Peak oil: will it be public health's greatest challenge?

The health of populations is determined more by the social and economic determinants of health than by changes in technology, health services or short-term policy interventions. In the near future, there is likely to be a significant shortfall in energy supply, resulting in high energy prices and a reversal of many of the aspects of globalization that are currently taken for granted. If this happens, economic recession and restructuring could have a negative impact on health, not dissimilar to that experienced by the former Soviet Union when it attempted a rapid change in its economy. There is, however, the potential, through economic planning and sustainable development, to reduce the adverse effects of this change and use this opportunity to impact on a range of diseases which are, at least in part, caused by overconsumption, inequality and loss of community

OncoLog Volume 49, Number 03, March 2004

Translational Research Speeds the Journey from Lab Results to Clinical Outcomes New Tests Could One Day Predict Response to Chemotherapy and Presence of Metastatic Disease in Patients with Breast Cancer House Call: Mind-Body Approaches for Patients with Cancerhttps://openworks.mdanderson.org/oncolog/1127/thumbnail.jp

OncoLog Volume 43, Number 5, May 1998

Careful examinations and sentinel node mapping bolster melanoma detection and staging M. D. Anderson plastic surgeons restore hope along with function and appearance Protocols: Clinical Trials Offer Treatment for Advanced Melanoma House Call: Keep Skins—and Cancer—Under Wraps During Summer DiaLog: Reconstructing More than the Breast, by Geoffrey Robb, MD, Director, Surgical Specialties Centerhttps://openworks.mdanderson.org/oncolog/1062/thumbnail.jp

OncoLog Volume 47, Number 04, April 2002

Researchers Focus on Bioimmunotherap for Treatment of Non-Hodgkin\u27s Lymphomas Protocols: Non-Hodgkin\u27s Lymphoma Studies House Call: The First Cancer Prevention Vaccine DiaLog: The Viral Origins of Lymphomas, by Felipe Samaniego, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma Research Consortium Recruiting Volunteers to Study the Role of Genetics in Cancer Development and Patient Carehttps://openworks.mdanderson.org/oncolog/1105/thumbnail.jp

OncoLog Volume 50, Number 10, October 2005

Cytogenetics: Major Insights from Microscopic Details Breaking the News House Call: From My Bookshelf to Yours DiaLog: Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy: A New Strategy for Advanced Ovarian Cancer, by Maurie Markman, MD, Vice President for Clinical Researchhttps://openworks.mdanderson.org/oncolog/1137/thumbnail.jp

Integrating community-based verbal autopsy into civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS): system-level considerations.

BACKGROUND: Reliable and representative cause of death (COD) statistics are essential to inform public health policy, respond to emerging health needs, and document progress towards Sustainable Development Goals. However, less than one-third of deaths worldwide are assigned a cause. Civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems in low- and lower-middle-income countries are failing to provide timely, complete and accurate vital statistics, and it will still be some time before they can provide physician-certified COD for every death. Proposals: Verbal autopsy (VA) is a method to ascertain the probable COD and, although imperfect, it is the best alternative in the absence of medical certification. There is extensive experience with VA in research settings but only a few examples of its use on a large scale. Data collection using electronic questionnaires on mobile devices and computer algorithms to analyse responses and estimate probable COD have increased the potential for VA to be routinely applied in CRVS systems. However, a number of CRVS and health system integration issues should be considered in planning, piloting and implementing a system-wide intervention such as VA. These include addressing the multiplicity of stakeholders and sub-systems involved, integration with existing CRVS work processes and information flows, linking VA results to civil registration records, information technology requirements and data quality assurance. CONCLUSIONS: Integrating VA within CRVS systems is not simply a technical undertaking. It will have profound system-wide effects that should be carefully considered when planning for an effective implementation. This paper identifies and discusses the major system-level issues and emerging practices, provides a planning checklist of system-level considerations and proposes an overview for how VA can be integrated into routine CRVS systems

OncoLog Volume 46, Number 09, September 2001

Completing the Job: Multidisciplinary Effort Restores Form and Function, Improves Patients\u27 Quality of Life House Call: Denial and Cancer Protocols: Studies Examine Treatments for Glioma DiaLog: Addressing the Problem of Patients\u27 Denial, by Renato Lenzi, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology New Replication-Competent Adenovirus Shows Promise against Gliomas in Preclinical Studieshttps://openworks.mdanderson.org/oncolog/1099/thumbnail.jp

Revising the WHO verbal autopsy instrument to facilitate routine cause-of-death monitoring.

OBJECTIVE: Verbal autopsy (VA) is a systematic approach for determining causes of death (CoD) in populations without routine medical certification. It has mainly been used in research contexts and involved relatively lengthy interviews. Our objective here is to describe the process used to shorten, simplify, and standardise the VA process to make it feasible for application on a larger scale such as in routine civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems. METHODS: A literature review of existing VA instruments was undertaken. The World Health Organization (WHO) then facilitated an international consultation process to review experiences with existing VA instruments, including those from WHO, the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and their Health in Developing Countries (INDEPTH) Network, InterVA, and the Population Health Metrics Research Consortium (PHMRC). In an expert meeting, consideration was given to formulating a workable VA CoD list [with mapping to the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) CoD] and to the viability and utility of existing VA interview questions, with a view to undertaking systematic simplification. FINDINGS: A revised VA CoD list was compiled enabling mapping of all ICD-10 CoD onto 62 VA cause categories, chosen on the grounds of public health significance as well as potential for ascertainment from VA. A set of 221 indicators for inclusion in the revised VA instrument was developed on the basis of accumulated experience, with appropriate skip patterns for various population sub-groups. The duration of a VA interview was reduced by about 40% with this new approach. CONCLUSIONS: The revised VA instrument resulting from this consultation process is presented here as a means of making it available for widespread use and evaluation. It is envisaged that this will be used in conjunction with automated models for assigning CoD from VA data, rather than involving physicians

Authors' reply re: Wide differences in mode of delivery within Europe: risk-stratified analyses of aggregated routine data from the Euro-Peristat study

To access publisher's full text version of this article click on the hyperlink at the bottom of the pageTo use data from routine sources to compare rates of obstetric intervention in Europe both overall and for subgroups at higher risk of intervention.Retrospective analysis of aggregated routine data.Thirty-one European countries or regions contributing data on mode of delivery to the Euro-Peristat project.Births in participating countries in 2010.Countries provided aggregated data about overall rates of obstetric intervention and about caesarean section rates for specified subgroups.Mode of delivery.Rates of caesarean section ranged from 14.8% to 52.2% of all births and rates of instrumental vaginal delivery ranged from 0.5% to 16.4%. Overall, there was no association between rates of instrumental vaginal delivery and rates of caesarean section, but similarities were observed between some countries that are geographically close and may share common traditions of practice. Associations were observed between caesarean section rates for women with breech and vertex births and with singleton and multiple births but patterns of association for women who had and had not had previous caesarean sections were more complex.The persisting wide variations in caesarean section and instrumental vaginal delivery rates point to a lack of consensus about practice and raise questions for further investigation. Further research is needed to explore the impact of differences in clinical guidelines, healthcare systems and their financing and parents' and professionals' attitudes to care at delivery.info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/2010130