Even relatively low quantities of air pollution increase the risk of premature death, according to an article published in Thorax. Black smoke and sulphur dioxide were found to have the closest associations with raising the risk of early death. Air quality in different British electoral wards were checked over long and varying periods, say the researchers. They also examined national data on causes of death. [click link for full article]
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The AARC is following an issue that will affect patient care and safety. We urge you to contact your members of Congress. Late yesterday, the House Ways and Means Committee unveiled its bill to re-authorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and to make certain changes to the Medicare Program. The "Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act of 2007" (H.R. [click link for full article]
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1. As a home care respiratory therapist, do you get all of the respect you deserve as a health care professional? 2. Is it important to you to have RTs recognized as professionals in the home care setting or to be acknowledged as disease managers in the fight against asthma and COPD? 3. Have you ever had a question about a procedure, policy, or piece of equipment that you wanted to get feedback on from other home care RTs? 4. [click link for full article]
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Reno was sizzling with more than summer grass fires. AARC's agenda was also smokin' with a well-attended Summer Forum and Asthma course and the first-ever Respiratory Care journal conference with an audience. Managers and educators gathered in their traditional Summer Forum groupings to study the issues that will help them do a better job. For educators that was hearing information on clinical precepting, evaluating competence, and problem-based learning. [click link for full article]
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The use of steroid medication to treat bronchiolitis -- a common viral lower respiratory infection in infants -- does not prevent hospitalization or improve their respiratory symptoms, according to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The findings by the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) resolve controversy from prior research and are expected to help guide treatment for the most common cause of infant hospitalization. [click link for full article]
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Mikis Euripides, Asthma UK's Assistant Director of Policy & Public Affairs said: 'We are delighted that the Government has decided to listen to the views of people with asthma to find out more about the huge impact prescription charges can have on their lives. People with asthma have consistently told us this is one of the most important issues they want the Government to address with almost 1. [click link for full article]
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The Child Protection Agency, Quebec, Canada, is not going to compel Anael L'Esperance-Nascimento, a 3-year-old boy, who has cancerous cells in the brain and spinal cord, to receive chemotherapy after his parents said they would prefer he had alternative medicine. Anael was diagnosed in October, 2007. He had an operation, which his mother says probably saved his life. After initial chemo treatment at the [click link for full article]
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Surprising findings by Queen's University researchers have shed new light on how the "sunshine vitamin" D -- increasingly used to treat and prevent cancer and other diseases -- is broken down by our bodies."The effectiveness of vitamin D therapy is partly dependent on how quickly it will be broken down," says Biochemistry Professor Glenville Jones, an expert in the field of vitamin D metabolism. [click link for full article]
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A controversial new government-funded report, which found that meditation does not improve health, is methodologically flawed, incomplete, and should be retracted.This is the consensus of a growing number of researchers in the U.S. and abroad who have reviewed the report and are critical of its conclusions. [click link for full article]
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In an industry first, the nation's largest trade association of dietary supplement manufacturers announced a new program for testing Chinese raw materials for purity and composition. The program is in response to industry's efforts to maintain product quality and reliability as competition to supply ingredients and raw materials to the industry grows. China is a major player in this area. "Dietary supplements are safe today, and this will help make them even safer. [click link for full article]
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