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The Doctor's World: Rise of a Deadly TB Reveals a Global System in Crisis
By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN, M.D., The New York Times, March 20, 2007
LOS ANGELES — The spread of a particularly virulent form of tuberculosis in South Africa illustrates a breakdown in the global program that is supposed to keep the disease, one of the world’s deadliest, under control.
The program was intended to detect tuberculosis cases, make sure patients were taking their antibiotics, test patients for resistance to those drugs and monitor the spread of the disease.
But international tuberculosis experts say the system is in deep trouble for an array of reasons: misuse of antibiotics; other bad medical practices, like failing to segregate high-risk patients in hospitals and clinics; and cuts in government spending for such basics as adequate supplies of drugs and laboratories to do the testing.
Such factors have led to the rise of drug-resistant tuberculosis bacteria, a menace the world has only begun to appreciate.
( Read More )
Essay: Tracing the Cigarette’s Path From Sexy to Deadly
By HOWARD MARKEL, M.D., The New York Times, March 20, 2007
For many Americans, the tobacco industry’s disingenuousness became a matter of public record during a Congressional hearing on April 14, 1994. There, under the withering glare of Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, appeared the chief executives of the seven largest American tobacco companies.
Each executive raised his right hand and solemnly swore to tell the whole truth about his business. In sequential testimony, each one stated that he did not believe tobacco was a health risk and that his company had taken no steps to manipulate the levels of nicotine in its cigarettes.
Thirty years after the famous surgeon general’s report declaring cigarette smoking a health hazard, the tobacco executives, it seemed, were among the few who believed otherwise.
But it was not always that way. Allan M. Brandt, a medical historian at Harvard, insists that recognizing the dangers of cigarettes resulted from an intellectual process that took the better part of the 20th century. He describes this fascinating story in his new book, “The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall and Deadly Persistence of the Product that Defined America” (Basic Books).
( Read More )
Skilled Ear for Music May Help Language
By ERIC NAGOURNEY, The New York Times, March 20, 2007
Anyone who has tried to learn Chinese can attest to how hard it is to master the tones required to speak and understand it. And anyone who has tried to learn to play the violin or other instruments can report similar challenges.
Now researchers have found that people with musical training have an easier time learning Chinese.
Writing in the online edition of Nature Neuroscience, researchers from Northwestern University say that both skills draw on parts of the brain that help people detect changes in pitch.
( Read More )
In New Hampshire, Towns Put Climate on the Agenda
By KATIE ZEZIMA, The New York Times, March 19, 2007
BARTLETT, N.H., March 18 — As they do every March at the town meeting here, residents debated and voted Thursday on items most local: whether to outfit the town fire truck with a new hose, buy a police cruiser and put a new drainpipe in the town garage.
But here and in schools and town halls throughout New Hampshire, between discussions about school boards and budgets, residents are also considering a state referendum on a global issue: climate change.
Of the 234 incorporated cities and towns in New Hampshire, 180 are voting on whether to support a resolution asking the federal government to address climate change and to develop research initiatives to create “innovative energy technologies.” The measure also calls for state residents to approve local solutions for combating climate change and for town selectmen to consider forming energy committees.
“This is an important issue to people in New Hampshire; it’s an environmentally friendly state,” said Kurt Ehrenberg, a spokesman from the Sierra Club’s New Hampshire office. “One of the driving factors here is the lack of federal leadership on this issue, and it’s forced people to find a solution on the local level.”
While the resolution is nonbinding, organizers hope to use it to force presidential candidates to address climate change during the New Hampshire presidential primary.
( Read More )
By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN, M.D., The New York Times, March 20, 2007
LOS ANGELES — The spread of a particularly virulent form of tuberculosis in South Africa illustrates a breakdown in the global program that is supposed to keep the disease, one of the world’s deadliest, under control.
The program was intended to detect tuberculosis cases, make sure patients were taking their antibiotics, test patients for resistance to those drugs and monitor the spread of the disease.
But international tuberculosis experts say the system is in deep trouble for an array of reasons: misuse of antibiotics; other bad medical practices, like failing to segregate high-risk patients in hospitals and clinics; and cuts in government spending for such basics as adequate supplies of drugs and laboratories to do the testing.
Such factors have led to the rise of drug-resistant tuberculosis bacteria, a menace the world has only begun to appreciate.
( Read More )
Essay: Tracing the Cigarette’s Path From Sexy to Deadly
By HOWARD MARKEL, M.D., The New York Times, March 20, 2007
For many Americans, the tobacco industry’s disingenuousness became a matter of public record during a Congressional hearing on April 14, 1994. There, under the withering glare of Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, appeared the chief executives of the seven largest American tobacco companies.
Each executive raised his right hand and solemnly swore to tell the whole truth about his business. In sequential testimony, each one stated that he did not believe tobacco was a health risk and that his company had taken no steps to manipulate the levels of nicotine in its cigarettes.
Thirty years after the famous surgeon general’s report declaring cigarette smoking a health hazard, the tobacco executives, it seemed, were among the few who believed otherwise.
But it was not always that way. Allan M. Brandt, a medical historian at Harvard, insists that recognizing the dangers of cigarettes resulted from an intellectual process that took the better part of the 20th century. He describes this fascinating story in his new book, “The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall and Deadly Persistence of the Product that Defined America” (Basic Books).
( Read More )
Skilled Ear for Music May Help Language
By ERIC NAGOURNEY, The New York Times, March 20, 2007
Anyone who has tried to learn Chinese can attest to how hard it is to master the tones required to speak and understand it. And anyone who has tried to learn to play the violin or other instruments can report similar challenges.
Now researchers have found that people with musical training have an easier time learning Chinese.
Writing in the online edition of Nature Neuroscience, researchers from Northwestern University say that both skills draw on parts of the brain that help people detect changes in pitch.
( Read More )
In New Hampshire, Towns Put Climate on the Agenda
By KATIE ZEZIMA, The New York Times, March 19, 2007
BARTLETT, N.H., March 18 — As they do every March at the town meeting here, residents debated and voted Thursday on items most local: whether to outfit the town fire truck with a new hose, buy a police cruiser and put a new drainpipe in the town garage.
But here and in schools and town halls throughout New Hampshire, between discussions about school boards and budgets, residents are also considering a state referendum on a global issue: climate change.
Of the 234 incorporated cities and towns in New Hampshire, 180 are voting on whether to support a resolution asking the federal government to address climate change and to develop research initiatives to create “innovative energy technologies.” The measure also calls for state residents to approve local solutions for combating climate change and for town selectmen to consider forming energy committees.
“This is an important issue to people in New Hampshire; it’s an environmentally friendly state,” said Kurt Ehrenberg, a spokesman from the Sierra Club’s New Hampshire office. “One of the driving factors here is the lack of federal leadership on this issue, and it’s forced people to find a solution on the local level.”
While the resolution is nonbinding, organizers hope to use it to force presidential candidates to address climate change during the New Hampshire presidential primary.
( Read More )
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