Roberto A. Ferdman, Reporter - The Washington Post
Stephan: Changes in behavior made at the individual level have both individual and social consequences. As this report says: "'We know smoking cessation leads to weight gain. That's pretty accepted,' said Yoni Freedhoff, an obesity expert at the University of Ottawa. 'Of course, the amount of weight gain varies, but it can be as high as 12 to 20 pounds.'"
Few public health initiatives have been as successful as the campaign against cigarettes, an effort that began in the early 1900s and culminated in the now famous 1964 Surgeon’s General report, which stated unequivocally that smoking causes cancer.
In the years that followed, the response was as swift as it was significant. Americans quit smoking cigarettes in droves, abandoning the once beloved habit on a scale that was hard to imagine at the time. Today, American adults, on average, smoke fewer than 1,300 cigarettes per year, or about a third as many as they did in 1963 (4,200).
(SurgeonGeneral.gov)
The precipitous fall has offered a glimpse into what happens when a country quits smoking cigarettes. And the answer is a ton of good things. The dip has coincided with steep declines in the rate of lung cancer, the death rate associated with cardiovascular disease (it peaked in 1968) and a number of other negative health outcomes.
But it has also, interestingly, coincided with another trend that isn’t quite as encouraging: […]
No Comments
Mary Harris, - Greek Reporter (Greece)
Stephan: Another fascinating archaeological discovery, Aristotle's tomb. Wow.
Greek archaeologists at Ancient Stagira, Central Macedonia, say they have found Aristotle’s tomb. Addressing the Aristotle 2400 Years World Congress, they point to the 2,400-year-old tomb as the most important finding from the 20-year excavation.
The discovery of the tomb of Aristotle was announced by archaeologist Kostas Sismanidis, according to whom the findings from the 1996 excavation lead to the conclusion that the tomb belongs to Aristotle.
Aristotle was born in Stagira in 384 BC and died in Chalcis, Evia, at 322 BC. The great philosopher was originally believed to have been buried at Chalcis, however, archaeologists are now certain that the tomb they have found belongs to Aristotle. Two literary sources indicate that the people of Stagira may have transferred his ashes to his birthplace.
The mounded domed tomb has a marble floor dated to the Hellenistic period. It is located in the center of Stagira, near the Agora, with 360-degree views. The public character of the tomb is evident by its location alone, however archaeologists also point to a hurried construction that was later topped with quality materials. There is an altar outside the tomb and a square-shaped floor.
The top of the dome is at 10 meters and there is […]
No Comments
Lena H. Sun and Brady Dennis, Reporters - The Washington Post
Stephan: Eighteen years ago, based on the research I was reading at the time, I made the prediction that one of the meta-trends that would shape the 21st century would be the collapse of antibiotic medicine. At the time I got a lot of ridicule for that. In the years since I have probably done several dozen stories in SR, and in my column for Explore on this trend as it has developed. And now, as this story describes, we face that reality.
CRE, a family of bacteria pictured in this illustration, is considered one of the deadliest superbugs because it causes infections that are often resistant to most antibiotics.
Credit: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Reuters
For the first time, researchers have found a person in the United States carrying bacteria resistant to antibiotic of last resort, an alarming development that the top U.S. public health official says could signal “the end of the road” for antibiotics.
The antibiotic-resistant strain was found last month in the urine of a 49-year-old Pennsylvania woman. Defense Department researchers determined that she carried a strain of E. coli resistant to the antibiotic colistin, according to a study published Thursday in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, a publication of the American Society for Microbiology. The authors wrote that the discovery “heralds the emergence of a truly pan-drug resistant bacteria.”
[
2 Comments
Stephan A. Schwartz, Columnist - Explore - The Journal of Science and Healing
Stephan: I heard a Republican tell an audience today that "America has the best healthcare in the world." It's probably true if you have unlimited funds. For most Americans it is an outright lie. Here is the truth.
Credit: www.prweb.com
You are a physician, or maybe a nurse. Your aged mother, beloved by you, your spouse, and your children, who call her Muggie, has been taken by ambulance by the emergency medical technicians (EMTs) from her rural home to the only hospital within 50 miles. She was not conscious when she arrived there at midnight. The only emergency room physician had gone home with the flu, and only a physician׳s assistant was on duty. It is a pretty typical hospital. About 15 years ago, there were five emergency room docs, but three have gone on to other jobs.1 Now there are only two, and a part-time contractor who comes in occasionally; they cannot fill the posts. The physician assistant calls for help and an hour later a specialist arrives. He has driven in from his farm. He prescribes a drug, but the hospital pharmacy has had it on back order for weeks so he is forced to make a more problematic choice. […]
No Comments
John B. Alexander, Ph.D., - The Huffington Post
Stephan: In this essay John Alexander makes what I think is one of the most important political points in America today. I agree with his reasoning and arguments, and find it a very sad commentary on U.S. media that these issues are so little covered, so little considered.
The government of the people, by the people, and for the people, has perished. Democracy was terminally ill for a long time and just lingering on life support. Freedom of individuals to choose their leadership has been trumped by the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) decision known as Citizens United which gave corporations equal rights with the people. As then-candidate Mitt Romney famously quipped, “Corporations are people.” Importantly, that SCOTUS decision was not a fluke or accidental, it was part of a strategic long-game designed and engineered to shift the balance of power even further into the hands of plutocrats. It was a culmination of carefully packing the courts at all levels of government with judges favorable to big business at the expense of middle class.
With the legalization of political action committees (PACs), the amount of money that can be spent on elections is virtually limitless. Even worse, PACs often are allowed to conceal their donors and thus it is impossible to determine who is supporting the ads. Masquerading under innocuous sounding, and often misleading names, they sway unsuspecting voters, […]
3 Comments
