Public Health

More evidence for an immune model of dementia onset

Since Spring of 2020, there have been ongoing convoluted political attacks against "dangerous" gain of function research. This includes attacks against American scientists, with many accusers citing the still unproven COVID lab leak theory.

One of the biggest supporters of this theory is former CDC director during Trump's previous administration, Robert Redfield.

Redfield also authored public health commentary for the Heritage Foundation in February, supporting Trump's proposed executive order to ban GOF research.

Some fungal diseases in humans no longer respond to medicines, which increases the risk of severe illness and death as well disease spread, according to a new report.

On Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) published what it calls its first-ever report on the lack of tests and treatments for fungal infections.

Yeasts, moulds and mushrooms are all examples of fungi. Common toenail infections or vaginal yeast infections are common and treatable, but that's not always the case.

"Fungal diseases are an increasing public health concern, with common infections — such as Candida, which causes oral and vaginal thrush — growing increasingly resistant to treatment," WHO said.

The WHO report: https://www.who.int/news/item/01-04-2025-who-issues-its-first-ever-reports-on-tests-and-treatments-for-fungal-infections

What does it mean that religion, not porn use, predicts porn-related problems?

The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a new report, Dementia in refugees and migrants: epidemiology, public health implications and global health responses, which synthesizes the latest global evidence on the factors affecting the health and care of displaced populations and offers policy considerations to address these challenges. This is the sixth report in the Global Evidence Review on Health and Migration (GEHM) series.

Dementia affects over 57 million people worldwide, with nearly 10 million new cases each year. It is the seventh leading cause of death and a major driver of disability among older people. While no cure exists, physical activity, social engagement, and some medications can help manage symptoms. However, people with dementia frequently face discrimination and barriers to care, highlighting the need for robust policies that safeguard their rights and ensure access to support services.

For refugees and migrants, these challenges are even more pronounced. Many face limited access to culturally and linguistically appropriate care, disrupted support networks, and the compounded effects of migration-related stressors. A lack of cross-cultural assessment tools and limited specialist training for health care professionals contributes to underdiagnosis and undertreatment among refugees and migrants.

In October 2024, the global stockpile of oral cholera vaccine (OCV) ran dry yet again, leaving no unallocated doses for new or worsening outbreaks. This underscores the ongoing shortfall of tens of millions of doses, driven by growing need, with both cases and deaths increasing globally in recent years, and lack of supply, with only one manufacturer currently serving the global stockpile. Meanwhile, however, pharmaceutical companies are reaping profits from a booming parallel market for OCV for a much lower-risk population: travelers from high-income countries (HICs). The current situation, where a tourist from a HIC at essentially zero risk of dying from cholera has more ready access to vaccines than a resident of the endemic country they will visit, exemplifies the chasm between commercial priorities and global health needs.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/31932470

When a person dies, clinicians often look at the cause of death to determine whether it could have been avoided, either by medical prevention such as vaccines or by treatments like antibiotics. These types of deaths are known as avoidable mortalities, and in most high-income countries around the world, the number is going down.

But in the United States, avoidable deaths have been on the rise for more than a decade, according to a new study by researchers at the Brown University School of Public Health and Harvard University, who examined mortality trends across U.S. states and 40 high-income countries. Their findings were published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

There's a sizzling debate on social media over seed oils, with some people adamantly claiming they are unhealthy.

But new research, which expands on previous studies in this area, finds that they could reduce your risk of an early death.

Adding fuel to the social media controversy is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, who has also taken aim at seed oils.

In October, he posted on social media platform X, claiming that seed oils are poisoning Americans and are a driving cause of obesity.

Health experts continue to push back, saying seed oils are, in fact, not toxic. And they say it's processed foods, not the oils themselves, that are the problem.

I'm unfamiliar with this topic so I don't want to comment further, here are some key excerpts from the article:

Findings Our search identified 2037 studies, of which 42 peer-reviewed articles and nine grey literature reports met inclusion criteria: these studies were in Canada (n=3), Australia (n=17), New Zealand (n=9), and the USA (n=22). With the exception of Māori children in New Zealand, who seem to have similar rates of epilepsy to children of European ancestry, the incidence and prevalence of epilepsy seemed to be higher in Indigenous peoples in these regions than non-Indigenous populations. In the included studies, Indigenous peoples showed a higher number of epilepsy hospital presentations, decreased access to specialists, decreased access and longer waits for antiseizure medication, and increased prescriptions for enzyme-inducing antiseizure medications when compared with non-Indigenous peoples. In Australia, the number of disability-adjusted life years among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with epilepsy was double that for non-Indigenous people with epilepsy. Mortality rates for Indigenous peoples with epilepsy in New Zealand and Australia were higher than in non-Indigenous people with epilepsy.

Interpretation Although Indigenous people from CANZUS have unique cultural identities, this review identified similar themes and substantial disparities experienced by Indigenous versus non-Indigenous people in these nations. Concerningly, there were relatively few studies, and these were of variable quality, leaving substantial knowledge gaps. Epidemiological epilepsy research in each specific Indigenous group from CANZUS countries is urgently required to enable health policy development and minimise inequity within these countries.

Excerpt of the summary:

Childhood diseases have profound lifelong effects on health, livelihoods, and societies. Investment in early childhood results in highly cost-effective changes to lifelong health, productivity, and human capital returns. Yet, there remain substantial gaps in knowledge on the efficacy and safety of many paediatric interventions, which represents a failure to establish shared priorities and alignment across governments, researchers, communities, and funders. Children are frequently marginalised from clinical trials, which is an issue of equity. Challenges include mismatched priorities and funding, risk adversity, poor design, power imbalances, and inadequate infrastructure.

Some graphs:

Figure 2 Demographic characteristics of paediatric clinical trials 2020–23

Figure 3 Registered paediatric clinical trials by country (2020–23)