all public health stories

Previously unknown regulator of fat and cholesterol production discovered in mice

404132862 — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:13:03 -0400

Researchers have discovered an unknown regulator of fat and cholesterol production in the liver of mice, a significant finding that could eventually lead to new therapies for lowering unhealthy blood levels of cholesterol and fats.

The team led by scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) showed how this might work in an animal model, demonstrating that turning off the regulatory molecule — known as XBP1 — dramatically reduced blood levels of cholesterol and triglyceride fats. Importantly, there were no apparent adverse effects on the liver.

Decline in cigarette smoking in U.S. significantly offset by increase in other tobacco products

404132862 — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:35:54 -0400

While trends in cigarette smoking and sales have declined in the U.S. for the past decade, sales of non-cigarette tobacco products have been on the rise. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, led by Professor Greg Connolly, director of the Tobacco Control Research Program at HSPH, and Hillel Alpert, research associate in the program, sought to compare trends in sales of all tobacco products in the U.S. and found that 30% of the recent decline in cigarette sales may be offset by the robust sale of small cigars, snuff and roll-your-own products. Thus, the apparent magnitude of overall decline in tobacco use in the U.S.

Passage of time reduces smoking mortality risk for women who quit

404132862 — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:24:54 -0400

Women who quit smoking significantly reduce their risk of
death from coronary heart disease within 5 years and have about a 20
percent lower risk of death from smoking-related cancers within that
time period, according to a study by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH).

Life expectancy stagnating, worsening, for large segment of U.S. population

yvette — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:20:41 -0400

A new, long-term study of mortality trends in U.S. counties from 1960 to 2000 finds that an overall average life expectancy increase of 6.5 years for men and women is not reaching many parts of the country. Instead, the life expectancy of a significant segment of the population is actually declining or at best stagnating.

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the University of Washington found that 4% of the male population and 19% of the female population experienced either decline or stagnation in mortality beginning in the 1980s.

Louise Ivers: 'I can’t sleep at night because of the things that I see.'

404132862 — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:27:17 -0400

Louise Ivers gently lifted the 7-month-old by his forearms, hoping he would pull himself up as a healthy child a third his age might.

But his head hung limply back, eyes wide, upper body slack.

At 7 months, when a healthy child would be sitting up on his own and thinking about crawling, this baby boy was unable to control his head, unable to pull himself from the sheets. Gently, she laid him back.

Growing U.S. Disparities in Health Not Inevitable

404132862 — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:08:56 -0500

In the public health field, there is an ongoing debate as to whether improvement in the overall health of the population is linked to increases or decreases in social inequities in health, that is, the inequities between higher-income and lower-income groups or people of different race/ethnicities. In the most comprehensive study to date addressing this debate, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) found that, as overall health improved (as measured by a decline in mortality rates), inequities in health both shrank and widened between 1960 and 2002. The study demonstrates that the recent trend of

New survey of public attitudes on cold and cough medications for children

404132862 — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:39:13 -0500

A new survey from NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health examines the public’s views of over-the-counter children’s cold and cough medications in the wake of recent concerns raised by a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel, the media and the pharmaceutical industry regarding their safety and effectiveness. The poll, Children’s OTC Cold Medicines: The Public, and Parents, Weigh In, was conducted after an FDA advisory panel recommended that children under the age of six not be given these medicines. NPR will report findings fro

Differences between malaria parasites in patients' blood and in lab

404132862 — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 10:06:45 -0500

In a groundbreaking study published today in the advance online edition of Nature, an international research team has for the first time measured which of the the malaria parasite’s genes are turned on or off during actual infection in humans, rather than in cell cultures, unearthing surprising behaviors and opening a window on the most critical aspects of parasite biology.

Era ending at School of Public Health

404132862 — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 17:26:07 -0500

Barry R. Bloom, dean of the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), yesterday announced that he will be stepping down from his position as the School’s leader at the end of the current academic year.

Bloom, the Joan L. and Julius H. Jacobson Professor of Public Health, became dean of HSPH on January 1, 1999. During a period marked by globalization and profound changes in science and technology, Bloom has led initiatives to keep HSPH at the frontier of scientific discovery and interdisciplinary innovation and to extend its leadership in improving the health of populations around the world.

Symposium addresses disparities in Native American health care

404132862 — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 20:46:01 -0500

Sunshine Dwojak, a fourth-year Harvard Medical School student, was 26 when her mother died of heart disease, leaving behind three children. Dwojak’s mother was 48.

“My grandmother said our family ‘just wasn’t lucky,’ and my aunt said that ‘longevity doesn’t run in our family,’” Dwojak said. Growing up, she saw many of her family members suffer from mental illness, heart disease, diabetes, and substance abuse.

Honorary degree to HSPH Dean Barry R. Bloom

404132862 — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 14:41:54 -0500

Barry R. Bloom, Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), is being awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Percentage of Katrina survivors with mental disorders increasing

404132862 — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 13:15:53 -0500

According to the most comprehensive survey yet conducted of people affected by Hurricane Katrina, the percentage of pre-hurricane residents of the affected areas in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi who have mental disorders has increased significantly compared to the situation five to eight months after the hurricane.

Almost two million veterans lack health coverage

404132862 — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:07:45 -0400

One in every eight (12.2 percent) of the 47 million Americans without health insurance is a veteran or member of a veteran's household, according to a study by Harvard Medical School researchers based at the Cambridge Health Alliance.

Berkman named to head Center for Population and Development Studies

404132862 — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:38:58 -0400

Social epidemiologist Lisa Berkman has been appointed director of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Harvard Provost Steven E. Hyman today announced.

“I am extremely pleased that Professor Berkman has accepted the position,” said Hyman. “She brings both expertise in population-based research and a long history of collaborative activities that will serve to reinvigorate the center, expand the breadth of its work, and involve faculty and students from across the University.”

Improving women's health key Indian strategy

jake — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:16:46 -0400

Detailed research of Indian health disparities has revealed that significant differences in access to health care exist even within families, with the health and nutrition of women and girls taking a backseat to that of men and boys.

That was the picture painted Monday (Oct. 22) by Gita Sen of the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore, India, and an adjunct lecturer on population and international health at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH).

Sen was one of the speakers at a two-day symposium hosted by the Harvard School of Public Health, the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Boston University’s Global Health Initiative, and Tufts University.