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National Staging Initiative to standardize cancer stage information across Canada

Canadians can expect to benefit from more targeted investments in cancer screening and treatment as a result of a first-of-its-kind initiative that is standardizing the collection of cancer stage information across Canada. The initiative marks a change that cancer experts have wanted for more than 20 years, and that will help cancer system decision-makers to target areas of greatest need in cancer control.

21 Oct 2010

Team effort involving providers and parents needed to address rise in pediatric obesity rates

Over the last few decades, the dramatic rise in pediatric obesity rates has emerged as a public health threat requiring urgent attention. The responsibility of identifying and treating eating and weight-related problems early in children and adolescents falls to health care providers and other professionals who work with the child, according to Professor Denise Wilfley and colleagues from the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in the US. Furthermore, the key to successful treatment is a team effort involving providers and parents.

21 Oct 2010

Researchers investigate reverse zoonosis in marine invertebrate

The spread of lethal diseases from animals to humans has long been an issue of great concern to public health officials. But what about diseases that spread in the other direction, from humans to wildlife. A multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Georgia has just been awarded a five-year $2 million Ecology of Infectious Diseases grant from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health to study the first known case of such a "reverse zoonosis" that involves the transmission of a human pathogen to a marine invertebrate, elkhorn coral.

21 Oct 2010

NIH awards $7 million grant to provide sustained care for HIV-positive inmates

The University of Illinois at Chicago has received a $7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study effective ways to seek, test, and treat inmates with HIV.

21 Oct 2010

Also in Global Health News: Foreign aid in Ethiopia; Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation; Health in Myanmar; Poverty in Zambia; Rwanda's progress on MDGs; Men involved in PMTCT of HIV

Ethiopia's government has been restricting access to food and other types of foreign aid among opposition supporters, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report on Tuesday, Reuters reports (Malone, 10/19). The report is based on more than 200 interviews, conducted over a six-month period in 2009, of people in 53 villages across three regions of the country, according to an HRW press release (10/19).

21 Oct 2010

Health Impact Project announces $400,000 in grants to 4 organizations to conduct health impact assessments

The Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts, today announced nearly $400,000 in grants to four organizations to conduct health impact assessments (HIAs). The assessments will identify and address potential and often overlooked health implications of policy proposals including farm-to-school food legislation, energy development, smart-metering technology for electric utilities and urban transportation plans.

20 Oct 2010

JIPH selected for inclusion in MEDLINE Indexing

Elsevier Middle East announces that the Journal of Infection and Public Health (JIPH) has been selected for inclusion in MEDLINE, the premier bibliographic database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). Citations for articles indexed, the indexing terms and the abstract printed in the journal are now searchable using PubMed (http://www.pubmed.gov). Indexing using the US National Library of Medicine's (NLM) advanced MeSH terminology will be retroactive from Volume 1, Issue 1 (2008) of the journal.

20 Oct 2010

National Pap Test Campaign for cervical cancer diagnosis

The Federation of Medical Women of Canada (FMWC) and the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) are ready to launch this year's National Pap Test Campaign, to take place during National Cervical Cancer Awareness Week. From October 24th to 30th, over 100 health-care professionals across Canada are taking a stand against cervical cancer by hosting public Pap test clinics in their community.

20 Oct 2010

Experts at Ninth International Symposium discuss health effects and safety of S-equol

The latest research into the health effects and safety of a soy-based compound called S-equol was described in talks and presentations by experts at a special session on Tuesday, Oct. 19 during the Ninth International Symposium on the Role of Soy in Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention and Treatment, held Oct. 16 to 19 in Washington, D.C.

20 Oct 2010

Project LAUNCH receives $19 million from SAMHSA

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is awarding over $19 million in Project LAUNCH (Linking Actions for Unmet Needs in Children's Health) grants to tribal and community-based programs over the next five years. Project LAUNCH promotes the wellness of children from birth to eight years of age by addressing the physical, emotional, social, cognitive and behavioral aspects of their development.

20 Oct 2010

NIH awards 5-year, $3.7M grant for study of intrauterine cocaine and substance exposure

Deborah A. Frank, MD, the Director of the Grow Clinic for Children at Boston Medical Center (BMC) and a Professor of Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), has received a 5-year, $3.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the long-term impacts of intrauterine cocaine exposure (IUCE) and intrauterine substance exposure (IUSE).

20 Oct 2010

Feds ask Connecticut to reconsider rate hike approval, other health law implementation news

The Hartford Courant reports that a high-ranking health official in the Obama administration has asked Connecticut insurance regulators to reconsider allowing Blue Cross Blue Shield in Connecticut to raise health insurance rates by as much as 47 percent.

20 Oct 2010

Long term exposure to air pollution increases risk of severe COPD

Long term exposure to low-level air pollution may increase the risk of severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to researcher s in Denmark. While acute exposure of several days to high level air pollution was known to be a risk factor for exacerbation in pre-existing COPD, until now there had been no studies linking long-term air pollution exposure to the development or progression of the disease.

20 Oct 2010

Study finds adipose dysfunction linked to steatosis, necroinflammation in G1 CHC patients

Researchers at the University of Palermo in Italy provide the evidence that a higher visceral adiposity index score-a new index of adipose dysfunction-has a direct correlation with viral load and is independently associated with both steatosis and necroinflammatory activity in patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C (G1 CHC).

20 Oct 2010

Protein hormone inhibits leptin-induced migration of liver cancer cells

A research team from Emory University School of Medicine investigated the role between adiponectin and leptin in obesity-related carcinogenesis. Their findings, published in the November issue of Hepatology, suggest that the protein hormone adiponectin has potential for inhibiting the oncogenic actions of leptin, namely in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and could offer a promising therapy for the disease.

19 Oct 2010

Legacy joins in collective call to ban menthol in all tobacco products

As the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) weighs the evidence on the deadly impact of menthol cigarettes, three African American organizations have spoken out against a potential ban, urging the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee to consider the negative implications of a ban and to discount any unsubstantiated evidence on menthol.

19 Oct 2010

TearLab announces publication of CPT code for Osmolarity test

TearLab Corporation announced today that, further to its press release of October 8, 2010, a unique new Current Procedural Terminology code that will apply to the TearLab Osmolarity test has now been published by the American Medical Association. The new code will become effective January 1, 2011.

19 Oct 2010

getSTDtested.com introduces new payment options for preventative healthcare

Today getSTDtested.com, a leading online social health clinic, announced that consumers preferring alternative payments to credit cards for diagnostic health tests that they have ordered can now pay with cash in a simple web-to-store transaction using PayNearMe services at select convenience stores nationwide.

19 Oct 2010

Chemicals in everyday substances increase risk of allergies in children

The use of chemicals in our everyday lives entails increased risks of allergies in children, according to a study at Karlstad University in Sweden. The prevalence of PGEs, propylene glycol and glycol ethers, in bedroom air is associated with asthma, hay fever, and eczema, but also with antibodies against common allergens in children. The study shows a risk increase of up to 180 percent.

19 Oct 2010

Peer partner program helps diabetic patients to manage their conditions

Phone calls with a peer facing the same self-management challenges helped diabetes patients manage their conditions and improved their blood sugar levels better than those who used traditional nurse care management services alone, according to research from the University of Michigan Health System.

19 Oct 2010

Public Health News and Research

National Staging Initiative to standardize cancer stage information across Canada

Team effort involving providers and parents needed to address rise in pediatric obesity rates

Researchers investigate reverse zoonosis in marine invertebrate

NIH awards $7 million grant to provide sustained care for HIV-positive inmates

Also in Global Health News: Foreign aid in Ethiopia; Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation; Health in Myanmar; Poverty in Zambia; Rwanda's progress on MDGs; Men involved in PMTCT of HIV

Health Impact Project announces $400,000 in grants to 4 organizations to conduct health impact assessments

JIPH selected for inclusion in MEDLINE Indexing

National Pap Test Campaign for cervical cancer diagnosis

Experts at Ninth International Symposium discuss health effects and safety of S-equol

Project LAUNCH receives $19 million from SAMHSA

NIH awards 5-year, $3.7M grant for study of intrauterine cocaine and substance exposure

Feds ask Connecticut to reconsider rate hike approval, other health law implementation news

Long term exposure to air pollution increases risk of severe COPD

Study finds adipose dysfunction linked to steatosis, necroinflammation in G1 CHC patients

Protein hormone inhibits leptin-induced migration of liver cancer cells

Legacy joins in collective call to ban menthol in all tobacco products

TearLab announces publication of CPT code for Osmolarity test

getSTDtested.com introduces new payment options for preventative healthcare

Chemicals in everyday substances increase risk of allergies in children

Peer partner program helps diabetic patients to manage their conditions

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Why use light scattering to analyze proteins and viral vectors?

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