BMJ : British medical journal
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To quantify the association between exposure to higher temperatures and the risk of myocardial infarction at an hourly temporal resolution. ⋯ Higher ambient temperatures above a threshold of 20 °C seem to be associated with a transiently increased risk of myocardial infarction 1-6 hours after exposure. Reductions in risk at longer lags are consistent with heat triggering myocardial infarctions early in highly vulnerable people who would otherwise have had a myocardial infarction some time later ("short term displacement"). Policies aimed at reducing the health effects of hot weather should include consideration of effects operating at sub-daily timescales.
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Behavioural economics is becoming increasingly popular as a way to improve public health. George Loewenstein and colleagues point out some of the pitfalls and warn that it cannot be used as a substitute for conventional policies to tackle fundamental problems.
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To estimate fracture risk in patients receiving bariatric surgery versus matched controls. ⋯ Bariatric surgery does not have a significant effect on the risk of fracture. For the first few years after surgery, these results are reassuring for patients undergoing such operations, but do not exclude a more protracted adverse influence on skeletal health in the longer term.