Flu and You: Virus widespread in half the states

Half of the states have widespread flu activity, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

From January 16 to 22, flu activity increased and three flu-related deaths were reported in children, according to the CDC. During this flu season, which started in October, there have been 13 confirmed pediatric deaths.

The highest levels of flu-like activities were reported in the South and Southeast, including Alabama, Louisiana, Virginia and North Carolina.

http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/28/flu-and-you-virus-widespread-in-half-the-states/


CDC:Fluview:
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/

CDC Reports 1 in 6 Get Sick from Foodborne Illnesses Each Year

About 48 million people (1 in 6 Americans) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die each year from foodborne diseases, according new estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The figures are the most accurate to date due to better data and methods used. The data are published Wednesday in two articles in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

The papers provide the most accurate picture yet of what foodborne pathogens are causing the most illness, as well as estimating the proportion of foodborne illness without a known cause. The reports are the first comprehensive estimates since 1999 and are CDC's first to estimate illnesses caused solely by foods eaten in the United States.

"We've made progress in better understanding the burden of foodborne illness and unfortunately, far too many people continue to get sick from the food they eat," said CDC Director Thomas Frieden, M.D, M.P.H. "These estimates provide valuable information to help CDC and its partners set priorities and further reduce illnesses from food."

http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2010/r101215.html

Vision: Making Inroads in Macular Degeneration

In 2004, scientists at the National Eye Institute predicted that as the population aged, the rate of macular degeneration, an incurable eye disease with no known cause, would increase substantially. They appear to have been wrong.

An analysis of data from the 2005-8 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey has found that since the previous survey, finished in 1994, the prevalence of the disease has decreased more than 9 percent. The scientists speculate that the change was caused by reductions in smoking and improvements in diet, exercise and blood pressure.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/health/research/25vision.html?ref=health

For UHM users only:

PubMed:

PMID: 21220632 [PubMed - in process]

A novel proprietary technology which stabilizes vaccines

Stabilitech has developed a novel proprietary technology which stabilizes vaccines, biopharmaceuticals and other biological products. Currently, to ensure potency, vaccines and biopharmaceuticals require storage and transport under strictly controlled temperatures in a cold chain. Stabilitech’s technology will enable long term stable storage of vaccines and other biological products over a wide range of temperatures. The technology has been successfully applied to live viral vaccines, inactivated viruses and sub-unit vaccines as well as to antibodies, peptides, enzymes, growth factors and other proteins. Stabilitech’s approach involves the addition of carefully selected excipients at optimized concentrations and ratios, followed by freeze drying. The excipients have all been previously used in clinical settings, and are relatively inexpensive and readily available.



http://www.stabilitech.com/stabilitechs-proprietary-technology

Broad Racial Disparities Seen in Americans’ Ills

White people in the United States die of drug overdoses more often than other ethnic groups. Black people are hit proportionately harder by AIDS, strokes and heart disease. And American Indians are more likely to die in car crashes.
To shed more light on the ills of America’s poor — and occasionally its rich — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday released its first report detailing racial disparities in a broad array of health problems.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/health/14cdc.html?_r=1&ref=health

Library closed January 15th-17th for the Martin Luther King holiday.

The Medical Education Building including the Health Sciences Library will be closed from Saturday, January 15th through Monday, January 17th, 2010. Monday is the Martin Luther King holiday.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Cancer Can Develop in Catastrophic Burst

Cancer Can Develop in Catastrophic Burst

New rapid methods of decoding DNA have brought to light a catastrophe that can strike human cells: a whole chromosome may suddenly shatter into pieces.

If the cell survives this disaster, something worse may ensue: the cell becomes cancerous.

The finding marks a striking exception to the current theory of how cancer develops. Cells are thought to become cancerous over many years as they collect, one by one, the mutations required to override the many genetic restraints on a cell’s growth. It now seems that a cell can gain all or most of these cancerous mutations in a single event.

The discovery is reported in the current issue of Cell by a team led by Peter J. Campbell of the Sanger Institute near Cambridge, England.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/health/11cancer.html?_r=1&ref=health

For UHM use only:
Cell Journal through UH Manoa Gateway:

Massive Genomic Rearrangement Acquired in a Single Catastrophic Event during Cancer Development

• Click to listen to the interview. You can browse the article while listening. Rollover in the blue bar above to access the audio player.

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Cell, Volume 144, Issue 7, 27-40, 7 January 2011

Wakefield's article linking MMR vaccine and autism was fraudulent.

“Science is at once the most questioning and . . . sceptical of activities and also the most trusting,” said Arnold Relman, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, in 1989. “It is intensely sceptical about the possibility of error, but totally trusting about the possibility of fraud.”1 Never has this been truer than of the 1998 Lancet paper that implied a link between the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and a “new syndrome” of autism and bowel disease.
Authored by Andrew Wakefield and 12 others, the paper’s scientific limitations were clear when it appeared in 1998.2 3 As the ensuing vaccine scare took off, critics quickly pointed out that the paper was a small case series with no controls, linked three common conditions, and relied on parental recall and beliefs.4 Over the following decade, epidemiological studies consistently found no evidence of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism.5 6 7 8 By the time the paper was finally retracted 12 years later,9 after forensic dissection at the General Medical Council’s (GMC) longest ever fitness to practise hearing,10 few people could deny that it was fatally flawed both scientifically and ethically. But it has taken the diligent scepticism of one man, standing outside medicine and science, to show that the paper was in fact an elaborate fraud.

1. Fiona Godlee, editor in chief,
2. Jane Smith, deputy editor,
3. Harvey Marcovitch, associate editor

PubMed
For UHM users only:
PMID: 21209059
BMJ. 2010 Feb 2;340:c696. doi: 10.1136/bmj.c696.

How the case against the MMR vaccine was fixed

PMID: 21209060
BMJ. 2011 Jan 5;342:c7452. doi: 10.1136/bmj.c7452.

Wakefield's article linking MMR vaccine and autism was fraudulent.

Autism Fraud-New York Times Editorial
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/13/opinion/13thu2.html?ref=health

Health Fair in the Library Fri, Jan 7th

The JABSOM Health Fair will be held throughout the Medical Education Building, including the Health Sciences Library, from Noon to 3pm on Friday, January 7, 2011. It's free and will include:

• Eye exams
• Blood pressure screening
• Glucose screening
• Flu shots
• Yoga demonstration
• Meditation class
• Food samples
• Live music and hula
• Raffles
• And more!!

Public computers in the Library will not be available after 10am.

Clostridium Difficile in Kids: The Extent of the Problem

Much has been written about the growing problem of Clostridium difficile, a bacterium that, like antibiotic-resistant staph, is posing a health threat in hospitals. One study found that C. diff is infecting more than 1 in 100 hospital inpatients.

And now there is a clearer picture of how C. diff is specifically affecting kids. Researchers report in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine that infection of hospitalized children by the bacterium increased by about 15% a year between 1997 and 2006.

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2011/01/03/clostridium-difficile-in-kids-the-extent-of-the-problem/

The iPad in the Hospital and Operating Room

The iPad has received a significant amount of attention in the health care arena since its introduction only eight months ago. The attraction is fairly obvious; it is a portable, lightweight, powerful computing device with an intui-tive interface and a large library of built-in applications. In fact, major medical schools such as Stanford and University of California, Irvine have made decisions to provide iPads to all incoming medical students this year. While predicting the future of medical technology is always precarious, here are a few things we have learned in the months since the iPad was introduced.

http://www.surgisphere.com/SurgRad/issues/volume-2/1-january-2011--pages-1-112/152-column-the-ipad-in-the-hospital-and-operating-room.html

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31747_7-20024808-243.html#ixzz1879SlH00

Health Sciences Library closed from December 18, 2010 through January 2, 2011

The Health Sciences Library will be closed from Saturday, December 18, 2010 through Sunday, January 2, 2011 as part of the Medical School’s Kaka’ako Green Days Initiative to conserve energy and budgetary resources and in accordance with faculty and staff collective bargaining agreements.

We apologize for the inconvenience. Have a safe and happy holiday season!

Insights Give Hope for New Attack on Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer’s researchers are obsessed with a small, sticky protein fragment, beta amyloid, that clumps into barnaclelike balls in the brains of patients with this degenerative neurological disease.

It is a normal protein. Everyone’s brain makes it. But the problem in Alzheimer’s is that it starts to accumulate into balls — plaques. The first sign the disease is developing — before there are any symptoms — is a buildup of amyloid. And for years, it seemed, the problem in Alzheimer’s was that brain cells were making too much of it.

But now, a surprising new study has found that that view appears to be wrong. It turns out that most people with Alzheimer’s seem to make perfectly normal amounts of amyloid. They just can’t get rid of it. It’s like an overflowing sink caused by a clogged drain instead of a faucet that does not turn off.

Decreased Clearance of CNS-B-Amyloid in Alzheimer's Disease
Published Online 9 December 2010
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1197623

For UHM only:
PMID: 8744411

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/health/14alzheimers.html?_r=1&ref=health

Study Finds Setbacks in Women’s Health

More women are binge drinking, saying they downed five or more drinks at a single occasion in the past month, and fewer are being screened for cervical cancer. Over all, more women are obese, diabetic and hypertensive than just a few years ago, and more are testing positive for chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease linked to infertility.
The latest health report card for women, issued on Thursday by the National Women’s Law Center and Oregon Health and Science University, paints a dismal picture, giving the United States an overall general grade of Unsatisfactory, with many F’s on specific goals set by the government’s Healthy People 2010 initiative.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/09/health/research/09women.html?ref=health

2010 Homeless Service Utilization Report

The 2010 Homeless Service Utilization Report is the
fifth in a series of reports prepared by the Center
on the Family at the University of Hawai‘i and the
Homeless Programs Office of the Hawai‘i State
Department of Human Services (DHS). Since the first
Homeless Service Utilization Report was issued in
2006, the need for homeless services in the state has
continued to grow, exacerbated by a declining and
unstable economy.


http://uhfamily.hawaii.edu/publications/brochures/HomelessServiceUtilization2010.pdf

NIH adds first images to major research database

More than 72,000 clinical photographs illustrate age-related eye disease progression

The National Institutes of Health has expanded a genetic and clinical research database to give researchers access to the first digital study images. The National Eye Institute (NEI), in collaboration with the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), has made available more than 72,000 lens photographs and fundus photographs of the back of the eye, collected from the participants of the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS).

These images are now accessible to scientists through NCBI's online database of Genotypes and Phenotypes, known as dbGaP, which archives data from studies that explore the relationship between genetic variations (genotype) and observable traits (phenotype). Though study descriptions and protocols are publicly accessible, researchers must apply for controlled access to de-identified information about study subjects, including the new images.

http://www.nih.gov/news/health/nov2010/nei-22.htm

Book/Article Request Schedule for Winter Break

All UH Libraries will be closed for Winter Break from December 18, 2010 - January 3, 2011. In preparation for this closure, the UH Library System has developed a schedule for ceasing Voyager Catalog "Get This Item" services (which allows you to request a book be transferred from one library to another or request an article be scanned and emailed to you from another Library).

The Voyager Catalog "Get This Item" Services for book transfers and article requests will be turned off according to the schedule below. Requests will no longer be able to be placed online via Voyager from the listed dates until January 3, 2011.

Books from within the Health Sciences Library may still be checked out from the Library through December 17, 2010.

Voyager Services For "Get This Item"	Shut Down	Restart
Hold or Transfer This Item Recall This Checked Out Item For books from other UH libraries except Hamilton and Sinclair Libraries	Friday, Dec. 3rd	Monday, Jan. 3rd
Hold or Transfer This Item Recall This Checked Out Item For books from Hamilton and Sinclair Libraries	Friday, Dec. 10th	Monday, Jan. 3rd
UH Manoa IntraSystem Article Request For articles from other UH libraries	Thursday, Dec. 16th (early a.m.)	Monday, Jan. 3rd

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!