Preventive Medicine

CHICAGO -- Amid a seemingly endless period of national and international public health crises, the American Medical Association turned to Dr. Ronald Davis for a key leadership role in the future of the nation's largest doctor group. A preventive medicine specialist from East Lansing, Mich., Davis was elected last week by the AMA's policymaking House of Delegates to serve as the organization's president-elect, a key part of a three-person team that speaks on behalf of the group on critical issues.

Sexual promiscuity fueled by alcohol and drug use led one 47-year-old Towson man to contract HIV. But when he heard about government approval of the drug Truvada to lower people's risk of getting the disease, he wasn't completely sold on it as a lifesaver. The man, who didn't want to be identified because he hasn't told some family members he is HIV-positive, worries that such a pill could end up encouraging risk-taking. "If you're going to make something readily available to people that already engage in high-risk behavior, are you not saying then that we condone this high-risk behavior, which will then add fuel to the fire?"

Sexual promiscuity fueled by alcohol and drug use led one 47-year-old Towson man to contract HIV. But when he heard about government approval of the drug Truvada to lower people's risk of getting the disease, he wasn't completely sold on it as a lifesaver. The man, who didn't want to be identified because he hasn't told some family members he is HIV-positive, worries that such a pill could end up encouraging risk-taking. "If you're going to make something readily available to people that already engage in high-risk behavior, are you not saying then that we condone this high-risk behavior, which will then add fuel to the fire?"

"Is there an app for that?" When it comes to consumer healthcare applications for smart phones, the answer, increasingly, is yes. There are now close to 6,000 consumer health apps, according to a review published in March by mobihealthnews, which reports on the mobile health industry, and more are being added every day. Many are free, or cost $1 to $10 to download. Some physicians are concerned about the reliability of the medical information provided by many of these apps, which offer advice and information on a wide array of health topics, including how to find a doctor, first aid for an emergency and exercise instructions.

Norbert J. Roberts, 74, a past president of the New York Academy of Medicine and retired vice president for medicine and environmental health at the Exxon Corp., died Sept. 1 in Bradenton, Fla. A specialist in preventive medicine, he was for many years vice chairman of the American Board of Preventive Medicine and chairman of the Residency Review Committee for Preventive Medicine. He served on the National Cancer Institute's Board of Scientific Counselors.William Silent Hughes, 84, governor of the New York Stock Exchange from 1966 to 1969 and a governor of the Pacific Stock Exchange from 1978 to 1984, died Sept.

Public policy views the health-care crisis as basically acute and transitory. Like other contemporary problems, such as pollution and global warming, the crisis in health care is believed to be a technical problem confined to the last decades of the 20th century. For this reason, the health-care debate is rarely intellectualized. Economics, not philosophy, is expected to provide the relevant and practical solutions.I believe, however, that the crisis in health care is in part a product of longstanding intellectual assumptions about health care.

Two Maryland health maintenance organizations were among 21 in the country to win a "four-star" rating, the highest, from U.S. News & World Report.The magazine's annual college rankings are its top-selling issue. This is the first time U.S. News has ranked HMOs; its Sept. 2 issue reached newsstands yesterday,The magazine based its scores for preventive medicine on data collected by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, a Washington-based industry group that accredits HMOs.Columbia Medical Plan and Kaiser Permanente earned four-star ratings in Maryland.

WITH ABOUT 60 species of mosquitoes ready to deal your dog a death sentence with one bite, prevention is the only weapon you have.The killer heartworm is transmitted from dog to dog only by the mosquito. And, once your pet is infected with heartworm, it will eventually die unless a very painful and expensive treatment can effect a cure. Often it cannot.Your pet should be tested by your veterinarian to be sure it does not have heartworm, and then should be put on preventive medicine. Giving a dog preventive medicine without knowing it is free of heartworm can be fatal.

A memorial service for Dr. George Entwisle, a retired medical researcher and former professor at the University of Maryland medical school, will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday in the chapel of Towson Presbyterian Church.Dr. Entwisle died yesterday at Union Memorial Hospital from the complications of a stroke. He was 68.Born in Bolton, England, he emigrated to Boston with his parents as a boy. Dr. Entwisle attended the University of Massachusetts and received his medical degree from Boston University.

Here are two observations on diet and health by specialists in preventive medicine:*"For about 20 years, dietary fat has been suspected as a causal factor in two very common cancers: bowel and breast. The suspicion has been based in part on the observation that these cancers are most common in developed countries, where dietary fat intake is very high. Also in animal experiments, high-fat diets have favored the development of these cancers." At the same time there is evidence that the vitamin A group (carotenoids)

Carl E. Taylor, the founder of the academic discipline of international health at what is now the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who devoted his life to the medical well-being of the world's marginalized people, died Feb. 4 at his Lake Roland-area home. He was 93. "Carl was a pioneer. He was quite special and a visionary," said Dr. Robert E. Black, who succeeded Dr. Taylor as chairman of the department. "He understood the concept of tropical medicine and the cross-cultural problems in developing countries," Dr. Black said.

We at the American College of Preventive Medicine support the updated United States Preventive Services Task Force recommendations on breast cancer screening. On Nov. 17, the task force released recommendations that women age 50 and older should have screening mammography every two years, and women in their 40s should decide whether to have screening mammography on an individual basis after talking with their doctors. Since then, misinformation and conspiratorial rumors have been rampant, including allegations that the task force is a mechanism for government or insurance industry cost-cutting at the expense of women's health.

CHICAGO -- Amid a seemingly endless period of national and international public health crises, the American Medical Association turned to Dr. Ronald Davis for a key leadership role in the future of the nation's largest doctor group. A preventive medicine specialist from East Lansing, Mich., Davis was elected last week by the AMA's policymaking House of Delegates to serve as the organization's president-elect, a key part of a three-person team that speaks on behalf of the group on critical issues.

HACKENSACK, N.J. - Some women have immune cells that seem to protect them from the AIDS virus, despite prolonged unsafe sex with infected men, researchers at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey said. The behavior of these cells, called lymphocytes, could be used to test the effectiveness of new vaccines against the disease, said Joan Skurnick, a co-author of the study and an associate professor of preventive medicine and community health at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey Medical School in Newark.

REMEMBER the adage, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"? That should be paramount in the minds of lawmakers and the governor as Maryland's General Assembly convenes Wednesday for its 90-day session. State leaders could take significant steps this year in four areas that would produce major dividends down the road. But it will take foresight and political courage. Gov. Parris N. Glendening has made it clear he intends to put much of the state's excess cash into bricks and mortar -- K-12 public school construction and a massive building binge on state college campuses.

Dr. William S. Spicer Jr., an authority in the field of tuberculosis and respiratory diseases and a former professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, died Sunday of cancer at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. He was 74. Dr. Spicer, a resident of the Woodbrook section of Baltimore County, had a career at the University of Maryland School of Medicine that spanned three decades until his retirement in 1984, when he became director of the medical residency program at Greater Baltimore Medical Center.

Each year quitting smoking and losing weight are the most popular resolutions for the new year, but the American Institute for Preventive Medicine says learning to relax is also important in helping more Americans see more years.The number one item on the Institute's seventh annual "Top Ten Healthiest Resolutions" list is stress management.Stress is responsible for two thirds of all office visits to doctors and plays a role in our two major killers -- heart disease and cancer. It's recommended that people practice a relaxation exercise, such as mental imagery, meditation or yoga for at least 20 minutes every day.People should also make an attitude adjustment.

HACKENSACK, N.J. - Some women have immune cells that seem to protect them from the AIDS virus, despite prolonged unsafe sex with infected men, researchers at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey said. The behavior of these cells, called lymphocytes, could be used to test the effectiveness of new vaccines against the disease, said Joan Skurnick, a co-author of the study and an associate professor of preventive medicine and community health at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey Medical School in Newark.

A SIDE FROM people who have fond memories of the place, few in Annapolis are apparently mourning the imminent demise of the complex that has housed the Anne Arundel Medical Center downtown for the past century.The eight-story building occupies precious real estate near the water but wasn't on anyone's list of the state capital's architectural gems. The structure, built 30 years ago, was a misfit between the quaint cottages surrounding it and the stately Georgian buildings occupied by state government just blocks away.

A Loyola College student whose condition was diagnosed as meningitis was in critical condition last night at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, hospital officials said.Doctors determined Thursday that the student, Richard Galasso, ZTC 22, has meningococcal meningitis, which starts with flulike symptoms and can overwhelm the blood system, spinal cord and brain with infection within a day or less, hospital officials said.A second Loyola student, Sean Llewellyn, 18, originally was thought to have meningitis, but instead may have a blood infection caused by the same bacteria, officials said.