The Burness Effect Blog

Dental Checkup on Northern Virginia: It’s Not All Smiles

Northern Virginia is one of the wealthiest regions of the country, but it’s not all smiles along the Potomac. A significant portion of Northern Virginians have difficulty accessing needed dental care.

Bioethics Commission Scrutinizes Research Involving Human Subjects

The Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues held a two-day hearing in Washington, D.C. where it revealed findings from its investigation into research abuses in Guatemala in the 1940s. The investigation is part of a larger inquiry by the Commission into whether current research standards adequately protect people participating in scientific studies from harm and unethical treatment.

Hope in the Fight Against Malaria

Malaria could be reduced to a minor concern—maybe even eliminated—in the next decade if funders are able to sustain or slightly increase the money they’ve offered in the previous two decades.

The Crisis of Withering Wheat and the Need for Crop Biodiversity

Roughly 90 percent of the world’s wheat varieties are defenseless against a virulent, fast-moving strain of stem rust fungus that is ravaging crops in parts of Africa, drifting into the Middle East and could soon threaten the breadbaskets of India and Pakistan. A key weapon in fighting the disease is crop diversity.

Artfully Answering the Wrong Questions with the Right Answers

Robin Hanson asks in a recent post on her blog Overcomingbias, “Why is modest question evasion so often tolerated in TV and radio interviews?” Her question was sparked by a study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology’s April Issue that found that listeners often won’t notice discrepancies between the question that was asked and the answer that is delivered as long as it is done smoothly and confidently.

In Kenya, the M-Kilimo helpline has given agricultural advice to nearly 25,000 farmers during its 18- month pilot phase. The project, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and the GSMA and managed by KenCall in Nairobi, uses a mobile helpline to provide thousands of small holder farmers in Kenya with specific, timely and accurate information, as well as tips to help increase their incomes and farm productivity.

Following the Money—from the Pharmaceutical Industry to Advocacy Groups

Every day, health advocacy organizations testify on Capitol Hill, write op-eds, give interviews and publish studies. They exist, in part, to influence public and policymaker opinion, and some are highly effective in doing just that. But many of these groups, a new study in the American Journal of Public Health has found, receive substantial contributions from the pharmaceutical industry – and disclose few of them, if any.

Two Years After CHIP

A new state-by-state scorecard reveals that the CHIP reauthorization and Medicaid expansions in the economic stimulus bill succeeded in preserving and, in some states, even expanding health coverage for kids, in spite of the economic downturn. That’s the good news.

How many diseases are so devastating that entire regions are named for them? And what if, as early as 2015, we could stop one such disease in its tracks—in the very countries hit hardest? That’s the promise of a new, … Continue reading Eliminating the “Meningitis Belt” →

The Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity released the most comprehensive study ever conducted on fast-food nutrition and marketing to children. The findings? Fast-food companies provide largely unhealthy side dishes and drinks as the default options with kids’ meals, and advertise to children as young as 2 across a variety of media.