Traffic congestion causes hotspots of air pollution and road traffic accidents

Traffic congestion in Oxford is a public health issue. It increases air pollution, lowering air quality breathed, which is a known cause of asthma, lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases. It increases the risk of traffic accidents through poor driver behaviour and judgement. Stuck in a traffic jam last week in Oxford, brought about through traffic control system failures, this driver experienced first-hand both air pollution and road safety issues. Globally, road traffic accidents cause 1.25 million deaths per year, with the highest road traffic fatality rates in low-income countries.
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August babies lack self-esteem

Image:'popofatticus This week we heard that being born in August in England leads to lack of self-esteem and a lifelong tendency to underachieve (Does when you are born matter?, from Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS)). This appears to be a follow-up study to one focussed on primary school children in 2007, and it certainly got…
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Handwashing: harnessing the yuck factor to improve public health

The recent E. coli O104:H4 outbreak has set us thinking about handwashing again. (We've tackled it before in  Now wash your hands) It’s very difficult to change people’s behaviour  and to prove my point,  just watch this video“Do Shocking Images Change Hygiene Behavior”.  The video refers to a study from University of Denver "Using a…
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