Latest posts in Docs Talk

Reaction to air pollution linked to genetics

(Credit: bichxa via Flickr)

Chris Carlsten, MD MPH is an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia, where he holds the endowed Chair in Occupational and Environmental Lung Disease. He is also the director of the Occupational Lung Disease Clinic at Vancouver General Hospital's Lung Centre. His latest findings on the effects of diesel exhaust and other pollution on asthma have the potential to influence public policies on pollution.

A healthy environment should be a basic human right

Dr. David R. Boyd is one of Canada's leading environmental lawyers. An adjunct professor in Resource and Environmental Management at Simon Fraser University and a recent Trudeau Scholar at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at UBC, he has advised many governments—from Canada to Sweden—on a range of environmental issues.

Boyd is currently advocating for amending the Canadian constitution to include the right to a healthy environment. His latest of six books, The Right to a Healthy Environment, revitalizing Canada's constitution, makes a strong and compelling case for it.

Sharpen your memory with a simple walk in nature

Currently a post-doctoral fellow at Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute in Toronto, Dr. Marc Berman is producing groundbreaking research on how spending time in nature affects the human brain. Here, he tells Docs Talk about his findings.

Docs Talk: You've been researching the effects of nature on memory and other cognitive skills, especially in people with major depression. What are some of your findings?

Dr. Berman: We found that a 50-minute walk in nature can improve memory and focus by about 20 per cent, while walking in a busy urban environment doesn't significantly improve memory. The effects were stronger in individuals diagnosed with major depression.

Healthy children need a healthy environment

Bruce Lanphear, MD, MPH, is a clinician scientist at the Child & Family Research Institute, BC Children's Hospital and professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University. His primary research goal is to quantify and ultimately prevent disease and disability—like asthma, learning problems and ADHD—due to exposures to environmental contaminants such as lead, tobacco and pesticides. He is leading an effort to build an online Atlas of Environmental Health to enhance public understanding of how environmental influences impact human health.

Docs Talk: How can the environment affect children's health?

Dr. Lanphear: In myriad ways. If exposures to toxins occur at key developmental stages, they can result in spontaneous abortion, stunted growth, cancer, preterm birth, asthma or behavioural problems.