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Illicit drug use increasingly glamorized in rap music

Rap music has gone from an art form that largely warned against the dangers of substance abuse to one that often glorifies illegal drug use, according to the first systematic social science study of the genre covering nearly two decades.

2 Apr 2008

HIV-positive women in the United States face strikingly high levels of stigma

HIV-positive women in the United States face strikingly high levels of stigma, according to survey results released today by amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research.

1 Apr 2008

Superbugs resistant to everything - Doctors running out of treatments

Doctors are running out of treatments for today's trauma victims and critically ill patients because of infections due to drug resistant microbes even after resorting to using medicines thrown out 20 years ago because of severe side effects, scientists heard at the Society for General Microbiology's 162nd meeting being held this week at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

1 Apr 2008

Fewer babies born after Caesarean delivery

Women who have a Caesarean delivery for their first child go on to have fewer children than women who give birth in the traditional way.

1 Apr 2008

Calls for CPR guidelines to be changed

The results of new research has thrown into question cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) techniques which have for decades been deemed best practice in Australia.

31 Mar 2008

Top neurosurgeon warns of brain cancer risk with mobile phones

One of Australia's leading neurosurgeons has warned about the heavy reliance on mobile phones in today's society.

31 Mar 2008

Australian public health on the brink of collapse and in need of urgent treatment

With nurses in far north Queensland walking off the job and now New South Wales Nurses Association (NSWNA) also confessing to wanting to do the same, it is clear that all is not well with some public health systems in Australia.

31 Mar 2008

Increasing access to antiretroviral drugs would drastically cut AIDS deaths in South Africa

More that 1.2 million deaths could be prevented in South Africa over the next five years by accelerating efforts to provide access to antiretroviral therapy (ART), according to a study released online today by the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

28 Mar 2008

Study links chronic illness to coal-mining pollution

Pollution from coal mining may have a negative impact on public health in mining communities, according to data analyzed in a West Virginia University research study.

26 Mar 2008

Polio eradicated in Somalia

Somalia is again polio-free, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) announced today, calling it a 'historic achievement' in public health.

26 Mar 2008

Review of group-based cancer trials reveals flaws in studies' design and analysis

A new study reviewing 75 group-randomized cancer trials over a five-year stretch shows that fewer than half of those studies used appropriate statistical methods to analyze the results.

26 Mar 2008

Wistar Institute shares cell lines

Cell lines developed by scientists at The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia have recently been made available to researchers around the globe through the catalog collection at the Coriell Institute for Medical Research of Camden, N.J.

26 Mar 2008

Exposure to radon gas greatly reduces risk of developing lung cancer

Exposure to levels of radon gas typically found in 90 percent of American homes appears to reduce the risk of developing lung cancer by as much as 60 percent, according to a study published in the March 2008 issue of the journal Health Physics.

26 Mar 2008

Antidepressant use linked to type 2 diabetes

While analyzing data from Saskatchewan health databases, Lauren Brown, researcher with the U of A's School of Public Health, found people with a history of depression had a 30 per cent increased risk of type 2 Diabetes.

26 Mar 2008

Baby boys have higher mortality rate than girls in their first year of life

Researchers in the United States have revealed that baby boys are much more likely to die in the first year of life than baby girls.

25 Mar 2008

Big increase in hepatitis C-related deaths in the United States

Hepatitis C-related deaths in the United States increased by 123 percent from 1995 through 2004, the most recent year for which data are available. Mortality rates peaked in 2002, then declined slightly overall, while continuing to rise among people 55 to 64 years old.

25 Mar 2008

How Staphylococcus aureus resists our natural defenses

Researchers at the University of Washington have uncovered how the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, including the notorious MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staph aureus) "superbug" strains, resists our body's natural defenses against infection.

25 Mar 2008

Obesity may keep some women from getting screened for cancers

A review of cancer screening studies shows that white women who are obese are less likely than healthy weight women to get the recommended screenings for breast and cervical cancer, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Public Health.

25 Mar 2008

Need for federal legislation that protects the use of genetic information in employment and insurance coverage

A policy monograph highlighting the need for federal protections against genetic discrimination in employment and insurance practices was released by the American College of Physicians (ACP).

25 Mar 2008