Archive for 2013
FDA, facing cybersecurity threats, tightens medical-device standards
The security analysts wanted to know how easy it would be to hack into medical devices used in hospitals, knowing the danger if outsiders could gain control. They found the answer when they managed to figure out hundreds of passwords for equipment that included surgical and anesthesia devices, patient monitors and lab analysis tools. “We [...]
Child obesity a global health issue, according to WHO
The World Health Organization has issued new recommendations for helping overweight children — more than 75 percent of whom live in developing countries, sometimes side-by-side with malnutrition. Both conditions can stem from malnutrition, according to a WHO press release issued Wednesday. “These conditions — undernutrition, obesity and overweight — are forms of malnutrition with their [...]
Dr. Kate Scannell: There’s no rap song about health care disparities
As a writer, I wish I could claim the title of this column as my own. But it rightly belongs to Dr. Michael A. LeNoir, an Oakland physician who is trying to educate patients and policymakers about approaching remedies for health disparities “from the bottom up, instead of the top down.” A “health disparity” usually [...]
US says providing $9b to curb global malnutrition
Dr. Rajiv Shah, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator has outlined the US Government’s long term leadership in the effort to reduce malnutrition around the world. According to Dr. Shah, the US government is providing more than $1 billion for nutrition specific interventions and nearly $9 billion on nutrition-sensitive activities over fiscal year [...]
Namibia: 25 Cuban Specialists Arrive
THE Namibian government has acquired the services of 25 Cuban medical specialists who arrived in the country on Thursday, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Social Services Andrew Ndishishi announced on Saturday. In addition to the 25 medical officials from the Caribbean country, the ministry will also welcome an additional 45 medical specialists [...]
“I was Rejected from U.S. Medical Schools: Now what?”
Rejection is tough. Even downright heartbreaking. Rejection from every medical school you applied to could be absolutely soul crushing. Worse, it forces you to overanalyze what you feel went wrong with your application. Maybe your MCAT scores were slightly below average. Maybe they were just average. Don’t consider your career in medicine is dead before [...]
Call for submissions for fall 2013 JSNMA
call for submissions fall 2013 Do you have any experiences about premedical or medical education to share? Unique course innovations at your school? Research in medical education? Medical school admissions or residency application process? Student-initiated learning opportunities in the community or abroad? Summer enrichment opportunities, such as the Student Medical and Dental Education Program for [...]
The Spring Edition of the 2013 Journal of the Student National Medical Association is here!
Click here to access the Spring 2013 JSNMA! This issue is focused on chronic diseases in the minority community. More than 130 million Americans suffer from chronic conditions today. The number continues to rise, as we are a population that is living longer. The leading causes of death from disease are from heart disease, cancer, [...]
Teaching about race and health
As a medical historian, I find the subject of race and health to be both the easiest and the hardest to present to my students. It’s easy because there is so much data to analyze, from W.E.B. DuBois’Philadelphia Negro (1899) to more recent work from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. This agency, [...]
Minorities Harmed Most By Fast-Food Outlets Near School: Study
Black and Hispanic teens who go to school near fast-food restaurants are more likely to be overweight and to not benefit as much from exercise as white or Asian students, researchers have found. Because teens often make independent food choices before, during and after school when they are away from their parents, the investigators suggested [...]
