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Early pollution exposure has long-lasting respiratory effects

Exposure to traffic-related pollution during the first year of life continues to affect lung function at age 8 years, show the results of a Swedish study.

16 Oct 2012

Major academic medical centers, teaching hospitals to form Chicago Adult Congenital Heart Network

Seven major academic medical centers and teaching hospitals in the Chicago area have joined together to form the Chicago Adult Congenital Heart Network (CATCH), which is the first patient-centered, inter-institutional network in Chicago established to ensure all adults with congenital heart disease in the area receive appropriate follow-up care.

16 Oct 2012

Researchers use cell phone data to track malaria spread in Kenya

"Harvard researchers found they could track the spread of malaria in Kenya using phone calls and text messages from 15 million mobile phones," ABC News' "Medical Unit" reports.

16 Oct 2012

School-wide interventions reduce children's aggressive behaviors

An analysis of a school behavior strategy-known as School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS)-found that these types of programs significantly reduced children's aggressive behaviors and office discipline referrals, as well as improved problems with concentration and emotional regulation.

16 Oct 2012

Current status, challenges and opportunities of pulmonary vaccine delivery

In addition to the obvious benefit of eliminating the need for an injection, new vaccine delivery methods via the lungs offer particular advantages for protecting against infectious agents that enter the body through the respiratory track.

16 Oct 2012

Computer-delivered interventions do not effectively curb problematic college drinking

Computer-delivered and face-to-face interventions both can help curb problematic college drinking for a little while, but only in-person encounters produce results that last beyond a few months, according to a new analysis of the techniques schools use to counsel students on alcohol consumption.

16 Oct 2012

Health care, Medicare will pose major challenges to the winner

The victor of the presidential contest will face huge policy decisions including how to maintain Medicare's solvency and whether to implement the 2010 health law. News outlets analyze where President Barack Obama and GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney stand on these issues.

15 Oct 2012

Study assesses ethnic disparities among construction workers with injuries

White non-Hispanic construction workers are awarded higher workers' compensation settlements in Illinois than Hispanic or black construction workers with similar injuries and disabilities, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health.

15 Oct 2012

Using public health approach to address unsafe abortion

"The global maternal mortality has dropped dramatically during the last decade," but "too many women continue to die from pregnancy-related causes," Sharon Camp, president and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute, writes in the BMJ Group Blogs.

15 Oct 2012

Gardasil does not increase sexual activity in girls

The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine known as Gardasil is not associated with an increase in pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, or contraceptive counseling, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published online today in the journal Pediatrics.

15 Oct 2012

ELSA report reveals economic, social, psychological and health concerns of U.K.’s ageing society

One in six people in England aged over 50 are socially isolated. They have few socially orientated hobbies, little civic or cultural engagement with society, and may have very limited social networks. This was a key finding from the most recent report of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), a comprehensive study that aims to understand the economic, social, psychological and health concerns of an ageing society.

15 Oct 2012

Type 2 diabetes screening: an interview with Dr Simon Griffin, MRC Epidemiology Unit at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge

Type 2 diabetes is a condition in which the body does not make sufficient insulin or the insulin it makes doesn’t work sufficiently well to maintain a normal level of blood glucose and so the blood glucose rises.

12 Oct 2012

Further evidence against sun bed use

Results from a systematic review and meta-analysis published in the BMJ confirm those from previous studies linking sun bed use with an increased risk for skin cancer.

12 Oct 2012

State roundup: Minn. says health exchange will cost $40 million

Minnesota budget officials estimate it could cost the state as much as $40 million to run its health insurance exchange in 2015. The state-based online insurance marketplaces are a cornerstone of the federal health care overhaul.

12 Oct 2012

Romney takes moderate position on abortion, causes stir on both sides of issue

GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has shifted to more moderate policy positions on a number of issues, including health care and abortion.

12 Oct 2012

Premature babies from low-income families more likely to develop brain hemorrhages

Babies born prematurely to low-income parents have a disproportionately high risk for developing dangerous brain bleeds that require multiple surgeries and extensive follow-up, according to a small Johns Hopkins Children's Center study.

12 Oct 2012

Fruits and vegetables appear to improve mental wellbeing

Happiness and mental health are highest among people who eat seven portions of fruit and vegetables a day, according to a new report.

12 Oct 2012

Public reporting states have low angioplasty rates

US states in which public reporting of percutaneous coronary intervention rates by catheterization laboratories is required may have a reduced rate of the procedure in acute myocardial infarction patients, research suggests.

11 Oct 2012

People living near livestock may be at increased risk of LA-MRSA

People who live near livestock or in livestock farming communities may be at greater risk of acquiring, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), according to a new study led by an international team of researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Dutch Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam.

11 Oct 2012

Health care second most important issue for likely voters in deciding 2012 presidential vote

A new analysis of 37 national opinion polls conducted by 17 survey organizations finds that health care is the second most important issue for likely voters in deciding their 2012 presidential vote.

11 Oct 2012