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At House hearing, panel seeks to clarify advice on mammograms

Members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force testified at a hearing Wednesday before the the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health.

3 Dec 2009

CHF: Single federal agency to coordinate all disaster case management program implementations needed

GlobalOptions Group, Inc., a leading provider of domestic and international risk management services, affirmed today that James Lee Witt Associates (JLWA), its Crisis Management and Preparedness Services Division, supports the recommendations of a report developed by The Children’s Health Fund (CHF) to modify the National Response Framework to include issues addressing case management for children.

3 Dec 2009

AACR offers a compendium of best research practices to aid the FDA in regulating tobacco

When President Barack Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act in June, he ushered in a new era of tobacco policy that empowers the Food and Drug Administration to regulate one of the world's most controversial and deadly consumer products.

3 Dec 2009

New study suggests e-cigarettes can help alleviate nicotine cravings and improve general health

A groundbreaking new survey into the electronic cigarette, smokers' health and smoking cessation, carried out by NJOY retailers E Cigarette Direct and analysed by tobacco harm reduction scientists, has shown encouraging results.

3 Dec 2009

Study sheds light on gender differences in shopping experiences and behaviors

Daniel Kruger, research faculty at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, says it's perfectly natural that men often can't distinguish a sage sock from a beige sock or that sometimes women can't tell if the shoe department is due north or west from the escalator.

3 Dec 2009

Smoking cessation efforts attracted mixed results in Ohio's Appalachian region

In the Appalachian region of the country — where smoking rates are high, tobacco is often a cash crop and income and education levels are low — a smoking cessation effort led by non-medical professionals was successful in the short term, but quit rates trailed off in the long term.

3 Dec 2009

Despite declining smoking rates, U.S. obesity rates continue to rise

If obesity trends continue, the negative effect on the health of the U.S. population will overtake the benefits gained from declining smoking rates, according to a study by U-M and Harvard researchers published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

3 Dec 2009

Exposure to secondhand smoke may increase breast cancer risk

Exposure to secondhand smoke for a prolonged period of time and in high quantity may increase the risk of breast cancer, even in women who never smoked cigarettes themselves.

3 Dec 2009

NHLBI approves award of 13 contracts to improve asthma control

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health has approved the award of 13 contracts to local organizations across the country to develop, implement, and test science-based approaches to improve asthma control using evidence-based national guidelines for diagnosing and managing asthma.

3 Dec 2009

BCBSGa and Radio Disney team up to provide free vision care service for Georgia school children

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia Inc. (BCBSGa), OneSight®, a Luxottica Group Foundation, and Radio Disney have teamed to bring the OneSight Vision Van, "SeeMore" to Georgia from Tuesday, Dec. 1 through Thursday, Dec. 3. Henry County, Clayton County and Butts County Schools pre-selected 300 students from kindergarten through high school based on their financial and vision needs to receive free vision care, including full vision exams and new eyewear.

3 Dec 2009

Head and neck cancer survivors who smoke and drink face increased risk of death

Cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption before head and neck cancer diagnosis strongly predicts the patient's future risk of death, according to published studies. Now, results of a new study show a similar effect among those who continued these habits after cancer diagnosis.

3 Dec 2009

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