US Ranks 49th in Life Expectancy

By any measure, the United States spends more on health care than any other nation. Yet according to the World Fact Book (published by the Central Intelligence Agency), it ranks 49th in life expectancy.

Why?

Researchers writing in the November issue of the journal, Health Affairs, say they know the answer. After citing statistical evidence showing that American patterns of obesity, smoking, traffic accidents and homicide are not the cause of lower life expectancy, they conclude that the problem is the health care system.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/health/30life.html?ref=health

What Changes in Survival Rates Tell Us About US Health Care
Health Aff (Millwood). 2010 Nov;29(11):2105-13.

Muennig PA, Glied SA.
PMID: 20930036
http://micro189.lib3.hawaii.edu/ezproxy/details.php?dbId=2095

AIDSinfo HIV/AIDS Glossary Free iPhone Application

AIDSinfo recently released its first iPhone application, the AIDSinfo HIV/AIDS Glossary! This follows the release of the mobile AIDSinfo site and furthers the effort to provide users with federally approved HIV/AIDS information optimized for mobile devices. The glossary application, along with all future AIDSinfo applications, will eventually be offered across several mobile platforms, including BlackBerry and Android-enabled phones.

http://nnlm.gov/psr/newsbits/?p=1353

Library Closed Thanksgiving weekend

The Medical Education Building including the Health Sciences Library will be closed from Thursday, November 25 through Sunday, November 28, 2010.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Endnote Web wil be down November 21, 2010 2:00 am HST

SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE:

Thomson Reuters will be performing an upgrade to EndNote Web and ResearcherID starting Sunday, November 21st 2:00 A.M. HST.



http://app.info.science.thomsonreuters.biz/e/es.aspx?s=1556&e=9088&elq=a1011fa2b7f64edba118699d5c108f8b

The Downside of a Cancer Study Extolling CT Scans

News that annual CT lung scans can reduce the risk of lung cancer death among former and current heavy smokers was celebrated by national heath officials this month. A major government study found the screening scans saved the life of one person for every 300 current or former smokers who were scanned.

But now cancer and screening experts are worried that the limited findings will be used by private screening centers to promote the test to a broader group than was studied. That, in turn, could lead to thousands of unnecessary lung scans, causing excess radiation exposure and unnecessary biopsies and surgery.

By TARA PARKER-POPE
November 15, 2010, 5:32 pm

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/15/the-downside-of-a-cancer-study-extolling-ct-scans/?ref=health

National Lung Cancer Screening Trial:
http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/noteworthy-trials/nlst

F.D.A. Unveils Proposed Graphic Warning Labels for Cigarette Packs

Public health officials hope that the new labels will re-energize the nation’s antismoking efforts, which have stalled in recent years. About 20.6 percent of the nation’s adults, or 46.6 million people, and about 19.5 percent of high school students, or 3.4 million teenagers, are smokers.

Every day, about 1,000 children and teenagers become regular smokers, and 4,000 try smoking for the first time. About 440,000 people die every year from smoking-related health problems, and the cost to treat such problems exceeds $96 billion a year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/11/health/policy/11tobacco.html?_r=1&ref=health

Testing Early Treatments for Alzheimer’s

Scientists now know Alzheimer’s attacks the brain long before people exhibit memory loss or cognitive decline. But the specifics are crucial because so far, drug after drug has failed to effectively treat Alzheimer’s in people who already show symptoms. Many scientists now think the problem may be that the drugs were given too late, when, as Dr. John C. Morris, an Alzheimer’s expert at Washington University in St. Louis, puts it, “there’s a heck of a lot of brain cell damage and we’re trying to treat a very damaged

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/09/health/09alzheimers.html?_r=1&ref=health

Forget Me Not Initiative
http://www.forgetmenotinitiative.org/

The Alzheimer’s Prevention Initiative:
A Proposal to Accelerate the Evaluation of
Pre-symptomatic Alzheimer’s Disease Treatments (5/9/10)
http://www.bannerhealth.com/NR/rdonlyres/33B8922D-8B34-4639-B70B-BAD5CDEB92C1/46927/APIsummaryweb2.pdf

New clues found to symptom-free HIV

There's still no vaccine for HIV, but researchers have made inroads in discovering new clues to why a minority of infected people can carry the virus without treatment.

Only about one in 300 people infected appear to have an immune system that can naturally suppress the virus's replication, and thus they carry low levels of the virus, the study said. Specific genetic variations may be responsible for this uncommon response to HIV, this study published in the journal Science found.

http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/05/new-clues-found-to-symptom-free-hiv/

http://www.hivcontrollers.org/

Library Closed to Public on Veterans Day, November 11, 2010

The Health Sciences Library will be closed to the public and unstaffed on Thursday, November 11th in observance of Veterans Day .

Early Intervention of Autism

At the Age of Peekaboo, in Therapy to Fight Autism

In the three years since her son Diego was given a diagnosis of autism at age 2, Carmen Aguilar has made countless contributions to research on this perplexing disorder.

Carmen and Saul Aguilar worked with Sally Rogers to help their son Emilio.

She has donated all manner of biological samples and agreed to keep journals of everything she’s eaten, inhaled or rubbed on her skin. Researchers attended the birth of her second son, Emilio, looking on as she pushed, leaving with Tupperware containers full of tissue samples, the placenta and the baby’s first stool.

Now the family is in yet another study, part of an effort by a network of scientists across North America to look for signs of autism as early as 6 months. (Now, the condition cannot be diagnosed reliably before age 2.) And here at the MIND Institute at the University of California Davis Medical Center, researchers are watching babies like Emilio in a pioneering effort to determine whether they can benefit from specific treatments.

By APRIL DEMBOSKY

Published: November 1, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/health/02autism.html?_r=1&ref=health

Randomized, Controlled Trial of an Intervention for Toddlers With Autism: The Early Start Denver Mode

This is the first randomized, controlled trial to demonstrate the efficacy of a comprehensive developmental behavioral intervention for toddlers with ASD for improving cognitive and adaptive behavior and reducing severity of ASD diagnosis. Results of this study underscore the importance of early detection of and intervention in autism.

For UHM users only:
http://micro189.lib3.hawaii.edu/ezproxy/details.php?dbId=2095

PMID: 19948568

UC Davis Mind Institute
http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/mindinstitute/

Library Closed to Public on Election Day, November 2, 2010

The Health Sciences Library will be closed to the public and unstaffed on Tuesday, November 2nd in observance of Election Day .