PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Bailus Walker

Publications and source records attributed to Bailus Walker.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Workshop on global health trends for health professional education.

Global finance, trade, communication, media, politics, and the cultivation of overseas relationships to advance U.S. interests are among the forces that have engendered what we now know as globalization, a historical development towards worldwide interconnectedness. While manifest in diverse realms, globalization powerfully influences human health and health services and poses challenges for physicians and other health care professionals. To review these challenges and their ramifications, a workshop was convened at Howard University to consider the implications of global health trends for medical education. Highlights of the discussion are summarized here.

Education, Professional↗
PubMed2006

Nanotechnology and nanomedicine: a primer.

Nanosciences and nanotechnology are transforming a wide array of products and services that have the potential to enhance the practice of medicine and improve public health. But there are a number of health, safety and environmental issues to be addressed. This review summarizes some basic facts about nanotechnology and cites examples of its application to medicine and public health.

Humans↗
PubMed2005

Pediatric environmental health.

The links between environmental agents, environmental conditions, and disease and disability among children are receiving increasing attention. Evidence abounds that children are more susceptible than adults to the damaging effects of environmental agents and conditions. This evidence is illuminated by the much-publicized and expanding research agenda on the prevention, recognition, diagnosis and treatment of environmentally related disease in the pediatric population. Encouragingly, advances in molecular biology and other sciences are providing important tools to aid pediatricians and other healthcare professionals in meeting the environmental health needs of children.

Child↗
PubMed2004

The changing landscape for the elimination of racial/ethnic health status disparities.

The elimination of racial/ethnic health status disparities is a compelling national health objective. It was etched in sharp relief by the 1985 report of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary's Task Force on Black and Minority Health and considerable attention has been devoted to the problem since that report. But the problem persists, disparities are not fully explained and effective policies to reduce them have been elusive, a situation presenting both opportunities and challenges. Important advances towards reducing racial/ethnic health disparities may be made by better understanding the complex bidirectional relationship between and among the multiple factors, biological and non-biological, influencing morbidity and mortality. The landscape in which these influences are felt is anything but static. In this paper selected components of the landscape that are critical to the elimination of racial/ethnic health status disparities are reviewed. These factors underscore the importance of adopting and maintaining a perspective on health disparities that encompasses a broad array of health determinants.

Demography↗
PubMed2003

Environmental factors associated with asthma.

Asthma, a disease of attacks and remission, continues to account for substantial morbidity and direct economic costs. Numerous studies--epidemiologic, toxicologic and clinical--present evidence for a broad spectrum of environmental risk factors associated with asthma. This review summarizes current thinking on a subset of these factors. Knowledge of potential environmental determinants of asthma is important to both the patient and healthcare professional in the application of multiple modalities of medical and environmental intervention for management of the development, and exacerbation of this chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed2002

Current concepts: organophosphate toxicity.

Recent cases of nosocomial poisoning associated with the treatment of patients contaminated with organophosphate (OP) insecticides and the increasing potential for exposure to these chemicals elevate into sharper focus the continuing clinical and public health problem of pesticide poisoning. Despite a number of reports on the multiple aspects of OPs insecticides and their health effects, the general public and health services professionals, broadly defined, remain confused and misinformed about this class of chemicals. In this article we examine sources of exposure and current knowledge of health effects of OPs. The protection of health care workers is also discussed.

Humans↗
PubMed2002

Environmental factors influencing public health and medicine: policy implications.

Environmental health threats are increasing throughout the United States, particularly in low-income populations and in communities of color. Environmental science researchers are investigating plausible associations between the environment and human health. As a result, the role and responsibility of the primary care physicians and other health care providers are changing. This paper highlights selected lines of evidence suggesting that clinicians should now consider interactions between humans and their environment as central to providing effective primary care. Subject areas include: exposure to environmental agents, reproductive toxicity, pulmonary disease, neurobehavioral toxicity, endocrine disruptors, mechanisms of environmental disease, and cultural competence. Concerns about these and other environmentally related issues influence the manner in which primary care is practiced now, and will be practiced in the future. Biomedical technology and community awareness demand that physicians pay more attention to advances in environmental medicine. Ironically, one of the least taught subjects in medical school is environmental medicine. To effectively respond to growing concerns about the role of the environment in human health, clinicians, researchers, educators, public policy officials, and the general public must join together to reduce the risk of environmental health threats and improve quality of life.

Environmental Exposure↗