Public Health News and Research

RSS

Waterpipe tobacco smoking as deadly as cigarette smoking

Smoking tobacco through a waterpipe exposes the user to the same toxicants - carbon monoxide and nicotine - as puffing on a cigarette, which could lead to nicotine addiction and heart disease, according to a study led by a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher published in the December issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

3 Dec 2009

Youths highly exposed to targeted alcohol advertisements, say researchers

Alcoholic beverages popular among youths are more likely to be advertised in magazines with high youth readership than alcoholic drinks consumed mainly by adults, resulting in disproportionately high youth exposure to such targeted alcohol ads, according to a new study.

3 Dec 2009

New research provides adequate evidence to support home smoking ban

New research published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, supports the World Health Initiative's efforts for a home smoking ban, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

3 Dec 2009

People who smoke immediately after waking up face high risk of lung cancer

People who smoke their first cigarette within minutes after waking up have much higher levels of cotinine, a by-product of nicotine when processed by the body, than those who wait to smoke, regardless of the number of cigarettes smoked.

3 Dec 2009

Children vaccinated against chickenpox at much lower risk of developing shingles

Vaccination to prevent chickenpox (varicella) appears to have an added benefit for children—a reduced risk of shingles (herpes zoster). That's the finding of a study in the November issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals, and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, and pharmacy.

3 Dec 2009

Yale researchers survey door-to-balloon times in 831 hospitals

Healthcare professionals using new time-saving strategies to coordinate care for patients having a heart attack saw dramatic improvement in "door-to-balloon" (D2B) times-the time from when a patient enters the hospital to the time blood flow is restored to the heart by opening a blockage with angioplasty. The faster patients are treated, the more likely they are to survive. The results are published by Yale researchers and their colleagues in the December 15 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

3 Dec 2009

Beta 2 adrenergic agonist drugs linked to autism-spectrum disorders

Commonly prescribed beta 2 adrenergic agonist drugs for the treatment of asthma in pregnant women as well as pre-term labor may increase the incidence of autism-spectrum disorders, psychiatric pathology, cognitive problems and poor school performance in their children, according to a new study published in the December 2009 issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

3 Dec 2009

International AIDS Vaccine Initiative calls for redoubled efforts in vaccine development

As we approach World AIDS Day, observed globally December 1, we are reminded that while progress has been made in expanding access to treatment and prevention and that progress has been made toward the development of new prevention tools, the world is still falling short of established targets for providing universal access to HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment and care by 2010. Nearly 5.5 million of the estimated 9.5 million people in need of antiretroviral therapy are still not receiving it.

2 Dec 2009

Columbia University VP testifies on medical malpractice reform

Lee Goldman, M.D., executive vice president for health and biomedical sciences and dean of the faculties of medicine and health sciences at Columbia University testified today on medical malpractice reform before the New York State Senate Committees on Codes, Health and Insurance in Albany, New York.

2 Dec 2009

PharmAthene to present its biological/ chemical weapons countermeasure program data at the HHS PHEMCE workshop

PharmAthene, Inc., a biodefense company developing medical countermeasures against biological and chemical threats, announced today that the Company will participate in and present data at the HHS Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise (PHEMCE) workshop and BARDA Industry Day taking place in Washington, DC Dec. 2-4, 2009.

2 Dec 2009

Beta 2 adrenergic agonist drugs can increase risk of autism-spectrum disorders in developing fetus

2 Dec 2009

Cancer Prevention Research Conference highlights new research on cancer

The American Association for Cancer Research Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference will focus on the latest biological, medical and social research behind cancer prevention.

2 Dec 2009

AHF protests against budget cuts to AIDS services

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, is joining a coalition of AIDS advocates and patients to protest drastic California budget cuts to lifesaving AIDS services—including California’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP)—that is jeopardizing the public health by eliminating the vast majority of funding for AIDS care and treatment, including lifesaving AIDS drugs.

2 Dec 2009

New nursing guideline to enhance improved care for MMT clients

A pregnant woman walks into a hospital in early labour. She feels nauseated and achy; her contractions are 20 minutes apart. There is more to her story than meets the eye. She is on methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) and wasn't able to pick up her daily dose at the pharmacy this morning. Although her story may be hard to believe she is one of the estimated 17,000 clients in Ontario currently receiving MMT.

2 Dec 2009

MUHC researchers identify first genetic resistance factor against TB infection

Why do some people who are exposed to tuberculosis not become infected or develop the disease? Dr. Erwin Schurr and his team at the Research Institute from the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC), in collaboration with Dr. Alexandre Alcais, from the Institut national de la sant- et de la recherche m-dicale (INSERM) in Paris, has shed light on this question for the first time. Their

2 Dec 2009

URAC accreditation ensures round the clock access to quality health care

The spread of the H1N1 virus and the growing concerns about treatments have illustrated the need for reliable sources of health care information. URAC, the nation's leading health care accreditation and education organization, offers a Health Call Center Accreditation which provides a framework for call centers around the country.

2 Dec 2009

Healthy eating habits can combat childhood obesity

Two new studies show how important forming healthy food and beverage habits can be in children and adolescents. This science adds to a growing body of evidence that has helped shape a new nutrition and physical activity program from the National Football League and National Dairy Council (NDC) called Fuel Up to Play 60.

2 Dec 2009

Kaiser Permanente announce grants to nonprofit organizations to help HIV/AIDS patients

Kaiser Permanente announced today that more than 60 nonprofit organizations from Kern to San Diego will receive grants totaling more than $750,000 to help fund a wide range of services for people with HIV and AIDS, including youth education, prevention, screening and treatment programs, as well as housing assistance and food pantries.

2 Dec 2009

Obesity research may be misrepresented by scientists working on bias topics, says UAB study

A new study by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Public Health shows that obesity research may be misrepresented by scientists operating with particular biases on topics related to weight, nutrition and the food industry.

1 Dec 2009

Op-eds on World AIDS Day: Research, funding, hunger, Uganda

The "National Institutes of Health - perhaps our best hope for funding a cure for AIDS - has been underfunded since 2003," Kate Krauss, director of the AIDS Policy Project, writes in a Philadelphia Inquirer opinion piece.

1 Dec 2009