Blog
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Clearing the Air: An Asthma Toolkit for Healthy Schools Released
In late 2019, the Massachusetts Asthma Action Partnership and Health Resources in Action have created “Clearing the Air: An Asthma Toolkit for Healthy Schools.” The toolkit is available online and has policy and practices that will help schools create an asthma-friendly environment. To view the toolkit click here.
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Researchers Investigate Impacts of Infant Gut Microbial Compounds on Allergy and Asthma Risk
Nature Microbiology released an article in its July 2019 edition that identifies a compound produced by gut bacteria that predisposes infants to allergies and asthma later in life. Researchers at UC San Francisco identified a lipid that reduced the number and activity of immune cells that suppress allergic inflammation. To test its effects, they injected…
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Union of Concerned Scientists Release “Killer Heat in the United States: Climate Choices and the Future of Dangerously Hot Days”
The Union of Concerned Scientists has released a report detailing the effects of climate change titled “Killer Heat in the United States: Climate Choices and the Future of Dangerously Hot Days.” The report is a national analysis that digs into the rapid, widespread increases in extreme heat that are projected to occur, as well as…
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RAMP Launches Project to Assess Health and Equity Implications of Freight Automation
Based on tech sector hype and awestruck media reports, automated passenger vehicles seem just one or two steps away from revolutionizing our personal transportation system. The freight transportation system is also on the cusp of an automated revolution, albeit with far less public fanfare. Just two years ago, an automated freight truck delivered goods over…
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Investigation of Ultrafine Particle Exposure Linkages to Childhood Asthma Incidence
A comment in the June 2019 edition of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine examines ultrafine particles, which are currently not addressed by air quality regulations. The researchers note these sized particles can have greater toxic effects than larger molecules due to a number of factors, including “chemical composition, deeper lung penetration,…
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Implications of Proposed Changes to Public Charge Immigration Rules on Children
In JAMA Pediatrics’ July 2019 edition, an article looks at the implications of the proposed rule changes to federal “Public Charge” guidelines utilized in the immigration process. “The proposed changes are expected to cause many immigrant parents to disenroll their families from safety-net programs, in large part because of fear and confusion about the rule,…
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Study Examines Inhaler Carry and Use Among Children at School
The July 2019 Journal of Asthma contains an article examining the “factors associated with inhaler self-carry among children and examine[s] barriers and facilitators to self-carry.” Researchers asked child-parent pairs and nurses from Chicago schools to answer questions relating to “asthma care and morbidity, confidence in self-carry skills, and facilitators and barriers to self-carry.” They found…
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California Department of Public Health Releases Informational Video on Mold, Moisture, and Health
The California Department of Public Health’s Indoor Air Quality Section has released a video targeted at California code enforcement officers. The video focuses on mold, moisture, and health, specifically as applied to assessing dampness and mold in a home. For more information, and to view the video, click here.
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National Center for Healthy Housing Releases Online Code Comparison Tool
The National Center for Healthy Housing has released a Code Comparison Tool that allows you to determine how weak or strong your housing codes are by answering a series of questions. The tool compares the International Property Maintenance Code and the National Healthy Housing Standard to local housing and property codes to generate a customized…
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Historical Redlining Affects Health of Communities Today
A joint study between UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco found that redlining in the past still affects the health of communities today. The authors note “even though a policy gets eliminated or is recognized to be a poor choice, its effect can have impacts even many decades later… We need to use that information…
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Researchers Work to Develop Comprehensive Plan to Integrate Asthma Evidence-Based Interventions
An article in the May 2019 edition of The Journal of Asthma explores developing a comprehensive plan to integrate asthma evidence-based interventions (EBI) across home, school, community and primary care settings. Researchers endeavored to learn the needs of and resources of the community by undertaking focus groups, key informant interviews, secondary data analysis, and pilot…
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Use of Electronic Asthma Tracker on Patient Outcomes
In the June 2019 edition of Pediatrics, an article investigates the “impact of the electronic-AsthmaTracker (e-AT), a self-monitoring application for children with asthma.” In order to do so, researchers utilized a total of 327 children and parents and enrolled them in pediatric clinics with weekly e-AT use for a year. They found that after a…