Stroke Awareness Week, 9th - 16th September, 2013

Illustration of an embolic stroke, showing a blockage lodged in a blood vessel (Wikimedia Commons)

A stroke is a medical emergency and rapid access to medical care may mean the difference between life and death. In most cases, a stroke occurs when there is either a disruption to the flow of blood to the brain, (which results in the death of oxygen-depleted brain cells) or when blood vessels burst and the blood  spreads into nearby brain areas (haemorrhage). Warning signs may include: dizziness, unsteadiness or headache; any change in mental abilities; numbness, weakness or paralysis in face, arm or leg on one side of the body; garbled speech or inability to speak; and eye problems, such as double vision. (1)

The Stroke Recovery Association of NSW has played a major role in the support and recovery of  many stroke survivors. The services that they provide include:telephone counselling; stroke information kits; seminars and workshops; newsletters on stroke issues; a library of books, videos and brochures; referrals to other services; and coordination of Stroke Awareness Week.

If you would like to find out more about strokes, login to EBSCOs Consumer Health Complete database or Britannica database with your library card's barcode, or ask staff to help you find such topical books as, Brain injury and stroke : a handbook to recovery by E.A. Freeman (616.8043 FRE) or Stroke : a guide to recovery and prevention by Vladimir Hachinski and Larissa Hachinski (616.81 HAC). To find out more about Stroke Awareness Week 2013, go to the website of The Stroke Recovery Association of NSW.

Reference
The Stroke Recovery Association of NSW. (2013). Retrieved August 22, 2013, from http://www.strokensw.org.au.

School Tragedy Reignites Debate over Gun Control in the United States

Source: ZORNICK, G 2013, 'Walmart: America's No. 1 Gun Source', Nation, 296, 1/2, pp. 15-20, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCOhost, viewed 6 February 2013.

Imagine walking into a retail chain store such as K-mart and being able to purchase a semiautomatic assault weapon. In Australia, we cannot do this, but in the United States, the retail chain store Walmart, is now the biggest seller of firearms and ammunition in the United States.¹

In the wake of the tragic school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut in December 2012, the issue of gun control is once more under debate in the United States. The US has the highest ranking of guns per capita, with an estimated 310 million firearms in US civilian circulation.² The percentage of US households with a gun in January 2013 was 49%.³

The fallout from the proliferation of these weapons is apparent - there were over 32,163 gun-related deaths (includes murder, suicide and other) in the US in 2011.⁴ While there is increased public support for new weapons regulation, there is also staunch opposition to gun control, in particular, from the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA).⁵

To read more about this important issue, login to Ebsco’s Australian/New Zealand Reference Centre, from home or in the library, with your library card’s barcode.

Rayyan

References
 1 ZORNICK, G 2013, 'Walmart: America's No. 1 Gun Source', Nation, 296, 1/2, pp. 15-20, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCOhost, viewed 6 February 2013.

2 SCHERED, M 2013, 'THE NEXT GUN FIGHT. (cover story)', Time, 181, 3, pp. 24-33, Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCOhost, viewed 6 February 2013.

3 Ibid.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

Julian Assange: Ecuador-bound?

Source: Scarff, O. (2010). Julian Assange [Photograph]. Retrieved 31 August, 2012, from Ebsco Image Collection.

Julian Assange, the WikilLeaks founder who was responsible for the biggest leak of secret government documents in history, has been offered diplomatic asylum in Ecuador. Although this is a tremendous moral boost for Assange and his supporters, it does not appear that Assange will be able to avoid extradition to Sweden to face sexual assault allegations.

Assange, who has been living inside an office at Eucador's embassy for the past two months, believes that if he is extradited to Sweden, he will face a further extradition to the United States, where he might face trial for WikiLeaks-related charges.

Read more about Julian Assange and WikiLeaks in the ANZ Newstand (Proquest) and the ANZ Reference Centre (Ebsco). The latter database contains a fascinating interview with Assange, conducted by Jamie Kelsey-Fry (see reference below), which discusses the power of state intelligence agencies, the criteria that WikiLeaks used to decide what to publish and the intense media scrutiny on Assange's personal life.

Reference

Kelsey-Fry, Jamie. 2012. "Julian Assange." New Internationalist no. 452: 62. Australia/New Zealand Reference Centre, EBSCOhost (accessed August 24, 2012).

Rayyan