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A sling’s the only thing after a shoulder fracture

What happens after you fracture your shoulder fracture. Half had surgery, “As there is no difference in the
shoulder? You put your arm in a sling, and the other half had nothing more patients’ ability to carry out daily
of course—and it seems that’s all you than keeping their arm in a sling. chores, their level of pain or quality
need to do. Just using a sling can heal At the end of three weeks, there of life with or without surgery, then
a fracture as effectively as surgery. was no difference in the two groups. treatment with only a sling should
Wearing a sling for three weeks is Both had healed equally well and be preferred as the patients avoid
just as good for a displaced fracture continued to improve over the pain and complications related to
of the shoulder as surgery that uses following year. the surgery.”
plates or metal screws to join the Describing the results as “thought- She accepts it will be difficult to
bones back together again. provoking,” researcher Inger change clinical practice, especially
The two approaches were tested Mechlenburg said: “Those who as it means going from more to less,
by researchers at Aarhus University underwent surgery don’t have better but it’s still a result that healthcare
in Denmark on 88 patients, all over shoulder function or less pain than services need to acknowledge.
age 60, who had suffered a displaced those who didn’t. PLOS Med, 2019; 16: e1002855

AIR POLLUTION Psychiatric problems such as a national pollution register in

depression, schizophrenia and
Denmark, and then set those against
COULD CAUSE bipolar disorder probably aren’t ‘all two big population data sets,
including 151 million US residents
in your head’—but they may very
and 1.4 million people in Denmark.
well be in the environment.
DEPRESSION The quality of the air you breathe For the Danish data, they were
may be a trigger for so-called
also able to assess exposure to air
AND BIPOLAR psychiatric problems, and the age pollution in a person’s first 10 years.
you start breathing polluted air could They found a direct link between
also be a factor.
air quality and a risk of psychiatric
Bipolar disorder, major depression disorders. “Living in polluted areas,
and schizophrenia may all be caused especially early on in life, is predictive
by poor air quality—and the chances of mental disorders,” said researcher
of schizophrenia, in particular, Atif Khan.
appear to double if you’re exposed They suspect that pollution is
to polluted air during your first causing inflammation in the
10 years. brain, and this is triggering the
Although genetics and life disorders—as earlier animal studies
experiences may play a part in have predicted.
psychiatric problems, environmental In those studies, researchers
factors could be the third element of discovered that small particulate
a complex interplay, say researchers matter, or fine dust, was traveling
from the University of Chicago, who to the brain after being inhaled.
explored the effects of air pollution in Animals exposed to high levels of
the US and Denmark. pollution showed signs of cognitive
They used Environmental impairment and depression-like
Protection Agency measurements behavior.
to assess air quality in the US and PLoS Biol, 2019; 7: e3000353

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