Epidemiology News and Research

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CINJ experts to offer nutrition and cancer prevention tips on Memorial Day weekend

As many prepare to fire up the grill this Memorial Day weekend, experts from The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) are offering tips on healthy summer nutrition habits and cooking methods that can be an important part of cancer prevention. CINJ is a Center of Excellence of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

16 May 2012

Modest alcohol consumption linked with less evidence of steatohepatitis

NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) is the most common type of liver disease in the developed world, affecting up to one-third of the US population. NAFLD is often associated with obesity and other parameters of the so-called "metabolic syndrome," which is a major risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease.

16 May 2012

Two specific gene variants speed progression of Parkinson's disease

UCLA researchers may have found a key to determining which Parkinson's disease patients will experience a more rapid decline in motor function, sparking hopes for the development of new therapies and helping identify those who could benefit most from early intervention.

16 May 2012

Link between dietary supplements and increased risk of cancer

Beta-carotene, selenium and folic acid - taken up to three times their recommended daily allowance, these supplements are probably harmless. But taken at much higher levels as some supplement manufacturers suggest, these three supplements have now been proven to increase the risk of developing a host of cancers.

16 May 2012

Study finds more than three-fourths of battery-related visits to ED by children

In today's technology-driven world, batteries, especially button batteries, are everywhere. They power countless gadgets and electronic items that we use every day. While they may seem harmless, button batteries can be dangerous if swallowed by children.

15 May 2012

First study to examine pediatric injuries linked with pacifiers, bottles and sippy cups

A new study by researchers in the Center for Biobehavioral Health and the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital examined pediatric injuries associated with baby bottles, pacifiers and sippy cups.

15 May 2012

Excess weight before, during pregnancy can have long-lasting health consequences for the baby

That overweight during pregnancy can lead to overweight children and adolescents has been known for some time, but new research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and in the US indicates that excess weight before and during pregnancy can have long-lasting health consequences for the offspring of such mothers even later in life.

14 May 2012

Maternal overweight can have long-lasting health consequences for children

14 May 2012

Nepalese government launches 'ambitious' plan to end malaria, IRIN reports

"The Nepalese government has launched an ambitious plan to curb the spread of malaria in high-risk parts of the country, where some 3,000 people were infected last year," IRIN reports. Through the program, which began on May 1 and "is the first nationwide push to end malaria," the "health ministry will distribute [anti-malarial] drugs at their local offices, and through their representatives in rural areas," IRIN writes.

11 May 2012

A Better Method for Diagnosing Kidney Disease

Assessing glomerular filtration rate (GFR) using kidney filtration markers in blood is the standard means for determining kidney function, diagnosing kidney disease and measuring its progression. A higher filtration rate indicates healthy kidney function, while a lower rate points to various stages of kidney disease. A new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that the new CKD-EPI equation for calculating GFR is a better predictor of risk for kidney disease and death compared to the most widely used method. The findings suggest that switching to the CKD-EPI equation for calculating GFR could focus efforts more efficiently, and improve assessment of patient future risk and treatment of kidney disease. The study is published in the May 9 edition of JAMA.

10 May 2012

Hospital midwife inadvertently spreads whooping cough to up to 170 people

A Middlemore Hospital midwife could have infected up to 170 people with whooping cough. If passed onto babies or women in the last three months of pregnancy, the disease can lead to severe illness or even death. Whooping cough is a highly infectious disease caused by bacteria which is easily spread through coughing and sneezing, much like the common cold. Also known as pertussis, it is distinguishable by a “whooping” sound at the end of coughing attacks.

10 May 2012

Fast track approval process for “breakthrough” drugs proposed in the U.S.

Some experimental drugs that show a big effect early in development for treating serious or life-threatening diseases could soon get a faster and cheaper path to U.S. approval, under a proposal likely to become law this year.

10 May 2012

New approach to advance quality of pregnancy monitoring

The University of California, San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering announced today that it is a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Bioengineering Professor Todd Coleman, in collaboration with Materials Science and Engineering Professor John A. Rogers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will pursue an innovative global health and development research project, titled "Epidermal Electronics for Continuous Pregnancy Monitoring."

10 May 2012

Obesity report proposes sweeping changes in schools, communities, workplaces

The Institute of Medicine panel recommended five critical areas to focus on to lower obesity: physical activity, food and beverage, marketing, work and schools.

10 May 2012

Medical counseling may help AMI patients to recapture their sex lives

Patients who were sexually active before suffering a heart attack were one and a half times more likely to recapture their sex lives if they received guidance on the topic before leaving the hospital, a new study finds.

10 May 2012

$Women with spine fractures can benefit from alendronate therapy$

Women with spine fractures can benefit from alendronate therapy

Continuing a popular but controversial treatment for osteoporosis could reduce spine fracture risk for a particular group of patients, but others could see little to no change if they discontinue it. Based on available evidence, a UCSF researcher reevaluated his 2006 finding from a randomized 10-year study of alendronate, a type of bisphosphonate - a class of drugs that prevent loss of bone mass.

10 May 2012

Warfarin may not be as effective in elderly women with AF

Older women who have been diagnosed with an irregular heart beat are at higher risk of stroke than men. A new study led by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI MUHC) shows that warfarin, the most common anticoagulant therapy used to prevent stroke in patients with Atrial fibrillation (AF) may not be as effective in women, 75 years or older, as in men.

10 May 2012

CKD-EPI equation may provide more accurate risk prediction of death, ESRD

Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., principal investigator at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed), is the author of an invited editorial in JAMA. The editorial accompanied a study that included data from more than 1 million adults, and indicated the use of a newer risk prediction equation that classified fewer individuals as having chronic kidney disease and more accurately categorized the risk for death and end-stage renal disease.

9 May 2012

Free whooping cough vaccine cut concerns experts

Heath experts are concerned that parents and carers of newborn babies will stop getting the whooping cough vaccine after the state government cut its free immunisation program in the midst of a fatal epidemic.

9 May 2012

Reusable grocery bag can play a role in spreading norovirus infection

Oregon investigators recently mapped the trail of an outbreak of a nasty stomach bug among participants in a girls' soccer tournament to a reusable open top grocery bag stored in a hotel bathroom. Their findings, which illustrate the role that inanimate objects can play in spreading norovirus infection, appear in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

9 May 2012