Statistics Without Tears! - Neurobiology

Statistics feature less regularly within the medical sciences, than the more regulr medical topics.

The James Hardiman Library holds a number of interesting statistical titles, including Statistics Without Tears by Derek Rowntree - located at 519.5 ROW

A more recent title from 2016, now available -

FUNDAMENTAL STATISTICAL PRINCIPLES for the NEUROBIOLOGIST

- A Survival Guide by Stephen W Scheff is located at

519.50246128 SCH

HSE - Staff and Pay Concerns

Major tensions between the Department of Health and the HSE over the agency's management of pay and staff levels have been revealed in documents released to RTÉ News, under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Health Service Executive has been warned that the staff recruitment moratorium may be re-instated, if the executive breaches a new 2016 Pay and Staffing Agreement.
That agreement reached in July, also released under the FoI request, says that the HSE cannot exceed a ceiling of 106,396 staff by the end of this year - an increase of 2,500 staff on last December's level.
On 2 June, the Department of Health expressed its "very serious concern at the faillure of the HSE to submit a complete Pay and Numbers Strategy in a timely fashion", while recruitment continued without sanction.
It also reveals that the HSE was undertaking a 'look-back', to see if hospital groups and individual hospitals had funded extra posts, contrary to procedures.

Dept of Health concern
On 14 April, Secretary General of the Department of Health Jim Breslin, wrote to Director General of the HSE Tony O' Brien to raise matters of particular concern on outstanding management and reporting requirements.
The partially-redacted letter, criticises the HSE for failing to complete workforce plans in time.
It says that HSE employment levels increased by 611 in February, with an increase of 5,445 since December 2014, "following an exceptional level of recruitment throughout last year".
It notes that the figures show an increase in overtime and absence rates, with only a very modest reduction in agency spending.

The Health Service Executive has been warned that

the staff recruitment moratorium may be re-instated

HSE response
In his response to Mr Breslin on 22 April, Mr. O' Brien said the HSE service plan for this year had identified a potential deficit for acute hospitals of €225m and further financial risks were flagged in other areas.
He said the HSE had undertaken substantial work to produce a 2016 Pay and Numbers Strategy, for all of its divisions.
Mr O' Brien warned that the main challenge was that the financial allocation for 2016 did not fully fund the level of staff employed and agency and overtime costs in place at the end of 2015.
He said there was a significant and sustained increase in the number of people presenting at hospital Emergency Departments "which puts upward pressure on pay".
There was an emerging challenge to "curtail homecare services" in line with the service plan funding.
The letter goes on to state: "2015 was also a year in which a regulatory report pointed to significant managerial accountability for past failure to provide for safe staffing levels in certain hospital services, despite the prevailing employment moratoria and funding reductions which were a feature of that time".





Pay and Staffing Ceiling Set
The HSE's Pay and Numbers strategy was finally approved in July, by Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe and sets binding pay and staffing levels on the HSE for this year. The staff ceiling is 106,396.
Under the agreement, the Department of Health is responsible for ensuring the HSE does not break that ceiling.
The document warns that in the event the HSE's pay bill deviates significantly, such that an overrun is considered likely, the staffing moratorium may be reinstated.
The 'Staffing Resource Management Framework/Delegated Sanction for the Department of Health' says the HSE must operate within the 2016 ceiling and that where a post is to be filled, it is expected that the HSE will seek to fill it at the lowest possible grade and ensure appointments are at the minimum of the scale.
In June, the Government agreed an extra allocation of around €500m, to mainly deal with the HSE's projected budget overrun for this year.

Safety - At All Times!

Think you have electrical safety sussed? When it comes to outdoor activity, accidents happen all too often when it comes to power – did you know even hanging festive bunting can be a killer?

Are you sure the kids are safe while flying a kite? What about on the farm? Sadly, it has become only too obvious that farms are a hotspot for fatalities when it comes to any kind of machinery. Here Emer Murphy, Public Safety Advisor with ESB Networks, advises on how to avoid electrical hazards, whether in the farm, garden or the great outdoors.

Look up and be aware of your surroundings
The main cause of electrical accidents is overhead power lines coming into contact with tall machinery like tractors and harvesters. Emer says: “There are unfortunately several of these incidents a year. Never forget that poles are right across the countryside and a current will be conducted by any tall machinery that touches them. Farmers should remind their agricultural contractors too, who may be moving from farm to farm and not be familiar with the area, to watch out for power lines and poles.”
Here Liam O’Neill who is a dairy farmer talks about how his neighbour had a lucky escape after he crashed his tractor into a ESB pole

 

Watch the weather
In the winter months - or in Ireland, basically, any time of the year - windy weather can cause power lines to come down. Be extra cautious after storms to check all power lines around the garden or farm are intact and there are no downed wires before you start a job. Also, Emer warns, be careful when digging around electricity poles or cutting hedges. If there’s a problem notify the ESB immediately – the emergency number is 1850 372 999.
Leisure activities can turn lethal in a flash.
Fishing, kite-flying, boating, even putting up flags can be a risky business. Emer says: “Just be extremely careful while doing any activity that might possibly involve coming into proximity with power lines.”
Fishing – The rule for using fishing rods is to stay at least 30m away from any overhead wires while casting “as carbon fibre rods and nylon wires can conduct electricity, especially when wet.”
Boating – Be careful of your mast height. Emer says: “There was a case of an ocean-going yacht on the Shannon recently with a huge mast – we had to ensure its movements were restricted to avoid hitting any wiring.”
Bunting – “Attaching bunting, flags or signs to electricity poles has become a common enough practice in towns and villages across the country especially for GAA matches and other events and festivals,” says Emer. “It is a major issue for the networks.” Don’t do it.
Ladders­ – Again, be aware of your surroundings while doing DIY or gardening outdoors and don’t let them touch off wires or lean against electrical poles. Emer cautions: “The wires on these are not fully insulated and are not safe to touch.”

Kids – According to Emer, parents sometimes don’t realise the true dangers. “We had a case of a young girl building a tree house who hammered a nail to a live cable on a pole. If a cable gets damaged, it can be lethal. Bouncy castles are another thing; sometimes people don’t realise and place them directly under power lines. This is a major no-no.”
Kites and drones – Never forget that kites or remote control devices anywhere near pylons or power lines are a safety hazard. Be sure to get right out into an open park or field before letting loose. Emer adds: “Drones are an up-and-coming risk we are watching out for - if one flies into overhead wires, it could catch fire, which could then set fire to anything else it touches.”

 

Electric fences – Serious accidents caused by electric fences are rare. However care must be taken to avoid getting entangled in the fences. This could cause exposure to multiple shocks which could be dangerous. The voltages from fences can be high but a single pulse, while uncomfortable, should do no lasting damage. Barbed wire should not be electrified as it increases the chances of entanglement and injury. Additional precaution should be taken with children or with people who may have a heart condition or have a pacemaker fitted. If a member of the public have access to electric fences, warning signs should be hung at regular intervals.
Portable appliances – Ensure all plugged in equipment such as power washers, power tools, welders and compressors are protected by RCDs so that any faults in the equipment will be detected quickly and knock off the equipment in the event it ’is faulty. Unfortunately fatalities have occurred due to faulty equipment not being protected by RCDs. All sockets (internal and external) should be protected by RCDs and lighting in outbuildings or external areas should also be protected by RCDs. If you are unsure whether your sockets or lighting are protected correctly get a registered electrical contractor (REC) out to inspect your electrical wiring.
Cables – Make sure cable reels on your electrical devices are fully unwound when in use, otherwise you risk creating a solenoid which can cause a dangerous magnetic field and result in overheating and fire.
Finally, ensure any electrical item, outlet or socket used in the home, farm or garden is in good working condition. Have the lot checked over by a Safe Electric registered contractor on a regular basis (every five years for farms). Emer says: “If there is any damage or the earthing is substandard, there’s a risk of short circuit. I recommend investing in a portable plug-in RCD (residual current device aka the life-saving device), which will trip immediately if there is any problem and will save your life.”


For more safety advice and to find a registered electrical contractor, see safeelectric.ie

Water Quality - EPA Report

The Environmental Protection Agency has said that over 100 drinking water supplies are in need of remedial action to avoid the risk of water restrictions.

While its latest report on the quality of drinking water in the Irish public supply has found that over 99% of supplies complied with both the microbiological and chemical standards, the EPA has warned that 108 supplies are at risk.
These supplies serve 830,000 consumers.

Supplies serving 830,000 people are on the remedial action list

Gerard O’Leary, Director of the EPA’s Office of Environmental Enforcement said: “So far this year, 86,000 people have had to boil their water to make it safe.
"This is more than twice as many as last year. Without investment to address the deficiencies in the supplies on the EPA’s Remedial Action List, this type of water restriction will continue to occur."
There are currently 17 supplies operating with boil-water notices.
The largest is Ballinlough/Loughlynn in County Roscommon which serves 3,500 people.
Its supply is affected by cryptosporidium.

Speaking to Morning Ireland, EPA Senior Inspector Darragh Page, said the EPA agency had taken two cases against Irish water in relation to water supplies in Letterkenny, County Donegal and An Cheathrú Rua in Galway.
Mr. Page said the Vartry-Roundwood scheme in north Wicklow/County Dublin needs a new pipeline to be constructed as it is at risk of collapse.

Further Research Required!

The Director of the Child Care Law Reporting Project said that figures showing a wide variance in the number of child protection orders issued across Ireland, highlight a need for more research to examine the reasons behind the imbalance.
Dr. Coulter added that it was also important to remember the figures do not represent children in care.
The statistics from the Courts Service, which were released to the project, found applications for child protection orders in towns in the midlands were significantly lower than in towns and cities in other parts of the country.

The figures by the Courts Service, do not represent children in care

Dr. Carol Coulter said she was concerned about the way figures may have been compiled in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, where over 1,000 applications were made.
She said she feared there had been a lot of double counting in Letterkenny and explained that the same family would frequently return for order renewals.
These cases would be counted individually, but would not represent new cases.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Dr Coulter said it was not known why the number of applications were greater in different parts of the country, but some areas could have better family support services so cases do not reach the point of children having to go into care.
Or, she said, voluntary care orders may be issued which means the cases do not go to court.
In addition she said that judges in bigger cities and towns, such as Dublin and Cork, have more time to give to these cases.
She said, however, that busy district court judges do not have the time needed to give to family cases.

The Aims of CROÍ (HEART)

The health group known as CROÍ  (HEART) has two main aims -

Fighting  Heart Disease and Stroke




https://www.croi.ie/health-info/heart-health

CROI is located at Newcastle, Galway city, Ireland

Theme Parks - Safety Inquiry

The Health and Safety Authority is due at Tayto Park following an accident at a Halloween attraction, in which nine people were injured.

The incidents at Tayto Park in Ashbourne, County Meath happened when a staircase collapsed during an after-dark, Halloween-themed event and the more recent fatal incident at an Australian theme park.



Gardaí were called to the park shortly after 8.00pm. A garda spokesman confirmed that nine people were taken to hospital.
Most sustained cuts and bruises but one person is understood to have fractured a bone. All nine people have been discharged from hospital.
A spokeswoman for the park said those caught up in the incident were taken to hospital as a "precautionary measure".
This morning, the park said the lower portion of a permanent staircase leading to the 'House of Horrors' attraction gave way.
It added: "The management of Tayto Park will co-operate fully with the investigation as the safety of our guests is paramount."

Work-Related Illness - ESRI Study

Musculoskeletal disorders and work-related stress, anxiety and depression account for over two thirds of all work-related illnesses, according to new research from the Economic and Social Research Institute.

In 2013, an estimated 55,000 workers in Ireland had a work-related illness, resulting in the loss of 790,000 days of work.
The ESRI said that musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) accounted for 50% of all work-related illnesses while stress, anxiety and depression (SAD) accounted for 18%.
The average length of absence was 15.9 days for MSD and 17 days for SAD.
The average for all other types of work-related illnesses is 12.8 days.

Work-related MSD affects different parts of the body that are used for body movement, for example, the skeleton, muscles, tendons and ligaments.




Work-related stress is defined by the World Health Organisation as
"the response people may have, when presented with work demands and pressures that are not matched to their knowledge and abilities, and which challenge their ability to cope".
Depression and anxiety are distinct psychiatric disorders with defined diagnostic criteria.
The institute found that women have a higher risk of SAD, with 5.8 per 1,000 female workers compared to four per 1,000 male workers.
It also said the risk of SAD illness is highest for workers in the education sector, followed by those in health, public administration, transport and "other services", which includes finance, information and communications.
Workers in the agriculture, construction and industry sectors were found to have the lowest risk of SAD - less than three per 1,000 workers while the self-employed have a lower risk of SAD illnesses than employees.
Shift workers were also found to have a greater risk of SAD.

New Technology to Address Bedsores!

New technology designed to eliminate the problem of painful, potentially dangerous and costly bedsores is being tested within Irish hospitals. 

The new wireless device is able to detect the pressure sores up to ten days, before they appear on the skin's surface, giving clinicians time to treat them before they become problematic.
Pressure ulcers are injuries to the skin and underlying tissue resulting from prolonged pressure on the skin, and most commonly develop on skin in bony areas of the body, like heels, ankles, hips and tailbone.


The handheld SEM Scanner, from California based Bruin Biometrics, detects increases in sub-epidermal moisture which is a biophysical marker of damaged skin.

Long-stay hospital patients who are confined to bed and people who suffer from reduced mobility, are at increased risk of developing the problem.
If left untreated they can become very painful, can lead to blood infection, and even death.
It is estimated that as well as causing great discomfort and distress to patients and their families, bedsores cost the Irish health service €250 million a year to manage.
Last year nearly one in ten serious medical events in Irish healthcare institutions was related to late-stage bedsores.
Traditionally pressure ulcers have been identified through visual inspection by care-givers, and treated using established protocols.
However, often by the time the sore is visually apparent and spotted, much damage has already been done, making it more difficult and time consuming to treat.
"The challenge with the visual assessment is that we can't see what is going on under the skin," said Professor Zena Moore, Head of School of Nursing and Midwifery at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

Oxford Medical Handbooks - Online options

While The James Hardiman Library holds many print-titles which link to the Reading Lists, connected to the various Schools at NUI Galway

The library also contains many Online texts which are especially supportive, while students are attending the various Academies, which are linked to the School of Medicine at NUI Galway.

The Oxford Medical Handbooks are of particular use, while students are studying off-campus, as a number of those titles are also available Online, through use of your Username/Password:

  - Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine - 616 LON

  - Oxford Handbook of General Practice   - 616 SIM          
                                                       
  - Oxford Handbook of Psychiatry        - 616.89 OXF

Ovid Emcare - Trial available through James Hardiman Library

The James Hardiman Library has trial access to a new Nursing and Allied Healthcare database - Ovid Emcare until 13th December 2016.
Nursing and Allied Health research personnel will be interested in viewing the various features associated with this new database, which are listed below.

http://library.nuigalway.ie/collections/databases/databasetrials/

Ovid Emcare, in partnership with Elsevier, sets a new standard in nursing and allied health research by providing more records and more trusted content than any other leading nursing database. Pairing premium content with the world’s most trusted medical research platform, Ovid Emcare empowers you to deliver high quality care and improve research processes.

·         3,700+ international journals indexed – more than any other nursing database - More 

            scholarly, peer-reviewed and indexed journals than any other nursing database

·         1,800+ titles not available in other leading nursing databases

·         Nearly 5 million records dating back to 1995

·         Up to 250,000 records/citations added each year

·     Broadest scope of international content—more than any other nursing database: 50% of journals are from North America, 40% are from Europe; 10% are from Rest of World. 9% of all records are for articles not in English, most have English-language abstracts.

·      70% of records have online abstracts

·       More than 70,000 preferred terms in EMTREE, expanded with nursing and allied health 

         terms. All mapped to MEDLINE’s MeSH

Training in Medicine - New Title!

The latest title in the Oxford Specialty Training has arrived to the James Hardiman Library

Training in Medicine by Jolly, Fry and Chaudhry
  focuses on Core Medical Training and covers
- General Medicine,
- Epidemiology,
- Evidence Based Medicine
  these topics are complimented by 550 full-colour illustrations
 
This title is located at 610.711 OXF

 

New Cancer Institute opens in Dublin

Plans for a new cancer research institute have been jointly announced by St James's Hospital and Trinity College Dublin.

The new facility will carry out scientific and clinical based research into both the prevention and treatment of cancer, and will also be involved in education.
The incidence of cancer in Ireland is projected to double between 2016 and 2040, with all types of the disease increasing.
It is claimed the new institute will be the first of its kind in Ireland, and will set a new standard for cancer care here.
Based on leading international models, the centre will be located on the St James's Hospital campus in Dublin.



It will be staffed by medical and nursing professionals from the hospital, as well as scientists from Trinity College, and will be paid for by a mixture of public and philanthropic funding.
The institute will not only carry out lab based research but will also use the outcomes of that research to inform the treatment of patients.
Those patients will be scientifically tracked from entry to the institute and the expectation is that each patient will undergo genetic testing, so they can receive personalised care.
The announcement comes at the start of Cancer Week which will see a range of events taking place to encourage a national conversation about the disease.

Heart Attack Risk - Doubles!

The risk of heart attack beyond other risk factors more than doubles when someone is angry, emotionally upset or has engaged in heavy physical exertion, according to a new analysis by scientists at NUI Galway.

However, the risk more than triples when patients are angry or emotionally upset, and are engaged in physical exertion. The researchers say the triggers seem to independently increase a person's risk of heart attack beyond other risk factors, such as age, smoking, obesity, high blood pressure and other health problems linked to heart attack.

The data has emerged from the largest study of its kind ever conducted, which involved more than 12,000 heart attack patients from 52 countries around the world with an average age of 58.




Each of the participants completed a survey about the different triggers they had experienced in the same hour of the day of, and the day prior to, their heart attack.
Critically though the authors of the research, published in the journal Circulation, say the findings do not negate the benefits of regular physical activity in preventing heart disease and attack.
"Previous studies have explored these heart attack triggers; however, they had fewer participants or were completed in one country, and data was limited from many parts of the world," said Dr. Andrew Smyth, study lead author and a researcher at the HRB Clinical Research Facility at NUI Galway.
"This is the first study to represent so many regions of the world, including the majority of the world's major ethnic groups."
The authors say the results suggest that people at risk of heart attack should avoid extreme emotional situations, and instead should consider peer support, during difficult periods of their life.

Limitations of the Human Gene!

Humans are unlikely ever to live beyond the age of 125, say researchers who claim we are already close to the lifespan limit.
The scientists studied survival data dating back to 1900 from more than 40 countries.
They found evidence of increasing average life expectancy, meaning that over time more people lived to a ripe old age.

Babies born in the US today could expect to live nearly to the age of 79, on average.
In comparison, average life expectancy for Americans born in 1900 was only 47.
But the same study highlighted how unusual it was to live beyond 100, regardless of the year in which people were born.
The team calculated that 125 was likely to be the absolute limit of human lifespan due to genetic factors.

 Jeanne Calment reached 122 years

Lead researcher, Professor Jan Vig, from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, said: "Demographers as well as biologists have contended there is no reason to think that the on-going increase in maximum lifespan will end soon.
"But our data strongly suggest that it has already been attained and that this happened in the 1990s.
"Further progress against infectious and chronic diseases may continue boosting average life expectancy, but not maximum lifespan.
"While it's conceivable that therapeutic breakthroughs might extend human longevity beyond the limits we've calculated, such advances would need to overwhelm the many genetic variants that appear to collectively determine the human lifespan.
"Perhaps resources now being spent to increase lifespan should instead go to lengthening healthspan - the duration of old age spent in good health."
The study, published in the journal Nature, focused on people living to 110 or older between 1968 and 2006 in the US, UK, France and Japan.
Age at death for these super-centenarians rose rapidly between the 1970s and early 1990s but reached a plateau in the mid-1990s.
French woman Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 aged 122, achieved the longest documented lifespan of any person in history.

Tropical Medicine - 2017!

New arrival to the James Hardiman Library -
The Travel and Tropical Medicine Manual by C A Sanford with other authors.

The 5th edition of this title (2017), provides forty chapters within it's 600 pages. One of those chapters no. (28) - looks at the Ebola Virus Disease - Page 391

Located at 613.680913 SAN

World Mental Health Day!

The theme of this year’s World Mental Health Day, observed on 10 October, covers “psychological first aid”. Efforts in support of the day will focus on basic pragmatic psychological support by people who find themselves in a helping role whether they be health staff, teachers, firemen, community workers, or police officers.

Despite its name, psychological first aid covers both psychological and social support. Just like general health care never consists of physical first aid alone, similarly no mental health care system should consist of psychological first aid alone. Indeed, the investment in psychological first aid is part of a longer-term effort to ensure that anyone in acute distress due to a crisis is able to receive basic support, and that those who need more than psychological first aid will receive additional advanced support from health, mental health and social services.

http://www.who.int/mentalhealth/publications/en/


 

The primary number for Mental Health titles - 616.89
while Mental Health Services are located at -   362.1

Children Require Daily Exercise!

Children should spend at least three hours a day performing physical activities, according to the Finnish government.  
Parents have been advised to actively encourage their children to pursue hobbies and interests that require physical exertion.Children aged eight and under have been targeted in the move. Finland is known for producing some of the most physically fit children in Europe.
It also produces some of the highest academic results among schoolchildren in the developed world. Finland's Minister for Education and Culture, Sanni Grahn-Laasonen, believes this is no coincidence. Ms Grahn-Laasonen said physical activity contributed to a child's happiness and promoted learning by developing a young person's ability to interact socially. "When children exercise together they develop interaction skills and connect socially, and it's healthy, too," she told local media.  Anneli Rautiainen, head of basic education with the Finnish National Board of Education, told the BBC that schools would now be experimenting with new ways of teaching.





These include removing desks and chairs from some classrooms, so that children are not sitting as much while learning regular subjects. "The child has an active role. We will emphasise personalised learning. The learning environment should be modern and support different learners. In our new curriculum, we are looking at two to three hours a week of physical education and more outdoor activities. But we are also looking at non-traditional ways of teaching, some children learn very well sitting at a desk and listening, others would benefit greatly from moving around the room talking with their classmates," said Ms Rautiainen.
Finland is one of the first countries to put forward these recommendations, which will use classrooms to connect physical exercise with traditional learning





 

Scientists Hail Major Progress with HIV

A British man with HIV undergoing a pioneering treatment to cure him of the disease has shown “remarkable” progress, doctors have claimed.

Scientists treating the 44-year-old patient are now hopeful of a breakthrough in what has been described as “one of the first serious attempts at a full cure for HIV”.

The man, who has remained anonymous, is the first of 50 people to complete a trial using the two-stage attack on the deadly virus.

The research is being carried out by a collaboration of five of Britain’s top universities organised by the NHS.

Mark Samuels, managing director of the National Institute for Health Research Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure, told the Sunday Times: “This is one of the first serious attempts at a full cure for HIV. We are exploring the real possibility of curing HIV.

“This is a huge challenge and it’s still early days but the progress has been remarkable.”

The trial patient told the newspaper that recent blood tests showed no detectable HIV virus was present, although it was too early to confirm that the treatment had worked.

The new therapy aims to overcome a major barrier to clearing the virus from a sufferer’s body that has challenged researchers for decades.

Current methods using antiretroviral therapies (Art) fall short of ridding patients of HIV, as the virus can hide out of the drugs’ reach in the immune system’s T-cells.

By sheltering in dormant T-cells the virus can later take over its host and use it to produce thousands of copies of itself, should Art no longer work.

The research by Oxford and Cambridge universities, Imperial College London, University College London, and King’s College London, is testing a “kick and kill” technique to first expose then destroy the virus.

First a vaccine helps the body find infected T-cells. This is then followed by a course of the drug Vorinostat that awakens the dormant T-cells, which then begin producing HIV proteins that act as a homing beacon to the immune system.

Imperial College London consultant physician Professor Sarah Fidler said the treatment worked in the laboratory and there was “good evidence” it will work in patients.

However she added: “We must stress we are still a long way from any actual therapy.”

Antibiotic Resistance - UN Declaration

All 193 United Nations member states are set to sign a declaration agreeing to combat “the biggest threat to modern medicine” at a high-level meeting on antibiotic resistance.

A MRSA (Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) bacteria strain in a petri dish, containing a special jelly for bacterial culture at a Berlin microbiological laboratory 

The agreement was reached just before the general assembly convened to discuss the threat of antibiotic resistance, which is only the fourth health issue to trigger a general assembly meeting.

“It’s ironic that such a small thing is causing such an enormous public threat,” said Jeffrey LeJeune, a professor and head of the food animal research program at Ohio State University. “But it is a global health threat that needs a global response.”

The declaration routes the global response to superbugs along a similar path as the one used to combat climate change. In two years, groups including UN agencies will provide an update on the superbug fight to the UN secretary general.

It is estimated that more than 700,000 people die each year due to drug-resistant infections, though it could be much higher because there is no global system to monitor these deaths. And there has been trouble tracking those deaths in places where they are monitored, like in the US, where tens of thousands of deaths have not been attributed to superbugs, according to a Reuters investigation.

Scientists warned about the threat of antibiotic resistance decades ago, when pharmaceutical companies began the industrial production of medicine. The inventor of penicillin, Alexander Fleming, cautioned of the impending crisis, while accepting his Nobel Prize in 1945:

“There is the danger that the ignorant man may easily underdose himself, and by exposing his microbes to non-lethal quantities of the drug make them resistant”.

But in the last few years, studies have dramatically increased awareness about antibiotic resistance. There has also been considerable advocacy by health officials, like Sally Davies, chief medical officer of the UK

Sitting is the New Smoking!

Sitting is the New Smoking: How a Sedentary Lifestyle is Killing You!



Dr. James Levine, director of the Mayo Clinic-Arizona State University Obesity
Solutions Initiative and inventor of the treadmill desk has been studying the adverse effects of our increasingly sedentary lifestyles for years and has summed up his findings in two sentences:
"Sitting is more dangerous than smoking, kills more people than HIV and is more treacherous than parachuting. We are sitting ourselves to death."
Levine is credited with coining the mantra—“sitting is the new smoking”—but he’s not the only one who believes it. Researchers have found and continue to find evidence that prolonged sitting increases the risk of developing several serious illnesses like various types of cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Another reason the smoking analogy is relevant is that studies have repeatedly shown the effects of long-term sitting are not reversible through exercise or other good habits. Sitting, like smoking, is very clearly bad for our health and the only way to minimize the risk is to limit the time we spend on our butts each day.

Nobel Prize Awarded for Medicine!

Japan's Yoshinori Ohsumi has won the 2016 Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology, for his discovery of how cells break down and recycle their content, which could lead to a better understanding of diseases like Cancer, Parkinson's and Type 2 diabetes.

"Ohsumi's discoveries led to a new paradigm in our understanding of how the cell recycles its content," the Nobel Assembly at Sweden's Karolinska Institute said in a statement on awarding the prize.
"His discoveries opened the path to understanding ... many physiological processes, such as in the adaptation to starvation or response to infection," the statement added.
Mr Ohsumi's work on cell breakdown, a field known as autophagy, is important because it can help explain what goes wrong in a range of diseases.
"Mutations in autophagy ('self eating') genes can cause disease, and the autophagic process is involved in several conditions including cancer and neurological disease," the statement said.




Mr Ohsumi, born in 1945 in Fukuoka, Japan, has been a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology since 2009.
"I am extremely honoured," he told Kyoto News agency.
The prize for Physiology or Medicine is the first of the Nobel prizes awarded each year.

Prizes for achievements in science, literature and peace were first awarded in 1901, in accordance with the will of dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel.