Tag: updates

Curious about the proposed changes to the FDA’s Nutrition Facts Label which was introduced 20 years ago? Then you might want to check out the FDA’s web page, with links to explanations of the proposed changes, a frequently asked questions section, and pictures and info-graphics of the original vs proposed labels. The proposed changes include a reality check on serving sizes and a supplemental rule requiring the percent daily value (%DV) for added sugars, and an updated design.

Comments are due October 15, 2015. You’ll find a link to an online form for your comments on this site as well.

CDPH in the News

Legislator’s Request for Audit of Planned Parenthood Rejected
from Murrieta Patch

A legislative committee Tuesday denied a proposal from a Riverside County lawmaker for an audit to determine whether Planned Parenthood violated healthcare laws by allegedly hawking infant organs without authorization. Planned Parenthood, which facilitates abortions and related health services, has contracts with the California Department of Public Health and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The 14-member audit committee voted 7-3 to deny Melendez’s request.

CDPH’s California Reducing Disparities Project Request for Proposals
from Imperial Valley News

California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Director and State Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith today announced that CDPH is accepting proposals for projects that will help reduce mental health disparities across the state. Through its California Reducing Disparities Project (CRDP), the department will award $60 million in contracts and grants over the next four years.

Drowning of lake maintenance worker spurs new safety resources
from Safety + Health

New materials from the California Department of Public Health describe best practices for preventing drownings among maintenance workers.
A video details how a 45-year-old tree trimmer drowned after falling from a boat while he was removing weeds and algae from a golf course lake. He was working alone and not wearing a flotation device when the boat became unstable, causing him to fall overboard. The victim was unable to swim and had not been trained in water safety or hazard recognition. The video, which also is available in Spanish, explains how to prevent a similar incident.

An Unexpected Health Consequence Of The California Drought
from Huffington Post

As drought continues to plague the Western United States, public health officials are warning residents of the region about an unexpected side effect of the dry weather: a greater likelihood of contracting West Nile virus.
This week, officials from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) confirmed that a 65-year-old woman in Nevada County, California, died from an infection with the mosquito-borne disease. She was the first person in the state to succumb to West Nile virus this year. Earlier this month, two people died from West Nile virus infections in Maricopa County, Arizona – an area that is also experiencing severe drought conditions.

Nail Salon Industry Slow to Clip Health Hazards
from Potrero View

Recent media has spotlighted the health care risks facing nail salon workers, as well as their customers. Earlier this year, a series of New York Times articles uncovered poor working conditions in East Coast salons, and a reluctance from the cosmetics industry to label beauty supplies that may contain harmful chemicals. In response to the health hazards facing the industry, in 2005 the California Legislature passed the Safe Cosmetics Program Act (CSCP). Under the act, a Safe Cosmetics Program was created within the California Department of Public Health, responsible for maintaining a public database that catalogues harmful chemicals contained in beauty products.
The CSCP was allotted $495,000 in fiscal year (FY) 2006, reduced to $268,212 this FY. According to Matt Conens, California Department of Public Health spokesperson, 55,388 unique cosmetic products sold in California contain one or more chemical ingredients known, or suspected to be, carcinogens or reproductive/developmental toxicants.

Interested in keeping up to date on new (or newish) public health publications? Want more titles than what we include in our monthly newsletter? Then you might like to check out our newly revamped New Books guide! Updated weekly, you’ll get brief descriptions here when you mouse over the book title. Clicking on the book cover takes you to the full OskiCat record. The call numbers are also included here so that you can easily request the books you need for your research and those you’d like to read.

To request a book, you can use our online form and we will mail the book(s) to you.

You may also log into your web portal account to request book(s).

Our fall hours began on August 26 when students returned to school. During the academic year, the Public Health Library is open Monday – Thursday from 9am-8pm, Friday from 9am-5pm, and Saturday-Sunday from 1pm-5pm. We will provide service to CDPH Monday-Friday 8am-5pm. If you wish to visit the library Monday – Friday from 8am-9am, please let us know beforehand. Just give us a call first so we can open the door for you and make sure that a librarian will be here to assist you. We have computers available for your research use. Please let us know when you arrive.

The Public Health Library will be closed on September 7th for the Labor Day holiday. Please plan ahead and anticipate your project needs, especially if you will be using our Document Delivery service.

This fall you can reach us as usual Monday-Friday from 8am-5pm by calling (510) 642-2510 and by logging in to the web portal.

CDPH in the News

California’s anti-vaping bill goes up in smoke
from Nature News

The failure last week of an attempt to extend California’s smoking ban to electronic cigarettes has disappointed researchers who worry that a boom in vaping will re-normalize smoking in places where it now carries social stigma, and lead to a new generation of people addicted to nicotine. Although several other US states have already passed e-cigarette legislation, the California bill had special resonance because the state has a reputation for pioneering anti-tobacco legislation. In January, the California Department of Public Health asked physicians to urge e-cigarette users to quit, and released a report warning that without more regulation, "it is likely that California’s more than two decades of progress to prevent and reduce traditional tobacco use will erode".
The California bill, pushed by state senator Mark Leno (Democrat), would have regulated e-cigarettes in the same way as conventional tobacco products, making it illegal to use them in restaurants, bars, hospitals and workplaces. Leno withdrew the bill on 8 July, after a committee in the state assembly amended it to such an extent that he said it had become pointless.

CDPH Partners with St. Joseph Health in Cancer Data Registry
from HealthITAnalytics

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced a first of its kind partnership with St. Joseph Health to track cancer trends around the state of California. The historic program, announced in a press release on July 27, is the first to directly and securely transmit data from a private healthcare practice to a public research entity.
CDPH officials are excited about this opportunity to partner with St. Joseph Health systems to make new strides in cancer research, saying that the new collaboration will allow for efficiency that will improve the research.

You Asked: Is My Air Conditioner Killing Me?
from Time

In the summer, many of us can’t bear to live without it, but even so, cool air is a modern luxury that sometimes seems to freak people out. And research suggests that a little freaking out is warranted. "If you have a badly maintained or badly designed AC system, whether it’s in your home or office or vehicle, it can become contaminated and potentially harmful," says Dr. Mark Mendell, an epidemiologist with the California Department of Public Health. Mendell studied the health effects of air conditioning systems while with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He says worsening asthma problems and allergies are two health issues that can stem from contaminated AC units. He also mentions an ominous-sounding phenomenon: sick building syndrome.

Maggots Found in Soup, on Patient at Hospital, Union Alleges
from Lake Elsinore-Wildomar Patch

California health officials say they plan to investigate allegations that maggots were found earlier this year on a patient and in soup served in the cafeteria at Parkview Community Hospital in Riverside. The allegations stem from a complaint filed to the California Department of Public Health on Monday by the SEIU-UHW union against the hospital. It said that earlier this year, an employee reported finding more than 50 maggots in a patient’s nose and mouth, and in April, a nurse reported maggots floating in the hospital cafeteria’s lentil soup, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. Riverside County health officials said they, too, will investigate.

State denies county’s first needle exchange program in Santa Ana; organizers might appeal
from Orange County Register

A coalition of health officials and students working to open the county’s first needle exchange program must file an appeal to keep their project alive after the state denied their application. In a letter dated June 26, the California Department of Public Health told the Orange County Needle Exchange Program that its application to let drug users swap used needles for clean ones from an office at the LGBT Center in Santa Ana was opposed by city police and neighbors. Kyle Barbour, co-founder of the needle exchange group, said Monday he’ll probably file an appeal, indicating the Santa Ana location is key to reaching a high-risk population.

Syphilis is up in L.A. County
from my news LA

The number of congenital syphilis cases in California more than tripled over the past two years, with Los Angeles County and the Central Valley responsible for the bulk of the cases, state health officials announced Monday. The number of reported congenital syphilis cases went from 30 in 2012 to 100 last year, according to the California Department of Public Health. Syphilitic stillbirths also increased, from one case in 2012 to six cases in 2014.
Most of the congenital syphilis cases have been reported in Los Angeles County and the Central Valley, health officials said. Health officials have not identified a cause for the increase in congenital syphilis, which is often associated with poverty and lack of access to health care. However, most of the women who gave birth to babies with congenital syphilis did not receive adequate or timely prenatal care, according to the CDPH.

The Public Health Library will be closed on July 3 for the Independence Day holiday. Please plan ahead and anticipate your project needs, especially if you will be using our Document Delivery service.

Do you like to save your PubMed searches in My NCBI? Then you should know that your ‘Save Search’ button has changed names. Now you will click on ‘Create Alert’ instead! After clicking on ‘Create Alert’, you can log in to your My NCBI account and then save your search as usual. You will have the same options to name the search and to receive emails with new citations that match your search daily, weekly, or monthly. A screen shot is available so that you can see what this change looks like.

And, in other news from the National Library of Medicine (NLM), on June 16, 2015, PubMed attained a major milestone when the 25 millionth journal citation was added to the database.

Have questions on PubMed? You can either attend the PubMed Basics Hands-On class in Sacramento on July 22 (see details above) or contact us with your questions! We can be reached from 8am – 5pm Monday through Friday by calling (510) 642-2510 and by logging in to the web portal.