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Childhood cancer and distance from high-voltage power lines

UK Health Protection Agency response to British Medical Journal paper examining the incidence of childhood cancer in England and Wales and how it relates to distance from major high-voltage overhead power lines has been published.

3 Jun 2005

Childhood cancer in relation to distance from high voltage power lines - results may be entirely due to chance

Cancer Research UK comments on the BMJ paper "Childhood cancer in relation to distance from high voltage power lines in England and Wales: a case control study."

3 Jun 2005

Obese children benefit from resistance training

A supervised, progressive resistance training program significantly increased strength and resulted in favorable body composition changes in overweight and obese children.

3 Jun 2005

Two-year study shows lifestyle-related chronic illness begins early

As the prevalence of overweight and obesity increases among American children, signs of risk for chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases - previously thought of as adult disorders - are on the rise among youth.

3 Jun 2005

Progress on HIV/AIDS significant but insufficient

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today shared his hope with a gathering of senior world officials at Headquarters that the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS would have heralded a response that matched the epidemic’s scale, yet progress had been “significant but insufficient”.

3 Jun 2005

Gene research may help explain how adorable children become surly teenagers

University of Utah researchers showed that a fruit fly gene is crucial for determining when juveniles begin to mature into adults, and how the transformation initially proceeds. Understanding this process in humans may help explain how adorable children become surly teenagers.

3 Jun 2005

Exposure to aflatoxins that contaminate crops in developing countries can be reduced by a simple, cost-effective intervention

Exposure to a cancer-causing toxin that contaminates crops in developing countries can be reduced by a simple, cost-effective intervention on post-harvest storage, concludes a study in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

3 Jun 2005

Aircraft noise could impair the development of reading and memory in children

Exposure to high levels of aircraft noise could impair the development of reading and memory in children, suggests a study published in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

3 Jun 2005

Genetics may play a role in the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs

Today, the most common childhood cancer is cured in about 80 percent of patients; only forty years ago, this number was closer to five percent. In efforts to further increase the survival rate, researchers from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the University of Tennessee, and the University of Chicago studied how an individual's genetics might play a role in the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs.

3 Jun 2005

New vaccine against whooping cough is effective in teens and adults

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) has announced that a study to be published in the June 22/29 issue found that a new vaccine against whooping cough is effective in teens and adults, carriers of the contagious respiratory disease so dangerous to infants.

3 Jun 2005

Children living close to high voltage overhead power lines at birth may be at an increased risk of leukaemia

The electric power system produces extremely low frequency electric and magnetic fields, and since 1979 there has been concern that these fields may be associated with cancer. In 2001, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified extremely low frequency magnetic fields as "possibly carcinogenic" while others, such as the UK Childhood Cancer Study, dispute the risk.

3 Jun 2005

Most doctors and patients misbelieve that a nebulizer is more effective than an inhaler for asthma

Battling a child’s asthma attack could be as simple as sliding a plastic tube onto the end of an inhaler, but many health-care providers don’t offer this option to parents, say University of Florida researchers, who are calling for change.

2 Jun 2005

Immunising against influenza

New Zealanders who were immunised against influenza last year are likely to have some protection against the current influenza viruses hitting schools around the country.

2 Jun 2005

Environmental solutions to childhood obesity

National and community leaders join researchers today to sort out how a child's environment increases the risk for obesity and to identify ways the environment can be changed to address this health epidemic.

2 Jun 2005

About one-fourth of infants who are violently shaken by an abuser will die from brain damage

Three-fourths of these infants will literally have the retinas of their eyes torn away from the back of the eye wall from the force of the motion.

2 Jun 2005

Australian MPs back call for smoking bans in cars

A campaign by doctors to ban adults from smoking in vehicles carrying children has strong support among Western Australian politicians, an AMA(WA) survey has revealed.

2 Jun 2005

Metabolic syndrome prevalent in elementary school children

The metabolic syndrome, a dangerous cluster of risk factors previously seen in adults and adolescents, is now appearing in elementary school-aged children.

2 Jun 2005

Intervention program reduces asthma in children

An asthma intervention program applied during the first year of life significantly reduced the prevalence of asthma in high risk children at 7 years of age, according to a new study featured on the online version of the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology (JACI). The JACI is the peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI).

2 Jun 2005

Day care facilities were shown to be an important source for allergen exposure

Day care facilities were shown to be an important source for allergen exposure, according to a study featured on the online version of the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology (JACI). The JACI is the peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI).

2 Jun 2005

Survey finds only 3 percent of prospective dentists plan to work exclusively in NHS

A survey of dental school applicants led by researchers at the University of Dundee has found that only 3% of those intending to enter general dental practice expected to work exclusively within the NHS.

2 Jun 2005