http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html

You can check out the progress of America's increasing BMI by state, since 1985, on this govt page. The South leads the charge.


Colorado is the Rocky Mountain holdout but they are sliding too.

most (136/156) acquired during travel
of unvaccinated Americans to countries with outbreaks
1/1/11-6/17/11-->156 confirmed cases reported to CDC
imported infections-->12 outbreaks (defined as 3+ linked cases)
of the total: 86 (62%) unvaccinated, 30 (22%) undocumented vaccination status,
11 (8%) had received 1 MMR dose, 11 (8%) had 2 doses, and 1 (1%) had 3 documented doses
measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000 dt successful vaccine coverage (2-dose)
endemic/outbreaks still occuring in Europe (France, UK, Spain, Switzerland), Africa, Asia (incl India)
( a few more notes and the linkCollapse )

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/728703?src=mpnews&spon=34&uac=89474MT
New research shows that there is no link between thimerosal-containing vaccines administered during pregnancy or infancy and the development of autism. The doc interview says there is no need for further research on this question.

n=256 kids with autistic disorder or ASD with regression
parents were interviewed
CDC on vaccine safety: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/index.html

"Clinicians can feel confident in counseling parents that the scientific evidence does not support a link between thimerosal in vaccines and autism," Dr. DeStefano said. "Currently, this should not be much of an issue because thimerosal is no longer included in most routinely used in infant and childhood vaccines in the United States."

According to Dr. DeStefano, the single exception is in some influenza vaccines, but "thimerosal-free preparations of influenza vaccines are available for parents who are more comfortable with thimerosal-free products.

I'd like to watch this presentation by David Eagleman on how to prepare but it's an hour and a half long (no time right now). It starts with a consideration of why societies collapse. This org is dedicated to helping us learn to think in a longterm way. I found a short writeup of Eagleman's points on their site here.

"There’s more money in amputating the limbs of diabetics than in counseling them on diet and exercise."

( Read Michael Pollan's NYTimes Op-Ed from 9/10/09, on the food industry's part in the healthcare boondoggle.Collapse )

I've been using medscape to keep abreast of medical news...for a while now. They're good. Anyway, here's the swine flu alert center. I ran across an article that mentioned Medscape as possibly a good stock investment, too.

--4/28/09
--state and public health agencies authorized to widen the use of precise diagnostic test
--they want to find out for sure where this flu is and how fast it is spreading!
( more notes on swine influenza A (H1N1)Collapse )

--H1N1, type A
--California, Texas, Kansas, New York, Ohio
--http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/investigation.htm