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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

International Day for Fighting Infection focuses on hospital infection control

Hospital acquired infections are the focus for the 3rd International Day for Fighting Infection, being marked on St. George’s Day, as experts meet to look at the evolution of infection control in hospitals.

22 Apr 2010

New studies on cancer prevention presented at 101st AACR Annual Meeting 2010

Interest in cancer prevention is increasing as scientists continue to learn new information and confirm what was already suspected.

22 Apr 2010

Report highlights 11 key categories of diseases, health consequences that occur due to climate change

A report released today by a federal working group highlights 11 key categories of diseases and other health consequences that are occurring or will occur due to climate change. The report, A Human Health Perspective on Climate Change, provides a starting point for coordination of federal research to better understand climate's impact on human health.

22 Apr 2010

Medical use of marijuana on its way to reality in Washington D.C.

After debate the Washington, D.C., city council has voted unanimously for use of marijuana for medical purposes in patients with “chronic and lasting disease” like HIV, glaucoma, cancer, severe pain, multiple sclerosis etc.

22 Apr 2010

Study links maternal height to children's health outcomes

Malnutrition suffered during a woman's childhood "can adversely affect the health of her children, Harvard researchers said Tuesday," following the release of their study in developing countries, which "found that the shortest women were substantially more likely to have children who died at an early age, who were underweight or who failed to thrive, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical [Association]", the Los Angeles Times' blog "Shots" reports.

22 Apr 2010

Ozone and primary pollutants from traffic increase asthma-related emergency department visits in children

Both ozone and primary pollutants from traffic substantially increase asthma-related emergency department visits in children, especially during the warm season, according to researchers from the Department of Environmental Health at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta.

22 Apr 2010

Protocol adjustments based upon weight can help lower radiation dose for pediatric chest CT scans

Adjusting the radiation dose based upon a child's weight can significantly lower the radiation dose associated with pediatric chest computed tomography (CT) scans, according to a study published in the May issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology (www.ajronline.org). CT scanning combines special X-ray equipment with sophisticated computers to produce multiple images or pictures of the inside of the body.

22 Apr 2010

Public Health News and Research

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

International Day for Fighting Infection focuses on hospital infection control

New studies on cancer prevention presented at 101st AACR Annual Meeting 2010

Report highlights 11 key categories of diseases, health consequences that occur due to climate change

Medical use of marijuana on its way to reality in Washington D.C.

Study links maternal height to children's health outcomes

Ozone and primary pollutants from traffic increase asthma-related emergency department visits in children

Protocol adjustments based upon weight can help lower radiation dose for pediatric chest CT scans

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