TUESDAY, Sept. 20, 2022 (HealthDay News) — As opioid overdose deaths proceed to soar, a Canadian program factors to 1 method to save lives: offering “safer” opioids to individuals at excessive threat of overdose.

That’s the conclusion of a research evaluating Canada’s first formal “safer opioid provide,” or SOS, program. Such applications purpose to forestall overdoses by giving susceptible individuals an alternative choice to the more and more harmful road provide of opioids.

In this case, the London, Ontario-based program supplied shoppers with a each day dose of prescription opioid tablets, in addition to primary well being care, counseling and social providers.

The end result was a fast drop in emergency division journeys and hospitalizations among the many 82 shoppers studied, the researchers discovered. And over six years, there was not a single overdose loss of life.

“I believe this can be a landmark research,” stated Thomas Kerr, director of analysis on the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use, in Vancouver, Canada.

Kerr, who was not concerned within the research, acknowledged that SOS applications are controversial and have their critics. Concerns have included the opportunity of opioid capsules being bought, or individuals crushing the tablets and injecting them, which carries the chance of overdose or an infection.

But criticisms of safer provide have been made within the absence of knowledge, Kerr stated.

“The complete dialog has been clouded by misinformation,” he stated. “When we’re speaking about issues of life and loss of life, we won’t depend on individuals’s opinions.”

Kerr stated he hoped the brand new findings “will mute a number of the misinformation.”

The research was printed Sept. 19 within the CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Itcomes amid an ever-worsening opioid epidemic.

In the United States, opioid overdose deaths have been on the rise for years, and the scenario worsened after the pandemic hit. In 2020, almost 92,000 Americans died of a drug overdose — largely involving opioids, in accordance with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The disaster has primarily been pushed by illegally made variations of the painkiller fentanyl, an artificial opioid that’s 50 instances stronger than heroin, well being officers say. Illicit fentanyl is bought in varied varieties, together with capsules made to appear to be different prescription opioids. It’s additionally generally combined into different unlawful medicine, like cocaine and heroin, to spice up their efficiency. The result’s that customers are sometimes unaware they’re taking fentanyl.

Safer provide applications are based mostly on the precept of hurt discount — that overdoses, infections and different penalties of opioid dependancy could be prevented, with out requiring individuals who misuse medicine to be utterly abstinent.

The new findings come from a program begun in 2016 at London InterCommunity Health Centre. It offers shoppers with hydromorphone (Dilaudid) tablets, disbursed each day, in addition to many different providers — together with main well being care, remedy for infections like HIV and hepatitis C, counseling, and assist with housing and different social providers.

The researchers, led by Tara Gomes, of Unity Health Toronto, checked out knowledge on all 94 shoppers who entered this system between 2016 and March 2019. They in contrast 82 of these individuals towards 303 people identified with opioid dependancy who didn’t participate in this system.

Over one 12 months, the research discovered, emergency division visits and hospitalizations fell amongst program shoppers, whereas remaining unchanged within the comparability group. And whereas shoppers had treatment prices — lined by Ontario’s prescription drug plan — their yearly well being care prices outdoors of main care plunged: from about $15,600, on common, to $7,300.

Again, there was no substantial change within the comparability group.

Dr. Sandra Springer is an affiliate professor at Yale School of Medicine, in New Haven, Conn., who has helped craft apply pointers for the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

“This research is additional proof that applications that meet sufferers the place they’re and supply easy accessibility to medical look after remedy of opioid use dysfunction can save extra lives and scale back well being care prices,” stated Springer, who was not concerned within the analysis.

Opioid dependency itself could be handled with medication-assisted remedy, which entails counseling and medicines like buprenorphine, methadone and naltrexone.

“While this SOS program didn’t present conventional medicines for the remedy of opioid use dysfunction to all members, these medicines have been out there to sufferers by means of this system,” Springer famous.

And, she stated, different analysis has proven that when individuals who use medicine are provided “compassionate care,” they’re extra prone to settle for “evidence-based remedy.”

The extent to which SOS applications will unfold stays to be seen. In 2020, Health Canada introduced funding for a number of extra pilot applications. And final 12 months, New York City opened two overdose prevention websites — the place individuals with opioid dependancy can use the medicine in a clear, supervised setting, and be related with well being care and social providers.

The websites are the primary publicly acknowledged overdose prevention facilities within the United States.

Kerr stated that within the face of an opioid disaster that’s solely worsening, “the established order response isn’t ample.”

“We need to strive new approaches,” he stated, “and scientifically consider them.”

         
         More info        

The U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse has extra on opioid use dysfunction.

SOURCES: Thomas Kerr, PhD, director, analysis, British Columbia Centre on Substance Use, professor, social medication, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; Sandra Springer, MD, affiliate professor, medication, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; CMAJ, Sept. 19, 2022, on-line

The post Saving Lives With ‘Safer Opioids’ appeared first on Healthy and Slim Life.

March 29, 2022 — Jessica Furby struggled with weight most of her life, consistently weight-reduction plan and exercising to shed kilos. But nothing appeared to assist. By her twenty second birthday, she tipped the scales at greater than 300 kilos.

So, in 2011, whereas a university pupil in Pittsburgh, she determined to have a weight reduction process referred to as lap band surgical procedure. Doctors positioned an artificial belt round her abdomen to restrict what she may eat. It appeared like a very good possibility on the time and, after her surgical procedure, she misplaced about 60 kilos.

But the advantages didn’t final. In the months that adopted, she had ache and different problems. Worst of all, she ultimately regained all the load she’d misplaced — after which some. By 2016, she weighed 350 kilos and was turning into prediabetic.

That’s when she determined to have the band eliminated and, on her physician’s advice, had one other process — gastric sleeve surgical procedure — the place surgeons take away about 80% of the abdomen.

Studies have discovered the sleeve surgical procedures carry fewer problems and a a lot greater success price than lap band procedures, which Furby’s expertise has confirmed.

Today, at age 32, she’s right down to 288 kilos and says she is on her option to hitting her final objective of 200 kilos.

“The surgery has been a godsend,” she says. “I have not had any complications with it at all. The sleeve was life-changing for me.”

Furby’s expertise has turn out to be extra frequent because the dangers, problems, and failures of lap band surgical procedures have been rising over the previous decade.

More band sufferers are selecting to have conversion surgical procedure to gastric sleeve and the same bariatric process referred to as gastric bypass. At the identical time, fewer medical doctors are doing lap band procedures, due to issues like Furby’s.

According to the most recent figures from the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, lap band procedures account for fewer than 1% of the 256,000 bariatric operations executed within the U.S. annually, whereas gastric sleeves add as much as almost 60%. That makes sleeve surgical procedures probably the most generally carried out bariatric operation at present.

By comparability, 35% of bariatric surgical procedures had been lap band procedures in 2011, whereas sleeve operations accounted for underneath 18%.

Furby’s surgeon, Anita P. Courcoulas, MD, says the pattern is being pushed by most of the issues Furby skilled firsthand.

Courcoulas, who’s chief of minimally invasive bariatric and basic surgical procedure on the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, says there are two foremost causes for the decline in lap band procedures.

“It has been shown to be less effective for weight loss [than] other bariatric surgical procedures, and band intolerance often results in band removal,” she says.

Gastric sleeve, adopted by gastric bypass, are the 2 mostly carried out operations within the United States and worldwide, she says.

Courcoulas says the shift from gastric bypass to gastric sleeve procedures “is likely driven by the decline in the band usage, patient preferences for a less invasive operation, such as the sleeve compared to bypass, and surgeon preferences about which operation(s) to offer a given patient.”

Ali Aminian, MD, director of the Bariatric and Metabolic Institute on the Cleveland Clinic, agrees that lap band problems and failures, along with ineffective weight reduction, are behind the pattern, driving sufferers and medical doctors to decide on safer and simpler procedures.

He says the Cleveland Clinic not does band operations, and he has executed a whole lot of conversions.

“Around 50-60% of [lap band] patients require reoperation to take care of the complications,” he says. “So, when you have a surgery where more than half of the time the patients require reoperation, we cannot claim that’s a safe operation.”

Evolution in Bariatric Surgery

The first bariatric surgical procedures for weight reduction date again to the Nineteen Fifties and Sixties, when surgeons on the University of Minnesota first did experimental bypass operations. Adjustable gastric banding first appeared within the late Nineteen Seventies and early Eighties.

But these procedures didn’t acquire widespread mainstream use till gastric band procedures gained full FDA approval in 2001. Clinical trials have discovered individuals who have bariatric surgical procedure have a considerably decrease danger of coronary heart illness and different obesity-related well being issues.

In the last decade that adopted the FDA’s approval of lap band surgical procedure, it turned a well-liked weight reduction process, accounting for greater than a 3rd of all bariatric surgical procedures by 2011.

“Fifteen to 20 years ago, lap band was the most commonly performed procedure for bariatric surgery worldwide and in the United States,” Aminian says. “It was very easy to do, it was quick — it takes 20 minutes to do the procedure — recovery was short, and initially patients had great outcomes. They would lose weight and were healthy.”

But over the previous decade, surgeons discovered that sufferers typically regained the load they’d misplaced, and complication and failure charges rose.

“Because the lap band is a foreign body that we place inside the body, many patients had complications related to that foreign body,” Aminian says.

The band can generally transfer or be displaced, inflicting blockage of the abdomen, specialists notice. Other frequent problems embrace nausea, vomiting, acid reflux disorder, and esophageal points (equivalent to a tough time swallowing). Some sufferers really feel ache, fixed meals cravings, or that they’ll’t eat or drink something. And painful infections and different issues can develop with the tubing or the port positioned underneath the pores and skin that’s linked to the band, which medical doctors use to make changes after surgical procedure.

“Scar tissue can also form around the lap band that can cause a blockage in the stomach,” Aminian says. “Then if the band is too tight, it can erode into the stomach tissue or even go inside the stomach and cause perforation or bleeding.”

By distinction, gastric sleeve and bypass procedures have been discovered to be safer, lead to longer-lasting weight reduction, carry fewer problems, and require fewer affected person reoperations. Aminian estimates that solely 2% to three% of sufferers want second operations.

Another Key Factor: Metabolic ‘Reset’

Sleeve and bypass procedures additionally provide one other vital benefit over band operations: They assist reset the physique’s metabolism higher, altering appetite- and weight-related hormones within the physique.

Those hormones can have an effect on meals cravings, assist folks really feel full after consuming, or enhance weight acquire in methods that may trump willpower, specialists say.

“The lap band doesn’t change the hormones in the body, it’s just a restrictive band around the esophagus or the upper part of the stomach, so it limits the patient’s ability to eat too much,” Aminian says. “That’s why it doesn’t have the metabolic effects.”

But different procedures, just like the gastric sleeve, change the hormones within the physique. Removing the supply of these hormones means the affected person gained’t have the identical appetitie, Aminian says.

“And that’s why it’s very effective. The problem with the lap band is the patient always has the feeling and desire to eat — they’re always hungry. That’s why in the long run, they fail,” he says.

“They change the setpoints,” Aminian says. “When the hormones in your body change, the [metabolic] setpoint in the brain also changes.”

He likens the metabolic setpoint to a thermostat in your house that regulates temperature inside.

“When a patient goes on a diet or goes on the lap band, the thermostat doesn’t change,” he says. “They may lose some weight, but they’re going to regain it because the thermostat is the same. But when the hormones in your body change, then the thermostat will change and you’re not going to regain the weight that you have lost.”

Sachin Kukreja, MD, a surgeon and CEO at DFW Bariatrics and General Surgery in Dallas, says he believes these metabolic adjustments are the most important issues behind profitable surgical procedures.

“People synonymize bariatric surgery with weight loss surgery, but really the metrics we should be using are more related to metabolic measures,” says Kukreja, who hasn’t executed a band surgical procedure since 2013. “And so, the metabolic parameters that change with bariatric surgery are much more significant in the setting with sleeve and gastric sleeve, and much less significant with lap band.”

David Arterburn, MD, agrees that resetting metabolism is necessary however says the problem is “controversial and challenging” amongst bariatric surgeons.

“The metabolic setpoint is the idea that we have a biologically controlled set body weight that we will always return to. Clearly, this is not the case for everyone, as some people lose and maintain long-term weight loss,” says Arterburn, a basic internist and bariatric surgical procedure researcher at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute.

Post-Op Lifestyle Changes Critical to Success

Bariatric surgeons and sufferers alike additionally say that no surgical process is a magic-bullet resolution for weight reduction. Patients who’ve any sort of bariatric surgical procedure should embrace post-op way of life adjustments — consuming more healthy diets, getting extra train, reducing out unhealthy habits — to drop a few pounds and keep weight reduction.

Jan Lasecki, 54, a well being care specialist in Akron, OH, who had band-to-sleeve conversion surgical procedure in 2020, says the post-op follow-up was a minimum of as necessary because the surgical procedure itself in serving to her shed kilos.

She says at first, she selected lap band surgical procedure a number of years in the past as a result of it was “less invasive” than gastric sleeve or bypass. But whereas she misplaced about 50 kilos, she regained it after about 6 years and had different problems.

So, 2 years in the past, Lasecki had two surgical procedures 6 months aside — one to take away her band, and a second to create a gastric sleeve. And the outcomes, she says, have been very profitable, partly due to the adjustments she made after surgical procedure, with the assistance of her physician’s workers.

“I have now lost about 90 pounds and have kept if off since surgery,” she says. “I would tell anyone considering any bariatric surgery, it was definitely worth it [and] having the sleeve resulted in greater weight loss.”

The follow-up was key to the success, she says.

The workers “have the tools and support to help you when you tend to fall back on old behaviors and start to regain weight,” Lasecki says. “They can help you before it gets out of control. I had no issues following either procedure from a surgery perspective.”

Sally and Robert Cordova — who had gastric bypass and sleeve surgical procedures, respectively, 3 years in the past — agree that the post-op way of life adjustments are vital to success.

“When we agreed to have this surgery, we agreed that this will be a lifestyle change for the rest of our lives,” says Sally, 48, an accounting specialist who’s misplaced 150 kilos — half her physique weight — since her surgical procedure. “You can’t just get to your ideal weight and then stop.”

Robert, 47, a federal border management agent whose workmates nicknamed him “Big Rob” when he tipped the scales at 336 kilos, says it’s a mistake to consider the surgical procedure as a “magic-bullet” resolution to weight problems. There’s extra to it than that, he says.

“One of the things I like about the process I’ve taken is, in my opinion, they set you up for success,” he says. “Because it’s not just having the surgery and you’re done; it’s all the classes educating you about all the lifestyle changes you have to do, and starting them before the surgery. The only people that I know personally who haven’t been successful with the surgery are those who haven’t made the lifestyle changes.”

Today, at 230 kilos, Robert says he’s by no means felt higher.

“I feel great,” he says. “I have become more active, obviously doing everything is a lot easier. It got to the point where it was a task to just tying up my shoes!”

Should Band Patients Convert to Sleeve or Bypass?

Bariatric surgeons interviewed for this text had been reluctant to say that each one individuals who had lap band procedures ought to convert to gastric sleeve or bypass. But they made it clear that sleeve and bypass procedures are safer and simpler than lap band surgical procedure, which is why it’s hardly ever executed at present.

“If a patient experiences poor weight loss or complications from a band, they can consider conversion/revision to a sleeve or bypass,” says Courcoulas, echoing the views of different medical doctors.

“The choice of revision procedure should be based on patient factors, including diabetes and total weight. Converting a band to a sleeve is a technically easier operation, and some studies show that there are fewer complications, compared to conversion to a bypass. These considerations need to be balanced with data that show that both weight loss and metabolic improvements such as diabetes are greater after bypass, compared to sleeve.”

Doctors and specialists additionally say it’s necessary for sufferers who’re contemplating a lap band conversion to gastric sleeve or bypass to know the variations amongst these three main procedures, all endorsed by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.

Here’s a primer, together with the professionals and cons of every process:

Lap Band

In lap band surgical procedure, an adjustable gastric band product of silicone is positioned across the prime a part of the abdomen, making a small pouch above it, to restrict the quantity of meals an individual can eat. The measurement of the opening between the pouch and the abdomen could be adjusted with fluid injections by a port positioned beneath the pores and skin.

Food goes by the abdomen however is restricted by the smaller opening of the band.

Advantages:

• Lowest price of problems proper after surgical procedure
• No division of the abdomen or intestines
• Patients go residence on the day of surgical procedure, and restoration is fast.
• The band could be eliminated, if essential.

Disadvantages:

• The band could should be adjusted, once in a while, and sufferers should make month-to-month workplace visits through the first 12 months.
• There’s much less weight reduction than with different surgical procedures.
• It comes with the chance of band motion (slippage) or harm to the abdomen over time (erosion).
• The surgical procedure implies that a international implant has to stay within the physique.
• It has a excessive price of reoperation.
• The surgical procedure can convey swallowing issues, enlargement of the esophagus, and different problems.

Gastric Sleeve

For laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy — typically known as gastric sleeve — surgeons take away about 80% of the abdomen, so the remaining abdomen is the scale and form of a banana.

The new, smaller abdomen holds much less meals and liquid, lowering how a lot meals (and what number of energy) the affected person can get. By eradicating the portion of the abdomen that produces starvation and urge for food hormones, the surgical procedure additionally helps reset the physique’s metabolism — lowering starvation, growing emotions of fullness, and permitting the physique to succeed in and keep a wholesome weight in addition to management blood sugar.

Advantages:

• It’s technically easy and has a brief surgical procedure time.
• It could be executed in sure sufferers with high-risk medical situations.
• It could also be step one for sufferers with extreme weight problems or as a bridge to gastric bypass.
• The surgical procedure brings efficient weight reduction and enchancment of obesity-related situations (sometimes 50%-60%, Mayo Clinic estimates), with a low complication price (2%-3%).

Disadvantages:

• Nonreversible process
• May worsen or trigger new reflux and heartburn
• Less affect on metabolism, in comparison with bypass procedures

Gastric Bypass

Gastric bypass, often known as the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (French for “in the form of a Y”) is one other efficient process used to deal with weight problems and obesity-related illnesses (executed laparoscopically because the Nineties).

For the operation, surgeons divide the abdomen right into a smaller prime portion (pouch) concerning the measurement of an egg, then the bigger a part of the abdomen is bypassed and not shops or digests meals.

The small gut can be divided and linked to the brand new egg-sized abdomen pouch to permit meals to cross.

Gastric bypass works by limiting the quantity of meals and energy a affected person can devour. It additionally decreases starvation and will increase fullness, permitting the affected person to succeed in and keep a wholesome weight. The affect on hormones and metabolic well being typically leads to enchancment of diabetes and helps sufferers with reflux.

Advantages:

• Reliable and long-lasting weight reduction
• Effective for remission of obesity-associated situations
• Effective weight reduction (60%-70%, Mayo Clinic estimates)

Disadvantages

• Technically extra complicated when in comparison with gastric sleeve or band
• More vitamin and mineral deficiencies than with gastric sleeve or band
• Risk for small bowel problems and obstruction, in addition to ulcers, particularly with NSAID or tobacco use
• May trigger “dumping syndrome,” a sense of illness after consuming or ingesting, particularly sweets

The post Lap Band Failures Drive Many to Safer Weight Loss Surgeries appeared first on Healthy and Slim Life.

Feb. 24, 2022 — How ought to the media safely report on suicide?

The information of Miss USA 2019 Cheslie Kryst’s premature dying by suicide on Jan. 30 shocked the world. Scrolling by breaking information headlines and social media feeds, many questioned how an achieved lawyer, TV host, and social activist may have taken her personal life at age 30.

Comments expressing condolences and nicely needs to her household and pals poured in, together with reminders to at all times verify in on family and friends members.

But for a sure group of individuals, headlines and social media posts with graphic particulars about Kryst’s dying stirred up emotions of hopelessness and despair of their very own.

“While most people will ingest these things without having any kind of problem in relation to it, some small group of vulnerable people might be impacted in ways that are dangerous, even leading to suicide contagion,” says Victor Schwartz, MD, a medical affiliate professor of psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine.

Suicide contagion is “the process by which one or more suicides increase the risk of suicidal behavior in others,” in keeping with the American Association of Suicidology.

Media protection of a dying by suicide performs a important function in susceptible folks’s security after such information, says Madelyn S. Gould, PhD, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York.

“There’s been a myriad of research in this area, and it’s clear that there’s a real impact of the media on subsequent suicides, depending on how the story is shaped, how headlines are shaped, and the pictures that are included in the article,” she says. “It could be the difference between life and death for a vulnerable person who gets triggered by the way the story was written.” And information of celeb suicides can result in significantly dangerous outcomes, Gould says.

“They [at-risk people] may have been identifying with that celebrity for years or envision a perfect life. ‘How could that person be vulnerable to suicide?’” she says. “For another vulnerable person, it can make them feel even more hopeless about the situation.”

Shaping the story to supply hope to those that could also be scuffling with suicidal ideas, in addition to sharing useful sources, could make an enormous distinction, suicide prevention specialists say.

“Is it a story about hope and healing and encouraging health coping strategies, or is it glorification of someone’s death by suicide?” Gould says.

“If the story presents suicide as a ‘coping mechanism,’ then the greater number of those types of stories, unfortunately, the greater likelihood that there will be subsequent deaths by suicide.”

WebMD spoke to suicide prevention specialists who analyzed media retailers’ protection of Kryst’s dying. Read on for a have a look at how they are saying secure reporting practices may save lives.

How to Report on Suicide

Many suicide prevention organizations — such because the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, American Association of Suicidology, and World Health Organization — have revealed pointers on secure reporting methods.

One of essentially the most common ideas is just not reporting the tactic by which the suicide befell.

Information about location and time, and different delicate materials, like pictures, movies, or point out of suicide notes, must also be largely averted.

“Things like method or very graphic details about someone’s death from suicide can have a tendency to provide a way for people to identify with that death,” says Chris Maxwell, director of public relations and media on the American Association of Suicidology.

It’s additionally essential to avoid overly emotional or dramatic language when reporting on deaths by suicide, which might run counter to sure features of journalism, says Schwartz.

“The fundamental problem with reporting on celebrity suicide is that if you look at the guidelines for safe reporting, they’re almost exactly the opposite of what journalists are typically trained to do,” he says. “We’re trying to have it not be incendiary, exciting, interesting, or romantic.” The specialists assist us analyze completely different retailers’ headlines and reporting of Kryst’s dying to raised perceive how media can cowl suicide safely and successfully.

Media Coverage of Cheslie Kryst’s Death

The New York Times

“That’s fairly objective,” Maxwell says. “At least in the headline or the subheading, there’s not necessarily a method. Suicide isn’t directly mentioned.”

“In mentioning suicide in general, we have to have a balance. It’s OK to say someone dies by suicide without necessarily talking about a method.”

Fox News

“They immediately say she jumped to her death and tell us from where, and then describe the building, so they are describing the actual suicide and the means to suicide,” Schwartz says.

“Journalists are walking a kind of tightrope here, because if you present this like it’s a clinical research paper, people could accuse you of being heartless. But you don’t have to open up the article with describing how she jumped from the 29th floor of a particular building and what time.”

New York Post

“I would absolutely not include anything about jumping from a high-rise,” Maxwell says. “It’s outside of any sort of guidelines or recommendations.”

“These pictures are totally irresponsible, with no opportunity to be talking about treatment for depression or calling the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline — which will soon be accessed by calling, chatting or texting 988 — folks can call, chat, or text if they are worried about someone else or if they are suicidal themselves,” Gould says.

NBC News

“’Her body was found in a Manhattan neighborhood near Times Square’ — that’s an interesting way to phrase it,” says Maxwell.

“I can’t imagine that adding anything to the story. Saying that she died, and that she accomplished all these things, seems much more core to the story and much more effective at talking about who she was. That’s what we should be focusing on.”

Social Media Considerations

Social media posts about deaths by suicide may be tough, since these platforms additionally function an area for therapeutic and unity between those that have been affected by suicide, says Dimple Patel, PsyD, a therapist and board member of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Illinois chapter.

“I’ve met so many people on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook who I’ve connected through shared experience of losing someone or being in that grief process,” says Patel, who misplaced her mom to suicide in 2011.

“There is a form of community there for those who are struggling. They can connect with people who are feeling the same way.”

But issues also can come up, particularly if posts aren’t carefully monitored, which in the end displays the “pros and cons of social media,” says Aneri Pattani, a Kaiser Health News reporter and 2021 Bloomberg fellow at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

“You have the ability to talk about an issue that is often stigmatized and that is not talked about, which can also be detrimental,” Pattani says. “So, in some ways, that’s great that it brings the conversation forward like that and to people on a platform where they might be more comfortable engaging with it.”

“At the same time, you have no idea when you put something on social media who it’s going to reach and what state they’re going to be in.”

One potential solution to promote security for susceptible folks could possibly be utilizing “trigger warnings” in posts about suicide, together with together with info on sources just like the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and the Crisis Text Line.

“As someone is seeing your story or call out, if they are in a vulnerable position, they are also finding the resources right there and then,” Pattani says.

Joining Forces

Having advocates inside journalism selling secure reporting practices by coaching and dialogue with colleagues could be a massive a part of bringing about change, says Gould.

And some journalists within the discipline have already begun this work.

Pattani and Holly Wilcox, PhD, a professor on the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, are becoming a member of forces with Johns Hopkins and the Bloomberg American Health Initiative to create a free course for journalists that teaches accountable reporting practices.

The course, which will likely be out there on Coursera, will concentrate on suicide as a public well being challenge and can share analysis on how media reporting can have an effect on suicide charges.

It can even provide sensible suggestions for reporting on suicide, reminiscent of learn how to interview sources sensitively, together with info on pitching, enhancing, and producing tales on varied codecs, together with video and audio, Pattani says.

The course is anticipated to be made public this summer time.

“We’re hoping we can get working journalists, as well as high school and college journalists who are learning, to use this course, so they have the skills and knowledge when they’re starting off in the field about how to report on this issue,” says Pattani.

But reporters aren’t the one ones who may significantly profit from all these sources, in keeping with Schwartz.

“A lot of mental health professionals are simply not aware of these media issues and that how mental health professionals speak to the media about suicide matters also,” says Schwartz. “The goal of these efforts is not to tell journalists that they are bad people. We want to educate people who need to be educated on both fronts about these issues.”

If you or somebody you recognize is scuffling with suicidal ideas, please name the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, textual content HOME to 741741, or go right here for extra sources.

The post Media Needs Safer Reporting on Suicide: Experts appeared first on Healthy and Slim Life.

COMMENTARY

By Susannah Schaefer, government vice chair, president, and chief government officer of Smile Train

As the worldwide well being care group considers the right way to create well being care methods that work for everybody – together with essentially the most susceptible amongst us – a subject that sparks widespread dialog is well being fairness. Health fairness means everybody having the chance to attain their full well being potential, and particularly making certain that no particular person’s social circumstances stop them from this.

Most just lately, we’ve sadly seen by the continued COVID-19 pandemic how social inequities can create a disproportionate impression on varied populations because of the uneven distribution of assets. Even within the U.S., a current research discovered that “your ZIP code can carry more weight on your potential health outcomes than your genetic code, due to disparities among low- and high-income populations, including access to care.”

Smile Train, a cleft-focused nonprofit, has, for greater than 20 years, centered on bettering well being fairness around the globe by providing these born with cleft lip and palate entry to secure, high quality cleft therapy and complete care in additional than 85 international locations. We advance a sustainable answer and scalable international well being mannequin for cleft therapy, drastically bettering kids’s lives, together with their capability to eat, breathe, converse, and in the end thrive. Rather than flying docs into low-resource areas to carry out cleft surgical procedures, we offer funding and infrastructure so our medical companions are capable of present high quality surgical procedure, dental care, speech remedy and extra, which permits for follow-up care, and strengthens native well being methods.

We imagine that all of us have a voice on this dialog, and a job we are able to play. We see firsthand day by day the facility of dedicating the correct assets to creating entry to higher well being care extra equitable globally. Through our work, we’ve confirmed that expertise and forging like-minded partnerships are impactful methods to advance well being fairness, with outcomes that may encourage extra innovation and motion from our international communities.

Technology is a key issue with limitless potential to advance well being fairness, construct well being care capability, and enhance outcomes. For instance, across the globe, lack of entry to ongoing surgical coaching threatens the standard of surgical outcomes and the supply of life-saving care. These challenges have solely grown through the pandemic as conventional coaching and care turned almost not possible in lots of areas. Smile Train, along with its Medical Advisory Board, has devoted analysis to exploring methods to enhance accessible digital coaching choices and supply what is basically “the most modern textbook available” by way of digital instruments corresponding to our Virtual Surgery Simulator and different offline assets without spending a dime to surgeons in low-resource international locations worldwide. 

Telemedicine also can carry long-term well being fairness enhancements as suppliers can attain extra folks, particularly in distant areas or the place sufferers keep away from care because of fears of stigma. During the pandemic, even whereas some surgical procedures had been on maintain, Smile Train’s well being companions had been capable of present hundreds of hours of vital care, together with speech remedy and dietary assist by way of telemedicine.

An estimated two-thirds of the world’s kids lack entry to secure surgical care. In 2020, Smile Train additionally partnered with Kids Operating Room to produce new state-of-the-art working rooms throughout Africa, and has  offered important, life-saving surgical care to hundreds of kids inside the first yr. Through this highly effective partnership, we’ve been capable of straight handle the vital significance of offering safer surgical procedure to additional cut back well being disparities.

While social determinants of well being – outlined by the World Health Organization as “the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age” – straight affect many people’ well being outcomes, we at Smile Train know we are able to all work collectively towards making the world a more healthy, happier, and extra equitable place.

Susannah (Susie) Schaefer is government vice chair, president, and chief government officer (CEO) of Smile Train, the world’s largest cleft-focused group with a sustainable and native mannequin of supporting surgical procedure and different types of complete cleft care.  In her position as president and CEO, she oversees Smile Train’s imaginative and prescient to develop entry to well being care and improve native cleft care capability in international locations the place Smile Train has energetic applications. 

This article is a part of WebMD/Medscape’s contributor program, which lets folks and organizations exterior of WebMD/Medscape submit articles for consideration on our websites. Have an concept for a submission?  Email us at [email protected]

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Dec. 8, 2021 — With tens of millions of Americans vaccinated and boosted in opposition to COVID-19, many are anxious to participate in additional regular vacation gatherings for the primary time in practically 2 years. But with COVID-19 nonetheless a priority, particularly amid the brand new Omicron variant, staying secure is essential. And a brand new developments device from Google Maps goals to just do that, providing info to make the vacation safer and extra environment friendly by pinpointing the busiest occasions to journey, grocery store, head to the salon, and purchase presents for family members.

According to a Morning Consult ballot of two,200 American adults, 44% of these surveyed stated they plan to journey for the vacations this 12 months, up from 35% in 2020. And 63% of respondents stated they plan to journey in December, a rise from 59% in 2020.

Here are the perfect and worst occasions to partake in vacation preparation this 12 months, in accordance with Google Maps:

Travel

Google Maps suggests these planning to journey in December keep away from airports round midday on Saturdays. It calls 9 p.m. Saturday the least busy flying time.

Grocery shops

If you’re planning a giant meal with household and pals, grocery buying may get messy at 1 p.m. Sunday, whereas the quietest time is round 8 p.m. Thursday.

Salons

Another high-traffic spot  is the salon. According to Google Maps, searches for nail salons surpass fitness center searches by greater than 3 occasions in December. But to keep away from ready round — and attainable COVID-19 transmission — the vacation developments device says to skip that journey round 11 a.m. on Saturdays and as an alternative go at 7 p.m. on Monday or Tuesday.

Shopping facilities

People will probably be heading to buying facilities for gift-buying in December. Last 12 months, Google Maps searches for shops like Kay Jewelers, Bath & Body Works, and Barnes & Noble elevated 100% in December from the earlier month. The busiest time is 1 p.m. Saturday, and the least busy is 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Post places of work

Post workplace searches elevated by 150% in December final 12 months. Google Maps discovered 3 p.m. Tuesday was the height time for submit workplace site visitors, whereas 2 p.m. Saturday was the least chaotic.

Food and drink

For these trying to keep away from the kitchen in the course of the holidays, Google Maps famous some takeout meals developments:

• Chinese meals tops the checklist of in style meals decisions for Christmas Day, with orders growing 25% from a typical Saturday.
• In New York and Los Angeles, pizza is probably the most sought-after takeout merchandise on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day.
• Portland, OR, residents seek for burgers on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and New Year’s Eve. Burgers are additionally in style in Minneapolis on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
• Seattle, WA, residents gravitate towards Thai meals on Thanksgiving Day.

Check out the Google Maps weblog for extra suggestions and methods on the best way to keep secure whereas buying and working errands this vacation season.

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Nov. 22, 2021 — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is promising a future with safer consuming water.

The company not too long ago requested its scientific advisory board to evaluate paperwork in regards to the well being results of sure chemical compounds present in consuming water and elsewhere within the surroundings, with new knowledge suggesting well being issues might happen at decrease publicity ranges than beforehand believed.

The chemical compounds in query are sometimes known as the “endlessly chemical compounds,” as a result of they do not break down and so they accumulate simply in each the surroundings and the physique. Collectively generally known as PFAS, each PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) and PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonic acid) have been linked to quite a lot of well being issues. The EPA additionally says PFOA is probably going cancer-causing.

The chemical compounds are discovered not solely in consuming water but additionally in a variety of on a regular basis shopper merchandise, from rain jackets to pizza bins, paper items, and anti-stick cookware. One draw is the chemical compounds’ skill to repel grime, rain, and grease.

The EPA motion “is a vital first step, however there may be vital work to be completed,” says David Andrews, PhD, a senior scientist on the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit group selling higher environmental well being.

The EPA motion is not the one current one addressing PFAS contaminants. Last week, a bipartisan invoice launched in Congress would ban the “endlessly chemical compounds” from meals packaging, with a proposed efficient date of Jan. 1, 2024.

And the infrastructure invoice simply signed by President Joe Biden consists of $10 billion to deal with rising contaminants in consuming water, together with PFAS.

EPA’s Efforts on Drinking Water

After the EPA’s scientific advisory board critiques the brand new analyses, which can be found for public on the EPA web site, the data will likely be utilized by the EPA to tell well being advisories and to develop the utmost contaminant degree objectives and a nationwide major consuming water regulation for each chemical compounds.

As for timelines, the EPA says it should “transfer as shortly as attainable to subject up to date well being advisories for PFOA and PFOS after reviewing the brand new science and getting enter from the scientific advisory board,” based on a information launch issued by EPA. The advisories aren’t enforceable or regulatory; they’re meant to present states and public well being officers data on the well being results linked to consuming water contamination.

At the identical time because it critiques the brand new science, the EPA says it should work on the event of the proposed consuming water regulation for publication within the fall of 2022, with an efficient date of 2023.

Previously, the EPA has established a well being advisory degree of 70 components per trillion (ppt) in consuming water to guard the general public from publicity to PFOA and PFOS. The 4 draft paperwork with new knowledge “indicated that detrimental well being results might happen at a lot decrease ranges of publicity to PFOA and PFOS than beforehand understood and that PFOA is a probable carcinogen,” based on the EPA.

While producers have largely phased out manufacturing of the chemical compounds within the U.S., the chemical compounds are extraordinarily secure and persist within the surroundings.

Underlying the Concerns

So pervasive are these chemical compounds that most individuals within the U.S. have been uncovered and have PFOS and PFOA of their blood, the CDC says.

According to the EPA, human research have linked PFOA publicity to excessive ldl cholesterol, decreased vaccination response, elevated liver enzymes, pregnancy-induced hypertension and preeclampsia, and cancers of the testicles and kidney. PFOS publicity has been linked to excessive ldl cholesterol and reproductive and developmental adversarial results.

As manufacturing and use of each PFOA and PFOS have declined since 2002, the CDC says, blood ranges have declined from 60% to 80%.

More Perspective

“This is a really vital change within the evaluation of PFOS and PFOA [by the EPA],” says Andrews of the Environmental Working Group. “In the paperwork, the EPA for the primary time relied on research about PFAS impression on human well being” relatively than animal research. “As a end result, the company has modified its place on protected ranges of publicity.”

The newest knowledge signifies that “detrimental well being results might happen at a lot decrease ranges of publicity to PFOA and PFOS than beforehand understood and that PFOA is a probable carcinogen,” Andrews notes in an Environmental Working Group information launch.

The EPA’s earlier assumptions about protected ranges “have undervalued or miscalculated potential human hurt,” Andrews says.

Travis Loop, a spokesperson for the Water Environment Federation, whose members embody wastewater utilities within the U.S., says his group additionally helps “actions and laws for PFAS which are primarily based on credible science and developed after cautious deliberation.” Water utilities are receivers, not producers, of PFAS, and wish laws and legal guidelines to restrict publicity, he says.

Some States Won’t Wait

Frustrated by the EPA timeline, with the 2023 goal date for the regulation to take impact, officers in some states have moved ahead to make their very own laws on PFAS limits in consuming water. The National Conference of State Legislatures tracks these efforts.

Some states, together with Michigan and New Jersey, have already set limits for PFAS in consuming water which are stricter than the present EPA limits.

Individual Efforts

Safer Chemicals, Healthier Families is a corporation that seeks robust chemical insurance policies and educates the general public about the way to defend households from poisonous chemical compounds.

Its web site has updates on progress and ideas for the way to write firms to deal with contaminants of their merchandise. Current efforts embody campaigns to have REI cease producing outside gear merchandise with PFAS and to have Burger King cease wrapping their Whoppers in packaging containing the chemical compounds.

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