Old drugs, new uses
Viagra has been shown to help the heart (as well as the libido). Dr. Nazzareno Galiè, of the University of Bologna, has shown that Viagra helps reduce a heart condition called pulmonary arterial hypertension, caused by a constriction of the artery shunting blood from the heart to the lungs. This condition mainly afflicts young women. Galiè found that after 12 weeks, test patients receiving Viagra had reduced pressure in the artery. You can find the “new” heart-smart medicine on the shelves, under the name Revatio.
-Chris Damdar
Source: New England Journal of Medicine
Naylor talks community health policy
Poverty and multiculturalism highlight the continuing challenges to achieving healthy cities, the importance of outreach in a community, and the need for policies that include a cross-cultural model of healthcare, U of T president David Naylor said in an address on Saturday organized by Mississauga’s Healthy City Stewardship Centre. His address built on ideas previously presented by Dr. John Frank, of the department of public health sciences.
Highlighting Frank’s policy of “starting early,” Naylor stated that adverse health consequences frequently start early and accumulate. Consequently, ideas of what health is and what makes for a healthy city should be built into educational and health prevention programs, using resources that are sustained over time and contextualized within our communities.
Naylor acknowledged that when dealing with broadly directed healthy city policies there is no simple way to come at it, so he proposed approaches that are are “targeted, integrative and practical.” He urged HCSC to be practical in assembling data. Finally, he advised that achieving impact in developing healthy cities requires aligning and integrating such processes as: different interests and incentives, information systems, performance measures, reporting systems, community culture, and methods of implementation.
-Billie-Jo Hardy
Clarification:
In covering Dr. Richard Soberman’s lecture on transit policy last week (“Sober talk on transit,” Nov. 10), we wrote, “He supports the construction of a new Scarborough subway to replace the aging Scarborough RT.” This is inaccurate. Soberman said there is a range of technologies being considered to replace the RT’s cars; this includes buying new cars, converting the route to light rail transit, or building a replacement subway. The Varsity regrets the error.
