Please give credit to the Public Health Bugle for reposts

I had wonderful privilege to interview a fellow colleague – Younis Salmean, PhDc, M.S.- who has been doing research with fiber and the impact of fiber supplementation to patients with chronic kidney disease.  Born in Kuwait, Mr. Salmean came to the United Stated in 2001 to get an undergraduate education in Food Science and Dietetics at Fresno State University, California. He enjoys and has worked in many health care settings related to nutrition care and education in private and public clinics. Mr. Salmean has worked with clients that with various health needs; ranging from controlling diabetes, cholesterol and weight loss (which by far was the most popular reason to be seen) to wellbeing and performance. Additionally he was fortunate to have worked as a teaching assistant for about 6 months under Dr. Fatima Huffman (the chair at the Department of Nutrition at FIU), who was on sabbatical in Kuwait. Dr. Huffman took Mr. Salmean under her wing, benefiting from her experience in diabetes and public health care. She had him focus at looking up research in diabetes, which has been one of his many interests. Soon after, he joined the department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Florida.

PHBugle: Thank you for taking the time to interview with the Public Health Bugle. So here at the University of Florida, what is the focus of your research and the importance?

Younis: I was initially involved in working on the link between folate, vitamin B12, polymorphisms and risk of congenital hear defects. I was very fortunate to have worked with the world renowned folate expert professor Lynn Baily. After getting my master degree, I developed great interest in fiber’s therapeutic benefits. That led me to working with Dr. Wendy Dahl on fiber and its role and potential benefit in uremia management. This transition to fiber therapy was important because I enjoyed working more on applied nutritional theories.  There is some evidence that suggests fiber therapy may potentially be beneficial for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD. She liked the idea and we moved from there, which is now my area of research – fiber therapy in chronic kidney disease patients.

PHBugle: What is the difference between chronic kidney disease and kidney failure?

Younis: CKD is divided into 5 stages: stage one being the mildest decline in kidney function, while stage five would be more sever and would require dialysis or transplant (kidney failure). Patients who become diagnosed with kidney failure or stage 5 CKD suffer a lot more symptoms and significant reduction in quality of life compared to those in stage 3 for example.

PHBugle: Did you experience a lot of chronic kidney disease patients in Kuwait?

Hello Readers!

In a follow up post from yesterday’s County Health Rankings (CHR) post, I interview the research team about various aspects of the project.

Please feel free to copy the interview as long as the “The Public Health Bugle” is cited.

By: Ali Al-Rajhi, Editor of the Public Health Bugle

Ali: How did the idea of county health rankings develop?

CHR Team: The health of states has been ranked by UnitedHealth Foundation (and its predecessor organizations) for over 20 years (America’s Health Rankings), but much of what can be done to improve health happens at a local level too. In 2002, the University of Wisconsin’s Dr. David Kindig and Dr. Patrick Remington decided to rank the health of Wisconsin’s counties. They released the first Wisconsin County Health Rankings in 2003.

After several years, the Wisconsin County Health Rankings came to the attention of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), which invited the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute (UWPHI) to submit a proposal to them to prepare rankings for other states. In January 2009, RWJF awarded UWPHI with a grant to conduct population health improvement research and prepare rankings for all 50 states.

Ali: There is obvious application of these data on a national, regional, and local level, in terms of policy development; but how can these data be used by the general public?

CHR Team: Because County Health Rankings are compiled within states, they are a useful tool for state and county leaders developing programs and policies to improve health. But because health is everyone’s business, the Rankings can also help a wide cross-section of community members, including health care professionals, businesses, educators and local grantmakers, as well as the general public, improve the health of their county.

The Rankings help people understand that where they live, learn, work and play matters to their health and that much of what influences health takes place outside of doctors’ offices. The Rankings show community members that while individuals can take steps to improve their own health, such as not smoking, eating healthy foods and exercising, using alcohol appropriately, practicing safe sex, and seeking health care for preventive services, there  are other equally important factors that  influence health, such as getting a good education, employment and income, living in a community where one can feel safe taking a walk, having access to healthy foods in schools, at work, and in grocery stores.

Everyone can take a look at www.countyhealthrankings.org and see how their county is doing compared to others and where there are opportunities to improve the health of their community.   With this information, individuals can make healthy choices for themselves but they can also participate in communitywide efforts, for example, by advocating for healthy foods in schools or for clean indoor air laws, or by participating in neighborhood cleanup or watch programs.

Wired.com

Please feel free to copy the interview as long as the “The Public Health Bugle” is cited.

By: Ali Al-Rajhi, Editor of the Public Health Bugle

Readers, it’s my greatest privilege to present to you Thomas Goetz who I’ve recently started to admire due to his philosophies of preventative health care. In his book The Decision Tree: How to Make Better Choices and Take Control of Your Health, Mr. Goetz explains how using a Decision Tree “nudges us to think through options, to act consciously and with consideration” in relation to making better health decisions.

Biography of Thomas Goetz, Courtesy of Wired Magazine:

As Executive Editor, Thomas Goetz oversees all aspects of Wired Magazine, from story conception to cover packages. In addition to guiding editorial content, Goetz writes frequently for the magazine on health and technology. Recent cover stories include “Your DNA, Decoded,” about the nascent personal genomics industry, “The Truth About Cancer,” about the riddles of early detection, and “The Thin Pill,” about the pharmaceutical industry’s evangelism of metabolic syndrome. His writing has been selected for The Best American Science Writing and The Best Technology Writing anthologies. Since Goetz joined Wired in 2001, the magazine has been nominated for 12 National Magazine Awards, and has won six, including three for General Excellence. Before joining Wired, Goetz was an executive editor at the Industry Standard, the late but lauded news magazine of the Internet economy. He has been a staff reporter at The Wall Street Journal and The Village Voice, and has written for The New York Times Magazine, Details, Rolling Stone and other publications. He holds a Master of Public Health degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a master’s degree in American literature from the University of Virginia. He graduated from Bates College.

Ali Al-Rajhi: Thank you for your time, Thomas. Could you please provide our readers with your background, where your interest in journalism stemmed from, and how your interest in public health developed?

Thomas Goetz: I got to Wired about 10 years ago. I was an English major and got a master in English Literature at the University of Virginia. I came into technology and science as a user. I have a family background in medicine, my father is a doctor, my mother is a nurse, and my other sister is a surgeon. So health was something that I was always exposed to but I had no training myself.

About 5 year ago I started to write on the interface between technology and medicine, in which I realized that a Masters in Public Health (MPH) would be a handy thing to get. So I luckily was able to sniggle my way into Berkeley and they had a nifty 1 year program for people who were already in advanced careers – mostly doctors. But Berkeley was open minded and accepted me, as a journalist, into their MPH program. So I took my spot and had a great time. It was a wonderful exposure to the “nitty-gritty” of public health and that really changed my perspective on public health in a number of ways.