How do you combat obesity in low-income neighborhoods? Increase access to grocery stores that sell fresh fruits and vegetables, many public health experts have long advised. It turns out, however, that this policy may actually have less credibility than previously believed.
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In the past 15 months, the FDA has approved three new drugs for the treatment of late-stage prostate cancer. Two of them Dendreon s Provenge and Johnson & Johnson s Zytiga were shown in recent clinical trials to add between two and five months to median survival (about a year and a half after using docetaxel, the current standard of care approved in 2004) for men with late-stage cancer.
Josh Bloom, The New York Post June 24, 2011
America's Vanishing Science Jobs
Too much time in front of the tube as little as two hours a day may increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes or heart disease, according to a new meta-analysis (an analysis of previous studies) published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. For the study, a team of Harvard University School of Public Health researchers reviewed eight studies comprised of 200,000 study subjects who were followed for an average of seven to ten years.
Dr. Gilbert Ross in the Financial Post, June 15, 2011
Junk Science Week: Toxic terrorists ignore organic food threat
Dr. Gilbert Ross in Guardian.co.uk, June 13, 2011
Immunity: when it's smart to go with the herd
Dr. Gilbert Ross in The Daily Caller, July 13, 2011
Politics Has Overtaken Science at the EPA
In today s hectic times, moms-to-be and their OBGYN s may not think twice about scheduling an artificially-induced early childbirth for the sake of convenience. But a new study by Utah-based Intermountain Healthcare is cautioning against the practice due to elevated health risks for neonates.
According to a small study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, massage therapy may be a viable option for those who suffer from lower back pain. Dr. Daniel C.
Dr. Elizabeth Whelan in Forbes, July 6, 2011
What's Really Causing Childhood Obesity?
Dr. Whelan in the National Review Online, July 5, 2011
Warnings That Don't Work
The New York Times Mark Bittman is in favor of taxing soda. He s also in favor of taxing French fries. And doughnuts. And all hyperprocessed snacks. In his halcyon vision, the resulting funds would be channeled into programs that make healthful foods affordable and accessible to all. This, Bittman says, would solve the nation s high rates of obesity, heart disease, and cancer.
We were disappointed to see media coverage of what amounts to the non-results of a poorly executed study that was, somehow, published in the American Journal of Public Health. A team of researchers from eight different universities found that, in states banning the sale of bad food at school concession stands, daily soda consumption has dropped by twice as much among black students as among all students.
We at ACSH are happy to promote Dr. Arthur s Caplan s recent Lancet article on the importance of mandating flu vaccines for health care workers. As Dr.
A new study in the British Medical Journal should give pause to doctors considering intensive glucose lowering treatment for their type 2 diabetic patients. While tightly controlling a patient s blood sugar levels seems like an obvious approach, and does indeed have some benefits, such as a slightly lowered risk of heart attack, the new study found a 100 percent increase in the risk of dangerously low blood levels (hypoglycemia), which in some cases can be fatal.
We were very happy to hear that U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth has come to his senses, ruling in favor of government funding of human embryonic stem cell research funding that he had halted just a year ago. This time, Judge Lamberth dismissed the legal challenge to the funding and ruled that the U.S. National Institutes of Health guidelines do not violate federal law.
While the amount of money that tobacco companies spent on advertising and promotional expenditures fell by 18 percent between 2006 and 2008, nationwide advertising of smokeless tobacco products actually increased by 55 percent during the same time period, according to a new Federal Trade Commission report. In fact, more smokeless tobacco ads may be encouraging smokers to switch from cigarettes to smoke-free alternatives.
Adults nostalgic for the monkey bars and tall slides of their childhood may have trouble finding them when they take their own children to a nearby playground. Shorter structures with enclosed platforms, as well as rubber ground covers, are more likely what they ll see. This is because, as John Tierney reports in The New York Times, heightened concerns over child safety have dramatically changed the landscape of the playground.
Though it claimed the lives of more than 50,000 Americans in 2010 alone, colon cancer is actually a largely preventable disease when people adhere to the recommended screening guidelines. According to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, there are three methods to choose from: either a colonoscopy performed about every ten years, a flexible sigmoidoscopy every five years, or an annual fecal occult blood test (FOBT) which can be performed at home.
Upending a lower court s 2010 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled in favor of the biotechnology industry and determined that genes and DNA can indeed be patented.
Unfortunately, an alarmist report from a group called the Ecology Center may have some parents hesitating before they fasten their child into a car seat. The Center is spreading the word that 60 percent of child car seats contain allegedly dangerous chemicals. Bromine, chlorine, lead, other heavy metals, and allergens topped their list, as did the risk of allergies, birth defects, impaired learning, liver toxicity, and cancer upon exposure.
Publishers and marketers of most children s books are finally being spared the headache that the 2008 Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) caused U.S. manufacturers of children s products.
A new study published in the Journal of Toxicology lays to rest any claims about toxic pesticide residues that the Environmental Working Group (EWG) publicized with their annual Dirty Dozen list. This compilation of tainted fruits and vegetables would have everyone scared to touch the majority of produce in the average grocery store.
Nerve cells, or neurons, process and transmit information. Skin cells, by contrast, don t have that capacity. It s quite exciting, then, that researchers from Columbia University have discovered a way to transform skin cells into fully functioning neurons. This method, reported in the journal Cell, is also notable because it avoids the controversial use of embryonic stem cells.
States across the country are experiencing a marked decrease in their anti-smoking program budgets. In Massachusetts, for instance, funding for such initiatives dropped from $50.5 million in 2001 to $4.1 million in 2011 a decrease of more than 90 percent. Where has the rest of the money disappeared to?
Pagination
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