(Press-News.org) A combined strategy is needed to combat tuberculosis in Nunavut where the rate is 66 times higher than in the general Canadian population, states a commentary in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
Nunavut, Canada's eastern territory in the north, has seen a dramatic increase in the disease since 1997. Previous efforts to eradicate the disease focused on early identification and treatment of people as well as treatment of latent cases. This intense approach helped decrease the number of cases, but was not continued.
"Intensive control activities should be expanded throughout Nunavut, learning and adapting along the way," writes Dr. Pamela Orr, Department of Medical Microbiology and Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
She argues for a community approach combined with clear performance targets.
Door-to-door visits by local Inuit health care workers and education campaigns combine elements of successful public health care programs.
"Nunavut needs to reactivate the community health committees that became dormant and tap into the emerging health activism at the community and organizational levels," she writes.
"Tuberculosis is amenable to control through the application of science, as well as social and political will."
### END
Tuberculosis in Nunavut can be controlled
2013-02-04
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Physicians' roles on the front line of climate change
2013-02-04
Physicians can and should help mitigate the negative health effects of climate change because they will be at the forefront of responding to the effects of global warming, argues an editorial in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).
Doctors could use their political influence to lobby government on climate issues that are already affecting health and to become signatories to the Doha Declaration on Climate, Health and Wellbeing.
They can also act at a professional level, by leading health institutions to cut back on greenhouse gases and reduce clinical waste.
"The ...
JoVE expands scientific video publication into chemistry
2013-02-04
February 4, 2013
Cambridge, MA: On Monday, February 4, 2013, JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments) will launch the first scholarly scientific video publication for chemistry. Following its successful introduction of video publications for the biological and physical sciences, JoVE received numerous requests for a chemistry counterpart. In response, the journal is launching a new section, JoVE Chemistry, dedicated to visualized publication of experiments across different areas of chemistry research including organic chemistry, chemical biology, electrochemistry, and ...
Pitt researchers reveal mechanism to halt cancer cell growth, discover potential therapy
2013-02-04
PITTSBURGH, Feb. 4, 2013 – University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) researchers have uncovered a technique to halt the growth of cancer cells, a discovery that led them to a potential new anti-cancer therapy.
When deprived of a key protein, some cancer cells are unable to properly divide, a finding described in the cover story of the February issue of the Journal of Cell Science. This research is supported in part by a grant from the National Institutes of Health.
"This is the first time anyone has explained how altering this protein at a key stage in cell ...
Men are from Mars Earth, women are from Venus Earth
2013-02-04
For decades, popular writers have entertained readers with the premise that men and women are so psychologically dissimilar they could hail from entirely different planets. But a new study shows that it's time for the Mars/Venus theories about the sexes to come back to Earth.
From empathy and sexuality to science inclination and extroversion, statistical analysis of 122 different characteristics involving 13,301 individuals shows that men and women, by and large, do not fall into different groups. In other words, no matter how strange and inscrutable your partner may ...
Low rainfall and extreme temperatures double risk of baby elephant deaths
2013-02-04
Extremes of temperature and rainfall are affecting the survival of elephants working in timber camps in Myanmar and can double the risk of death in calves aged up to five, new research from the University of Sheffield has found.
With climate change models predicting higher temperatures and months without rainfall; this could decrease the populations of already endangered Asian elephants.
The researchers matched monthly climate records with data on birth and deaths, to track how climate variation affects the chances of elephant survival.
It is hoped this research ...
Your history may define your future: Tell your doctor
2013-02-04
Boston, MA—Your family history is important, not just because it shaped you into who you are today, but it also impacts your risk for developing cancer and other chronic diseases. For example, if one of your family members had cancer, your primary care doctor needs to know. Being able to identify individuals at increased risk can help reduce mortality. In a study published this week in the online version of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) found that patients who use a web-based risk appraisal tool are more likely ...
Tropical rainfall patterns varied through time
2013-02-04
PITTSBURGH—Historic lake sediment dug up by University of Pittsburgh researchers reveals that oceanic influences on rainfall in Central America have varied over the last 2,000 years, highlighting the fluctuating influence the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans have on precipitation.
The Pitt study, published in the February print edition of the peer-reviewed journal Geology, shows that factors currently producing drier climates in Central America actually resulted in wetter conditions a few hundred years ago, providing a deeper understanding of drought cycles in that region ...
Study finds health departments hindered in addressing health concerns from animal production sites
2013-02-04
State and local health departments face significant barriers and usually do not get involved when confronted with public health concerns resulting from food animal production sites, according to a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The authors of the study, published in PLOS ONE, an open-access publisher of scientific research, examined the role of local and state health departments in responding to and preventing community-driven concerns associated with animal production sites. This ...
Defying the laws of Mendelian inheritance
2013-02-04
In 2005, Susan Lolle and colleagues from Purdue University published a paper in Nature, concluding that Arabidopsis thaliana plants do not obey the laws of Mendelian inheritance (the idea that all genes are inherited from their parents). Instead, Lolle found that these plants were demonstrating genetic traits from older generations, which shouldn't be possible according to our current understanding of how genes are passed on.
At the time of publishing, the paper was recommended by 20 F1000Prime Faculty Members, and it is still one of the all-time top 10 papers on the ...
Scientists notch a win in war against antibiotic-resistant bacteria
2013-02-04
Boston, MA, February 4, 2013 – A team of scientists just won a battle in the war against antibiotic-resistant "superbugs" -- and only time will tell if their feat is akin to the bacterial "Battle of Gettysburg" that turns the tide toward victory.
They won this particular battle, or at least gained some critical intelligence, not by designing a new antibiotic, but by interfering with the metabolism of the bacterial "bugs" – E. coli in this case – and rendering them weaker in the face of existing antibiotics, as reported today in Nature Biotechnology.
It's the "kick ...