The above graph shows a clear relationship between smoking and the incidence of lung cancer. "Because of social mores, significant numbers of American women did not smoke until after World War II, when many social conventions changed. As late as 1963, when lung cancer among males was near current levels, this disease was still rare in women. In the United States that year, only 6588 women died of lung cancer. But as more women smoked, more developed lung cancer, again with a lag of about 20 years. American women today have achieved equality with men in the numbers of cigarettes they smoke, and their lung cancer death rates are today approaching those for men. In 2002, more than 65,000 women died of lung cancer in the United States. The current annual rate of deaths from lung cancer in male and female smokers is 180 per 100,000, or about 2 out of every 1000 smokers each year." Citation source: http://www.txtwriter.com/backgrounders/cancer/cancer5.html
If you are sexually active, you should get test for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. It is essential for women to be promptly treated to reduce the damaging effects of pelvic inflammatory disease. While HIV cannot be cured, early diagnosis would mean earlier treatment, prolonging life.
According to the CDC's "Estimated rate of New HIV Infections, 2009, by Gender and Race/Ethnicity," black women are more affected by HIV than women of all other races, accounting for nearly 60 percent (57 percent) of all new HIV infections among women in 2009. The HIV infection rate among black women was 15 times that of white women (39.7 v. 2.6 per 100,000).
In fact, HIV and Black women is a major public health issue:
According to the CDC, in 2009, 61 percent of new HIV infections were among men who have sex with men. However, this is followed by 27 percent among heterosexuals. Citation source: http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/HIVIncidenceGraphics.html)
And, CDC's "Estimated New Infections among Heterosexuals, 2009, by Gender and Race/Ethnicity" indicates there are race/ethnicity differences for heterosexual transmission. More than twice as many new HIV infections occurred among heterosexual black women than among heterosexual black men (5,400 vs. 2,400). (Citation source:http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/TCTT2012Graphics.html)
The purpose of the 10th annual National Women's Checkup Day is to:
Encourage women to visit health care professionals to receive or schedule a checkup.
Promote regular checkups as vital to the early detection of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, mental health illnesses, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and other conditions.
Then go to the National Women's Checkup Day: May 14, 2012 Page to make a pledge to schedule an appointment with your healthcare provider. I have! Your quality of life depends on it!
And, when you take the pledge, enter the state you are from and get a certificate to show your commitment to take care of yourself!
Happy Mother's Day to all women who believe in the power of nurturing! On this day, take a moment to reflect on how important it is to take care of ourselves so we can continue to nurture those we love!
Womenhealth.gov wants to raise awareness of why women should adopt the "It's Your Time" attitude. Check out the National Women’s Health Week Fact Sheet for 5 simple steps to good health and wellness!
May 11, 2012- Breast Cancer Update: Decreasing Incidence; Spatial Clustering
Breast Cancer Cell
Graphic source: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/The-Best-Science-Visualizations-of-the-Year.html
According to CDC's "Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975–2008" "Breast cancer incidence rates, which increased 1.3 percent per year from 1992 through 1999, declined 2.0 percent per year from 1999 through 2005 and leveled off from 2005 through 2008. The factors that influence breast cancer incidence are complex, including changes in reproductive status, obesity, the prevalence of mammography screening, and others. Recent reports suggest that the decrease in breast cancer incidence may be related to the rapid discontinuation of hormone replacement therapy, a known risk factor for breast cancer, and also because of a plateau in mammography screening prevalence." (Citation source: http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/dcpc/research/articles/arn_7508qa.htm#7)
Geomedicine is the mapping of disease patterns with geographic analysis. According to International Journal of Health Geographics, looking at NCI 2000-2005 data, "...breast... cancers cluster spatially. The Getis-Ord Gi* analysis suggests there were statistically signifcant clusters of counties with high incidence rates of breast cancer ("hot" clusters) in the Northeast, Midwest and northern and mid Pacific West regions."
(Citation source: http://www.ij-healthgeographics.com/content/pdf/1476-072X-8-53.pdf)
According to Medscape's article,"Menopause Management for the Millennium,"
"In the United States, many women believe that the leading cause of death in women is breast cancer.
Many also believe that only a small percentage of deaths are attributable to CVD (Cardiovascular Disease). The truth, of course, is the reverse.
One in 3 women older than 65 years has some evidence of CVD, and the risk of breast cancer after age 65 is 1 in 36.
Although it has been widely asserted that the incidence of breast cancer in women is approximately 1 in 8 women, this is the lifetime risk.
Age-specific data are quite different, and the risk is 1 in 77 in the fourth decade, 1 in 42 in the fifth decade, and 1 in 45 in the eighth decade.
In terms of mortality, the case fatality rate of CVD is several times greater than that of breast cancer; thus, even if the incidence rates of these 2 diseases were similar, many more women would die of CVD.
Soon after menopause, at age 50-54, breast cancer mortality decreases while CVD mortality rises steadily.
...the leading cause of cancer death in postmenopausal women is lung cancer.
Overall, however, 30%-40% of women die of CVD, and by age 55, 20% of all deaths result from CVD."
National trends for Health-related Quality of Life are available from the CDC.
The concept of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and its determinants have evolved since the 1980s to encompass those aspects of overall quality of life that can be clearly shown to affect health—either physical or mental.
On the individual level, this includes physical and mental health perceptions and their correlates—including health risks and conditions, functional status, social support, and socioeconomic status. On the community level, HRQOL includes resources, conditions, policies, and practices that influence a population’s health perceptions and functional status.
HRQOL questions about perceived physical and mental health and function have become an important component of health surveillance and are generally considered valid indicators of service needs and intervention outcomes. Self-assessed health status also proved to be more powerful predictor of mortality and morbidity than many objective measures of health. Citation source: http://www.cdc.gov/hrqol/concept.htm
New data released in February show that women reported greater number of mentally or physically unhealthy days than men. While the average number of such days have risen steadily for both genders since 1993, women report a mean of 6+ days vs. 4+ days for men.
Citation source: http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/HRQOL/TrendV.asp?State=1&Measure=5&Category=2&submit1=Go
May 7, 2012 - Women's Health and Mortality Chartbook
The Office of Women's Health's "Women's Health and Mortality Chartbook" is an excellent online interactive resource to search for state-level women's health data pertaining to:
Major causes of death among females (rate per 100,000)
Health risk factors (percent)
Preventive care (percent)
Health insurance coverage (percent)
See how women are doing in your state, by race and ethnicity, against Healthy People 2020 Objectives, and how your state ranks against other states.
Access the chartbook by clicking on the graphic.
May 4, 2012 - Healthy People 2020 Objectives for Women
While I will be covering U.S. women's health and public health issues, I would like to call your attention the missing 4 million women, internationally, who suffered "excess female mortality."
According to the International Monetary Fund, "Since 1980, women have been living longer than men in all parts of the world. But across all developing countries, more women and girls still die at younger ages relative to men and boys, compared with rich countries. As a result of this “excess female mortality,” about 3.9 million girls and women under 60 are “missing” each year in developing countries. About two-fifths of them are never born, one-sixth die in early childhood, and more than one-third die during their reproductive years. Female mortality is growing in sub-Saharan Africa, especially for women of childbearing age and in the countries hit hardest by the HIV/AIDS pandemic (World Bank, 2011, Chapter 3)." Citation source: Empowering Women Is Smart Economics (March 2012) http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2012/03/revenga.htm
According to The Office of Women's Health's "Healthy Women Today" newsletter:
"Get ready for National Women's Health Week
National Women's Health Week is a weeklong health observance coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Women's Health. It brings together communities, businesses, government, health organizations, and other groups in an effort to promote women's health. The theme for 2012 is “It's Your Time.” National Women's Health Week empowers women to make their health a top priority. The 13th annual National Women's Health Week kicks off on Mother's Day, May 13, 2012 and is celebrated until May 19, 2012. National Women's Checkup Day is Monday, May 14, 2012."
Once again, I am pleased to be a Womenshealth.gov's Collaborator. Like last year, I will be devoting May's blog entries to Women's Health and Public Health Issues Updates. As you can see, I will be covering a variety of topics, and if it runs over into June, then so be it. Hope you learn something new in the coming weeks about health of over half the world's population!
May 1, 2012 - An Infomous Visualization of Betty C. Jung's Tweets
How cool is this? Here is a visualization created by Infomous that shows what I have been recently posting on Tweeter!
April 30, 2012 - Evolution of the Moon from NASA
April 27, 2012 -
CDC's Interactive Immunization Scheduler Software
For more information about how to download this software to your computer so you know when to get the appropriate shots, see CDC's
Adult Immunization Scheduler
April 26, 2012 - 2012 Recommended Immunizations for Adults with Medical and Other Indications
The latest edition of "The Manual for the Surveillance of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases" is now available online. It "provides current guidelines for those directly involved in surveillance of vaccine-preventable diseases, especially personnel at the local health departments. For each of the vaccine-preventable diseases, this manual includes a chapter describing the importance of rapid case identification; the importance of surveillance; disease reduction goals; case definitions (including clinical description and case classifications); epidemiologically important data to be collected during case investigation; activities for enhancing surveillance; activities for case investigation; and activities for outbreak control. Other chapters include information on surveillance indicators; surveillance data analyses; reporting adverse events following vaccination; and enhancing surveillance. In addition, the manual includes a section reserved for insertion of state-specific guidance for VPD surveillance and extensive appendices." Citation source: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/surv-manual/index.html
You can access this resource by click on the blog entry title or the graphic.
April 23, 2012 -
Immunization is very important for protecting infants from diseases that used to contribute to high infant mortality rates. Getting all the proper immunizations, at the appropriate age, not only protects the child, but those around from getting sick. It prevents the occurrence of epidemics and reduces potential health issues that can occur if the child is not immunized.
Here is the latest global mortality statistics from the World Health Organization, issued 11/2011. Africa has the highest death rates, followed by Asia.
The World Health Organization annually releases health statistics. The 2011 edition contain data for 193 Member States, and includes a summary of the progress made towards achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and associated targets.
Key facts from this report include:
Fewer children are dying. Annual global deaths of children under five years of age fell to 8.1 million in 2009 from 12.4 million in 1990.
Fewer children are underweight. The percentage of underweight children under five years old is estimated to have dropped from 25% in 1990 to 16% in 2010.
More women get skilled help during childbirth. The proportion of births attended by a skilled health worker has increased globally, however, in the WHO Africa and South-East Asia regions fewer than 50% of all births were attended.
Fewer people are contracting HIV. New HIV infections have declined by 17% globally from 2001-2009.
Tuberculosis treatment is more successful. Existing cases of TB are declining, along with deaths among HIV-negative TB cases.
More people have safe drinking-water, but not enough have toilets. The world is on track to achieve the MDG target on access to safe drinking-water but more needs to be done to achieve the sanitation target.
While this Webpage is specific to the reporting on indicators specific for data pertaining to those 65 and older, this page could serve as a template for reporting all data pertaining to Healthy People indicators. Check it out!
April 16, 2012 - Determinants of Health: A Framework for Reaching Healthy People 2020 Goals
Here is a video developed by the US DHHS that summarizes the public health approaches to achieving Healthy People 2020 objectives by addressing determinants of health. For more information, see Healthy People 2020 Page, and Determinants of Health
April 13, 2012 - Tracking Environmental Debris from March 2011 Japan Tsunami
The effects of the March 2011 Japan Tsunami continues to cast its shadow on the environmental. Most notably, everything that got washed and swept away by the tsunami is now traveling on the Pacific Ocean, to reach the U.S. in the foreseeable future.
Here is a map from NASA's "Surface Currents from Diagnostic (SCUD) model" that attempts to simulate where and how that debris would disperse. Orange and red shaded areas represent parcels of water with a high probably of containing floating debris. The deeper the red color, the higher the likely concentration. The debris field stretches roughly 5,000 kilometers by 2,000 kilometers across the North Pacific.
As of April 3, 2012, there had been very few reports of debris at Midway Island and Kure Atoll. Observers in Canada recently detected an abandoned 150-foot Japanese fishing vessel floating offshore of British Columbia. Other reports of debris in Washington and Hawaii came in months ago." Citation source: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=77489&src=eoa-iotd
April 12, 2012 - Categorizing the Determinants of Health
The various factors that impact the Public's health are called the determinants of health. I like how the National Stakeholder Strategy for Achieving Health Equity categorizes these factors:
Social determinants of health Examples include gender, socioeconomic status, employment status, educational attainment, food security status, availability of housing and transportation, racism, and health system access and quality
Behavioral determinants of health Examples include patterns of overweight and obesity; exercise norms; and use of illicit drugs, tobacco, or alcohol
Environmental determinants of health Examples include lead exposure, asthma triggers, workplace safety factors, unsafe or polluted living conditions
Biological and genetic determinants of health Examples include family history of heart disease and inherited conditions such as hemophilia and cystic fibrosis
Authors of May 2009's "What You Don't Know Can Hurt You" concluded "There is a strong association between educational attainment and health." (Source: http://www.american.com/archive/2009/may-2009/what-you-dont-know-can-hurt-you/article_print)
The Robert Wood Johnson continues its exploration of how social factors impact health status in its recently released series of issue briefs. The following are snippets from the 3 briefs.
From "Early Childhood Experiences: Laying the Foundation for Health Across a Lifetime"
"...children in families of all socioeconomic levels experience benefits from early childhood programs that translate into improved development and health....it is widely recognized that factors such as nutrition, housing quality, and household and community safety - all linked with family resources, are strongly linked with child health....experiences in early childhood affect children's brain, cognitive and behavioral development...Parents' social and economic resources can affect the quality and stability of their relationships with their infants, and parent-infant relationships affect children's emotional development and the cognitive stimulation they receive."
From "How Social Factors Shape Health: The Role of Stress"
"During childhood and adolescence, stress appears to increase risk of poorer mental and physical health....children and adolescents exposed to higher levels of stress have increased risks of being overweight and/or obese...Among adults, exposure to work-related and other stressors has been linked in multiple studies with cardiovascular illness such as coronary heart disease and heart attacks, as well as with cardiovascular disease risk factors....prolonged activation of the stress response due to chronic stressors is more likely to lead to poor health....Chronic stress, particularly early in life, can result in long-term damage in multiple body organs and systems and can affect the ability to respond to stress, impairing the body's ability to appropriately "switch off"; the stress response later in life...Lower levels of both family income and educational attainment have been associated with greater financial, marital and parental stress among U.S. adults over age 25."
From "What Shapes Health-Related Behaviors? The Role of Social Factors"
"...our behaviors protect us from, or put us at risk for, disease. A person's behaviors are shaped in part by his or her individual characteristics, including genetics, but there is growing evidence that the environments in which people learn, adopt and maintain behaviors also play an important role....increases in income and educational attainment typically correspond to decreases in the prevalence of health-harming behaviors and increases in the prevalence of health-promoting behaviors...we often see incremental improvements with each step up the income or education ladder...higher rates of sedentary behavior seen at lower levels of income and educational attainment...Lower-income neighborhoods often lack safe places to exercise...A person's educational attainment is closely linked with his or her options for employment and income, which in turn can influence behaviors... Having more education and a better job is also linked with the kinds of social support, networks and norms that support healthy behaviors and discourage behaviors that are health-harming."
I highly recommend these briefs for all public health professionals because they provide a comprehensive, yet concise overview of why social determinants need to be addressed in developing policies and interventions that are meant to improve the health of all the populations we serve through the programs and projects we work on. You can find links to these briefs on my Public Health Practice Page, under, "Social Determinants of Health."
April 10, 2012 - Introduction to the 1940 Census Data, available 4/2/2012
April 9, 2012 - Coming May 13 - 19, 2012: Women's Health Week
Bullying is such a public health problem that the federal government has a Web site devoted to raise awareness about the problem of bullying. While bullying used to occur in school settings, starting from kindergarten onwards, the increased use of technology has worsen the impact of bullying. Now children can be bullied all the time, even while they are at home, via the Internet.
Children really do need a safe environment to grow in and nurture the development of who they really are without feeling threatened at emotional and psychological levels. I urge adults in positions of authority to take a proactive approach to intervening when they see bullying occurring. It is not reasonable to expect children work out issues of intimidation on their own. Children need to be taught not only to respect others, but to also respect themselves. Children who have good positive self-images do not need to bully others to feel good about themselves.
April 4, 2012 - National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is spearheading a new initiative called the National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities (NPA). "The mission of the NPA is to increase the effectiveness of programs that target the elimination of health disparities through the coordination of partners, leaders, and stakeholders committed to action."
"The goals of the NPA and its National Stakeholder Strategy for Achieving Health Equity are:
Awareness - Increase awareness of the significance of health disparities, their impact on the nation, and the actions necessary to improve health outcomes for racial, ethnic, and underserved populations.
Leadership - Strengthen and broaden leadership for addressing health disparities at all levels.
Health System and Life Experience - Improve health and healthcare outcomes for racial, ethnic, and underserved populations.
Cultural and Linguistic Competency - Improve cultural and linguistic competency and the diversity of the health-related workforce.
Data, Research, and Evaluation - Improve data availability and coordination, utilization, and diffusion of research and evaluation outcomes.
In order to have a healthy nation, everyone has to be healthy. Addressing health disparities is the best way to achieve a healthy nation. I have taken the pledge and doing my part. So can you! The more people working on this, the greater the possibility of success in reducing health disparities!
"April is National Minority Health Month. This year’s theme, Health Equity Can’t Wait. Act Now in Your CommUNITY!, is a call to action and unity for the regions, the state and local offices of minority health, the health departments and all the organizations and partners involved and invested in reducing health disparities. Citation source: http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/Actnow/
Public Health gets taken for granted when it is doing its job. While it is "public" in scope, most of what happens for the good of the public goes on behind the scenes. It is only when things break down do we realize just how important Public Health is to our daily lives.
To learn more about Public Health practice, check my Public Health Practice Page and the rest of this Web site, which is predominately devoted to Public Health.
March 30, 2012 - GAO's Designing Evaluations, 2012 Revision
During times of limited funding, it is no longer acceptable to develop a program without having an evaluation component. Including evaluation shows you are accountable for what you are doing and that you will make a concerted effort to offer an effective program. And, if the program isn't effective, you have the data you have been collecting to help you make corrections along the way. Funders like to see this because they will know that the money they are giving you won't be wasted. That's the basic idea behind the importance of evaluation.
In January, the Government Accounting Office released Designing Evaluations 2012 Revision It is well-written and a wonderful primer of what Evaluation is all about. It is generic enough to provide guidance across a variety of programs, but provides the nuts and bolts needed to build a solid evaluation component into any program you are involved with. Additionally, it provides additional resources for more information. Click on the graphic or links above to access the PDF document.
CDC recently released,"Data Security and Confidentiality Guidelines for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, Sexually Transmitted Disease, and Tuberculosis Programs: Standards to Facilitate Sharing and Use of Surveillance Data for Public Health Action." This is a really useful and needed resource for any Public Health Professional who must handle data. While surveillance data are not as sensitve as medical record data, it still contains confidential information that should be handled appropriately. To access the document, click on the blog entry title or the graphic.
March 28, 2012 - CDC's Database of State Legislative and Regulatory Action to Prevent Obesity and Improve Nutrition and Physical Activity
Strategies taken to address obesity can occur at many levels. Passing legislation can provide environmental support to individual action. For example, it would be really great if we can devote an hour a day to physical activity outdoors. Making changes to the environment that would allow for such physical activity can enhance individual efforts, such as just having accessible sidewalks can go a long way.
Do you know what legislation or regulations have been passed in your neck of woods addressing obesity, nutrition and physical activity? Well, now you can search the CDC's Database of State Legislative and Regulatory Action to Prevent Obesity and Improve Nutrition and Physical Activity! Here are two examples:
Here is a new site from the federal government that is totally devoted to helping teens think wisely about tobacco use. If you are a teen and smoke, you can quit! The sooner you do, the better off you will be in the years to come. And, if you are a teen and don't smoke, you are smart! Best yet, never start!
Click on blog entry title or graphic to get on the site. For more information, see Tobacco
March 26, 2012 -
Toolkit to Identify Teens with Mental Health Issues
According to 10/28/2011 HealthDay article, a toolkit has been developed to spot teens with mental health issues.
"One in 10 youths have a mental health condition that is severe enough to impair functioning, either at home, school or in the community,"
"This toolkit will allow pediatricians, teachers and others that could help get the word out to families we can close the gap so the three out of four children with mental health disorders who aren't identified do get identified,"
About half of mental health disorders manifest themselves by the time a child has turned 14, and 75 percent manifest by age 24,
Because differentiating a true mental health disorder from the inevitable ups and downs of adolescence is difficult, the authors chose to focus on the more severe end of the mental health spectrum.
If your child has any of these 11 warning signs, he or she may have a mental health disorder and should be referred to treatment as soon as possible:
Feeling very sad or withdrawn for two or more weeks;
Seriously trying to harm or kill themselves, or making plans to do so;
Sudden overwhelming fear for no reason, sometimes with a racing heart or fast breathing;
Involved in multiple fights, using a weapon, or wanting badly to hurt others;
Severe out-of-control behavior that can hurt the teenager or others;
Not eating, throwing up, or using laxatives to lose weight;
Intense worries or fears that get in the way of daily activities;
Extreme difficulty in concentrating or staying still that puts a teenager in physical danger or causes school failure;
Repeated use of drugs or alcohol;
Severe mood swings that cause problems in relationships;
Drastic changes in behavior or personality
Citation source: Oct. 28, 2011, teleconference with Peter Jensen, M.D., Gary M. Blau, Ph.D., Lisa Hunter Romanelli, Ph.D., Abigail Schlesinger, M.D.; Oct. 28, 2011, Pediatrics, reported by HealthDay
SAMHSA's "Suicidal Thoughts and Behavior in the Past Year among Adults Aged 18 or Older: 2010":
"Among the 1.1 million adults who attempted suicide in the past year, 752,000 (67.2 percent) received medical attention for their suicide attempt in the past year, and 572,000 (51.1 percent) stayed overnight or longer in a hospital as a result of their suicide attempt in the past year.
In 2010, the percentage of adults aged 18 or older having serious thoughts of suicide in the past year was 2.4 percent among Hispanics, 3.2 percent among Asians, 4.0 percent among whites, 4.1 percent among blacks, 4.6 percent among Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders, 5.4 percent among persons reporting two or more races, and 7.5 percent among American Indians or Alaska Natives.
The percentage of college-aged adults (i.e., those aged 18 to 22) who had serious thoughts of suicide in the past year was higher in 2010 (7.3 percent) than in 2009 (6.3 percent).
In 2010, full-time college students aged 18 to 22 were less likely than other adults aged 18 to 22 to have serious thoughts of suicide (6.5 vs. 7.8 percent), make suicide plans (1.8 vs. 2.5 percent), and attempt suicide (0.9 vs. 1.6 percent) in the past year."
SAMHSA's "Any Mental Illness (AMI) in the Past Year among Adults Aged 18 or Older, by Age and Gender: 2010":
"The percentage of adults with AMI in the past year was highest for adults aged 18 to 25 (29.9 percent), followed by adults aged 26 to 49 (22.1 percent), then by adults aged 50 or older (14.3 percent).
Adult women in 2010 were more likely than adult men to have AMI in the past year (23.0 vs. 16.8 percent). Among adult males, the percentage having AMI in 2010 was higher than in 2009 (15.6 percent).
In 2010, the percentage of persons aged 18 or older with past year AMI was 15.8 percent among Asians, 18.3 percent among Hispanics, 18.7 percent among American Indians or Alaska Natives, 19.7 percent among blacks, 20.6 percent among whites, and 25.4 percent among persons reporting two or more races. The estimate of past year AMI among Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders aged 18 or older could not be reported due to low precision."
March 21, 2012 -
U.S. Adult Mental Illness Surveillance Report
On September 2, 2011, the CDC released "U.S. Adult Mental Illness Surveillance Report." According to the CDC:
"The term mental illness refers collectively to all diagnosable mental disorders. Effects of the illness include sustained abnormal alterations in thinking, mood, or behavior associated with distress and impaired functioning. The effects of mental illnesses include disruptions of daily function; incapacitating personal, social, and occupational impairment; and premature death. The most common mental illnesses in adults are anxiety and mood disorders.
Here are some interesting facts about mental illness:
"according to the World Health Organization, mental illnesses account for more disability in developed countries than any other group of illnesses, including cancer and heart disease;
published studies report that about 25% of all U.S. adults have a mental illness and that nearly 50% of U.S. adults will develop at least one mental illness during their lifetime;
mental illness is associated with increased occurrence of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, asthma, epilepsy, and cancer.".
Since stress is a part of living, we have all found ways to deal with stress. Health-risk behaviors such as smoking, substance abuse, overeating, etc. are ineffectual ways to handle stress because they compromise our health in the process.
Here is a graphic of the various ways
Americans use to handle stress, as reported in APA's "Stress in America 2010 Report."
It is good to see that the most popular methods are not health-compromising. Over a three-year period, it is good to see that fewer people are eating, or smoking to manage stress.
Originally, the FDA was charged with raising public awareness of the dangers of smoking. To that end, the FDA developed a series of graphic anti-smoking ads and then elicited public participation in choosing which ads to use on cigarette packaging. Unfortunately, Ongoing litigation to stop such labeling has prevented the FDA from doing what it was mandated to do.
"The lawsuit was filed in Kentucky. It's one of two suits by tobacco companies against the federal rules that would make them slap large images on cigarette packs depicting the health ravages of smoking.
The other case has so far resulted in a federal judge in Washington blocking the new requirement, arguing last month it violated free speech,..That decision is being appealed by the government.
But on Monday, an appeals court in Ohio ruled 2-1 to uphold parts of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which also restricts how tobacco products may be marketed."
The HHS Statement on Cigarette Health Warning Ruling shows that the main federal agency for Public Health supports the need to warn young people about the hazards of smoking. I applaud the CDC for stepping in and picking up the banner to continue this important duty to raise awareness about the dangers of smoking in a graphic way. After all, tobacco companies think nothing of using devious means to get children and teens to smoke by promising intangibles as popularity among peers, social attractiveness, etc. Such labeling is effective as attested to by Big Tobacco's efforts to block such labeling.
According to WebMD's coverage:
The $54 million campaign consists of eight television spots, including one about secondhand smoke in Spanish; seven radio spots that are 30 seconds and 60 seconds in length; seven print ads in various sizes; and five billboard and bus stop ads. About 70% of current smokers say they want to quit, according to the CDC, so the broadcast spots and print ads include a toll-free phone number, 800-QUIT-NOW, and a web site smokers can contact in search of help quitting.
In just the first two days of the year, the tobacco industry spent more on marketing cigarettes than the CDC will spend this year on its ad campaign, CDC Director Thomas Frieden, MD, MPH, said at the news conference.
Each year, more than 443,000 Americans die from smoking-related illnesses, according to the CDC, which will study the new campaign’s impact on smoking in the United States. “For every person who dies, 20 more Americans live with an illness caused by smoking,” Sebelius said.
As I end this series on the importance of sleep, I wanted to share what a National Sleep Foundation study reported on how much sleep we need to function at our optimum.
"Overall, respondents reported that they need, on average, 7 hours and 25 minutes of sleep to function at their best during the day, about one hour less than what they report getting on a typical weeknight.
Specifically, more than one-third (37%) said they need at least 8 hours of sleep to function at their best.
At the same time, more than one in ten (13%) said they needed less than 6 hours of sleep to function at their best.
The results of the number of hours respondents said they need to function at their best during the day was compared to the number of hours respondents reported they actually slept.
Oregon State University researchers reported in the December 2011 issue of the journal Mental Health and Physical Activity:
"People sleep significantly better and feel more alert during the day if they get at least 150 minutes of exercise a week,
...150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a week, which is the national guideline, provided a 65 percent improvement in sleep quality. People also said they felt less sleepy during the day, compared to those with less physical activity.
Among adults in the United States, about 35 to 40 percent of the population has problems with falling asleep or with daytime sleepiness.
"Increasingly, the scientific evidence is encouraging as regular physical activity may serve as a non-pharmaceutical alternative to improve sleep."
After controlling for age, BMI (Body Mass Index), health status, smoking status, and depression, the relative risk of often feeling overly sleepy during the day compared to never feeling overly sleepy during the day decreased by 65 percent for participants meeting physical activity guidelines.
Similar results were also found for having leg cramps while sleeping (68 percent less likely) and having difficulty concentrating when tired (45 percent decrease).
"Physical activity may not just be good for the waistline and heart, but it also can help you sleep,"..."There are trade-offs. It may be easier when you are tired to skip the workout and go to sleep, but it may be beneficial for your long-term health to make the hard decision and get your exercise."
March 9, 2012 - 2011's top ten pages with the most hits; Web site update
Graphic created by BCJung
Here are the latest statistics for my Web site, for those who are interested. "Graphing Resources on the Internet" continues to be the most popular page on the Web site, surpassing the Home Page!
The Public Health Blog webpages also continue to be popular destinations for Web site visitors. What's most interesting is that visitors come by way of the Google Image search!
Finally, it wasn't until the past week that I have decided to spend some time to make the blog pages more accessible that I discovered that my first tweet was actually made on March 1, 2010! So, I have been actually tweeting for two years! I did not really use this social media to its full advantage until last year when I decided to use it to publicize blog postings, which have become more regular and frequent. Starting this month I will use Twitter to publicize the links I am adding to my various pages, so this should increase accessibility to the various resources I have on the Web site.
I have also found a way to create RSS feeds so those with RSS readers can access updates to the current Public Health 2012 Blog and my other webpages. This is, however, a work in progress, as setting up a current feed requires a lot time. Instead, I have decided to use the feeds that Twitter.com have, as well as the Page2RSS.com's service to make Webpages available for RSS readers. Enjoy! E-mail your suggestions to: bettycjung@yahoo.com!
March 8, 2012 - Reason to Sleep: Reducing the Risk for Type 2 Diabetes
According to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia researchers:
Obese teenagers who don't get the proper amount of sleep may have disruptions in insulin secretion and blood sugar (glucose) levels,
...getting a good night's sleep may stave off the development of type 2 diabetes in these adolescents.
...to keep glucose levels stable, the optimal amount of sleep for teenagers is 7.5 to 8.5 hours per night."
...this is consistent with research in adults showing an association between sleep deprivation and increased risk of type 2 diabetes.
The optimal sleep duration was neither too little nor too much,...both insufficient and excessive sleep were linked to higher glucose levels. While sleep stages did not predict glucose levels, lower duration of N3 ("deep" sleep) correlated with decreased insulin secretion.
...getting adequate sleep in adolescence may help protect against type 2 diabetes."
Citation source: "Sleep Architecture and Glucose and Insulin Homeostasis in Obese Adolescents," Diabetes Care, published online Sept. 20, 2011, to appear in November 2011 print edition; as reported at: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-09/chop-agn091611.php
According to WebMD's "How Your Sleep Affects Your Heart"
"Sleep duration has decreased 1.5 to 2 hours per night per person in the last 50 years.
...recent studies show links between shortened sleep duration, defined as less than six hours of sleep, and increased risk of heart disease.
A 2011 European Heart Journal..found that short sleepers had a 48% increased risk of developing or dying from coronary heart disease (CHD) in a seven to 25-year follow-up period (depending on the study) and a 15% greater risk of developing or dying from stroke during this same time.
Interestingly, long sleepers -- those who averaged nine or more hours a night -- also showed a 38% increased risk of developing or dying from CHD and a 65% increased risk of stroke.
One 2008 study from the University of Chicago found a link between shortened sleep and increased coronary artery calcification (calcium deposits), "a good predictor of subsequent coronary artery disease,"
...shorter sleep predicted worsening hypertension (high blood pressure). "For most people, blood pressure falls at night,"..."so it could be that with shorter sleep it's just not enough for that dip to take place."
"It's pretty safe advice for the majority of people that sleeping less than six hours a night is probably not good,"
Good-quality sleep decreases the work of your heart, as blood pressure and heart rate go down at night.
People who are sleep-deprived show less variability in their heart rate, meaning that instead of fluctuating normally, the heart rate usually stays elevated. "That is not a good sign,"..."That looks like heightened stress."
Lack of sleep can increase insulin resistance, a risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Shortened sleep can increase CRP, or C-reactive protein, which is released with stress and inflammation. "If your CRP is high, it's a risk factor for cardiovascular and heart disease,"
Shortened sleep also interferes with appetite regulation. "So you may end up eating more or eating foods that are less healthy for your heart,"
...something 63 percent of Americans are not getting, according to the U.S. National Sleep Foundation.
"People may be learning while they sleep, dramatically improving their memory in some cases.
"There is substantial evidence that during sleep, your brain is processing information without your awareness and this ability may contribute to memory in a waking state."
"Simply improving your sleep could potentially improve your performance in the classroom,"
Citation source: Journal of Experimental Psychology: General;
Michigan State University, news release, September 2011; HealthDay
March 5, 2012 - National Sleep Awareness Week — March 5–11, 2012
How fortuitous that National Sleep Awareness Week falls right in the midst of my series on the importance of sleep! As this graphic shows, the problem of not getting enough sleep affects people of all ages, especially teens. Poor sleeping habits perpetuates itself in a vicious cycle.
According to the MMWR:
"The National Sleep Foundation recommends that U.S. adults receive, on average, 7–9 hours of sleep per night; however, 37.1% of adults report regularly sleeping <7 hours per night.
Persons reporting sleeping <7 hours on average during a 24-hour interval are more likely to report unintentionally falling asleep during the day at least 1 day out of the preceding 30 days (46.2% compared with 33.2%) and nodding off or falling asleep at the wheel during the previous 30 days (7.3% compared with 3.0%).
Frequent insufficient sleep (14 or more days in the past 30 days) also has been associated with self-reported anxiety, depressive symptoms, and frequent mental and physical distress.
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March 3, 2012 - Betty C. Jung Twitter Alternate Feeds
Alternate #1 Twitter Feed
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Aside from following my Tweets using a Twitter widget, you can read these tweets using any RSS reader you have by clicking on either of these RSS icons. It is taking me a little while to familiarize myself with how to set up an RSS feed. Fortunately, Twitter has made it possible for me to do this in a simple way. Enjoy!
March 2, 2012 - Now available on the Web site: Betty C. Jung Twitter widget!
I am pleased to announce that I can now stream all my tweets with a Twitter widget. I will be adding this to all my Blog pages in the coming days. This is exciting!
March 1, 2012 - THANK YOU!!!
February 29, 2012 - Rare Diseases Day
Graphic source: http://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/
February 29 is Rare Disease Day. According USA.gov,"A disease is rare, or "orphan," if fewer than 200,000 people in the United States have it. There are close to 7,000 rare diseases and about 25 million people in the U.S. have one. Some diseases affect fewer than 100 people nationwide." (Source: http://answers.usa.gov/system/selfservice.controller?CONFIGURATION=1000&PARTITION_ID=1&CMD=VIEW_ARTICLE&ARTICLE_ID=11331&USERTYPE=1&LANGUAGE=en&COUNTRY=US)
According to an October 14, 2011 LiveScience.com report, "Antarctic Ozone Hole 5th Largest on Record":
"The ozone hole above the Antarctic has reached its maximum extent for the year, revealing a gouge in the protective atmospheric layer that rivals the size of North America,
Spanning about 9.7 million square miles (25 million square kilometers), the ozone hole over the South Pole reached its maximum annual size on Sept. 14, 2011, coming in as the fifth largest on record.
The largest Antarctic ozone hole ever recorded occurred in 2006, at a size of 10.6 million square miles (27.5 million square km), a size documented by NASA's Earth-observing Aura satellite.
On the Earth's surface, ozone is a pollutant, but in the stratosphere it forms a protective layer that reflects ultraviolet radiation back out into space, protecting us from the damaging UV rays.
The international banning of ozone-destroying oxidizing chemicals like CFC's (chlorofluorocarbons) has helped to reduce the loss of protective ozone. Even so, these ozone-destroying compounds are still in the stratosphere where they slowly break down over time. As such, years with large ozone holes are now more associated with very cold winters over Antarctica and high polar winds that prevent the mixing of ozone-rich air outside of the polar circulation with the ozone-depleted air inside, the scientists say.
This year, for the first time scientists also found a depletion of ozone above the Arctic that resembled its South Pole counterpart. "For the first time, sufficient loss occurred to reasonably be described as an Arctic ozone hole,"
February 24, 2012 - What does it say about physicians who lie on their training applications?
Graphic source: BCJung, based on results retrieved 2/22/12: http://jobsearch.about.com/gi/pages/poll.htm?linkback=%3C%21--&poll_id=0143484537&poll=1
According to 3,775 responses tallied on 2/22/12, for an About.com online survey,"Would you lie on your resume?" ONLY 42% said they would not lie on their resume! This means that 58% are not telling the truth about who they are. Then again, I am wondering just how truthful these responses were.
This is extremely disturbing, and very foolish that people think they can get away with lying on a resume. Employers can pretty much find out as much as they want on any applicant with very little expense by googling you online, or search your presence on social networks. Other than being caught in a lie, what does it really say about those who lie?
On February 21st, Reuters released findings from research published in Obstetrics & Gynecology, March 2012:
"Honesty and attention to detail are qualities expected of physicians, yet two studies looking at applications to training programs in obstetrics show that up to 30 out of every 100 applicants took credit for research publications that could not be found.
Anywhere from one to 30 percent of applications to training programs in radiology, emergency medicine, orthopedics and others include references to published research that can't be located by reviewers.
The biggest error was that 62 applicants had listed a publication as "peer-reviewed" when it wasn't. Peer review involves submitting a study for scrutiny by other researchers before it gets published, and therefore implies a high degree of rigor.... study could not tell whether these were honest mistakes or intentional misrepresentations.
Applicants might be deliberately padding their resumes to try and get a spot, and it's concerning. The whole thing about being a physician is that you are expected to be honest,"....
Amies Oelschlager and her colleagues suggested that medical schools should include training in authorship and peer review."
If these doctors feel they have to lie on their applications, what does that say about their moral values? If they lie on their applications that is important to their career, what else would they lie about? What it really comes down to is this: If you need medical advice, wouldn't you want to see a doctor who would be honest with you? I would.
February 23, 2012 - Increased Risk for Hypertension in Men Who Lack Deep Sleep
"Sleep plays a vital role in maintaining physical and psychological health, and disordered sleep may increase the risk for cardiovascular disease. Metabolism and neuroendocrine systems may be affected by sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), sleep duration, and sleep architecture.
...decreased percentage of time in slow-wave sleep was related to increased odds of obesity.
In men 65 years and older, increased percentage of time spent in slow-wave sleep appears to be associated with a lower risk for incident hypertension,
...obstructive sleep apnea, sleep deprivation, and/or short sleep duration, is strongly associated with hypertension.
...slow-wave sleep is the third and final stage of non-REM sleep and is considered to be the most restorative of the rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM stages of sleep. Slow-wave sleep has also been linked to many health benefits, including enhanced cognitive skills, positive changes in glucose metabolism, and decreased heart rate and blood pressure."
Source citation: http://hyper.ahajournals.org/content/early/2011/08/28/HYPERTENSIONAHA.111.174409.abstract?sid=9d93bff0-394d-4a48-9003-bf4a66d837c8; as reported by Medscapehttp://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/748847
February 22, 2012 - Inadequate Sleep Causes Premature Aging
"What number is just right [for sleep]? The answer is really a range: somewhere between 6-8 hours. Any more or less than that may do more than just make you sleepy and it may cause your brain to age prematurely.
... both men and women who averaged seven hours of sleep performed better on reasoning tests than both people who slept fewer than six hours, as well as people who slept more than eight hours.
...consistent sleep routines that include sleeping for around seven hours a night every night can help reduce the regular cognitive decline that happens to all of us as we get older
...people who got too little or too much sleep showed a loss in brain function that was like aging 4 to 7 years!
People tend to sleep less when they age, so maintaining between 6-8 hours of sleep a night may be a great natural way to prevent some of that natural memory loss that occurs with aging.
"AeroShot delivers an airborne shot of caffeine powder through a small dispenser. The company’s materials claim that the product is safe and does not enter the lungs, but rather is dissolved in the mouth and swallowed. There is no evidence on the company’s website to substantiate these broad, health-related claims. On the contrary, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), while caffeine has been shown to enhance physical performance in adults, these effects are extremely variable, dose dependent, and most importantly, have not been thoroughly studied in children and adolescents. Moreover, because of the potentially harmful developmental and addictive effects of caffeine, the AAP discourages the non-medical use of caffeine by children and adolescents. The impact of inhaled caffeine on the lungs of children and teens has never been examined."
"United States Senator Charles E. Schumer announced Sunday that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed to conduct a full review of the safety and legality of the new caffeine inhaler, AeroShot, which hit stores in New York and Boston this past month. The product, a lipstick sized disposable inhaler, allows the user to inhale a powder that sends 100mgs of caffeine into the body. The product was introduced into New York and Boston markets in January without an age restriction on its purchase, without ever having been reviewed by the FDA, and without having its safety claims independently verified by regulators."
Astronomy books may have be rewritten with a new discovery made by Andrew McCann, a Ph.D. candidate at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and published in October 7, 2011, Science.
"...astronomers detected intense radiation pumping out of the Crab Nebula,
...inexplicably powerful gamma-rays came from the very heart of the Crab Nebula, where an extreme object called a pulsar resides.
High-energy rays coming from the nebula are well-known, but coming from the pulsar is something nobody expected."
The photogenic Crab Nebula is really the wreckage of a long-dead star that emitted an explosion of light that reached Earth in the year 1054, and was seen and recorded by Chinese and Native American skygazers. The dying star was located 6,500 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Taurus when it erupted in a brilliant supernova explosion.
At the heart of the nebula's colorful layers of gas is a so-called pulsar, which is the remains of the original star's core that collapsed in on itself into a super-dense, spinning neutron star. The Crab pulsar spins 30 times a second and is so dense that it has a greater mass than the sun.
The gamma-ray beams that were detected from the Crab pulsar exceeded 100 billion electron-volts, stronger than anyone or any theories projected — a million times more energetic than medical X-rays and 100 billion times stronger than visible light,
These new details of the Crab pulsar could change scientists' understanding of gamma-ray emissions and how they are generated."
On November 8th, the Norwegian Institute of Science and Technology reported:
"Insomnia is an all-too-common sleep disorder, affecting as many as a third or more of American adults.
There are two basic types of insomnia. Acute insomnia consists of short-term episodes of sleeplessness. Chronic insomnia, on the other hand, can last for months or years. Most people with chronic insomnia spend several nights a week struggling to fall asleep or stay asleep.
"...people who suffer from insomnia are at higher risk for heart attacks.
People who had difficulty falling asleep had a 45% greater risk of heart attack compared to those who regularly fell asleep without trouble.
People who had trouble staying asleep throughout the night had a 30% greater risk of heart attack than people who were able to sleep through the night.
People who woke feeling tired and unrested had a 27% higher risk of heart attack than people who woke feeling refreshed.
...disordered sleep, such as insomnia, increases the risk of cardiovascular problems for both men and women.
Track your sleep. Being mindful of your sleep patterns is the best way to catch and treat any sleep problems early, before they become more entrenched.
Keeping a journal or a log can help, keeping regular track of bedtimes and wake times, as well as how you feel in the morning when you wake up, can give you a clear picture of how you are really sleeping.
Exercise. Physical activity is good for your heart, your overall health, and your sleep. There is also evidence that it helps alleviate insomnia.
Manage your stress.... Mind-body activities such as meditation, yoga, and even massage can help.
Take that sleep journal with you to your next checkup and have a real conversation with your physician about your sleep before it becomes a problem.
February 15, 2012 - Coronary Artery Disease and Lack of Sleep
A report at this year's European Society of Cardiology's EuroPRevent meeting indicates how lack of sleep increase the risk for heart disease:
"Short sleep duration of poor quality was associated with a significant 65% elevated risk of cardiovascular disease and significant 85% excess risk of coronary heart disease
Anything less than seven hours of sleep per night appeared to raise total cardiovascular disease risk, but the greatest risk was when short duration combined with poor sleep quality,
Sleeping for eight or more hours tended to be protective against both overall cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease."
Citation source:
Hoevenaar-Blom MP, et al "Short and long sleep duration in relation to 10-year cardiovascular disease incidence: The MORGEN Study" EuroPRevent 2011; Abstract 351; as reported inhttp://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/EuroPRevent/26012?utm
According to WebMD, "There are several causes of sleep problems for people with type 2 diabetes, including obstructive sleep apnea, pain or discomfort, restless legs syndrome, the need to go to the bathroom, and other problems associated with type 2 diabetes.
Obesity, or too much body fat, is often associated with snoring, sleep apnea, and sleep disturbance. Obesity increases the risk of sleep apnea, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, arthritis, and stroke." Citation source: http://diabetes.webmd.com/type-2-diabetes-sleep
According to a 1/1/2012 American Academy of Sleep Medicine, news release:
"Poor sleep may be undermining the efforts of children with type 1 diabetes when it comes to controlling their blood sugar,
...about one-third of the children with type 1 diabetes had sleep apnea, irrespective of their weight. What's more, those who had sleep apnea also had much higher blood sugar levels. Sleep apnea is a disorder that causes frequent pauses in breathing during sleep, which leads to daytime sleepiness and fatigue.
...sleep apnea is a condition that has previously been associated with type 2 diabetes (which typically affects adults).
"sleep problems were associated with lower grades, poorer performance on state standardized tests, poor quality of life and abnormalities in daytime behavior. On the upside, sleep is a potentially modifiable health behavior, so these kids could be helped by a qualified professional to get a better night's sleep."
According to the results of two recent studies that were reported on fruitsandveggiesmattermost.org:
A recent study shows that children are consuming 30% above the recommended amount of caffeine daily, leading to an earlier onset of medical problems including sleep issues.
According the Journal of Pediatrics, on any given day, 75% of American kids will drink at least one caffeinated beverage. Each canned soda often comes with a price tag of up to 60 mg of caffeine. While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not developed pediatric guidelines for caffeine consumption, Canadian guidelines recommend no more than 45 mg/day for 4 to 6 year olds, 62 mg/day for 7 to 9 year olds, and 85 mg/day for 10 to 12 year olds.
...caffeine packs an even more powerful punch for children than adults, giving kids an amplified version of the alertness, anxiety, nervousness and insomnia. In addition, most of these sugary drinks are packed with calories, which is problematic given the national childhood obesity epidemic. It’s troubling that the favorite beverages among American youth are those high in caffeine and sugar, instead of calcium and vitamin C.
Overall, 75% of children consumed some amount of caffeine. Average intake among 8 to 12 year olds was 102 mg/day (equivalent to one cup of coffee), which is 28% higher than the maximum recommended. Even 5 to 7 year olds consumed, on average, 52 mg of caffeine a day (16% above the limit recommended for that age group). Caffeine intake was linked directly to less sleep, resulting in 9% less shut-eye for the older caffeine-guzzling kids.
According the American Academy of Pediatrics, energy drinks contain substances that act as stimulants, such as caffeine, guarana and taurine. Caffeine, the most popular stimulant, has been linked to a number of harmful health effects in children, including effects on the developing neurologic and cardiovascular systems. Energy drinks are never appropriate for children or adolescents."
Citation sources: Warzak, W., S. Evans, M. Floress, et al. “Caffeine Consumption in Young Children.” Journal of Pediatrics (2011), doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2010.11.022; American Academy of Pediatrics. “Kids Should Not Consume Energy Drinks, and Raraely Need Sports Drinks, Says AAP” Press Release May 30, 2011; as reported at http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org/?page_id=1575
Note: I started a series of blog postings about sleep last year, and I am back to finish up with what we know about sleep. See December 8 - 23, 2011 Sleep Postings
A study funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research found that female shift workers may be at higher risk of heart disease.
"Women hospital staff working night shifts may be compromising their own health as they try to improve the health of patients
...approximately one in five middle-aged women who do shift work have at least three risk indicators for heart disease.
...age and current shift work status were significantly associated with increased risk. Women over 45 years, those who had reached menopause, had a shift work history of more than six years, and those currently working either 12 hour shifts or rotational shifts were more likely to have metabolic syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome was present in eight per cent of those working shifts for less than six years, in 18 per cent in those working shifts for six to 15 years, and in 74 percent of those working shifts for more than 15 years. While the increase in prevalence of risk factors is also associated with age, the influence of the combination of older age and shift work on risk raises concern.
"Just how shift work contributes to the development of such risk factors isn't clear,"..."It is possible that the disruption of biological rhythms, sleeping, eating, and exercise patterns may be factors."
Shift workers were more likely to cut back on sleep, to spend less time with their spouse, and to worry about not spending enough time with family, compared with regular day workers.
"All women should manage their weight and other risk factors, and this study shows women working shift work especially need to be aware."
On January 25, 2012, researcher reported in "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society."
"The brain's "rule book" keeps us from having to weigh the pros and cons of unthinkable moral decisions.
People weigh questions of sacred values — such as "don't murder" — in different brain regions than they do mundane preferences. These special brain regions seem to be those associated with recalling rules, suggesting that we don't weigh the costs and benefits when asked to do something against our most firmly held values. Instead, we fall back on a mental "cheat sheet" of right and wrong.
"If you had to do cost-benefit calculations for everything you do in your daily life, you wouldn't be able to come to any decisions at all,"... "So rules actually have the benefit of making decision-making much easier … you just look up in your own personal 'rule table' how to act."
Though the vast majority of people can agree that killing someone is bad, there are two main ways to come to that conclusion, Berns told LiveScience. You might take a utilitarian approach, figuring that whatever benefit would come from the murder would be outweighed by the costs in risk of punishment or pain to the victim's family.
Alternatively, you might take a rule-based, or "deontological," approach. This is the "Ten Commandments" line of reasoning, Berns said: Murder is wrong, because it's wrong, and that's that.
Instead of measuring people's willingness to break their sacred values, they measured their willingness to take money to sign a document announcing that they believed the opposite of what they really believed. "The idea is, if you feel really strongly about something, there is no amount of money that will make you say otherwise,"
There was a broad range of what people were willing to sell out, with the firmest-believing participant opting out of auctioning all but 8 percent of his (or her) beliefs. Some people named a price for everything on the list, though the average was about half.
Those values that people refused to sell out were considered to be sacred. It turned out that the values later shown to be sacred were the ones that activated two particular brain regions: the left temporoparietal junction (TPJ) and the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. The TPJ is the point where the temporal and parietal lobes of the brain meet on the side of the head, while the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex is on the underside of the frontal lobe. Both of these areas are associated with rule retrieval and beliefs about right and wrong.
"When people engage sacred values in their thought processes, they are by and large using rule-based systems in their heads,"..."They're not using cost-benefit calculations."
This makes sense, given how inefficient it would be to weigh the pros and cons of every moral decision, he said."It's much easier just to fall back on well-worn rules that serve you well, and serve society well," Berns said.
The downside to rules is that people loathe breaking them, even when the rules are based on faulty experiences or information.
"Once a rule is in someone's head, it's going to be hard to change it, even if there is a mountain of evidence saying that it's not a good rule," Berns said.
Interestingly, the people who tended to hold their sacred values most strongly, those with the biggest brain response differences between sacred- and non-sacred processing, also tended to be those who participated in the most group activities,... The groups could be anything from religious organizations to sports teams to professional societies,... The researchers are now continuing studies to find out how group conformity might play a role in sacred values.
"It stands to reason that the more involved you are with groups, the stronger the rules become."
Citation: As reported at http://www.livescience.com/18113-brain-sacred-values-morals.html
How does all this fit into our health behaviors? Most health behaviors are behaviors that rule our daily lives. And if what these researchers are saying is true, our behaviors that affect our health are put on automatic pilot. Because if we spent the time to think about the costs and benefits of what we are doing, we would be paralyzed with inaction. It's great if our health behaviors are positive to begin with, but in most cases they are behaviors that ruin our health. Such behaviors would then get repeated over and over because it would require too much work to make the change, even though we know the behavior is bad for our health.
Then there is the whole issue of being influenced by the company we keep, like overweight people hanging out with those who are similarly overweight (http://www.diabetesselfmanagement.com/Blog/Amy-Campbell/can-the-company-you-keep-make-you-fat-part-1/). This research does explains a lot, in terms how hard it is to making any kind of changes without taking the needed time to weigh the pros and cons, the costs and benefits, etc. For example, "Mindless eating - eating on autopilot without thinking about what your eating - is one of the biggest causes of weight gain" (http://www.helium.com/items/2267338-mindless-eating-habits-that-cause-people-to-become-overweight).
So, can we ever get living a healthy lifestyle to the point of being something so sacred to our quality of life that we would never sell out for all the money in the world? So sacred that we don't have to think twice about eating the fruit instead of the donut? Something to think about.
February 7, 2012 - Lifestyle Factors Responsible for 1/3 of Cancers
Graphic developed by bcjung from data tables at: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/754931
According to a supplement of December 2011's British Journal of Cancer:
"One third of all cancers are caused by 4 common lifestyle factors: tobacco, diet, alcohol, and obesity."
"Many people believe that cancer is down to fate or is 'in the genes,' and that it is the luck of the draw whether they get it," ..."looking at the evidence, it's clear that about 40% of all cancers are caused by things we mostly have the power to change."
The figure is 45% in men and 40% in women; that difference was mostly accounted for by breast cancer in women,
In the United Kingdom, this means that around 134,000 cancers annually could be prevented - just over 100,000 of these cases were attributed to tobacco, unhealthy diets, alcohol, and excess weight.
Smoking was by far the most important factor, accounting on its own for 60,000 cancers in the United Kingdom each year, or 1 in 5 of all cancers diagnosed,
"We didn't expect to find that eating fruit and vegetables would prove to be so important in protecting men against cancer," he said. "And for women, we didn't expect being overweight to have a greater effect than alcohol."
Citation source: The Fraction of Cancer Attributable to Lifestyle and Environmental Factors in the UK in 2010, British Journal of Cancer, http://www.nature.com/bjc/journal/v105/n2s/index.html, as reported in:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/754931
February 6, 2012 - The Cancer Genome Atlas: The Genetic Basis of Cancer
Genomics has really taken off in recent years. The application of genetics to the delivery of health care will come in the form of personalized medicine, where treatment will be tailored by the patient's genetic makeup.
Check out this video to learn the basics of genetics and cancer from the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
And, check out The Cancer Genome Atlas Web site for more information about this exciting new field that has a real potential for making a difference in our quality of life.
Today is Wear Red Day to raise awareness about women and heart disease. Heart disease is the #1 killer of women. Know your family history, and if there is heart disease in your family tree, it does not mean you will get the disease; however, it means you will have to be a little bit more diligent about living a healthier lifestyle than those who don't.
Know your numbers (blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar), get at least an hour a day of moderate exercise, get adequate sleep,limit alcohol intake, eat more fruits and veggies and cut out trans fats and high glucose corn syrup (corn sugar) from your diet. Most important, if you smoke, quit! Know what the symptoms of a heart attack are so you can get medical help right away. Work with your doctor to address risk factors (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, etc.) that put you at greater risk for heart disease and you are on your way!
For more information, click on above graphic. Also, get NIH's The Healthy Heart Handbook for Women
"Neuroscience research is revealing how the chemistry and architecture of the brain make decisions for us, and how the brain's reaction to decision-making is based on confidence. Researchers has shown that a networked, hierarchical process is strung out across the brain to achieve these functions, even while specific neuron clusters are more active than others in helping us make decisions.
Confidence is a trait typically cast as a higher-order function in the brain. It’s at once the act of making a decision, recognizing the decision as thought, and measuring the degree to which that decision makes sense."
Citation source:Brain Confidence: How Our Neurons Make Decisions http://bigthink.com/ideas/24088?page=all
Well, this sounds like the concept of "Self-efficacy".
"According to Albert Bandura, self-efficacy is “the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations” (1995, p. 2). In other words, self-efficacy is a person’s belief in his or her ability to succeed in a particular situation. Bandura described these beliefs as determinants of how people think, behave, and feel (1994).
Virtually all people can identify goals they want to accomplish, things they would like to change, and things they would like to achieve. However, most people also realize that putting these plans into action is not quite so simple.
And, CDC's "Estimated New Infections among Heterosexuals, 2009, by Gender and Race/Ethnicity" indicates there are race/ethnicity differences for heterosexual transmission. More than twice as many new HIV infections occurred among heterosexual black women than among heterosexual black men (5,400 vs. 2,400). (Citation source:http://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/TCTT2012Graphics.html)
I highly recommend these briefs for all public health professionals because they provide a comprehensive, yet concise overview of why social determinants need to be addressed in developing policies and interventions that are meant to improve the health of all the populations we serve through the programs and projects we work on. You can find links to these briefs on my 
