Public Health Blog created by Laura Larsson

Take Back Your Time Day

Although by the time you read this October 24 may be long over, you should still visit the site if you feel overwhelmed and overworked. Take Back Your Time Day is "devoted to challenging "the epidemic of overwork, over-scheduling and time famine that now threatens our health, our families and relationships, our communities and our environment." The site is a project of the Center for Religion, Ethics and Social Policy (CRESP) at Cornell University.

On September 15, 2003 AcademyHealth hosted an informative conference titled, "Consumer-Driven Health Care: Evidence from the Field." The conference was co-sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Changes in Health Care Financing and Organization (HCFO) initiative and The Commonwealth Fund. Find links to the webcast, presenter slides, and a meeting summary on the AcademyHealth Web site. Links are presented below:

A useful resource for quick and basic census information (people, business and geography) with pull-down menus and interactive maps . Pull down the state you want information about or click on the state in the state map. Tables are available as delimited tables (for importing into Excel or your database) and as Excel tables. Thematic maps for visual display of information show such things as: population, percent change, 1990 to 2000, Black or African American persons, percent 2000, and Persons per square mile. There were disappointingly few thematic maps available.

"AWARE is dedicated to educating and empowering adolescents to make responsible decisions regarding their wellness, sexuality, and reproductive health." Intended for adolescents, parents and health professionals, this site is a rich repository of content. Find fast facts, a question of the week, health videos, and emergency health resources such as STD hotlines, emergency contraception hotlines, suicide and mental health hotlines, sexual abuse, eating disorder, health and wellness sites and professional health and medical organizations.

USDA National Organic Program Consumer Information Page

The site that lists the USDA organic certification labels that went into effect last year at this time is worth visiting again for its information on organic food standards and labels, what the "Organic Seal" is, how alcoholic beverages are labeled and for the various fact sheets.

The Local Government Commission (LGC) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization that provides inspiration, technical assistance, and networking to local elected officials and other dedicated community leaders who are working to create healthy, walkable, and resource-efficient communities. The Center for Livable Communities is a national initiative of the Local Government Commission (LGC). It is concerned with and provides documentation of livability issues on this site. Visitors will find Center resources, principles for libable communities, news,

The new version of the NIH Senior Health web site has been updated with new topics and enhanced with a "speaking web" feature. The site is a collaboration between the National Institute on Aging, the National Library of Medicine, and the National Institutes of Health. Text on the site can be enlarged to make it easier to view.

While there is lots of information for seniors, on a more personal note, I found the section on exercise for older adults to be most useful because I spend so much of my time seated at my computer. On the site you will find information on the benefits of exercise, things to think about before you begin exercising (safety), exercises to try, keeping track of your progress (charting progress), a FAQ and a MEDLINEplus link to additional information. Videos show you how to do the various exercises. A transcript is available as is help to get the video to work.

Source: Pacific Northwest Regional Medical Library, National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Pacific Northwest Region, University of Washington

"Beyond Pesticides began in 1981 as the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides, a non-profit membership organization that was formed to serve as a national network committed to pesticide safety and the adoption of alternative pest management strategies."

Do you know what to do about a pesticide emergency? This site will tell you. Find fact sheets about pesticides and alternatives and news. State Pages include local news, contacts, pesticide policies and least-toxic pest control. Find out how your state is doing with respect to pesticides.

The project is "motivated by the desire to collect the stories and experiences of innovators and leaders in the field of health services research. It is co-sponsored by the National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology (NICHSR) and the History of Medicine Division (HMD)". Individual oral and video interviews, a historical video for use in training health science librarians and HSR students, and solicitation and archiving of pertinent collections of papers are all available for those interested in health services research.

Transcripts from the following well-known health services researchers feature prominently on the page: Linda Aiken, Paul Cleary, Avedis Donabedian, Eli Ginzberg, Edward Hinman, Herbert Klarman, Philip Lee, Kathy Lohr, Joe Newhouse, Sam Shapiro, Barbara Starfield, and Kerr White. In addition to reading about their research, it is also interesting to learn about how these researchers ultimately arrived in the field of health services research.

Health Services Research: A Historical Video combines narrative and interviews to explore the development of HSR into a recognized field of study. The video is 48 minutes long and is available from NICHSR. email: nichsr@nlm.nih.gov.

A series of oral interviews, conducted in 1995 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, focusing primarily on the 1977 creation of the Health Care Financing Administration, the Centers' predecessor organization are available under the Social Security Administration link.

For librarians, there is information on the regional National Network of Libraries of Medicine.

Health United States, 2003 is a comprehensive report with the latest statistics from federal health agencies, the U.S. Census Bureau, population surveys and other data. The report was prepared by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) in HHS' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is the 27th annual report to the President and Congress, as required by The Public Health Service Act. This is one of the most important reports issued by DHHS.

Life expectancy in the United States reached an all time high in 2001, and the gap between blacks and whites has narrowed, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) annual report on the nation's
health. The report also finds evidence that the diabetes epidemic is getting worse; between 1997 and 2002, the percent of Americans diagnosed with diabetes increased by 27 percent.

An estimated 12 million adults have impaired fasting glucose tolerance and many of these will go on to develop diabetes unless they successfully adopt changes in weight management and physical activity -- steps that can prevent
and reduce obesity, which is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes. In addition, visits to physician offices and hospitals for diabetes have increased dramatically since the mid-1990's.

Diabetes was the fifth leading cause of death among women and sixth among men in 2001. People with diabetes run the risk of severe complications, including heart disease, chronic kidney disease, blindness and amputations.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), one of the National Institutes of Health, issued a report that "describes myriad steps the Institute has taken since February 2002 to catalyze the development of vaccines, treatments and diagnostics for the most threatening bioterror agents".

The progress report outlines specific actions NIAID has
taken to prepare bioterror countermeasures. For example, the Institute has developed more than 50 initiatives to stimulate biodefense research, three-quarters of which are brand new. Through these initiatives, NIAID has greatly expanded its support of investigators in academia and partnerships with industry. It has also created new biodefense resources, taken advantage of genomic research advances, and furthered understanding of how microbes cause disease and how the immune system responds to infection.

The 37-page report covers progress on meeting the Blue Ribbon Panel's research recommendations and progress in research on so-called Category A pathogens. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Category A agents are those that cause diseases considered to pose the greatest risk to national security: anthrax, smallpox, plague, botulism, tularemia and viral hemorrhagic fevers.

This report looks at disease and human security, factors associated with the increased incidence and spread of infectious diseases, AIDS in South Africa (which outlines the crisis in that country and the devastating effects that this disease can have on nearly all aspects of a country), a detailed analysis of U.S. security and the risk posed by infectious diseases and U.S. capacities to counter infectious diseases. Of interest is the CDC Surveillance and Collection Systems Appendix and the bibliography that accompanies this report.

October 2, 2003 9:01 AM

123Genomics

If you have an interest in genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics, this is the site to visit for the links and for learning more about this growing field. Under eighteen different categories you can look at sequence databases, diseases & disorders, genes & proteins, molecular pathways & networks, protocols & laboratory resources, microarrays, proteomics & mass spectrometry, find software, meetings, organizations, courses & college degrees, jobs and news. Other resources points you in the directions of patents, clinical trials, drugs, chemicals and related content.

For someone who knows little about this field and who would like to learn more, plan on spending some time with the Learning link for here you will find reviews, online tutorials and primers, basics and introductions to all aspects of this field.

Child Trends

Child Trends is a nonprofit organization that conducts research and evaluation studies in areas including teenage sexuality, pregnancy and childbearing, the effects of welfare and poverty on children, and parenting issues such as family structure and processes, child abuse, neglect and family violence, fatherhood, family strengths and urban issues. Their newsletter, The Child Indicator, includes a variety of topics from all around the US and is available in PDF.

Of special interest to public health practitioners are the Research Tools to Improve Youth Development, research briefs, what works, facts at a glance, and projects and products.

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October 2003