RTE’s environmental awareness program Eco Eye enlisted airmid healthgroup’s help in their recent episode on “Hazardous Waste”. The episode examined the health and environmental impacts of common household chemicals and investigated less hazardous and “eco-friendly” alternatives. We were asked to compare the effectiveness of homemade cleaning products and more typical store-bought brands against bacteria. Dr. Bruce Mitchell, CEO of airmid healthgroup, featured in the episode...
Vivienne Mahon
Vivienne Mahon PhD is Chief Scientist & Head of Quality at airmid healthgroup
2017 Research & Innovation Conference & Exhibition
The Research & Innovation Conference & Exhibition was held earlier this week. It was a busy day, especially as this year the conference was co-located with the inaugural National Health Expo. Each of the events had a main stage and several seminar rooms where talks were held throughout the day. With a line-up of over 100 speakers it’s an event worth attending as a team, because so many interesting talks were on simultaneously! At the "Finance, Supports, Collaboration and Business...
Bed Bugs, House Dust Mites – What’s the Difference?
Sometimes people can mix up these indoor pests, so this blog post will describe some of the differences between the two. The main noticeable difference is size. Bed bugs are visible to the naked eye. Adult bed bugs are about 5 - 7 mm in size[1]. So they are comparable to the size of an apple seed or about half the area of your pinky fingernail. In contrast, dust mites can really only be seen under the microscope. House dust mites are about 0.1 - 0.4 mm long[2], less than one tenth the size of...
Principles of a Healthy Home
June marked the first annual National Healthy Homes Month. This initiative of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was launched to provide people with the opportunity to learn more about housing and its effects on health. The National Center for Healthy Housing estimates that approximately 35 million metropolitan U.S. homes have at least one health and safety hazard. As a means to tackle this issue, HUD set out eight healthy home principles that can be followed to make...
Bugs versus Drugs: the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance
Yesterday the Science Gallery was the venue for a Health Research Board (HRB) sponsored talk on antimicrobial resistance entitled “Bugs versus Drugs”. It was an evening of insightful discussion between Dr Fidelma Fitzpatrick (Consultant Microbiologist Beaumont Hospital and Senior Lecturer at RCSI), Dr Andrew Murphy (a General Practitioner and Professor in NUI Galway) and science journalist Maryn McKenna. The broadcaster Jonathan McCrea hosted the conversation. As the audience included...
Asthma & Allergy Awareness Month 2016
May is a busy time in the asthma and allergy world. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) designates May as Asthma & Allergy Awareness Month. The month starts off with World Asthma Day (May 3rd) and Air Quality Awareness Week (May 2nd to May 6th). We updated this blog post throughout the month to keep track of some of the events held to raise awareness of asthma, allergies and air quality. On May 3rd The CDC Asthma Program and EPALive held their annual twitter chat to mark...
World Asthma Day 2016
Every year since 1999 the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) designates the first Tuesday in May as World Asthma Day. This year World Asthma Day is on May 3rd. The purpose of this annual event is to raise awareness of asthma and its care around the world. Since 2007 the theme of the day has been “you can control your asthma”. The GINA organization was set up in 1993 as a collaboration between the World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Their...
World Allergy Week 2016
April 4th – 10th is World Allergy Week. This annual event is an initiative of the World Allergy Organisation (WAO). This year the theme is the effect of climate change on pollen and mold allergies. Every spring time the news is full of articles declaring it to be the worst allergy season ever. Can it really be true? Unfortunately it is. According to the WAO, global warming influences not only the start, length and intensity of the pollen season, but also the allergenicity of the pollen. The...
Every breath we take: The lifelong impact of air pollution
Today the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) released the report “Every breath we take: The lifelong impact of air pollution”. The report covers the health effects of air pollution across our lifetime, from before birth to old age. The issue of air pollution is very important. In the UK around 40,000 deaths a year are estimated to be attributable to outdoor air pollution. However the report emphasises that air pollution is...
airmid healthgroup at 2013 AAAAI annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas
The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) is a professional organization, with nearly 7000 members in over 60 countries, that represents those focused on the research and treatment of allergic disease. The 2013 AAAAI annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas (February 22nd-26th) provided a world-class educational and scientific program. Researchers from around the world presented more than 800 abstracts covering a wide range of asthma/immunology topics. airmid healthgroup...