Old Myths, New Myths: Challenging Myths in Public Health

Challenging the Myths

As the Nation moves into the 21st century, the reduction of juvenile crime, violence, and victimization constitutes one of the most crucial challenges of the new millennium. To meet that challenge, reliable information is essential. Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report offers a comprehensive overview of these pervasive problems and the response of the juvenile justice system. Th...

Acute acalculous cholecystitis: challenging the myths.

BACKGROUND Acute acalculous cholecystitis (AAC) is traditionally known to occur in critically ill patients, following cardiac surgery, abdominal vascular surgery, severe trauma, burns, prolonged fasting, total parenteral nutrition, or sepsis, and is believed to have a worse prognosis as compared with acute cholecystitis associated with stones. Our observation of de novo presentation of AAC in s...

Synthetic Biology and Biosecurity: Challenging the “Myths”

Synthetic biology, a field that aims to "make biology easier to engineer," is routinely described as leading to an increase in the "dual-use" threat, i.e., the potential for the same scientific research to be "used" for peaceful purposes or "misused" for warfare or terrorism. Fears have been expressed that the "de-skilling" of biology, combined with online access to the genomic DNA sequences of...

Zimbabwe’s land reform: challenging the myths

Most commentary on Zimbabwe‟s land reform insists that agricultural production has almost totally collapsed, that food insecurity is rife, that rural economies are in precipitous decline, that political „cronies‟ have taken over the land and that farm labour has all been displaced. This paper however argues that the story is not simply one of collapse and catastrophe; it is much more nuanced an...

AIDS Myths and Myths about AIDS Myths: A Study about AIDS- related Perceptions in South Africa