COVID-19 has changed a lot of practices for frontline healthcare workers, from screening employees and patients at entrances to wearing masks all the time. The pandemic has also taught us more about variants. As a virus like COVID-19 spreads, it can mutate and change — these changes are known as variants, such as the Delta and Omicron variants. New variants of viruses are common. Fortunately, the strategies healthcare workers use for infection control are designed to work regardless of the variant, said Dr. Abigail Carlson, an Infectious Diseases physician with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “The tools that we use for infection control work. And the way they work for COVID-19 hasn't changed,” Carlson said. “It's all the more important to ...
By Jim Morris
Public Health Watch While still jarringly high, U.S. suicide rates fell in 2019 and again in 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last month. The year-over-year rate declined by 3 percent overall, falling by 8 percent among women and 2 percent among men. But there were some stark outliers. Notably, suicides among Latino men increased by nearly 6 percent.
What’s Going On?
Plenty, it turns out. Problems that existed before COVID-19 got even worse during the pandemic, health advocates and providers say, including substance abuse, job loss, poor access to care and the stigma of mental illness in the Latino community. “[Latino men] weren’t getting much help to begin with,” said Fredrick Sandoval, executive director of the New ...
Latino students face many systemic barriers to quality education, including a lack of access to preschool and little diversity among teachers. Worse, recent research from the University of Chicago found that the number of low-income Latino children attending schools with middle-class students has fallen by 14% in 15 years. It’s a marker of an underlying issue – racial/ethnic segregation. In fact, researchers found another uptick in white families moving out of diverse, both racially and socioeconomically, areas to white-majority areas, or white flight. The COVID-19 pandemic adds another layer of complexity to white flight and segregation in education, according to Bruce Fuller, a Berkeley sociology professor and study leader. “Deeper forces have sustained ...
Consuming sugary drinks like soda and juice may increase the risk of prediabetes for Latino adults, according to a new study from Duke University School of Medicine. “What we found in this study is that unfortunately, having more than two drinks a day does increase your risk and is associated with having prediabetes,” said Dr. Leonor Corsino of the Duke University School of Medicine, according to CBS17. Latinos are at high risk for diabetes and other medical conditions. It’s important that we reduce sugary drink consumption, especially for Latino youth.
What Did the Study Find on Prediabetes and Sugary Drinks?
Corsino and her research team collected data from the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos, which is the most comprehensive long-term study of health ...
The National Eye Institute has launched the Eye on the Future campaign to encourage teens to pursue careers in science, specifically eye health and biomedical research. The campaign is kicking off with a video contest! For the video contest, open to teens nationally, high school students can submit 30-second-to-3-minute videos on several science-related categories, such as their favorite scientific discovery or the impact they'd like to make in the science world in 20 years. Students can record video submissions on their own or team up with a group of friends. Submissions are due May 1, 2022. "Winners will get cash prizes — to to $2,000 — plus the opportunity to visit the National Institutes of Health for a day," according to the National Eye Institute, part of the ...
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many educators have retired. Worse, teachers of color—an already underrepresented group—are retiring at higher rates than their white peers, according to new research from The National Education Association. Their poll found that 59% of Latino educators were planning on retiring earlier than they expected. This is a worrying statistic as we know that representation in the classroom can better student of color’s education outcomes. The problem needs attention now, according to NEA President Becky Pringle. “This is a five-alarm crisis," Pringle said in a NEA press release. "If we’re serious about getting every child the support they need to thrive, our elected leaders across the nation need to address this ...
Omega 3 fatty acids are essential nutrients. Studies show omega 3 fish oil—which contains both docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid—may help lower blood pressure, slow the development of plaque in the arteries, and reduce the likelihood of heart attack and stroke. With the rising popularity of omega 3 fish oil supplements, researchers are conducting clinical trials to test their benefits for other health issues. This is why Dr. Andrew Brenner and his team at UT Health San Antonio are seeking volunteers for his clinical trial to explore of how omega 3 fatty acids can impact postmenopausal breast cancer patients. “Fish oil supplements with omega 3 fatty acids have been shown to stop or slow down the growth and development of breast cancer cells in ...
Methane gas emissions have been on the rise over the past 15 years, according to recent numbers published by National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. Methane can deprive the body of oxygen and cause fatigue, dizziness, convulsions, and even death. What makes this especially bad news is that 1.81 million Latino Americans live within a half-mile of an oil and gas well, which raises their risk of methane exposure. This is why 16 members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are calling on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to tighten its rules on methane emissions. “[U]nder the current proposal, operators that calculate lower potential emissions (less than 3 tons per year of methane) could still escape regular leak monitoring. This is problematic ...
Declining kidney function is strongly linked to dementia, according to a 10-year study of older adults. This has negative implications for Latinos, who are not only at a high risk for Alzheimer’s and related dementias, but also for chronic kidney disease (CKD). “The kidneys and the brain, both being end organs, are thought to be susceptible to vascular damage due to similar anatomic and hemodynamic features,” according to the researchers. Learn more about what the study found on the link between poor kidney function and dementia, why Latinos are disproportionately affected by these diseases, and how we can help further the research of Latino chronic disease through clinical trials.
What Did the Study Find on Kidney Function and Dementia?
Researchers from the University ...
