Feature Channels: Public Health

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Bethesda, Md -- Navy Captain (Dr.) Mark S. Riddle, an expert in tropical medicine and public health, was selected to lead the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences’ (USU) F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine – ‘America’s Medical School’. Riddle will begin his new duties in May.

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A team of Vanderbilt biologists has found that the malaria mosquito has a second complete set of odor receptors that are specially tuned to human scents.

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Pilot Projects involving two researchers at the University of Rhode Island have been awarded federal funding through Advance Clinical and Translational Research (Advance-CTR), a statewide effort to support clinical research that can be translated into approaches and policies that improve the health of Rhode Islanders

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New research suggests that GlycA, a newly identified blood marker, and C-reactive protein both independently predict major adverse cardiac events, including heart failure and death. Patients who have high levels of both biomarkers are at especially high risk.

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NewYork-Presbyterian sleep experts provide tips for healthy sleep habits, this World Sleep Day.

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University of Montreal bioethicists study whether health professionals in the Canadian Armed Forces can abide by two ethics codes, civilian and military

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A little empathy can go a long way toward ending infectious disease outbreaks. That’s a conclusion from researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, who used a networked variation of game theory to study how individual behavior during an outbreak of influenza – or other illness – affects the progress of the disease, including how rapidly the outbreak dies out.

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News release on the Zika virus

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Improving your sleep quality is as beneficial to health and happiness as winning the lottery, according to research by the University of Warwick.

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The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health will offer three new online, part-time graduate programs beginning this fall.

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Current estimates are that one in five Americans will develop skin cancer in their lifetime. The American Academy of Dermatology has awarded shade structure grants to 26 schools and non-profit organizations across the country in order to protect children and adolescents from the sun’s harmful rays.

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A Duke Health-led research team has described both the pathway of HIV protective antibody development and a synthetic HIV outer envelope mimic that has the potential to induce the antibodies with vaccination.

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The Wistar Institute announces the appointment of Mohamed Abdel-Mohsen, Ph.D., as assistant professor in Wistar’s Vaccine Center.

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Unlike its viral cousins hepatitis A and B, hepatitis C virus (HCV) has eluded the development of a vaccine and infected more than 170 million people worldwide. Now, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine report that a novel laboratory tool that lets them find virus mutations faster and more efficiently than ever before has identified a biological mechanism that appears to play a big role in helping HCV evade both the natural immune system and vaccines.

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An experimental malaria vaccine protected healthy subjects from infection with a malaria strain different from that contained in the vaccine, according to a study published today. The Phase 1 clinical trial is important because in places where malaria is common, there is usually more than one strain of malaria.

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An effective, easy-to-use, drug take-back program, is now available nationwide to physicians and their patients for safe, convenient and legal disposal of unused prescribed pain medications, and help prevent a leading cause of prescription drug deaths -- medication theft from the home and improper drug sharing.

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Online media briefing to announce first saliva test to measure steady-state opioid drug levels in doctors’ offices. Test verifies therapy compliance and helps prevent drug misuse and diversion.

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More than 87,000 chemicals are available commercially in the U.S., including analogues of bisphenol A (BPA), an industrial chemical that is used in consumer products. Frederick vom Saal, a University of Missouri endocrinologist and researcher, has studied BPA and other chemicals and their effects on humans and animals for more than 20 years. Now, vom Saal has released Integrative Environmental Medicine, a comprehensive book outlining practical resources and tools, such as websites and smartphone apps, to help health care practitioners promote healthier choices for themselves and their patients.

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Between 2008 and 2012, 434 infants died in Allegheny County within their first year, ranking the county slightly worse than the national average. While blacks make up only 13.2% of the Allegheny County’s population, black infant deaths over a four-year period constituted 42% (225) of all infant deaths. This racial disparity in the infant mortality rate is 27 percent larger in Allegheny County compared to the national rate.

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Frozen and freeze-dried products for Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) are nearly as effective as fresh product at treating patients with Clostridium difficile (C-diff) infection, according to researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health and Kelsey Research Foundation.

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Major national studies provide little evidence that e-cigarette users move to smoking cigarettes as a result, researchers from UB, Michigan write.

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Although Zika and dengue are considered different virus “species,” they are so closely related that the immune system treats Zika just like another version of dengue, report researchers at La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology. Their latest study, published in the March 13, 2017, advance online edition of Nature Microbiology, shows that pre-existing immunity to dengue virus modulates the magnitude and breadth of the immune system’s T cell response to Zika.

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Dr. Christopher Basler, a professor in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University, director of the university’s Center for Microbial Pathogenesis and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Microbial Pathogenesis, has received a five-year, $4.1 million federal grant to develop a drug targeting Ebola virus.

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The deadly fungus, Candida auris, is resistant to entire classes of antimicrobial drugs, limiting treatment options for those infected. Now, in a first-of-its-kind study, microbiologists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have provided previously uninvestigated details pertaining to C. auris drug resistance and growth patterns.

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The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) has awarded $1.5 million to researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health for a project designed to increase human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine rates among minority youth in medically underserved areas across Houston.

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Depression is the strongest predictor of death in the first decade following a diagnosis of coronary heart disease, according to a new study by researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City.

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Rush University Medical Center and Rush-Copley Medical Center (Rush-Copley) have completed the process of reorganizing their operations under a common corporate parent led by a board of trustees that will oversee the fully integrated Rush academic health system (Rush).

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• Sickle cell trait, a common hemoglobin variant in African Americans, was associated with a twofold higher risk of developing kidney failure requiring dialysis. • Sickle cell trait conferred a similar degree of risk as APOL1 gene variants, which are currently the most widely recognized genetic contributors to kidney disease in blacks.

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New data from the REGARDS study show that blacks with the sickle cell trait are more likely to develop kidney failure requiring dialysis.

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Zika also may have serious effects on the heart, new research shows in the first study to report cardiovascular complications related to this virus, according to data being presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 66th Annual Scientific Session.

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Researchers at the George Washington University have developed a way to test recombinant vaccines for their ability to stay effective after years of storage. Their research was published this week in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

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Fewer than half of American adults get vaccinated despite strong recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and widespread availability of free and low-cost vaccines. Furthermore, African Americans are less likely to get the flu shot than white Americans, and concerns about side effects from the vaccine play a large role in this disparity. According to the CDC, only 41 percent of African American adults received the flu vaccine compared with 47 percent of white adults.

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UAB has launched the Alabama Genomic Health Initiative in partnership with HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in one of the nation’s first statewide efforts to harness the power of genomic analysis to improve overall health.

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American College of Rheumatology President Sharad Lakhanpal, MBBS, MD, released a statement this morning expressing concern about the American Health Care Act's (AHCA) age-based tax credits and its failure to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board.

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The press program for next week’s 2017 Multidisciplinary Thoracic Cancers Symposium features research advances in lung cancer including immunotherapy, proton therapy and liquid biopsy, among others.

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A new intervention developed by Bar-Ilan University scientists to tamper with parasites' communication system may lead to the development of drugs to treat, and prevent the spread of, devastating diseases such as African sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis and Chagas' disease.

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People with asthma are likely to have worse symptoms when they get the flu because they have weaker immune systems, new Southampton research has shown.

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Kids get colds – sometimes, lots of them. But when runny noses and coughs turn into trouble breathing, the problem could indicate RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus.

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During the past decade, the gut has experienced a renaissance as investigations focus on the role of the microbiome on human health. While most studies have focused on bacteria, the dominant microbial inhabitants in the gut, scientists at University of Utah Health Sciences used mouse studies to show the role of yeast in aggravating the symptoms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Their work suggests that allopurinol, a generic drug already on the market, could offer some relief.

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Researchers have reversed depression symptoms in mice simply by feeding them a probiotic bacteria found in yogurt. They also discovered a specific mechanism for how the bacteria affect mood, providing a direct link between gut health and mental health.

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Could lung cancer be hiding in kidney cancer patients? Researchers with the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Kidney Cancer Program studied patients with metastatic kidney cancer to the lungs and found that 3.5 percent of the group had a primary lung cancer tumor that had gone undiagnosed. This distinction can affect treatment choices and rates of survival.

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The most recent global cancer data from the WHO highlights the growing differences in mortality rate among regions of the world bearing very different economic circumstances.

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University of California, Irvine researchers have identified a specific mutation that allows melanoma tumor cells to remain undetected by the immune system.

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Although this “raccoon roundworm” was believed to cause severe problems and even death in people who become infected, a new University of Georgia study shows that’s not always the case.

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The scientists discovered the antiprotozoal drug pentamidine disrupts the cell surface of Gram-negative bacteria, even the most resistant. The anti-fungal medication was particularly potent when used with antibiotics against multidrug resistant bacteria.

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Daily users of e-cigarettes see them as about as satisfying or even more satisfying, and less harmful, than cigarettes, according to the results of a small study from the University at Buffalo.

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When it comes to skin care product labels, people shouldn’t necessarily believe everything they read.

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It's important for Latino patients to understand their skin cancer risk, take steps to protect themselves and conduct regular skin self-exams.