Hi all!
Congratulations on completing our first round of courses in med school =)
When I had originally signed up for the ethnic minorities presentation group, the particular group of interest I had in mind was Native Americans. I know there are many reservations in this area and I do not feel that I have a good grasp on the disparities they face. Before our group decided to focus on the Latino population, I began research on Native Americans and wanted to share with you one of the most informative resources I came across. It is extremely long, but I felt it would be a good resource for all of us because this is a population of patients we WILL be treating in San Diego. (Plus it has a handy table of contents).
The document also provides a history of health policies and decisions involving the Native Americans--attempts at solutions which have ultimately not been accomplished yet. It is incredible what a role the federal government has played in the health care of Native Americans and ultimately how their relationship has lead to health disparities experienced by this population.
I hope you all find this educational and interesting.
And have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Cassidy
http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/nahealth/nabroken.pdf
Friday, November 21, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Hepatitis B Virus-Induced Liver Cancer in Asian Americans: A Preventable Disease
Hello!
I recently attended a Hepatitis B conference sponsored by APAMSA and was surprised to learn that about 1 out of 10 Asian Americans have chronic hepatitis B infections, compared to only 1 out of 1,000 white Americans! I think the statistic speaks for itself. Hepatitis B is a serious liver disease that disproportionately affects Asian Americans today.
Why so common among Asian Americans? First of all, 90% of Hepatitis B infections were acquired from other countries, and not in the U.S. Thus, Asian immigrants and their descent often carry the disease. Sadly most are unaware of it. People with chronic HBV often show no symptoms. Blood test is the only way of detecting the infection. Chronic Hepatitis B infection can lead to liver cancer.
Because Hepatitis B is a sexually transmitted disease, talking about Hepatitis B is a social taboo in Asian culture. However, sex is not the only method of transmission. People living in developing countries often acquire the disease from their mother at birth.
One of the main speakers at the conference has Hepatitis B. She acquired Hepatitis B from her mother at birth. She was in her mid-40s when she found out. Consequently, she unknowingly passed Hepatitis B to her husband and her three children - all of whom are now at risk of liver cancer....However there is hope!
Treatment for Hepatitis B is now available! Although it is not a complete cure, studies have shown that the new treatment can reduce a patient's risk of developing liver cancer significantly. Unfortunately, most old Asian healthcare providers are unaware of the new treatment and still follow the old rule: “If your liver looks fine, you are fine.” People who have Hepatitis B need to be tested and treated.
I encourage you to check the following article that was published this year! A lot of Hepatitis B awareness (Jade Ribbon Campaign) in the U.S. just started a couple of years ago and is happening now! http://liver.stanford.edu/
Please join the movement by staying informed!
Hepatitis B Virus-Induced Liver Cancer in Asian Americans: A Preventable Disease
JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2008 100(8):528-529
http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/100/8/528
I recently attended a Hepatitis B conference sponsored by APAMSA and was surprised to learn that about 1 out of 10 Asian Americans have chronic hepatitis B infections, compared to only 1 out of 1,000 white Americans! I think the statistic speaks for itself. Hepatitis B is a serious liver disease that disproportionately affects Asian Americans today.
Why so common among Asian Americans? First of all, 90% of Hepatitis B infections were acquired from other countries, and not in the U.S. Thus, Asian immigrants and their descent often carry the disease. Sadly most are unaware of it. People with chronic HBV often show no symptoms. Blood test is the only way of detecting the infection. Chronic Hepatitis B infection can lead to liver cancer.
Because Hepatitis B is a sexually transmitted disease, talking about Hepatitis B is a social taboo in Asian culture. However, sex is not the only method of transmission. People living in developing countries often acquire the disease from their mother at birth.
One of the main speakers at the conference has Hepatitis B. She acquired Hepatitis B from her mother at birth. She was in her mid-40s when she found out. Consequently, she unknowingly passed Hepatitis B to her husband and her three children - all of whom are now at risk of liver cancer....However there is hope!
Treatment for Hepatitis B is now available! Although it is not a complete cure, studies have shown that the new treatment can reduce a patient's risk of developing liver cancer significantly. Unfortunately, most old Asian healthcare providers are unaware of the new treatment and still follow the old rule: “If your liver looks fine, you are fine.” People who have Hepatitis B need to be tested and treated.
I encourage you to check the following article that was published this year! A lot of Hepatitis B awareness (Jade Ribbon Campaign) in the U.S. just started a couple of years ago and is happening now! http://liver.stanford.edu/
Please join the movement by staying informed!
Hepatitis B Virus-Induced Liver Cancer in Asian Americans: A Preventable Disease
JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2008 100(8):528-529
http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/100/8/528
Thursday, November 13, 2008
UCSD SOM Kiva Loan Community
I have created a community on Kiva.org for the UCSD SOM. Its an open community and anybody can join. It would be awesome if some of you would like to join it and loan as little as $25! To join the community you simply go to kiva.org Then click on Communities. If you search for UCSD it should come up with the UCSD SOM community. Just click to join. You'll first have to create an account on Kiva and then you can join the community. As a member of the team you still actually do the loans individually. So that means you can choose anyone on kiva to loan to yourself. However if you don't want to take the time just let me know and I'll make a couple of suggestions.
The more people that join the bigger impact we can make so please join up! Its only $25 and like 98% you'll get your money back! I'll keep people updated with emails on how its going after you join as well. Some of the people receiving money send out little updates and things. Thanks!!
The more people that join the bigger impact we can make so please join up! Its only $25 and like 98% you'll get your money back! I'll keep people updated with emails on how its going after you join as well. Some of the people receiving money send out little updates and things. Thanks!!
Culture and Health Literacy
Hey guys,
I came across this interesting article while doing research for my project. It discusses the role of culture in health literacy and provides some guidance into breaking the cultural divides. I know we have talked a lot about this, but it never hurts to see what is actually being published about the subject. Enjoy!
http://springerlink.metapress.com/content/x03720m20857mm86/fulltext.pdf
-Daniel
DENTAL DISPARITY in Minority Children
Hey everyone - Today we will talking about a few child disparities but there was ONE that was very shocking to our group that we don't have time to talk about today.
The article is linked below but the main point is that minority children have extremely high cavity rates compared to white children. Apparently cavities can be almost completely eliminated if water is fluoridated:
"Water fluoridation is the most effective measure in preventing caries, but only 62% of water supplies are fluoridated, and lack of fluoridation may disproportionately affect poor and minority children."
It was shocking to our group that 62% of water supplies are NOT fluoridated - that is a simple and relatively cheap solution to the problem. This is a solution that even us as medical students could help initiate and could save millions of dollars of dental care later.
Full Article:
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/284/20/2625
Brush your teeth!!
The article is linked below but the main point is that minority children have extremely high cavity rates compared to white children. Apparently cavities can be almost completely eliminated if water is fluoridated:
"Water fluoridation is the most effective measure in preventing caries, but only 62% of water supplies are fluoridated, and lack of fluoridation may disproportionately affect poor and minority children."
It was shocking to our group that 62% of water supplies are NOT fluoridated - that is a simple and relatively cheap solution to the problem. This is a solution that even us as medical students could help initiate and could save millions of dollars of dental care later.
Full Article:
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/284/20/2625
Brush your teeth!!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
The Current State of Primary Care
This is an extremely relevant video that is a must watch for us PRIME kids, especially because we're all "going to be in Primary Care, right?" (David Ding)
Anyway, the video is a roundtable discussion of a bunch of doctors and one M.D.,M.P.H. Their collective intellect is nice to be around.
They first spend some time citing the problems and their roots,
Then they go into new ways of viewing Primary Care and delivering it,
After which they discuss the importance of using different sectors of medicine in building a "Primary Care Team",
And finally, the group tries to tackle the age-old dragon: Payment Reform.
Enjoy with a ice-cold beverage and bare feet. It's a fun one.
http://www.nejm.org/perspective/primary-care-video/
Anyway, the video is a roundtable discussion of a bunch of doctors and one M.D.,M.P.H. Their collective intellect is nice to be around.
They first spend some time citing the problems and their roots,
Then they go into new ways of viewing Primary Care and delivering it,
After which they discuss the importance of using different sectors of medicine in building a "Primary Care Team",
And finally, the group tries to tackle the age-old dragon: Payment Reform.
Enjoy with a ice-cold beverage and bare feet. It's a fun one.
http://www.nejm.org/perspective/primary-care-video/
articles related to "greening" our cities
Hey guys,
I was just browsing through bbc news and came across an article that relates to Dr. Sidelinger's talk on how urban planning and green spaces affect health.
This first article talks about a study done by a couple of scottish scientists on how greener neighborhoods relate to reducing the "health gap" between rich and poor. They studied the relation between the death of 36600 people between 2001 and 2005 and how "green" their local neighborhoods were. I don't believe all of the evidence but its interesting.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7714950.stm
The next one done by researchers at Colombia University is an older one discussing the links between green neighborhoods and a reduction in asthma. They even go so far as to say that "asthma rates among children aged four and five fell by 25% for every extra 343 trees per square kilometre." It also discusses some of the stuff we learned about during the asthma clinical correlate about how exposure to more microbes as a child reduces the risk of asthma. They, however, link greener neighborhoods with playing outside more often. This therefore leads to more exposure to microbes thus lowers asthma risk. I'd like to see some more convincing evidence, but its a start.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7374078.stm
-Daniel
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