Featured series 
Tag: Harvard School of Public Health
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Health
Breathing new life into asthma therapy
Asthma attacks have lasting effects because the lungs’ most delicate airways can become scarred. This makes future attacks all the worse. Researchers at Harvard Medical School have looked at what happens during asthma attacks, and believe that the damage to airways can be prevented or lessened by prescribing muscle relaxants in addition to anti-inflammatory steroids.…
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Health
Breast-feeding may limit teenage obesity
Infants who were breast-fed more than formula-fed, or who were breast-fed for longer periods, had approximately 20 percent lower risk of being overweight in their preteen and teen years, according to a recent study. In this study, breast-feeding included feeding infants breast milk extracted from breast pumps. The implications are dramatic. “Breast-feeding may prevent obesity…
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Health
Caffeine linked to protection from Parkinson’s disease
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive nervous disease occurring generally after age 50. It destroys brain cells that produce dopamine and is characterized by muscular tremor, slowing of movement, weakness and facial paralysis. Men who drank four to five cups per day of caffeinated coffee cut the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease nearly in half compared…
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Health
Medicare rules restrict good care for dying patients
Many health care providers believe that Medicare regulations block them from providing good care to dying patients. Researchers from Harvard Medical School, the Harvard School of Public Health, and RAND discovered that fact by conducting systematic interviews of health care providers. The providers were asked about fee-for-service Medicare coverage and payments for end-of-life care. Patients…
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Health
Nurse staffing levels directly impact patient health and survival
Researchers who looked at hospital discharge data for more than 5 million patients found consistent relationships between nurse staffing levels and five adverse patient outcomes: urinary tract infections, pneumonia, shock, upper gastrointestinal bleeding and length of hospital stay in medical and major surgery patients. Jack Needleman of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston…
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Health
Non-smoking bar and restaurant workers inhale as much as active smokers
Working in a bar or restaurant can expose you to as much tobacco smoke as if you were an active smoker, a researcher based at the Harvard School of Public Health has found. The study was published in the March 9, 2001, issue of the New Zealand Medical Journal. “This study demonstrates very clearly the…
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Health
Strict enforcement of lead-exposure-prevention policies shows clear benefits
Even at low levels, lead poisoning in children can cause IQ deficiencies, reading and learning disabilities, impaired hearing, reduced attention spans, hyperactivity and other behavior problems. Children who live in communities that strictly enforce lead-poisoning-prevention regulations are less likely to suffer the effects of lead poisoning than children in communities where the rules are not…
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Health
Nonsmoking college students 40 percent less likely to take up smoking when they live in smoke-free dorms
Although 81 percent of colleges prohibit smoking in all public areas, only 27 percent prohibit smoking in students’ dormitories. Harvard School of Public Health researchers say the finding sends a clear message that colleges can influence students not to smoke by banning the practice where they live. “These findings suggest that smoke-free dorms may help…
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Health
Testing to identify drug-resistant AIDS strains is cost-effective
A new study led by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in March 2001, finds that testing people with HIV to determine whether they have a drug-resistant strain of the virus is a cost-effective use of resources in the battle against HIV. In fact, the study finds that…
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Science & Tech
Study defines clear roles for parents of teenagers
A new study by the Center for Health Communication at the Harvard School of Public Health cuts through the confusion that parents of teenagers experience because of conflicting advice. The study lidentified key messages about raising teenagers on which experts agree. The results focus on practical guidelines and strategies that can contribute to healthy adolescent…
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Health
Lyme disease vaccine found cost-effective only for those at high risk
Lyme disease, a bacterial infection transmitted through deer tick bites, is rapidly emerging in the U.S. and currently affects about 15,000 people each year. But incidence varies widely according to region, with the highest rates in the Northeast and north central states. A group of researchers has looked at the cost-effectiveness of vaccination against Lyme…
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Health
Simulating disease trends with massive mathematical models
Researcher Karen Kuntz is currently developing a model to evaluate trends in colorectal cancer incidence and mortality. Nearly 50,000 Americans die each year from the disease, despite the fact that more than half of colorectal cancers could potentially be prevented through lifestyle changes and routine screening. With such models, Kuntz and other researchers can help…
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Health
Specific gene provides health benefits for moderate drinkers
Moderate alcohol consumption among people who have a specific version of a gene that metabolizes alcohol yields health benefits — less risk of heart disease and higher good cholesterol levels. “The study results support that it is the alcohol in alcoholic beverages that is responsible for the reduction in risk of heart disease, not other…
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Health
Increased consumption of soda promotes childhood obesity
Soft drinks are currently the leading source of added sugars in the daily diet of young Americans. Now, researchers have conducted the first long-term study to examine soda consumption and its precise impact on children’s body weight. Their findings show that for each additional daily serving of a sugar-sweetened soft drink, the incidence of obesity…
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Health
Increased fruit and vegetable consumption does not reduce risk of breast cancer
A recent Harvard study examined the association between fruit and vegetable consumption and breast cancer. The researchers drew participants from eight separate studies that spanned four countries and involved more than 350,000 women. Women who consumed the highest amount of fruits and vegetables were compared with those who consumed the lowest amount. The analysis revealed…
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Health
Direct damage from radiation may be passed to neighboring cells
Cells communicate, organize, share resources, and form direct connections with one another. They also are affected by damage to their neighbors. Research led by John Little of the Harvard School of Public Health shows that cells hit by radiation can send signals to neighboring cells that result in DNA damage. These findings challenge the long-held…
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Science & Tech
Study confirms that students in “substance-free” dorms drink less
Residents of college housing where alcohol and smoking were banned were less likely to be victims of actions by students who were drinking. Findings from the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study show that substance-free college residence halls are making an impact in the effort to reduce the harms that heavy drinking produces…
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Science & Tech
Internet will enhance, not replace, current educational models
In January 2001, Harvard information technology experts outlined a future in which the Internet, computers, and other technologies will enhance rather than replace the current educational experience. What that means for students is experiencing, among other things, virtual trading on a virtual stock floor — so they can hear the noise and feel the pressure…
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Health
No link between hepatitis B vaccine and risk of multiple sclerosis
The French government in 1998 decided to temporarily suspend hepatitis B vaccine programs in schools after several cases of multiple sclerosis were reported a few weeks after the vaccine had been administered in 1995 and 1997 as part of a mass immunization program. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic degenerative disease of the central nervous system.…
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Science & Tech
Drivers place children in rear seat because of new law
A Rhode Island law that requires that children sit in the back and wear proper restraints imposes fines of $30 for violation of the rear seating requirement and $150 for violation of the restraint requirement. The law was passed after research by Harvard Center for Risk Analysis Director John Graham and others showed that, nationwide,…
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Science & Tech
Marine science expert monitoring Boston Harbor pollution
Harvard researcher James Shine is currently researching pollutants in the sediment of Boston Harbor and other harbors. He is crafting criteria for the Environmental Protection Agency that would measure pollution by amounts in sediment, not just in the water itself, giving a more accurate picture of the ecosystem. When he was in graduate school, “nobody…
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Health
Lowering iron levels does not cut heart attack risk for men
Men who give blood reduce the amount of iron in their bodies, but that does not result in a reduction in their risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and heart attack. Iron levels in the body had once been thought to explain the difference in CHD rates among men and women. “The results of this…
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Science & Tech
Environmental health researcher studies lead poisoning in India
Lead is a naturally occurring toxic element, and exposure poses a serious threat to children whose neurological systems are still developing. Some children suffer from brain damage, poor motor skills coordination, and damaged kidneys. But the disease is easily preventable by limiting exposure to the toxic substance. More than 100 million people in India battle…
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Science & Tech
Workers in buildings with less fresh air more likely to call in sick
Donald Milton, associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard School of Public Health, hypothesized that the nature of the air that employees breathe affects how often they call in sick. In 1994, Milton and two colleagues measured ventilation rates in 40 buildings owned by Polaroid in Massachusetts with 115 independently ventilated…
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Science & Tech
How family leave policies fail working families
In her book, “The Widening Gap: Why American Working Families are in Jeopardy and What Can be Done About It,” S. Jody Heymann of the Harvard School of Public Health analyzed survey data to describe the “national caregiving burden.” She has exposed the growing gap between demands on parents and resources provided by government and…
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Science & Tech
Researchers publish HIV study results despite efforts to block
Researchers refused to suppress publication of data that indicates an experimental drug did not slow the progression of HIV infection, even though the drug company that sponsored their research tried to block the publication in court. Stephen Lagakos, chair of the Department of Biostatistics at the Harvard School of Public Health, and a colleague from…
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Health
Shorter treatment as effective, less costly in preventing HIV in babies
Of the more than 1,500 infants who get HIV from their infected mothers every day, 95 percent live in developing countries where the poverty level is high. Many mothers in these regions do not have access to the three- to six-month AZT treatment, now considered the standard treatment to prevent perinatal HIV transmission in developed…
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Health
Researchers identify genes that control development of fat tissues
Until now, no one knew the specific trigger that controls the extent to which cells called preadipocytes turn into fat cells. Harvard researchers have identified the genes GATA-2 and GATA-3 as the molecular gatekeepers of that transition. When the genes are defective or missing, preadipocytes change into fat cells and, conversely, when the genes are…