd…
(2024-04-13). Sudanese women: The backbone of society in the face of war. newarab.com 
"I know a 30-something woman from Al Geneina [in West Darfur] whose kids were shot dead in front of her eyes while they were on their way to the border with Chad trying to escape from the country," begins Dallia Abdelmoneim, a political commentator from Khartoum. | Dallia, who currently works at the Sudanese think-tank Fikra for Studies and Development, tells The New Arab that the young woman, a lawyer and activist, now helps refugees in Chad offering them legal assistance and ensuring they have access to food and healthcare. | "Millions of women in Sudan have been bearing the brunt of violence and displacemen…