Glut of blue disabled placards costing some US cities millions in parking revenue

 

A blue placard dangling from the rear-view mirror is the equivalent of parking gold for drivers in many cities – they can park for free and for as long as they want. Now there’s a gold rush on for them.

And as the number of vehicles displaying a disabled placard has soared with an aging population and loosened eligibility standards, cities are seeing the impact in more congested downtowns and the loss of millions of dollars in revenue.

Now, officials are pushing back, tightening standards for those who can get the placards and making sure that the only people who get the privilege are those who really need it.

“It was astonishing to see car after car with the disabled placard,” said Portland City Commissioner Steve Novick, who is seeking a solution to the problem in a city with a reputation for bicycling and mass transit but still reliant on the car.

Authorities issued 186 citations for unlawful use of a permit the fiscal year ending June 30, but believe there is more abuse.

Cheaters are tough to catch because the placard is generally valid and the driver, who may be borrowing one, is only at the car for a couple of minutes during the workday.

Experts say the easiest way to stop abuse is to make the disabled pay the meter, especially those not in wheelchairs. Places such as Philadelphia, Raleigh, N.C., and Arlington County, Va., did so and there was more turnover in the spots.

The Illinois Legislature passed a law that takes effect next year in which free-metered parking will be reserved for only the most severely disabled residents. It was spurred in part by Chicago’s decision to privatize its parking meters. As part of the deal, it agreed to reimburse the company for free parking provided to holders of disabled placards. The tab since 2009: $55 million.

“Economically, a free parking pass is a very nice thing to have, and there are always enough people who are a bit unscrupulous when it comes to parking that you can’t expect self-restraint,” said Donald Shoup, a UCLA urban planning professor and author of “The High Cost of Free Parking.”

On one block in the financial district, placards consumed 80 percent of the total meter hours. Though the spaces were occupied 95 percent of the time, meters that charged $4 an hour collected an average of only 28 cents an hour.

California started issuing placards in 1959 to people unable to move without a wheelchair. Within two decades, it was expanded to include people with breathing problems and general mobility problems.

“We looked back from 1990 to 2010, even normalized for population growth, there was a 350 percent increase in the number of placards issued in California,” Williams said. “Even if there was no abuse, there are a lot of placards in circulation.”

Oregon has issued placards to 354,000 of its 3 million drivers. Those authorized to sign a permit include doctors of medicine, chiropractors, osteopaths, podiatrists, optometrists, naturopaths, nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

Portland’s Disabled Parking Task Force asked the Oregon Medical Association in 2010 to remind doctors about the impact of improper placards, and recommended temporary permits instead of ones that can be valid for years until a driver’s license expires.

Betty Brislawn, 84, uses a placard because she has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

A task force member, Brislawn said there are many cheaters, but you can’t assume people with internal problems are less worthy of a placard than those in wheelchairs.

“My oxygen level, if I walk fast, will go down to 83 and that means I’m in really dire trouble; I could pass out,” she said. “But otherwise I look fine.”

Novick doesn’t have a placard, though he was born with missing fibula bones and no left hand. The 4-foot-9 commissioner said ensuring open spaces for those with severe mobility problems should be the city’s focus.

“Being really short, I would kind of like it if grocery stores had tongs you could use to take things off the top shelf,” he joked. “That would be a good accommodation, but I still think I should have to pay for the groceries.”
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/09/06/sea-blue-disabled-placards-in-many-us-cities/#ixzz2eBf5FLsJ

 

Whooping cough reaches epidemic level in Texas

People of all ages can get whooping cough, but infants have the greatest risk of contracting it

Whooping cough has reached epidemic proportions in Texas and could hit a 50-year high, a health official said on Thursday.

Nearly 2,000 cases of whooping cough have been reported in Texas this year. Two infants, who were too young to receive the whooping cough vaccine, have died, state officials said. The number of cases likely will surpass the recent high of 3,358 in 2009, according to the state health services department.

“We’re clearly having an epidemic,” said Dr. Carol Baker, the director of the Center for Vaccine Awareness and Research at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.

Dr. Lisa Cornelius, Texas infectious diseases medical officer, said: This is extremely concerning. Pertussis is highly infectious and can cause serious complications, especially in babies, so people should take it seriously.”

Pertussis or whooping cough is a bacterial infection that often begins with cold-like symptoms and a mild cough, followed a week or two later by severe coughing that can last for several weeks, health officials said.

It spreads when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes. People of all ages can get whooping cough, but infants have the greatest risk of contracting it, they said.

The Texas Department of State Health Services issued an alert this week urging doctors to screen for whooping cough and encouraging residents to get vaccinated.

Last year, 49 states reported an increase in whooping cough cases, but most states have experienced declines so far this year, data shows. Researchers attribute the rise to a new type of pertussis vaccine, which is safer but less effective over the long run, and to a decline in the number of children being vaccinated.

Whooping cough vaccinations for infants can’t be completed until babies are four months old, Baker said.

Most children are vaccinated by the time they reach adolescence, Baker said. Vaccination is recommended during pregnancy to protect the mother and the newborn, she said.

Last year, more than 41,000 cases of whooping cough were reported in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Infants had the highest rate, followed by children ages 7 to 10.

In 2012, 49 states and the District of Columbia reported increases in cases compared to the prior year, the CDC said. Most had double or triple the rate of prior years.

So far in 2013, only 16 states are ahead of last year’s pace for whooping cough, the data showed. More than half are in the South.
The article originally appeared in fox news

 

Schools sending BMIs reports of students’ to parents

Many students already stress about the grades on their report cards, but now, some students are worrying about a whole new scholastic measurement: their body mass index (BMI).

Schools in 19 states have started to conduct annual weigh-ins for students that test for BMI, Medical Daily reported. Their measurements are then sent home to parents as reports, which note whether or not the child is considered overweight.

Kids have started calling the reports “fat letters.”

Many families and health experts have started pushing back against the reports, arguing they could damage children’s self-esteem.  However, others say the reports are the best way to know whether a child’s weight is healthy or unhealthy.

An individual’s BMI is calculated by dividing their weight by the square of their height.  This figure is then compared to growth charts accounting for the person’s age and gender, in order to understand how they compare to the rest of their peers.  BMI is the primary measurement used to determine if a person is considered overweight and obese.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than one-third of children and adolescents are considered overweight or obese.  These children are at increased risk for a variety of health issues, such as asthma, sleep apnea, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/09/06/fat-letters-schools-sending-reports-students-bmis-to-parents/#ixzz2eBaHRn7O

 

Arsenic levels in rice not dangerous in short term, FDA says

The samples cover most types of rice grain and rice-based foods and beverages consumed in the United States,” the agency said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that after testing 1,300 samples of rice and rice products, it has determined that the amount of detectable arsenic is too low to cause immediate or short-term negative health effects.

The next step, the agency said, will be to use new tools that provide greater specificity about different types of arsenic present in foods, to analyze the effect of long-term exposure to low levels of arsenic in rice.

The FDA’s review comes after Consumer Reports urged the government in 2012 to limit arsenic in rice after tests of more than 60 popular products – from Kellogg’s Rice Krispies to Gerber infant cereal – showed that most contained some level of inorganic arsenic, a known human carcinogen.

The consumer watchdog group said some varieties of brown rice – including brands sold by Whole Foods Markets Inc and Wal-Mart Stores Inc – contained particularly significant levels of inorganic arsenic.

In response to the FDA report, Urvashi Rangan, Consumer Reports’ director of consumer safety and sustainability, said the FDA’s interest in the subject was “great news” and that the agency’s findings mirrored its own findings.

“It doesn’t mean consumers need to throw out all the rice in their cabinets, but they should be aware that the problem is important,” she said.

The FDA said on Friday that the samples it tested came from various types of rice grains, including white, jasmine and basmati. They also included samples from rice products including infant cereals, pasta, grain-based bars, cookies, pastries and drinks such as beer, rice wine and rice water.

“Taken together, the samples cover most types of rice grain and rice-based foods and beverages consumed in the United States,” the agency said.

The average levels of inorganic arsenic – the most toxic kind – ranged from 2.6 to 7.2 micrograms per serving of rice grains. Instant rice came in at the low end of the range and brown rice at the high end.

In foods, arsenic may be present as inorganic arsenic or organic arsenic, the FDA said. Together they are referred to as total arsenic.

Among rice products the level of inorganic arsenic ranged from 0.1 to 6.6 micrograms per serving, with infant formula at the low end and rice pasta at the high end. The levels are not high enough to cause any short-term health effects, the agency said.

The average amount of inorganic arsenic among 99 samples of brown rice was 7.2 micrograms, with some samples originating in the United States running as high as 10 micrograms. The average amount in instant rice was 2.6 micrograms.

The FDA declined to name specific products among the samples it tested, saying that while the total number of samples was large enough to accurately measure average levels of arsenic, it was not large enough to evaluate specific brands.

Some companies source their rice from different locations, which may result in samples from the same brand having different levels of arsenic over time, the agency said. It will conduct a risk assessment to consider how much arsenic is consumed from rice products and whether there are variations in health effects for certain segments of the population.

Once complete, the assessment will help the agency determine whether further action is necessary, the FDA said. It is also conducting additional sampling to broaden its data on infant and toddler products.

In the meantime, the FDA recommends that consumers eat a well-balanced diet to minimize the potential negative effects of consuming too much of any one food. It said wheat, barley and oats are among the nutritious grains that consumers can eat to vary their diet.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/09/06/arsenic-levels-in-rice-not-dangerous-in-short-term-fda-says/#ixzz2eBWnYqBT

 

Countries with more wealth have higher Alzheimer’s risk

People living in wealthier countries with better access to clean water and good hygiene may have a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, Medical News Today reported.

In a study published in the journal Evolution, Medicine and Public Health, researchers analyzed data from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Burden of Disease (GBD) report in 2009.

They noted that countries with better access to clean drinking water, lower rates of infectious disease and a greater percentage of the population residing in urban areas all had higher rates of Alzheimer’s disease, according to Medical News Today.

Researchers explained their findings using the ‘hygiene hypothesis,’ which suggests that people who live in places with access to better hygiene have less exposure to certain germs. With no harmful bacteria to fight, people’s immune system’s develop insufficiently, putting them at a higher risk for autoimmune diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s.

“The ‘hygiene hypothesis,’ which suggests a relationship between cleaner environments and a higher risk of certain allergies and autoimmune diseases, is well-established,” lead study author Dr. Molly Fox, from the University of Cambridge, said. “We believe we can now add Alzheimer’s to this list of diseases.”

Currently, more than 50 percent of people with Alzheimer’s live in the developing world, and by 2025, this figure is expected to rise to more than 70 percent, according to Fox.

“An awareness of this by-product of increasing wealth and development could encourage the innovation of new strategies to protect vulnerable populations from Alzheimer’s,” Fox said.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/09/06/countries-with-more-wealth-better-hygiene-have-higher-alzheimers-risk/#ixzz2eBSsKetK

 

TB’s drug resistance mechanism identified

Researchers have completed the genome sequencing of 161 Mycobacterium tuberculosis which cause infectious disease tuberculosis (TB).

To understand the drug resistance mechanism from DNA level, Chinese researchers conducted a comprehensive genome-wide study of 161 M. tuberculosis strains with a broad range of resistance profiles (44 drug-sensitive, 94 MDR and 23 XDR isolates).

In total, they discovered 72 novel genes, 28 intergenic regions (IGRs), 11 nonsynonymous SNPs and 10 IGR SNPs with strong, consistent associations with drug resistance.

Researchers found that the genetic basis of drug resistance is more complex than previously expected. The identification of new drug resistance-associated genes, IGRs and SNPs provides a nearly complete gene set for studying drug resistance TB.

The study has been published online in Nature Genetics.

Game consoles contain 5 times more germs than toilet seats

http://campredwood.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/video-game-consoles.jpgA new study has found that game consoles have five times more germs than toilet seats.

According to the study, the hand-held controllers contain on average 7,863 germs per 100 square centimeters – that`s five times more than a toilet seat which has 1,600, the Mirror reported.

Children`s toys, garden – trampolines, bikes and balls also have more bugs.

The trampoline is worst among household items, with 640,000 germs in every 100 square centimeters – an area about the size of a coaster.

Researchers swabbed everyday things around the home for bacteria including E.coli, APC and Enterobacteriaceae.

Chair and sofa arms harbour 19,200 germs per 100 square centimeters – 12 times the amount on a loo seat, says the study carried out by Domestos and UNICEF.

And fridge handles have 7,474 bacteria over the same measure

America’s Headache: The invisible plague of concussion

A composite image of where concussion can occurTraumatic brain injury is a hidden epidemic in the US, reaching beyond American football to wounded military veterans and girls’ soccer players. Neurosurgeon Dr Anand Veeravagu outlines concussion’s potentially devastating side effects.

It is all too common for patients to tell me that they have been knocked out while playing sports or in an accident. But the consequences of concussion, or “getting your bell rung” as the disarmingly quaint expression goes, can prove disastrous.

As Chief Neurosurgery Resident at the Palo Alto Veterans Hospital, I’ve treated many of our nation’s service members, some of whom came home with injuries that changed their lives forever.

I will always remember in particular one US Army soldier in my care. Mitch (not his real name) was nearing the end of his deployment in Afghanistan when his convoy was hit by a roadside bomb.

His vehicle’s heavy armour shielded most of his body from the blast and saved his life. But it did little to protect his brain. Despite the very latest in helmet technology, the powerful shock waves of such a blast hitting a vehicle often wreak havoc on soft brain tissue.

At a battlefield hospital in Afghanistan, Mitch underwent an emergency procedure called a de compressive craniectomy, where surgeons removed a 13-in (33-cm) piece of his skull to help make room for uncontrollable brain swelling.

 

Orthopedic Hospital offers TV during surgery

Orthopaedic patient Paul Eaton is one of an increasing number choosing to watch TV during surgery

An increasing number of NHS hospitals around the UK are offering patients an opportunity to watch TV programs or films while undergoing operations.

Hospitals in Glasgow and Peterborough were among the pioneers and the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopedic Hospital near Oswestry is also adopting a similar approach.

“I feel fine, I can’t feel a thing and I’m watching Match of The Day.”

That was the perspective of 57-year-old patient Paul Eaton during his hip replacement operation at the orthopedic hospital, one of the UK’s leading centers of excellence in its field.

Mr Eaton is one of an increasing number of orthopedic patients at the hospital receiving a spinal, rather than general, anesthetic and remaining conscious throughout surgery.

While consultant surgeon Richard Spencer Jones cut, sawed and hammered during the hour-long hip replacement, Mr Eaton watched football highlights on iPlayer, via the hospital’s wi-fi network.

Recovery time

Listening to music or watching TV also helps patients relax during what is a naturally daunting time. It has been made possible thanks to advances in anesthesia.

“From my point of view, it doesn’t affect me one little bit during the procedure. I can get on and do my job without worrying,” consultant anesthetist Elis Hughes said.

“But from the patient’s point of view, afterwards, it just means they get going a lot quicker.”

Mr Eaton expects to be home in a couple of days.

“It was very straightforward. I can’t believe how simple it was,” he said.

The hospital’s move away from general anesthetic, where possible, not only tends to speed up initial recovery time, but also cuts instances of post-operative sickness, the hospital said.

Crucially, it also cuts the amount of time patients have to stay in hospital and frees up much-needed beds.

 

Gut bacteria ‘may be obesity weapon’

Obese man

A study showed that transplanting gut bacteria from obese people into mice led to the animals gaining weight, while bacteria from lean people kept them slim.

Bacteria living in our guts seem to be affecting our waistlines and harnessing them could lead to new ways of shedding the pounds, US research suggests.

The human body is teeming with thousands of species of microbes that affect health.

A study showed that transplanting gut bacteria from obese people into mice led to the animals gaining weight, while bacteria from lean people kept them slim.

The findings were published in Science.

Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine, Missouri, took gut bacteria from pairs of twins – one obese, one thin.

The bacteria were then put into mice which had grown up in completely sterile environments and had no gut bacteria of their own.

Mice with the obese twin’s bacteria became heavier and put on more fat than mice given bacteria from a lean twin – and it was not down to the amount of food being eaten.

There were differences in the number and types of bacteria species from the lean and obese twin.

Overall it seemed those from a lean twin were better at breaking down fiber into short-chain fatty acids. It meant the body was taking up more energy from the gut, but the chemicals were preventing fatty tissue from building up and increased the amount of energy being burned.

One of the researchers, Prof Jeffrey Gordon, told the BBC’s Science in Action program: “We don’t dine alone, we dine with trillions of friends – we have to consider the microbes which live in our gut.”

However, the diet was also important for creating the right conditions for the lean twin’s bacteria to flourish. A bacterial obesity therapy seems unlikely to work alongside a a diet of greasy burgers.

Keeping both sets of mice in the same cage kept them both lean if they were fed a low-fat, high-fiber diet. Mice are coprophagic, meaning they eat each other’s droppings, and the lean twin’s bacteria were passed into the mice which started with bacteria that should have made them obese.

However, a high-fat, low-fiber diet meant the mice still piled on the pounds.

Human therapies

A human obesity treatment is unlikely to use transplants of thousands of species of bacteria from lean people’s guts as it carries the risk of also transferring infectious diseases.

Instead a search for the exact mix of bacteria which benefit weight – and the right foods to promote their growth – is more likely.

Prof Gordon said the next steps in the field would be “trying to figure out how general these effects are, what diet ingredients may promote their beneficial activities and to look forward to a time when food and the value of food is considered in light of the microbes that live in our gut – that foods will have to be designed from the inside out as well as from the outside in.”

Commenting on the research, Prof Julian Parkhill, from the Welcome Trust Sanger Institute, said he expected a future when manipulating bacteria was a part of obesity treatment.Gut bacteria

“There’s a lot of work to do, but this is proof of concept that bacteria in the gut can modulate obesity in adults, but it is diet-dependent,” he said.

He added that changing bacteria was a promising field for other diseases.

He told the BBC: “It’s an exciting new area, but I think we need to be careful in promoting it as a cure-all.

“It’s clear in specific areas – inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, Crohn’s – the microbiome is going to be important.”