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Global climate change could increase future heat wave mortality

Global climate change is anticipated to bring more extreme weather phenomena such as heat waves that could impact human health in the coming decades.

4 May 2011

U.N. Commission releases recommendations aimed at improving accountability on women's and children's health

The U.N. Commission on Information and Accountability for Women's and Children's Health on Monday concluded a meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and announced a new set of recommendations aimed at improving the accountability of women's and children's health programs in the developing world, PANA/Afrique en ligne reports.

4 May 2011

FTC, FDA take action on unproven STD drug products

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission today announced a joint effort to remove products from the market that make unproven claims to treat, cure, and prevent sexually transmitted diseases.

4 May 2011

Immunetics receives NIH grant for new confirmatory test trial in Chagas' disease

Immunetics, Inc. today announced it has been awarded a $2.4 million, 3-year Phase II SBIR grant by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a division of the National Institutes of Health, to support clinical trials of the company's new confirmatory test for Chagas' disease, a serious and potentially fatal parasitic infection.

4 May 2011

Asthma prevalence jump alarms health experts

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a report released this Tuesday, Americans are suffering from asthma in record numbers. Nearly one in 10 children and almost one in 12 Americans of all ages now has asthma, government researchers said. Tuesday was World Asthma Day.

4 May 2011

Roundup: Mass. officials wrestle with municipal health care issues

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick says he and legislative leaders are in fundamental agreement over what should be included in a municipal health care bill, even while there remains disagreement on the specifics. The House approved a measure last week that would largely strip public employee unions of collective bargaining rights over health care benefits. The Senate is expected to act in the coming weeks.

4 May 2011

New USDA funded, research-based program to combat child obesity

A five-year $4.5 million USDA grant to University of Illinois researchers will establish the Illinois Transdisciplinary Obesity Prevention Program, an innovative research-based program that will combine a Ph.D. with a master's in public health degree focused on child obesity prevention.

4 May 2011

Brazilian researchers develop hES cell line for therapeutic transplantation

Brazilian researchers, reporting in the current issue of Cell Transplantation, discovered difficulties in establishing a genetically diverse line of human embryonic stem cells to serve the therapeutic stem cell transplantation needs of the diverse ethnic and genetic Brazilian population.

3 May 2011

Tips on how to stay safe and heal emotionally after tornado attack

Although the threat of another tornado is gone for now, other potential dangers lurk in the storm's aftermath, said several University of Alabama at Birmingham experts. They recently offered tips on how to stay safe and heal emotionally in the days after the devastating April 27 storm.

3 May 2011

Hospitals can implement preventive measures to reduce measles outbreak

The U.S. measles vaccination program has been successful in eliminating endemic measles in the United States; yet this success has provided challenges that require ongoing vigilance for the rapid identification and response to measles cases in health care settings.

2 May 2011

Prenatal exposure to BPA linked with wheezing in children

If a pregnant woman is exposed to bisphenol A, especially during the first trimester, her child may be at higher risk of wheezing early in life, according to a study to be presented Sunday, May 1, at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Denver.

2 May 2011

Experts discuss science and strategy behind childhood obesity epidemic

Childhood obesity has become a significant health problem worldwide, but many parents don't know where to begin or how to help their child adopt a healthy lifestyle. At the opening session of the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Denver, Colo., experts in pediatric obesity prevention will discuss the science and the strategy behind understanding this epidemic and intervening upon it.

2 May 2011

Study shows even families with insurance put off or go without care

The high cost of health care is deterring parents from taking their children to the doctor or buying prescription medication, regardless of how much money they make or whether they have health insurance, according to a study to be presented Sunday, May 2, at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Denver.

2 May 2011

Young black MSM may face high risk of HIV infection

Young black men who have sex with men get infected with HIV nearly five times more often than MSM from other races, even though they don't have more unprotected sex.

2 May 2011

Health expert to speak at 205th Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Commencement ceremony

U.S. Surgeon General and Vice Admiral Regina M. Benjamin - one of the world's leading experts on public health and a key player in the national debate on health care reform - will deliver the main address at the 205th Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Commencement on May 28.

2 May 2011

Adverse changes in sleep duration may impair cognitive function in middle-aged adults

A study in the May 1 issue of the journal Sleep describes how changes in sleep that occur over a five-year period in late middle age affect cognitive function in later life. The findings suggest that women and men who begin sleeping more or less than 6 to 8 hours per night are subject to an accelerated cognitive decline that is equivalent to four to seven years of aging.

2 May 2011