Socialized Medicine

Saw Michael Moore's documentary Sicko today. It was very interesting, suspiciously propaganda-like but nevertheless brings to light many facts about the non-universal and for-profit health care industry in the U.S. and compares to socialized health care system of other countries.

Socialized medicine or state medicine is a health care system which operates by means of government regulation and subsidies derived from taxation.

Nations listed in the movie that employ a socialized health care system are

• U.S.A. (limited and underfunded in the form of Medicare since 1960s and limited to a group in the form of Veterans Health Administration)
  
• Canada
• United Kingdom (since 1948)
  
• France
• Norway
• Cuba (since 1960s under Fidel Castro)
  
• Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility (joke of course)

According to Wikipedia, other nations that use (or have used) the system are

• Soviet Union (1920s)
• New Zealand since 1939
• China (1950s - 1970s)
• Israel since 1948
  
• Finland

Wonder what other major nations employ this system.

CO Awareness

Carbon monoxide exposure: silent killer

As winter sets in, most people should become aware that turning up the heat from whatever source, and sealing all doors and windows to keep warm, may as well become a death trap from a faulty heating / burning device that emits Carbon Monoxide. Invest in a decent CO alarm and save lives.

Dengue Fever

Dengue Fever has generated quite a few headlines recently. Several hundreds of cases have been reported in India. Some facts about the disease ...

• There are two kinds - Dengue Fever and more deadly Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever.
• Caused by four antigenically distinct virus serotypes (DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, DEN-4).
  
• Spread by infected domestic mosquito (of genus Aedes and specifically only species Aedes aegypti and sometimes species Aedes albopictus). This type of mosquito occurs in most tropical urban areas of the world, including India, and breeds in stagnant water. Cannot be spread from person to person.
  
• Symptoms of Dengue include high fever, severe headache, backache, joint pains, nausea and vomiting, eye pain and rash. Dengue hemorrhagic fever is characterized by a fever that lasts from 2 to 7 days and does not have any differential symptoms which makes it harder to diagnose by a physician. This stage is followed by hemorrhagic manifestations and finally circulatory failure and shock resulting in death.
  
• No vaccine or cure is available at this time, but infection from one of these serotypes provides immunity to that serotype for life.
• Effective treatment of early diagnosed Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever can be done through fluid replacement therapy and hospitalization to manage it.
• CDC describes some of the reasons why this epidemic has recurred more frequently in recent years:
  

• Uncontrollable urbanization in these countries and corresponding urban population growth along with inadequate sewage systems.
• Since the disease has been endemic for centuries, health officials don't react adequately until situations reach a crisis stage, which is insufficient for dengue control.
• Lack of sufficient differential symptoms prevent physicians from adequately detecting it and alerting health officials in advance before an epidemic ensues.
  

References:

• Dengue Fever
  
• Dengue Fever Fact Sheet
• Dengue & DHF: FAQ
  
• Chikungunya ...Dengue....What?
• CDC World Dengue Map 2005
• HEALTHmap
  

Coffee May Reduce Risk of Diabetes

Several studies in the last years have suggested that high regular coffee consumption is associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
A group of researchers lead by Dr. Rob M. van Dam from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston evaluated the effect of the consumption of different types of coffee on the risk of diabetes in more than 88,000 US women.
They found that the risk was reduced 13 percent with one cup of coffee a day and 47 percent with four or more cups a day. They concluded that moderate consumption of coffee may reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in middle-age and younger women.
The researchers also believe that other substances in coffee other than caffeine may affect glucose metabolism and therefore lower the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Furthermore, coffee may not only lower type 2 diabetes risk, make you more alert and even improve your learning abilities, but some studies report that coffee is a potent antioxidant.
However, this doesn't mean that you should increase your coffee consumption or start drinking coffee if you don't already drink it regularly. Caffeine is a mild stimulant that has effects on the cardiovascular system such as increased heart rate, higher blood pressure or irregular heartbeat that should be considered in case you have heart disease or hypertension.
If you feel that coffee has negative effects on you please talk with your doctor about it.
February 9, 2006.
Source: Van Dam, R, Willett W. Coffee, Caffeine, and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes. Diabetes Care 29:398-403, 2006

References:
Diabetes Care: care.diabetesjournals.org
About.com: diabetes.about.com