Obesity, impact of alcohol ads on adolescents, prescription drug use, and impact of neighborhoods on violence among several new studies being presented at San Francisco meeting, May 27-30, 2008Leading researchers in prevention science are meeting May 27-30, 2008, at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Embarcadero Center to present new findings on a wide variety of health challenges facing youth and families.
Anxiety may influence children’s metabolic health differently according to weight status, says a study presented in Indianapolis at the 55th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).
Childhood obesity continues to emerge as a significant health concern in the United States. Experts in interventions and public health strategies met, during the 55th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine(ACSM) to discuss the issue. A symposium, chaired by Bryan K. Smith, Ph.D.
Simulation is an important tool for computer-based development and pretesting of materials, helping eliminate expensive, dangerous mistakes. Computer-based testing is a specialized field of the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM in Kaiserslautern, not least because materials simulation is a complex process involving a great deal of mathematics.
A new study investigated the association between short-term exposure to ambient fine particulate matter and the risk of stroke and found that even low pollutant levels may increase that risk. The study is published in Annals of Neurology (http://www.interscience.wiley.com), the official journal of the American Neurological Association. Led by Dr.
Minority children continue to have some of the highest obesity rates, according to a new study that indicates the decades-long growth in childhood obesity in the U.S. appears to have leveled off, the Washington Post reports.
“The traditional panacea to combat childhood obesity has always been centered on sports and traditional fitness exercises. In my opinion, this strategy has simply not worked,” stated Jim Teatum former head of the US fitness giant Nautilus. “Sport and fitness, whatever form they may take, by nature discriminate against the overweight, deconditioned, and uncoordinated. By perpetuating a feeling of low self esteem, they actually discourage these children from becoming fit.
According to new figures from The Stroke Association, a staggering nine out of ten (88 per cent) of stroke survivors in England are left unsupported and isolated in the community.Aphasia is one of the most common disabilities following a stroke, affecting one’s ability to speak and understand language.
And can ring a few registers, too. In the UK, more than a million people will be put on statins to lower their cholesterol level and prevent heart attacks, under new guidelines published today. Docs are urged to trawl the records of patients aged 40 and over to find people with a one in five chance of having a heart attack or stroke and call them in for advice and drugs, The Telegraph reports.
Four million people already take statins, mostly after heart attacks. But the UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence wants healthy people deemed at high risk of an attack or a stroke within 10 years to have preventive drugs as well, the paper writes. That would put 1.5 million more on meds and should prevent an extra 15,000 heart attacks, strokes and new cases of angina each year.
NICE recommends checking records of everyone aged between 40 and 75 to flag those at high risk and call them in for lifestyle advice and consider prescribing 40mg of generic Zocor. Putting healthy people on meds for the rest of their lives may be controversial, but some docs say the move is worthwhile.
Tim Marshall, a public health specialist and member of the NICE guideline development group, says that “cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in England and Wales, accounting for 124,000 deaths – one in three – in 2005. For every one fatality there are at least two people who have a major non-fatal cardiovascular event. The guideline suggests an achievable and realistic strategy for identifying those people at high risk.”
Peter Weissberg of the British Heart Foundation gave a mixed reaction: “The BHF welcomes NICE’s endorsement that cardiovascular risk factors should be identified and adapted for each patient. However, relying on patients to attend surgeries for assessment will fail to reach many from socially deprived and ethnically diverse communities who are most at risk. This issue will have to be addressed if the Government’s vascular risk assessment programme is to achieve its aims.
“The BHF is disappointed that Nice ducked the issue of providing guidance on target levels of cholesterol for people who don’t yet have heart disease but are at high risk.” (Source: Pharmalot)
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and the National Collaborating Centre for Primary Care (NCC PC) have today (28 May) issued new guidance to the NHS in England and Wales on the identification of people at risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and on the use of lipid lowering drugs to reduce that risk.CVD - which includes heart disease and stroke - remains a leading cause of ill health and death in the United Kingdom.