#Particle Health

[wausaupilot]

Federal lawsuit alleges Verona-based Epic Systems violated antitrust law

“Epic Systems controls the medical information of nearly every American — meaning one private company has unchecked power over our health care,” Particle Health CEO Jason Prestinario said in a statement.

By Joe Schulz | Wisconsin Public Radio Epic Systems, a Verona-based health care software company, is being accused of violating antitrust law in a lawsuit filed in a New York federal court on Monday. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Particle Health, a New York health data startup. It said nearly every large health care provider in the country uses Epic’s electronic health records platform and…

[crayonurchin]

It's very hard to not compare myself to others nearing their 27th birthday. But when I compare myself to myself, I can recognise that going out with friends for a nice evening of food, laughing and a film, is miles and miles away from the quivering mess of destroyed mental health I used to be. Someone who was trapped by a failed school system, multiple grooming incidents, a believe my neurodivergence was just personal failings and the totally unknown OCD.

I am the best 26, nearly 27 year old I could possibly be. And by 28, I will be better still, because I love every single version of myself I have ever been. Those girls deserve how I am, and how I will become.

So please, this disability awareness month. Look at yourself, and see the things you've grown in to. Look at how you've blossomed. It doesn't matter if you're still budding in a potted plant while others are huge rose bushes. Your roots are spreading, your petals are growing, and you are the best you can be right now. No matter where that is, THAT is a good thing. All your pain is valid and how you feel is real, but please don't give up. No matter how hopeless if feels, please stay alive another minute. An hour. A day. You really don't know when you'll suddenly stop wanting to die, because being alive got a bit better.

[waywardsalt]

anyways. my very first attempt at malenia

[stormyoceans]

ALREADY OUTSELLED OUTSERVED OUTSLAYED OUTCOUPLED OUTACTED OUTPERFORMED OUTDONEDID OUTEVERYTHINGED

[awesomecooperlove]

☠️☠️☠️

[captain-safetypants]

I’m glad he’s outside, but I still have Concerns about the relationship between this man’s lungs and the blue rock powder/ultramarine pigment—Concerns that grow in inverse proportion to the size of the pigment particles.

[heavierthanlaila]

Note to future self: no matter how much you wanted to, drinking iced coffee when you have a cold is the dumbest thing you can ever do.

[cleanair4blueskiesday]

Annual meeting of the Joint Task Force on Health Aspects of Air Pollution.

Air pollution is one of the main risk factors for noncommunicable diseases. In the WHO European Region, tackling air pollution is a regional priority to improve health. Reducing the emissions of certain pollutants has also double benefits for health, since it helps to mitigate climate change.

At its annual meeting, the Joint Convention/WHO Task Force on the Health Aspects of Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution will gather representatives from Parties to the Convention, experts and stakeholders for sharing information and updates.

As recognized in the Declaration of the Seventh Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, the Task Force will play an important role in supporting the implementation of Conference commitments on air quality, climate change and health, by providing a platform to exchange knowledge and information.

The agenda covers international policies and processes for air quality and health, WHO tools for health risk assessment of air pollution (AirQ+ and CLIMAQ-H), progress in research on air quality and health, and relevant experiences in Member States. Other agenda items will address air pollution, climate change and health, and communicating on air quality and health.

Presentations will include updates on the ongoing revision of the European Union Directive on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe, information about the Second Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health in 2025 and the contribution of the Task Force to the regional Science and Policy Snapshots, and the use of behavioural and cultural insights for environment and health. Participants will also review current activities of the Task Force workplan for 2024–2025 and discuss the next steps for implementation.

Joint Task Force on Health Aspects of Air Pollution 22 – 23 May 2024  Bonn, Germany

[biblenewsprophecy]

[batboyblog]

Things the Biden-Harris Administration Did This Week #39

October 18-25 2024.

President Biden issued the first presidential apology on behalf of the federal government to America's Native American population for the Indian boarding school policy. For 150 years the federal government operated a system of schools which aimed to destroy Native culture through the forced assimilation of native children. At these schools students faced physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, and close to 1,000 died. The Biden-Harris Administration has been historic for Native and Tribal rights. From the appointment of the first ever Native American cabinet member, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, to the investment of $46 billion dollars on tribal land, to 200 new co-stewardship agreements. The last 4 years have seen a historic investment in and expansion of tribal rights.

The Biden-Harris Administration proposed a new rule which would make contraceptive medication (the pill) free over the counter with most Insurance. The new rule would ban cost sharing for contraception products, including the pill, condoms, and emergency contraception. On top of over the counter medications, the new rule will also strength protections for prescribed contraception without cost sharing as well.

The EPA announced its finalized rule strengthening standards for lead paint dust in pre-1978 housing and child care facilities. There is no safe level of exposure to lead particularly for children who can suffer long term developmental consequences from lead exposure. The new standards set the lowest level of lead particle that can be identified by a lab as the standard for lead abatement. It's estimated 31 million homes built before the ban on lead paint in 1978 have lead paint and 3.8 million of those have one or more children under the age of 6. The new rule will mean 1.2 million fewer people, including over 300,000 children will not be exposed to lead particles every year. This comes after the Biden-Harris Administration announced its goal to remove and replace all lead pipes in America by the end of the decade.

The Department of Transportation announced a $50 million dollar fine against American Airlines for its treatment of disabled passengers and their wheelchairs. The fine stems from a number of incidences of humiliating and unfair treatment of passages between 2019 and 2023, as well as video documented evidence of mishandling wheelchairs and damaging them. Half the fine will go to replacing such damaged wheelchairs. The Biden administration has leveled a historic number of fines against the airlines ($225 million) for their failures. It also published a Airline Passengers with Disabilities Bill of Rights, passed a new rule accessible lavatories on aircraft, and is working on a rule to require airlines to replace lost or damaged wheelchairs with equal equipment at once.

The Department of Energy announced $430 million dollars to help boost domestic clean energy manufacturing in former coal communities. This invests in projects in 15 different communities, in places like Texas, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Michigan. The plan will bring about 1,900 new jobs in communities struggling with the loss of coal. Projects include making insulation out of recycled cardboard, low carbon cement production, and industrial fiber hemp processing.

The Department of Transportation announced $4.2 billion in new infrastructure investment. The money will go to 44 projects across the country. For example the MBTA will get $400 million to replace the 92 year old Draw 1 bridge and renovate North Station.

The Department of Transportation announced nearly $200 million to replace aging natural gas pipes. Leaking gas lines represent a serious public health risk and also cost costumers. Planned replacements in Georgia and North Carolina for example will save the average costumer there over $900 on their gas bill a year. Replacing leaking lines will also remove 1,000 metric tons of methane pollution, annually.

The Department of the Interior announced $244 million to address legacy pollution in Pennsylvania coal country. This comes on top of $400 million invested earlier this year. This investment will help close dangerous mine shafts, reclaim unstable slopes, improve water quality by treating acid mine drainage, and restore water supplies damaged by mining.

Data shows that President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act (passed with Vice-President Harris' tie breaking vote) has saved seniors $1 billion dollars on out-of-pocket drug costs. Seniors with certain high priced drugs saw their yearly out of pocket costs capped at $3,500 for 2024. In 2024 all seniors using Medicare Part D will see their out of pocket costs capped at $2,000 for the year. It's estimated if the $2,000 cap had been in effect this year 4.6 million seniors would have hit it by June and not have had to pay any more for medication for the rest of the year.

The Department of Education announced a new proposed rule to bring student debt relief for 8 million struggling borrowers. The Biden-Harris Administration has managed despite road blocks from Republicans in Congress, the courts and law suits from Republican states to bring student loan forgiveness to 5 million Americans so far through different programs. This latest rule would take into account many financial hardships faced by people to determine if they qualify to have their student loans forgiven. The final rule cannot be finalized before 2025 meaning its fate will be decided at the election.

The Department of Agriculture announced $1.5 billion in 92 partner-driven conservation projects. These projects aim at making farming more susceptible and environmental friendly, 16 projects are about water conservation in the West, 6 support use of innovative technologies to reduce enteric methane emissions in livestock. $100 million has been earmarked for Tribal-led projects.

[kohisama03]

Tritium

[safeday]

Climate change impacts safety and Health at work.

Excessive heat, UV radiation, extreme weather events, air pollution, vector borne diseases, chemicals impacts worker's health. World Day of Safety and Health at Work 2024; April 28th.

Glossary of terms

Gonadotrope: a substance or agent capable of adversely affecting the sexual glands. Harmful substance: substance or mixture of substances capable of harming workers’ health or safety during employment, after employment or in later generations. Hazard: probability of impairment to health following exposure to a specific substance; the level of the hazard depends not only on the toxicity of the substance itself but also on the use and the absorption rate. Health: state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely an absence of disease or disablement. Ingestion: entry of a toxic or other substance into the body through the digestive tract; if elementary principles of personal hygiene are applied, this can occur at workplaces only rarely and accidentally. Inhalation: entry of a substance into the body through the respiratory tract. This is the main path of entry of toxic substances into the body; having reached the lung, the substances may remain stored in the lung tissue or nodes (insoluble dusts) or pass into the blood (gases and vapours, fumes, soluble dusts) through the alveolar surface and reach the upper nerve centres without undergoing any filtration; as the alveolar surface is about eight times larger than the digestive surface and 40 times greater than the skin, absorption is much faster and constitutes a greater hazard than entry by other routes. Irritant: a substance, generally in the form of gas, aerosol or dust, or agent able to cause inflammatory reactions of the respiratory tract, conjunctive tissues or skin; highly soluble gases and vapours, such as ammonia, act mainly on the upper respiratory tract; on the other hand, less soluble gases and vapours, such as nitrogen dioxide, penetrate more deeply into the respiratory tract and are more dangerous because of the associated risk of pulmonary oedema. Mist: aerosol consisting of droplets (e.g. oils or acids). Monitoring: systematic surveillance of the hazards to which workers are exposed; it may be carried out by measuring certain parameters of the working environment, particularly the concentrations of airborne toxic substances, or by measuring biological parameters, particularly the concentrations of toxic substances or their metabolites or certain organic reactions in the urine, blood or exhaled air. Mutagen: substance or agent capable of causing sudden and lasting changes in one or more hereditary features, generally by modifying one or more genes; if these changes take place only in somatic cells (e.g. the blood cells), they are not transmitted to descendants. Occupational health officer: a specialist in the problems associated with the protection of workers’ health against occupational hazards, who acts as adviser to employers and workers; he 1 For different temperatures and/or pressures, the formula must be adapted. For an ambient temperature of 200 C at standard pressure, for instance, the figure 24.45 must be replaced by 24.04. Occupational exposure to harmful airborne substances may be an occupational physician, an industrial hygienist or a safety engineer or technician, either in a service organised by the plant itself or attached to an outside body. Personal sampler: a light and compact portable instrument for sampling the air and/or carrying out measurements in the worker’s breathing zone, whatever his movements during the period of duty. Radioactive substance: any substance which emits ionizing radiations as the result of fission of its atomic nucleus; radiotoxicity is much higher than chemical toxicity and depends on the radioactivity of the substance (number of nuclear fissions per unit of time), the nature of the radiation emitted, the duration of the radioactivity (half-life) and the metabolism of the substance in the body; radioactive substances may take the form of very fine particles (particle sizes of less than 1μm).

Occupational exposure to airborne substances harmful to health

[asrarblog]

Smog; The Present Health Scare – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #879