Feature Channels: Public Health

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Statistical mapping technique shows widely dispersed population could pose challenges for initiative

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Scientists have developed a method to track perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) in the body. PFAS are potentially toxic chemicals found in stain-resistant products, nonstick cookware, fire-fighting foams and, most recently, fast food wrappers.

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Researchers have identified a hormone that helps prevent the spread of bacterial pneumonia through the body, and that discovery may offer a simple way to help vulnerable patients.

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Susan Wootton, M.D., associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases at McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), will lead a project to increase low vaccination rates among pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students in the Houston Independent School District (HISD).

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"Climate change is real. It is affecting our world and it is having a direct impact on public health, today. The science clearly illustrates how human health is harmed by heat waves, forest fires, extreme weather events and other consequences of carbon pollution.

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California experienced record rainfall this year, and may have even made headway against the state’s historic drought. Now that lush landscapes abound and spring is upon us, what does this mean for allergy sufferers? The wet weather can be a harbinger of intense allergy-related symptoms such as nasal drainage, sinus congestion, headaches and shortness of breath according to Dr. Maria Garcia-Lloret, an allergist with UCLA Health. It’s not the rain that causes the symptoms, according to Garcia-Lloret, but the rain’s effect on trees, grass and weed pollen.

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Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed a method to analyze the glycan shield on HIV’s protective outer glycoprotein, developed as a potential HIV vaccine candidate.

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A UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center-led study found broad support, even among smokers, for increasing the size of health warnings on cigarette packs.

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TSRI Scientists Reveal How Viruses Disable Bacterial Immune Systems

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The American Pain Society (APS), www.americanpainsociety.org, will host its 36th Annual Scientific Meeting May 17-20 at the Pittsburgh Convention Center. APS is the leading multidisciplinary professional society in the United States dedicated to advancing pain-related research, education, treatment and team-oriented professional practice.

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A study published today reports that a team led by Indiana University scientists has mapped a key protein that causes the Zika virus to reproduce and spread.

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Could unique psychological factors that hamper emotional regulation help explain differences in HIV/STI risk-related sexual behaviors among heterosexually active black youth with mental illnesses?

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Researchers predicted the places in the continental U.S. where Zika is most likely to be transmitted are the Mississippi delta and southern states extending northward along the Atlantic coast and in southern California.

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Currently, only 44 percent of adults in the United States receive an annual flu vaccination. Though the rate has increased in recent years, the change has been slow and marginal. But, a new study suggests that a simple behavioral economics technique known as “active choice” may be able to help. In the study, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania programmed electronic health records (EHR) to alert care providers when a patient was eligible, and prompt them to choose to “accept” or “decline” a flu vaccination order. Results showed a six percent increase over clinics that did not use the alert system, representing a 37 percent relative increase in vaccinations from the prior year. The study is published online this month in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

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Researchers at Mayo Clinic have found patients who use gastric suppression medications are at a higher risk for recurrent Clostridium difficile (C-diff) infection. C-diff is a bacterium that can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to life-threatening inflammation of the colon. The study is published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

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Antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria like Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Staphylococcus and pathogens like malaria are emerging throughout the world. Dotiwala’s research centers on the mechanisms of killer immune cells—such as natural killer and CD8 T cells—and how they target and destroy pathogens in host cells. This research could result in promising therapeutic strategies against infections that were once thought to be drug-resistant.

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Researchers from Queen’s University Belfast have discovered why antibiotics for treating people with cystic fibrosis are becoming less effective and how fat soluble vitamins might offer a viable solution

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Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have received a three-year, $1.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a new implantable drug delivery system for long-lasting HIV-prevention.

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The Endocrine Society praised the decision to extend access to therapeutic continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) to older Americans on intensive insulin therapy for diabetes.

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Through experimental and computational tests, new research expands on the theory of virus surface hydrophobicity. By being slightly water-repellant, the outer layers of proteins in virus capsids affect how it interacts with cells and the environment. Understanding this more can improve vaccine production and virus detection.

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In 2015, nearly 57 percent of all poison exposure cases nationwide involved prescription or over-the-counter medicines.  So during National Poisoning Prevention Week, the Blue Ridge Poison Center at University of Virginia Health System is encouraging people to keep all medicines stored out of the sight and reach of children, read labels carefully before giving or taking any medicine, and to check their home for expired or unused medicines and dispose of them properly.

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More than 2 million poisonings are reported each year to poison centers across the United States, and half those calls involve children under 6. As part of National Poison Prevention Week CHLA pediatric medical toxicologist Cyrus Rangan, M.D. shares tips for preventing poisoning in the home.

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Service learning is a pedagogical approach that has proven valuable in helping undergraduate nursing students better understand specific needs of diverse populations and gives them opportunities to apply their knowledge to meet those needs. The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) has provided its students with dynamic service learning opportunities since 2014 though a unique student-established program called Community Champions, featured in a recent article published online in the Journal of Nursing Education and Practice.

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In a new paper, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, along with colleagues in Brazil and Spain, describe the phenotypic spectrum or set of observable characteristics of congenital Zika (ZIKV) syndrome, based upon clinical evaluations and neuroimaging of 83 Brazilian children with presumed or confirmed ZIKV congenital infections.

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Transmission of the mosquito-borne dengue virus appears to be largely driven by infections centered in and around the home, with the majority of cases related to one another occurring in people who live less than 200 meters apart, new research led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the University of Florida suggests.

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Health psychologists have begun treating gastrointestinal disorders that are strongly affected by stress, including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Crohn’s disease, functional heartburn, functional dyspepsia and ulcerative colitis.

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A new study by UNC School of Medicine researchers suggests that food scarcity and poor oral health are major risk factors for malnutrition that leads an older adult – already at high risk of functional decline, decreased quality of life, and increased mortality – to land in the emergency department.

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The Open Philanthropy Project has awarded a $3.5 million grant to the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University Medical Center to support research focused on improving U.S. and international biosecurity and pandemic preparedness policy.

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Dr. Panos Papapanou received the IADR Distinguished Scientist Award in Basic Research in Periodontal Disease for research on the epidemiology of periodontal diseases, their pathobiology, assessment of microbial and host-derived risk factors, as well as the diseases’ role as health stressor in heart disease and pregnancy complications.

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Statin drugs are widely used to manage high cholesterol and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. But in a new review of more than 50 studies, researchers cite reductions in liver inflammation and improvements in other related factors as reasons why statins make good candidates for treating chronic liver disease.

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The transformation of US immigration policy could have a harmful effect on the general public, patients and the health care system, say two public health law experts.

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A first of its kind mouse model could lead to an understanding of how cerebral malaria infection leads to the development of epilepsy in children and to the prevention of seizures.

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Building on earlier work in designing chimeric human-simian immunodeficiency viruses (SHIVs) that serve as a model of HIV infection of humans, George M. Shaw, MD, PhD, a professor of Hematology/Oncology and Microbiology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has received $16.3 million over five years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop a long-sought-after HIV vaccine.

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People who lose a partner to suicide are at increased risk for a number of mental and physical disorders, including cancer, depression, herniated discs and mood disorders than those in the general population, new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health research suggests.

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In a new study, researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, University of Cyprus and Stanford University map the complex biological cascade caused by MIA: the expression of multiple genes involved in autism are turned up or down by MIA, affecting key aspects of prenatal brain development that may increase risk for atypical development later in life.

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Opioids, including heroin and prescription drugs, killed 33,000-plus people in 2015, more than any year on record, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. President Trump’s proposed budget aims to bring a $500 million increase in funding for prevention and treatment, but that amount isn’t enough to address the crisis, says an expert on substance use disorder treatment at Washington University in St.

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A symposium on continuous renal replacement therapies in AACN Advanced Critical Care includes an article on the multitude of factors that clinicians should incorporate into drug dosing and medication management during CRRT.

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A new study from researchers at UAB analyzing three different methods for characterizing sepsis has helped to illustrate the risk of death or severe illness attributable to the condition. The study is one the most comprehensive studies of the burden of sepsis in the United States.

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Bethesda, Md -- Navy Captain (Dr.) Mark S. Riddle, an expert in tropical medicine and public health, was selected to lead the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences’ (USU) F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine – ‘America’s Medical School’. Riddle will begin his new duties in May.

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A team of Vanderbilt biologists has found that the malaria mosquito has a second complete set of odor receptors that are specially tuned to human scents.

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Pilot Projects involving two researchers at the University of Rhode Island have been awarded federal funding through Advance Clinical and Translational Research (Advance-CTR), a statewide effort to support clinical research that can be translated into approaches and policies that improve the health of Rhode Islanders

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New research suggests that GlycA, a newly identified blood marker, and C-reactive protein both independently predict major adverse cardiac events, including heart failure and death. Patients who have high levels of both biomarkers are at especially high risk.

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NewYork-Presbyterian sleep experts provide tips for healthy sleep habits, this World Sleep Day.

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University of Montreal bioethicists study whether health professionals in the Canadian Armed Forces can abide by two ethics codes, civilian and military

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A little empathy can go a long way toward ending infectious disease outbreaks. That’s a conclusion from researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, who used a networked variation of game theory to study how individual behavior during an outbreak of influenza – or other illness – affects the progress of the disease, including how rapidly the outbreak dies out.

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News release on the Zika virus