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Sigmoidoscopy comes up short for women in detection of polyps in the colon

A new multi-center study has reaffirmed the difference between the sexes – at least when it comes to colorectal cancer detection and prevention.

20 May 2005

Narcotic medications can safely and effectively ease severe, chronic pain in older people

Narcotic medications can safely and effectively ease severe, chronic pain in older people with little risk that these patients will seek ever-increasing doses, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) medical scientists have found. Younger patients, however, are likely to want to rapidly increase their medication dose, the researchers found, posing serious potential health consequences.

20 May 2005

Birth weight and breastfeeding in infancy may affect premenopausal breast cancer risk

Premenopausal women who were heavier than average at birth or had not been breastfed as infants appear to be at increased risk for developing breast cancer, epidemiologists at the University at Buffalo's School of Public health and Health Professions have found.

19 May 2005

Britain's Royal Society contributes little to medical science

The Royal Society today has contributed little to medical science and should undergo an urgent review of its purpose and programmes, states an editorial in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

19 May 2005

World Bank and IMF preventing transfer of foreign aid to HIV/AIDS programmes

Multilateral financial organisations that aim to reduce poverty are preventing foreign aid from reaching HIV/AIDS programs in developing countries, states an article in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

19 May 2005

Statement from The Lancet in response to Stephen Cox of The Royal Society

The statement from Stephen Cox published (May 19, 2005) is astonishing. He fails to address any of the arguments set out in The Lancet’s editorial of May 21, 2005. His deeply personal invective directed against me, in response to an editorial that avoided all direct personal criticism of individuals, does a disservice to his important role as Executive Secretary of the Royal Society. Here are the facts:

19 May 2005

No evidence that designated driver programs stop drunken driving

Publicity campaigns can produce small, fleeting increases in the number of designated drivers, but there is not enough evidence to show whether these programs decrease drunk driving, according to a new review of studies.

19 May 2005

Global project to combat parasites that cause cancer and infection in millions

Many cancers are associated with infections (for example cervical cancer is linked to the human papilloma virus) but there is no stronger link between a human malignancy and a parasitic infection than that between cancer of the bile ducts and a liver fluke called Opisthorchis viverrini.

18 May 2005

World Health Assembly hears warning on avian influenza threat

The 58th World Health Assembly heard a warning from Dr. LEE Jong-wook, Director-General of the World Health Organization, on what he called the "most serious known health threat the world is facing today, which is avian influenza."

18 May 2005

Leading patient safety advocates assess progress in reducing medical error five years after landmark IOM report

It has been five years since the release of the Institute of Medicine’s landmark report on medical errors, “To Err is Human.” What progress has been made to improve patient safety since the report found that nearly 100,000 deaths occur annually as a result of medical error?

18 May 2005

Prenatal environmental factors and parental mental health may be associated with a risk of autism

“This is the largest case-control study ever conducted, and the first to suggest that family history of schizophrenia raises risk for autism, independently of obstetric factors,” said William W. Eaton, PhD, study co-author and professor and chair of the Bloomberg School’s Department of Mental Health.

18 May 2005

Exposure to radioactive iodines in childhood is associated with an increased risk of thyroid cancer

Exposure to radioactive iodines, mainly iodine 131 (I-131), in childhood is associated with an increased risk of thyroid cancer. Importantly, both iodine deficiency and supplementation appear to modify this risk, according to a new study in the May 18 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

17 May 2005

Smoking may have a devastating effect on gastrointestinal health

Smoking may have a devastating effect on gastrointestinal health and increase a person's risk of developing pancreatic and liver cancer, according to new research presented today at Digestive Disease Week 2005 (DDW). Furthermore, data from the Nurses' Health Study shows that meat intake and smoking play a part in significantly increasing a woman's risk of colorectal cancer.

17 May 2005

Rifaximin is effective in preventing attacks of diarrhea

An antibiotic can be safely used to prevent attacks of diarrhea that plague millions of globe-trotting vacationers and business travelers, a Houston research team reports this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

17 May 2005

The Gates Foundation approach to the world's health problems has its critics

A recent article in The Lancet criticized the premise that a Grand Challenge to scientific and technological know-how is the best route to combating malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and other diseases that kills millions of people each year.

16 May 2005

Association between maternal exposure to toxoplasmosis and increased risk for developing schizophrenia

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic infection that can develop from eating undercooked meat and unwashed fruits and vegetables, drinking contaminated water, or not washing one's hands after gardening or changing cat litter boxes. Researchers found a potential link between high maternal toxoplasmosis gondii antibody titers and development of schizophrenia spectrum disorders in the adult offspring.

16 May 2005

Two new retroviruses among central Africans who hunt nonhuman primates

A team of researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Army Health Research Center (CRESAR) in Cameroon have discovered two new retroviruses among central Africans who hunt nonhuman primates.

16 May 2005

Emerging evidence supports early detection, monitoring, and in some cases treatment for children suffering from high blood pressure

One year after recommending that children should be checked for high blood pressure starting at age 3, medical experts reviewed additional supporting evidence for the pediatric blood pressure guidelines at the American Society of Hypertension's Twentieth Annual Meeting (ASH 2005).

16 May 2005

Hour of day and time of year has significant impact on blood pressure levels

The odds of measuring an elevated blood pressure can vary by as much as 40 percent depending on the time of day and time of year, according to researchers from the Center for Health Research and Rural Advocacy at Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania. They recommend that clinicians anticipate changes in blood pressure due to these temporal factors when diagnosing and considering treatment options for their patients.

16 May 2005

Moderate recreational and work-related physical activity may reduce the risk of ovarian cancer

While the benefits of physical activity in reducing colon and breast cancer are well established, results of studies on exercise and ovarian cancer have been inconclusive. Because ovarian cancer has such a poor prognosis, it is even more important to identify modifiable lifestyle factors that could prevent it.

16 May 2005

Public Health News and Research

Sigmoidoscopy comes up short for women in detection of polyps in the colon

Narcotic medications can safely and effectively ease severe, chronic pain in older people

Birth weight and breastfeeding in infancy may affect premenopausal breast cancer risk

Britain's Royal Society contributes little to medical science

World Bank and IMF preventing transfer of foreign aid to HIV/AIDS programmes

Statement from The Lancet in response to Stephen Cox of The Royal Society

No evidence that designated driver programs stop drunken driving

Global project to combat parasites that cause cancer and infection in millions

World Health Assembly hears warning on avian influenza threat

Leading patient safety advocates assess progress in reducing medical error five years after landmark IOM report

Prenatal environmental factors and parental mental health may be associated with a risk of autism

Exposure to radioactive iodines in childhood is associated with an increased risk of thyroid cancer

Smoking may have a devastating effect on gastrointestinal health

Rifaximin is effective in preventing attacks of diarrhea

The Gates Foundation approach to the world's health problems has its critics

Association between maternal exposure to toxoplasmosis and increased risk for developing schizophrenia

Two new retroviruses among central Africans who hunt nonhuman primates

Emerging evidence supports early detection, monitoring, and in some cases treatment for children suffering from high blood pressure

Hour of day and time of year has significant impact on blood pressure levels

Moderate recreational and work-related physical activity may reduce the risk of ovarian cancer

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