Air pollution is a serious – and seemingly overwhelming -- public health problem, yet changes that individuals can make could help them both avoid some of the effects of harmful pollutants and reduce the level of toxins in the environment.
That’s according to the American Lung Association (ALA) and Dr. Eric Presser, a thoracic surgeon and author of An Empowering Guide to Lung Cancer: Six Steps to Taking Charge of Your Care and Your Life.
How important is it to practice proper hand washing techniques?
One of the biggest problems with not washing our hands after using the bathroom is that throughout the day we touch many things. Other people then touch these things and when we then touch our nose or mouth, we pick up infections. As well as this, if you prepare foods with dirty hands, people can catch infections by eating what you have made.
Feces (poop) from people or animals is an important source of germs like Salmonella, E. coli O157, and norovirus that cause diarrhea, and it can spread some respiratory infections like adenovirus and hand-foot-mouth disease.
The first line of defense is yourself. At your workplace, you're careful not to touch, or at least wash your hands every time you touch, one of dirty spots in your workplace. But what about the things you don't have any control of?
In the food service business, gloves are good at spreading pathogens. Take Chipotle, for example. It turns out that the company requires all employees wear gloves while working. And that means that the employee (or employees) who contributed to the norovirus outbreak must have been wearing gloves while they were preparing food.
Washing hands with soap and water is the best way to reduce the number of microbes on them in most situations. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.
Ventilation is a means of providing adequate breathing air, and it must be provided for all welding, cutting, brazing and related operations. Adequate ventilation depends on the following factors:
Men under 50 who smoked were more likely to have a stroke, and their risk increased with the number of cigarettes they smoked, according to new research in the American Heart Association’s journal Stroke.
An increasing number of young adults are suffering ischemic stroke, which is the most common stroke type.
A new paper is calling for an end to the term ‘healthy obesity’ – a phrase used to denote individuals who are apparently healthy despite being obese. The term originated in the 1980s and was used to describe overweight people who did not suffer from metabolic complications like hypertension or diabetes.
A New Jersey jury today ordered Johnson & Johnson and its main talc supplier to pay $80 million in punitive damages to a mesothelioma victim who claimed he contracted the asbestos-related cancer from years of using Johnson’s baby powder.
