Climate:
A new report on climate change and its effect on health has been released by the Department of Health in the UK. Compiled by a group of experts in different areas, their aim was to identify future environmental factors that could affect the population's health. They advise that changes in climate could produce a decrease in cold-related winter deaths.
Also predicted is an increase in cases of food poisoning and skin cancer. The effects of ozone during the summer months are likely to increase with several thousand extra hospital admissions and extra deaths each year. The report concludes that measures taken to reduce the rate of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions could produce secondary benefical effects on health. (British Medical Journal)
Stitching:
When a small child requires stitching following an injury, the treatment is often worse than the injury. Researchers have found that administering nitrous oxide continuously through a nasal mask is better at relieving anxiety than oral medication. Recovery was quicker and the procedure was easier although 10 per cent of children vomited after the gas. (Annals of Emergency Medicine)
Breakfast:
A study which looked at healthy breakfast eating patterns and its effect on obestity, type two diabetes and cardiovascular disease has confirmed the nutritional importance of breakfast for children, who deplete their liver glycogen stores during sleep. Repleting these stores first thing in the morning improves school attendance and possibly performance. An additional breakfast bonus is the boost to folate and iron intakes given by fortified breakfast cereals. Low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets have been reported to lessen the long-term risk of type two diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Care should be taken in choosing cereals as most low fat/high carbohydrate breakfast cereals popular with children have a high sugar content which promote fat accumulation. (Lancet)
Guidebook:
Diary of a Hippie, Journeying Through Surgery by Catherine McCann (Eleona Books, £5) is a kind of holistic guidebook for anyone undergoing elective surgery. The book is written as a diary during the six weeks from when McCann went into hospital for hip replacement surgery, recuperated in a convalescent centre and the first two weeks back home. McCann now works as a counsellor but trained and worked as a physiotherapist for 36 years. She is a keen gardener and opens her Shekina Sculpture Garden in Wicklow to the public on selected days during the summer.
Bereavement:
The Bereavement Counselling Service is holding an Open Day about "Coping With Loss"on Saturday from 10.00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. at the Bank of Ireland Arts Centre, Foster Place, Dublin 2. The guest speakers will be Kathryn Holmquist of The Irish Times and John Lonergan, Governor, Mountjoy Prison. There will also be presentations by B.C.S. Bereavement Counsellors. Admission is free. For further information call (01) 8391766.
Lymphoedema:
The Irish Lymphoedema Support Network is holding an open day on Saturday from noon in the Montrose Hotel, Stillorgan Road, Dublin 4. The guest speaker is Dr Mary McAteer, senior lecturer, UCD School of Physiotherapy, Mater Hospital, Dublin. Contact the Irish Cancer Society on tel: 01 6681855 for more details.
lifelines@irish-times.ie