Feature Channels: Public Health

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A new systematic review looks at whether showing patients medical scan images would motivate them to change their behavior to reduce risks to their health.

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For African infants with HIV-positive mothers, reducing exposure to breast milk can lower the rate of HIV transmission. But new research suggests that longer periods of breastfeeding—at least 6 months—are critical for reducing the risk of potentially fatal gastroenteritis. The findings are reported in the January 1, 2010, issue of JAIDS: Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

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For people who haven't had chickenpox and are exposed to an ill family member, getting vaccinated within five days can reduce the risk of developing chickenpox—or at least reduce the severity of disease, reports a study in the January issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal.

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Addressing tobacco use without judging the user appears to help people quit, according to a new review of studies.

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Mexican business leader Carlos Slim Helú today announced the launch of a major research project in genomic medicine that will help accelerate progress in public health in Mexico and around the world.

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Chronically ill older adults who are closely supported by a nurse-physician primary care team are twice as likely to rate their health care as high-quality than those who receive usual care. Guided Care patients were also 70 percent more likely to rate the time they had to wait for an appointment when sick as “excellent” or “good”, and 50 percent more likely to rate the ability to get phone advice as “excellent” or “good.”

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1) Boys Born to Adolescent Dads Are More Likely to Become Young Fathers; 2) Smoking Is More Prevalent among Teen Boys When Discrimination Is Perceived; 3) Same-Sex Versus Different-Sex Relationships Vary with Health Insurance Coverage and Access to Care.

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In Texas, the repeal of a motorcycle helmet law has been followed by a sharp increase in fatal motorcycle crashes, according to a study in the January Southern Medical Journal.

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Woodworking is a popular hobby, with table saws being owned and used by an estimated 6 million to 10 million people in the United States. Although table saws are associated with more injuries than any other woodworking tool, there have been no previously published national studies of table saw-related injuries.

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The death rate from injuries in rural areas of China is higher than in urban areas, according to a new study by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Injury Research and Policy. Rural males of all ages were 47 percent more likely to die from injuries than urban males, and the overall rate in rural females was 33 percent higher than in urban females.

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Small amounts of lead in the bodies of healthy children and teens — amounts well below the levels defined as “concerning” by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — may worsen kidney function, according to a Johns Hopkins Children’s Center study published in the Jan. 11 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

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New schedule includes formal recommendations that children older than 6 months get the H1N1 influenza vaccine to guard against swine flu, and that combination vaccines are generally preferred over separate injections, says UAB's David Kimberlin, a member of the AAP's infectious disease committee.

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It is not too late for those who have not been immunized against the novel H1N1 influenza A virus or seasonal influenza to protect themselves from a potentially serious and possibly fatal illness. “Flu is very unpredictable,” said Dr. Peter Wenger, an associate professor in the departments of Preventive Medicine & Community Health and Pediatrics at the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School. Another wave of widespread flu illness could occur as the winter progresses, possibly even into March or April, he added. “The prudent course is to protect yourself and those around you, and the best way to do that is through vaccination,” he said. National Influenza Vaccination Week , which runs Jan. 10-16, 2010, is a great time to take action.

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Lessons learned from the first 13 children at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center to become critically ill from the H1N1 virus show that although all patients survived, serious complications developed quickly, unpredictably, with great variations from patient to patient and with serious need for vigilant monitoring and quick treatment adjustments.

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Closing schools for less than two weeks during an influenza epidemic has no effect on infection rates, according to a study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, RTI International and the Allegheny County Health Department.

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About three-quarters of U.S. children received recommended vaccinations in 2008, up from about half in 2000, reports a new study from the CDC.

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Cigarette smoking is a well-known risk factor for type 2 diabetes, but new research from Johns Hopkins suggests that quitting the habit may actually raise diabetes risk in the short term.

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Many U.S. adults with major depression do not receive treatment for depression or therapy based on treatment guidelines, and some racial and ethnic groups have even lower rates of adequate depression care, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

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Young hunters between the ages of 15 and 34 are the most likely to suffer serious injuries in tree stand-related incidents, say researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Center for Injury Sciences (CIS). The same researchers’ findings, though, suggest that such injuries are preventable.

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Brazilian researchers have performed the first-ever autopsy study to examine the precise causes of death in victims of the H1N1 swine flu.

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A study suggests that a new compound, one on the threshold of final testing in humans, may be more potent and safer for treating “bird flu” than the antiviral drug best known by the trade name Tamiflu.

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Investigators have identified 295 human cell factors that influenza A strains must harness to infect a cell, including the currently circulating swine-origin H1N1.

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One dose of vaccine may be effective to protect infants and children and reduce transmission of the H1N1 virus, according to a study in JAMA, published online today because of its public health implications. The study will appear in the January 6 print edition of the journal.

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Scientists have identified a strain of antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis that thrives in the presence of rifampin, a front-line drug in the treatment of tuberculosis. The researchers determined that the bacteria grew poorly in the absence of the antibiotic rifampin and better with it.

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One quarter of Detroit-area Arab Americans reported personal or familial abuse because of race, ethnicity or religion since 9/11, leading to higher odds of adverse health effects, according to a new University of Michigan study.

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1) Having a Snack Attack: U.S. Obesity Epidemic Related to its Easy Accessibility in Retail Stores; 2) Arab-Americans Experienced Adverse Health Effects in the Sept. 11, 2001, Aftermath. (3) Multiple Deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan Adversely Affect Mental Health of U.S. Soldiers

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Informal social networks are more effective than mailers and "media blitzes" at encouraging Hispanics to prepare for disasters.

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As the healthcare reform debate continues, legislators and businesspeople alike might be surprised to learn that Americans are looking not only to government but also to business to improve our nation’s health, even beyond employee wellness efforts. People are more likely to purchase from, recommend, and invest in companies that act on health issues—creating a compelling case for businesses to step up their efforts.

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An international team of Canadian and Spanish scientists have found the first potential immunological clue of why some people develop severe pneumonia when infected by the pandemic H1N1 virus.

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Infection with the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, causes more life-threatening complications than seasonal flu in children with sickle cell disease, according to research from Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. The findings, to be presented on Dec. 7 at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology, warn parents and caregivers that such children are more likely to need emergency treatment and stays in an intensive-care unit.

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As the population of people with chronic conditions and health care costs rise, so do opportunities for implementing health prevention strategies. A critical strategy for reforming the health care system lies in teaching medical students about prevention and public health.

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National Handwashing Awareness Week is from Dec. 6 to 12, and a Geisinger physician advises that with the presence of the H1N1 virus this year, handwashing is more important than ever.

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Although there is high awareness of the need for seasonal influenza vaccines, a new study of Hispanics in one California county shows low rates of actual vaccination, especially among men.

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African American and Hispanic adults who smoke menthol cigarettes may be less likely to quit, a new study by UMDNJ researchers has found. The report, in the December issue of Preventive Medicine, is believed to be the first to use national statistics to examine the association between menthol cigarettes and smoking cessation among adults.

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1) Congressional law allows FDA tobacco regulation, creating need for guidelines and research. 2) AACR journal includes compendium of best research practices with a special focus on tobacco. 3) AACR forms new Task Force on Tobacco and Cancer.

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

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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.

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While the headlines have been dominated with news about H1N1, we cannot lose sight of an equally dangerous illness - respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

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The first ever published study of aviation-related injuries and deaths in the U.S. finds that more than 1,013 patients are admitted to U.S. hospitals with aviation-related injuries annually, and that 753 aviation-deaths occur each year. The study, conducted by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Injury Research and Policy and Columbia University, also reports that the largest categories of patients were occupants of civilian, noncommercial powered aircraft (32 percent) and parachutists (29 percent).

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New analysis from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) suggests that physicians need to re-think their diagnosis and treatment of sore throat, or pharyngitis, in adolescents and young adults to consider a more newly identified and potentially dangerous culprit as the source of that infection.

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Cigarettes are "widely contaminated" with bacteria, including some known to cause disease in people, concludes a new international study conducted by a University of Maryland environmental health researcher and microbial ecologists at the Ecole Centrale de Lyon in France.

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As flu season got underway this fall, Dr. Catherine Monteleone, an allergist, noticed that her office started to receive an unusually high number of calls from people with egg allergy. They previously had avoided flu vaccines because of their sensitivity to eggs. This year, with all the attention being paid to the novel H1N1 influenza, those patients want to be protected against flu, and they contacted her to find out if they are candidates for inoculation.

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Flipping a coin may be more effective in diagnosing flu infections, says Loyola researcher, studies.

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Guided Care, a new model of comprehensive health care for people with multiple chronic conditions, has received the 2009 Medical Economics Award for Innovation in Practice Improvement.

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Researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology have found that previous influenza infections may provide at least some level of immunity to the H1N1 “swine” flu. “The question we asked was, “Is the swine flu more like the seasonal flu or like a totally new strain of influenza where there would be no immunity?,” said Alessandro Sette, Ph.D., an internationally recognized vaccine expert and director of the La Jolla Institute’s Center for Infectious Disease.

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Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, found in everything from cosmetics to sunscreen to paint to vitamins, caused systemic genetic damage in mice, according to a comprehensive study conducted by researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

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University of Michigan researchers say that implementing and sustaining infection-limiting measures will be a challenge during pandemics.

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New methods of studying avian influenza strains and visually mapping their movement around the world will help scientists more quickly learn the behavior of the pandemic H1N1 flu virus, researchers say.

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As smokers nationwide struggle to quit the habit, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is offering assistance to those childhood cancer survivors who need help with smoking cessation.

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The majority of smokers worldwide support smoking bans in the workplace, according to a new study by RTI International and Harris Interactive.