Tuesday, September 29, 2015

World Heart Day

Today (29th September) is World Heart day; a day to raise awareness of, and inform people about, cardiovascular diseases. Cardiovascular diseases, including heart disease and stroke, are the number one cause of death worldwide. Over 17 million people die from these each year.

The Irish Heart Foundation is running a 'red alert' campaign for the month of September in which they are focusing on women's heart health. While heart disease and stroke is the leading cause of death for Irish women, awareness is low. Just over 1 in 10 women believe cardiovascular disease is the number one killer and only 1 in 5 women know that menopause is a risk factor for heart disease and stroke. More information about the disease can be found here.

The Cochrane Heart Group has a wide range of systematic reviews on cardiovascular disease and prevention, these can be found here.

RCSI Library subscribes to a number of high impact journals in the field of cardiovascular health; these include the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the European Heart Journal and Circulation. You can access these through the RCSI Library ejournal portal.

RCSI Library also has a number of books related to cardiovascular disease; these include 'Cardiovascular Medicine' (2015) by Paul Morris and 'Braunwald's Heart Disease' (2015) - the latter is available in both print and electronic versions. You can find these and more through the library catalogue.







Tuesday, September 15, 2015

World Alzheimer's Month

This month, September, is World Alzheimer's month, an international campaign to raise awareness and challenge stigma. Dementia is a collective name for progressive degenerative brain syndromes which affect memory, thinking behaviour and emotion. Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia, affecting up to 90% of people with dementia.



The Irish Alzheimer's Society has a wide range of resources, both for Alzheimer's sufferers themselves and for those living with people with Alzhemeir's. The website includes information on topics such as planning for the future, knowing your rights, important contacts and practical tips on day to day living with Alzheimer's.

RCSI Library has  access to a number of resources on Alzheimer's and dementia. Searching UpToDate for 'Alzheimer's Disease' will give you basic information about Alzheimer's, including clinical features, diagnosis, information for patients as well as a summary and recommendations section. You can access UpToDate through the 'Clinical Summaries' section on the library website.

Searching the Clinical Key database for 'Alzheimer's Disease' yields useful information, including relevant book chapters from a number of different texts including Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2016 and  Conn's Current Therapy 2015. You can access Clinical Key through the 'Databases' section of the library website.

For systematic reviews on Alzheimer's and dementia, use the Cochrane Library. The Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group has over 150 reviews which can be accessed here.

The World Health Organization  (WHO) published 'Dementia: A Public Health Priority' in 2012. The report includes case studies and best practice from around the world, as well as a comprehensive collection of data and statistics relating to Alzheimer's and dementia. The report estimates that in 2010 there were 35 million people worldwide living with dementia and that each year there are almost 8 million new cases. The accelerating rates of dementia are cause for immediate action, especially in low and middle-income countries where resources are few.

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