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Women experience more severe and frequent domestic violence than men

Domestic violence knows no boundaries: cultural, socio-economic, religious, level of education, gender or age. It can occur in any relationship and to anyone, but especially to women. In fact, roughly 25 percent of women will become a victim at one time or another during her lifetime.

16 Apr 2011

Family-based HIV prevention interventions needed for juvenile offenders, say BHCRC researchers

More intensive or family-based HIV prevention interventions may be needed to encourage juvenile offenders to use condoms and stop engaging in risky sexual behavior, say researchers from the Bradley Hasbro Children's Research Center.

16 Apr 2011

Older workers benefit most from modest health behavior program

Older workers benefit most from a modest health behavior program when it combines a web-based risk assessment with personal coaching.

16 Apr 2011

Energy drinks with alcohol may increase risk of drinking

Energy drinks mixed with alcohol, such as Red Bull- and vodka, have become trendy. While this consumption has been implicated in risky drinking practices and associated accidents and injuries, there is little laboratory research on how the effects of this combination differ from those of drinking alcohol alone.

16 Apr 2011

Obama's deficit plan earns raves, pans from editorial boards; more views on abortion and planned parenthood

I've proposed a balanced approach that looks at the entire budget for savings. The third step is to reduce the growth in health care spending in order to strengthen Medicare and Medicaid for future generations. We will get rid of wasteful subsidies and fraud that cost Medicare billions of dollars each year. We'll cut spending on prescription drugs by helping to get generic brands of medicine to market faster.

15 Apr 2011

Radiation leaked from Japan's nuclear power plant does not pose immediate public health risk, WHO says

The decision on Tuesday by Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency to increase the level of severity at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant "does not mean the public health risk is any worse or that the disaster resembles Chernobyl in 1986," the WHO and other agencies said in response to the announcement, Reuters reports.

15 Apr 2011

Takeda announces EDARBI availability in U.S. pharmacies for hypertension treatment

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Inc., today announced that EDARBI, an angiotensin II receptor blocker approved for the treatment of hypertension, or high blood pressure, is now available by prescription for adults in U.S. pharmacies.

15 Apr 2011

House votes to slash health law's public health fund

Almost entirely along party-lines, the House voted to repeal a provision of the health law that establishes a trust fund to support prevention and public health activities. Opponents of the trust fund said it was a "slush fund" for the HHS secretary, but the White House responded by threatening a veto.

15 Apr 2011

Researchers develop non-steroid based strategy for patients with COPD

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have developed a non-steroid based strategy for improving the lung's innate immune defense and decreasing inflammation that can be a problem for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

15 Apr 2011

Study: Opioid users report worse oral health

A team of Boston University researchers has found that the majority of individuals with substance dependence problems report having poor oral health. They also found that opioid users, in particular, showed a decline in oral health over the period of one year. These findings appear online in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment.

15 Apr 2011

Diet and exercise most effective when done together for losing weight and body fat

Everyone knows that eating a low-fat, low-calorie diet and getting regular exercise helps shed pounds, but a new study led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has found that when it comes to losing weight and body fat, diet and exercise are most effective when done together as compared to either strategy alone.

15 Apr 2011

Women consume more non-prescribed drugs than men

Approximately 20% of Spaniards take non-prescribed medication and women are the group most inclined towards this practice. This is the conclusion of a research study carried out by experts from the Rey Juan Carlos University in Madrid, which also links this habit to nationality, income level and alcohol and tobacco consumption amongst the population.

15 Apr 2011

Novartis, Duke sign deal to develop pandemic flu vaccine

The Duke Human Vaccine Institute today announced a collaboration and strategic agreement with Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics to enable the rapid development of a vaccine and accelerate preparedness in case of a pandemic virus threat such as pandemic influenza.

15 Apr 2011

Good neighbors increase stroke survival

A new U.S. study has shown that seniors who are able to count on their neighbors for help and conversation have better odds of surviving a stroke than those living in less sociable neighborhoods. Study author Cari Jo Clark, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota said social isolation is unhealthy on many levels.

15 Apr 2011

State roundup: Pa. may put half of adultBasic members on Medicaid

Regulators in charge of the Massachusetts health insurance law are expected to approve new contracts today that will save the state $80 million, in part by offering a narrower choice of hospitals, physicians, and specialists to thousands of patients insured through the state-subsidized Commonwealth Care program.

15 Apr 2011

Obesity and smoking linked to stillbirths: Report

According to experts, excessive weight, smoking and late maternal age over 35 are contributing to thousands of stillbirths each year in high-income countries, including Australia, and the trend looks set to continue. These figures were published in the Lancet medical journal.

13 Apr 2011

Obama’s next target - medical error reduction for patient safety

Finally serious efforts are being made to ensure patient safety. The Obama administration announced this Tuesday an aggressive approach called ‘The 'Partnership for Patients Program’ to reduce medical errors, partnering with private insurers, business leaders, hospitals and patient advocates to tackle a problem that kills thousands of Americans every year.

12 Apr 2011