From the sustainable scale project. The current population of 6.4 billion people is almost eight and one half times larger than the population of 760 million at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. At current growth rates, the world population could double in as little as 58 years.
This rapid increase in population parallels that of both increased GWP (GLOSSARY) and increased environmental degradation of global ecosystems.
Research conducted at the University of Southampton has paved the way for a hospital trial that has shown that surfaces made with materials that contain copper kill a wide range of potentially harmful micro-organisms – significantly reducing the number of these organisms that can come into contact with patients, visitors and staff. Comment: This is not surprising considering hqw log copper has been included in antifouling paints for ship bottoms.
Vaccinating new mothers and other family members against influenza before their newborns leave the hospital creates a “cocooning effect” that may shelter unprotected children from the flu, a virus that can be life-threatening to infants, according to researchers at Duke Children’s Hospital. “Newborns have the highest rate of hospitalizations due to influenza when compared to any other age group of children. Their rates of influenza-related hospitalization are similar to people age 80 and older. And, in some seasons the influenza-associated mortality rate is highest among infants. We want to protect the newborn by vaccinating the entire family, and send parents home with one less thing to worry about.”
A new predictive model shows that vaccinating infants with 7 valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) — the current recommendation — not only saves lives and money during a normal flu season by preventing related bacterial infections; it also would prevent more than 357,000 deaths during an influenza pandemic, while saving $7 billion in costs. Bacterial infections, particularly pneumococcal disease, can follow a viral illness such as flu and cause secondary infections that worsen flu symptoms and increase influenza-related risk. Bacterial infections may have been the cause of nearly half of the deaths of young soldiers during the 1918 flu pandemic.
ScienceDaily (Oct. 28, 2008) — A study undertaken by researchers from the University of Alcalá (UAH) shows that if the “super-polluters”, the high-polluting vehicles, such as certain buses and lorries in a poor condition, were removed, pollution from nanoparticles could be reduced by up to 25% and 48%, depending on the parameter analysed. These minute particles can cause serious health problems.
The subcommittee report to the Science Board raises important questions regarding the draft safety assessment, and the FDA looks forward to the review of the subcommittee’s report by the Science Board on Oct. 31. The FDA agrees that, due to the uncertainties raised in some studies relating to the potential effects of low dose exposure to bisphenol A, additional research would be valuable. The FDA is already moving forward with planned research to address the potential low dose effects of bisphenol A, and we will carefully evaluate the findings of these studies. Consumers should know that, based on all available evidence, the present consensus among regulatory agencies in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan is that current levels of exposure to BPA through food packaging do not pose an immediate health risk to the general population, including infants and babies.
Initial, independent review of study data from the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT), funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and other institutes that comprise the National Institutes of Health shows that selenium and vitamin E supplements, taken either alone or together, did not prevent prostate cancer. The data also showed two concerning trends: a small but not statistically significant increase in the number of prostate cancer cases among the over 35,000 men age 50 and older in the trial taking only vitamin E and a small, but not statistically significant increase in the number of cases of adult onset diabetes in men taking only selenium. Because this is an early analysis of the data from the study, neither of these findings proves an increased risk from the supplements and both may be due to chance.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Someone in your house have the sniffles? Watch out for the refrigerator door handle. The TV remote, too. A new study finds that cold sufferers often leave their germs there, where they can live for two days or longer. Scientists at the University of Virginia, long known for its virology research, tested surfaces in the homes of people with colds and reported the results Tuesday at the nation’s premier conference on infectious diseases.
In a study published this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine we find Diabetes mellitus is common, costly, and increasingly prevalent. Despite innovations in therapy, little is known about patterns and costs of drug treatment. Further, increasingly complex and costly diabetes treatments are being applied to an increasing population. The magnitude of these rapid changes raises concerns about whether these more costly therapies will result in proportionately improved outcomes. Comment: We may have we reached a point for chronic diseases where there is too much research on technology, and too little understanding of how the interventions affect the disease.
Collecting and comparing health data from across the globe is a way to describe health problems, identify trends and help decision-makers set priorities. A recent study describes the state of global health by measuring the burden of disease – the loss of health from all causes of illness and deaths worldwide. It details the leading causes of deaths worldwide and in every region, and provides information on more than 130 diseases and injuries across the world. Read more about the global burden of disease study findings
