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Public-private partnership will promote handwashing to help reduce child mortality in Africa

Though the number of children dying of preventable and treatable diseases worldwide has dropped significantly since 1990, there is "realistic hope for much more" progress, particularly if "improved hygiene and sanitation ... play a key role in the next stage," Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, and Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, write in the Huffington Post's "Global Motherhood" blog.

17 Oct 2012

New findings on sleep deprivation presented at Neuroscience 2012

New findings presented today report the important role sleep plays, and the brain mechanisms at work as sleep shapes memory, learning, and behavior. The findings were presented at Neuroscience 2012, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world's largest source of emerging news about brain science and health.

17 Oct 2012

Novel drug increases survival in animal models exposed to high-dose radiation

A novel drug that mimics a naturally occurring molecule found in coffee and blueberries has been developed to treat radiation exposure. Charles R. Yates, Pharm.D., Ph.D., and colleagues Duane Miller, Ph.D., and Waleed Gaber, Ph.D., from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Baylor College of Medicine, show that application of this drug, starting 24 hours after radiation exposure, increases survival in animal models by three-fold compared to placebo.

17 Oct 2012

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announces winners of 2012 Community Health Leaders Award

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is proud to announce today the recipients of its 2012 Community Health Leaders Award, honoring 10 individuals who have surmounted significant challenges to help improve health and health care in their communities.

17 Oct 2012

Multi-system exposure related illness (MERI)

The Global Health Network has released a new paper titled “Common Toxins in our Homes, Schools and Workplaces.” According to an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) spokesman, indoor air pollution causes 50% of illnesses globally. This statistic should catch the attention of every physician, every lawmaker and every layperson reading this paper. That’s more than all the cancers and all the heart disease combined. It is time we started to pay more attention to the indoor air we breathe. It is staggering to comprehend the enormous impact on our global society as literally millions of individuals and families are harmed by contaminants inside our homes, schools and workplaces.

16 Oct 2012

Antibiotic injections are associated with lower risk of infection in cataract surgery

Intracameral antibiotic injections were associated with a 22-fold reduction in the risk of postoperative infection following cataract surgery when compared with the standard post-operative treatment of antibiotic eyedrops, according to a Kaiser Permanente study.

16 Oct 2012

Kids encouraged to Stand Up for their health and be active

Children and adolescents are accumulating up to eight hours of sitting on a daily basis, research to be presented at Australia’s paramount sports medicine, sports science, sports injury prevention and physical activity promotion conference, be active2012 will show (October 31- November 3, Sydney).

16 Oct 2012

‘Gene for speed’ researcher awarded Ramaciotti Medal

Professor Kathryn North AM, the researcher responsible for discovering the ‘gene for speed’, has been awarded the prestigious Ramaciotti Medal for Excellence in Biomedical Research and a $50,000 grant.

16 Oct 2012

Early pollution exposure has long-lasting respiratory effects

Exposure to traffic-related pollution during the first year of life continues to affect lung function at age 8 years, show the results of a Swedish study.

16 Oct 2012

Major academic medical centers, teaching hospitals to form Chicago Adult Congenital Heart Network

Seven major academic medical centers and teaching hospitals in the Chicago area have joined together to form the Chicago Adult Congenital Heart Network (CATCH), which is the first patient-centered, inter-institutional network in Chicago established to ensure all adults with congenital heart disease in the area receive appropriate follow-up care.

16 Oct 2012

Researchers use cell phone data to track malaria spread in Kenya

"Harvard researchers found they could track the spread of malaria in Kenya using phone calls and text messages from 15 million mobile phones," ABC News' "Medical Unit" reports.

16 Oct 2012

School-wide interventions reduce children's aggressive behaviors

An analysis of a school behavior strategy-known as School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS)-found that these types of programs significantly reduced children's aggressive behaviors and office discipline referrals, as well as improved problems with concentration and emotional regulation.

16 Oct 2012

Current status, challenges and opportunities of pulmonary vaccine delivery

In addition to the obvious benefit of eliminating the need for an injection, new vaccine delivery methods via the lungs offer particular advantages for protecting against infectious agents that enter the body through the respiratory track.

16 Oct 2012

Computer-delivered interventions do not effectively curb problematic college drinking

Computer-delivered and face-to-face interventions both can help curb problematic college drinking for a little while, but only in-person encounters produce results that last beyond a few months, according to a new analysis of the techniques schools use to counsel students on alcohol consumption.

16 Oct 2012

Health care, Medicare will pose major challenges to the winner

The victor of the presidential contest will face huge policy decisions including how to maintain Medicare's solvency and whether to implement the 2010 health law. News outlets analyze where President Barack Obama and GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney stand on these issues.

15 Oct 2012

Study assesses ethnic disparities among construction workers with injuries

White non-Hispanic construction workers are awarded higher workers' compensation settlements in Illinois than Hispanic or black construction workers with similar injuries and disabilities, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health.

15 Oct 2012

Using public health approach to address unsafe abortion

"The global maternal mortality has dropped dramatically during the last decade," but "too many women continue to die from pregnancy-related causes," Sharon Camp, president and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute, writes in the BMJ Group Blogs.

15 Oct 2012

Gardasil does not increase sexual activity in girls

The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine known as Gardasil is not associated with an increase in pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, or contraceptive counseling, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published online today in the journal Pediatrics.

15 Oct 2012

ELSA report reveals economic, social, psychological and health concerns of U.K.’s ageing society

One in six people in England aged over 50 are socially isolated. They have few socially orientated hobbies, little civic or cultural engagement with society, and may have very limited social networks. This was a key finding from the most recent report of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), a comprehensive study that aims to understand the economic, social, psychological and health concerns of an ageing society.

15 Oct 2012

Type 2 diabetes screening: an interview with Dr Simon Griffin, MRC Epidemiology Unit at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge

Type 2 diabetes is a condition in which the body does not make sufficient insulin or the insulin it makes doesn’t work sufficiently well to maintain a normal level of blood glucose and so the blood glucose rises.

12 Oct 2012

Public Health News and Research

Public-private partnership will promote handwashing to help reduce child mortality in Africa

New findings on sleep deprivation presented at Neuroscience 2012

Novel drug increases survival in animal models exposed to high-dose radiation

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announces winners of 2012 Community Health Leaders Award

Multi-system exposure related illness (MERI)

Antibiotic injections are associated with lower risk of infection in cataract surgery

Kids encouraged to Stand Up for their health and be active

‘Gene for speed’ researcher awarded Ramaciotti Medal

Early pollution exposure has long-lasting respiratory effects

Major academic medical centers, teaching hospitals to form Chicago Adult Congenital Heart Network

Researchers use cell phone data to track malaria spread in Kenya

School-wide interventions reduce children's aggressive behaviors

Current status, challenges and opportunities of pulmonary vaccine delivery

Computer-delivered interventions do not effectively curb problematic college drinking

Health care, Medicare will pose major challenges to the winner

Study assesses ethnic disparities among construction workers with injuries

Using public health approach to address unsafe abortion

Gardasil does not increase sexual activity in girls

ELSA report reveals economic, social, psychological and health concerns of U.K.’s ageing society

Type 2 diabetes screening: an interview with Dr Simon Griffin, MRC Epidemiology Unit at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge

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