COVID-19 and time spent outdoors: a golden opportunity for health promotion

COVID-19: A Window of Opportunity for Positive Healthcare Reforms

The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is testing healthcare systems like never before and all efforts are now being put into controlling the COVID-19 crisis. We witness increasing morbidity, delivery systems that sometimes are on the brink of collapse, and some shameless rent seeking. However, besides all the challenges, there are also possibilities t...

A golden opportunity, squandered.

Even when used to make products of negligible risk and that contribute significantly to public health, recombinant DNA technology (a.k.a. ‘genetic modification’, or GM) applied to agriculture has a tough row to hoe. ‘Golden Rice’, which has been enriched by the addition of genes that allow rice to synthesize b-carotene (the precursor of vitamin A) in its edible endosperm, has endured resistance...

A Golden Opportunity.

Health-promoting schools: an opportunity for oral health promotion.

Schools provide an important setting for promoting health, as they reach over 1 billion children worldwide and, through them, the school staff, families and the community as a whole. Health promotion messages can be reinforced throughout the most influential stages of children's lives, enabling them to develop lifelong sustainable attitudes and skills. Poor oral health can have a detrimental ef...

The association between time spent outdoors and myopia using a novel biomarker of outdoor light exposure.

PURPOSE We sought to determine whether conjunctival ultraviolet autofluorescence (UVAF), a biomarker of outdoor light exposure, is associated with myopia. METHODS We performed a cross-sectional study on Norfolk Island and recruited individuals aged ≥ 15 years. Participants completed a sun-exposure questionnaire and underwent non-cycloplegic autorefraction. Conjunctival UVAF used a specially a...