We thank all of our unsung heroes who donate blood and encourage more people to become new donors

View the full post World Blood Donor Day 14 June on NOW Grenada.

In countries where magic mushrooms are legal, some people are turning to psilocybin wellness retreats. CNN's David Culver takes us on a mind-altering journey to Oregon and Jamaica on the next episode of "The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper" Sundays at 8 p.m. ET.

Santo Domingo.- Around 30,000 individuals visited the National District Blood Bank in the Dominican Republic during the first five months of this year, intending to donate blood to the Dominican Red Cross. However, only 18,307 individuals were deemed eligible for donation.

Out of the eligible donors, 18,005 were replacement donors, while a mere 302 volunteered altruistically, accounting for only 1.67% of the total number. These statistics were provided by César Matos Moronta, the director of the National Network of Blood Banks, on the occasion of World Blood Donor Day on June 14.

Matos Moronta highlighted the World Health Organization’s recommendation that countries should strive for a minimum of 4% voluntary blood donation from the population. Unfortunately, the Dominican Republic falls short of even 2%.

Miguel Sanz Flores, the president of the Dominican Red Cross, emphasized the urgent need to establish a blood donation culture in the country to address the annual deficit of over 200,000 pints of blood. He expressed concern over the difficulties faced by Dominicans when they require blood transfusions and stressed the importance of societal commitment to saving lives through regular blood donation.

To encourage voluntary blood donation, the Red Cross relaunched the campaign “Save me with your pint, donate blood,” led by Dr. Sanz. He emphasized the importance of action rather than mere reminders on specific days, urging the nation to foster a consistent culture of blood donation.

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Santo Domingo.- The Global Institute of Higher Studies in Social Sciences (IGLOBAL) organized a seminar titled “The Autism Spectrum: A Global Look at a Multifactorial Disorder” on Tuesday. The aim of the seminar was to raise awareness and sensitize society, especially educators, about autism. Josefina Pimentel, the rector of IGLOBAL, highlighted the shortage of professionals in the country who are trained to work with individuals with autism. She emphasized the need for understanding the characteristics of this condition in order to support holistic development and tap into the potential of children and adults with autism. Pimentel commended the approval of the autism bill in the Chamber of Deputies, although she also noted that certain aspects may need to be adapted to the current realities of Dominican society. She viewed it as a significant step forward.

The seminar took place at the auditorium of the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (Funglode). The event brought together medical specialists, teachers, and organizations dedicated to serving individuals with autism, featuring presentations on various aspects of the disorder. The keynote address, titled “A Global Look at a Multifunctional Disorder: Health, Education, and Socialization of People with Autism Spectrum Disorder,” was delivered virtually by Natalia Blanco, the director of the Spanish Federation of Autism, based in Spain.

The seminar covered topics such as the journey from health to well-being for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), including early detection, neurological perspectives, socio-emotional dimensions, the family and school environment, and holistic behavior therapy.

The second block of the seminar focused on “Education by and for All,” presenting a vision of education that encompassed school inclusion, the role of support teachers, speech therapy approaches, and the Individualized Educational Program (PEI).

The third block, titled “Strengthening the Support Network for People with ASD,” showcased the contributions of both public and private institutions in ensuring the full lives of individuals with ASD. It included presentations from these institutions as well as testimonies and reflections from two families on their experiences.

The closing conference, “Public Policies in Favor of People with ASD: Facilitating the Path Towards Inclusion,” featured three legislators: Deputy Yudelka de la Rosa and Senators Franklin Rodríguez and Dionis Sánchez. They discussed the “Law of Care, Inclusion, and Protection of People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).”

As he received care, he expressed discomfort with the predominantly white teams handling his case. He believed that both clinicians and non-clinical staff discriminated against him because of his racial and ethnic identity, as well as his public insurance status.

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There is minimal information on whether radiography or ultrasonography is non-inferior for the first diagnostic imaging of forearm fractures in children and adolescents. Therefore, Peter Snelling and colleagues undertook this study to evaluate the effectiveness of ultrasonography for diagnostic imaging in fractures.

Participants aged 5 to 15 who presented to the emergency room with an isolated distal forearm injury without a clinically obvious deformity and for whom further imaging evaluation was indicated were recruited for this open-label, non-inferiority, multicenter, randomized trial in Australia. Participants were given a random choice between point-of-care radiography or ultrasonography, and they were then monitored for eight weeks after that. The validated Paediatric Upper Extremity Short Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) score was used to evaluate the physical function of the affected arm at 4 weeks; a non-inferiority margin of 5 points was used. Higher scores indicate better function.

The key findings of this study were:

A total of 270 individuals were enrolled, with outcomes for 262 of them (97%) accessible after 4 weeks (with a 3-day interval) as planned. 

At 4 weeks, PROMIS scores in the ultrasonography group were comparable to those in the imaging group (mean, 36.4 and 36.3 points, correspondingly; mean difference, 0.1 point; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3 to 1.4). 

Intention-to-treat analyses found comparable results (mean difference, 0.1 point; 95% CI, 1.3 to 1.4) in 266 participants with primary outcome data obtained at any time. 

There were no clinically significant fractures missed, and there were no differences in the prevalence of adverse events across groups.

Reference: 

Snelling, P. J., Jones, P., Bade, D., Bindra, R., Byrnes, J., Davison, M., George, S., Moore, M., Keijzers, G., & Ware, R. S. (2023). Ultrasonography or Radiography for Suspected Pediatric Distal Forearm Fractures. In New England Journal of Medicine (Vol. 388, Issue 22, pp. 2049–2057). Massachusetts Medical Society. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmoa2213883

Health and social development top of the agenda at PAHO Director’s meeting with Prime Minister of Barbados

Cristina Mitchell

12 Jun 2023