Public Health

Very young babies are vulnerable to sudden death, when seated, warns a study published ahead of print in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. Babies less than a month old are most at risk, the research indicates. The researchers base their findings on an analysis of all sudden unexpected deaths occurring among babies up to 12 months of age in the Canadian Province of Quebec between 1991 and 2000. In all, 534 babies died during this period, but the cause of death was fully investigated in only 508. In 99 cases, the cause of death came to light after further investigation, but in 409 cause…

An analysis based on computerized simulation models suggests that the lifetime risk of cancer associated with radiation exposure from a computed tomography (CT scan) coronary angiography varies widely, with the risk greater for women and younger patients, according to a study in the July 18 issue of JAMA. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death in men and women in the United States, accounting for 1 in 5 deaths, and a major cause of health care expenditures, with annual costs estimated at $142 billion, according to background information in the article. Attempts to…

How to reduce flies? Here’s one way: A Chinese city suburb has set a bounty on dead flies in a bid to promote public hygiene . . . Xigong, a district of Luoyang in the central province of Henan, paid out more than 1,000 yuan ($125) for about 2,000 dead flies on July 1, the day it launched the scheme with the aim of encouraging cleanliness in residential areas. . . An Internet user said that although the office had good intentions, the action itself had made the district a laughing stock. “The key point is the government should encourage residents to clean up the environment so that no flies…

A study appearing in the July issue of the Journal of Periodontology found bacteria commonly found in the mouth and associated with periodontal diseases in the amniotic fluid of some pregnant women. The study, which evaluated 26 pregnant women with a diagnosis of threatened premature labor, found the presence of periodontal bacteria, P. Gingivalis, in both the oral cavity and amniotic fluid in 30% of the women. Amniotic fluid is a liquid that surrounds an unborn baby during pregnancy. Any disruptions in the amniotic fluid, such as a bacterial infection, could potentially be dangerous to both…

People who have high cholesterol levels may be much more susceptible to a particular disease transmitted by the bites of ticks, a new study in mice suggests. Scientists infected mice with Anaplasma phagocytophilum, the bacterium that causes human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA), a disease with flu-like symptoms. Bacteria levels were 10 times greater in mice that were genetically predisposed to high cholesterol levels and that were also fed a high-cholesterol diet. The results confirmed what the researchers had suspected – that A. phagocytophilum depends on its host's cholesterol stores for…

The most common procedure for clearing blocked kidney arteries can also release thousands of tiny particles into the bloodstream that can impair kidney function, according to researchers from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and colleagues. “This is the first data in humans to show that debris released during angioplasty and stenting of the kidney arteries can be harmful to kidney function,” said Matthew Edwards, M.D., M.S., lead researcher and an assistant professor of surgery. “It raises important questions about how to most safely perform this very common procedure.” Edwards…

A ban on smoking in England may be good for more than just public health. It may be good for the phone company. A new survey by Sheffield Hallam University and, not surprisingly, Virgin Mobile says smokers will turn to texting to talk about it and even improve their social lives in the process. Those struggling not to light up during the first days of the smoking ban are expected to turn to their mobile to help them cope. The research found that most people see their phone as being as personal as a diary, and increasingly use them as an emotional support, helping them to express their…

A breakthrough announced this week by scientists at the University of Southampton's School of Medicine will lead to greater understanding of noroviruses, the most common cause of non-bacterial gastroenteritis around the world. Traditionally very little has been known about the biology of noroviruses because of the difficulty in culturing and manipulating these pathogens in the laboratory. Now the Southampton team, assisted by colleagues at the University of Otago and Washington University Medical School, has devised a system for manipulating the genome of the murine norovirus (MNV) which…

New Test Determines if Osteoporosis Treatment Drug May Cause Jawbone to Die. Breast cancer patients, individuals at risk for osteoporosis, and individuals undergoing certain types of bone cancer therapies often take drugs that contain bisphosphonates. Bisphosphonates may place patients at risk for developing osteonecrosis of the jaws, which is irreversible damage in which the jaw bone rots away. Bisphosphonates are a family of drugs administered orally or intravenously and are used to prevent and treat osteoporosis, multiple myeloma, Paget’s disease (bone cancers), and bone metastasis from…

Recent studies showing that commonly used anesthetic agents can cause brain damage in animals don't prove that similar harmful effects occur in human newborns—and shouldn't affect current approaches to anesthesia in preterm and ill infants, according to a leading expert on pain management in newborns. The July issue of the journal Anesthesiology features an editorial by Dr. Kanwaljeet J.S. Anand, Professor of Pediatrics, Anesthesiology, Pharmacology, Neurobiology & Developmental Sciences in the College of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Director of the Pain…