Texas medicine
-
When voters in Wichita Falls went to the polls in early May, they thought they were casting ballots to determine if smoking in public places would be regulated in their community. In reality, their decision likely determined the fate of antismoking efforts throughout Texas. ⋯ The first prong was a legislative attack on the ability of cities to pass antismoking regulations. The second was an attempt to actually roll back a tough local antismoking ordinance at the polls, thereby demonstrating lack of public support for such ordinances.
-
The American Academy of Pediatrics identifies young children at risk for accidental hot tap water (HTW) burns and recommends that HTW temperatures be set no higher than 49 degrees C (120 degrees F). Studies show that a temperature of 52 degrees C (125 degrees F) can cause a full-thickness skin burn in 2 minutes and a temperature of 54 degrees C (130 degrees F) can result in a full-thickness skin burn in 30 seconds. We sought to identify the risk for HTW injury and the knowledge about safety limits at our military installation. ⋯ We concluded that children living on our military post were at high risk for serious accidental HTW burns. Moreover, existing qualitative settings are not reliable indicators of safe temperatures. We recommend that health-care providers inform parents about the dangers of HTW burns to children and advise setting maximum HTW temperatures to the 49 degrees C (120 degrees F) recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.