Archive for the ‘CDC News’ Category
Most healthy young adults place greater emphasis on health habits than on genetic risk factors when considering what causes common diseases, a research team from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit has found. The study, based on a survey of 25- to-45-year-olds, was released June 8, 2010 in an early online edition of the Annals of Behavioral Medicine.
A lot of people in the nation’s capital have baseball on the brain
this week. Primarily because the Washington Nationals have the first
pick in Major League Baseball’s First-Year Player Draft this afternoon
but also because tomorrow is the major league debut of last year’s first
overall pick, Stephen Strasburg.
I have baseball on my mind
because of last week’s perfect game controversy. Last Wednesday, Armando
Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers pitched what seemed to be the third
perfect game of the young season. Unfortunately, umpire Jim Joyce called
a hit on what should have been the final out. Joyce admitted the mistake after watching a replay, but Major League Baseball is not expected to overturn the call to make Galarraga’s effort a perfect game.
Admirably, both Galarraga and Joyce
handled themselves professionally and politely during the next game’s lineup card exchange. Videos of situations like that one that I linked to there can create opportunities for parents to talk to their children about good sportsmanship, and how to respect other players, coaches, and umpires. This sportsmanship guide from the Department of Health and Human Services can help guide these conversations.
I have always wondered what it
takes to become a professional umpire
so I decided to find out. There are a number of baseball leagues to be
an umpire–amateur, high school, college, minor
and major league
and there are also softball umpires. Each level of umpiring
requires training which can be vigorous. In fact, it takes an average of 7 to 8 years of training and
experience to become a major league umpire.
If you do complete the training, there are good job prospects for umpires. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s most recent Occupational Outlook Handbook, the career outlook for umpires and other sports related jobs is good with the number of jobs expected to increase over the next few years. Unfortunately, unless you make the major leagues where you can make up to $300,000 a year, the pay isn’t that lucrative with the mean wage being approximately $30,000 a year. If the pay isn’t your motivating factor but you want to try umpiring, check to see if there are amateur leagues in your area where you can volunteer.
Would
a career as an umpire or referee interest you?
When I was growing up I spent most of the summer in some state of wetness. My town had a pool that was easy for us to walk or ride our bikes to and it was the center of summer social activity. I took swimming lessons, I swam on the swim team, I became a lifeguard and then helped to teach kids to swim.
When I was a freshman in college the perfect opportunity came along – I could get a phys ed credit by earning my certification as a water safety instructor. I took the course, got my certification and then worked for the Red Cross or the YMCA as a swimming instructor. It was a great college job, and now that I look back on it, it really was the single college class that was ever directly responsible for me getting a job.
In all my years of working at pools, I never had to save a drowning person, thank goodness, but I did jump in for the dramatic rescue of a panicked baby bunny. Nobody was going to drown on my watch!
Unfortunately thousands of people do drown every year and more than 25% of them are children. The sad thing is that I think a lot of these drownings can be prevented by following a few simple rules.
- Learn to swim and teach kids to float and swim as soon as possible.
- Children should always be supervised in and around water.
- Never swim alone.
- It’s fun to play in the water, but there’s a line between fun and reckless. Don’t cross that line.
- You know those foam noodles, and inflatable water wings and inner tubes? Those are toys. They won’t keep a child safe in the water.
- If you want a flotation device that will keep you or a child safe in the water, get a U.S. Coast Guard approved life jacket and wear it properly.
So weather you’re at the ocean, the lake, the pool, or just the secluded swimming hole in the river, be safe in the water this year!
National Institutes of Health scientists have discovered that the activation of immune cells called basophils causes kidney damage in a mouse model of lupus nephritis. These findings and the team’s associated research in humans may lead to new treatments for this serious disease, a severe form of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) that affects the kidneys and is difficult to treat.
A new initiative promises to monitor the impact of federal science investments on employment, knowledge generation, and health outcomes. The initiative–Science and Technology for America’s Reinvestment: Measuring the Effect of Research on Innovation, Competitiveness and Science, or STAR METRICS–is a multi-agency venture led by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
Learn about the history of the Stars and Stripes; flag regulations; the Pledge of Allegiance; how to obtain a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol; and more.
Scientists from across the nation will gather June 3-4 to discuss what is known about sickle cell trait and the potential health implications related to this genetic blood condition. “Framing the Research Agenda for Sickle Cell Trait” will examine the ethical, legal, social, and public health impacts of the blood condition.
Volunteers are being sought for a clinical study examining the subtle changes that may take place in the brains of older people many years before overt symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease appear. Researchers are looking for people with the very earliest complaints of memory problems that affect their daily activities.
The study will follow participants over time, using imaging techniques developed to advance research into changes taking place in the structure and function of the living brain, as well as biomarker measures found in blood and cerebrospinal fluid.
I love summertime. I feel like after months of hibernation and hiding out from the cold and gloom, it’s finally time to be outside taking advantage of all the fun activities that I can only do three months out of the year.
My latest kick is wanting to explore the national and state parks near me. There are so many great hiking trails, as well as places to kayak and canoe, I’m not sure I’ll be able to have time to fit it all in this summer.
Because Saturday is National Trails Day, I’m planning a trip to discover a new hiking trail. The American Hiking Society hosts the event to encourage people to get out and explore the trails.
National and state parks are a great place to start. You can pack a lunch, grab some water bottles and use the maps provided to spend a day in a new place.
If hiking’s not your thing, lots of parks will let you ride your bike or stroll along paved paths.
With so many different things to do at the parks, it’d be a shame not to explore them sometime this summer.
What summertime activity are you looking forward to the most this year?
With the rapid and continuous advances in biotechnology, scientists are better able to see inside the nucleus of a cell to unlock the secrets of its genetic material. However, what happens outside of the nucleus has, in many ways, remained a mystery. Now, researchers with the National Institutes of Health are closer to understanding how activity outside of the nucleus determines a cell’s behavior.
They looked at mouse immune cells and examined the types, amount, and activity of microRNAs, genetic components that help regulate the production of proteins. Their study provides a map to the variety of microRNAs contained within mouse immune cells and reveals the complexity of cellular protein regulation. The study appears online in the journal Immunity.
In a major study, investigators have compared how individuals with Parkinson’s disease respond to deep brain stimulation (DBS) at two different sites in the brain. Contrary to current belief, patients who received DBS at either site in the brain experienced comparable benefits for the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s.
When I was a little kid I can remember my mom warning me not to swim too close to the drains in pools and not to put my head under the water in hot tubs. She was concerned that my ponytail would get caught and I would drown.
I always thought that was a little morbid. I was just a kid and wanted to have fun.
But my mom had reason to be concerned. The Consumer Product Safety Commission launched the Pool Safely campaign earlier this week in response to the number of injuries and deaths from submersions and entrapments in pools and spas.
The commission released some scary statistics:
From 2005-2007, for children younger than 15, there was an average of 385 drownings in pools and spas each year.
74 percent of those fatalities happened at a home and not in a public pool.
The new campaign will help educate people about the simple steps they can take to make sure their kids stay safe around the water.
Tips include:
- Make sure drain covers meet compliance standards
- Install fences with self-latching gates around pools to keep children from falling in
- Don’t let kids swim unsupervised.
- Learn CPR to be prepared
What tips do you have for keeping you and your kids safe in the pool?
Infants born with a severely underdeveloped heart who undergo a newer surgical procedure are more likely to survive their first year and not require a heart transplant than those who have a more traditional surgical procedure, according to a report by researchers supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), which is part of the National Institutes of Health. The study of 549 newborns, however, suggests that after the first year, the two surgical procedures for the relatively rare condition yield similar results.
My mom used to tell her school friends that she was related to the actor, Roy Rogers. She wasn’t. As a kid I used to tell people I was half German, half English, half Irish, and half American. Knowing these two things, you could extrapolate that my family tree contains liars and people that can’t do fractions. 
On my dad’s side, it was believed that my first ancestor in America was born in Germany, because he spoke German. Some relatives said he came to America with a brother and that they were from Frankfurt, Germany. However, these details turned out to be incorrect. Within a short generational span, no one in the family spoke German and the family history was lost.
My sister, Paula, the “Nancy Drew” of the family, decided to do some research because she was interested in the details of our ancestry. When she told me she wanted to check into this, I suggested she start with the USA.gov Family History and Genealogy page. It is a great
launch point with all kinds of links to other resources.
She then went to the National Archives website. The National Archives has a terrific Genealogists/Family Historian web section. They have guidance on how to start your family history search, search-able databases, publications, and a list of independent researchers you can hire to help you with family history search.
U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services website. You can make requests for USCIS to search its historical indices for file citations related to particular individual. From that information you can request copies of specific records. Check the site for the fees for index searches and copies of documents.
If you are of Native American ancestry, you may want to go to the Department of Interior to trace your Indian ancestry. They have guidance on determining if you are eligible for tribal membership.
Although my sister was able to obtain additional information about my great-grandfather, it was only dates and locations. She didn’t learn what motivated my great-grandfather to leave Prussia, why he chose to settle in Iowa, how he felt passing through Ellis Island, or what his circumstances were as an immigrant. Those are the types of details that can only be learned through the intimate sharing of family stories. While you are conducting your search into the past, don’t forget to pass on your family stories and share your history with your children.
Happy Memorial Day weekend!
Last week the Senate passed the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010. Its purpose is to reform the regulation of financial products and services in order to prevent further financial crisis.
To become law, the act still has to be reconciled with the House of Representative’s version– H.R. 4173 – The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009. It includes a number of measures, among them are the establishment of a Financial Stability Oversight Council to monitor systemic risk, a new resolution process for systemically important financial institutions and a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to prevent consumer abuse. You can watch the President’s reaction and read more about financial reform here.
What do you think, should the government have a bigger role in financial oversight?
Have you recovered from the long weekend yet? Thrown off schedule by the holiday on Monday, I completely neglected to DVR this week’s episode of the Bachelorette. Curses!
As I said last week, I spent the weekend in Chicago. I am happy to report I give the Windy City “two very enthusiastic thumbs up- fine holiday fun!” (Points if you can name that movie!!)
On Monday, I was sure to call my parents. Since both of them served significant time in the military, I wanted to be sure to thank them for their service.
Many Americans, particularly those in military families, are concerned that Memorial Day has become the “unofficial first day of summer” as opposed to a day to honor servicemen and women. While not everyone attended a cemetery ceremony or a parade for Memorial Day, I did notice some small, but nice gestures for our troops. The airline I flew back on to DC offered members of the Armed Forces a complimentary cocktail on board, and allowed them to exit the plane first, as the remaining passengers applauded their sacrifice to this country.
Driving home, I passed Arlington National Cemetery and noticed that an American Flag was placed at the base of each headstone, which I thought was touching.
In what way did you recognize Memorial Day? Do you think the true meaning of the holiday has been lost?
A team of scientists from government, academia and private industry has developed a novel treatment that protects mice from infection with the bacterium that causes tularemia, a highly infectious disease of rodents, sometimes transmitted to people, and also known as rabbit fever. In additional experiments with human immune cells, the treatment also demonstrated protection against three other types of disease-causing bacteria that, like the tularemia bacteria, occur naturally, can be highly virulent, and are considered possible agents of bioterrorism. The experimental therapeutic works by stimulating the host immune system to destroy invading microbes. In contrast, antibiotics work by directly attacking invading bacteria, which often develop resistance to these medications. The therapeutic has the potential to enhance the action of antibiotics and provide an alternative to them.