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Thursday, 20 March 2014

Princess Health and Princess Health andSenate committee kills bill to keep minors from using tanning beds.Princessiccia

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Legislation to ban minors from using tanning beds fell two votes short of passing the Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Wednesday. The bill, which passed the House 61-31, would have prohibited anyone under the age of 18 from using tanning beds. Kentucky prohibits all minors under 14 from using tanning beds, and requires parental permission for those ages 14 to 17.

Sen. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, told Stu Johnson of  WEKU-FM, "I just can't get to the point where I ban juniors and seniors in high school from using a tanning bed. I think they're of age to be responsible enough to understand the consequences." (Read more)

Sen. Joe Bowen, R-Owensboro, said he didn't "support the bill because it is an example of the government telling people how to live their lives," The Associated Press reports. "He noted his wife had skin cancer in her 20s that was not caused by a tanning bed." (Read more)

Seventeen states and Washington D.C. have laws banning minors from using tanning beds, and 33 states and Washington, D.C., regulate the use of tanning beds by minors, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. California, Illinois, Nevada, Texas, Vermont and Oregon ban tanning bed use for all minors, with exceptions made in some cases for medical use. (Read more) (American Academy of Dermatology graphic of state tanning laws for minors)

Tuesday, 18 March 2014

Princess Health and Princess Health andAnthem gives hospital group grant to improve perinatal care, including discouraging early, medically unnecessary deliveries.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andAnthem gives hospital group grant to improve perinatal care, including discouraging early, medically unnecessary deliveries.Princessiccia

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The foundation of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield has awarded nearly $259,000 to an arm of the Kentucky Hospital Association to improve perinatal care and outcomes for mothers and their babies by discouraging early, medically unnecessary deliveries and encouraging breastfeeding.

Perinatal care, provided in the time around childbirth, is critical to ensure the good health of newborns, Anthem notes in a news release, pointing out that Kentucky's infant mortality rate is 6.6 deaths per 1,000 births, while the national rate is 6.1, and the state's rate of premature births, almost 14 percent, is well above the 9.6 percent goal set by the March of Dimes.

"The closer the baby is to full term, the better; but sometimes babies are born before they fully develop, weighing only a few pounds," the release notes. "When this occurs, long stays in the hospital neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) are necessary as these babies fight health complications while learning to breathe on their own without the use of a ventilator."

NICU stays are usually expensive. In 2012, Kentucky hospitals charged about $400 million for such treatment.

The hospital association says it has been working to reduce early, elective deliveries, with the Anthem foundation's help, and the latest grant is designed to build on that work. It says the grant to its subsidiary, the Kentucky Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, will also promote breastfeeding, reducing blood infections in the hospital, and reducing complications related to inducing labor, including Cesarean sections.

"KIPSQ will work with all Kentucky hospitals that deliver babies to assure the best care during delivery and the best outcomes for mothers and babies," the KHA release says. "KIPSQ will collect data to measure progress and provide resources, tools and technical assistance in quality improvement techniques to reduce prematurity, unnecessary Cesareans and improve the long-term health of newborns.

KHA says 76 of Kentucky�s 131 hospitals are members of KIPSQ, which is expanding its membership to include long-term care facilities and physicians' practices. "The Anthem grant will improve the delivery of perinatal health care to all of the state�s birthing/neonatal hospitals, regardless of their participation in KIPSQ," the release says.

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is the trade name of Anthem Health Plans of Kentucky, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. The Anthem Foundation Inc. is a private, non-profit foundation.

Monday, 17 March 2014

Princess Health and New Review Paper on Dietary Fat and Heart Disease Risk. Princessiccia

Princess Health and New Review Paper on Dietary Fat and Heart Disease Risk. Princessiccia

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A new review paper on dietary fatty acids and heart disease risk was just published by Dr. Rajiv Chowdhury and colleagues in the Annals of Internal Medicine-- one of the top medical journals (1). The goal of the paper is to comprehensively review the studies evaluating the effect of dietary fatty acids on heart (coronary) disease. The review covers observational and intervention studies pertaining to saturated, monounsaturated, trans, omega-6 polyunsaturated, and omega-3 polyunsaturated fats. The paper is notable for its comprehensiveness (inclusion criteria were very lax).

Here is a summary of the results:

  • In observational studies that measured diet, only trans fat was related to cardiovascular risk. Saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats were unrelated to risk.
  • In observational studies that measured circulating concentrations of fatty acids, long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (DHA, DPA, EPA, AA) were associated with lower risk. The dairy-fat-derived margaric acid (17:0) was also associated with lower risk. No other fatty acids were related to risk, including trans fatty acids.
  • In controlled trials, supplementation with omega-3 or omega-6 fatty acids did not alter risk.
The authors conclude:
In conclusion, the pattern of findings from this analysis did not yield clearly supportive evidence for current cardiovascular guidelines that encourage high consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids and low consumption of saturated fats. Nutritional guidelines on fatty acids and cardiovascular guidelines may require reappraisal to reflect the current evidence.
My view
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Princess Health and Princess Health andUK picks new dean for College of Nursing.Princessiccia

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A national leader in nursing education, tobacco control and health-care outreach will be the new dean of nursing at the University of Kentucky.

Janie Heath
Janie Heath, the associate dean of academic programs and endowed professor at the University of Virginia School of Nursing, will take over as dean at UK on Aug. 1, pending UK Board of Trustees approval. In addition to heading UK's College of Nursing, she will also hold the Warwick Professorship.

"Janie Heath has been a leader in educational, clinical and research efforts," UK Provost Christine Riordan said in a press release. "She is an ideal fit for our College of Nursing." Heath, who has been a nurse for nearly 40 years, has also worked at Georgia Health Sciences University, Georgetown University and the University of South Carolina.

Heath said, "I have known about the UK College of Nursing for a long time. I was attracted to the college's well-known strengths in advanced practice nursing and research. UK ? through its talented faculty, staff and students ? has been on the forefront of addressing major challenges in higher education and health care delivery today." (Read more)

Sunday, 16 March 2014

Princess Health and Princess Health andNumber of Kentucky babies born addicted keeps rising quickly as heroin replaces harder-to-get prescription painkillers.Princessiccia

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Despite the crackdown on prescription painkillers, more Kentucky babies are being born addicted, "fueled by a recent spike in heroin use," much of it by people who have found prescription painkillers harder to get, Laura Ungar reports for The Courier-Journal.

"The state has seen hospitalizations for drug-dependent newborns soar nearly 30 fold in a little more than a decade � from 28 in 2000 to 824 in 2012, according to a recent drug report from the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center. Preliminary figures suggest that number will surpass 900 in 2013, according to state officials," Ungar reports, in a follow-up to a series she did on the state's prescription-drug abuse problems in 2012.

"The financial cost is also high � and climbing exponentially," Ungar writes. "Hospital charges for drug-dependent babies in Kentucky rose from $200,000 in 2000 to $40.2 million in 2012, with $34.9 million that year paid for by government Medicaid," nearly 30 percent of which comes from Kentucky taxpayers.

"Although there are no state-by-state statistics, Dr. Henrietta Bada, a neonatal-perinatal medicine doctor at the University of Kentucky, said she believes Kentucky has one of the nation�s worst problems with drug-dependent babies." the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that U.S. hospitalizations for drug-dependent babies rose 330 percent from 2000 to 2009; "Kentucky�s hospitalizations rose more than 1,400 percent during that same time," but the state has "only 55 treatment centers serving pregnant and postpartum women, the vast majority outpatient facilities," Ungar reports. That's �a fraction of what we need,� Attorney General Jack Conway told her.

Princess Health and Princess Health andActivist seeking stronger rules on reporting health-care infections says industry lobbyists misled legislative committee to kill bill.Princessiccia

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"Health-care industry witnesses appeared to have presented incorrect information" to the House Health and Welfare Committee in speaking March 6 against House Bill 460, which would require all health-care facilities to report infections associated with their treatment, Dr. Kevin Kavanagh of Somerset writes in an op-ed piece in the Lexington Herald-Leader. The bill remains in committee, but its goal could be accomplished by regulation.

Dr. Kevin Kavanagh
Kavanagh is chairman of Health Watch USA, a group that tries to focus attention on the problem of health-care associated infections, also called hospital-acquired infections. He said the industry witnesses "were asked if any of the various types of facilities in Kentucky were exempt from reporting. The answer was no, that all facilities had to report through the Centers for Disease Control's national reporting system. However, critical-access hospitals and ambulatory-surgery centers are not required to report infection to the CDC. Nursing homes also do not have to report through the CDC's system."

Kavanagh writes that nursing homes report urinary-tract infections to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but "there is no data on the deadly staph infection, MRSA," or a deadly gastrointestinal infection caused by the bacteria C. Difficile, "which can run rampant in some nursing homes."

Kavanagh said the industry witnesses also misled the committee when asked "asked if a patient who was going to have hip surgery could find information on infection rates on Hospital Compare," a Medicare website. He writes, "The answers appeared to indicate that such information was available," but is "woefully inadequate" because the state doesn't have an adequate reporting system.

"For acute-care hospitals, only, bloodstream MRSA infections (a relatively rare event), colon surgeries, abdominal hysterectomies, urinary tract infections and central-line infection data can be found. Little use for patients needing hip surgery. In the past, CMS has posted on the Hospital Compare website information regarding hospital-acquired conditions, and was slated in the future to have information on neck and spine surgery. However, this information is now gone from Hospital Compare. I can only assume it, too, has fallen to the legions of health-industry lobbyists." (Read more)

For Kavanagh's March 6 testimony to the committee, click here. For his March 13 rebuttal to industry witnesses, go here.
Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/03/13/3136695/mandate-reporting-of-ky-health.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/03/13/3136695/mandate-reporting-of-ky-health.html#storylink=cpy

Princess Health andH+P Athlete Spotlight: Kimberley Chan.Princessiccia

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There's no denying it: the 2013/14 Canadian winter made it tough to train. We had to battle the usual decreased daylight along colder-than-average temperatures, and a constant barrage of snow taking away our traction. These are great reasons to take it easy throughout the colder months of year, right? Maybe not...

Take for instance Kimberly Chan, a University of Waterloo student who joined H+P in the fall of 2013. She trained with us throughout the winter on a very consistent basis. The most impressive part: she comes from Mauritius. This is a very small country located in the Indian Ocean, about 2 000K away from the SE corner of Africa. To no surprise, it's a hot place to be with an annual LOW of about +16�C. So if +16� is cold, how does -30� feel? And how does one continue to train? Here's what Kimberly had to say:

H+P: Just this school year, you came from Mauritius, a country with an annual LOW of about +16�C. That being, said, you were one of the most consistent H+P runners this winter. What motivated you to keep running and working hard, even during the nights that plummeted below -30�?
KC: Frankly I think what played a big role is that I didn't know how cold is cold. As you said, I never experienced below +10�C so 5� was already cold for me. Seeing you all running at 5 degrees and saying "of course we run outdoors in winter" eventually made me develop the idea "if they can do it why can't I?". What also helped a lot is the people in the club itself. It's more encouraging when running as a group. I remember my first session; several of you were telling me "good job". I thought "are they really talking to me? I'm last, how is that a good job?!". But I definitely wanted (and still want) to get better. Finally I guess it was also about making new experiences. Like Sean said, "it's a story to tell". I won't forget that feeling after a good workout in a very cold weather.
H+P: Before coming here, did you ever experience snow? What was it like living through a Canadian winter for the first time? 
KC: I did come to Canada in December 3 years ago for holidays but it was my first real winter. When you're in holidays, you wake up late and do fun stuff like skating everyday. When you actually live in winter, it eventually gets to you after a while: dark when you wake up, dark when you get back home, no green, wearing bulky clothes... At least we get a clear blue sky from time to time, which makes me think of back home. The weirdest thing was certainly the big difference in sunrise/sunset times. In Mauritius it stays pretty constant so it took me some time to get used to waking up in the dark.
H+P: Another things that is impressive about you is that you show up to almost every workout, you work extremely hard every single time...yet you have no specific race or goal in mind. What do you want to get our your running long term?  
KC: Yes, unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to do a race yet but it's definitely on my to do list. Race or not, I try to push myself everytime because I want to get better at what I'm doing. I think I have a tendency to never be satisfied but always aim higher.
H+P: You came here from Mauritius primarily for school. What are you studying, and why did you chose UW? 
KC: I'm finishing my first year in Mechanical Engineering. I always wanted to do my post-secondary studies abroad. I chose Canada because of the opportunities (work, facilities, sports...) and UW because of the co-op program. Aside from work experience, the fact that I would break my routine and discover a new environment every 4 months was appealing.
H+P: That is an extremely busy and challenging program. How do you manage to balance the demands of your school while still keeping up with your training?
KC: It is indeed but I've always set my priorities: studies and sports. So other activities like watching tv have to be sacrificed. I try to not waste time but use it efficiently. One thing that's sure is that without training my days wouldn't be very productive. If I do not work out after a few days, I get tired.
H+P: What is the presence of running and triathlon like in Mauritius? Do you plan on continuing with the sport when you return?
KC: There are races (track and field) at school level; that's where I started with the sport. However beyond that, it's barely developed. People generally go running on the mountains, volcano or horsetrack but there are practically no races. They tend to run as general fitness than competition. I know of only one big race for the whole country which occurs once a year. Triathlon is even less developed though its slowly getting more attention from the media. Of course, running is a great sport to do and I will certainly stick to it.
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