Pulse of health research: Strange sexism of science

Health | Ano Lobb | Sunday 21st March 2010

It's probably not news to you that science in general, and health and medicine in particular, are struggling to increase the numbers of women practicing at the highest levels. Male domination of these fields has of course nothing to do with any innately superior male aptitude for sciences, but rather societal tendencies to view science as a male rather than female domain. It's probably also no s

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	Economy, Ecology, and Sustainable Development Sustainable Development \| Kendra Pierre-Louis \| Saturday 20th March 2010 The other day I met a coal analyst for the financial industry. Upon discovering his profession I joked that I spend my life trying to put him out of work. He promptly informed me of three things. First that, mountaintop coal removal has maybe another ten years left in it, before the market goes bust. He didn't explain why, but I'm guessing they're running out of mountain tops that are located in parts of the country with an economically disenfranchised populace (i.e. poor people). Secondly, that coal companies do a great job of rehabilitating mountains and putting nature "back the way it was." And thirdly, that he doesn't believe in climate change. Apart from explaining how he could do the work he did on a daily basis and still sleep at night, the conversation was illuminating in other ways. Not because of bullets 1 and 3, but because of bullet 2: he sincerely believed that nature could be put back the way it was, like simply cleaning a messy room. Yet as we've learned from extinct species and continue to learn from our dying coral reefs, our dwindling glaciers ecosystems don't work that way. They may recover, but they can't be put ba...

	MTV's surprisingly sensitive health programming Health \| Sara Libby \| Saturday 20th March 2010 [caption id="attachment_11330" align="alignleft" width="281" caption="Photo courtesy of MTV"][/caption] Sensitivity and responsibility aren't generally words that come to mind when one thinks of MTV's programming. And make no mistake, the network certainly indulges in programs and videos that promote unhealthy behavior like drinking and smoking. But many of its recent shows and awareness campaigns are confronting and examining health-related issues in a surprisingly refreshing way. Though it has always taken the lead in addressing issues affecting you - Pedro Zamora of "The Real World" became a bona fide celebrity as an AIDS activist back in 1994 - the recent spate of health-related programming is refreshing particularly because it stands in such stark contrast to shows like "Jersey Shore" and "The Hills" that emphasize excess and irresponsible behavior. Let's take a look: True/Life: The opening episode of the most recent season of "True/Life," MTV's documentary series, followed two young people in need of transplants in order to survive. One needed a kidney; the other, bone marrow. Both patients were shown unflinchingly - Morgan, the girl in need of a...

	Coffee Conundrums Sustainable Development \| Kendra Pierre-Louis \| Saturday 20th March 2010 A not so long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away I worked for a great organization with a somewhat ridiculous problem. The problem was coffee. You see the organization, in recognition that a caffeinated workforce is a productive workforce, happily plied its employees with Fair Trade, Organic, bird friendly, shade grown coffee from a local small scale roaster. The Keurig single cup coffee machines which are de rigueur at most companies were not used both for reasons of cost (they cost more, interestingly enough than our so-called fancy locally roasted stuff), and sustainability (how eco-friendly is using a couple hundred single-serve plastic cups daily?) hence the problem. Much like the three little bears each had beds and porridge made to their own liking, so did our staff with some preferring a strong brew, others a weak, and still more opting for a brew in the middle. There were arguments… a lot of arguments, with the prefer-it-strong's arguing that the prefer-it-weak's should simply water the strong stuff down with hot water, and the prefer-it-weak's stating that it didn't taste the same and regardless there was...

	The magic of composting toilets Sustainable Development \| Andrea Brennen \| Saturday 20th March 2010 Everyone loves composting toilets. Okay, let me rephrase that. Everyone should love composing toilets. And here's why: The average American uses 7,665 gallons of water every year, just by flushing the toilet. Composting toilets, on the other hand, don't require any water at all. If done right, they don't smell, either. How does a composting toilet work? A composting toilet uses bacteria that thrive at high temperatures [and which are already present in poop] to break down human waste into a nutrient-rich compost, often called humus. This compost can be used to fertilize plants, although there is some discrepancy as to whether it is safe to use for food crops. By eliminating the need for flushing, composting toilets reduce clean water consumption and do away with the energy costs of treating wastewater. Residential scale composting toilets come in different sizes [to accommodate either 2, 4, or 8 people] and come equipped with storage tank containing an initial mix of wood shavings, peat moss, and water. As the toilet is used, waste is funneled into a storage tank through a chute and mixed with...

	Climate Change to Increase Ground-Level Ozone, Smog, and Air Pollution Climate Change \| Juan Carlo Pascua \| Saturday 20th March 2010 In their report: Assessment of the Impacts of Global Change on Regional U.S. Air Quality: A Synthesis of Climate Change Impacts on Ground-Level Ozone, the United State Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA, 2009) finished a two year study of the effects of climate change on human health. The report officially released by the EPA's Global Change Research Program focused on pollution in the US . Too often everyday climate change conversations may turn into future predictions of social chaos and urban destruction , failing to recognize immediate impacts on a more personal level. Personal health is one such personal issue to be effected by climate change as, according to the EPA, lung problems and diseases are likely to rise with global warming. The report finds that there is a potential for climate change to increase ground-level ozone pollution in some regions of the US, especially in the summertime. Ground-level ozone is produced by the phenomenon of photochemical smog, also known as simply "smog." Smog, present in all modern cities, is a phenomenon of car transportation and industry pollutants with sunlight. To elaborate: cars and industrial processes emit nitrogen...

	Sustainable Wildcrafting: Take a Little Food, Not Too Much Sustainable Food \| Tricia Edgar \| Saturday 20th March 2010 When I go for a walk in the forest, I love to grab a few needles off a branch. Sometimes I peel a salmonberry branch and chew on it. It's sweet and lovely and tastes just like spring. In ten days, I'll be off hunting for a new delight, something that is not often found in my neighborhood: stinging nettles. Armed with gloves and pruning shears, I'll harvest these iron-rich morsels and turn them into a delicious soup, I hope. I love eating wild plants. I love eating them from the roadsides, provided they aren't too dusty. I love eating them on the fringes of urban land, on unused or underused lots that have grown wild. And yes, I love eating them in parks, in spite of the no touch policy that exists in our parks today. A no touch policy makes sense, in a way. We are not supposed to remove anything from our parks because if everyone did that, the park would be damaged. Parks are for people, but they are also hotspots of diversity in urban landscapes that are otherwise challenging for wildlife. Once, we thought of parks as havens for nature. They were unspoiled, untouched places, places of wilderness that were supposed to be museum pieces in...

	This Green Home: Dual-Flush Toilet from Down Under! Ethical Consumption \| Tiffany F \| Saturday 20th March 2010 While living down under I became quite attached to the loo. Not in a bad way. I did not suffer from food poisoning or an overdose of Tim-Tams. Nor was I sidetracked by the toilet flushing the opposite way. I simply loved the idea of a dual-flush toilet! These nifty things have two options that allot the amount of water and power put into shooing things out of site, saving water and energy. This simple green home renovation can cost less than $20 dollars to retrofit a single toilet, with kits that allow you to renovate up to 4 at a time, and toilets available with the feature already built-in. The dual-flush toilet was originally designed in the 1980s by an Australian company after receiving a government grant. The first system installed in South Australia was able to save 37,000 liters of water annually, with conservation only growing as technology has improved over the years. You don't need to be undertaking a green home adventure to find these toilets, they are also in state parks, public restrooms, and hotels across the sunburned Country. Their popularity is catching on worldwide, with low-flush toiletscomplimenting our growing awareness of the need for water conservation...

	A Green Home Without the Pests Ethical Consumption \| Caitlin Chock \| Saturday 20th March 2010 Along with making yourself a green home and ousting many of the toxic chemicals found in traditional household cleaners, the fertilizers, and other poisons used in and around your yard, you can also take the same idea to pest control. When the weather outside gets colder, the mice, ants, and other little critters that may not be such welcomed guests often flee for the warm comfort of our homes. That being said, you can still nip the problem in the bud with the help of a few eco-friendly options and some that are also humane. I'll be honest, the idea of a poor little mouse meeting his demise from a spring loaded trap does tug at my heartstrings a little bit, but at the same time for a variety of reasons (including health and safety ones) you don't want wild mice running rampant in even your green home. But there are plenty of mouse traps that won't kill them but instead lure them into a sort of cage without poisons, sticky glue, or snaps. These are also reusable, brownie points for that, and you can just release the little guy back outside. Furry mice might be one thing, but cockroaches, ants, silverfish, mites, and the like are another and while it may be a bit crue...

	Bananas may help in fight against HIV Health \| Alisa Ulferts \| Friday 19th March 2010 I have to admit I did a double take when this email reached my inbox: Researchers say bananas could be the next tool in the arsenal against HIV in women. You have to skip the obvious line of thought here: The reason for bananas' effectiveness is not because they are a powerhouse of nutrients that can bolster the body's natural defenses, although that is certainly true. The reason, according to this recent report, is that there is a natural chemical in bananas that may actually block HIV's entry into the body when used in a microbicide. In laboratory tests, researchers with the University of Michigan Medical School found that a certain banana lectin (called BanLec) was as potent as two current HIV drugs. Lectins, which are sugar-binding proteins found in plants, can identify and attach to foreign invaders. By binding to a sugar-rich HIV-1 protein, researchers say, BanLec can blocks HIV's entry into the body. The study findings were published in the March 19 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, and its authors suggest that BanLec could become a less expensive and highly effective new component of vaginal microbicides, "The problem with som...

	Healthy tech: E-prescribing reduces prescribing errors Health \| Ano Lobb \| Friday 19th March 2010 A study published this month in the Journal of General Internal Medicine suggests that some of the $1 billion that the Obama administration wants to spend on health IT may be well spent. Researchers analyzed prescriptions written by 15 doctor's practices that adopted e-prescribing and 15 practices that continued to use paper, eventually comparing 1543 paper prescriptions with 2305 electronic ones. Among those that adopted e-prescribing they found a huge decrease in errors: From 42.5% to 6.6% at years end. Among the paper-based prescriptions the error rate remained statistically constant: 37% at the study outset and 38% at study end. Naturally the endemic problem of illegible doctor scrawl was entirely eliminated with the e-upgrade. The offices that were studied where community-based facilities, they type that prescribe over 2 billion drugs are prescribed each year in the US. The e-prescribing systems used were stand-alone, meaning they were not necessarily part of a larger electronic health record. Compared to an entirely e-record keeping upgrade, these systems are obviously much cheaper and easier to integrate in medical practice. In addition to warni...

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	Economy, Ecology, and Sustainable Development Sustainable Development \| Kendra Pierre-Louis \| Saturday 20th March 2010 The other day I met a coal analyst for the financial industry. Upon discovering his profession I joked that I spend my life trying to put him out of work. He promptly informed me of three things. First that, mountaintop coal removal has maybe another ten years left in it, before the market goes bust. He didn't explain why, but I'm guessing they're running out of mountain tops that are located in parts of the country with an economically disenfranchised populace (i.e. poor people). Secondly, that coal companies do a great job of rehabilitating mountains and putting nature "back the way it was." And thirdly, that he doesn't believe in climate change. Apart from explaining how he could do the work he did on a daily basis and still sleep at night, the conversation was illuminating in other ways. Not because of bullets 1 and 3, but because of bullet 2: he sincerely believed that nature could be put back the way it was, like simply cleaning a messy room. Yet as we've learned from extinct species and continue to learn from our dying coral reefs, our dwindling glaciers ecosystems don't work that way. They may recover, but they can't be put ba...

	MTV's surprisingly sensitive health programming Health \| Sara Libby \| Saturday 20th March 2010 [caption id="attachment_11330" align="alignleft" width="281" caption="Photo courtesy of MTV"][/caption] Sensitivity and responsibility aren't generally words that come to mind when one thinks of MTV's programming. And make no mistake, the network certainly indulges in programs and videos that promote unhealthy behavior like drinking and smoking. But many of its recent shows and awareness campaigns are confronting and examining health-related issues in a surprisingly refreshing way. Though it has always taken the lead in addressing issues affecting you - Pedro Zamora of "The Real World" became a bona fide celebrity as an AIDS activist back in 1994 - the recent spate of health-related programming is refreshing particularly because it stands in such stark contrast to shows like "Jersey Shore" and "The Hills" that emphasize excess and irresponsible behavior. Let's take a look: True/Life: The opening episode of the most recent season of "True/Life," MTV's documentary series, followed two young people in need of transplants in order to survive. One needed a kidney; the other, bone marrow. Both patients were shown unflinchingly - Morgan, the girl in need of a...

	Coffee Conundrums Sustainable Development \| Kendra Pierre-Louis \| Saturday 20th March 2010 A not so long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away I worked for a great organization with a somewhat ridiculous problem. The problem was coffee. You see the organization, in recognition that a caffeinated workforce is a productive workforce, happily plied its employees with Fair Trade, Organic, bird friendly, shade grown coffee from a local small scale roaster. The Keurig single cup coffee machines which are de rigueur at most companies were not used both for reasons of cost (they cost more, interestingly enough than our so-called fancy locally roasted stuff), and sustainability (how eco-friendly is using a couple hundred single-serve plastic cups daily?) hence the problem. Much like the three little bears each had beds and porridge made to their own liking, so did our staff with some preferring a strong brew, others a weak, and still more opting for a brew in the middle. There were arguments… a lot of arguments, with the prefer-it-strong's arguing that the prefer-it-weak's should simply water the strong stuff down with hot water, and the prefer-it-weak's stating that it didn't taste the same and regardless there was...

	The magic of composting toilets Sustainable Development \| Andrea Brennen \| Saturday 20th March 2010 Everyone loves composting toilets. Okay, let me rephrase that. Everyone should love composing toilets. And here's why: The average American uses 7,665 gallons of water every year, just by flushing the toilet. Composting toilets, on the other hand, don't require any water at all. If done right, they don't smell, either. How does a composting toilet work? A composting toilet uses bacteria that thrive at high temperatures [and which are already present in poop] to break down human waste into a nutrient-rich compost, often called humus. This compost can be used to fertilize plants, although there is some discrepancy as to whether it is safe to use for food crops. By eliminating the need for flushing, composting toilets reduce clean water consumption and do away with the energy costs of treating wastewater. Residential scale composting toilets come in different sizes [to accommodate either 2, 4, or 8 people] and come equipped with storage tank containing an initial mix of wood shavings, peat moss, and water. As the toilet is used, waste is funneled into a storage tank through a chute and mixed with...

	Climate Change to Increase Ground-Level Ozone, Smog, and Air Pollution Climate Change \| Juan Carlo Pascua \| Saturday 20th March 2010 In their report: Assessment of the Impacts of Global Change on Regional U.S. Air Quality: A Synthesis of Climate Change Impacts on Ground-Level Ozone, the United State Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA, 2009) finished a two year study of the effects of climate change on human health. The report officially released by the EPA's Global Change Research Program focused on pollution in the US . Too often everyday climate change conversations may turn into future predictions of social chaos and urban destruction , failing to recognize immediate impacts on a more personal level. Personal health is one such personal issue to be effected by climate change as, according to the EPA, lung problems and diseases are likely to rise with global warming. The report finds that there is a potential for climate change to increase ground-level ozone pollution in some regions of the US, especially in the summertime. Ground-level ozone is produced by the phenomenon of photochemical smog, also known as simply "smog." Smog, present in all modern cities, is a phenomenon of car transportation and industry pollutants with sunlight. To elaborate: cars and industrial processes emit nitrogen...

	Sustainable Wildcrafting: Take a Little Food, Not Too Much Sustainable Food \| Tricia Edgar \| Saturday 20th March 2010 When I go for a walk in the forest, I love to grab a few needles off a branch. Sometimes I peel a salmonberry branch and chew on it. It's sweet and lovely and tastes just like spring. In ten days, I'll be off hunting for a new delight, something that is not often found in my neighborhood: stinging nettles. Armed with gloves and pruning shears, I'll harvest these iron-rich morsels and turn them into a delicious soup, I hope. I love eating wild plants. I love eating them from the roadsides, provided they aren't too dusty. I love eating them on the fringes of urban land, on unused or underused lots that have grown wild. And yes, I love eating them in parks, in spite of the no touch policy that exists in our parks today. A no touch policy makes sense, in a way. We are not supposed to remove anything from our parks because if everyone did that, the park would be damaged. Parks are for people, but they are also hotspots of diversity in urban landscapes that are otherwise challenging for wildlife. Once, we thought of parks as havens for nature. They were unspoiled, untouched places, places of wilderness that were supposed to be museum pieces in...

	This Green Home: Dual-Flush Toilet from Down Under! Ethical Consumption \| Tiffany F \| Saturday 20th March 2010 While living down under I became quite attached to the loo. Not in a bad way. I did not suffer from food poisoning or an overdose of Tim-Tams. Nor was I sidetracked by the toilet flushing the opposite way. I simply loved the idea of a dual-flush toilet! These nifty things have two options that allot the amount of water and power put into shooing things out of site, saving water and energy. This simple green home renovation can cost less than $20 dollars to retrofit a single toilet, with kits that allow you to renovate up to 4 at a time, and toilets available with the feature already built-in. The dual-flush toilet was originally designed in the 1980s by an Australian company after receiving a government grant. The first system installed in South Australia was able to save 37,000 liters of water annually, with conservation only growing as technology has improved over the years. You don't need to be undertaking a green home adventure to find these toilets, they are also in state parks, public restrooms, and hotels across the sunburned Country. Their popularity is catching on worldwide, with low-flush toiletscomplimenting our growing awareness of the need for water conservation...

	A Green Home Without the Pests Ethical Consumption \| Caitlin Chock \| Saturday 20th March 2010 Along with making yourself a green home and ousting many of the toxic chemicals found in traditional household cleaners, the fertilizers, and other poisons used in and around your yard, you can also take the same idea to pest control. When the weather outside gets colder, the mice, ants, and other little critters that may not be such welcomed guests often flee for the warm comfort of our homes. That being said, you can still nip the problem in the bud with the help of a few eco-friendly options and some that are also humane. I'll be honest, the idea of a poor little mouse meeting his demise from a spring loaded trap does tug at my heartstrings a little bit, but at the same time for a variety of reasons (including health and safety ones) you don't want wild mice running rampant in even your green home. But there are plenty of mouse traps that won't kill them but instead lure them into a sort of cage without poisons, sticky glue, or snaps. These are also reusable, brownie points for that, and you can just release the little guy back outside. Furry mice might be one thing, but cockroaches, ants, silverfish, mites, and the like are another and while it may be a bit crue...

	Bananas may help in fight against HIV Health \| Alisa Ulferts \| Friday 19th March 2010 I have to admit I did a double take when this email reached my inbox: Researchers say bananas could be the next tool in the arsenal against HIV in women. You have to skip the obvious line of thought here: The reason for bananas' effectiveness is not because they are a powerhouse of nutrients that can bolster the body's natural defenses, although that is certainly true. The reason, according to this recent report, is that there is a natural chemical in bananas that may actually block HIV's entry into the body when used in a microbicide. In laboratory tests, researchers with the University of Michigan Medical School found that a certain banana lectin (called BanLec) was as potent as two current HIV drugs. Lectins, which are sugar-binding proteins found in plants, can identify and attach to foreign invaders. By binding to a sugar-rich HIV-1 protein, researchers say, BanLec can blocks HIV's entry into the body. The study findings were published in the March 19 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, and its authors suggest that BanLec could become a less expensive and highly effective new component of vaginal microbicides, "The problem with som...

	Healthy tech: E-prescribing reduces prescribing errors Health \| Ano Lobb \| Friday 19th March 2010 A study published this month in the Journal of General Internal Medicine suggests that some of the $1 billion that the Obama administration wants to spend on health IT may be well spent. Researchers analyzed prescriptions written by 15 doctor's practices that adopted e-prescribing and 15 practices that continued to use paper, eventually comparing 1543 paper prescriptions with 2305 electronic ones. Among those that adopted e-prescribing they found a huge decrease in errors: From 42.5% to 6.6% at years end. Among the paper-based prescriptions the error rate remained statistically constant: 37% at the study outset and 38% at study end. Naturally the endemic problem of illegible doctor scrawl was entirely eliminated with the e-upgrade. The offices that were studied where community-based facilities, they type that prescribe over 2 billion drugs are prescribed each year in the US. The e-prescribing systems used were stand-alone, meaning they were not necessarily part of a larger electronic health record. Compared to an entirely e-record keeping upgrade, these systems are obviously much cheaper and easier to integrate in medical practice. In addition to warni...