Last week in the Health Lotería, we gave you a preview of this week’s topic with the saying: “¡No levantes esa piedra, / que te pica ese animal!” ["Don't lift up that rock, / because that animal will sting you!"]  Well, surely you figured out the answer, we’re talking about… ¡¡¡el alacrán!!! [the scorpion!]

Although here in Texas we do have biting scorpions, there are lots more animals that threaten us with bites or stings during our long, hot summers.  Some don’t bring us anything worse than bother and discomfort, while others can bring us illnesses (like malaria or Lyme disease) or, for some people, serious allergic reactions.  It’s very important to know the risks for you and your family, and know how to avoid them, as well as to respond to them when they occur.  These links can help:

• An article from last Friday’s DallasNews.com: “7 ways to soothe summer’s bites, rashes and sunburns“
• “Stinging insect allergy: How to avoid the ouch” from the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology
• From MedlinePlus: “Insect Bites and Stings” — with links to many more information sources
• From the UTMB health library: “Spider Bites” and “Bee Stings“

Don’t get stung this week… and we’ll see you again next week!

La semana pasada en la lotería de salud, le dimos un anticipo del tema de esta semana con el refrán: “¡No levantes esa piedra, / que te pica ese animal!” Bueno, seguro que usted lo adivinó: se trata de… ¡¡¡el alacrán!!!

Aunque en Texas sí tenemos alacranes que nos amenazan con picaduras, hay muchos más animales que suelen picarnos y mordernos durante nuestros largos y calurosos veranos.  Algunos no nos traen más que molestia y incomodidad, pero otros pueden traer enfermedades (como el paludismo y la enfermedad de Lyme) o, para algunas personas, serias reacciones alérgicas.  Es super-importante conocer los riesgos para usted y su familia, y saber evitarlos — así como responder cuando suceden.  Estos enlaces pueden ayudar:

• Del número de hoy del periódico El Día TX: “Piel protegida“
• “Alergia a los insectos que pican: Cómo evitar el ¡ay!” de la American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology
• De MedlinePlus: “Picaduras de insectos” — con enlaces a muchas fuentes más
• De la biblioteca de salud de UTMB: “Picaduras de araña” y “Picaduras de abeja“

No le vayan a picar esta semana… y ¡nos vemos en la próxima!

In the July 2008 issue of the journal Preventing Chronic Disease, new research is presented which addresses the obesity epidemic in terms of community action.  The article, “A Framework for Addressing the Global Obesity Epidemic Locally: The Child Health Ecological Surveillance System” proposes a regional health authority and provides eight principles for the development and implementation of a system based on ecological surveillance.

This article and journal are available free from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the Preventing Chronic Disease website.

Plotnikoff RC, Lightfoot P, Barrett L, Spinola C, Predy G. A framework for addressing the global obesity epidemic locally: the Child Health Ecological Surveillance System (CHESS). Prev Chronic Dis 2008;5(3). http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2008/jul/07_0007.htm. Accessed [27 June 2008].

What do patients, health care providers, and policymakers all have in common?  They all have an interest in health care decisions.  But where can they go to get reliable and practical information to benefit their decision-making process?  The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has a site that helps to fulfill the needs of these varied user groups.  The Effective Health Care Program provides current and unbiased evidence, based on high-quality research, to bring information to those who need to make health care decisions. 

The information becomes available through the following process…

1) Suggestions for research are submitted.

2) Accepted suggestions lead to either new research or a research review of prior research.

3) A research abstract or a set of Key Questions is posted online.

4) Research Reviews yield a draft report available for public comment.

5) A final report is published.

6) Summary Guides of the Research Review are created for different Groups.

The key results of the final report are extracted and a Summary Guide is produced that is tailored to fit the specific audience (consumers, clinicians, policymakers).  Various Summary Guides are also available in Spanish.�

This week the Health Lotería continues with the saying:“Da acá la pata y empiézame a platicar / los trabajos que pasabas cuando no sabías hablar.” ["Sit down over here and chat with me / about how hard your life was before you knew how to talk."] To whom does the saying refer?  Of course, to… ¡¡¡el cotorro!!! [the parrot!] And if we’re talking about chatting and conversation, certainly health is one of the things that we find ourselves discussing the most — one’s own health, health of family and friends, concerns, successes.  Our friends ask us, “What’s up?  How are you doing?”, the radio and TV talk constantly about health, many parts of the Internet are huge conversations about health.  And with all this talk that surrounds us, there’s always advice — advice from our loved ones who worry about us, advice from public and private organizations, from the government, from advertisements, from everywhere.

But which advice, which information should we trust?  Here are some suggestions for evaluating the information that you read, hear, or see about your health.  First, here are two that have to do with any source of health information:

• This page from MedlinePlus offers links to guides that explain how to evaluate health information. [In case you haven't noticed, MedlinePlus is a source which we recommend a lot here in the Health Lotería, because it always has complete, clear and trustworthy information.]
• “Is this health information good for me?” is a page from one of the Regional Libraries of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine.

The following links are have more to do with evaluating Internet health information, but often the same questions can help you evaluate health information in other media as well:

• “Health Information on the Web: Finding Reliable Information” from the American Academy of Family Physicians
• “Your health, in your hands” from the findingDulcinea guide to the Internet
• The Health on the Net (HON) Foundation evaluates and accredits health-related websites, on the basis of their trustworthiness, and offers a search of trustworthy sites.
• “10 Things To Know About Evaluating Medical Resources on the Web” from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
• “Diez aspectos que debe conocer al evaluar los recursos médicos en Internet” del Centro Nacional de Medicina Complementaria y Alternativa (NCCAM)

Next time in the Health Lotería: “¡No levantes esa piedra, / que te pica ese animal!” ["Don't lift up that rock, / because that animal will sting you!"] Can you figure out the clue?

Sigue la lotería de salud esta semana con el dicho:“Da acá la pata y empiézame a platicar / los trabajos que pasabas cuando no sabías hablar.” ¿A quién se refiere el dicho?  Por supuesto, a… ¡¡¡el cotorro!!! Si de plática se trata, claro es que la salud es uno de los temas que más se suele platicar — la salud de uno, de la familia, de los amigos, las preocupaciones, los éxitos.  Los amigos nos preguntan “¿qué tal? ¿cómo estás?”, la radio y la televisión nos platican del salud, muchas partes del Internet son una gran conversación sobre la salud.  Y con la plática que nos rodea siempre vienen los consejos — consejos de nuestros seres queridos que se preocupan de nosotros, consejos de organizaciones públicas y privadas, del gobierno, de anuncios, de todas partes.

Pero ¿en qué consejos, en qué información nos podemos confiar?  He aquí algunas sugerencias para evaluar la información que lee, escucha o ve sobre su salud.  Primero, dos que tienen que ver con cualquier fuente de información sobre la salud:

• Esta página de MedlinePlus ofrece enlaces a guías que le informan cómo evaluar la información sobre la salud.  [Si no se lo ha notado: MedlinePlus es una fuente que recomendamos mucho en la lotería de salud, porque siempre tiene información comprensivo, claro y confiable.]
• “¿Como puede saber si la información le sirve?” es una página de una de las Bibliotecas Regionales de la Red Nacional de Medicina

Los siguientes enlaces tienen que ver más con evaluar la información que se encuentra en Internet, pero muchas veces las mismas preguntas le servirán para evaluar información en otros medios también:

• “Salud en la Web: cómo encontrar información confiable” de la Academia Estadounidense de Médicos de Familia
• “Su salud: en sus manos” de la guía “Finding Dulcinea”
• La fundación Health on the Net (HON), que evalúa y acredita sitios Web sobre salud a base de su confiabilidad, y ofrece una búsqueda de sitios confiables
• “Diez aspectos que debe conocer al evaluar los recursos médicos en Internet” del Centro Nacional de Medicina Complementaria y Alternativa (NCCAM)

Proximamente en la lotería de salud: “¡No levantes esa piedra, / que te pica ese animal!” ¿Qué será?

The South Central Area Health Education Center (AHEC) and the UT Health Science Center Libraries are offering an unpaid internship for an undergraduate student interested in a possible career in medical librarianship.

The goal of this collaboration is to increase the number of students in South Texas who pursue health sciences librarianship as a career path.

The first internship will be conducted as a pilot at the UT Health Science Center Libraries in San Antonio, including the Briscoe Library and the Downtown Library. Depending on the results of an evaluation of the 2008 internship, subsequent internships may be planned for the Ramirez Library at the Regional Academic Health Center in Harlingen in 2009 and for the Laredo Campus Extension Library in 2010.

The internship will engage the student in activities that will introduce him or her to a broad range of responsibilities within a medical library environment, with a focus on community engagement. The evaluation of the pilot internship in 2008 will rely on a brief report written by the intern, feedback from library staff overseeing the intern, and input from the South Central AHEC.

Specific Activities:

• Gain experience with the MedlinePlus Go Local database of health service providers in South Texas. Responsibilities will include updating records and assisting with a mailing to each service provider.

• Enhance consumer health information available at libraries. Assist in the review of the libraries’ consumer health collections, focusing on books and brochures/pamphlets.

• Assist with trainings for community partners. Training events will likely focus on staff at public libraries, children attending summer camps organized by community-based organizations and/or community health workers/promotoras.

• Provide support for service at the libraries’ circulation and reference desks.

Hours:

8:00-5:00 Monday – Friday, with a one-hour lunch break each day

Supervision and Mentoring:

The intern will be supervised the Director for South Texas Regional Information Services, with supervision and mentoring also provided through (4) biweekly meetings with the Associate Director for Public Services and (2) monthly meetings with the Executive Director of Libraries.

Application Requirements:

Applications should be sent to Dr. Keith Cogdill (cogdillk@uthscsa.edu) by Friday, June 27, and should include:

• Cover letter explaining interest in learning more about medical librarianship

• Resume

• Names and contact information for 3 references

The Food and Drug Administration is going on the offensive by sending a warning to 25 companies and individuals who claim to have products that will greatly benefit those who suffer from cancer. Those being warned operate on the internet and use words such as “destroy” and “neutralize” in the descriptions of some of the drugs that falsely claim to cure, treat or prevent cancer.

What greatly worries FDA officials is that the promises made by these companies and individuals about their products could prevent a patient from receiving the proper treatment. “FDA is very concerned that consumers will purchase these products on the Internet and use them instead of products that have been proven safe and effective”, according to the director of the FDA’s new drugs and labeling compliance division, Michael Levy.

Lack of action by the companies could result in criminal prosecution by the FDA.

This week on the Health Lotería we pick ¡¡¡la botella!!! Good thing, because we’re really starting to get the serious heat of the Texas summer — so we have to keep drinking plenty of water to avoid the illnesses that can affect us on hot days.  To learn more about how to protect yourself from heat-related illnesses, here are some links:

• This page from MedlinePlus includes information about heat-related illnesses, with some links especially oriented toward:
  • Children
  • Youth
  • Older people
• OSHA Fact Sheet: “Working Outdoors in Warm Climates“
• Hazard Alert from Center to Protect Workers’ Rights: “Heat Stress in Construction“
• The most recent issue of Texas Health Matters from the Department of State Health Services includes important health advice for all of us living in the hot Texas summer.

Next week in the Health Lotería: “da acá la pata y empiézame a platicar / los trabajos que pasabas cuando no sabías hablar.“  Can you guess it?

Esta semana en la lotería de salud se saca ¡¡¡la botella!!! Y qué bien, porque ya vamos entrando en el calor fuerte del verano de Texas — y hay que tomar siempre bastante agua para evitar las enfermedades que pueden afectarnos en los días de calor.  Para aprender más sobre cómo protegerse de los efectos dañinos del calor, he aquí algunos enlaces:

• Esta página de MedlinePlus incluye información sobre enfermedades relacionadas con el calor, con enlaces especialmente orientados a:
  • Trabajadores de la agricultura
  • Trabajadores en construcción
  • Niños y jóvenes
  • Personas de edad avanzada
• El último número de “Su Estado de Salud” — una publicación del Departamento Estatal de Servicios de Salud — tiene consejos importantes para los que vivimos el verano caluroso de Texas.

La próxima semana en la lotería de salud: “da acá la pata y empiézame a platicar / los trabajos que pasabas cuando no sabías hablar.“  ¿Lo sabes?