Public Health
Meeting UN goals can lower childhood mortality
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A combination of environmental and nutritional programs that target the poor can substantially reduce childhood mortality globally, new research suggests.
The findings illustrate how working toward environmental and nutritional United Nations Millennium Development Goals can help achieve other goals, in this case improving child survival, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Teens with jobs more likely to smoke
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High school students who work at jobs for pay appear to be more likely to start smoking than their peers who don’t work outside of school, researchers report. They also found that youths who work longer hours are more likely to smoke that those who work fewer hours.
Dr. Rajeev Ramchand, a behavioral scientist at RAND Corporation in Arlington, Virginia, and colleagues looked at the relationship between working for pay and the initiation of smoking among nearly 800 urban, predominantly African-American students.
Parents enthusiastic about doctor e-mail access
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Parents and pediatricians both seem to benefit from using e-mail for routine questions, Pennsylvania-based researchers report in the October issue of Pediatrics.
“Our study,” Dr. Paul Rosen told Reuters Health, “showed that parents reported a better understanding of their child’s medical tests, an increase in access to care, and improved quality of care by being able to e-mail their doctor.”
Living fossils have hot sex
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University of Utah scientists discovered a strange method of reproduction in primitive plants named cycads: The plants heat up and emit a toxic odor to drive pollen-covered insects out of male cycad cones, and then use a milder odor to draw the bugs into female cones so the plants are pollinated.
The unusual form of sexual reproduction used by some species of cycads – primeval plants known as “living fossils” – may represent an intermediate step in the evolution of plant pollination, the researchers report in the Friday, Oct. 5 issue of the journal Science.
New York City’s infant mortality rate declined in 2006
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New York City’s infant mortality rate – widely regarded as a barometer of a population’s general health – fell slightly in 2006, the Health Department reported today. The rate in 2006 was 5.9 infant deaths for every 1,000 births, down from 6.0 the previous year. The City has made major progress in reducing infant deaths since the early 1990s, when the rate was double what it is today, but the decline has leveled off in recent years. The Health Department also reported that in poorer sectors of the city, infant mortality rates are still double the citywide rate.
In 2006, there were 740 infant deaths (defined as deaths of infants less than a year old) out of 125,506 New York City births. The city’s infant mortality rate is still lower than the national rate, which was 6.8 per 1,000 births in 2004, the most recent year on record. The leading causes of infant death both in New York City and nationally are birth defects, premature birth, and low birth weight.
Dramatic Increase in Hospital Admissions for Children with Cancer
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The number of hospital admissions for patients age 18 and under with cancer increased by more than 80 percent between 2000 and 2005—from roughly 54,000 to nearly 100,000 admissions—according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
The increase was driven partly by a dramatic improvement in the survival rate of children with cancer. While children with cancer are increasingly treated in outpatient settings, some types of care still require hospitalization.
No guarantee Montreal ozone talks will succeed-US
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Although countries back the idea of eliminating ozone-depleting chemicals faster than originally planned, there is no guarantee that they will agree on a new accelerated timetable at a major conference this week, a senior U.S. official said Monday.
Claudia McMurray, U.S. assistant secretary for the environment, said the main problem was working out whether the technical and financial aid available for the developing world would be enough to satisfy countries such as China.
Dermatologists Identify North Texas Leishmaniasis Outbreak
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A team of dermatologists and dermatopathologists at UT Southwestern Medical Center has identified nine North Texas cases of an infectious skin disease common in South America, Mexico and in the Middle East, where it is sometimes referred to as a “Baghdad boil.”
Numerous cases of the disease, called leishmaniasis, have been reported in troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. But for the first time, cases of this dangerous infection are appearing in North Texas in patients who have not traveled to endemic areas.
Americans spend most on Lipitor, drug survey finds
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U.S. consumers spent more money on the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor—more than $9 billion—than any other prescription drug in 2004, according to federal estimates released on Wednesday.
Cholesterol drugs in general raked in the most money for their makers, according to the survey by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
China cigarette packs to get skull health warnings
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Chinese cigarette packs will have skulls, blackened teeth or diseased lungs printed on them in the latest effort to tackle smoking, but one expert said the images may actually attract younger people to take up the habit.
The images would have to take up at least 30 percent of the pack’s surface area under rules that would come into force from January 2009, the Beijing Morning Post said, citing an official at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
Obesity is greatest health threat facing Europe
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Obesity is the greatest health threat facing the European Union, the bloc’s health chief said on Friday.
European Commission figures show up to 27 percent of European men and 38 percent of women are obese. The prevalence of obesity has more than trebled in many European countries since the 1980s, the World Health Organisation says.
Women top men as seekers of online health info
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Women are much more likely than men to search the Internet for information on health, according to research conducted by two professors from Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island.
The finding is consistent with gender differences in healthcare utilization; for instance, women are more apt than men to go to the doctor when sick, the researchers say.
Skin-care industry skipping out on science?
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The multi-billion-dollar global cosmetics and skin-care-product industry sometimes is beset by a me-too mindset in which research and development focuses on matching the competition rather than applying sound science to improve products, a scientist told the 234th national meeting of the American Chemical Society.
As a result, it could be missing a golden opportunity to provide consumers with more effective products, according to a Stig E. Friberg, Ph.D. a chemist who studies cosmetic ingredients.
Shorter heart health programs just as effective in saving lives
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Secondary prevention programs for coronary heart disease that contain less than 10 hours contact with health professionals and those provided by family doctors are just as effective in saving lives as more expensive, longer and more specialized hospital-based alternatives, according to cardiovascular researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.
Dr. Alexander Clark, an associate professor in the U of A Faculty of Nursing and Alberta Heritage Investigator, is lead author on an article published in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation.
America’s ‘anti-prostitution pledge’ is hindering global HIV control efforts
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In order to receive US funding for HIV prevention or control projects, recipient organizations must take a pledge that explicitly condemns prostitution. But such condemnation is not effective at helping to control the global HIV epidemic, say researchers in this week’s PLoS Medicine.
Nicole Franck Masenior and Chris Beyrer (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) reviewed the existing scientific evidence on strategies that effectively reduce rates of HIV among sex workers.
