Public health
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Multidisciplinary public health (MDPH) has been a phenomenon in the UK of the 1990s and the early 21st century. Its achievement has been seen as a victory for non medical interests. While acknowledging this, the paper questions what sort of victory this represents. ⋯ Public health campaigning, separate from public health professionals, has also been multidisciplinary since the 1970s. Public health as an occupation has been preoccupied with its professional positioning. Will the wider multidisciplinary impetus of public health now be lost in a preoccupation with status?
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In school-age asthmatics, an increase in hospitalizations has been reported in early autumn. This increase in admissions is conjectured to be associated with the return back to school. In the UK schools in England complete their summer vacations 2 weeks later than in Scotland and so there should be a lag between the two countries in the increase in asthma episode. ⋯ There are peaks in hospitalization after the return back to school for both Aberdeen and Doncaster with the peak for Doncaster appearing 2 weeks after Aberdeen. This study has demonstrated peaks in admissions in school-age children around the return back to school in two cities where different school return dates were reflected in a 2-week lag effect. These data therefore provide strong evidence that peaks in admissions are associated with the end of the summer holidays.