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Insights from Past Millennia into Climatic Impacts on Human Health and Survival

submitted by Janine Rees

      

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov - by A. J. McMichael - National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia.

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Antimicrobial Resistance in the European Union and the World

Dr Margaret Chan
Director-General of the World Health Organization

The EU’s contributions to the solutions of the global antimicrobial resistance problem Keynote address at the conference on Combating antimicrobial resistance: time for action
Copenhagen, Denmark

14 March 2012

Your Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary, excellencies, distinguished delegates, experts, representatives of regulatory authorities, agencies for disease control, and civil society, ladies and gentlemen,

You are meeting to explore what EU Member States can do to solve what you rightly recognize as a serious, growing, and global threat to health.

Drug-resistant pathogens are notorious globe-trotters. They travel well in infected air passengers and through global trade in food. In addition, the growth of medical tourism has accelerated the international spread of hospital-acquired infections that are frequently resistant to multiple drugs.

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Dwindling Resources Trigger Global Land Rush

       

Caudalosa workers clean up mining tailings in Peru's Opamayo River. - Credit:Milagros Salazar/IPS

by Stephen Leahy - ipsnews.net

UXBRIDGE, Canada, Mar 1, 2012 (IPS) - A global scramble for land and mineral resources fuelled by billions of investment dollars is threatening the last remaining wilderness and critical ecosystems, destroying communities and contaminating huge volumes of fresh water, warned environmental groups in London Wednesday.

No national park, delicate ecosystem or community is off limits in the voracious hunt for valuable metals, minerals and fossil fuels, said the Gaia Foundation’s report, "Opening Pandora's Box". The intensity of the hunt and exploitation is building to a fever pitch despite the fact the Earth is already overheated and humanity is using more than can be sustained, the 56-page report warns.

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An Official American Thoracic Society Workshop Report: Climate Change and Human Health

Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society - March 15, 2012

Worldwide increases in the incidences of asthma, allergies, infectious and cardiovascular diseases will result from a variety of impacts of global climate change, including rising temperatures, worsening ozone levels in urban areas, the spread of desertification, and expansions of the ranges of communicable diseases as the planet heats up, the professional organization representing respiratory and airway physicians stated in a new position paper released today.

The paper is published online and in print in the Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-03/uoc--lde030912.php

An Official American Thoracic Society Workshop Report: Climate Change and Human Health

http://pats.atsjournals.org/content/9/1/3.abstract

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Invisibility Cloak to Protect Buildings from Earthquakes

submitted by Samuel Bendett and Linton Wells

Homeland Security News Wire - February 15, 2012

Scientists show that by cloaking components of structures with pressurized rubber, powerful waves such as those produced by an earthquake would not “see” the building — they would simply pass around the structure and thus prevent serious damage or destruction

University of Manchester mathematicians have developed the theory for a Harry Potter-style cloaking device which could protect buildings from earthquakes.

Dr. William Parnell’s team in the University’s School of Mathematics has been working on the theory of invisibility cloaks which, until recently, have been merely the subject of science fiction.

In recent times, however, scientists have been getting close to achieving cloaking in a variety of contexts. A University of Manchester release reports that the work from the team at Manchester focuses on the theory of cloaking devices which could eventually help to protect buildings and structures from vibrations and natural disasters such as earthquakes.

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One Billion Smartphones by 2016, Says Forrester

submitted by Samuel Bendett

by Zack Whittaker - zdnet.com - February 13, 2012

Summary: A new Forrester research report sees over 1 billion smartphones being used by 2016, while app store spending increases and ‘bring your own’ device becomes the norm.

In a world where already you cannot travel on the subway without someone flipping out their cellphone, or stand at a Starbucks without someone yapping away on their iPhone, imagine what’ll happen with 1 billion smartphones out there?

Forrester seems to think so. Analysts at Forrester believe that by 2016 — only four years away, and in time for the following Olympics — there could be as many as 1 billion smartphones on the planet. This isn’t to say that everyone will have two or more smartphones, that is.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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Sick, Stranded Dolphin Found in Alabama is Transported to Research Center for Study

Photo Credit: Marine Mammal Studies

by Deborah Dupre - examiner.com - February 11, 2012

A dolphin named "Chance," is the "first dolphin found alive in Alabama" since the April 20, 2010 Gulf of Mexico oilrig explosion.

"He's just like a black box. He's revealing some very important information as to what happened since the oil spill. A lot of information on disease, his health and other information on the environment."

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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Small Massachusetts HIT Conference Returns to Big Issues in Health Care

submitted by Janine Rees

by Andy Oram - radar.oreilly.com - February 6, 2012

I've come to look forward to the Massachusetts Heath Data Consortium's annual HIT conference because--although speakers tout the very real and impressive progress made by Massachusetts health providers--you can also hear acerbic and ruthlessly candid critiques of policy and the status quo. Two notable take-aways from last year's conference (which I wrote up at the time) were the equivalence of old "managed care" to new "accountable care organizations" and the complaint that electronic health records were "too expensive, too hard to use, and too disruptive to workflow." I'll return to these claims later.

The sticking point: health information exchange

This year, the spears were lobbed by Ashish Jha of Harvard Medical School, who laid out a broad overview of progress since the release of meaningful use criteria and then accused health care providers of undermining one of its main goals, the exchange of data between different providers who care for the same patient.

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More Dolphins Stranded on Cape Cod

More Dolphins  on  Cape Cod Stranded: the  Count 129!

Video  Viewable on Youtube Click on link or View from Article

More Dolphins are predicted to come ashore. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

that manages the dolphin rescue is very concerned.  The large numbers of group strandings

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Stranded Dolphins in Cape Cod Baffle Scientists

'It's day after day after day' ... two stranded common dolphins being rescued at Herring River in Wellfleet, Cape Cod. Photograph: Julia Cumes/AP

The worst spate of dolphin strandings in a decade will be brought to the attention of Congress

by Suzanne Goldenberg - The Guardian - February 3, 2012

Scientists in Cape Cod are trying to determine what is causing dolphins to swim dangerously close to shore, with more than 100 becoming stranded in the last three weeks.

Members of Congress are due to be briefed on Friday about the strandings, the worst such event in more than a decade. Volunteers are maintaining coastal vigils and trying to get the animals back to sea.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

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