Epidemiology News and Research

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Lower back pain and spinal cancer: an interview with Dr Nicholas Henschke, University of Heidelberg

While lower back pain is a common condition around the world, in only a very small proportion of people – less than 5% - will this be caused by a serious problem such as fracture, infection, or tumour.

7 Mar 2013

Health insurance and poverty the important predictors of late stage breast cancer

Home may be where the heart is, but where you live could affect your health. "Regardless of geographic location, women who live in high poverty areas or are uninsured are at greatest risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer at a later stage," said lead author Kevin Henry, Department of Geography, University of Utah.

7 Mar 2013

MicroRNA expression signatures may help define progression of Barrett's esophagus

A series of microRNA expression signatures that may help to define progression of the precancerous condition Barrett's esophagus into esophageal adenocarcinoma was reported recently in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

7 Mar 2013

Air pollution and heart attacks: an interview with Dr Cathryn Tonne, LSHTM

Air is polluted when it contains any extraneous entity in sufficient quantities to adversely affect the environment or the health of people exposed to it.

6 Mar 2013

Study shows community-based HIV-prevention efforts increase testing rates, reduce HIV incidence

In Africa and Thailand, communities that worked together on HIV-prevention efforts saw not only a rise in HIV screening but a drop in new infections, according to a new study presented this week at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Atlanta.

6 Mar 2013

Screening healthy adults could potentially prevent rare genetic disorders

Millions of people unknowingly carry rare gene mutations that put them at high risk of developing preventable diseases such as colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and several catastrophic blood vessel disorders.

6 Mar 2013

People with variations in FTO gene could be at increased risk of melanoma

The research shows that people with particular variations in a stretch of DNA within the FTO gene, called intron 8, could be at greater risk of developing melanoma.

5 Mar 2013

Older patients with head and neck cancers less likely to die in high-volume hospitals

A study of older patients with advanced head and neck cancers has found that where they were treated significantly influenced their survival.

4 Mar 2013

Pregnancy-related foot changes may contribute to women's increased risk for arthritis

A new University of Iowa study confirms what many women have long suspected - that pregnancy permanently changes the size and shape of a woman's feet.

3 Mar 2013

Significant link between defective viruses and increased rate of transmission of major disease

Defective viruses, thought for decades to be essentially garbage unrelated to the transmission of normal viruses, now appear able to play an important role in the spread of disease, new research by UCLA life scientists indicates.

2 Mar 2013

Combination of two environmental factors contributes to schizophrenia

The interplay between an infection during pregnancy and stress in puberty plays a key role in the development of schizophrenia, as behaviourists from ETH Zurich demonstrate in a mouse model. However, there is no need to panic.

2 Mar 2013

Tooth loss due to periodontal disease is more prevalent among postmenopausal women

Postmenopausal women who have smoked are at much higher risk of losing their teeth than women who never smoked, according to a new study published and featured on the cover of the Journal of the American Dental Association by researchers at the University at Buffalo.

2 Mar 2013

Funding opportunity for schools to implement innovative programs targeting childhood obesity announced by first lady Michelle Obama

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center's CHALK/Just Move program is one of three programs selected by ChildObesity180, a national organization comprising public, nonprofit, academic, and private-sector leaders, for its Active Schools Acceleration Project (ASAP). An opportunity for schools across the country to apply for a grant to implement one of the three model programs was announced today in Chicago, with first lady Michelle Obama, as part of her "Let's Move! Active Schools" campaign.

1 Mar 2013

Physical activity has no relation with risk of non-invasive breast cancer

A European study published in the 'Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention' journal has analysed the association between physical activities and in situ or non-invasive breast cancer, or, in other words, cancer that has not yet invaded cells within or outside of the breast.

1 Mar 2013

Study evaluates course of PTSD after diagnosis of breast cancer

A study by researchers at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC) at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, has found that nearly one in four women (23 percent) newly diagnosed with breast cancer reported symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) shortly after diagnosis, with increased risk among black and Asian women.

1 Mar 2013

Patients with diabetes at no increased risk of complications after total knee replacement

Patients with diabetes who undergo total knee replacement surgery do not have increased risk of surgical complications compared to those patients without diabetes, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published today in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.

28 Feb 2013

Radiation, surgery offer best survival possibilities for metastatic gastric cancer patients

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center studied patients with metastatic gastric cancer and found that those who have both surgery and radiation have better survival than those who receive one or no form of treatment.

28 Feb 2013

Study findings call for major change in approach to syphilis testing

Syphilis is on the rise worldwide and there is an urgent need for reliable and rapid screening, particularly for people who live in areas where access to healthcare is limited. An international research team, led by scientists at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) in Montreal, has demonstrated that rapid and point-of-care tests (POC) for syphilis are as accurate as conventional laboratory tests.

28 Feb 2013

National Birth Defects Prevention Network honors BU researcher with Godfrey P. Oakley, Jr., Award

Allen A. Mitchell, MD, a professor of public health (epidemiology) and professor of pediatrics at the Boston University Schools of Public Health and Medicine, recently received the Godfrey P. Oakley, Jr., Award at the annual meeting of the National Birth Defects Prevention Network. Mitchell, who is also the director of Boston University's Slone Epidemiology Center (SEC), was recognized for his significant lifetime contributions to the field of birth defects.

28 Feb 2013

Smoking prevention and cessation campaigns: an interview with Dr DePinho, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Dr Mohar, National Cancer Institute of Mexico

There are more than 94 million former and current smokers in the United States, and more than 21 million in Mexico, according to the 2009 Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) Fact Sheet.

27 Feb 2013

Epidemiology News and Research

Lower back pain and spinal cancer: an interview with Dr Nicholas Henschke, University of Heidelberg

Health insurance and poverty the important predictors of late stage breast cancer

MicroRNA expression signatures may help define progression of Barrett's esophagus

Air pollution and heart attacks: an interview with Dr Cathryn Tonne, LSHTM

Study shows community-based HIV-prevention efforts increase testing rates, reduce HIV incidence

Screening healthy adults could potentially prevent rare genetic disorders

People with variations in FTO gene could be at increased risk of melanoma

Older patients with head and neck cancers less likely to die in high-volume hospitals

Pregnancy-related foot changes may contribute to women's increased risk for arthritis

Significant link between defective viruses and increased rate of transmission of major disease

Combination of two environmental factors contributes to schizophrenia

Tooth loss due to periodontal disease is more prevalent among postmenopausal women

Funding opportunity for schools to implement innovative programs targeting childhood obesity announced by first lady Michelle Obama

Physical activity has no relation with risk of non-invasive breast cancer

Study evaluates course of PTSD after diagnosis of breast cancer

Patients with diabetes at no increased risk of complications after total knee replacement

Radiation, surgery offer best survival possibilities for metastatic gastric cancer patients

Study findings call for major change in approach to syphilis testing

National Birth Defects Prevention Network honors BU researcher with Godfrey P. Oakley, Jr., Award

Smoking prevention and cessation campaigns: an interview with Dr DePinho, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Dr Mohar, National Cancer Institute of Mexico

Achieving and maintaining ISO 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

Examining how pain could play a direct protective role in the gut

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