An estimated 90 percent to 98 percent of individuals who die from suicide meet criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder, according to background information in the article. “Prior research has consistently found associations between psychiatric conditions (e.g., depression, bipolar disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD], schizophrenia and alcohol and/or drug use disorders) and risk of fatal and non-fatal suicide attempts,” the authors write. However, determining the association between individual psychiatric conditions and suicide risk has been difficult, in part because of the low numbers of suicides in many research studies.

The Veterans Affairs Healthcare System is the largest single healthcare system in the country, and recent research indicates veterans have an elevated risk of suicide when compared to the general population, the authors note. Mark A. Ilgen, Ph.D., and colleagues at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Healthcare System and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, examined the associations between different types of psychiatric diagnoses and suicide risk among more than 3 million veterans who received any type of care at a VA facility in 1999 and were alive at the beginning of 2000. Psychiatric diagnoses were obtained from 1998 and 1999 treatment records and deaths by suicide were tracked over the following seven years.

During this follow-up period, 7,684 veterans died by suicide. Slightly less than half (46.8 percent) of those who died by suicide had at least one psychiatric diagnosis, and all of the psychiatric diagnoses examined-depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, substance use disorders, PTSD and other anxiety disorders-were associated with an elevated risk of suicide.

“In men, the risk of suicide was greatest for those with bipolar disorder, followed by depression, substance use disorders, schizophrenia, other anxiety disorders and PTSD,” the authors write. “In women, the greatest risk of suicide was found in those with substance use disorders, followed by bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, PTSD and other anxiety disorder.”

Overall, the least common diagnosis-bipolar disorder-was more strongly associated with suicide than any other condition. Bipolar disorder was diagnosed in 9 percent of those who died by suicide. “This makes bipolar disorder particularly appropriate for targeted intervention efforts or attempts to improve medication adherence,” the authors write.

“In all likelihood, many individuals with psychiatric disorders who were at risk for suicide were not identified by the treatment system,” the authors conclude. “This could be owing to stigma, which may have made individuals less likely to report their mental health symptoms to physicians, an effect that could be more pronounced among men with military experience. These findings highlight the importance of improved identification, diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric diagnoses (particular bipolar disorder, depression, substance use disorders and schizophrenia) of all health care system users.”

(Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2010;67[11]:1152-1158.)

Source:

Archives of General Psychiatry

The study is published in the online issue of the BioMed Central journal BMC Pediatrics and is the work of researchers at McGill University in
Montreal, Canada, and other colleagues in Canada.

Neonatal units often use the “heel prick” test to recover blood to test blood sugar. Babies can take several minutes to recover from such a
procedure, and the longer they are stressed, the higher the risk to their health.

There is some evidence that skin to skin contact or KMC lessens the pain response in full term and moderately preterm babies, but there are no
studies on how very preterm babies may benefit.

Corresponding and lead author Dr Celeste Johnston who is James McGill Professor and Associate Director for Research at the McGill School of
Nursing said, in a statement reported by the BBC, that:

“The pain response in very preterm neonates appears to be reduced by skin-to-skin maternal contact.”

Using a single-blind randomized crossover study, Johnston and colleagues performed the heel prick test on 61 babies between 28 and nearly 32
weeks gestational age at three neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in Canada.

Single blind means the people handling the babies knew what was happening and why, and crossover means the same babies went through the
experimental condition and the “control” condition.

Thus, in the experimental condition, a baby would be held in KMC for 15 minutes before and during the heel lance or heel prick test. In the control
condition, a baby would be just lying down swaddled in a blanket in the incubator when the test was carried out.

The researchers measured pain response using the Premature Infant Pain Profile (PIPP) which assesses three facial expressions (these were
filmed continuously), maximum heart rate, minimum oxygen saturation in blood from baseline at 30-second intervals. They also used a secondary
measure, the time for the heart rate to return to baseline.

The results showed that:

PIPP scores 90 seconds after the heel prick test were signficantly lower when the babies were held in KMC.
Non-significant differences favouring KMC also occurred at 30, 60 and 120 seconds.
Time to recover was a significan minute shorter (123 versus 193 seconds) when babies had the heel prick while in KMC than when they were
not.
Facial actions during KMC were signficantly lower at all intervals after the heel prick test, with a two-fold difference at 120 seconds.
And heart rate was also significantly lower across the first 90 seconds when the babies were in KMC.

The researchers concluded that:

“Very preterm neonates appear to have endogenous mechanisms elicited through skin-to-skin maternal contact that decrease pain response, but not
as powerfully as in older preterm neonates.”

They wrote that KMC for managing pain in preterm babies “is obviously cost-effective and has now been shown to be effective in infants from 28
weeks through term”, and suggested that it should be policy for NICUs to offer KMC to mothers, not only to help them feel closer to their babies, but
also for the benefit of the babies’ health.

“The shorter recovery time in KMC is clinically important in helping maintain homeostasis,” wrote the authors.

“Kangaroo mother care diminishes pain from heel lance in very preterm neonates: A crossover trial.
C Celeste Johnston, Francoise Filion, Marsha Campbell-Yeo, Celine Goulet, Linda Bell, Kathryn McNaughton, Jasmine Byron, Marilyn Aita, G Allen
Finley, and Claire-Dominique Walker.
BMC Pediatrics 2008, 8:13
First published online 24 April 2008.
Featured as cover article 24 May 2008 (full text).
doi:10.1186/1471-2431-8-13

Click here for Article.

Sources: journal abstract, BBC News.

: Catharine Paddock, PhD

Kennedy-Murphy Bill Details
The bill would provide $50 million in fiscal year 2006 for 20 three-year grants to help fund the development of regional health information organizations, or RHIOs, as well as “such sums as necessary” to fund the grant programs from FY 2007 through FY 2010 (CQ HealthBeat, 5/11). The funds also could be used to fund 10-year loans to develop RHIOs, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Reston, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 5/12). The bill would require HHS to certify that the networks complied with privacy, interoperability and other standards (CQ HealthBeat, 5/11). RHIOs would allow hospitals, doctors and nurses to quickly transfer patient information between facilities, the AP/Boston Globe reports (Barrett, AP/Boston Globe, 5/12). In addition, the legislation would provide $2.5 million annually from FY 2007 through FY 2010 to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality “to help doctors’ offices make sound IT investments,” CQ HealthBeat reports. Under the bill, Medicare payment “adjustments” would be available to physicians and suppliers who participate in the networks, but an amount is not specified (CQ HealthBeat, 5/11).

Senate Legislation?
Clinton said she plans to soon introduce broader Senate legislation addressing health care IT with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) (CongressDaily, 5/11). According to USA Today, Clinton for a year has worked with Frist on the legislation (Stone, USA Today, 5/12). Clinton declined to disclose additional details about the bill. Kennedy said that Frist’s support of the effort could increase the likelihood of Medicare funds and federal matching funds for states to develop and implement electronic networks in their Medicaid programs being allocated to it (CQ HealthBeat, 5/11). In addition, Kennedy said the support of Clinton and Gingrich could indicate Senate action this year on provisions of HR 2234 (Mulligan, Providence Journal, 5/12).

Comments
Clinton and Gingrich “joined a growing chorus of experts” who support health care IT systems, the New York Times reports (Hernandez, New York Times, 5/12). Clinton and Gingrich said that overreliance on paper records is unsafe for patients and increases the total cost of providing health care. “If we can begin to move to using more information technology, we will help reduce errors, we will improve quality, we will save money,” Clinton said (Meek, New York Daily News, 5/12). Gingrich said hospitals would be willing to pay for 80% of physician offices nationwide to install the systems if they were guaranteed not to violate federal laws against referral inducements (CQ HealthBeat, 5/11). Clinton said that she and Gingrich “have a lot in common in the way we see these problems and have to deal with in order to have a 21st century health system” (AP/Las Vegas Sun, 5/12). “Paper kills. … This is not complicated. If you see paper in the health system, it risks killing people,” Gingrich said (New York Daily News, 5/12). He added that the Murphy-Kennedy bill “sets the stage for the House and Senate to do something decisive this year” to reform health care (CQ HealthBeat, 5/11).

“Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

The infected woman is from Nepal and now lives in Sunnyvale, California.

Those sitting next or near to her did not know she was infected and posed a danger to their health. The woman had been diagnosed with drug-resistant tuberculosis in India. However, there is no international law that forbids an infected woman from making that flight.

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA) told local public health authorities that one of the passengers on Flight 293 had been infected with TB. Authorities want to get in touch with about 44 people who were sitting near the infected woman. The search for those passengers extends to 17 states. These 44 people should undergo testing for tuberculosis, with a follow-up 10 weeks later. As the woman was reportedly coughing during her flight(s) the CDC is especially keen to track these people down quickly.

A week after arriving in San Francisco the woman checked into the emergency room at Stanford University Hospital, where she was hospitalized. Doctors do not yet know what her prognosis is. TB takes a long time to know whether a patient has responded to medication. Stanford’s ER medical team informed the Santa Clara County Department of Public Health, which in turn notified the CDC and other government agencies.

Martin Cetron, Director, Global Migration and Quarantine, CDC, said the woman was at the extreme end of the severity of TB – she was “quite sick”. Cetron added that the patient was coughing up blood when she arrived at the hospital.

What is TB?

TB, or tuberculosis, is a disease caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacterium. The bacteria can attack several parts of your body, but they generally attack the lungs. TB disease was once the number one cause of death in the United States.

In the 1940s, scientists discovered the first of several drugs now used to treat TB. As a result, TB slowly began to disappear in the developed world. But TB has come back. After 1984, the number of TB cases reported in the United States began to increase. More than 25,000 cases were reported in 1993.

How Is TB Spread?

TB is spread through the air from one person to another. The bacteria are put into the air when a person with TB disease of the lungs or throat coughs or sneezes. Laughing, singing, or playing brass or wooden instruments can also spread the germs in an enclosed area. People nearby may inhale these bacteria and become infected.

When a person breathes in TB bacteria, the bacteria can settle in the lungs and begin to grow. From there, they move through the blood to other parts of the body, such as the kidney, spine, and brain.

TB in the lungs or throat can be infectious. This means that the bacteria can be spread to other people. TB in other parts of the body, such as the kidney or spine, is usually not infectious.

People with TB disease are most likely to spread it to people they spend time with every day. This includes family members, friends, and coworkers.

Signs and symptoms of TB

Although you may harbor the TB bacteria your immune system can prevent you from becoming ill. That is why doctors class TB in two ways:

TB infection or Latent TB
There are no symptoms and it is not contagious.

Active TB
The patient is ill and can spread the disease to other people. The infection could be symptomatic (no symptoms) for years even though it is active and causing damage.

About two to eight weeks after infection the human immune system starts to attack TB bacteria. Three things might happen:

1. The bacteria die and that is the end of it.
2. The bacteria stay in your body in an inactive state and cause no symptoms of TB.
3. The person develops Active TB.

TB generally affects the lungs mainly (active pulmonary TB). Coughing is frequently the only indication of infection at first.

Signs/symptoms of active pulmonary TB:

– A cough that lasts at least three weeks, it may produce discolored or bloody sputum
– Unintentional weight loss
– Tiredness
– A slight temperature
– Night sweats
– Chills
– Loss of appetite
– Pleurisy (painful breathing or coughing)

“Life science researchers use critical biological information from studies of diverse species to make key correlations that help them discover new knowledge about human or plant physiology and disease,” said Saeid Akhtari, NextBio President and Chief Executive Officer. “With this support from NIH, we will extend the NextBio offering enabling researchers to leverage a wider range of data from model organisms to better understand biology.”

As part of this effort, NextBio will develop ontologies, translational methodology and cross-study comparison logic to connect findings across different organisms. Furthermore, the company will develop advanced statistical and visualization methods to help correlate and interpret the data. The new species information will build upon a wealth of information already supported within NextBio from human, mouse, rat, fly, worm and yeast systems.

About NextBio

NextBio is the provider of an innovative platform that enables life science researchers to search, discover, and share knowledge locked within public and proprietary data. NextBio’s platform seamlessly combines powerful tools with unique correlated content to transform information into knowledge, providing the foundation for new scientific discoveries. NextBio helps organizations increase productivity and dramatically improve collaboration across therapeutic groups and geographic boundaries. NextBio is delivered as a SaaS (Software as a Service) solution resulting in quick deployment and rapid return on investment.

Today, NextBio is used by over a million researchers at the world’s top commercial and academic institutions. NextBio’s enterprise solution has been deployed at Burnham Institute for Medical Research, Celgene, Eli Lilly, Genzyme, Johnson & Johnson, Regeneron, Scripps Research Institute, Stanford University, and Takeda, among many others. To learn more about NextBio, please visit our website at nextbio.

Source
NextBio

The Olympiad is a three-day event culminating at the United Nations
with more than 500 children and adults participating in events such as
“Speed Brain” — a contest to find details in a glance at a complex visual
picture, with hip-hop and martial arts demonstrations to round out the day.

“The Brain Olympiad showcases the potential of the mind, exploring the
role of motor, sensory, emotional and cognitive systems as they work
together,” said Dr. Sung Lee, International Brain Education Association’s
Secretary.

Coaches at the Olympics in Beijing, China, have learned to place as
much emphasis on mental fitness as they do on the technical requirements of
sports such as gymnastics, swimming and track, in order to ensure athletes
are at the top of their game.

The Olympiad takes this sports reality further, putting the health and
wellness of the brain at the top of the brain-body connection. New ideas
and findings from teachers and scientists about how to better use our
brains will be presented, showing the human brain is capable of far more
than we normally ask of it.

As the Olympics are designed to bring people together across cultural
divides to compete in peace and hope for the future, so the Brain Olympiad
is about creating new pathways to solve world problems.

“Children from Asia and North America will be attending and working
together to prove the power of the mind,” said Lee. “What better way to end
the terrors we live with — war, poverty, hunger, terrorism — than to
coach a new generation to the peak of their brain potential.”

The Olympiad is sponsored by the International Brain Education
Association (IBREA) and the Korean Institute of Brain Science (KIBS).

The techniques on display at the Brain Olympiad are taught in 240
elementary and middle schools and in Dahn Yoga centers across the United
States. For more information, visit ibreaus,
dahnyoga, and ilchi.

IBREAUS
ibreaus

The latest C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health finds that nearly two-thirds of parents of young athletes, ages 12 – 17, worry that their children will get a concussion while playing school sports-yet half don’t know if their children’s school has a concussion policy.

Over the past few years, researchers have found that youth athletes are more likely to sustain concussions, and to take longer to recover from concussions, than adults. If a second concussion occurs before a child’s brain recovers from the first, there is a greater chance of long-term neurologic affects.

This poll, conducted in May 2010, also finds that more than one-third of parents of young athletes are unaware of the dangers of repeat concussions.

“Even though parents of youth athletes lack awareness about effects of repeat concussions, they demonstrate strong support for strategies to minimize the risk of concussion,” says Sarah J. Clark, research assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Michigan, and associate director of the poll.

The majority of parents would strongly support the following school requirements:

- After a concussion, for athletes to be evaluated and cleared by a doctor before returning to sports – 84 percent
- For coaches to receive education about the risks of concussions – 81 percent
- After a concussion, for athletes to have a mandatory period of non-participation in sports – 71 percent
- Having a certified trainer onsite for practices and games – 67 percent

Parents are well aware of the pressure to allow young athletes to continue playing, despite injury. In fact, 62 percent of respondents know of a parent who would have a young athlete return to school sports too soon after a concussion, and 50 percent know of a coach who would have a player return too soon.

“These figures are not surprising to those who work in youth sports,” says Clark. “However, the latest research makes it clear that early return to play after a concussion is very risky.”

High school athletic organizations, injury prevention groups and professional sports leagues have become increasingly active in promoting policies to minimize the risks of repeat concussions among young athletes. Typically, policies include educating coaches, requiring removal from play of any player with concussion-like symptoms, and requiring that a health care professional clear the athlete before he or she returns to play. However, not all policies include educating parents, which Clark views as a missed opportunity.

“Parent involvement in guarding against repeat concussions is critical. Most concussions do not result in loss of consciousness, and symptoms may not occur until several hours after the injury. If young athletes are afraid of losing playing time, they may not be honest with the coach or trainer about their symptoms,” says Clark.

Parents are in a unique position to recognize concussion signs and symptoms that occur outside of school, and to work with coaches, trainers, and other health care personnel to ensure that their child is appropriately monitored throughout his or her recovery and return to play.

Some common signs and symptoms of a concussion include: confusion, loss of memory (amnesia), headache, dizziness, a sensation of the world spinning (vertigo), imbalance, lack of awareness of surroundings, and nausea and vomiting. If these symptoms appear after a head injury, consult a medical professional promptly for a full evaluation.

Source
University of Michigan Health System

Hilsberg explains how mindfulness helped her cope with her spouse’s cancer, his illness’ impact and death on both her young family and herself. It is a moving personal account of how she explains mindfulness.

Mindfulness helped her put things into perspective and to focus on the present – both key coping strategies and lessons in living.

Learning to ask for help from other human beings helped her feel less alone, and provided her with much needed moral and ethical support. No matter how unbearable her experiences seemed to her, they would not last.

Hilsberg concluded:

“The practice of mindfulness, the teachings and the sangha have encouraged me to continually use the realities of my own life experiences to find peace in the present moment. I have learned for myself that peace does not come from outside conditions, but that my true serenity can only come from within me. And life goes on and on – we are alive and breathing, and this is a miracle.”

“Mindfulness in practice – Lessons in Living”
Karen Rosenthal Hilsberg
SpringerLing DOI: 10.1007/s12671-011-0051-8

“Assemblymember Hayashi is receiving this year’s award because of her role in establishing the California State Office for Suicide Prevention and for her consistent support for suicide prevention efforts in the State of California,” said Peter Gutierrez, Ph.D., President of AAS. “We are pleased to recognize the work she has done to support suicide prevention through both her personal and legislative roles.”

“I am deeply honored to receive this award from such a respected leader in suicide prevention research,” stated Assemblymember Mary Hayashi. “The efforts of the American Association of Suicidology are vital in helping families to cope with loss and grief, and encourages them to become involved in suicide prevention efforts. Through research and information sharing, we know that suicide is more than a personal tragedy, it is a public health crisis and one that can be addressed through public action and policy change.”

Assemblymember Hayashi’s commitment to addressing mental health issues is driven largely in part by her own personal childhood experience of losing her older sister to suicide. Her story of this journey in becoming a national voice on suicide prevention and other health care issues is detailed in her book, Far From Home: Shattering the Myth of the Model Minority. Among her many achievements, Assemblymember Hayashi worked on the successful campaign to pass Proposition 63, a ground-breaking measure that has raised billions of dollars in new mental health funding. She also serves as a commissioner on the measure’s Mental Health Oversight and Accountability Commission.

The American Association of Suicidology Public Policy Award is given only when a local, state, or national elected official is nominated and found to meet the award’s criteria, so it is not given every year. Previous award-winners include U.S. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada.

Assemblymember Hayashi serves the 18th Assembly District, which includes San Leandro, Hayward, Dublin, most of Castro Valley and Pleasanton, and a portion of Oakland, as well as the unincorporated areas of Ashland, Cherryland, San Lorenzo and Sunol.

Source
American Association of Suicidology

Dr Donal O’Donoghue, of the Hope Hospital in Salford, takes up his post with immediate effect.

Dr O’Donoghue has been a consultant renal physician at Salford Royal Hospitals Foundation Trust since 1992. He has been President of the British Renal Society and Treasurer of the Renal Association.

Dr O’Donoghue was involved with the development of the Renal Services National Service Framework which was published in 2004. Since this time he has also supported its implementation, in particular through his role as co-chair of the Renal Advisory Group.

Hugh Taylor, Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health, welcomed Dr O’Donoghue to his new role. He said:

“We are delighted that a clinician of Dr O’Donoghue’s standing has agreed to lead our work on renal services. We have already seen improvement in patient care and support for family carers since we launched the Renal Services National Service Framework, but there is still more work to do. I am sure that Dr O’Donoghue will play a vital role in harnessing enthusiasm from healthcare workers in order to continue improving our services.”

Dr O’Donoghue said:

“I feel privileged to be leading the implementation of the next phase of the Renal Services National Service Framework. There is no question the NSF is already helping to raise awareness of kidney disease as a public health challenge, and I will be working to promote a world class service for patients.”

###

Notes:

Career background of Dr Donal O’Donoghue:

* Graduated in Physiology (1977) and Medicine (1980) from Manchester Medical School. General Professional training in Manchester, Leicester and Nottingham. Specialist renal training in Manchester, Paris and Edinburgh.

* MRC Research Fellow.

* Consultant Renal Physician, Salford Royal Hospitals Foundation Trust from 1992.

* President of the British Renal Society 2000-2003

* Treasurer of the Renal Association 2003-2006

* Co-Chair of the External Reference Group for the Renal NSF 2003/2004

* Co-Chair of the Renal Advisory Group for the implementation of the National Service Framework for Renal Services 2004

For further information please go to:
UK Department of Health