Feature Channels: Public Health

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Researchers asked: Are lower levels of physical activity among African-American teens related to hair care?

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The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses has selected Elizabeth Henneman as its 2017 Distinguished Research Lecturer. An associate professor at the University of Massachusetts College of Nursing, Henneman is widely known for her research on how nurses and physicians recover medical errors at the point of care.

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In developing nations, the current test to diagnose tuberculosis (TB) is error-prone, complicated and time-consuming. Furthermore, patients in these resource-limited areas can’t easily travel back to a clinic at a later date to get their results. To make diagnoses simpler, faster and more accurate, chemists have developed a quick and easy diagnostic tool. Field trials of the experimental new test began in June in South Africa, which has a high incidence of TB.

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Though the health systems in Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Jamaica, Mexico and Panama have considerable strengths, citizens still reported gaps in the way primary care is organized, financed and delivered in those countries. Those who had better experiences were less likely to say that their health system needed major reforms.

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Despite the wishes of some schoolchildren, there's no such thing as an endless summer, and a Rowan Medicine physician says it's not too soon for kids - and their parents - to start preparing for the big changes that arrive with the first school bells of fall.

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Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute now have a high-resolution view of exactly how the experimental therapy ZMapp targets Ebola virus.

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Genetic research is a valuable tool in understanding diseases and their prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. However, significant obstacles limit the clinical use of this knowledge to all groups. Genetic applications in healthcare must advance in a way that reduces racial and ethnic disparities.

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Researchers at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have identified a new potential target for drugs to prevent type 2 diabetes. A paper published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation shows that blocking a cellular glucose sensor in muscle improves insulin responsiveness.

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Programs aimed at helping patients adhere to prescription medication regimens have become an area of interest for researchers as nearly half of patients do not take medications as prescribed. In a new study, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Humana Inc. show that a refill synchronization program – in which patients were able to receive all refills at the same time – increased medication adherence by more than 10 percent in some patient subgroups. The results are published today in Health Affairs.

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After fully sequencing the latent HIV “provirus” genomes from 19 people being treated for HIV, scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine report that even in patients who start treatment very early, the only widely available method to measure the reservoir of dormant HIV in patients is mostly counting defective viruses that won’t cause harm, rather than those that can spring back into action and keep infections going.

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Andrew Gewirtz, a professor in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University, has received a four-year, $1.8-million federal grant to study how changes in intestinal bacteria could lead to obesity and metabolic syndrome.

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PHOENIX and TEMPE, Ariz. — Mayo Clinic and Arizona State University’s (ASU) research leadership announce the launch of a new grant program that will team up research scientists and clinicians from both institutions to develop transformative solutions for patients.

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Whether an HIV-positive man has met cultural expectations of masculinity might impact how much stigma he experiences, according to a new study from Binghamton University, State University of New York.

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Working or volunteering can reduce the chances of chronic health conditions leading to physical disability in older Americans, according to researchers at Georgia State University and Florida State University.

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Expert can speak on the use of animal toxins to develop a new generation of medicines. Gur Roshwalb, MD, Chief Executive Officer of Akari Therapeutics, is studying the use of Coversin—a molecule derived from the saliva of the Ornithodoros moubata tick—in potential treatments for conditions such as paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) and Guillain Barré syndrome (GBS).

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The Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing (GGHSON) at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso (TTUHSC El Paso) has received a $430,780 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide long-distance health education to underserved communities in rural West Texas.

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Doctors, nurses and staff at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) got a special treat earlier this week – a sneak preview of the Quinceanera gowns worn by two very special patients – formerly conjoined twins Josie Hull and Teresa Cajas. The girls were famously separated at the skull in a surgery in 2002.

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The Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Institute for Global Health has been chosen as one of three study sites in a human safety trial of a new Zika vaccine. The early-stage study will evaluate the experimental vaccine’s safety and ability to generate an immune system response in participants.

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Drones have become ubiquitous in our society; there is a national drone film festival, a national drone racing championship, and drones are being used extensively by the military for surveillance. But what would the world look like if this technology were used to improve the lives of the global poor? For the first time in history, drones are being used in a new, life-saving way to improve healthcare for vulnerable rural communities where delivery of care is hampered by poor or non-existent roads. Vayu, Inc. and Stony Brook University, with support from Madagascar government and backing from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), completed the first ever series of long-range, fully autonomous drone flights with blood and stool samples (watch video).

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In light of the recent news reports regarding the lack of scientific research supporting the oral health benefits of flossing, ADHA has released this statement.

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A month after announcing that two promising vaccine candidates provided mice with complete protection against the Zika virus, a research team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), in collaboration with scientists at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) and the University of São Paulo, now reports achieving complete protection against Zika virus in rhesus monkeys. The research team’s findings were published online today in the journal Science.

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UT Physicians, the medical practice of McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), has opened its newest health center, UT Physicians Community Health & Wellness Center – Rosenberg, at 5115 Avenue H, Suite 701.

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A combination of three medications—dapagliflozin, liraglutide and insulin—helped people with Type 1 diabetes improve blood sugar control and lose weight, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

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AACC welcomed thousands of medical professionals and healthcare leaders at the 68th AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo in Philadelphia from July 31–August 4. The meeting featured pioneering advances in medical testing research and technology that will help patients get accurate diagnoses and more effective treatment. As of Wednesday, August 3, a total of 20,000 laboratory medicine professionals had registered for the meeting, which is a 14% increase over meeting attendance in 2015 and the highest number of attendees that have come to the meeting in the last four years. More attendees are expected today, the last day of the meeting.

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A UAB School of Dentistry faculty member talks bad breath — where it comes from and how to fight it.

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A new study published Aug. 4 in the New England Journal of Medicine indicates that among African American U.S. Army Soldiers, sickle cell trait is not associated with an increase in mortality, but is associated with a modest increase in the risk of exertional rhabdomyolysis.

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Krembil Research Institute researchers have discovered a pair of tissue biomarkers that directly contribute to the harmful joint degeneration associated with spine osteoarthritis.

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Beckman Coulter Addresses Critical Factors for Clinical Laboratories to Move Healthcare Forward

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The first of its kind alliance provides Augusta University’s medical center with unprecedented access to the full suite of diagnostic products and world-class business services available from Beckman Coulter’s parent company, Danaher Corporation.

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The George Washington University Ron & Joy Paul Kidney Center has launched a kidney health education campaign in the Washington, D.C. area, which has the highest prevalence of kidney disease in the U.S. Advertisements encouraging residents to check their kidney health have started to appear on buses, with television, radio and digital media advertisements appearing throughout the next year.

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Polomano will provide strategic vision and leadership for practice and community engagement.

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Parents are vital in encouraging their children to obey the road rules and young drivers are keen to show their parents they can be trusted, which means they may hold greater power in enforcing driver restrictions compared with traditional policing, according to QUT research.

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Mike Kent, a researcher in Sandia National Laboratories’ Biological and Engineering Sciences Center, is studying a protein called Nef involved in HIV progression to AIDS with the ultimate goal of blocking it. He and his collaborators have developed a new hybrid method to study this HIV protein that compromises the immune system. The method also could work on many other proteins that damage cellular processes and cause diseases.

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On August 6th, the Endocrine Society will launch its new global outreach campaign, EndoCares, at the Peruvian Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Lima, Peru. The two-day program will include a session to educate healthcare providers on diabetes care, a one-day congress for patients with Type 2 diabetes and a Type 1 diabetes-focused workshop for children and adolescents.

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Footballers’ injuries may be predicted by looking at players’ workloads during training and competition, according to new research.

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Pacific University (Ore.) Pharmacy Professor John Harrelson Awarded More Than $375,000 to Research New Therapies for Tobacco Addiction

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The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) has launched a new series of videos featuring interviews with health care leaders about issues impacting state medical boards and their mission of protecting the public.

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Health and wellness tips from UT Southwestern Medical Center experts for August 2016

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The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) announced that it has been certified for a third time by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). The FSMB, which received its initial NCQA Certification in 2012, is certified under NCQA’s Credentials Verification Organization Certification Program for the following credentials elements: Education and Training, Ongoing Monitoring of Sanctions, Medicare/Medicaid Sanctions, Medical Board Sanctions, and License to Practice.

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The first known household survey examining the collateral harm to pregnancy services in areas affected by the West African Ebola epidemic suggests a significant slide backwards in child and maternal health. The study, conducted in Liberia, points to the deep disruptions caused by the Ebola epidemic — even in parts of the country with relatively limited transmission.

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UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found an important innate immunity role for a gene linked to a rare, fatal syndrome in children. Their study has implications for a much more common disease: tuberculosis.

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Hidden dental root tip infections are very common: as many as one in four Finns suffers from at least one. Such infections are usually detected by chance from X-rays.

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The University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System is ranked in the top 10 hospitals in the Chicago metro area and in Illinois for 2016-17 by U.S. News & World Report.

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Mercy Medical Center has been ranked as a top hospital in Maryland for 2016-17 by U.S. News & World Report in its annual “Best Hospitals” edition. Mercy was ranked nationally (47th) as a best hospital for Orthopedics.

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