Public Health

Sitting down to a family meal more often and cutting down on television watching can help keep children from becoming overweight, according to a new University of Missouri-Columbia study. After following 8,000 children from kindergarten to third grade, researchers concluded that kids who watched the most TV were at the greatest risk of being or becoming overweight. Children who ate fewer meals with their families also were at risk for becoming overweight. Common sense used to be more common "Other research has shown that children who eat meals with their families eat more healthy foods than…

Heartbeat and breathing cycles can become synchronized, a new study shows. Looking for patterns in the sequence of human heartbeats is a much studied subject; evidence for pattern-revealing characteristics such as chaos and fractal or spiral geometry have been sought. Breathing, which is more under direct conscious control than heartbeat, is much less studied. Ayurvedic Yoga uses a synchronized breathing/heartbeat system Part of the problem with searching for a breathing-heartbeat correlation is that these systems have very different rhythms. The heart normally beats 60 to 70 times per…

Mechanical 'artificial hearts' can be used to return severely failing hearts to their normal function, potentially removing the need for heart transplantation, according to new research. The mechanical devices, known as Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVADs), are currently used in patients with very severe heart failure whilst they await transplantation. The new study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, shows that using an LVAD combined with certain drug therapies can shrink the enlarged heart and enable it to function normally once the LVAD is removed. For the study,…

Immigrants in the United States require less than half the health-care services than do native-born Americans, according to study findings published in the American Journal of Public Health. Immigrant children get even lower levels of care, receiving 84 percent less than U.S.-born children, according to researchers at Harvard and Columbia universities and the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. "Our study lays to rest the myth that expensive care for immigrants is responsible for our nation's high health costs," says Sarita Mohanty, M.D., M.P.H., assistant…

When it comes to the inequality in people's health across the globe, says Professor Danny Dorling (University of Sheffield, United Kingdom) "you can say it, you can prove it, you can tabulate it, but it is only when you show it that it hits home." Public Health Spending: Worldmapper Poster 213. Source of data used to create map: United Nations Development Program, Human Development Report 2004. (Credit: Worldmapper) This is the philosophy behind Worldmapper, a collection of cartograms that rescale the size of territories in proportion to the value being mapped (examples of values that are…

A single protein in brain cells may act as a linchpin in the body's weight-regulating system, playing a key role in the flurry of signals that govern fat storage, sugar use, energy balance and weight, University of Michigan Medical School researchers report. The fat mouse on the right lacks the gene to make SH2B1, while the mouse on the left is normal. Restoring SH2B1 just in the brain overcame this mouse strain's weight-gaining tendencies, even when mice were fed a high-fat diet. (Photo credit: Liangyou Rui, U-M Medical School) And although it's far too early to say how this protein could…

When it comes to body composition and fat distribution, a calorie is a calorie, regardless of whether it's controlled by diet alone or a combination of diet and exercise. New research published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism reveals that dieting alone is equally effective at reducing weigh and fat as a combination of diet and exercise--as long as the calories consumed and burned equal out. The research also indicates that the addition of exercise to a weight-loss regimen does not change body composition and abdominal fat distribution, debunking the idea that…

Measles deaths have fallen by 60% worldwide since 1999 -- a major public health success. This exceeds the United Nations goal to halve measles deaths between 1999 and 2005 and is largely due to an unprecedented decline in measles deaths in the African region. The progress was announced today by partners in the Measles Initiative: the American Red Cross, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United Nations Foundation, UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO). Bangladesh immunizes over 33 million children against measles. (Image courtesy of WHO /…

Scientists at Cardiff University (Wales, UK) have confirmed what thousands of people with arthritis have believed for years. Cod Liver Oil really is effective in treating joint pain and can slow, even reverse, the destruction of joint cartilage. Cartilage is the ‘gristle’ that cushions bones and prevents them from grinding against each other. Loss of cartilage leads to osteoarthritis, the painful and disabling condition experienced by 1.5 million people in the UK and the major reason for joint replacement surgery. Cod Liver Oil’s reputation for relieving the inflammatory processes involved…

This year, millions of Americans made the resolution to lose weight. However, many will get frustrated and give up before their goals are reached. Contributing to this problem is the host of bad information regarding diet and exercise circulating through gyms, workplaces, and the Internet. Julie Bender, a dietitian with Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, and Phil Tyne, director of the Baylor Tom Landry Health and Wellness Center "weigh in" on the most popular diet and exercise myths: 1. Crunches will get rid of your belly fat. False. "You can't pick and choose areas where you'd like…