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Category Archives: Health Care

The Anxious Generation and an Epidemic of Mental Illness

This is not a promotion and I have no association with the author, Jonathan Haidt,  or the book. The data is noteworthy. The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental IllnessIn the summer of 2022, I was working on a book project — Life After Babel: Adapting to a world we can no longer share — about how smartphones and social media rewired many societies in the 2010s, creating conditions that amplify the long-known weaknesses of democracy. The first chapter was about the impact of social media on kids, who were the “canaries in the coal mine,” revealing early signs that something was going wrong. When adolescents’ social lives moved onto smartphones and social media platforms, anxiety and depression surged among them. The rest of the book was going to focus on what social media had done to liberal democracies. I quickly realized that the rapid decline of adolescent mental health could not be explained in one chapter—it needed a book of its own. So, The Anxious Generation is Volume 1, in a sense, of the larger Babel project…I begin The Anxious Generation by examining adolescent mental health trends. What happened to young people in the early 2010s that triggered the surge of anxiety and depression around 2012?”

See also The Atlantic [no paywall] – “Something went suddenly and horribly wrong for adolescents in the early 2010s. By now you’ve likely seen the statistics: Rates of depression and anxiety in the United States—fairly stable in the 2000s—rose by more than 50 percent in many studies from 2010 to 2019. The suicide rate rose 48 percent for adolescents ages 10 to 19. For girls ages 10 to 14, it rose 131 percent…”

What’s Missing From Railroad Safety Data?

ProPublica – Dead Workers and Severed Limbs. “…But, as ProPublica has previously reported, railroad companies go to extreme lengths to portray themselves as safer than they really are — retaliating against workers who report defects and silencing those who get injured. Officials with the FRA [Federal Railway Administration] have said there is not much they… Continue Reading

State of the science on plastic chemicals

PlastChem – Identifying and addressing chemicals and polymers of concern. “Chemicals are a central aspect of the plastics issue. Although there is a wealth of scientific information on plastic chemicals and polymers to inform policymakers, implementing this evidence is challenging because information is scattered and not easily accessible. The PlastChem report and database address this… Continue Reading

Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool

“The National Cancer Institute Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool (BCRAT), also known as The Gail Model, allows health professionals to estimate a woman’s risk of developing invasive breast cancer over the next five years and up to age 90 (lifetime risk). The tool uses a woman’s personal medical and reproductive history and the history of… Continue Reading

Leaded aviation gasoline exposure risk and child blood lead levels

Leaded aviation gasoline exposure risk and child blood lead levels, PNAS Nexus, Volume 2, Issue 1, January 2023, pgac 285, https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac285. Published: 10 January 2023. “Lead-formulated aviation gasoline (avgas) is the primary source of lead emissions in the United States today, consumed by over 170,000 piston-engine aircraft (PEA). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates… Continue Reading

Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community

February 5, 2024 – Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI): “This annual report of worldwide threats to the national security of the United States responds to Section 617 of the FY21 Intelligence Authorization Act (Pub. L. No. 116-260). This report reflects the collective insights of the Intelligence Community (IC), which is committed every… Continue Reading

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, March 9, 2024

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, March 9, 2024 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex… Continue Reading

The Mental State of the World Report

“The Mental State of the World Report is an annual publication of the Global Mind Project (previously the Mental Health Million Project) that provides a view of the evolving mental wellbeing of the global Internet-enabled population. Each year the report presents the mental state of populations over the year, trends relative to previous years, and… Continue Reading

Free COVID-19 test program to be suspended for now

The Hill: “The federal government’s free at-home COVID-19 test program will be suspended beginning Friday in response to a drop in respiratory diseases. The Biden administration brought back the free test program last year ahead of the respiratory viral season. By going to COVIDtests.gov, households could order a free pack of four at-home COVID-19 tests.… Continue Reading