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News digest
This frequently updated news digest on the subject of Public Health highlights key articles from major journals, news publications and blogs. The digest is a free service of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. All rights reserved. Sign up to receive the digest free via email.
| May 22, 2012 |
Prostate Cancer Screening: Men Should Forgo PSA Testing, Panel Advises Time Healthland, Alice Park, 05/22/2012 Men should not get routinely screened for prostate cancer using the PSA test, a government panel recommends. The panel finds that there is little evidence that testing for PSA, or prostate specific antigen, saves men’s lives, while causing too much unnecessary harm from the treatment of tumors that would never have killed them. |
| May 21, 2012 |
C. Diff Infections Are Rising, Study Finds Huffington Post, 05/21/2012 Cases of the bacterial infection Clostridium difficile -- also known as C. diff -- are increasing in the United States, and many cases aren't contracted from a hospital, according to a new study. Mayo Clinic researchers found that C. diff infections between 2004 and 2009 were 12 times higher in children, compared with cases between 1991 and 1997. And among these cases, 75 percent of them were not contracted from a hospital. |
| May 21, 2012 |
Shot Protects Against More Than the Flu for Pregnant Women New York Times Well blog, Nicholas Bakalar, 05/21/2012 Giving the flu vaccine to pregnant women may bring significant benefits to their babies even before birth, a new study has found. |
| May 21, 2012 |
American Men Finally Closing the Longevity Gender Gap MSNBC, Bill Briggs, 05/21/2012 Between 1989 and 2009, life expectancy for U.S. males grew by 4.6 years while predicted lifespans for American women rose by 2.7 years, according to the recent report from Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. |
| May 20, 2012 |
Study Ties Secondhand Smoke to Bladder Irritation in Kids HealthDay News, 05/20/2012 Parents who smoke may put their children at greater risk for bladder irritation, according to a small new study. |
| May 20, 2012 |
Sleep Apnea Linked to Higher Cancer Death Risk HealthDay News, Serena Gordon, 05/20/2012 Sleep apnea has already been linked to a host of adverse health problems, such as high blood pressure and heart disease. Now, new research suggests that in people who already have cancer, the sleep disorder may raise their risk of dying from cancer. |
| May 18, 2012 |
Test Baby Boomers for Hepatitis C, Says CDC HealthDay News, Steven Reinberg, 05/18/2012 The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wants all Americans born between 1945 and 1965 -- the baby boom generation -- tested for hepatitis C. |
| May 18, 2012 |
Breastfed Babies May Gain Less Weight: Study Reuters, 05/18/2012 Babies who are breastfed gain less weight over their first year of life compared to babies fed either breast milk or formula from a bottle, according to a U.S. study. |
| May 17, 2012 |
Drowning Is Leading Cause of Kids' Accidental Death: CDC HealthDay News, Steven Reinberg, 05/17/2012 Drowning kills more American children 1 to 4 years old than any cause except birth defects, according to a new federal report. |
| May 17, 2012 |
Fewer Young Americans Smoking, Survey Finds HealthDay News, Robert Preidt, 05/17/2012 Smoking rates among American teens and young adults fell between 2004 and 2010, but too many of them still light up, a new federal government report reveals. |
| May 17, 2012 |
Fewer Girls Completing All Three HPV Shots: Study Reuters, Kerry Grens, 05/17/2012 Among girls and women who get their first human papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccine, the percent who complete all three doses is dropping, according to a new study. |
| May 17, 2012 |
Youth Smoking Falls as Taxes Make Cigarettes Too Costly BusinessWeek, Anna Edney, 05/17/2012 Fewer American teenagers and young adults are lighting up as cigarette taxes that have broken the $3-a-pack threshold in some states make smoking too costly, according to the latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health. |
| May 16, 2012 |
What Makes a Community Healthy? Q&A with Howard Frumkin NewPublicHealth.org, 05/16/2012 Creating healthier places is a conversation every town, city and state is having now. To help advance that conversation, NewPublicHealth spoke with Howard Frumkin, MD, MPH, PhD, dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Washington, and the former chair of the County Health Rankings Advisory Board. |
| May 16, 2012 |
Michael Shank: U.S. Peace Index Q&A NewPublicHealth.org, 05/16/2012 The Institute for Economics and Peace recently released the second annual United States Peace Index, which provides an assessment of U.S. peacefulness at the state and city levels. |
| May 16, 2012 |
Life and Health in a Low-Income Neighborhood Healthy Cal, Mary Flynn, 05/16/2012 Where you live determines your health. This idea has been steadily gaining traction as emerging research continues to highlight the connection between place, lifespan and quality of life. As healthycal.org recently reported, for instance, researchers have found that stress can get under your skin and that violence can alter a child’s DNA. The poorest counties in California have the worst health, while the richest, generally, have the best. |
| May 16, 2012 |
CDC Cuts Lead Poisoning Limit for Kids NPR Shots Blog, Scott Hensley, 05/16/2012 Preventing the exposure of kids to lead is a great idea, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said today. The public health honchos agreed with an expert panel that recommended in January that anything greater than 5 micrograms per deciliter of blood for kids 5 and younger should be considered dangerous. That's half the current standard and represents the first reduction since 1991. |
| May 16, 2012 |
New Data on the Health of These United States CNN The Chart, 05/16/2012 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released their annual health report for 2011 on Wednesday. The report contains more than 150 data tables on the U.S. population's well-being, with a special focus on socioeconomic status. |
| May 16, 2012 |
CDC: Higher Income and Education Levels Linked to Better Health Time Healthland, Alexandra Sifferlin, 05/16/2012 More educated people who make more money have lower rates of several chronic diseases, including obesity, compared to people with lower education and income levels, according to Health, United States, 2011, a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report. |
| May 15, 2012 |
U.S. Asthma Rates at All-Time High, CDC Says LA Times, Thomas H. Maugh II, 05/15/2012 The proportion of Americans with asthma increased from 7.3% in 2001 to 8.4% in 2010, marking the highest level ever, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday. In 2010, an estimated 18.7 million adults and 7 million children had the disease -- one in every 12 Americans. |
| May 15, 2012 |
FDA Panel Backs First Rapid, Take Home HIV Test Associated Press, 05/15/2012 American consumers may soon be able to test themselves for the virus that causes AIDS in the privacy of their own homes, after a panel of experts on Tuesday recommended approval of the first rapid, over-the-counter HIV test. |
| May 14, 2012 |
DSM 5 Could Mean 40% of College Students Are Alcoholics Time Healthland, Maia Szalavitz, 05/14/2012 Are you or have you ever been a college binge drinker? Welcome to alcoholism, a diagnosis your college self could qualify for under the changes proposed to the next edition of psychiatry’s diagnostic manual, the DSM 5. |
| May 14, 2012 |
“Button” Batteries Sending More Kids to ER HealthDay, Alan Mozes, 05/14/2012 Cases of children rushed to the emergency room after accidentally swallowing coin-sized batteries found in many household gadgets have doubled over the past two decades, new research reveals. |
| May 14, 2012 |
The Hidden Dangers of Baby Bottles, Pacifiers and Sippy Cups Time Healthland, Alice Park, 05/14/2012 They’re synonymous with infancy, but baby bottles, pacifiers and sippy cups may not be as baby-friendly as parents would like. Between 1991 and 2010, about 45,000 children under age 3 were treated in emergency rooms for injuries due to these products, according to a report in the journal Pediatrics. |
| May 12, 2012 |
Cutbacks Hurt a State’s Response to Whopping Cough New York Times, Kirk Johnson, 05/12/2012 Whooping cough, or pertussis, a highly infectious respiratory disease once considered doomed by science, has struck Washington State this spring with a severity that health officials say could surpass the toll of any year since the 1940s, before a vaccine went into wide use. |
| May 11, 2012 |
Detroit Proposal Calls for Transforming Health Department into an Institute Detroit Free Press, Patricia Anstett, 05/11/2012 The City of Detroit is expected to propose replacing its health department with a public health institute to save money as it tries to come up with a 2012-13 budget that satisfies the consent agreement it has with the state. |
| May 11, 2012 |
CDC Mulls Hepatitis C Testing for Boomers Houston Chronicle, Jeannie Kever, 05/11/2012 So many baby boomers are infected with hepatitis C - and so few of them know it - that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may recommend everyone born between 1945 and 1965 be screened for the disease. |
| May 11, 2012 |
CDC: Food-borne Illnesses Drop, But Food Safety Still Crucial Fox News, Karen Rowan, 05/11/2012 The rate of food-borne illness in the United States dropped by nearly a quarter since the late 1990s, according to a new report. |
| May 11, 2012 |
Prenatal Smoking Tied to Worse Asthma in Kids Reuters, Amy Norton, 05/11/2012 Children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy may have a tougher time controlling their asthma than other kids do, a new study suggests. |
| May 10, 2012 |
Frank Chaloupka Q &A: Study Shows 2009 Federal Tobacco Tax Helped Cut Youth Smoking NewPublicHealth, 05/10/2012 A new study by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago found that in the first 60 days following a 2009 federal tobacco tax, at least 220,000 young people were prevented from using tobacco. The research, which was published online today by the National Bureau of Economic Researchand funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the National Cancer Institute, demonstrates the substantial and immediate impact of the tobacco tax on reducing youth smoking and youth smokeless tobacco rates. |
| May 10, 2012 |
Report Claims SCHIP Cut Smokers, Increased Revenues CSP Daily News, 05/10/2012 A new study by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago claims that a large national tax increase "can influence youth tobacco use prevalence within a very short time period." |
| May 10, 2012 |
Norovirus Outbreak: Why You Shouldn’t Keep Your Grocery Bag in the Bathroom Time Healthland, Alice Park, 05/10/2012 In general, microbes like bacteria and viruses cannot survive for long on inanimate objects such as bathroom surfaces or grocery bags. Usually, norovirus is transmitted through direct human contact, but as the report highlights, it can survive long enough on surfaces to sicken those in close proximity to an infected person. |
| May 10, 2012 |
The Deadliness of Income Inequality The Atlantic, Brian Fung, 05/10/2012 Growing income inequality in the United States has Americans talking about justice and economic fairness, but a new study suggests the burgeoning wealth gap is threatening more than just our pocketbooks. It might be raising our risk for an early death. |
| May 9, 2012 |
Reusable Grocery Bag Carried Nasty Norovirus, Scientists Say MSNBC, JoNel Aleccia, 05/09/2012 Oregon public health officials have traced a nasty outbreak of norovirus infections in a group of soccer players to an unlikely source: a reusable grocery bag contaminated with what some experts are calling “the perfect pathogens.” The incident is raising questions, once again, about the cleanliness of the portable shopping bags that many consumers use to avoid the paper vs. plastic impact on the environment. |
| May 8, 2012 |
Recreational Use of Prescription Painkillers Linked to Other Drug Problems in Teens Time Healthland, Maia Szalavitz, 05/08/2012 Nearly 1 in 4 high school seniors has ever taken a prescription opioid pain reliever either medically or recreationally, according to a new study. Nonmedical use of these drugs was associated with a higher risk of smoking, illegal drug use and binge drinking, but proper medical use was not. |
| May 7, 2012 |
Industry Raises Millions to Fight Tobacco Tax Associated Press, 05/07/2012 Cycling legend Lance Armstrong is not accustomed to being the underdog. But the seven-time Tour de France winner faces a steep climb in his quest to raise tobacco taxes in California to fund cancer research. If voters approve the tax measure Armstrong is championing in the June primary, smokers in the nation's most populous state will pay an extra $1 for each pack they buy, raising hundreds of millions of dollars. |
| May 7, 2012 |
Fewer Young Women Complete HPV Vaccine New York Times Well blog, 05/07/2012 The vaccine against human papillomavirus is highly effective in preventing cervical cancer, but researchers report that the percentage of young women completing the required three vaccinations is low and dropping. |
| May 7, 2012 |
Vaccination Rates Higher in States Requiring Them in Middle School LA Times Booster Shots blog, 05/07/2012 States that require vaccination for pertussis, meningitis andtetanus for admission to middle school have a higher vaccination rate than states that do not, but the rate is not nearly as high as one might expect from such a requirement, researchers reported Monday. States that required only that educational materials be sent home for those vaccines and the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine showed no improvement in vaccination rates. |
| May 7, 2012 |
How Our Prescription Drug Obsession is Killing Kids Forbes, David DiSalvo, 05/07/2012 As prescription sales in the U.S. continue to skyrocket, so does the rate of child deaths by poisoning. According to the latest Vital Signs report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), childhood poisoning deaths increased 80 percent between 2000 and 2009, and prescription drugs accounted for 57 percent of the increase. |
| May 4, 2012 |
Washington Whooping Cough Epidemic Spurs Release of Extra Funds, Calls for CDC Help CBS News, 05/04/2012 The Washington State Health Department is asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help battle the state's whooping cough epidemic that has sickened more than 1,100 people. |
| May 4, 2012 |
Salmonella in Dog Food Sickens 14 People in US Associated Press, 05/04/2012 Fourteen people in at least nine states have been sickened by salmonella after handling tainted dog food from a South Carolina plant that a few years ago produced food contaminated by toxic mold that killed dozens of dogs, federal officials said Friday. |
| May 4, 2012 |
Largely Preventable Health Conditions Hamper U.S. Georgia Health News, Andy Miller, 05/04/2012 For a person accustomed to grim health data, one prediction still tends to be jarring: The current generation of American children may be the first not to live as long as their parents. Much of this projection is linked to the increase in obesity and health conditions. These and other medical deficits in the U.S. health system were highlighted Thursday at an Atlanta conference and in national media reports. |
| May 3, 2012 |
County Health Rankings & Roadmaps Take on Capitol Hill NewPublicHealth, 05/03/2012 Congressional staffers bent over iPads to check the health of their constituents in their home counties yesterday at a Capitol Hill briefing on the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps program, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. |
| May 3, 2012 |
USDA Unveils Plans to Stem Foodborne Illness WebMD Health News, Matt McMillen, 05/03/2012 As grilling season fast approaches, the USDA today announced initiatives to better protect consumers from contaminants that can turn meat deadly. Officials told reporters that the new efforts will allow the agency to focus on the prevention of outbreaks rather than simply responding to them after they occur. |
| May 3, 2012 |
Salmonella Sushi Outbreak Cases Jump to 258 Food Safety News, Mary Rothschild, 05/03/2012 Three more states have reported illnesses linked to the outbreak of Salmonella infection likely caused by raw sushi tuna imported from India, and the total number of confirmed cases has risen to 258, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday. |
| May 3, 2012 |
Third-Deadliest U.S. Food Outbreak Was Preventable, Experts Say CNN, Scott Bronstein and Drew Griffin, 05/03/2012 The 2011 listeriosis outbreak turned out to be one for the record books. It was, in fact, the most deadly food outbreak in the United States in nearly 100 years. It was the third-deadliest outbreak in U.S. history, according to health officials. It should not have happened, and it could have been prevented, according to numerous food safety experts and federal health officials. |
| May 3, 2012 |
Whooping Cough Vaccines Help But Aren’t Foolproof San Francisco Chronicle, Erin Allday, 05/03/2012 A statewide immunization effort seems to have curbed the epidemic of whooping cough that swept through California in 2010, but scientists will need to develop a stronger, more durable vaccine if they want to wipe out the illness altogether, infectious disease experts say. |
| May 2, 2012 |
Facebook Organ Donor Initiative Prompts 100,000 Users to Select New Option Associated Press, Mike Stobbe, 05/02/2012 Thousands of Facebook users have signed up to be organ donors this week, thanks to a new feature on the social networking site that makes it easier to register. |
| May 2, 2012 |
USDA Unveils Rules to Speed Tracking of Tainted Meat USA Today, Elizabeth Weise and Laura Petrecca, 05/02/2012 The updated rules by the U.S. Department of Agriculture allow inspectors to begin looking for meat contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 as soon as early testing shows a potential problem. The policy is designed to speed up the USDA's ability to track down contaminated hamburger and ground beef — and contain them. |
| May 1, 2012 |
California Study Shines Light on Cost of Preventable Diseases Wall Street Journal Health Blog, Louise Radnofsky, 05/01/2012 How much is spent on medical care for preventable chronic diseases? The answer today: a lot, but maybe not as much as you think. |
| Apr 30, 2012 |
Federal Trade Commission: Advertising Practices to Promote Public Health NewPublicHealth, 04/30/2012 The National Prevention and Health Promotion Strategy is about to celebrate its first anniversary. The Strategy offers a comprehensive plan aimed at increasing the number of Americans who are healthy at every stage of life. A cornerstone of the National Prevention Strategy is that it recognizes that good health comes not just from receiving quality medical care, but also from the conditions we face where we live, learn work and play such as clean water and air, safe worksites and healthy foods. The strategy was developed by the National Prevention Council, which is composed of 17 federal agencies including the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Office of National Drug Control Policy and others |
| Apr 30, 2012 |
Federal Trade Commission: Advertising Practices to Promote Public Health NewPublicHealth.org, 04/30/2012 The National Prevention and Health Promotion Strategy is about to celebrate its first anniversary. This week, NewPublicHealth spoke with Mary Engle, Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Advertising Practices, and National Prevention Council designee. |
| Apr 30, 2012 |
Dr. Oz Urges California State Workers to Get Fit Associated Press, 04/30/2012 Dr. Mehmet Oz joined California state officials Monday in launching a pilot workplace-wellness program aimed at getting public workers to improve their health as a way to save the state money on health care costs. |
| Apr 28, 2012 |
Secondhand Smoke Permeates Many Apartment Buildings: Study HealthDay, Alan Mozes, 04/28/2012 A new survey of American apartment dwellers reveals that upwards of a third of nonsmoking residents sniff the stench of secondhand smoke in their building's public spaces, while almost half smell it within their own homes. |
| Apr 27, 2012 |
Disaster Preparedness Center to Help Prepare for “The Big One” KSL, 04/27/2012 Getting Utah ready for "the big one" just got easier, as Intermountain Healthcare opened the first hospital-based disaster preparedness center west of the Mississippi River on Friday. |
| Apr 27, 2012 |
Hard Lessons from Twisters Have Made Alabama One of Best Prepared in Country The Birmingham News, Robin DeMonia, 04/27/2012 Like every other community hit in the April 27 tornadoes, Cullman found it wasn't fully prepared to respond -- not just to the damage inflicted by a vicious twister but to the outpouring of help from generous, good-hearted people. |
| Apr 26, 2012 |
200 Now Sick in Salmonella Sushi Outbreak MSNBC, JoNel Aleccia, 04/26/2012 At least 200 people in 21 states and Washington, D.C., now have been sickened by raw scraped tuna contaminated with not one but two rare strains of salmonella, government health officials reported Thursday. |
| Apr 25, 2012 |
SAMHSA Launches 24/7 Disaster Distress Helpline NewPublicHealth, 04/25/2012 The recent spate of severe storms around the country is a driving catalyst behind the decision by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) to change the status of its formerly as-needed helpline available after disasters, into a permanent program—the Disaster Distress Helpline. |
| Apr 25, 2012 |
Of Food Supply Risks, Mad Cow’s Not High on List Associated Press, Lauran Neergaard, 04/25/2012 If the mad cow found in California has you wondering about food safety, well, there are plenty of problems that pose serious risks to the food supply. But mad cow disease shouldn't be high on the worry list. Just in the past few months, Americans have been sickened by contaminated sprouts, raw milk and sushi. Thirty people died last year from bacteria-tainted cantaloupe. And when it comes to hamburger, a dangerous strain of E. coli that can lurk in ground beef sickens thousands of people every year. |
| Apr 25, 2012 |
Nation’s Air Improving, Even in L.A. WebMD Health News, Salynn Boyles, 04/25/2012 People who live in the nation's most polluted cities are breathing cleaner air than they have in over a decade, according to new data released today by the American Lung Association (ALA). |
| Apr 24, 2012 |
Los Angeles Bets on Crusading Doctor to Turn Around Public Health System NPR Shots Blog, Sarah Varney, 04/24/2012 As director of the county's Department of Health Services, Mitch Katz, 52, oversees Los Angeles' public hospitals and clinics, the health care of last resort for millions of low-income Angelenos. He oversees 22,000 employees and a $3.7 billion-dollar budget. |
| Apr 24, 2012 |
Prevention A Low Priority in Heart Docs' Training Reuters, Kerry Grens, 04/24/2012 A new survey of training programs for future cardiologists suggests that only a fraction are getting the minimum level of education in heart disease prevention that professional guidelines recommend. |
| Apr 24, 2012 |
Texts Prime Parents to Get Kids a Flu Shot: Study Reuters, Andrew M. Seaman, 04/24/2012 Research in New York City suggests that sending parents educational text messages about the flu vaccine and where to get it could increase the number of kids and teens protected during flu season. |
| Apr 24, 2012 |
TN’s Teen Drivers Pay Price for Inexperience The Tennessean, Tom Wilemon, 04/24/2012 Tennessee has a 15 percent fatality rate for drivers ages 16 to 17 who are involved in crashes — the 12th-highest in the nation, according to statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s a problem across the South because of its winding rural roads, scarcity of trauma centers and love of vehicles not built for safety. Not all public high schools here offer driver’s education classes, and many teenagers don’t abide by age-specific rules to prevent wrecks. |
| Apr 23, 2012 |
County Health Rankings: Creating Community Leaders NewPublicHealth, 04/23/2012 Much of what influences our health happens outside of the doctor’s office—in our schools, workplaces and neighborhoods. To improve the health of all Americans, our communities need leadership and action beyond health care providers. Throughout the United States, organizations led by innovative and action-oriented leaders are making the difference. |
| Apr 23, 2012 |
Should Parents Be Allowed to Decline Vaccines? Vermont Debates Time Healthland, Dave Gram, 04/23/2012 For much of the legislative session, Vermont has been embroiled in a debate over whether to end the “philosophical exemption” — essentially a right of refusal for parents who want to enroll their children in school or child care without immunizations. The list of shots called for by the state Health Department and the CDC is roughly 20 by the time a child enters kindergarten. |
| Apr 23, 2012 |
Emergency Pill Distribution Drill Planned Minnesota Public Radio, Elizabeth Dunbar, 04/23/2012 Federal public health officials will have their eyes on Minnesota on May 6, when local postal workers and the Minnesota Department of Health distribute pill bottles to about 37,000 households in the Twin Cities. The emergency planning exercise is aimed and finding out how well it would work for the U.S. Postal Service to distribute medication in the case of an anthrax attack or other emergency. It's the largest test in the country of the emergency plan to date. |
| Apr 22, 2012 |
Conference Highlights Rapid Growth of Health Impact Assessments in the United States The Health Care Blog, Aaron Wernham, 04/22/2012 (Aaron Wernham is director of the Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts) In organizing the National HIA Meeting, I worried that we might not find 200 people to attend. Instead, we had to close registration six weeks early: more than 430 leaders in public health, urban planning, housing, transportation, agriculture, and environmental regulation participated, and many more were on the waiting list. |
| Apr 22, 2012 |
Tick Season Starting Early This Year HealthDay, 04/22/2012 Tick season has started earlier than normal due to the mild winter, which means hikers, gardeners and others who love the outdoors should take precautions to prevent becoming a meal for ticks, an expert says. |
| Apr 21, 2012 |
Sushi Salmonella Outbreak Total Rises to 160 Confirmed Cases Food Safety News, Mary Rothschild, 04/21/2012 Nineteen more cases of Salmonella Bareilly infection have been confirmed in the multistate outbreak linked to sushi tuna. At least 160 people in 20 states and the District of Columbia have been sickened, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported Friday. |
| Apr 19, 2012 |
Frontiers in Public Health Services & Systems Research: Making Critical Research Accessible, Quickly NewPublicHealth, 04/19/2012 Frontiers represents one of the PHSSR field’s first forays into the “open science” movement—the effort to make scientific inquiry more transparent, interactive, collaborative, accessible, and usable in the real world. |
| Apr 19, 2012 |
Healthy Lifestyle Choices Could Cut Cancer Rates: Report HealthDay, Robert Preidt, 04/19/2012 Most people know what lifestyle choices will keep the chances of a cancer diagnosis low: Don't smoke, eat healthy, exercise and get the recommended screenings. But, many Americans don't make those choices, and a new report suggests that lawmakers and private industry need to do more to help make those changes easier ones to make. |
| Apr 19, 2012 |
Measles: 2011 Was the Worst in the U.S. in 15 Years Time Healthland, Alexandra Sifferlin, 04/19/2012 Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000. But a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says infections have risen: last year the U.S. reported the highest number of measles cases in 15 years. |
| Apr 19, 2012 |
Traffic Injuries Much More Common in Poor Areas, Study Finds LA Times, Karen Kaplan, 04/19/2012 Here’s another way that rich people are different – they experience far fewer traffic accidents in their neighborhoods, according to a new study. This isn’t exactly a shocking conclusion. There are an estimated 40,000 road deaths in the U.S. each year, and many studies have found that these are more likely to involve low-income people in low-income areas. |
| Apr 19, 2012 |
Your Salad: A Search for Where the Wild Things Were NPR The Salt blog, Dan Charles, 04/19/2012 When you tear open a bag of prewashed salad greens, do you worry that this superhealthful fast food could actually make you sick? The companies that sold you that salad do worry about it. Because no matter how much they try to keep dangerous microbes out of that bag, they can't seem to guarantee that they've caught every one. |
| Apr 19, 2012 |
Tough New Strain of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Virus Hitting U.S. USA Today, Elizabeth Weise, 04/19/2012 It hit Alabama last month, is in Northern California now and may be headed to a day care near you soon. The hand, foot and mouth virus that usually causes a slight fever and a rash on the palms in toddlers is called coxsackie A16. The new variant, A6, was first reported in the United States in December. It can hit kids and adults hard, causing fingernails and toenails to fall off two to three weeks after the illness has passed. |
| Apr 18, 2012 |
Half of Young Cigarette Smokers Also Smoke Pot: Survey HealthDay, 04/18/2012 More young cigarette smokers may also be lighting up joints than was previously thought, a new study finds. In a survey of young adults aged 18 to 25, more than half said they also use marijuana. Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), say that's a big increase from the 35 percent of young adults that, in prior research, had admitted to using both marijuana and tobacco within the past month. |
| Apr 18, 2012 |
More Smog Might Mean More Hospitalizations HealthDay, 04/18/2012 Long-term exposure to fine-particle air pollution may increase older adults' risk of being hospitalized for lung and heart disease, stroke and diabetes, a new study says. |
| Apr 17, 2012 |
Tough Strain of Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease Hits San Francisco Chronicle, Erin Allday, 04/17/2012 A new strain of hand, foot and mouth disease is circulating in the Bay Area, and is causing more severe and sometimes alarming symptoms than the display of minor rashes on feet and hands, and in the mouth, typically associated with the common childhood infection. |
| Apr 17, 2012 |
Alabama Colleges Take More Steps to Snuff Out Smoking The Birmingham News, 04/17/2012 The best way to get people to quit smoking is to prevent them from getting really hooked in the first place. That's the theory behind a new wave of anti-tobacco policies targeting some of the youngest smokers: college students. |
| Apr 16, 2012 |
Report: Nursing Homes Unprepared for Natural Disasters Associated Press, 04/16/2012 Tornado, hurricane or flood, nursing homes are woefully unprepared to protect frail residents in a natural disaster, government investigators say. |
| Apr 16, 2012 |
[OPINION] ‘Pink Slime’ Distracts from Food Safety Fight USA Today, 04/16/2012 Opponents of the filler enjoyed their media moment, but when the slime settled, so to speak, the victory seemed pretty empty: Even food safety advocates readily admit that pink slime is probably safer, if less appetizing, than the rest of raw ground beef. What's unsatisfying about the episode is that so many other aspects of food production are crying out for change, including problems that have sickened and killed tens of thousands of people over the past decade. |
| Apr 16, 2012 |
U.S. Children Are Safer Than Ever, But Suffocation, Poisoning Rise -- CDC Wall Street Journal Health Blog, Timothy W. Martin, 04/16/2012 The nation’s children are safer than ever, from schoolyard playgrounds to the back seats of cars, new government data show. But unintentional injuries and deaths from suffocation and poisoning are on the rise, a troubling sign for U.S. health officials. |
| Apr 14, 2012 |
CDC: Utah Has Fewest Students Taught About Condoms Associated Press, 04/14/2012 Fewer Utah high school students receive sex education lessons about condom use than their counterparts in almost every other state, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control. |
| Apr 14, 2012 |
Tuna Linked to Salmonella Outbreak in 20 States Associated Press, 04/14/2012 A yellowfin tuna product used to make dishes like sushi and sashimi sold at restaurants and grocery stores has been linked with an outbreak of salmonella that has sickened more than 100 people in 20 states and the District of Columbia, federal health authorities said Friday. |
| Apr 13, 2012 |
Clinton uses plan, poor rankings to improve health Clinton Herald, Natalie Conrad, 04/13/2012 While Clinton County ranked near the bottom of the list for the County Health Rankings released last week, local health officials are not accepting defeat. Clinton County Community Health Manager Michelle Cullen submitted a community health assessment to improve the health of Clinton residents as part of the Healthy Iowans Health Improvement plan for 2012 through 2016. |
| Apr 12, 2012 |
A Ton of Beef recalled for Possible E. Coli Contamination Associated Press, 04/12/2012 A Maine meat distributor has announced that it is recalling more than a ton of beef products that may be contaminated with the E. coli bacteria. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service said Wednesday that the 2,057 pounds of recalled meat distributed by Town and Country Foods of Greene were shipped from April 4 to April 10. |
| Apr 11, 2012 |
Public Health Financing: NewPublicHealth Q&A with Marthe Gold and Steven Teutsch NewPublicHealth, 04/11/2012 A new report released this week by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-sponsored Institute of Medicine Committee on Public Health Strategies to Improve Health calls for significant reforms to refocus America’s public health system toward prevention of the chronic diseases that are taking a toll on the nation’s health and economy. |
| Apr 11, 2012 |
Poverty and Obesity: Breaking The Link Huffington Post, Susan Blumenthal, 04/11/2012 Targeting only one aspect of the problem will not be effective in fighting the obesity epidemic, since many of its causes stem from broad social and environmental factors. |
| Apr 11, 2012 |
NC To Match Stricter Federal Food Safety Rules Associated Press, 04/11/2012 North Carolina residents can express themselves on new restaurant regulations aimed at making meals safer, a move much of the industry supports. |
| Apr 11, 2012 |
U.S. Tightens Rules on Antibiotics Use for Livestock The New York Times, Gardiner Harris, 04/11/2012 Farmers and ranchers will for the first time need a prescription from a veterinarian before using antibiotics in farm animals, in hopes that more judicious use of the drugs will reduce the tens of thousands of human deaths that result each year from the drugs’ overuse. |
| Apr 11, 2012 |
State Immunization Regulations Change Houston Chronicle, 04/11/2012 According to the regulations passed by the Texas Department of State Health Services, children covered under private insurance will no longer be able to receive immunizations through federal programs. These children must instead receive their immunizations through a personal physician. |
| Apr 10, 2012 |
Panel Proposes a New Tax to Pay for Public Health NPR Shots blog, Julie Rovner, 04/10/2012 |
| Apr 10, 2012 |
Birthrate for U.S. Teens is Lowest in History USA Today, Sharon Jayson, 04/10/2012 Teen births are at their lowest level in almost 70 years, federal data report today. Birthrates for ages 15-19 in all racial and ethnic groups are lower than ever reported. |
| Apr 9, 2012 |
Sushi Poisoning Reminder that Food System Needs Overhaul [OPINION] Bloomberg View, Editorial Board, 04/09/2012 Reports last week of a salmonella outbreak, possibly related to sushi, serve as a timely reminder of why the Obama administration must expedite a plan to modernize the country's food-safety regulations, which haven't been updated since the Great Depression. |
| Apr 9, 2012 |
No Seizure Risk from Measles Vaccine in Older Children The New York Times Well blog, Anahad O’Connor, 04/09/2012 A large new study has ruled out concerns that children over 4 are at greater risk of seizures after getting a common measles-containing vaccine called MMRV. |
| Apr 8, 2012 |
Why Alabama Can’t Keep the Weight Off The Anniston Star, Tim Lockette, 04/08/2012 No one seems to know, for sure, how long the country's waistline has been expanding, but there's ample evidence that Alabama has been at the forefront of the phenomenon. |
| Apr 7, 2012 |
Beyond the Mandate: Improving America’s Health Will Take More than Universal Insurance The Economist, 04/07/2012 America is the rare Western country without a universal insurance scheme. But, as a new study points out, a lack of insurance is only part of America's health problem. |
| Apr 6, 2012 |
California at Top in Climate-Change Preparedness San Francisco Chronicle, Peter Fimrite, 04/06/2012 California is one of only nine states that have developed comprehensive strategies and implemented policies to deal with water shortages, droughts, a shrinking snowpack and other water-related problems that are expected to occur if global temperatures increase this century as predicted by scientists, the Natural Resources Defense Council report said. |
| Apr 5, 2012 |
Building a Healthier Community? Apply for a Prize NewPublicHealth.org, 04/05/2012 There’s a movement afoot. Cities and towns big and small, counties from coast to coast and groups of passionate individuals from all over are coming together across sectors to build healthier communities. If your community is at the forefront of this movement, it’s your chance to get some recognition (and funding!) for your efforts. |
| Apr 4, 2012 |
Think Drunk-Driving Rules Are Tough Here? Try Sweden The Wall Street Journal Health blog, Joseph B. White, 04/04/2012 Every U.S. state has passed a law that makes it illegal to drive with a blood-alcohol level of .08% or higher. As in many other countries, the rules tend to be tougher for younger drivers. But it turns out the U.S. is relatively lenient on just what counts as too much, even though alcohol stubbornly remains a component in many fatal car crashes. |
| Apr 4, 2012 |
Report: U.S., Peers Must Cooperate on Import Safety USA Today, Matthew Perrone, Associated Press, 04/04/2012 Food and drug regulators in the U.S., Europe and other developed countries should offer training, technology and expertise to developing nations in Asia, Latin America and other regions to better assure the safety of imported products, states a new report. |
| Apr 3, 2012 |
Reporting Tobacco Use by Ballplayers is Now Just an Easy Online Form Away Yahoo! Sports News, Kevin Kaduk, 04/03/2012 Under the terms of baseball's new collective bargaining agreement, big league ballplayers, managers and coaches will no longer allowed to use chewing tobacco during televised interviews, autograph signings and team-sponsored events. |
| Apr 3, 2012 |
How Healthy Is Your County? A New Data Trove Can Tell You The Wall Street Journal Health blog, Melinda Beck, 04/03/2012 The 2012 County Health Rankings report, the third annual, is out today and provides a treasure trove of such data—29 measures in all—for each of the 3,005 counties in the U.S. |
| Apr 3, 2012 |
Salmonella Outbreak that Sickened 90 People Probed by FDA USA Today, Associated Press, 04/03/2012 Federal health officials are investigating an outbreak of salmonella that has sickened 90 people in 19 states and the District of Columbia, according to a Food and Drug Administration memo. |
| Apr 3, 2012 |
National Health Survey Ranks L.A. County 28th in State The Los Angeles Times, 04/03/2012 Los Angeles County ranked 28th in the state in a new national survey of county health rankings. Here, 22% of adults are obese, 19% are inactive and 16% drink excessively. In addition, 22% report being in poor or fair health. |
| Apr 3, 2012 |
Longevity Up in U.S., but Education Creates Disparity, Study Says The New York Times, Sabrina Tavernise, 04/03/2012 Americans are living longer, but the gains in life span are accruing disproportionately among the better educated, according to a new report by researchers from the University of Wisconsin. |
| Mar 31, 2012 |
Facebook: The Next Tool in Fighting STDs Salon.com, Tracy Clark-Flory, 03/31/2012 Imagine being able to download a Facebook app that would alert you to your sexually transmitted infection risk based on your friend’s status updates. This may sound far-fetched, and it still is, but as some researchers shift their focus to risk among friend groups, as opposed to just sexual partners, social networks are rapidly becoming a tool to prevent the spread of STIs. |
| Mar 31, 2012 |
Health Impact Studies Taking Hold, with Challenges Mercury News, Mary Esch, Associated Press, 03/31/2012 The National Research Council of the National Academies of Science recommends greater use of health impact assessments for major policies and projects. The goal is not to determine if a project is approved, but to ensure that adverse health effects are minimized. |
| Mar 30, 2012 |
CDC: Ads Spark Huge Increase to Quit Smoking Line Seattle Times, Mike Stobbe, Associated Press, 03/30/2012 More than twice as many people called a toll-free number to help them quit smoking a week after the launch of a $54 million ad campaign that shows graphic images of diseased smokers, federal health officials said Friday. |
| Mar 30, 2012 |
FDA: Tobacco Companies Must Report Chemicals Bloomberg Business Week, Matthew Perrone, Associated Press, 03/30/2012 Tobacco companies will be required to report the levels of dangerous chemicals found in cigarettes, chew and other products under the latest rules designed to tighten regulation of the tobacco industry. |
| Mar 30, 2012 |
Feds Reject Petition to Ban BPA in Food NPR The Salt blog, Jon Hamilton, 03/30/2012 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has denied a call to ban the plastic additive BPA from food packaging. The action comes after government scientists found little reason to think people are being harmed by the chemical. |
| Mar 30, 2012 |
Panel Says Flu Research is Safe to Publish The New York Times, Denise Grady, 03/30/2012 After a public furor over experiments that made a dangerous flu virus more contagious, a panel of scientific advisers reversed itself on Friday and recommended that full details of the research be published in scientific journals |
| Mar 30, 2012 |
CDC: States Lag in Boosting Cigarette Taxes TIME Healthland, Alexandra Sifferlin, 03/30/2012 Hiking up cigarette prices is one of the most effective ways to reduce smoking, especially in youths and young adults. Yet a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds that fewer states are increasing their cigarette excise taxes than in the past. |
| Mar 29, 2012 |
County Health Rankings 2012: NewPublicHealth Q&A with David Altman NewPublicHealth.org, 03/29/2012 "The County Health Rankings provide data at levels people can connect to, but if we're just looking at the data, that won't result in any improvement. So the next step for a community is to ask, 'Where do we need to improve, and what actions are we going to take?' And it can't be just the traditional health and health care constituents that get involved." |
| Mar 28, 2012 |
New Report Notes Lung Cancer Still Top Cause of Cancer Deaths in Iowa KCRG Channel 9, Cindy Hadish, 03/28/2012 Health experts say Iowa will fall short in its “healthiest state” goal if legislators continue to slash tobacco control funding. |
| Mar 28, 2012 |
Washington State Hit Hard by Whooping Cough ABC News, Mikaela Conley, 03/28/2012 Whooping cough is spreading throughout the country, and now the extremely contagious bacterial disease that causes violent coughing is hitting the state of Washington particularly hard. |
| Mar 28, 2012 |
State Setting Health Standards for Emerging Contaminants Minnesota Public Radio, Elizabeth Dunbar, 03/28/2012 The Minnesota Department of Health is taking a closer look at a variety of chemicals that make their way into the water supply. |
| Mar 27, 2012 |
Most Parents Don’t Fill Their Kids’ Asthma Meds—Study The Wall Street Journal Health blog, Shirley S. Wang, 03/27/2012 The majority of parents simply don’t fill their kids’ asthma prescriptions. That’s the take-home point in a JAMA study aimed at figuring out whether out-of-pocket costs for medications influenced parents’ willingness to fill prescriptions for their children’s asthma. |
| Mar 26, 2012 |
Study: Why Flu Hits Some People Harder than Others TIME Healthland, Alexandra Sifferlin, 03/26/2012 During the 2009-10 H1N1 or “swine flu” pandemic, the same virus that caused mild coughing and sneezing in some patients proved fatal for others. It highlighted a medical mystery: why are some people more fit to handle the flu than others? |
| Mar 26, 2012 |
10 Lesser Known Effects of Health Care Reform Law CNN, Madison Park and Elizabeth Landau, 03/26/2012 Many of the law's major aspects have been the topic of much discussion. But are you aware that deep within the sweeping law's 2,700 pages are many lesser known changes that could affect your life in unexpected ways? |
| Mar 26, 2012 |
Bird Flu Studies Getting another Round of Scrutiny by Panel NPR Shots blog, Nell Greenfieldboyce, 03/26/2012 This week, a panel of experts that advises the government about dual use issues, called the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, is having a closed-door meeting to once again look at unpublished manuscripts describing the completed experiments. Their deliberations will include a classified briefing from the intelligence community. |
| Mar 26, 2012 |
Putting Babies to Bed Safely The New York Times Well blog, Anahad O’Connor, 03/26/2012 Nearly two decades after a public health campaign began promoting sleep safety for babies, many parents and caretakers are still unaware of the habits that can lead to sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, a new study suggests. |
| Mar 25, 2012 |
Study: Wellness Programs Improve Health UPI, 03/25/2012 Chicago-area employers that use incentives to entice employees to get health screenings see improved health outcomes, a survey found. |
| Mar 25, 2012 |
Beef Patties Recalled Due to Possible E. Coli Threat Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Scott Gutierrez, 03/25/2012 A Seattle food products distributor is recalling about 16,800 pounds of ground beef patties due to a risk of contamination by E. coli bacteria, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports. |
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