Feature Channels: Public Health

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While the U.S. has made great progress in the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis, the nation has become more susceptible to potential epidemics of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), according a study led by Johns Hopkins researchers. Computer simulations show that as TB prevalence falls, the risk for more extensive MDR-TB increases. In addition, the simulation also showed that higher detection of TB cases without proper treatment of cases also increased risk.

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A recent UK HealthCare survey found that over the past year, the percentage of Kentuckians living with children who believe secondhand smoke to be a serious health risk has increased.

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1) Texting and cell phone use leads to big rise in distracted driving fatalities; 2) Routine activity may help reduce risk of invasive breast cancer; 3) Income disparities in obesity prevalence found among California adolescents.

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South Asians living in the United States are at much higher risk for type 2 diabetes than are whites and immigrants from other Asian countries, a new small study reveals.

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A “test and treat” strategy, the leading proposal by the World Health Organization to combat HIV/AIDS in South Africa, is seriously flawed, say UCLA researchers.

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Missouri has one of the highest statewide smoking averages in the country, more than 23 percent. And racial and ethnic minorities, people with lower incomes and education levels, Medicaid recipients and the LGBT community smoke or experience secondhand smoke at a rate significantly higher than the state average. These findings are highlighted in a recent report by the Center for Tobacco Policy Research (CTPR) at Washington University in St. Louis. The report, “Who is Most Affected? Tobacco-Related Disparities in Missouri,” identifies statewide differences related to who is smoking, who is exposed to secondhand smoke and who is quitting.

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Processed and fast foods enriched with phosphorus additives may play a role in health disparities in chronic kidney disease, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). Previously, genetics was considered the leading reason blacks are four times more likely to progress to end stage renal disease than whites and have much higher rates of cardiovascular disease and mortality in early chronic kidney disease (CKD).

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Public health officials have long believed that notifying the public about outbreaks of infectious disease could help reduce transmission rates and the overall impact of a pandemic. Now, researchers have modified the most widely used infectious disease model to account for the impact of media coverage.

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A diabetes self-management education program delivered by community health workers may be effective in improving the blood sugar levels and behavioral skills among Hispanics/Latinos with type 2 diabetes, according to a recent University of Illinois at Chicago study.

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C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health finds adults across U.S. favor restrictions, safety testing on electronic cigarettes.

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Swimming in indoor chlorinated pools may induce genotoxicity (DNA damage that may lead to cancer) as well as respiratory effects, but the positive health effects of swimming can be maintained by reducing pool levels of the chemicals behind these potential health risks, according to a new study published in a set of three articles online September 12 ahead of print in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP). This study is the first to provide a comprehensive characterization of disinfection by-products (DBPs) in an indoor pool environment and the first to study the genotoxicity of exposure to these chemicals among swimmers in an indoor chlorinated pool.

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Personalized post cards or phone calls can be effective in encouraging more seniors to get their annual flu shots, according to a new review of evidence.

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An analysis of data from influenza cases in Wisconsin indicates individuals with 2009 H1N1 infections were younger than those with H3N2 (2007-2008), and that the risk of most serious complications was not higher in adults or children with 2009 H1N1 compared with recent seasonal strains, according to a study in the September 8 issue of JAMA.

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HIV-infected children in South Africa who were exposed to the drug nevirapine at birth (used to help prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission) and then received a protease inhibitor (PI) for viral suppression achieved lower rates of viremia (virus in the blood stream) if they were switched to nevirapine, compared to children who continued on the PI-based regimen, according to a study in the September 8 issue of JAMA. PI-based therapies generally have a higher cost compared to nevirapine, which may leave some children excluded from treatment.

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Prompted by clinical research into the early initiation of antiretroviral therapies for HIV performed at the GHESKIO clinic in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the World Health Organization (WHO) has revised its treatment protocols for HIV patients.

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Uninsured minority pedestrians hit by cars are at a significantly higher risk of death than their insured white counterparts, even if the injuries sustained are similar, new research from Johns Hopkins suggests.

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New, automated diagnostic test for TB, developed by a public-private partnership including UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School scientists, showed excellent results in a large-scale field trial. The results appear in the Sept. 1 New England Journal of Medicine.

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Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health reviewed published data to assess HIV-infected children’s immune responses to vaccines and found that most children treated with HAART remained susceptible to vaccine-preventable diseases, but responded well to revaccination.

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The end of smallpox in 1979 has led to a sharp rise in monkeypox, a related but less lethal viral infection. The disease is spreading in Africa, with sporadic outbreaks elsewhere, including the U.S.

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Vitamin A and beta-carotene supplements are unsafe for HIV-positive women who breastfeed because they may boost the excretion of HIV in breast milk---thereby increasing the chances of transmitting the infection to the child, a pair of new studies suggest.

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“Infants of Depressed Mothers Living in Poverty: Opportunities to Identify and Serve,” by by Tracy Vericker, Jennifer Macomber, and Olivia Golden, is the first national look at the characteristics, access to services, and parenting approaches of poor, depressed mothers with infants. The researchers point out that most of these families are connected to certain social services and health care providers, which presents a clear opportunity to help them.

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In a finding that could lead to better estimates of smoker’s exposure to cigarette toxins and improved interventions to help them quit, scientists are reporting development of a non-invasive method for accurately measuring a person’s exposure to the toxins in cigarette smoke. The method involves measuring a substance abundant in discarded cigarette butts. Their study is scheduled for presentation in August at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Boston.

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Amble, stroll or pedal: it’s all good. A new study provides evidence supporting a seemingly obvious − but unproven − link between walking- and cycling-friendly communities and lower levels of obesity.

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Children drinking water with added fluoride helps dental health in adulthood decades later, a new study finds.

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Scientists are reporting results of a new clinical trial confirming that just two 8-ounce glasses of the water, taken before meals 3 times per day, enables dieters to shed pounds. Their study is scheduled for presentation in August at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Boston.

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The average man with a genital piercing is 31, white, heterosexual, college-educated and earns more than $36,000 a year.

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The flu kills more than 35,000 people in the United States in an average year—and most of those deaths could be prevented with a simple vaccine. After last year’s H1N1 outbreak, the government says everyone over the age of 6 months needs a flu shot this year.

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Casual smokers may think that smoking a few cigarettes a week is "no big deal." But according to new research from physician-scientists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, having an infrequent smoke, or being exposed to secondhand smoke, may be doing more harm than people may think. The findings may further support public smoking bans, say the authors.

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A new study describes how using street outreach workers is an effective strategy to reach and engage youth with the goal of violence prevention and intervention. Street outreach workers are typically members of the community who intervene to prevent conflict and retaliation. While violence prevention programs utilizing street outreach workers , including CeaseFire in Chicago and Safe Streets in Baltimore, this is the first peer-reviewed study on a program to be published.

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1) U.S. nursing home assistants report high rate of workplace assaults; 2) Higher mortality rate and health risks found among those with HIV who smoke; 3) More alcohol retailers in a population predict higher demographic health disparities.

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Amusement rides are a summer ritual for most thrill-seekers. While ride injuries are a rare occurance, most occur as a result of human behaviour. A Ryerson University researcher is investigating how modifying amusement rides to complement rider behaviour can make the experience more safe and enjoyable.

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Latinas participating in an educational intervention program were two-and-a-half times more likely to seek postpartum care than were those who did not have access to a similar program.

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Overweight American children and adolescents have become fatter over the last decade, according to a news study that found adiposity shifts across socio-demographic groups over time and found U.S. children and adolescents had significantly increased adiposity measures such as body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and triceps skinfold thickness (TST). The increases in adiposity were more pronounced in some sex-ethnic groups such as black girls.

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This is a feature about adult immunizations.

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Dr. Peter Hotez from The George Washington University is available to comment on the risk of water-borne diseases as a result of the recent flooding in Pakistan.

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Trauma center care not only saves lives, it is a cost-effective way of treating major trauma, according to a new report. Although treatment at a trauma center is more expensive, the benefits of this approach in terms of lives saved and quality of life-years gained outweigh the costs. The study finds that the added cost of treatment at a trauma center versus nontrauma center is only $36,319 for every life-year gained or $790,931 per life saved.

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Women and girls consider and engage in suicidal behavior more often than men and boys, but die of suicide at lower rate – a gender paradox enabled by U.S. cultural norms of gender and suicidal behavior, according to a psychologist who spoke at the 118th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association.

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The first-ever study to document a baseline for Hmong women undergoing cervical cancer screening found a great disparity between this community and California women overall.

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The wealth or poverty of kidney disease patients’ communities impacts the quality of care patients receive before starting dialysis, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). The results suggest that medical professionals need to improve care for patients who have not yet started dialysis.

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Falls are the most common injury for both urban and rural elderly in China, responsible for more than two-thirds of all injuries in people 65 and older, according to a study by researchers from China and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Injury Research and Policy. The study is the first to uncover the leading causes of non-fatal injuries among older adults in China.

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A community-based maternal health delivery strategy known as the MOM Project (mobile obstetric medics) dramatically increased access to maternal health care services for internally displaced woman in eastern Burma, according to a new study.The researchers believe the MOM Project could be a model for maternal health care delivery in settings where resources are extremely limited.

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It takes a village to keep a pregnant woman at her healthiest, a new University of Michigan study shows.

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Pilots and dentists have more in common than one might think: Both jobs are highly technical and require teamwork. Both are subject to human error where small, individual mistakes may lead to catastrophe if not addressed early.

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Children and youth who experience hunger appear more likely to have health problems, and repeated episodes of hunger may be particularly toxic, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

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New study suggests that disparities in cardiovascular disease risk in the United States are due less to race or ethnicity than to socioeconomic status.

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Some of the short-term health effects of the April accident are known – watery and irritated eyes, skin itching and redness, coughing and shortness or breath or wheezing – there also are many unknown health effects, says a UAB School of Public Health researcher. Nalini Sathiakumar, M.D., Dr.P.H., an associate professor of epidemiology and a pediatric nephrologist, is part of a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ad-hoc team formed in July. The team is working to anticipate, outline and minimize the disaster’s potential health risks.

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Results from a new study suggest that oral contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may yield additional benefit of protecting against the formation and rupture of brain aneurysms in women. The findings from this first-of-its-kind study by a neurointerventional expert from Rush University Medical Center were presented at the Society of Neurointerventional Surgery (SNIS) 7th annual meeting.

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Often causing no symptoms in carriers of the disease, worldwide tuberculosis (TB) infects eight to ten million people every year, kills two million, and it is highly contagious as it is spread through coughing and sneezing. “It’s a global health disaster waiting to happen, even here in Canada, but this new paradigm in TB research may offer an immediate opportunity to improve vaccination and treatment initiatives,” explains Dr. Maziar Divangahi of McGill University

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The best way to prevent the spread of disease in rural areas may be by targeting select popular hangouts, according to a new study by the Kansas State University EpiCenter research team.

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Millions of Americans in the early stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at an increased risk of having atrial fibrillation (AF) – a major risk factor for stroke – according to new research by investigators at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.