Feature Channels: Public Health

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Despite medical advances in colon cancer screening and treatment, people with a lower socioeconomic status remain at a higher risk of dying from colon cancer. A new study in The Milbank Quarterly finds that states and communities that focus on increasing the adoption of innovative health care practices along with providing greater access to public health information can reduce these deaths.

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Support programs for teen parents and their children can help facilitate education, behavior change and access to resources, but more work is needed to meet the needs of this population, according to a series of new articles, two of which were coauthored by researchers at RTI International.

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After a series of Philadelphia hospitals started closing their maternity units in 1997, infant mortality rates increased by nearly 50 percent over the next three years.

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As flu season approaches, people who get sick may not realize they can pass the flu not only to other humans, but possibly to other animals, including pets such as cats, dogs and ferrets. This concept, called “reverse zoonosis,” is still poorly understood but has raised concern among some scientists and veterinarians.

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Indoor tanning beds can cause non-melanoma skin cancer – and the risk is greater the earlier one starts tanning, according to a new analysis led by UCSF.

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Despite a shared Latino heritage, there are significant differences in the overall health and the use of health-care services among Cuban-Americans, Mexican-Americans and Puerto Rican-Americans — even between men and women in the same subgroup — according to two recently published studies by Florida State University researchers.

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The NHTSA says about 1 million deer-car accidents occur on each year, killing 200 people and causing about $1 billion in vehicle damage. Cornell experts in both animal-human interactions and highway safety are available to discuss this dangerous annual peak, and how drivers can increase their odds of arriving safe and sound this fall.

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Interventions with young people insufficiently address the social factors of smoking.

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A study by a team of University of Kentucky researchers has shed new light on the potential habit-forming properties of the popular pain medication tramadol, in research funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The paper is slated to appear in an upcoming edition of the academic journal Psychopharmacology.

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Low levels of vitamin D and high levels of parathyroid hormone are associated with increased mortality in African American and Caucasian older adults, according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (JCEM).

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A risk communication study focuses on perceptions, information seeking and intent in coming to grips with a 13 percent flu vaccination rate among students sampled despite a strong CDC health outreach campaign.

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Those who smoke and drink heavily may develop pancreatic cancer at an earlier age than those who don’t. But quitting reduces the extra risk, a new study shows.

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Top box office films last year showed more onscreen smoking than the prior year, reversing five years of steady progress in reducing tobacco imagery in movies, according to a new UCSF study.

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New study finds African-American youths are over-exposed to alcohol advertising.

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Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center, concerned that women who quit smoking during their pregnancies often resume smoking after they deliver their baby, tested self-help interventions designed to prevent postpartum smoking relapse.

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he D.C. Department of Health (DOH) has released a study by George Washington University School of Public Health & Health Services (SPHHS) indicating the high levels of marketing by antipsychotic drug manufacturers to Medicaid psychiatrists in the District of Columbia.

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For the first time, a “how-to” report gives designers and architects strategies to promote active living AND maximize safety.

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People who smoke both cigarettes and waterpipes – dual users – lack sufficient knowledge about the risks of tobacco smoking and are at considerable risk for dependence and tobacco-related diseases, such as cancer, heart disease and stroke later in life, according to findings of a new study by Virginia Commonwealth University.

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Low-weight at birth is an additional but independent risk factor.

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Cancer-related medical costs, already a significant portion of overall medical expenses in the United States, will more than double in some states in less than eight years, according to a new study by researchers from RTI International and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Despite rapid adoption of dabigatran for the treatment of atrial fibrillation, a large proportion of patients did not receive oral anticoagulant therapy and an increasing proportion of use was for off-label indications.

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A published study by researchers from the West Virginia University School of Public Health and Injury Control Research Center found that suicide has now passed motor vehicle traffic crashes as the leading cause of injury deaths in the United States. Additionally, the disease rate has been declining while the injury rate has been rising.

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Secondhand smoke is accountable for 42,000 deaths annually to nonsmokers in the United States, including nearly 900 infants, according to a new UCSF study.

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Moving from a high-poverty to lower-poverty neighborhood spurs long-term gains in the physical and mental health of low-income adults, as well as a substantial increase in their happiness, despite not improving economic self-sufficiency, according to a new study.

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A new postage stamp-sized, paper-based device could provide a simple and reliable way to monitor for liver damage at a cost of only pennies per test, say researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Diagnostics For All (DFA), a Cambridge, MA nonprofit dedicated to improving the health of people living in the developing world.

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A new publication by researchers from the University of Utah, appearing in the Sept 19 issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine, indicates video games can be therapeutic and are already beginning to show health-related benefits.

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More than one-third of young adults who reported being victims of dating violence as teenagers had two or more abusive partners, a new study suggests.

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Jeff Niederdeppe is a professor of communication who explores the effects of mass media on health behavior and social policy. He welcomes the move by McDonald’s to post calorie information, but calls on the fast food giant to lead the way toward changes that will have broader health benefits.

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A Saint Louis University study finds many U.S. schools are not prepared for bioterrorism attacks, outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases or pandemics.

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Although high cigarette taxes are effective at reducing cigarette smoking, they disproportionally burden low-income smokers, according to a new study by researchers at RTI International.

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A Tufts University study of the relationship between air quality and unemployment levels uses a new statistical model that retrospectively estimates air pollution for previous time periods where such information is not available. The study also found that air quality improved during recessions

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An off-patent anti-inflammatory drug that costs around two cents for a daily dose in developing countries has been found by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College to kill both replicating and non-replicating drug resistant tuberculosis in the laboratory -- a feat few currently approved TB drugs can do, and resistance to those is spreading.

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Director of SLU's Institute for Biosecurity Dr. Alan Zelicoff suggests the use of real-time disease surveillance systems to be able to recognize bioterrorism threats.

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Public health messages may help encourage fathers to have more conversations with their children about waiting to become sexually active, according to researchers at RTI International and George Washington University.

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Because most years see low incidence rates of West Nile, vaccine research is challenging; UAB experts say reach for the DEET.

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Between 2000 and 2008, the proportion of HIV-infected patients in the U.S. receiving effective treatment known as highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) increased, and HIV-infected patients appeared to be less infectious and have healthier immune systems at death.

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A Texas Tech scientist who studies the disease warns the public to take precaution to keep from getting sick.

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The Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study involving 154,000 individuals from 628 communities reported on the patterns of diet, physical activity and smoking.

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New study results call for better screening for diabetes, heart disease.

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Your child goes to bed in perfect health. The next morning she wakes up with high fever, malaise and bright red blisters erupting all over her body. Johns Hopkins Children’s Center dermatologists say the disturbing scenario has become quite common in the last few months, sending scared parents to their pediatrician’s office or straight to the emergency room.

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UCSF researchers found that poor HIV-infected individuals living in San Francisco are significantly more likely to visit emergency rooms and to have hospital stays if they lack access to food of sufficient quality and quantity for a healthy life.