Quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs), a large class of chemicals that includes high production volume substances, have been used for decades as antimicrobials, preservatives, and antistatic agents and for other functions in cleaning, disinfecting, personal care products, and durable consumer goods. QAC use has accelerated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the banning of 19… Continue reading Quaternary Ammonium Compounds: A Chemical Class of Emerging Concern
Category: Environment
Successful aging of musicians: Preservation of sensorimotor regions aids audiovisual speech-in-noise perception
Musicianship can mitigate age-related declines in audiovisual speech-in-noise perception. We tested whether this benefit originates from functional preservation or functional compensation by comparing fMRI responses of older musicians, older nonmusicians, and young nonmusicians identifying noise-masked audiovisual syllables. Older musicians outperformed older nonmusicians and showed comparable performance to young nonmusicians. Notably, older musicians retained similar neural… Continue reading Successful aging of musicians: Preservation of sensorimotor regions aids audiovisual speech-in-noise perception
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and risk of rheumatoid arthritis: a cross-sectional analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2007–2016
AbstractObjective While there are several well-established environmental risk factors for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a paucity of evidence exists linking environmental toxicants with RA prevalence. We aimed to examine the associations between various environmental toxicants and RA among adults in the U.S. general population while adjusting for non-heritable risk factors.Design Cross-sectional study.Setting National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted… Continue reading Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and risk of rheumatoid arthritis: a cross-sectional analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2007–2016
Association of Rurality With Risk of Heart Failure
Rural populations experience an increased burden of heart failure (HF) mortality compared with urban populations. Whether HF incidence is greater among rural individuals is less known. Additionally, the intersection between racial and rural health inequities is understudied.Objective To determine whether rurality is associated with increased risk of HF, independent of cardiovascular (CV) disease and socioeconomic… Continue reading Association of Rurality With Risk of Heart Failure
Would you prefer afour-day working week?
The findings suggest that a four-day week significantly reduces stress and illness in the workforce, and helps with worker retention.Some 71% of employees self-reported lower levels of “burnout”, and 39% said they were less stressed, compared to the start of the trial.Researchers found a 65% reduction in sick days, and a 57% fall in the… Continue reading Would you prefer afour-day working week?
Trichloroethylene: An Invisible Cause of Parkinson’s Disease?
The etiologies of Parkinson’s disease (PD) remain unclear. Some, such as certain genetic mutations and head trauma, are widely known or easily identified. However, these causes or risk factors do not account for the majority of cases. Other, less visible factors must be at play. Among these is a widely used industrial solvent and common… Continue reading Trichloroethylene: An Invisible Cause of Parkinson’s Disease?
META-ANALYSIS: CLUSTER HEADACHE, MIGRAINE HAVE STRONG LINKS TO CIRCADIAN SYSTEM
...For cluster headache, the meta-analysis found a circadian pattern of headache attacks in 71% of people. Attacks peaked in the late hours of the night to early hours of the morning. During the year, people had more attacks in the spring and fall. On the genetic level, cluster headache was associated with two main circadian… Continue reading META-ANALYSIS: CLUSTER HEADACHE, MIGRAINE HAVE STRONG LINKS TO CIRCADIAN SYSTEM
Burnout, Professionalism, and the Quality of US Health Care
Physician burnout is a major threat to health care quality, patient outcomes, and the vitality of the medical workforce.1 More than half of US physicians report at least 1 symptom of burnout—nearly twice the rate of the general working population—and many also experience depression, anxiety, or suicidal ideation.2 Burnout is estimated to cost the health… Continue reading Burnout, Professionalism, and the Quality of US Health Care
Outsourcing health-care services to the private sector and treatable mortality rates in England, 2013–20: an observational study of NHS privatisation
BackgroundThe effects of outsourcing health services to for-profit providers are contested, with some arguing that introducing such providers will improve performance through additional competition while others worry that this will lead to cost cutting and poorer outcomes for patients. We aimed to examine this debate by empirically evaluating the impact of outsourced spending to private… Continue reading Outsourcing health-care services to the private sector and treatable mortality rates in England, 2013–20: an observational study of NHS privatisation
