Stop promoting alcohol, DJs told Drinker Ofcom rules ban encouraging binge drinking Radio presenters are under fire for comments which encourage drinking. Researchers from the Bristol-based University of the West of England looked at 1,200 hours of output across six BBC and commercial stations. Less than half the 703 comments made on air about alcohol encouraged drinking, but in extracts involving just presenters that figure was 73%. ... Lead researcher Professor Norma Daykin said: "Alcohol was frequently positioned as a marker of the weekend, and a hangover as a marker of a good night out. "The notion of not drinking alcohol to enjoy yourself, particularly at times of celebration such as Christmas and New Year, seemed unthinkable." But she also pointed out this was not always necessary, with some presenters able to create an identity and connection with their audience without encouraging drinking. "This suggests radio presenters and producers have a choice: they don't have to encourage drinking to be seen as 'cool' or in touch with their listeners." .,..

Letters Care and quality indicators QOF and public health priorities don’t improve care in ageing The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. The influence of the quality and outcomes framework (QOF) in the general practitioners’ contract cannot be discounted.1 But not everything can appear in the QOF, and if it doesn’t it doesn’t tend to happen. Urinary incontinence affects 25% of women over 65; 50% of people over 80 fall at least once a year, and women have a 50% lifetime risk of osteoporotic fracture; over 1 million people in the UK currently have dementia—yet none of these appear. Clearly such prevalent and debilitating conditions are of major importance, but as they primarily affect older people they haven’t been at the forefront of thinking. They don’t lend themselves to simplistic "metrics" for measurement and so it is too difficult to show that they are being met. Prescription and rationalisation of medicines in older people is another QOF related issue. Firstly, although iatrogenic illness related to polypharmacy accounts for many admissions of older . . . [Full text of this article] David Oliver, senior lecturer, geriatric medicine1 1 School of Health and Social Care, University of Reading, Reading RG6 1HY d.oliver@reading.ac.uk

AI/ANs lose 6.4 more years of potential life per AAD compared with persons in the U.S. general population (36.3 versus 29.9 years).

Table of Contents Select a link below to start reading online free! Front Matter i-xii Executive Summary 1-4 (skim) 1 Introduction 5-26 (skim) 2 The Promise and Perils of Participation 27-61 (skim) 3 The Effects of Public Participation 62-77 (skim) 4 Public Participation Practice: Management Practices 78-89 (skim) 5 Practice: Organizing Participation 90-111 (skim) 6 Practice: Integrating Science 112-130 (skim) 7 Context: The Issue 131-158 (skim) 8 Context: The People 159-189 (skim) 9 Overall Conclusions and Recommendations 190-208 (skim) References 209-265 (skim) Appendix A Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and Staff 266-270 (skim) back to top Description Advocates of public participation believe it improves environmental assessment and decision making; detractors criticize it as ineffective and inefficient. The term public participation, as used in this book, includes organized processes adopted by elected officials, government agencies, or other public- or private-sector organizations to engage the public in environmental assessment, planning, decision making, management, monitoring, and evaluation. These processes supplement traditional forms of public participation (voting, forming interest groups, demonstrating, lobbying) by directly involving the public in executive functions that, when they are conducted in government, are traditionally delegated to administrative agencies. The goal of participation is to improve the quality, legitimacy, and capacity of environmental assessments and decisions. This book, from the National Research Council s Panel on Public Participation in Environmental Assessment and Decision Making, assesses whether, and under what conditions, public participation achieves the outcomes desired. Claims from all sides are considered and evaluated as a central point of the study, in order to provide an overall assessment of the merits and failings of participation. The book also offers guidance to practitioners and identifies directions for further research. back to top Authoring Organizations * Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change (HDGC) * Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education (DBASSE) o More Titles from HDGC o More Titles from DBASSE

From Critical Care Medicine At-Risk Drinkers are at Higher Risk to Acquire a Bacterial Infection During an Intensive Care Unit Stay Than Abstinent or Moderate Drinkers * Posted 07/14/2008 Arnaud Gacouin, MD; François Legay, MD; Christophe Camus, MD; Anne-Claire Volatron, MD; Nicolas Barbarot, MD; Pierre-Yves Donnio, PhD; Rémi Thomas, MD; Yves Le Tulzo, MD Author Information Abstract and Introduction Abstract Objectives: To determine whether excessive alcohol consumption increases the risk for intensive care unit (ICU)-acquired bacterial infection, especially ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), in nontrauma patients. Design: Prospective observational cohort study. Setting: A 21-bed polyvalent ICU in a university hospital. Patients: A total of 358 adult patients admitted over a 1-yr period who had an ICU stay ≥3 days and in whom alcohol consumption could be assessed. Interventions: None. Measurements and Mean Results: Thirty-one percent of the patients (111 of 358) were identified as at-risk drinkers according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism criteria. Among these, 61 had a daily intake of five or more drinks per day and 73 had Simplified Michigan Alcohol Short Test scores ≥3. ICU-acquired bacterial infections were diagnosed in 88 patients, and 69 patients had one or more VAPs. Forty (36%) at-risk drinkers acquired bacterial infections vs. 48 (19%) not-at-risk drinkers (p < .001). Among at-risk drinkers, the proportion of patients who developed bacterial infection was higher in at-risk drinkers consuming five or more drinks per day compared with at-risk drinkers consuming fewer than five drinks per day (p = .048). After adjustment for age, gender, Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, length of hospital stay before ICU admission, prior antibiotic administration within 24 hrs before ICU admission, type of admission, immunosuppression, duration of mechanical ventilation, and central venous and urinary catheter exposure, at-risk drinking remained significantly associated with the acquisition of bacterial infection at any site (hazard ratio 1.92; 95% confidence interval, 1.17-3.14; p = .009) and of VAP (hazard ratio 1.76; 95% confidence interval, 1.05-3.06; p = .04). Conclusions: At-risk drinking was a significant risk factor for acquisition of ICU-acquired bacterial infection.

A History of Hooch The Greeks worshipped it; the Aztecs were a little more conflicted. review of the book * By Sam Anderson * Published Jul 6, 2008