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African American men and women suffer from health problems such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, AIDS, sickle cell anemia, and various forms of cancer, often at a higher rate than the rest of the population. There is a need for information about these and other health problems affecting this particular community. This annotated bibliography includes recent articles, books, Internet resources, and Web sites. The audience for this essay includes the layperson, health‐care professionals, and information specialists who wish to provide information to patrons on these important health issues.

There are thousands of web sites about cancer and cancer‐related topics on the internet today; this webography offers an annotated list of selected sites.

The article begins with a brief explanation of how the web sites were evaluated and chosen. The generally accepted rules of authority, currency, purpose, objectivity, accuracy and audience were used in each case.

The sites included cover cancer in general, specific cancers, patient information, clinical trials and medical centers that treat cancer. Information on each site includes the name of the site, the URL and a brief abstract explaining what the site is about.

The information may be used by librarians as a quick reference, by physicians and other health‐care workers and by the patients and their families.

The purpose of this paper is to examine doctor-patient communication, focusing on ethnic Australian urological cancer patients.

Samples of 50 Australian urological cancer patients of ethnic origin were chosen to participate in this study. The patients completed a 31-question survey, followed by a one-on-one semi-structured 30-40-minute interview with the patient.

Most (90 per cent, n=45) of the patients indicated that they can communicate with their doctor without feeling stereotyped or judged. However, despite these responses 48 per cent (n=24) of the patients reported they did not ask for the doctor to explain the medical terms or meanings they did not understand. This resulted in 46 per cent (n=23) of the patients not knowing the stage of their cancer.

This is only a pilot study and the sample was limited to 50 patients. The limitations of this study make the results of the findings more suggestive rather than definitive. Further research would benefit by repeating this study with a larger sample size, to address the shortcomings of the study and to venture further into the realm of doctor and overseas patients communication in Australia.

This research found that patients from lower socioeconomic backgrounds for whom English is not their first language have low levels of medical literacy and therefore require additional written information about their illness and treatment such as informative brochures, educational booklets and educational videos on their illness.

To the knowledge, this is the first study that focuses on ethnic Australian urological cancer patients and their doctor-patient communication.

This paper aims to review the types of pizza and the functionality of basic ingredients of pizza with special focus on the effects of pizza toppings on health.

Phenomenological research has raised awareness and increased insight into the role of various pizza ingredients and health benefits of different pizza toppings and consequently pizza is called a “functional food”. The approach is based on observation of the online research, a close watch on the pizza industry, analysis of research papers in journals, and brainstorming research on the effect of packaging on the quality of different pizza ingredients with a co‐researcher for four years.

The changing life patterns and food habits of people and their preferences have catapulted the market to grow for convenience and fast foods. Pizza is one of the most popular family foods worldwide and has gained widespread consumer acceptance as a healthy and convenience food. It is a multi‐component product with composite number of toppings. It provides an array of nutrients in significant amounts, in relation to its energy and fat content, making it a nutrient‐dense food. It is cheap and can be delivered in a very short time. In particular, pizza supplies 30 per cent of the USA recommended daily allowance of vitamins A, C, B₂, calcium and protein. It contains 50 per cent of vitamin B₁ and 35 per cent of iron. Furthermore, pizza has anticancerous effects beyond the basic nutrition it provides, because of the potent antioxidant lycopene present in tomatoes.

This paper offers a holistic view that would guide a reader to identify the beneficial effects of pizza.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the changing nature of healthcare service encounters by studying the phenomenon of triadic engagement incorporating interactions between patients, local and virtual networks and healthcare professionals.

An 18-month longitudinal ethnographic study documents interactions in naturally occurring healthcare consultations. Professionals (n=13) and patients (n=24) within primary and secondary care units were recruited. Analysis of observations, field notes and interviews provides an integrated picture of triadic engagement.

Triadic engagement is conceptualised against a two-level framework. First, the structure of triadic consultations is identified in terms of the human voice, virtual voice and networked voice. These are related to: companions’ contributions to discussions and the virtual network impact. Second, evolving roles are mapped to three phases of transformation: enhancement; empowerment; emancipation. Triadic engagement varied across conditions.

These changing roles and structures evidence an increasing emphasis on the responsible consumer and patients/companions to utilise information/support in making health-related decisions. The nature and role of third voices requires clear delineation.

Structures of consultations should be rethought around the diversity of patient/companion behaviours and expectations as patients undertake self-service activities. Implications for policy and practice are: the parallel set of local/virtual informational and service activities; a network orientation to healthcare; tailoring of support resources/guides for professionals and third parties to inform support practices.

Contributions are made to understanding triadic engagement and forwarding the agenda on patient-centred care. Longitudinal illumination of consultations is offered through an exceptional level of access to observe consultations.

The purpose of this paper is to continue studies previously reported with the primary focus of optimizing an inductor design. The potential benefits of hyperthermia for cancer therapy, particularly metastatic cancers of the prostate, may be realized by the use of targeted magnetic nanoparticles that are heated by alternating magnetic fields (AMFs).

To further explore the potential of this technology, a high‐throughput cell culture treatment system is needed. The AMF requirements for this research present challenges to the design and manufacture of an induction system because a high flux density field at high frequency must be created in a relatively large volume. Additional challenges are presented by the requirement that the inductor must maintain an operating temperature between 35 and 39°C with continuous duty operation for 1 h or longer. Results of simulation and design of two devices for culture samples and for in vitro tests of multiple samples in uniform field are described.

The inductor design chosen provides a uniform distribution of relatively high magnetic field strength while providing an optimal reduction in the voltage and power requirement. Through development of design and selection of magnetic concentrator, the exposure of the cell cultures to the heat generated by the inductor is minimized.

This method of generating uniform high AC magnetic fields in a large volume is beneficial for the study of hyperthermia in cells for a high throughput, necessary for cancer treatment research.

The purpose of this paper is to examine ethnic Australian urological cancer patients and the positive life changes that those patients report after cancer diagnosis.

A sample of 50 Australian urological cancer patients of ethnic origin were chosen to participate in this study. One-on-one semi structured interviews were conducted with the patients.

Cancer diagnosis often serves as an impetus for making positive lifestyle changes. Most (98 per cent) of this study’s participants reported that they made positive lifestyle changes following a diagnosis of cancer. Those positive lifestyle changes include: greater appreciation of health and life (100 per cent); improved diet (94 per cent); closer relationships with family and friends (90 per cent); more frequent visits to the doctor for check-ups (74 per cent); increased physical activity (48 per cent); starting a new hobby (36 per cent); greater knowledge about their health in general (32 per cent) and increased spirituality (22 per cent).

The limitation of this study is the small sample of patients with ethnic diversity specific to western Sydney. Larger multicentre studies across Australia are required to confirm the findings. Additionally, this study focused on positive life changes, because 98 per cent of the participants reported positive lifestyle changes after diagnosis. However, there are related negative health behaviour changes, which this study has not addressed in depth. Furthermore, a comparison between positive life changes of ethnic Australian patients’ against the experience of post cancer diagnosis of non-ethnic Australian patients could investigate this issue further and possibly provide further insight.

The majority (98 per cent) of the participants report positive lifestyle changes following urological cancer diagnoses. The patient population of predominantly elderly (84 per cent), males (90 per cent) differs from the current literate which states that positive lifestyle changes (posttraumatic growth) are mainly found to be significantly correlated to being female, younger and non-white and greater event severity.

We study changes in age-specific diabetes-related mortality and annual health care utilization. We find that half of the estimated 16% increase of diabetic mortality falls within employable age groups. We estimate that disease combination-specific increase in case fatality has resulted in premature diabetic mortality costing $3.2 billion annually. The estimated annual direct cost of treating high-risk diabetics reaches $36 billion, of which Medicare and Other Federal Programs compensate 54%. Respiratory conditions among diabetics comprise the same proportion of high-risk diabetics as do the disease combinations including coronary heart diseases. Treating of general diabetic conditions has become more efficient as indicated by the estimated declines in per unit health care costs.

This study is a mortality assessment on police officers (68-years, 1950–2018) and includes all causes of death.

The authors investigated 1,853 police deaths (1950–2018) using sources of mortality that included the National Death Index, NY State, and available records from the Buffalo NY police department. Standardized Mortality Ratios were calculated. Death codes were obtained from 8th and 9th International Classification of Disease revisions in accordance with the year of death.

Compared to the US general population, white male police officers from 1950–2018 had elevated mortality rates for some causes of death, including diseases of the circulatory system, malignant neoplasms, cirrhosis of the liver, and mental disorders. Black and female officers had lower mortality rates for all causes of death compared to the general population.

The findings of elevated risk for chronic disease among police need to be studied in relation to stress, lifestyle, and exposure to chemical and physical agents. There is a special need to further study officers from minority populations as larger samples become available.

The results of this study will provide police and occupational health practitioners with objective evidence to determine the health impact of work on law enforcement officers.

This study is longest running mortality assessment on police officers ever conducted (1950–2018) and includes white, black, and female officers.