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Exposure to second-hand smoke during pregnancy can be just as detrimental to a developing fetus as primary exposure through maternal smoking

In a study published in the online journal BMC Pediatrics, Stephen G. Grant, Ph.D., associate professor of environmental and occupational health, reports that both active maternal smoking and secondary maternal exposure result in similarly increased rates of genetic mutation that are basically indistinguishable.

26 Jul 2005

Unprecedented industry-backed laws limit public safety

Two laws recently passed by Congress with strong industry backing have had a chilling effect on government efforts to protect public health, according to a UCSF study.

26 Jul 2005

Working class twins fare worse than their professional sibs on blood pressure, cholesterol and self-rated health

Nancy Krieger, professor of society, human development and health at the Harvard School of Public Health and colleagues, compared the health status, education levels and adult occupational class among women who were identical twins and who lived together through adolescence, to demonstrate that adult socioeconomic conditions affect adult health, above and beyond genetics and early life conditions.

26 Jul 2005

First large-scale effort to sequence the flu genome

Multiple strains of the flu virus, circulating in a population at the same time, can reshuffle their genes and create a new virus, one capable of infecting many more people, according to a new study in the open-access journal PLoS Biology.

26 Jul 2005

Immigrants in the United States receive less than half the health-care services than do native-born Americans

Immigrant children get even lower levels of care, receiving 84 percent less than U.S.-born children, according to researchers at Harvard and Columbia universities and the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.

26 Jul 2005

Models may risk making overly optimistic predictions about the levels of public health interventions needed to bring a disease under control

Mathematical models have become invaluable decision-making tools for public health officials. As demonstrated during the United Kingdom's foot-and-mouth epidemic of 2001, models can be useful in two ways: they can reveal the underlying characteristics of an infection and they can allow the comparison of alternative control measures.

26 Jul 2005

U-M Health System study finds patient education video is excellent teaching tool but doctors are better at calming fears

In an age when people often learn health information from surfing the Web and watching television shows set in hospitals, researchers have found that showing patients an educational video about their condition teaches them the facts about their disease even better than when their doctor tells them about the condition.

26 Jul 2005

Less than 1 percent of health plan members are actually diagnosed with alcoholism or related disorders

Less than 1 percent of health plan members are actually diagnosed with alcoholism or related disorders, according to data from a national performance measurement project released today in New York City at the American Medical Association Media Briefing, Alcohol Dependence: From Science to Solutions.

24 Jul 2005

Spousal violence affects one in three Albanian wives

Intimate partner violence affects women worldwide, but in Albania, more than a third of married women experience violence from their husbands during a year, and more empowered women are at greater risk, according to a study in this week's BMJ.

21 Jul 2005

Food subsidies in Poland has led to a drastic drop in deaths from coronary heart disease

In 1991 the Polish government cut subsidies for saturated fats - i.e. from dairy and animal sources. Researchers examined how this affected diet in the general population, and whether there were any changes to death rates from heart disease.

21 Jul 2005

Wealth doesn't always equal health

Across Europe, children from poor families don't necessarily have worse health than children with more affluent and better educated parents, say researchers in this week's BMJ.

21 Jul 2005

Brits stockpiling bird flu vaccine

A stockpile of 2 million doses of vaccine to fight the H5N1 strain of Asian bird flu will be accumulated by the British government.

21 Jul 2005

High rates of cervical cancer are indicators of larger problems in access to health care

The report also finds that cervical cancer mortality, which is higher in certain geographic areas and populations, is a marker for other health disparities.

21 Jul 2005

Sanofi pasteur gear up for influenza pandemic with new plant

Work has officially begun on the construction of a new sanofi pasteur manufacturing facility that will expand the ability of the United States to produce influenza vaccine for both routine influenza immunization and in case of a global influenza pandemic.

21 Jul 2005

Obese people are more likely than normal-weight people to injure themselves

Researchers collected health and injury data during a one-year period on more than 2,500 adults living in Colorado. More than one out of four (26 percent) of the extremely obese male participants reported personal injuries, and more than one out of five (21.7 percent) extremely obese women also reported injuries.

20 Jul 2005

New design for HIV vaccine trials in animals

Emory University researchers have proposed a new design for HIV vaccine trials in animals that would more closely mimic how humans are exposed to the virus - potentially giving AIDS researchers a more effective tool in developing successful treatments to prevent HIV infection.

20 Jul 2005

Eighty-three percent of Medicare beneficiaries have at least one chronic condition

Eighty-three percent of Medicare beneficiaries have at least one chronic condition, such as congestive heart failure, Alzheimer's disease or diabetes. Two-thirds of Medicare spending is incurred by the 9.5 million beneficiaries with five or more chronic conditions. These percentages suggest that the Medicare program needs to address chronic conditions rather than the acute, episodic illnesses that have been the focus of the Medicare program since it began in 1966.

20 Jul 2005

Evaluating how hospitals deliver medical care standardizes practices and improves care

In recent years, American hospitals have made significant improvements on standardized, evidence-based measures of clinical performance for several medical conditions, including heart attacks, heart failure, and pneumonia.

20 Jul 2005

Quality of care in U.S. hospitals

Ashish Jha, assistant professor of health policy and management at the Harvard School of Public Health and colleagues from Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Boston Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, have for the first time assessed the quality of care in U.S. hospitals.

20 Jul 2005

Children enrolled in kid-oriented diet and exercise programs are likely to adopt healthier eating and activity patterns

...according to an updated systematic review. Although the youngsters did not experience significant weight loss during the studies, most of which lasted a year or less, the reviewers note promising trends.

19 Jul 2005

Public Health News and Research

Exposure to second-hand smoke during pregnancy can be just as detrimental to a developing fetus as primary exposure through maternal smoking

Unprecedented industry-backed laws limit public safety

Working class twins fare worse than their professional sibs on blood pressure, cholesterol and self-rated health

First large-scale effort to sequence the flu genome

Immigrants in the United States receive less than half the health-care services than do native-born Americans

Models may risk making overly optimistic predictions about the levels of public health interventions needed to bring a disease under control

U-M Health System study finds patient education video is excellent teaching tool but doctors are better at calming fears

Less than 1 percent of health plan members are actually diagnosed with alcoholism or related disorders

Spousal violence affects one in three Albanian wives

Food subsidies in Poland has led to a drastic drop in deaths from coronary heart disease

Wealth doesn't always equal health

Brits stockpiling bird flu vaccine

High rates of cervical cancer are indicators of larger problems in access to health care

Sanofi pasteur gear up for influenza pandemic with new plant

Obese people are more likely than normal-weight people to injure themselves

New design for HIV vaccine trials in animals

Eighty-three percent of Medicare beneficiaries have at least one chronic condition

Evaluating how hospitals deliver medical care standardizes practices and improves care

Quality of care in U.S. hospitals

Children enrolled in kid-oriented diet and exercise programs are likely to adopt healthier eating and activity patterns

How can microdialysis benefit drug development

Global and Local Efforts to Take Action Against Hepatitis

Addressing Important Cardiac Biology Questions with Shotgun Top-Down Proteomics

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