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Medicare's policy on compounded drugs under scrutiny; Lawsuits growing in meningitis outbreak

The Associated Press reports on the role Medicare plays in national drug purchasing and The Washington Post finds the "race is on" to sign up clients for lawsuits.

22 Oct 2012

Stress in parents linked to obesity in their children

Parents with a higher number of stressors in their lives are more likely to have obese children, according to a new study by pediatric researchers. Furthermore, when parents perceive themselves to be stressed, their children eat fast food more often, compared to children whose parents feel less stressed.

22 Oct 2012

Short-term secondhand smoke exposure can lead to airway restriction

Heavy concentrations of secondhand smoke, such as those found in smoke-filled bars and cars, can lead to airway restriction for bystanders within minutes of exposure. The study, presented at CHEST 2012, the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians, showed that after 20 minutes of exposure to highly concentrated secondhand smoke, participants experienced near immediate physiologic changes, including airway resistance and impedance.

22 Oct 2012

U.S. boys experience early onset of puberty

A study conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has documented that boys in the U.S. are experiencing the onset of puberty six months to two years earlier than reported in previous research.

22 Oct 2012

Researchers identify how mosquito's immune system attacks specific infections

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have determined a new mechanism by which the mosquitoes' immune system can respond with specificity to infections with various pathogens, including the parasite that causes malaria in humans, using one single gene.

20 Oct 2012

Researchers concerned over likely rise in older people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa

"Sub-Saharan Africa is likely to see a more than 200 percent increase in the number of older people living with HIV in the next 30 years, thanks to improvements in life-saving treatment, experts said Thursday," Agence France-Presse reports.

20 Oct 2012

New study uncovers strong connection between mortality of child, mother

The death of a child is a tragic event for a family, bringing with it feelings of numbness, anger, guilt and denial. And, unfortunately, for many families, the loss becomes too much to bear.

20 Oct 2012

Hutchinson Center's cancer epidemiologist to receive IARC Medal of Honor

Cancer epidemiologist John Potter, M.D., Ph.D., a senior adviser in the Public Health Sciences Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has been selected to receive a medal of honor from the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer for his research contributions in nutrition, diet and cancer.

20 Oct 2012

Research roundup: Financial impact of reducing surgical complications; Pay for performance to doctors, hospitals yields mixed results

The authors write: "We found that if a hospital's surgical inpatient volume is not growing, such a program results in negative cash flow. We also found that if a hospital's surgical volume is growing, and if the hospital can sufficiently reduce the average length-of-stay for surgical patients without complications, the cash flow could be positive. We recommend that hospitals with limited growth prospects that are nonetheless contemplating a surgical complication reduction program establish agreements with payers to share in any savings generated by the program."

20 Oct 2012

Study finds dramatic increase in acute throat infection admissions in England

The number of children admitted to hospital in England for acute throat infections increased by 76 per cent between 1999 and 2010, according to new research published today in Archives of Disease in Childhood.

20 Oct 2012

Representatives of state boards gather to examine health care issues

Representatives of the state boards that oversee licensing of the nation's physicians, nurses and pharmacists have gathered in Washington, D.C. this week for the first-ever Tri-Regulator Symposium, an event that will examine a variety of health care issues.

20 Oct 2012

New data shows influenza-associated deaths among children, effectiveness of school vaccinations

New data being presented at IDWeek 2012TM shows the fatal risk that influenza poses even for children without underlying health conditions and the effectiveness of school-based vaccination programs in protecting student populations.

20 Oct 2012

High flavonoid intake may reduce risk of highly aggressive prostate cancer

A study by Susan Steck of the Arnold School of Public Health finds that a high intake of flavonoids, a group of compounds found in plants, may lower the risk for highly aggressive prostate cancer.

20 Oct 2012

New tools for evaluating quality, value of health care from patient's perspective

An ongoing program is developing new tools for assessing health care quality from the most important viewpoint-that of the patient receiving care, according to a special supplement to Medical Care.

20 Oct 2012

Study shows children with low levels of gene activity develop anxious dispositions

Decreased activity of a group of genes may explain why in young children the "fear center" of the anxious brain can't learn to distinguish real threats from the imaginary, according to a new University of Wisconsin study.

20 Oct 2012

True scale of anti-psychotic usage in dementia may be under-estimated

The scale of the challenge to reduce the use of anti-psychotic drugs by people with dementia may be under-estimated, according to researchers from Aston University and the University of East Anglia, working with NHS Kent and Medway. There is a key public health challenge to reduce the prescribing of anti-psychotic drugs to people with dementia as they are thought to be associated with up to 1,800 deaths a year.

19 Oct 2012

Survey: Nearly 38% of lesbians less likely to have routine cervical cancer screening

Nearly 38 percent of lesbians polled in a national survey were not routinely screened for cervical cancer, putting them at risk of developing a highly preventable cancer, according to a University of Maryland School of Medicine study being presented at the 11th Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research.

19 Oct 2012

Breast-feeding associated with reduced risk of ER/PR-negative breast cancer

Breast-feeding reduces the risk for estrogen receptor-negative and progesterone receptor-negative breast cancer, according to a study conducted at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

19 Oct 2012

Harvard, SLU to develop asthma alert messaging system

A $93,000 gift from Google together with a $25,000 award from Saint Louis University's President's Research Fund will allow faculty at SLU, Harvard and St. Louis College of Pharmacy to research smart phone and web-based applications and data infrastructure to create an asthma alert messaging system.

19 Oct 2012

Link between norovirus outbreaks and excess hospitalization and mortality in nursing homes

In a study that included more than 300 Medicare-certified nursing homes, rates of hospitalization and death were substantially increased during outbreaks of norovirus gastroenteritis vs. non-outbreak periods, according to a study appearing in the October 24/31 issue of JAMA.

19 Oct 2012

Public Health News and Research

Medicare's policy on compounded drugs under scrutiny; Lawsuits growing in meningitis outbreak

Stress in parents linked to obesity in their children

Short-term secondhand smoke exposure can lead to airway restriction

U.S. boys experience early onset of puberty

Researchers identify how mosquito's immune system attacks specific infections

Researchers concerned over likely rise in older people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa

New study uncovers strong connection between mortality of child, mother

Hutchinson Center's cancer epidemiologist to receive IARC Medal of Honor

Research roundup: Financial impact of reducing surgical complications; Pay for performance to doctors, hospitals yields mixed results

Study finds dramatic increase in acute throat infection admissions in England

Representatives of state boards gather to examine health care issues

New data shows influenza-associated deaths among children, effectiveness of school vaccinations

High flavonoid intake may reduce risk of highly aggressive prostate cancer

New tools for evaluating quality, value of health care from patient's perspective

Study shows children with low levels of gene activity develop anxious dispositions

True scale of anti-psychotic usage in dementia may be under-estimated

Survey: Nearly 38% of lesbians less likely to have routine cervical cancer screening

Breast-feeding associated with reduced risk of ER/PR-negative breast cancer

Harvard, SLU to develop asthma alert messaging system

Link between norovirus outbreaks and excess hospitalization and mortality in nursing homes

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