Public Health
It was the late astronomer and author Carl Sagan who popularized the phrase “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” and originated the closely related concept of scientific skepticism.
In the case discussed here, skeptics we should be.
Last week we saw a flurry of media articles with headlines suggesting that exposure to the common chemical bisphenol A (BPA) increases the risk of miscarriage. Considering how much research has been conducted on BPA already, in particular extensive research on laboratory animals that examined the potential for BPA to cause any effect on…
Miscarriage is commonly believed to be rare and its causes are misunderstood. This can lead to a guilt-ridden experience for women who have one, according to a new national survey presented
at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) in Boston.
This national population-based survey included 1,083 men and women over 18 in the U.S. Researchers analyzed a questionnaire that contained 23 questions about personal experiences and beliefs about miscarriage, possible causes and frequencies of miscarriages, as well as the emotional impact of a miscarriage. Factors impacting…
Hank |
If you live in America and hadn't heard, the government is in a shutdown. We've had a full plate of political theater, with armed stand-offs at veteran's memorials and the National Zoo's Panda Cam going dark, presumably to convince us that government is funded on a daily basis - except for all those exempt and 'essential' employees, which number in the millions.
If you are asking, no, science is not considered essential to either party, that is why 97% of NASA is on vacation during this budget posturing.
While partisan nonsense is primarily a goldmine for mainstream media, science academia is…
Fumigation is important in reducing food waste. Weevils, moths and borer beetles live in a very comfortable environment when in the middle of a silo or warehouse fill with grains, where they perforate the external layer of the stored products, feed freely, and have an ideal temperature and enough oxygen to grow and breed.
This insects, alongside some fungi, bacteria and viruses, cause annual loses of between four and ten percent of all the stored grains worldwide, mainly corn, wheat, sorghum, rice and beans.
The main fumigation technique and pest control inside warehouses and silos has…
A
recent
article discussed the question of causation versus
statistical association in cross-sectional epidemiology studies that evaluate
the potential for chemicals to cause health effects. In this type of study, health effect and chemical
exposure data are collected at the same point in time, which means there is no
way to know, based on the data evaluated, if the exposure preceded the
disease. Without this temporal
information, statistical associations between exposure and health effects may
be derived, but it is not possible to establish causation.This
issue is of particular…
Heart disease is rather common in the general population but the risk is up to four times greater for diabetics, according to the National Institutes of Health. The American Heart Association estimates that at least 65 percent of people with diabetes die from heart disease or stroke.
Researchers have identified a biological pathway that is activated when blood sugar levels are abnormally high and causes irregular heartbeats. This cardiac arrhythmia is linked with heart failure and sudden cardiac death.
Through a series of experiments, the researchers found that the moderate to…
New methods are needed to fight the infection Clostridium difficile and better use of antibiotics could be key, according to a new paper.
Clostridium difficile (C.diff) causes severe diarrhoea, cramps and sometimes life-threatening complications, and has traditionally been thought to be transmitted within hospitals from other sick C.diff patients.
In a United Kingdom study, the team mapped all cases of Clostridium difficile (C.diff) in Oxfordshire over a three-year period (2008 to 2011) and found that less than one in five cases of the "hospital superbug" were likely to have been…
There are lots of ideas on how healthy habits transform into long-term lifestyle changes.
PhD candidate Marc Mitchell,writing in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, suggests that receiving coupons and vouchers for as little as five dollars can help people stick to new fitness regimes. Under the guidance of Professors Jack Goodman and Guy Faulkner, Mitchell has completed a systematic review of research into the efficacy of financial incentives in inspiring lifestyle and health behavior change, specifically in people who've experienced cardiac problems. His analysis suggests that these…
Low levels of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) were in crops irrigated with recycled sewage water, according to the first study conducted under realistic field conditions.
The research, which eases some concerns over using treated wastewater for agriculture, was launched because drought and water shortages in the American southwest and in other arid parts of the world are using water recycled from municipal sewage treatment plants to irrigate food crops as the only option.
Water from toilets and sinks enters those facilities from homes and offices, and undergoes…
Hank |
Facial hair can be a status symbol - as Sikh women say, they know their men have a full motor under the hood - but does it protect against sun damage, as commonly believed?
The sun's most harmful rays are UV - ultraviolet - radiation. Though they are too high in frequency for us to see, that they are still hitting you is why you can still get burned on a day when the sun is not shining brightly. In Australia, which has "one of the world's highest incidences of UVR-related conditions and illnesses", like skin cancer and melanoma, researchers did a study to examine the truth of that hair-…