Health News

Even when average alcohol consumption is moderate, binge drinking is harmful to older drinkers

Date: Mar-05-2014
Numerous studies have highlighted the purported association between moderate drinking and reduced mortality. However, these analyses have focused overwhelmingly on average consumption, a measure that masks diverse, underlying drinking patterns such as weekend heavy episodic or binge drinking. A study of the association between binge drinking and mortality among moderate-drinking older adults has found that those who engage in binge drinking have more than two times higher odds of 20-year mortality in comparison to regular moderate drinkers.

Easy availability of alcohol encourages heavy drinking according to international research project

Date: Mar-05-2014
The International Alcohol Control (IAC) study is a newly developed international collaborative project designed to collect comparative data on alcohol consumption and policy-relevant behaviors in both high- and middle/low-income countries. Initial member countries New Zealand, Thailand, South Korea, Scotland, and England have recently been joined by Mongolia, Australia, South Africa, Peru, St. Kitts, and Vietnam.

Vulnerable Americans living with HIV/AIDS to benefit from ACA

Date: Mar-05-2014
A series of papers in the March issue of Health Affairs examines how the Affordable Care Act could affect two sectors of the most vulnerable Americans - those living with HIV/AIDS and people who have recently cycled through jail.The issue features several studies by researchers with the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, one of the nation's premier policy research centers dedicated to promoting health and value in healthcare delivery through innovative research and policy, including:When it comes to HIV treatment, timing is everythingDana P. Goldman, Leonard D.

Men more likely to cooperate with lower-ranked colleagues in academia

Date: Mar-05-2014
In academic circles at least, women tend to cooperate with same-sex individuals of higher or lower rank less often than men do. So say researchers who report evidence in the Cell Press journal Current Biology. The findings are based on a study of the publication records of professors working at 50 North American universities."People are often upset to hear evidence of sex differences in behavior," says Joyce Benenson of Harvard University. "But the more we know, the more easily we can promote a fair society."The findings might seem somewhat counterintuitive.

Mixing ethnic groups leads to passive tolerance

Date: Mar-05-2014
People's racial prejudices are influenced by where they live, reports a new study led by Oxford University psychologists.The researchers found that levels of racial prejudice among white people drop significantly when they live in ethnically mixed communities, even when they do not have direct contact with minorities. Simply seeing white strangers interacting positively with ethnic minorities is enough to reduce racial prejudice.

Jail population benefit from Affordable Care Act: risk of recidivism cut

Date: Mar-05-2014
Under the Affordable Care Act, an estimated 4 million people who have spent time in jail will have better access to health coverage for conditions that might - if left untreated - result in higher health care costs and an increased risk of recidivism. That's the conclusion of an analysis by researchers at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS)."Health reform gives people with a history of jail time access to continuous health care for the first time ever," says lead author Marsha Regenstein, PhD, who is a professor of health policy at SPHHS.

Exposure to BPA is widespread and linked to prostate cancer

Date: Mar-05-2014
Findings by Cincinnati Cancer Center researchers show that levels of bisphenol A (BPA) in men's urine could be a marker of prostate cancer and that low levels of BPA exposure can cause cellular changes in both non-malignant and malignant prostate cells.This research, published in the March 3 edition of PLOS ONE, provides the first evidence that urinary BPA levels may help predict prostate cancer and that disruption of a cell duplication cycle through exposure to low-dose BPA may cause cancer development in the prostate.

Diversity of local crops is suffering with the worldwide spread of a standard globalized diet

Date: Mar-05-2014
A comprehensive new study of global food supplies confirms and thoroughly documents for the first time what experts have long suspected: over the last five decades, human diets around the world have grown ever more similar - by a global average of 36 percent - and the trend shows no signs of slowing, with major consequences for human nutrition and global food security.

Early death recorded in victims following mandatory arrest in domestic violence call-outs

Date: Mar-05-2014
New research from a major 'randomised' arrest experiment 23 years ago finds that domestic violence victims whose partners were arrested on misdemeanor charges - mostly without causing injury - were 64% more likely to have died early, compared to victims whose partners were warned but not removed by police.Among African-American victims, arrest increased early mortality by a staggering 98% - as opposed to white victims, whose mortality was increased from arrest by just 9%. The research also found that employed victims suffered the worst effects of their partners' arrests.

Study examines gap in federal oversight of clinical trials

Date: Mar-04-2014
An analysis of nearly 24,000 active human research clinical trials found that between 5 percent and 16 percent fall into a regulatory gap and are not covered by two major federal regulations, according to a study in JAMA. These trials studied interventions other than drugs or devices (e.g., behavioral, surgical). The primary federal human subjects protections (HSP) policies in the United States, including requirements for institutional review board review and informed consent, are the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) HSP regulations and the Common Rule.