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Peer counseling can help improve breastfeeding in overweight or obese women

Breastfeeding is best, but what happens when something goes wrong? And why do so many women struggle with this "natural" process even after carefully following all the well-meaning advice they've gotten from their health care providers? Not surprisingly, some women have more difficulty than others and there are many factors associated with experiencing breastfeeding problems - especially in the first week after birth.

26 Apr 2010

Genes that predispose to smoking behavior and lung cancer identified: More reason to quit say researchers

According to new research there are certain genes in a smoker that make it difficult for them to cut down or quit the bad habit. This report from three studies published in the journal Nature Genetics mentions at least three different genetic mutations on chromosome 15 or changes that can increase the number of cigarettes smoked per day by an individual.

25 Apr 2010

New website to counter misguided 'mercury facts'

At the "International Mercury Expo 2010*" this weekend at the College of William and Mary, a mercury watchdog group is launching a new website to counter misinformation on 'mercury facts' spread by industry and groups claiming to represent consumers – but in reality often representing special interests in disguise.

24 Apr 2010

New federally funded programs to address health disparities in underserved communities

The increasing number of minorities diagnosed with cancer has inspired a variety of initiatives at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center focusing on minority health through research, education and community relations.

24 Apr 2010

Children need to be immunized against 14 vaccine-preventable diseases: Secretary of Health

Pennsylvania parents are strongly urged to protect their children by making certain they are fully immunized against preventable diseases, Secretary of Health Everette James said today to mark the start of National Infant Immunization Week, April 24-May 1.

24 Apr 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

"What is still needed [to fight malaria] is the only tool that has ever truly conquered any infectious disease: an effective and affordable vaccine. And here, the global malaria community has been too complacent," a Lancet editorial asserts in an article highlighting achievements and drawbacks in attempting to provide universal access to malaria prevention and treatment.

24 Apr 2010

Today's Opinions: Government power grab on health; A doctor's interface with computers; A focus on wellness

Following the passage of Democratic health-care reform legislation, President Obama assured the country that it was a 'middle-of-the-road, centrist approach' instead of an intrusive, government power grab. But the government seems incapable of resisting the nannying impulse that undermines this claim (Michael Gerson, 4/23).

24 Apr 2010

State of California adds Distracted Driving as new area for concentrated effort to SHSP

Driver distractions have joined alcohol and speeding as leading factors in fatal and serious injury crashes. The National Safety Council estimates that up to 25 percent of all crashes in 2008 involved talking on cell phones or texting. To combat this growing threat on our roadways, the State of California has added Distracted Driving as the first new area for concentrated effort to the Strategic Highway Safety Plan.

23 Apr 2010

Plant-based vaccine factory to produce vaccines and therapeutics within weeks of outbreaks

The Fraunhofer Center for Molecular Biotechnology in Newark, Delaware, the Fraunhofer Center for Manufacturing Innovation in Boston, Massachusetts, the Boston University College of Engineering, and the biopharmaceutical company iBio, Inc. in Newark, Delaware, announced today that they have developed a fully automated, scalable "factory" that uses natural (non-genetically-modified) green plants to efficiently produce large quantities of vaccines and therapeutics within weeks.

23 Apr 2010

More tips to protect lungs on elevated-ozone days

It's a harmless-looking pale blue gas, a relative of the oxygen molecule that sustains life. In the upper atmosphere, a layer of it protects us from the sun's harmful rays.

23 Apr 2010

Water, sanitation funding decline as share of overall development aid, WHO report finds

"Even as the world's deadline for" reaching the "Millennium Development Goals approaches in 2015, countries are not making water and sanitation a priority, which in turn impacts other developmental goals like health and education," according to a WHO report released Wednesday, Press Trust International/Business Standard reports (4/22).

23 Apr 2010

Additional training may benefit physicians who interpret screening mammograms

A multi-site study led by an Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cancer Institute researcher has identified set criteria that could be used to help identify physicians who might benefit from additional training in interpreting screening mammograms.

23 Apr 2010

Opinions: New U.S.-backed global food, agriculture program; Foreign aid to Africa; Medicines in Africa

In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner and Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, announce the launch of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, a fund "to help the world's poorest farmers grow more food and earn more than they do now so they can lift themselves out of hunger and poverty."

23 Apr 2010

New USG strategy to combat malaria globally

In conjunction with World Malaria Day, and in accordance with the requirements of the Tom Lantos and Henry J. Hyde United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Reauthorization Act of 2008 (Lantos-Hyde), the U.S. Government, through the President's Malaria Initiative, today released a comprehensive strategy to combat malaria globally.

23 Apr 2010

Better diagnostics in prostate cancer needed

A flurry of confusing research about the benefits of PSA testing has left many men and their physicians reticent to use a test that may be life-saving, says a panel of prostate cancer experts. The experts who gathered on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday agreed that PSA testing, while not cancer-specific, is one of the best available tools for early detection of a cancer that kills 27,000 American men each year.

23 Apr 2010

Deadly fungus on the move

Researchers revealed this Thursday that a deadly fungus that is usually found only in the tropics is making its way to the Pacific Coast of British Columbia and south into Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

23 Apr 2010

COSMOS project launched to investigate link between use of mobile phones and health problems

A new decades-long study launches today to investigate whether there is a link between the use of mobile phones and long-term health problems such as cancer.

23 Apr 2010

isrp awarded $16M grant to study health effects of environmental pollutants

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has awarded the University of Iowa Superfund Research Program (isrp) a five-year, $16 million grant to study the health effects of environmental pollutants, especially polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) found in water, former industrial sites and the atmosphere.

23 Apr 2010

FDA announces draft guidance expanding transparency, disclosure in conflict of interest waivers

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced draft guidance that would expand transparency and disclosure when the agency grants a conflict of interest waiver to permit an individual's participation at an FDA advisory committee meeting.

22 Apr 2010

Los Angeles slum housing health crisis

Over three hundred community members, stakeholders, and public health workers joined Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas for a People's Hearing on Slum Housing and the unveiling of a position paper documenting the health crisis related to slum housing in Los Angeles.

22 Apr 2010

Public Health News and Research

Peer counseling can help improve breastfeeding in overweight or obese women

Genes that predispose to smoking behavior and lung cancer identified: More reason to quit say researchers

New website to counter misguided 'mercury facts'

New federally funded programs to address health disparities in underserved communities

Children need to be immunized against 14 vaccine-preventable diseases: Secretary of Health

Recent releases in Global Health

Today's Opinions: Government power grab on health; A doctor's interface with computers; A focus on wellness

State of California adds Distracted Driving as new area for concentrated effort to SHSP

Plant-based vaccine factory to produce vaccines and therapeutics within weeks of outbreaks

More tips to protect lungs on elevated-ozone days

Water, sanitation funding decline as share of overall development aid, WHO report finds

Additional training may benefit physicians who interpret screening mammograms

Opinions: New U.S.-backed global food, agriculture program; Foreign aid to Africa; Medicines in Africa

New USG strategy to combat malaria globally

Better diagnostics in prostate cancer needed

Deadly fungus on the move

COSMOS project launched to investigate link between use of mobile phones and health problems

isrp awarded $16M grant to study health effects of environmental pollutants

FDA announces draft guidance expanding transparency, disclosure in conflict of interest waivers

Los Angeles slum housing health crisis

News Medical 2025: Healthcare Shifts That Mattered Most eBook

How ELRIG Is Helping Mid-Career Scientists Navigate Leadership, Career Change and Redundancy

The role of UV-Vis in biopharma QC

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