Midterm 1: Week 1,2,3,4 Flashcards
What is the problem with the “scientific research” in newspapers?
It’s often taken out of context; correlation doesn’t mean causation
Is a boy from a developing country less healthy?
Non-developing country: stronger socio-economic status, status, not exposed to infectious disease
Developing: Stronger immune system, stronger hearts, etc.
How does socio-economic status affect health?
Money often decides if the judicial,health, and educational systems are against you or with you
Give an example of how socio-economic status affects health.
Major pharmaceutical companies pay more attention to diseases in wealthier countries rather than poorer countries; the ebola out break in countries across Africa
Define Health
A state of well being in body and mind
Define Medicine
The science/art of disease prevention, diagnosis, & treatment
Define Public health
Practice of medicine at the public level
Define Epidiemiology
Science of public health
Define Disease
A set of signs, symptoms, and laboratory findings that are linked by pathophysiological sequences
Define Communicable
Can be transmitted from organism to organism
Define Direct Communicable
Making bodily fluid contact
Define Indirect Communicable
Something inbetween (vector or vehicle) mosquito/water
Acute
Comes on rapidly, escalates quickly, often resolve themselves; communicable
Chronic
Long term, come and go, sometimes progressive
Illness
The subjective state of the subject
Define Sickness
The social role played by the ill person
Define disability
Anything which interferes with someones ability to complete daily tasks
Pathology
Study of disease
Define Health Inequity
Differences in health status that arise do to differences in social and economic status
Determinants of Health
Anything which affects your health (family history,socio-economic status,religion,age, etc.)
Define Social Determents of Health
Anything social which affects your health
Define Destitution
Not having the basic necessities of life
Define Shoe Leather Epidemiology
Going door to door to gain statistical data
What did Snow do?
He studied the cholera rate in the U.K. He found water further down the river was being polluted by industry, which caused more cases of cholera to be in the drinkers of that water
What did Semmelweis do?
He found that doctors didn’t wash their hands, but the midwives did, which is why in their clinics it was much safer to give birth
What are changes that have happened since the time of Snow and Semmelweis that have significantly decreased morbidity, and mortality rates?
Microscope, Antibiotics, Vaccination, Infrastructure (sewage system), Education, Birth Control, Economics (Industrialization)
What kind of relationship exists between “family size” and “level of education attained by the female head of house?”
An inverse relationship; when the woman is more educated she generally has fewer children, when the woman is less educated she generally has more children
After what century was there a great dip in birth rates?
After the 1900’s
What factors drive smaller family size as a country becomes industrialized?
Changing role of children, lower mortality roles in children (don’t need 2 more just in case,” women are working, woman are getting educations, birth control is more widely avaliable
What is a sign of an epidemiological transition?
Shifts in mortality rate from primarily infectious disease to primarily chronic, non-communicable, disease
What is one sign of demographic transition?
Changes in birth rates and death rates that come after industralization
What are some problems with the general concept of “demographic?”
The demographic is mostly based on European countries, assumes the society is homogenous, wars mislead the demographic (huge effect of birth and death rates), birth rate and death rates may be lower due to information coming in from wealthier countries, political policies may be put into play (one chid policy in china), society and religion might dictate death, and birth rates despite wealth
What does global health do?
It addresses health threats and responses beyond the jurisdiction of one nation, it crosses geographical and political boundaries, and inlists the help of governments, industries, academia, NGO’s and the media
Define Security
Being shielded from, and not being exposed to, danger
Define Human Security
Threats coming from our own country, state violence, consequences of disease
What is the Medical Model to define health?
A science based model. Disadvantages: does not clearly speak of mental, social, economic, and religious health
What is the WHO perspective
Scientific,mental,social,economic and religious health. Health is a human right. Disadvantages: very utopian
What is the Wellness Model?
Considers how health care is delivered (a reason why many people prefer alternative medicines) Practical version of the Who model, Theoretically a medically sick person could be very well
What is the environmental model?
Looks at how humans interact with everything around them
What is the Ecosystem model?
Climate, living organisms, etc. that affect you. Goal: expertise from multiple disciplines come together
What is the origin of “Epi?”
Among/upon/on
What is the origin of “demos?”
People/human
What is the origin of “logos?”
Doctrine/science
Define Epidemiology
the study of distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in human populations and events in human populations and the application of this study to the prevention and control of health problems
What is critical thinking?
Critical thinking is when you think about your thinking
We skillfully analyze, access, and reconstruct our thinking
What are the 5 things that critical thinking is?
Critical thinking is careful,unbiased,unemotional, and honest
Why is critical thinking important?
Humans are emotional creatures, we need to think critically to overcome those emotions at times; we need to overcome our past histories, personal preferences, etc to maintain non-bias.
When is critical thinking very important in health science?
In identifying cause-effect relationships; correlation = causation
What is Alternative Medicine?
“Medicine” which is based on unproved,unprovable methodology
What are the two main types of people who believe in alternative medicine?
- People who believe that alternative medicine has been tested and legitimized
- People who disagree with the scientific paradigm
What are social and cultural reasons alternative medicine is attractive?
- alternative medicine practitioners are more compassionate and create an emotional bond with their patients
- media does not challenge alternative medicine
- people using alternative medicine usually become anti-science
What are the psychological reasons that alternative medicine is attractive?
- It’s a last hope
- bad research
- intuitive belief
- self-serving bias; good = because us bad = external things
- try to please someone in power etc.
What are 5 reasons alternative medicines seem to work?
- We feel better about the action we take
- Chronic diseases can go into remission
- Placebo effect
- It’s a mix of science based and alternative medicine
- Manage symptoms rather than curing the disease
Explain the “F” in FiLCHeRS; Falsifiability
It must be possible to conceive of evidence that would prove the claim false; we have to be able to run an experiment to prove it true or false.
ex: God exists; we cannot scientifically prove or disprove it: Not falsifiable
Explain the “L” in FiLCHeRS; Logic
Any argument offered in support of any claim must make logical sense.
Explain the “C” in FiLCHeRS; Comprehensiveness
Evidence offered in support of any claim must be exhaustive; all the evidence must be considered
Explain the “H” in FiLCHeRS; Honesty
Evidence offered must be evaluated without self-deception
Explain the “R” in FiLCHeRS; Replicability
You need to be able to recreate the evidence given for any claim
Explain the “S” in FiLCHeRS; Sufficiency
Evidence offered in support of any claim must be adequate; extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence
What are 3 things necessary to determine causation?
- Association: correlation
- Time Order: cause must come before the effect
- Direction: the effect cannot result in the cause
What kinds of factors affect a host’s susceptibility to disease?
Age,sex,gender,immune,system,socio-economic status,association (w/people),genetics etc.
What kind of environmental factors effect a persons health?
Hold or cold weather
What is an active vs. a passive cause?
An active cause; you can control, a passive cause; you can’t control
What is a positive vs. negative cause?
A positive cause is somethings which’s presence causes a disease to develop, a negative cause is something which’s lack of presence causes disease to develop.
Ex: Smoking, and Vitamin K deficiency, respectively.
Define Infer
Inferring something is drawing conclusion based on reasoning
Define Deduction
Deduction is when the general trend is assumed correct for the entire population
What does the doctrine of rationalism profess?
The doctrine of rationalism professes that knowledge is NOT gained through observation or research, it is gained through reasoning
What is does Empirical inference profess?
Empirical inference professes that we can take the sample of a population and make an inference about the population
What did Louis Pasteur do?
Louis Pasteur revolutionized the concept of disease control; he used evidence to support his claims of the cause of disease.
What were Kotch’s postulates?
The first casual criteria for disease
What does “Refutationism” profess?
Refutationism says, statements about nature can be supported by evidence, but cannot be unequivocally proven
What are Hill’s 9 guidelines?
Strength, Consistency, Specificity, Temporality, Biologic gradient, Plausibility, Coherence, Experimental evidence, Analogy
