Latest - Public Health & Prevention

• Weekend Sleep-in May Lower Mortality Risk Longer sleep time over the weekend may compensate for shorter weekday sleep when it comes to mortality risk, suggest findings from a new study of nearly 40,000 participants.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2018
• Alert CDC Warning: Severe Bleeding Linked With Synthetic Cannabinoids More than 200 people in nine states have developed serious, unexplained bleeding linked to synthetic cannabinoids thought to be laced with rat poison.
  News Alerts, May 2018
• U.S. EPA Slows Release of Formaldehyde Cancer Risk Study The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under pressure from the chemical industry, has delayed release of a study detailing cancer risks from formaldehyde, according to internal communications seen by Reuters, potentially keeping important health information from the public.
  Reuters Health Information, May 2018
• ATS 2018Inappropriate Antibiotic Use for Asthma Flare: Costly, No Benefit Unnecessary antibiotic use in adults hospitalized for asthma exacerbation without lung infection is common and associated with increased length of stay and risk for antibiotic-related diarrhea, with no apparent benefit, a new study shows.
  Reuters Health Information, May 2018
• Healthy Diet May Stave Off Age-Related Hearing Loss for Women Another benefit of a healthy diet may be protection against age-related hearing loss, suggests a large study of U.S. women.
  Reuters Health Information, May 2018
• Single-Injection Inactivated Polio Vaccine Immunogenic in Rats A new, stabilized single-injection inactivated polio vaccine elicits neutralizing immune responses in rats, researchers report.
  Reuters Health Information, May 2018
• Antidepressant Weight-Gain Risk May Be Greater Over Time A new study confirms increased risk for weight gain with antidepressant therapy -- while also noting that the risk is greatest in the second and third year of treatment.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2018
• Human Milk Sharing: What to Tell Moms   What information should be provided to a new mother who is unable to nurse but wants to milk-share in order to provide her infant with human milk?
  CHOP Expert Commentary, May 2018
• Infection Alert After Ebola Patients Taken to Prayer Meeting Two dying Ebola patients were spirited out of a Congo hospital by their relatives on motor-bikes, then taken to a prayer meeting with 50 other people, potentially exposing them all to the deadly virus, a senior aid worker said on Thursday.
  Reuters Health Information, May 2018
• U.S. Biotechs to Speed Work on Nipah Vaccine as Virus Hits India A global coalition set up a year ago to fight epidemics has struck a $25 million deal with two U.S. biotech companies to accelerate work on a vaccine against the brain-damaging Nipah virus that has killed 12 people in India.
  Reuters Health Information, May 2018
• FDA OKs Novel Enzyme Therapy for Rare Disease Phenylketonuria Pegvaliase-pqpz (Palynziq) helps address a significant, unmet need in phenylketonuria (PKA) patients whose blood levels of PKA cannot be controlled with current treatment options, the FDA says.
  FDA Approvals, May 2018
• More Lung Cancer in Young Women Than Men in US The incidence of lung cancer in young women has now surpassed that of their male counterparts, and the unique smoking behaviors of men and women don't explain why.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2018
• 'Too Clean' Could Be a Trigger for Childhood Acute Leukemia A lack of microbial exposure among children in industrialized countries may contribute to the development of childhood B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, say researchers.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2018
• New Study: Clues as to How Brain Stimulation Beats Food Cravings Weight loss and reduced food cravings seen with brain stimulation in obese individuals may be because of the release of neurotransmitters linked to reward pathways, say Italian scientists.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2018
• ATS 2018Ozone Exposure Puts Kids at Risk for Asthma, Allergic Diseases Exposure to ozone in early life raises the risk for asthma and allergic rhinitis by about 80%, according to 10-year follow-up data from a Toronto birth cohort.
  Reuters Health Information, May 2018
• Women Sue USC Over Handling of Claims of Abuse by Gynecologist The University of Southern California (USC) said that it was not aware of any criminal conduct but had contacted the Los Angeles district attorney and the city police department.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2018
• Adding HbA1c Test to Wellness Programs to Spot Patients at Risk Adding glycated homoglobin tests to employee wellness exams could identify people at high risk of developing diabetes, a recent study suggests.
  Reuters Health Information, May 2018
• Drugmakers Blamed for Blocking Generics Have Increased Prices, Cost US Billions Makers of brand-name drugs called out by the Trump administration for potentially stalling generic competition have hiked their prices by double-digit percentages since 2012 and cost Medicare and Medicaid nearly $12 billion in 2016.
  Kaiser Health News, May 2018
• Why the World Needs More Than One Ebola Vaccine In the life-and-death race to make the first effective vaccine against Ebola, one company - Merck - seems bound to win.
  Reuters Health Information, May 2018
• 'Don't Touch the Bodies': Racing to Stop Ebola Spread in Congo Hundreds of volunteers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have set out on foot and motorbike to teach Ebola safety in a drive aid agencies say could be key to containing a deadly outbreak.
  Reuters Health Information, May 2018