Lifelong Learning
Friends and Mortality
Well – What Are Friends For? A Longer Life – NYTimes.com
There was a time in my working career when I complained about the lack of a social life. Work, take care of family, work, repeat. Well, a couple of years ago I started reconnecting. My significant other was truly amazed. I was amazed.
Add this to your list of stuff underwriters don’t routinely ask about. A 22% reduction in risk is significant. Be sure to read the Australian study abstract. Then tell your boss you’re designing the first mortality risk friendship questionnaire.
Swine Flu A H1N1
Swine Influenza A (H1N1) Infection in Two Children — Southern California, March–April 2009
Overall mortality in reported H5N1 cases (Avian) is approximately 60% according to the CDC. Now we have to worry about pigs too.
Addendum:
Due to the usual obnoxious level of media coverage, this particular post is getting visited often. I want to clarify my meaning of the last sentence above. This sentence in the original post is a reference to a state of increased awareness and vigilance about the possibility of pandemic flu. You cannot get swine flu from pigs or from eating pig products. In the future I will try to be more clear in my posts.
Q-Wave Electrocardiography – What MI?
An interesting report and fuel for the debate on the protective value of the resting EKG.
Occupational Risk – More on Journalists
Journalist Roxana Saberi will likely be spending the next 8 years in an Iranian prison. How often we forget, or take for granted, some of the amazing rights we have in the US.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
— The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
I have been sensitive to the plight of journalists worldwide working in hostile environments since my offshore insurance days. If you want to learn more I’ve added a new link category titled Occupational Risk that includes a link to a website with 17 years worth of data on dead journalists.
We hard core underwriters love this kind of stuff.
Listen and Learn – Motorcycle Fatalities Up in US Military
U.S. Military Combats Rising Motorcycle Fatalities : NPR
In 2008, more service members died in motorcycle crashes than ever before — 126 from all four services. The Army saw a 24 percent increase in fatalities, and both the Marines and the Navy report significant increases as well. Top safety chiefs across the military have identified motorcycles as the No. 1 safety concern off the battlefield.
How to Predict the Probability of ESRD
Among the predictive models, the best clinical model based on age, gender, physical activity, diabetes, systolic blood pressure, antihypertensive medication, and HDL cholesterol correctly classified 86.4% of patients in the general population who did and did not progress to end-stage renal disease.
The albumin-to-creatinine ratio performed better, correctly identifying 89.3%. Estimated GFR alone was better yet (93.3%).
Combining the two marginally improved prediction overall (93.6%), but substantially improved the more important true-positive rate across all potential screening populations.
ACTIVE-A = 28% Reduction in Stroke
Medical Updates – Plavix + Aspirin = New Treatment for Atrial Fibrillation | Health News
Stroke reduction of 28% is impressive.
Mean Green Beats H. pylori
Conflict of interest noted.
Dr. Fahey is a co-founder of Brassica Protection Products, a company that is licensed by Johns Hopkins to produce broccoli sprouts. J.W. Fahey may be entitled to royalty payments from the sale of broccoli sprouts, and terms of this arrangement are being managed by Johns Hopkins University in accordance with its conflict of interest policies.
Mean Green
Binge Drinking – the MMWR Version
Sociodemographic Differences in Binge Drinking Among Adults — 14 States, 2004
I like the Medpage article title better but the details in the original MMWR summary are a lot better. For example:
However, after adjusting for sex and age, the highest average number of binge drinking episodes during the preceding 30 days was reported by binge drinkers whose household income was <$25,000. (4.9), and the highest average number of drinks per binge episode was reported by non-Hispanic blacks (8.4) and Hispanics (8.1).
Know your sources, read widely, and don’t make broad assumptions from titles.
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