Featured series 
Tag: Public Health
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Health
At Radcliffe, microbiologist explains ‘biocomplexity’
The scientist who revolutionized the study of cholera paid a visit to Harvard this week. On March 6, microbiologist and oceanographer Rita R. Colwell, a Johns Hopkins University public health researcher, delivered the last in a series of science talks in the 2006-2007 Dean’s Lecture series at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
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Health
Genome-wide map will help fight diabetes
The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Lund University, and Novartis have announced the completion of a genome-wide map of genetic differences in humans and their relationship to type 2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders. The announcement was made Monday (Feb. 12). All results of the analysis are being made accessible, free of charge, on…
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Campus & Community
University’s ‘what-if’ planning for bird flu in sync with new CDC guidelines
Recently released U.S. government guidelines for combating a potential avian flu pandemic closely resemble response strategies that have been under development by Harvard planners since October 2005. Both the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines – available online at http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/community/community_mitigation.pdf – and Harvard’s ongoing “what-if” planning say that the best protection against a flu pandemic…
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Health
Poor fall behind in birth control
Modern contraception has come a long way in the past 20 years, what with diaphragms, hormones, implants, intrauterine devices, condoms, spermicides, and sterilization. But the boom in birth control has been a bust for the poorest women in the world.
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Campus & Community
Dust from Asia invades North America
On the dustiest days in the western United States, 40 percent of the grime blows in from Asia. And fine particles can travel all the way around the world from Africa’s Sahara Desert. These unwanted visitors show up in a new model of dust imports developed by researchers from Harvard and the National Aeronautics and…
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Campus & Community
Dietary supplements can cause harmful reactions with prescription medicines
More than one of every five people who take prescription drugs also use dietary supplements, like ginseng and gingko, without telling their doctors. Such combinations may lead to harmful results, such as interfering with the action of prescription medications taken for conditions ranging from insomnia to heart disease, cancer, and arthritis. “Amid increasing numbers of…
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Health
Study shows benefits of eating fish greatly outweigh risks
Many studies have shown the nutritional benefits of eating fish (finfish or shellfish). Fish is high in protein and omega-3 fatty acids. But concerns have been raised in recent years about chemicals found in fish from environmental pollution, including mercury, PCBs and dioxins. That has led to confusion among the public – do the risks…
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Campus & Community
The longer you live, the longer you can expect to live
f you were born in the United States and celebrate your 65th birthday this year, you can expect to be around for your 81st birthday if you are male, and for your 84th if you are female. Life expectancy in this country has been rising steeply since 1990, and the National Center for Heath Statistics…
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Health
New data finds defibrillator recalls to be common
Data presented May 19, 2006 at the Heart Rhythm Society’s 27th Annual Scientific Sessions finds that during a 10-year study period more than one in five automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) were recalled due to potential malfunction. The findings represent some of the first data available on safety and reliability of the devices, which are used…
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Science & Tech
Obesity levels in U.S. states are grossly underestimated
The prevalence of obesity in the U.S. states has been greatly underestimated. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health analyzed data from health surveys, which are used to estimate obesity levels in states. Because people tend to provide incorrect information about their weight and height, especially in telephone surveys, the researchers concluded that estimates…
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Science & Tech
Study finds M-rated video games contain violence, sexual themes, substances, and profanity not labeled on game boxes
According to a study led by Associate Professor Kimberly Thompson of the Kids Risk Project at Harvard School of Public Health, 81 percent of a random sample of “mature”-rated video games included content that was not noted on the game box. This is the first independent, quantitative study to characterize content in M-rated games related…
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Health
Smoke-free pubs keep Irish eyes smiling
A survey of air pollution levels in “Irish pubs” around the world has found that indoor air pollution in authentic Irish pubs in Ireland, where a smoke-free law has been in effect for two years, is 91 percent lower than in “Irish pubs” located in other countries and cities where smoke-free laws do not apply.…
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Health
Binge eating disorder may have genetic ties
Researchers at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital have reported that binge eating disorder runs in families, raising the possibility that this condition may have a genetic basis. In the study, published in the March 6, 2006 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, the researchers found that family members of obese individuals with binge eating disorder were…
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Campus & Community
Whites more likely than blacks to die soon after spouse’s death
A longitudinal study of 410,272 elderly American couples indicates that the “widowhood effect” – the increased probability of death among new widows and widowers – is large and enduring among white couples but undetectable among black couples, suggesting that blacks may somehow manage to extend marriage’s well-documented health benefits into widowhood. The results, by Harvard…
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Science & Tech
Mold, mold everywhere
Mold has attacked what remains of New Orleans, engulfing the city in slime. Typically, clean indoor environments show mold spore concentrations of less than 1,000 per cubic meter of air. But in Katrina’s wake, the numbers have hit several million due to widespread, persistent flooding. That’s the preliminary report from Christine Rogers, a senior research…
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Campus & Community
Herman is assistant dean for communications at HSPH
Robin Herman has been appointed assistant dean for communications at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). She has served as director of the School’s office of communications for the past six years.
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Campus & Community
Violence as a health problem
“Are we a nation in which violence is out of control and will plague us and will interfere with our freedom?” asks Felton Earls, professor of social medicine at Harvard Medical School and professor of human behavior and development at Harvard School of Public Health. “Violence reduces confidence that all the other things that we…
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Campus & Community
HSPH find AIDS drugs work well in Botswana
Africa’s first large-scale public program to distribute critical AIDS drugs to a developing nation is as successful as similar programs in industrialized countries, a Harvard School of Public Health study has shown, helping put to rest concerns that such programs can’t work in developing nations.
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Campus & Community
African health status explored
The triple scourges of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria pose the greatest threats to the health of the African people, according to LuÃs Gomes Sambo, the World Health Organization’s regional director for Africa. Sambo presented a broad overview of Africa’s health status in his Nov. 14 lecture, “Africa’s Health – Striving to Achieve the Highest Possible…
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Campus & Community
‘Gold standard’ of dietary recommendations found
In the mid-1990s, researchers at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), Johns Hopkins University, and colleagues presented what is now considered a “gold standard” of dietary recommendations for reducing high blood pressure and “bad” LDL cholesterol. The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet found that a carbohydrate-rich diet emphasizing fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy…
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Campus & Community
Coffee gets cleared of blood pressure risk
Harvard researchers set out to test the idea that a lot of coffee isn’t good for your circulation. They followed 155,000 female nurses for 12 years, questioning them regularly about their caffeine-drinking habits and their blood pressure. No connection was found between their coffee intake and a risky rise in blood pressure. In fact, results…
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Science & Tech
Cigarette manufacturers developed candy-flavored brands to target youth
Despite assurances from cigarette makers that they no longer target the youth market, Harvard School of Public Health researchers found that new brands are being marketed to young smokers and racial/ethnic groups using colorful and stylish packaging and exploiting adolescents’ attraction to candy flavors. The study appears in the November/December 2005 issue of the journal,…
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Campus & Community
Doctors overprescribing antibiotics for sore throats
Doctors treating sore throats are overprescribing antibiotics to more than a million U.S. children annually, unnecessarily driving up health costs, promoting the rise of drug-resistant bugs, and exposing children to unnecessary drugs and their side effects. That’s the conclusion of a new study of national treatment data by faculty at Harvard Medical School and the…
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Science & Tech
Study shows escalating climate change impacts
The Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, along with co-sponsors Swiss Re and the United Nations Development Programme, has released a study showing that climate change will significantly affect the health of humans and ecosystems and these impacts will have economic consequences. The study, “Climate Change Futures: Health, Ecological and…
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Campus & Community
HapMap: First look at ‘order in variety’ of human genome
The completion of the human genome sequence in 2003, though momentous, was only the first step toward grasping the core mechanisms of human biology and disease. This ultimate biomedical goal also requires a comprehensive catalog of the genetic diversity in the human genome sequence across human populations. A flurry of high-profile scientific papers published this…
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Campus & Community
Warnings about fish consumption and mercury overstated
A comparison of the risks and benefits of fish consumption suggests that government advisories warning women of childbearing age about mercury exposure should be issued with caution. The study warns that if advisories cause people to eat less fish out of fear about the effects of mercury, substantial nutritional benefits could be lost. The study…
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Campus & Community
Holding their breath for the breathless
Two researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) got the idea of studying free divers to get information that would help them help the breathless to breathe better. “We hope that by studying these athletes, we can teach patients how to better cope and recover from episodes of breathlessness,” says Andrew Binks. Divers…
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Health
Health care reform in China discussed
Health care in the People’s Republic of China is unequal and too expensive, and there’s not enough of it, but the Chinese government is aware of the problems and is moving to address them, China’s vice minister of health said Sept. 8 at Harvard Medical School.