Raising one particular tax just might have a public health benefit. The tax in question? States’ alcohol excise tax. In the United States, those taxes have not kept pace with inflation, which could limit their public health benefits, researchers report. In inflation-adjusted dollars, the average state alcohol excise tax has fallen by 30 percent for beer, 27 percent for wine and 32 percent for spirits since 1991, the new study found. The average state excise tax on alcohol is 3 cents for a 12-ounce beer, 3 cents for a 5-ounce glass of wine, and 5 cents for a typical shot of liquor, according to the report published in the January issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Raising those taxes not only could help states raise more revenue, but also might improve alcohol-related public health issues and costs related to excessive drinking, the researchers suggested. Excise taxes are applied to beer sales in all 50 states, and on wine and spirits in most states. “The most important finding here is that alcohol excise taxes are incredibly low,” the study’s lead author, Dr. Timothy Naimi, said in a journal news release. He’s an alcohol epidemiologist at Boston Medical Center and an associate professor at the Boston University School of Medicine. “In several states, the price is so low that it rounds to zero…  read on >

As winter rolls into town, so does the flu and all its miserable symptoms. Yet, doctors and women alike have long noticed that men tend to bemoan those symptoms more than women. The phenomenon even has a name: the “man flu.” So, are men just whiny wimps? No, a new analysis out of Canada suggests, because respiratory illnesses may indeed hit men harder than women. According to study author Dr. Kyle Sue, “there are already many physiologic differences between men and women, so it makes sense that we could differ in our responses to cold and flu viruses as well.” Sue is a clinical assistant professor in family medicine with the Health Sciences Centre at Memorial University of Newfoundland. “The evidence in current studies points towards men having weaker immune systems than women, especially when it comes to common viral respiratory infections,” Sue explained. “Men are more susceptible to them, symptoms are worse, they last longer, and men are more likely to be hospitalized and die from the flu.” To compare how flu symptoms manifest among both women and men, Sue reviewed a number of studies involving both animals and humans. One investigation out of Hong Kong suggested that when the flu strikes, adult men face a greater risk for being admitted to the hospital than their female peers. Another American study also found that,…  read on >

Some thiings never change: Scientists say the bacteria circulating in the International Space Station are similar to those in homes on Earth. That’s the conclusion of researchers at the University of California, Davis, who analyzed bacteria collected by astronauts. “So ‘is it gross?’ and ‘will you see microbes from space?’ are probably the two most common questions we get about this work,” study co-author and microbiologist David Coil said. “As to the first, we are completely surrounded by mostly harmless microbes on Earth, and we see a broadly similar microbial community on the International Space Station (ISS). So it is probably no more or less gross than your living room,” he said in a university news release. Because the space station is completely enclosed, the microbes inside the station come from the people on the station and the supplies sent to them, Coil and his colleagues explained. According to study lead author Jenna Lang, “The microbiome on the surfaces on the ISS looks very much like the surfaces of its inhabitants, which is not surprising, given that they are the primary source.” Lang is a former postdoctoral scholar at UC Davis. “We were also pleased to see that the diversity was fairly high, indicating that it did not look like a ‘sick’ microbial community,” Lang added. For the study, the researchers highlighted some of the…  read on >

Hospital operating rooms produce thousands of tons of greenhouse gases each year, but changing the type of anesthesia used in surgery can help lower those emissions, researchers report. For the study, investigators assessed the carbon footprint of operating rooms at three hospitals: Vancouver General Hospital in Canada; University of Minnesota Medical Center in the United States; and John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England. The annual carbon footprint of operating rooms in each hospital in this study ranged from about 3,200 metric tons of CO2 equivalents (CO2e) to over 5,000 metric tons of CO2e. A metric ton is 204 pounds heavier than a ton. Anesthetic gases accounted for 63 percent and 51 percent of all surgery-related emissions at Vancouver and Minnesota, respectively, but only for 4 percent of such emissions at Oxford. Other sources included energy use such as heating, air conditioning and ventilation. Anesthetic gases accounted for about 2,000 metric tons of CO2e at each North American site, 10 times higher than from the U.K. hospital. The difference is largely due to greater use of the anesthetic gas desflurane in the two North American hospitals, the researchers said. Changing from desflurane to cheaper, low-carbon alternatives could make a significant difference, according to the study published Dec. 7 in The Lancet Planetary Health. “Not only is desflurane a primary contributor to global anesthetic gas emissions, it…  read on >

With the traditional flood of holiday parties and festivities approaching, chances to drink excessively increase. So, what to do? Start by taking a closer look, now, at your drinking habits, one mental health expert suggests. “The holidays generate both positive and negative emotions, and drinking is one of the methods that people often use to cope,” said Dr. Karen Miotto, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Overwhelmed from the time-pressured schedules, people may see alcohol as a shortcut to relax,” she said in a UCLA news release. “While there is nothing wrong with enjoying yourself or unwinding, listen to your body and keep yourself safe. A hangover the next day is a large price to pay for a night of letting go with alcohol.” Besides using alcohol to unwind, another common reason people give for drinking is that it helps them get to sleep. “Alcohol can help people fall asleep faster and sleep more deeply for a while,” Miotto said. “But the sedative effects of alcohol can be deceiving because it is associated with decreased quality of sleep and rebound insomnia, a problem that occurs when you discontinue the substance that’s been helping you fall asleep.” Some people claim they’re not affected by alcohol. Some mistakenly feel they’re OK to drive after drinking. “With habitual, heavy drinking, people tend…  read on >