No Easy Choices on Breast Reconstruction
While a recent article by Angelina Jolie about her mastectomy and reconstruction raised awareness, it may have left the impression that the surgeries are quick and easy procedures, some doctors fear.
E.R.’s Account for Half of Hospital Admissions, Study Says
A report by the RAND Corporation said it was not clear how emergency rooms affected health care costs.
(via Products - Data Briefs - Number 121 - May 2013)
The prevalence of food and skin allergies increased in children aged 0–17 years from 1997–2011.
Among children aged 0–17 years, the prevalence of food allergies increased from 3.4% in 1997–1999 to 5.1% in 2009–2011. The prevalence of skin allergies increased from 7.4% in 1997–1999 to 12.5% in 2009–2011. There was no significant trend in respiratory allergies from 1997–1999 to 2009–2011, yet respiratory allergy remained the most common type of allergy among children throughout this period (17.0% in 2009–2011). Skin allergy prevalence was also higher than food allergy prevalence for each period from 1997–2011.
Question: Is it just a coincidence that the GMO industrial agriculture system really started getting going in the late 90’s?
Don’t Drink the Pool Water! It Contains a Surprising Amount of…Human Waste
The study, published in the latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, specifically looked at pools in Atlanta, but the researchers say such contamination is likely a widespread problem in U.S. pools, thanks to swimmers not washing themselves off before taking a dip. According to the scientists, each of us carries about 0.14 grams of fecal material into the pool — and that doesn’t include accidents or cases of diarrhea.
Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2013/05/16/dont-drink-the-pool-water-it-contains-a-surprising-amount-of-human-waste/#ixzz2TabFtPmh
How Motherhood Is Changing Dramatically—in 11 Graphs
[Data: BLS, Pew]
Federal data released for the first time shows the wildly different amounts hospitals are charging Medicare to perform the same procedure.
See how hospitals near you are charging with this New York Times interactive.
This chart from the Washington Post lets you compare the highest and lowest averages in your state.
(via criticalmapping)
Plants dumped 11 billion gallons of raw sewage because of Hurricane Sandy. That’s billions with a “B.”
(via makeanx)
Meat and Antibiotics - 2013 Meat Eaters Guide | Health | Environmental Working Group
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are now common in the meat aisles of American supermarkets. These so-called superbugs can trigger foodborne illness and infections that are hard to treat. …
[T]he researchers found that some 53 percent of raw chicken samples collected in 2011 were tainted with an antibiotic-resistant form of Escherichia coli, or E. coli, a microbe that normally inhabits feces. Certain strains of E. coli can cause diarrhea, urinary tract infections and pneumonia. The extent of antibiotic-resistant E. coli on chicken is alarming because bacteria readily share antibiotic-resistance genes.
Not surprisingly, superbugs spawned by antibiotic misuse — and now pervasive in the meat Americans buy — have become a direct source of foodborne illness. Even more ominously, antibiotic misuse threatens to make important antibiotics ineffective in treating human disease. In the past, people who became ill because of contact with harmful microbes on raw meat usually recovered quickly when treated with antibiotics. But today, the chances are increasing that a person can suffer serious illness, complications or death because of a bacterial infection that doctors must struggle to control.
(Source: environmentalillnessnetwork)
